Alexander the Great!

As I read about Alexander the Great, and all that he accomplished, I thought, "Wow, he got a lot of shit done by twenty-four." Can y'all imagine conquering country after country, lands after lands, establishing one massive kingdom?! He said, "okay, listen dad (Philip), let's take this takeover of Greece, and expand it, like crazy-style." And for ten years he went on this expansion and conquering of  the west and south: Egypt, Anatolia, Afghanistan, and parts of India. I mean, he did this in his twenties. He may have felt like going out to the clubs, and drinkin'...but he said, "no way, I am making something of myself!" And now he is known as Alexander the Great!

I want to be called Meghan the Great! But, alas, I am twenty-seven and still finishing my bachelor's. Ah well, maybe I will publish a New York Time's Best Seller. Plus, I wouldn't be too good at divide and conquer and all that. 

I Want to be a Scribe!

After reading all about becoming a scribe, it gives me a new appreciation for the English language, as I am an English major. I have always loved being able to convey my thoughts, my imagination, and everything else creative and informative, onto paper. Back then, it was the best job a person could acquire, as it saved you from being poor, a soldier, or any other hard laboring job. Being a scribe spared you of these jobs because the written word was very vital in a culture's way of passing on present day messages, and stories from the elders.

Today, most every human can write in some form. Becoming a writer is not terribly important in this day and age; but if you transfer the meaning of being a scribe back then to the meaning of going to school in the present day, it carries the same weight. I think many feel that acquiring more knowledge, by attaining degrees, or certificates, almost guarantees a human a better life than those who opt out of such things. These people do usually end up in the military, or with a hard laboring job (serving tables, bar tending, construction, etc.).

Anyway, Egyptians...they are still tops in my book.

Pyramids, Scribes, and OJ Simpson. Oh My!

After reading chapter two, I couldn't stop thinking about pyramids. Pyramids are always associated with Egypt, of course, but they are also found in Mexican and South American regions. So, I thought, how could all of these regions have the same basic form for buildings? Then it occurred to me: did they build pyramids step by step? I think that after building the base, the workers/slaves must have climbed onto that part and built a new story, indented because they used the first story to stand on. Since all these civilizations are relatively established around the same times, I figured, this must have been an instinctual way of building these elaborate structures.

Along the lines of Egypt, it was interesting to read that they were definitely superior, socially and agriculturally, to Mesopotamia, who formed too many little cities, ruled by different kings, and who also did not have the resources that Egypt did because of the Nile. Because Mesopotamia seemed to be the older of the two, just by a bit, and I have heard so much about it throughout history classes, I thought that they would have been closer to success like Egypt, but after reading, that just wasn't the case. Also, I feel that they focused too much on social status, gender roles, and the rulings of such, to a point where it began to get in the way of just simply surviving; where Egypt focused on that as well, but also focused greatly of education, as seen in the "Be a Scribe."

Lastly, I definitely did not like how the Mesopotamians punished people based on class. As a working class man could hurt another working class man, and only get on lashing; but, if he were to hurt a man in a class above him he would get 60 lashings. I thought, "That is a bit dramatic, and ridiculous!" Buuuuut, then I realized OJ Simpson got away with a double homicide, solely based (for what I believe to be true) on his status as a famous football star and movie actor. Many present day celebrities, who have a much higher social standing than us, seem to get away with things like drug possession, under-age drinking, speeding, and even murder. It's ridiculous, and although it is not a written law, nor is it legal, they seem to have a sympathetic judgement in the eye of the justice system, just as the higher classes in Mesopotamia.

"I'm Every Woman, It's All in Meeeeee!"

I think the best thing I read this week was the modern day Paleolithic woman's interview, specifically when she spoke about taking on multiple lovers when she was married. I think that is exactly how people should live today. I completely believe that a human may find that one person they will completely fall in love with, and want to keep around all your life; but, I believe a human should have the option to experiment and feel out other lovers as well. I believe that keeps the first lover, number one, and at a healthy level for relationships. Having many lovers in addition to your husband, or main main lover, benefits more than just the sexual desires and experimental side of the wife, but at these times, also the hunting and gathering portion. Having multiple men bring and hunt things for you, is awesome. I can't even get a guy to give me a single rose, let alone a whole carabao! I loved reading about these early people earlier in the chapter as is, but the firsthand account really brought it home for me. How free she could even speak during the interview was so refreshing. Most people --ignorant people-- think that people who are not "civilized" are also very behind the times, but from this chapter, and interview, it is obviously the opposite. Maybe these people are behind the times when it comes to technology, but they are vastly ahead of a lot of us when it comes to equality and status. Many parts of the US still do not seem to understand these VERY basic principles...sad.

Prologue and Ch. 1

The first thing that struck me about our reading was the timeline we also discussed in class. Seeing how insignificant humans are in the grand scheme of events in this world's history really was, and is, an eye-opener. I have always been pretty humble about our place in this world, as I try to be environmentally conscious and I do not believe in any religion. But just seeing how late we came into existence was really amazing to me. Although the Cosmic Calendar showed it in layman's terms, reading the actual years affected me much more greatly; the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, yet we only came around 250,000 years ago! 

As I read about the earliest peoples, I really was drawn to the small section about Rapa Nui, which is known as Easter Island now. The people who lived on the island used up so much of the island's resources that they caused deforestation, consequently causing famine, population decline, and (the part I found most interesting) no way to get off the island because they had no wood to build the boats. I actually thought this little bit of information was kind of funny, to be honest. I felt as if it could have been in a Mel Brooks movie or something. 

Another fact I enjoyed reading about was that the San people were all equal. The women gathered more vegetation than the men hunted meat, causing them to have no dominant sex. The teenagers also engaged in sex, and female virginity was unknown, or better yet, not important. Even more importantly, marriages lasted, and happily so. There were no wife beatings, rape, nor double standards. So, basically, I felt as though humans went terribly backwards after this tribe.