Wyatt Tan, Period 6, 12/11/2023

 Wyatt Tan

Period 6

12/11/2023

Current topics around inequity, oppression, and/or power

In today’s day and age, there is a huge issue regarding unethical work practices, especially in highly successful companies. From exploitative practices to corporate misconduct, many company owners use unethical methods to make their lives easier while leaving their workers in shambles. This issue regarding unethical work practices reflects the constant ideas of inequality prevalent in our society.  

One prominent example of unethical practices is the use of sweatshops. In these cases, the workers have no bargaining power and are often put into confined workspaces with disgusting work conditions. Many companies use such practices because they allow them to offer slim wages and excessive hours to gain the most profit possible while keeping their business expenses to a minimum. These factories are often found in developing countries, with the workers mostly being children and women and the owners being first-world major corporations. This practice leads to an endless cycle of poverty and inequality due to the lack of control governments have over first-world countries intervening with third-world countries. Along with this, there is constant discrimination and harassment that leads to toxic work environments. These instances of gender or race discrimination undermine the regulations of equality and diversity that we all strive for. For example, companies that pay female employees less than their male counterparts for similar roles carry on ideas of gender inequality. Not only are unethical practices limited to just the treatment of employees, but there are examples of unethical practices in corporate management. For example, Enron, a once highly regarded energy company, engaged in financial misconduct, manipulating financial statements to conceal debt and inflate profits. Once they were cracked down on their fraudulent practices, the company became bankrupt, leading to many workers losing their jobs. 

Through all this, many have tried to speak out regarding these practices, but they have been suppressed by these companies. There have been many instances where whistleblowers, those who expose crimes within companies, have been unsuccessful in doing so. One major case of this was Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden was a whistleblower who exposed the NSA (National Security Agency) to their many practices of storing private data and spying on many American citizens. This led him to eventually flee the country and find refuge in Russia, where he escaped American prosecution. Snowden was halted from practicing his right to free speech by the NSA, which goes against the many ideas of freedom and integrity that this country was built on. 

The idea of greed is very prominent in this topic. Many business owners are constantly trying to find ways to minimize their expenses at the cost of the workers, but this idea does not help anyone except themselves. By informing society of these unethical behaviors, we can allow for an equitable future for all, where citizens can voice their opinions for change. Without regulation in workplaces, greed overtakes many owners' minds, leading to inequality between the owner and their employees. Addressing these unethical behaviors demands a commitment to clarity within company lines and prioritizing employees and the company's integrity. 

Yanna Mei, Period 7, 12/15/2023

Yanna Mei

12/15/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Socio-political Consciousness

As many high school students finish up their college applications this month, I reflect on the changes made this year and its significance to this college application season; the most prevalent being the U.S. Supreme Court ending Affirmative Action. 

On June 29, 2023, The Supreme Court made the long-awaited decision to keep colleges and universities from information about students’ race and background. This news angered many people as they believed this would lessen the diversity in colleges and universities. Because I did not have many details about this decision initially, I was confused as to why people believed this was a bad thing. If the universities didn’t have access to someone’s race, they wouldn’t be able to discriminate against a person of color, right?

As I began to learn more and listen to other people’s points of view, I realized that an easy conclusion could not be drawn about this ruling. On one hand, colleges being blind to the student’s race does give a more equal evaluation for every applicant looking to attend those colleges. On the other hand, not everyone needs the same level of evaluation. As I write this post, I am reminded of an image I found on Instagram that provided a clear explanation and example of equity and equality:

I reflected on my original opinion of the Supreme Court ruling and realized there are benefits to keeping affirmative action. Many people can agree that diversity is a big part of choosing which college or university you may want to attend in the future. Diverse learning environments allow people to not only learn from others from different backgrounds but also prepare students for the real world, where they will inevitably need to work with many different people. After affirmative action was banned in Michigan in 2006, “the University of Michigan's Black student population fell from 7% in 2006 to 4% in 2022, in a state whose high school population is 17% Black.” This not only keeps underprivileged kids and minority groups from receiving equal education opportunities, but also prevents the students in the university from being exposed to a diverse population of kids. This is what separates races and starts the discrimination of privileged versus underprivileged people. 

Ignorance and unequal opportunity are what keep people separated. If we were all able to learn in the same environment, a sense of community and belonging would be built and people could learn from each other, not only from educators. The process of affirmative action could be argued both ways, but I believe that it is best to put in place a learning environment that is more integrated and equitable for students. 

Sources:

• “Affirmative Action in Education Matters for Equity, Opportunity, and the Nation’s Progress.” NAACP, 29 June 2023, naacp.org/resources/affirmative-action-education-matters#:~:text=Report-,Affirmative%20Action%20in%20Education%20Matters%20for%20Equity%2C%20Opportunity%2C%20and%20the,%2C%20and%20Asian%20students%207.1%25. 

• Iisc. “Illustrating Equality vs Equity.” Interaction Institute for Social Change, 24 Nov. 2021, interactioninstitute.org/illustrating-equality-vs-equity/. 

Nicole Vafiadis, Period 6, 12/15/23

Nicole Vafiadis, Period 7, 12/15/23

Modern Mythology 2024


When Spotify Wrapped released last week, I saw everyone talking about it. People shared their results, compared statistics, and joked about it. One joke that I remember in particular was a tweet that said that “if you died today, your friends would have to choose whether to post about their Wrapped or you first.” It was a pretty funny joke, but nothing too crazy. What truly made it memorable was the fact that that was how I learned that former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had died.

It is ingrained in our culture that it is important to respect the dead. Making fun of or joking about one’s death is considered to be incredibly disrespectful. This belief also extends to public figures; beloved celebrities are celebrated and mourned after their passing despite not having any personal connection to their fans. That being said, when certain people die, their deaths are instead celebrated and joked about. This phenomenon was confusing at first; what exactly was the influencing factor? However, as this trend continued with more and more people, it started to make more sense. The one thing that separated these people from the rest was the harm they caused to others.

It’s no surprise that Henry Kissinger is a controversial figure, to say the least. His actions led to thousands of deaths in southeast Asia. This displays the trend amongst figures that are ridiculed after death: whether intentional or not, their actions caused harm to innocent people. Take, for example, the Reagan administration’s response (or rather lack thereof) to the AIDS crisis. Whether you agree with his policy or not, it’s still impossible to deny that the lack of response caused the deaths of thousands. Now, decades later, people still make jokes about his death. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen that photo of the Doomslayer searching for him in Hell.

Whether you agree with this belief or not is entirely up to you. I personally have mixed opinions on this due to the subjectivity of certain people’s actions. Everyone’s values differ, someone’s actions may not be considered reprehensible to one person while it does to another. However, this phenomenon will continue to persist whether we like it or not, and at the end of the day, it’s up to us whether we want to fuel the fire.

Songen Tang Period 6 12/11/2023

Songen Tang

Period 6

12/11/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Research Paper

During June of this year, Western Carolina University conducted a non-invasive archaeological dig of Watauga mounds in Macon County. This has contributed to discoveries about Cherokee history and culture. The tradition of mound building exists in many indigenous North American cultures including the Cherokee, Creek, Fox, Osage, Seminole, and Shawnee. The mounds were used for burial, religious, and defensive purposes but these specific Cherokee mounds also had connections to astronomy. 

Since many of the mounds were used as burial sites, they have been the subject of many 

excavations. For instance, the Valentine brothers conducted excavations of several mounds in Western North Carolina in the late 19th century in search of artifacts. Thankfully, not all of the mounds were found in this time period, so there are still examples to be studied today. Because of the destructive nature of these excavations, modern archeologists try to use non-invasive methods involving magnetometry and gradiometry instead. Preserving the mounds ensures that these important pieces of the history and culture of the Cherokee people are not lost. 

The Watauga mounds are significant because, along with the Kawi, Watauga, and Noquisiyi mounds, they create astronomical orientations that relate to the stars and solstices. For example, three of the mounds line up to create Orion’s Belt. Also, many important traditions were tied to the solstices so they were valuable days to keep track of. All of this suggests that the mounds may have been used as a calendar, which was not one of the uses that were previously known, making this an important discovery. 

In our group’s presentation on the Cherokee culture’s creation myth, we emphasized the connection the Cherokee people have with their environment and I think the practice of mound building is another example of that. The way that the Earth was created in that story was through the shaping of mud by a water beetle and buzzard into mountains and valleys. It's possible that the tradition of creating mounds was a result of people wanting to emulate this by creating their own mountains. Celestial objects also have a large part in the creation myth. The sky is described as being an arch overlooking the earth and above it is Gälûñ'lätï which is where all of the animals lived. The sun starts out as being too close to the Earth until medicine men raise it up. The Earth is tethered to the arch in the four cardinal directions. All of this demonstrates the importance of astronomy to the Cherokee, and the new discoveries about the Watauga mounds show one of their methods of tracking the stars and seasons. 

Sources

Admin. “Mainspring Conserves Cherokee Mound.” Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain News, 12 Aug. 2020, smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/29609-mainspring-conserves-cherokee-mound.

“NCpedia: NCpedia.” Link to NCpedia Main Page, www.ncpedia.org/anchor/cherokees-world-origin-story. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Stone, Jessi. “Protecting the Past: Mounds Hold Key to Understanding Cherokee History.” Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain News, 3 Aug. 2016, smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/18153-protecting-the-past-mounds-hold-key-to-understanding-cherokee-history.

WCU Stories                                                          July 25, 2023. “A Third Summer of Field School at Watauga Unearths New Discoveries.” Western Carolina University - A Third Summer of Field School at Watauga Unearths New Discoveries, 25 July 2023, www.wcu.edu/stories/posts/News/2023/07/a-third-summer-of-field-school-at-watauga-unearths-new-discoveries.aspx.

WCU Stories                                                          June 8, 2023. “Conference on Interdisciplinary Cherokee Language and Culture Revitalization Held at WCU.” Western Carolina University - Conference on Interdisciplinary Cherokee Language and Culture Revitalization Held at WCU, 8 June 2023, www.wcu.edu/stories/posts/News/2023/06/conference-on-interdisciplinary-cherokee-language-and-culture-revitalization-held-at-wcu.aspx. 

Lea Tsvayg, Period 6, 12-13-23

 Lea Tsvayg, Period 6, 12-13-23

Modern Mythology 2024

Literacy & Learning

The book “Stone Blind” by Natalie Haynes completely reversed the image of Medusa I now see. Going into this unit, like almost everyone else, I pictured Medusa as this “monster” with snakes for hair, brutally killing everyone she comes across. However, I learned that this couldn’t be further from the truth. While yes, she does have snake hair, nothing about Medusa makes her a monster. She was an innocent girl who was raped by an arrogant and conceited god, and then wrongly punished. Despite being cursed and having plenty of reason for being angry with the world, Medusa was determined to never hurt anyone. She suffered, not letting herself go outside of her cave and if she briefly did, her eyes were tightly bound, just to ensure that nobody would be turned to stone. Despite her innocent and harmless nature, and despite everything she did to prevent causing harm to anyone, she was murdered by Perseus.

Perseus is considered the hero in the story, but is he really? He killed a sleeping gorgon who was causing him no harm. He mercilessly killed and then used Medusa’s head to kill even more. Perseus did nothing remotely heroic during his quest. He was heavily aided by the gods and did a lot more harm than good. Perseus is the one who committed murder and used Medusa’s “powers” to harm others, while Medusa was extremely cautious not to cause harm to anyone.

After watching the interview with Natalie Haynes video in class a while ago, the idea of characters being misrepresented really stuck out to me. No Ancient Greek myth ever suggested that Medusa was a horrible “monster”. This made me wonder who else in literature is horribly misrepresented. With that in mind, for the assignment where we had to draw a connection between Hayne’s interview and something else, I decided to look into these misrepresented characters. I remembered about “Frankenstein” and instantly was able to find similarities between that and “Stone Blind”. Even though she never killed anyone, people think of Medusa as a horrible creature that's dangerous and scary. This reminded me in a way of Frankenstein's Monster because although he did kill people, his character is horribly misunderstood. Dr. Frankenstein created the "monster" using a mishmash of body parts taken from corpses, so it was no surprise that people found it to be ugly and scary. The "monster" started off as a blank slate with good intentions, but everyone was repulsed by him and refused to see any humanity within him. He only became angry after being abandoned. In the story, Dr. Frankenstein should be considered the monster, just like with "Stone Blind", Perseus is more of a monster than Medusa was.

Beyond that connection, “Stone Blind” made me think about people being wrongly labeled as “monsters” and “heroes” in real life. People are so quick to judge a situation, oftentimes without considering the full story. We don’t take the time to listen to both sides and then fact check. We blindly follow the version being pushed out to us. I think as a society, we need to start reevaluating how quick we are to slap a label on a person and start taking into account that there are many perspectives to every story. 

TIm Liu, Period 7, 12/13/2023

 Tim Liu, Period 7, 12/13/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Socio-political Consciousness

Current Topic: Political Polarization

I want to talk about political polarization, which I would define as the growing gap in the political spectrum between the values of Republicans and Democrats. In recent years, political polarization has increased, which heightens tensions due to mass media and the public's political ideology. According to the Pew Research Center, they stated that "In 2014, Pew Research, a non-partisan "fact tank" according to its website, reported the percentage of Americans who consistently express either liberal or conservative views has more than doubled over the past two decades from 10% to 21%. In the same series of surveys, Pew Research also found that "partisan antipathy" increased significantly during this period. Among Republicans, the percentage that held "very unfavorable" views of the Democratic Party jumped from 17% to 43%.

Similarly, the percentage of Democrats who held unfavorable views of the GOP also rose sharply from 16% to 38%." It has been a problem for those individuals with minority political views who want to raise their voices in red or blue states. This fact incites strong feelings toward me, especially as I'm a person with conservative values living in NYC. I have always loved to talk about politics at home. However, I was afraid to raise my voice and engage in discussions about politics in a liberal environment, such as at school, work, or anywhere outside. For example, when talking about trans women participating in the women's category of sport, I was afraid to talk about my stance against their participation since it might sound like I'm homophobic. One time, when my class had to vote on whether torture should be to punish or interrogate criminals, I was extremely hesitant after no one in the class thought it was morally right, leaving the question uncontested. People around me always talk about how idiotic, ignorant, and racist conservatives are; however, it's not true for most Republicans. Biases and exaggeration in the media tend to mislead average citizens, badmouthing parties they strongly oppose. The increase in political polarization has led to skepticism in American institutions. Instead of accepting individuals' views and values, political polarization causes people to treat opposing party supporters as enemies. This divides not only people but also the entire country and the government. I think that individuals must understand and empathize with others' diverse perspectives and respect their view even when their values don't align with theirs.

Luca Gianquinto, Period 6, 11/27/23

 Luca Gianquinto Period 6 11/17 Modern Mythology 2024

In the complex spider’s web of democracy, power struggle is inevitable and part of the system. Although natural since elections are the most important competition in the country, this is still an area of extreme frustration for me. In recent years, elections and power struggles have greatly deepened the divisions in our nation, especially among my generation. Instead of serving as platforms for diverse ideas and the common good, political parties often become battlegrounds where personal ambition takes precedence over advancing towards a better society together.

This constant power struggle leads to internal conflicts and extremism, as well as most dangerously: corruption. As time goes on, the main two political parties deviate farther away from each other both in views and morals, making compromise infinitely more difficult. The impact of this division extends to legal bodies and subsequent laws, where decisions are influenced more by political advantage rather than a genuine concern for the people. This only leaves us in a rabbit hole with no bottom to it, as the yearning of each party to have political control will further corrupt and plague the government, straying it away from structuring society and instead dismantling it. In essence, the government is growing towards the very thing it swore to destroy: chaos. To extend this to the citizens, our society is fractured, with individuals forced to pick sides rather than engaging in constructive conversations. The growing distance between parties divides people even further, as some people will refuse to even interact with a member of the opposing party. People are dehumanized, arguments are started, and overall, we drive ourselves into anarchy on both sides of the spectrum.

My frustration arises not only from the absurd extremism I experience daily through social media  but also from the thoughts of my future. I worry about how the world will look in ten, twenty, or even thirty years as the climate tends to be growing worse with time. I fear living in a world where we are separated, divided into classes depending on our views, at a political, social, economic, and physical war with each other. 

In conclusion, my worry with political power struggles emphasizes a broader concern about the health of our country and my generation in specifics. We are straying further and further away from civilization, and are reverting back to uncivilized fighting, berating, and yelling as byproducts of anger from not getting what we want politically, as well as advocating for what we want.