Women's History Month Entry #4

La Malinche was born in Mexico 1496, though some historians believe 1505. Her native Aztec name was Malintzin. She is a figure in Mexican history that has been ignored some what and has been embraced and hated. To the Spanish she was known as Dona Marina. She was the translator between Hernan Cortez and Aztec King Montezuma II. Malinche was the first child of an Aztec noble. She was sold in to slavery by her mother to the region of Chontal Maya of Potonchan after her father died. It is a kind of Joseph and the colored dream coat tail. Some believe that her name is derived from Mãlin-tzin, which means Noble Prisoner/Captive in native dialect. In April 1519 Malinche and 20 other women were given to the custody of the newly arrived Spanish sailors. Malinche became Hernan Cortez’s translator. La Malinche was said to have an ability with different dialects, she was said to know a few native dialects. Because she translated between the 2 leaders, she had a diplomatic position of authority some what.

While Malinche stayed with Cortez, she helped mediate between the Spanish and the Aztecs when things got rough. Because she was with Cortez when the Spanish look over and invaded the Aztecs, she is considered a traitor by some. To this day, to call some one a malinchista means to call some one a traitor. Though there is also a lot of controversy as to her chose or to the slavery factor. La Malinche is known for being the mother of the Mestezo race (a term for part Mexican Native and part Spanish blooded person), which makes up one of the majority populations on the American continent today.

La Malinche is a contiveral figure in many ways. She has gotten a lot of attention from many artist and philosophers and historians in Mexico and around the world. According to a New York Times article, the house that she and Cortez lived is still standing in Mexico City. It is 57 Higuera St. Aparently La Malinche is still such a controversial figure that the residents don’t want it to be a museum. Apparently most people shun the building. Currently the resident is home to Rina Lazo, a muralist.

Well this raps up our series for the month. Till Next Year, Happy Women’s History Month

Sources:

-New York Times Publication

http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/la.htm

-La Malinche Creator or Traitor

http://www.tihof.org/honors/malinche.htm

-Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Malinche

Image:

http://frankejbypoulsen.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/todorov-la-conquete-de-lamerique-la-question-de-lautre/

Women's History Month Entry #3

Saint Joan of Arc (Jehanne Darc) was born in Domremy in Champagne France in 1412. She was a respected military leader in France and after her death was embraced by the Catholic Church. She was a women how fought for her country and against a gender role that was placed a pone her; she fought till her death. Her parents were peasant farmers, she could not read or write. Since her childhood she was very spiritual and was a devoted Catholic.

In the summer of 1425 she first heard voices that put her on a mission. She apparently saw St. Michael and some angels who delivered a message. Many believe that she received messages from heaven. Some people have looked for evidence to suggest that she had a psychological disorder. In some ways she was one of those quirky military leaders in history. In WWII, General George Patton believed he was reincarnated; Patton believed he fought in the Roman Army in a past life. Joan of Arc saw her Mission was to save France from there enemies, the English. Her main enemy came in the form of the Burgundians from the neighboring region of Burgundy. The Burgundians were allies with the English.

In 1428 she first tried to join the army of King Charles VII of France under General Baudricourt. At first she was not taken seriously at all; it was only after a very defeating battle in 1429 that the French Military accepted Joan of Arc. With in that same year, she met the King, Charles VII of France. During her visit with King Charles she got him to accept her cause. Her life in the military started.

In the military she earned acceptance and led many men into battle. She was wounded twice in battle. The first time was in May 7^th 1429, when she got hit by an arrow in one of her breasts (has to be painful). The second time Joan of Arc was wounded was September 8^th of that year. She led 600 troops into a battle. In this battle her army stormed a moat to a Burgundy fort. From an army technology and logistic standpoint, to do that was one of the hardest, virtually impossible military challenges of the time. Her army also turned out to be out numbered. Joan of Arc got shot in the thigh by a cross bow. She had to withdraw from that battle, though she did it reluctantly and had to be dragged away.

It is reported that Joan of Arc knew she did not have much longer to live. On May 1430 her voices told her that she would be taken prisoner by mid summer. As predicted France caved in on a truce and King Charles let her to her fate. She was captured in her last battle by John of Luxemburg. She was then sold to the English. The English viewed her as a heretic and a witch. The English of course put together a long list of charges. The main thing is that she wore men’s clothes, which back then was enough to have you charged as a witch. She did this to avoid rape and molestation while in custody. She was kept in military custody were she was guarded by male troops and was kept in an iron cage. She had 2 trials, her first one she was found guilty. She was then sentenced to be executed by being burned at the stake. She was soon to be executed then she signed a retraction and was spared, though it is clear that her enemies wanted her dead and would not give up. Her rehabilitation trial then began and because she still wore men’s clothes she was considered a relapsed heretic and was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.

Since her death, Joan de Arc has earned sainthood and is a historical figure of the French Military. Also her story was one of the driving forces of Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen), which is the right to religious freedom in France that was enacted in August 1789.

Sources:

Wikipedia Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VII_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen

New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08409c.htm

Photo

www.columbia.edu/ cu/record/23/17/12.html

Women's History Month Entry #2

Women of Juarez

Part of studying the past is to fix the present. We have a very serous issue in the present. In Juarez Mexico since the early 1990’s there has been a trend or series of murders. Women and girls have been going missing and a number of bodies are found regularly out side of the city. The bodies that are found are often raped tortured and mutilated. According to Amnesty International, as of February 2005 more then 370 bodies had been found, and over 400 women were still missing. There have been many question marks to the murders.

In 1995 an Egyptian immigrant named Abdul Latif Sharif was arrested and convicted for some of the murders, though they continued. In 1996 several members of a Juarez street gang called Los Rebeldes have been arrested and charged. There have been some arrests though the murders keep happening.

Most of the women who are murdered are workers in garment factories, la mequiladoras. They are often taken off the streets, often out side the gates of the factory and never seen again. To this day, there is constantly a big group of mothers looking for their missing daughters. There have been reports of corrupt Police sexually abusing women in custody; one theory is that the Police are behind it. The main thing is that we all have to spread the word and awareness of this issue. I would encourage my readers to research this issue and tell your friends and family.

Here are a few links:

http://www.libertadlatina.org/Crisis_Lat_Mexico_Juarez_Femicide.htm

http://womenofjuarez.egenerica.com/

http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/justice-for-the-women-of-juarez-and-chihuahua/page.do?id=1108394

Here is also a Poem that was written by a CSUMB student who permitted me to publish it here.

La Mequiladora

Juárez México is her home
Blanketed by dark industrial air
Nestled between the Grand River and the reaching mountains

She’s on the roaring click-clack assembly line
At La cantina a la discoteca with a glass of beer
She walks the loud colorful excited streets

She’s a discovered mystery corpse
On the dusty desert floor she’s lifeless as the dry stalk of thorns beside her

Her former home is a small gray bare cinder block dwelling
On a dirt road off Calle Zapata, where she’s a cluster of photos
All different colors and sizes
All occasions on the wall
Her long straight black hair, her favorite denim jacket
The trip she took to El Paso when she was 10 with her aunt and cousin
The time her cousin Carlos came all the way from Guadalajara

To her mother, she was a joyous 16 years
that passed to fast

To some she’s “otra mujer”
One crude Pink Cross on a phone pole
like her 800 sisters
Sisters of the same fate
Sisters of the same question,
Why?

Happy Saint Patricks Day

Today is always a day that I celebrate every year; even though with all honesty, I am not Irish. Ya I will be a lager lout like the rest of the 364 days of the year. I will have a logarithm going after work today. Though of course the holiday is much more then have stout or lager. It is celebrating a history and culture that goes fare beyond a pint glass. I like to take this time to remember an event in history. Of course it is about Saint Patrick and his moment in history. I like to thing of something modern. I always watch with my corn beef and cabbage the movie In the Name Of the Father. It is about when England in the 1970’s had a something similar to what America recently did with Guantanamo Bay to try to arrest IRA terrorists. The English found a way to get around due process and contain someone for how ever long. The story of the Guildford 4, is a case of that. The Guildford 4 accused of being IRA terrorists and were wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years. In the Name Of the Father, is their story in a movie. So would like to wish everybody happy Saint Paddy’s day. Be loud, be drunk; don’t get behind the wheel.
photo source: google image

Women's History Month Entry #1

Amelia Earhart was one of Aviations pioneers; her near trip around the world in 1937 was one of the footsteps to putting humans on the moon and space crafts on Mars. I admit she will be one of the main icons of the month; you can get million hits on google by typing in March…Amelia Earhart. Her trip around the globe was only apart of her life in Aviation. Amelia held a lot of Aviation records. In 1923, she was the 16^th women to receive a pilot’s license. Being a kind of a flyer my self, I’d be honored to be her right hand seat (aviation jargon for co-pilot) any day.

What probably gave her the special gift that she did was, that she did not grow up like normal women of her time. She was very into the outdoors, her and her sister Grace Muriel Earhart. Amelia and her sister were close, they would go out and collect small animal like toads together. Amelia and her family moved around a lot. What makes Amelia Earhart special is not just that she was a women Aviator. She was a much respected aviator. It is just sad that she did not make it all the way; she covered a lot of ground. The problem was the Pacific Ocean. It is a very big ocean that took a long time and fuel to fly. In early Aviation days, it was considered almost impossible. This very phenomenon would shape the history of World War II.

One thing I can ashore you is that Amelia was not a lager lout. She spent a lot of time flying and aircrafts and lager don’t mix, just as car and lager don’t mix.

Women's History Month

I am very sorry for the delay; I would like to give a late kick off to March, Women’s History Month. This month is for Women in history. I plan to do a series on a few women in history. Some of these women were activist, some were cultural icons. I am not saying that any of the aforementioned women are better then any others in history; I am just trying for a diverse meaningful combination. Also I would like to let my readers know, we will have some fun; though there will be some serous times. There will be times were we need to put down the lager and talk about some serous issues in society. I would like to dedicate this series to the memory of Lena Baker.

In memory of Lena Baker

Lena Baker was born on June 8^th 1901 in Cuthbert Georgia. She had a promiscuous past that gave her a bad reputation. She worked for a local mill owner named Ernest Knight. Ernest Knight had sexually abused her. On April 30^th 1944, he held her against her will and threatened to kill her. She acted in self defense and killed Ernest. In a racist and sexiest environment she lived, she was railroaded to the electric chair. On March 5, 1945, her last words were: “What I done, I did in self-defense. I have nothing against anyone. I’m ready to meet my God.” She was then executed. 60 years after her execution the State of Georgia gave her an unconditional full pardon for reasons of self defense in 2005. We must remember that the United States has murdered people. If we don’t learn from the past, and keep our government in check (even if it means civil disobedience); the government can turn in to a murder.

source: Wikipedia.org

This is the Omega 321 watch moment. It is a chronograph movement with a 17 jewel calibration that is manually wound. It is not a factory certified Chronometer, though meets the criteria and if properly tuned, works beyond basic chronometer standards. It was invented in 1945 by the Lumia watch company in Switzerland. Lumia was a sub-company to Omega. In 1957 the movement was put in Lewis Brendt's Omega Speedmaster. 1968 Omega replaced the 321 movement with the 861, which is the current Omega Speedmaster movement. Also Since 1965 the Omega Speedmaster has been the official space watch for NASA. It is sometimes nicknamed the moon watch, because it was worn on the moon. Still to this day, every astronaut is issued 2 Speedmasters with their space suit. The only difference between those Speedmasters and the one above, is that mission watches have a black Velcro strap to fit over the space suit. Also (this opinionated) Omegas are better then Rolexs. Rolexs are 20% more expensive on average, though are not a durable and don't keep time as well. Gonna get a beer, latter.