IHSS Blog 2019-2020

  Leon Hoang Mr. Roddy IHSS 26 August, 2020 IHSS: Anthropology Reading - The Nacirema “The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (Miner). This sets up a cause and effect scenario in which if man practices ritual and ceremony, disease will not occur. For this very reason, families have one or more shrines dedicated to rituals in every home. It seems that religion is more important to them than anything else in life. Another fascinating thing was the obsession with mouths that the Nacirema have. They believe that the mouth could be the cause of most illnesses and go to the supposed "holy-mouth-men" for a cure. Despite the ghastly techniques that the holy mouth men use, such as inserting hog hairs and using crude tools to fill holes in with a “magical material”,  in the eyes of the subject this is simply required in order to stop decay. The thing that is interesting, is t...

  Miriam Isabelle P. Saxon  Mr. Roddy IHSS 8/26/20 The  “Nacirema” (Disclaimer I was planning to write this as I read the material, but I quickly had a revelation about it and changed how I was originally planning to write it. I left in my original begging because I thought you might find it interesting.) Anthropology is a field in which diversity is very common in their work, but the way in which the Nacirema act is so extreme that it is surprising even to someone who works is so heavily steeped in abnormality. The Nacirema are still surrounded in mystery as little is known about their origin other than their vague comments about coming from the east. They are located in North American between Canada and Mexico...that's where America is. Wait, Nacirema is American spelled backwards...is this a joke?  (I was originally planning on writing this as I read the article but after my earlier revelation I read the article then came back and wrote the rest of my response.)...

Ariela Kluk Mr. Roddy IHSS 8/24/20 I found the Nacirema tribe’s exotic customs very unique and some of their traditions which I have never heard before very strange. One thing I found strange was their obsession with mouths and how there rituals and treatments destroyed them and caused tooth decay instead of healing them. I do not understand why the people would pay to go to the temple where intense rituals take place when the rituals can cause them to die. Although I was fascinated by how strongly the tribes believed in the rituals and how if they did not practice the rituals they thought their teeth would fall out, their lovers would disappear and a variation of other horrible things would happen to them. I respect how they follow there believes very well and how their traditions were the center of their lives. I was weirded out learning about how They put themselves through pain during these rituals so that these horrible things won’t happen to them causing them to be masochistic an...

After doing the research for my challenge project on kill and no kill animal shelters, I have decided that I want to find a way to educate people on the internet without stating any form of opinion in order to be informative without being offensive. What I want to do is make a website that will have information both good and bad on kill and no kill animal shelters in an effort to educate the public on the matter. many people will for blind opinions on specifically kill shelters as they don't do the research and end up attacking people without any information on the matter. This is something that people need to know about because it is important that people who are thinking about adopting an animal know what they are getting in to before they do so impulsively. I will also include information on why sterilizing animals is so important to the issue of strays and why people should consider sterilizing their household pets as well as it only puts their animal in danger and makes them w...

Connor Kissack Mr. Roddy IHSS 20 May 2020 Reflection Blog When I chose to do research on the Galveston Bay I primarily thought little of it. The only details I knew were that the beach is definitely one of the worst because of two reasons; the oil rigs as well as all the litter that has been tossed upon the beach by the people. These reasons were in fact correct and this helped me realize what has been happening in Galveston. I learned that no one has put millions of dollars into trying to remove a lot of the oil that has been spilled into the Gulf of Mexico that continues to wash up into Galveston Bay. I also learned that lots of erosion and lots of pollution comes and washes up on Galveston from hurricanes that start near the continent of Africa. The beach continues to get hit at year by year with no goal insight. I interviewed a variety of different people on their own beliefs on how they feel about Galveston and I even interviewed people who work in conservation groups...

Oliver Erdmann Mr. Roddy IHSS May 20, 2020 Interview Blog For one of my interviews, I interviewed my cousin. He is a rabbi in New York City and grew up in Houston. He said that he thinks anti-semitism will always be a thing, no matter where you are, there will always be anti-semites. They might not be currently acting on their hate but they are are thinking it. Although there are much less anti-semites today than there used to be, they can still hurt someone a lot, wether it be mental or physical. Mr. Hollopeter has been affected by anti-semitism for his whole life, starting in Bellaire and now in New York City. Because he has been affected by it his whole life, he said that his synagogue is meant to be a safe space for people experiencing any hate, not just anti-semitism. 

Oliver Erdmann Mr. Roddy IHSS May 20, 2020 Reflection Blog For my interviews, I chose my cousin, a rabbi, and Alex Karni's grandmother. After we had an in-depth conversation, I realized that I had gotten some good information. Both people told me their stories about anti-semitism and how it played a role in their lives. The interesting thing I found out about my interviews was that both of the stories I heard were very similar in some ways, even though they grew up in completely different places. Alex's grandma, Costa Rica, and my cousin, in Houston. This shows how anti-semitism is a world wide problem and a lot of people are affected by it. During the interviews, we talked about how they overcame the tormenting from when they were a kid to now. I realized that, what if people like my interviewees, told children how to overcome it. I feel like this would be one step closer to finishing the hatred. That is why Alex and I created an instagram account to help stop...