The Making of Latin America Blog

  Hey Ben! I would totally agree that the amount we practiced definitely helped with getting the hang of the dances. I don't have very much experience dancing, and so when we started I felt kind of lost, but after a while I felt like I was starting to figure it out. Also, I would agree that these dancing lessons were my favorite activity this semester. It was a unique and unexpected activity, and I really enjoyed it!

 I really enjoyed our class this week. After all those weeks of reading, writing, and hard work, it felt very relaxing to have a few class periods dedicated to music and dancing. To be quite honest, I never realized we would be learning to dance in this class, but I'm glad we did. I think I may need a few more sessions, though, if I were to actually feel confident with these dances, as my feet seem to have minds of their own. One thing that the music we listened to made me realize, though, is how hard it is to understand a song in a different language. I love listening to Spanish conversations, because it's fun to try to pick out different words that I recognize and try to piece together a meaning. But trying to do the same with music is so much harder. I'm not sure if its the distraction of the instruments or something, but whenever I try to understand the lyrics of a Spanish song, I just get lost. In all, however, this week was a wonderful reprieve, and I'm really gla...

Hi Lillie! I have to admit that I was also somewhat confused by the novel early on. Our discussions in class definitely helped me understand its meaning, though. I totally agree that many times a book can only be readily understood by its intended audience. To the outside world it may seem confusing or esoteric, but to its intended audience it may be very meaningful.

I really enjoyed our Simon Bolivar discussions this week. Interestingly, when I was in Cartagena I saw the house he stayed at during his time there. I didn't know much about his history at the time, but I still thought it was cool to see the house such an important figure stayed at. Having heard his life story, though, it reminds me of the idea that power corrupts. I think this Bolivar provides another great example of someone with good intentions and who did a lot for his country, but when he came into power he just couldn't let go. It kind of reminded me of Animal Farm by George Orwell. In the story, the pigs led a revolt of all the animals against the humans and removed them from power. The pigs then became the leaders of the animals, but they gradually took more and more power to the point where the animals no longer could see a difference between the pigs and the humans, as the pigs had completely filled the human role. It seems Bolivar did the same thing. He ousted the ro...