Nelson Mandela and South Africa

Afrikaner nationalism is a political idea that started in the late nineteenth century among Afrikaners. Afrikaners are a South African ethnic group that are descendants of the Dutch settlers that first tried to colonize South Africa. Their main language is Afrikaans. There was a ton of tension between the Afrikaners, especially during the Boer wars. The South African Border War took place from 1966 to 1989. The South African Army invaded Angola in the 1970's . 

Nelson Mandela attended primary school in Qunu, where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson, because of  the custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names. He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school. Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in a student protest. On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, he was introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles through a firm of attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and Sidelsky. He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.

Nelson Mandela

South Africa Cape Town

I'm pretty sure these pictures explain everything you need to know about Rugby. 

A Bosnian's everyday life in the 80's

Here's a map so you know what I'm talking about.

Here is a quick overview of their history. The Bosnian's are incredibly tied to ethnic and religious identity. Most Bosnian's are Muslim and their culture greatly resembles that of Turkey. Bosnia has a long history of peace among their main three ethnic groups until Milosevic rose to power in 1989. He was an extremist politician who stirred the people up for trouble and filled them with distrust. In 1992 when Bosnia declared Independence the government began campaigns of ethnic cleansing leaving millions dead, wounded, and homeless. 

 Bosnian food has been influenced by both Turkish and Eastern European traditions. Grilled meat is very popular along with cabbage-based dishes. "Bosanski Ionacis" a cabbage and meat stew. "Cevapciciare" are lamb sausages that often are eaten with a flat bread called "calledsomun." Desserts in all different flavors can be found all over. "burekandpida" which is a meat pie layered with cheese, "zeljanica" a spinach pie, and "sirnica" a cheese pie, are served as main dishes. "Baklava" is a Turkish pastry made of "phyllo" dough layered with nuts and honey, it is a popular dessert, just like the apple cake called "tufahije." "Kefir" is a thin yogurt drink which is very popular. Another popular drink is the Turkish coffee and a kind of tea called "salep." Homemade brandy called "calledrakija" is a popular alcoholic drink. People now do not use Alcohol much because of the Muslim influence, it even goes as far as being banned in some parts of the country!

he current generation of children has witnessed unspeakable atrocities. Children were a prime target of snipers, especially in Sarajevo. Survivors suffer flashbacks, nightmares, andsevere depression; in one survey, 90 percent of children surveyed in Sarajevo declared that they did not want to live. The country will be dealing with the effect of the war on these children for years.

Education is free and mandatory for children between the ages of seven and fourteen. There are Muslim schools where students study the Koran and Islamic law in addition to secular subjects and where boys and girls are taught in separate classrooms.

The educational system has been hard hit by the war. Schools were common targets of Serb mortar attacks, and many were forced to close. Some makeshift schools were organized in homes, but many children were left with no access to education. Since 1995, many schools have reopened.

The current generation of kids in Bosnia have been through horrible things. In Sarajevo, Bosnia, kids were the main targets of snipers. That generation suffers from flashbacks, nightmares, depression, and 90% of children in Sarajevo declared that they did not want to live. The country will be dealing with the effect of the war on these children for years.

Education is free and mandatory for children between the ages of seven and fourteen. There are Muslim schools where students study the Koran and Islamic law in addition to secular subjects and where boys and girls are taught in separate classrooms.

The educational system has been hard hit by the war. Schools were common targets of Serb mortar attacks, and many were forced to close. Some makeshift schools were organized in homes, but many children were left with no access to education. Since 1995, many schools have reopened.

A kid plays while wearing a United Nations helmet.

A scenic view in Bosnia.  

East berlin

The people in the Soviet always had a want for normal things that people today have easy access to. Things like denim jeans, and oranges. Another thing they didn't have that they have today are DJ's. Sounds funny, I know, but people would wait in lines for hours trying to get a ticket to go to a "concert."

Jeans in Russia were the unofficial symbol of a democracy in fashion. Anyone who had a pair was coveted be anyone who didn't have a pair. To get a pair you would have had to go to extreme length to get a pair. The people in Russia got their first pair of jeans in the 1950's when Moscow hosted the World Festival of Youth and Students. From then on jeans represented everything the Russia needed. At first jeans were banned from Russia, which meant that you could get fired from your job, or worse you could be expelled. Jeans were first really worn by sailors or diplomat's kids. They brought them in from other places. People would often go to jail because they would try to smuggle jeans in from across the border.

In a radio interview talking about the relationship between West and East Germany it brought up the trust between them. The common everyday people had to trust each other. In East Germany the people didn't have the rights to allow them to host a radio show telling whatever they wanted, so they needed help from the west side. After recording what was happening on their side, the people on the east side would smuggle the tapes to the other side, which the people would then radio broadcast. There had to be trust between the two of them that the west wouldn't edit everything out, and the east were actually doing what they said they were doing.

What a strange way to live your life, not even being able to do normal everyday stuff freely. It would be interesting to know what the Russians thought of East Berlin. They would seem to relate to each other.

Berlin Wall



Jeans were to die for! (Sometimes literally)


Oranges were an exotic not seen very much fruit in Russia in the 80's.



A dairy store.



A bus station.

Back to the Future!

In the movie Back to the Future, Marty McFly goes from 1985 to 1955 where the town is looking quite different. From 55' to 85' I feel like they lost innocence but gained more rights. An example of this is the movie theater in 55' gets turned into a pornography show. The film seemed to be right about racism in the fifties. In the fifties, black people pretty much had the worst or lowest jobs.
The mayor of Hill Valley was working in the ice cream parlor when he was a teen in 1955. When he thought running for mayor sounded good, the response was, "A man of your color! No way!" In the 80's, his color did not stop him from being mayor. Other differences were that the kids were more aware of the dangers of smoking and drinking in the 80's compared to the 50's. The teens in the eighties seemed more mature.

In 1985 they talked about the future. Now we don't seem to care about the future beyond two years. The only thing we look forward to in the future is movies coming out soon. (AKA Star wars, Sherlock season 4, and others.)  It is like we gave up the hope of flying cars and such because either the fuel is too expensive or other problems. Marty gave me in 2016 the "new" idea of the open, unzipped vest, as he wore it in 1985.

Marty McFly is a hopeful musician who is dating a girl name Jennifer Parker. He lives in Hill Valley, California with his dad George McFly, who gets bullied by a man named Biff, his mom Lorraine, who is overweight, depressed, and an alcoholic, his brother Dave, who works at the local Burger King, and his sister Linda, who is complaining about not having a life or meeting any boys. When Linda complains and brings up boys, Lorraine reminisces about how she met George, he was "bird watching" in a tree and fell, right in front of her father's moving car.


A "flying" car!




Movies to look forward to.




The clock in Doc's time machine to tell you the destination time, present time, and coming from.



The time machine works to the amazement of Doc and Marty.




The poster for Back to the Future.

Rock N Roll, Drugs, Pant Suits, And Anger Issues.. Oh! You mean the 80's?

(This blog post is going to be a long one due to it being three weeks of blogs stuffed into one.)

Power to the Women! The 80's kicked off with pant suits, a suit for the working female class. It had shoulder pads and some even wore a tie.  This new style was a look of power for women.  Smoking was still very common, in many of the offices everyone smoked. While working woman did get more common, the amount of women working in computer programming was very low. This was because computers were marketed toward boys, like Tonka Trucks. Because of this, boys would have the advantage of experiences. Because woman started working, the companies started using that to their full advantages. An example of this was the commercial for perfume. It was sold to the 24/7 woman who worked, cleaned, took care of her man and did everything! It was a pressure on women asking them if they could really work and still be feminine. Speaking of working while still being feminine, behold the pant suit! The pant suit was a way for working women in the 80's to get that professional look, yet still be feminine. 

I got an interview with my aunt who was a teenager in the 80's, It was fun comparing her teenage years, to mine today. "I was in high school from 1982-1986. I wasn't really one to keep up with the trends of the day, while my sister Lori did! The "in" things at the time for girls were; BIG hair with lots of hairspray, leg warmers, mini-skirts, and sweatshirts with the collar ripped out. People, like especially girls, like talked like this and like totally fer sure loved Madonna and Kevin Bacon (Footloose!). The most popular music of the day was pop music. Besides Madonna, popular singers/groups included Prince, Michael Jackson, The Police, Van Halen, Queen, and the Cars. I don't remember much about the sports of the day- as a teenage girl, I enjoyed watching the Vikings and knew the names of all the players, but I don't think they were all that good. Television in the 80's was awesome! I watched a LOT of TV including: The Cosby Show, Cheers, Miami Vice, Family Ties, the A-Team, Dukes of Hazzard, Magnum P.I., Growing Pains, Full House, Three's Company, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Moonlighting, the Wonder Years. The movies were awesome too. The special effects were just starting to improve, but they were not nearly as great as the computer generated stuff of today. My favorites of the day (P.S. I am not recommending you go out and rent these...some of them are questionable in the morals department) were: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Aliens, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Sixteen Candles, and my ALL TIME FAVORITE The Princess Bride. As far as Politics, again, I didn't much care at the time. The President that I recall most was Ronald Reagan. I can't say I was much interested in what was happening in the world either at that time, but I do recall that Mount St. Helen's erupted and that the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded just after launch with a civilian schoolteacher named Christa McAuliffe aboard. I also remember that the US and the USSR (Russia) were not friends at that time in history. As far a religion, I never felt persecuted for my faith. I LOVED my youth group and many of my friends today are old youth group friends. The exercise/health fad of the day was aerobics. We loved to do aerobics to the awesome music of the day. Jane Fonda was an actress who got into doing aerobics videos (videos also came out around that time), but I preferred Richard Simmons!. Technology was starting to improve. We got our first VCR in the 80's. It was one of the first ones out to have a remote control, but the remote was attached to the VCR by a long wire that laid across the room. Computers were more popular, with laptop computers just making their debut. Cell phones came out in the 80's too, but they were HUGE and too expensive for the average person to carry. We were excited, though, about the new cordless home phones and call waiting! I lived in the same house from the time I was born to when I moved out for college. We lived in a split level house that my parents had purchased in 1968 for around $30,000. My first car (1985) was a Chevy Chevette with a stick shift. It was a tiny car that got good as mileage, but it was small. So a day in my life went pretty much like this. I woke up to my clock radio at about 6:30 am on a school day. I slept in a totally awesome waterbed in a bedroom with 1 wall covered in a mural of some mountainous place in Europe somewhere. I was able to take a shower, grab a fruit roll-up and be at the bus stop in 20 minutes. My hair froze on cold winter mornings because it was always wet when I went to the bus stop! I would be in school until about 3, then ride the bus home and work on homework. On Wednesdays, I went to youth group and on weekends, there were always neighborhood our youth group people to hang out with. I was part of a group of good kids, but I did know kids who smoked- both cigarettes and marijuana- mostly at school. Those were NOT the cool kids. We went to church on Sundays and very often went out for lunch with another family from church. My idea of fun was hanging out with my friends, going to the mall, watching movies. I really felt kind of isolated from the world in my little suburb. Life seemed simpler then."




Ghostbuster's Who you gunna call? GHOSTBUSTER'S!



Jane Fonda leads you with her workout video's!




"The Police" Band kicked off in the 70's but really got rolling in the 80's




The Cell Phone... which is stronger this or a Nokia cell phone?




A picture of an everyday girl from the 80's



The Rubik's Cube was a popular toy in the 80's



The Pant Suit.

Star Wars:A New Generation (We Hope)

Looking at the different characters in Star Wars: A New Hope, you start to see the different characters and the generation gap they represent. I apologize in advance to the Star Wars nerds who's rage will rain down upon me if I misspell a name or get something drastically wrong.

Luke Skywalker, also know as Luke Starkiller in the first draft, is the main character of the movie. He represents the teens of today, the ones that the parents just don't get. He had his hopes and dreams of going off planet and seeing the rest of the galaxy. Meanwhile his Uncle Owen Lars just wants him to run the farm. This could be compared to a father not getting his son's dreams to travel when he's supposed to run the family business. Because It doesn't matter if you want to go pick up power converters at the Toshi Station, you need to keep the farm running. His uncle and aunt clearly represented the silent generation, meanwhile Luke represents generation X.

Another comparison of generation gaps represented by Star Wars is Han Solo and Luke. Han is a little bit older than Luke and has been all over the Galaxy. Several times Han will often say something sarcastic or say something like he doesn't believe in the force. Luke will either not understand or get that wide-eyed innocent stare. Their generations are at different steps. Han represents the baby boomer generation.

A third generation gap that I'm going to bring up is Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi. It reminded me of a person who could still see hope (Obi Wan), and a person who couldn't (Darth Vader). Darth Vader is younger than Obi Wan. He's seen and known the war all his life, and only sees one way to end it, to join the stronger side which is the empire. Obi Wan can see the force in Luke and knows there is hope. AKA A New Hope. Both of them seem to present the GI generation.

Because Luke and Princess Leia are the same age, there's not much of a generation gap as there is a culture gap. As stated before Luke grew up on a farm on Tatooine, meanwhile Leia was the daughter of Senator Bail Organa. They came from two different worlds, quite literally as Leia was from Alderaan, an entirely different planet. They were two star cross lovers. Alongside Luke, Leia also represents Generation X.



The poster for Star wars: A New Hope




Han Solo and Chewie his partner are ready for action.


Luke Skywalker looks out on the horizon hoping for something beyond the farm life.





Princess Leia does not blink twice at Han's attempts to woo her.


To show Han that she doesn't care, she gives Luke the kiss. XD

The Fog of War (Vietnam)

The Vietnam war was called the longest and most controversial war ever. This was mostly because of the deaths of the soldiers was so high that one in ten of every man send over, came back wounded or killed. The war started on November 1st, 1955, and ended on April 30th, 1975. That means the war lasted 19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks, and 1 day. The total minimum of people killed from this war was one million, seventy nine thousand, eight hundred forty six.

President Johnson was a firm believer, and main starter of the Vietnam war. He believed that if they stopped fighting in Vietnam, the communist would march over and they would be fighting in Hawaii, then San Francisco. Nearing the end of the war, Johnson saw how many lives were lost for nothing, and refused to be re-elected even if the people wanted him. Johnson wanted the war to end, but Nixon had some of his advisers go over to south Vietnam and encourage them to keep fighting and told them they would get a better deal with him. I think we entered the Vietnam war because we still were holding on to the fear of the Cold War, about communism taking over.

The Chinese and Vietnamese had always been fighting, and it was like their thing. They didn't want the US to come join the war. In the end all the fighting and death was pretty much for nothing, today there is no South and North Vietnam. They are the combined country of Vietnam under a communistic government.

The Vietnam war also had a impact on pop culture. After the war, the "Crazy Vietnam Veteran" who suffered from PTSD, also know as post traumatic stress disorder, became a common stock character seen in everything from movies to video games. There were also many movies featuring the Vietnam war like: The Deer Hunt, We Were Soldiers, Rescue Dawn, The Green Berets, and many more. The Vietnam war even influenced music, one of the most popular was: I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag, also know as, The Fish Cheer.

One of my favorite songs came from this era. It's called: Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round Ol' Oak Tree. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqBhZj_37U . It's a song about a soldier coming home from the war, and he's not sure if he'll be welcomed home because of how hated the war was. He writes his girlfriend and tells her If she wants him to tie a ribbon around the oak tree.

The most surprising part of this assignment was my parents input. Both were surprised the Vietnam was one country. I feel like the war is a very bitter topic for our parents, and grandparents generation. My mom was talking about how weird it was when my generation started saying "The bomb." I feel like my generation and younger are so oblivious to any war or attack, unless it goes national. I didn't even know if we were in a war or not until this year. We need to make sure to teach our kids and learn from History's mistakes so we don't do them again.

The latest 2015 version of the Vietnam Flag.




Vietnam War protests




The Vietcong flag



A picture of soldiers running to the helicopter.



A young Marine waits on the beach for his orders.