When I first started out on my project, it was a blur. People commented on my project saying that they were all confused as to what I was actually doing. When I was typing it, it seemed like such a clear idea. However, when I reread the project portion of blog three, I was confused myself. So I decided that I would try to re-explain what I would be doing. There are no specifics to what I will actually be doing. A lot of people did not know if my main focus was doing people’s hair, or adoption. My main focus is to give back to my community in any way possible. New Orleans has faced such devastation in the past few months, and I feel that anything I do will be a plus to my community. I have started by going through my closet and taken clothes that I can no longer wear. The clothes that I have gathered will be donated by me through the East Coast Club. Since I have 18 credits and a job, a lot of my free time is taken up. So I feel as though I can not do a lot to save the world or even make a big change. But I do feel like I can do something. When I can not donate clothes, I will look into volunteering anywhere I can. My volunteering will be split between cleaning my community and trying to help out anybody that I can whether they are the elderly or a child. I have already started cleaning my immediate surroundings. As a part of the East Coast Club here at Xavier, I was able to lend a helping hand in the Outreach New Orleans project, and go to St. Anna’s Residence. The lack of transportation has a lot to do with my inability to just up and leave when I want. Everything I do tends to be on someone else’s time and agenda that they have previously scheduled out. I try to weasel myself into their schedule and get my own agenda executed.
I feel like I can not do much, but I am trying as much as I can. I actually feel bad because a lot of people in the class have and are doing a lot for their projects and I feel like I am doing the bare minimum to get by. Well actually I do not feel like I am doing the bare minimum but I do not want someone else to think that I am doing just enough to get by in my theology class. With 18 credits and a job, I feel like a single mother when I get home because I have a “family” to take care of. They are not my children, but my friends who really rely on me for a lot. I am really like the mother, mediator, sister, provider, nurturer, bread-winner, wife, rebel, and the list goes on and on.

In the book of Judges, there was a recurring event that would always happen; the Israelites would forsake and turn away from God and ask for deliverance and they would get it. According to lecture, there are eight major judges: Othniel, Deborah & Barak, Abimelek, Samson, Ehud, Gideon and Jephtah. The Bible for Dummies stated that a Judge was simply a military leader and government leader appointed by God. While in the Promised Land, the Israelites found ways to go against God, by praising and worshiping other gods. So God sent a King, Eglon to oppress the Israelites for 18 years. When the Israelites prayed for deliverance, God, being the forgiving God that he is, sent the judge Ehud to kill the King. Since Ehud was left handed, he got past the king’s guards without them noticing that he had a sword on his right leg. While the King was in the bathroom, Ehud stabbed him. Since the king was very fat, when the guards finally came into the bathroom, they did not even see that he had been stabbed because his fat was folded over the double edged sword that Ehud crafted himself.
I believe authors living in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE would write these stories because it gives a background of spiritual history. If you do not want history to repeat itself, you have to at least know what happened in the past. It’s the message of Sankofa, you must know your past to get to your future. Also it is better to learn from someone else’s mistakes rather than recreate your own, when someone has already gone through it and you now know the consequences. If you have accepted Christ as your savior, when you sin, you can repent and your sins will be forgiven.
The book of Judges seems more accurate to me because it shows the tough times that the Israelites faced while taking over the land. I can not imagine any kind of conquering of any kind of land being easy, like the one in Joshua. Also in Judges, it is a very hectic time; people are out of control which seems realistic.
“Divine Election” is some bull… I do not believe it one bit. You can not tell me that God favors one of his children over another. The fact that we are all equal (in God’s eyes at least….) and were all made in his likeness, we are all viewed by him the same way. I do not believe that the Israelites are the chosen ones either, because I do not believe that there is a chosen group. I believe that we are all the chosen few. I do agree with the idea of “the Promised Land” because I know that God would never break a promise; that is a human characteristic.
A scholar might see how the Bible makes women less than men. Since the Bible was written by men, they wrote it the way they view women. The woman in the bible always seems to have to use her sexy ways to get something accomplished. Usually it is a form of slick seduction. The sad thing is that the roles have not changed much in years. In my visual media class, we discussed about how women and men for that matter in big screen movies, need to be “defined” by a white man. Our conversation was based on actors and actresses of color mostly. The examples we used were Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. Both of these film stars have been around for a long time. Denzel has been in many movies that were much better and that had a deeper meaning than Training Day. But Denzel did not even get nominated for an Oscar until he was in a movie that he co-stared with a white man. Just like Halle Berry did not get her nomination until she costarred with Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s ball. I can think of many other movies that those stars were in that I think they should have received an Oscar for other than those movies. That example just goes to show that times have not changed.
In Exum’s article, “Feminist Criticism: Whose Interests Are Being Served?” she addresses how women had roles in the bible, but are rarely given credit. My father always says “give credit where credit is due” but that lacks in the bible. For example, a lot of the women in the bible did not even get names, and they were often referred to as this person’s wife or this person’s servant.
In Yurco’s article, “Were the Ancient Egyptians Black or White?” he speaks on how race was not an issue in ancient Egypt. The way they distinguished each other was by names they went by and the clothing they wore. There were a variety of skin complexions because the closer you were to the equator, the darker you would normally be.
“Beyond Identification: The Use of Africans in Old Testament Poetry and Narratives” by Randal Bailey, discusses the influence that Africans had on the bible. A lot of people do not know because it has been looked over and ignored in the past.
My favorite article was “Feminist Criticism: Whose Interest Are Being Served” By Exum. I especially liked this article because I already feel as though women do not get enough credit. And this article just shows that this is how it has always been for women and that it is not a new idea that has recently surfaced. Women get paid less than men for executing the same jobs, and are always put up front just to have a pretty face for a company. But it does not even have to be on a corporate level. Even during grammar school age, there is a difference between girl and boys. Especially when it comes to sports, boys are seen as superior to girls. One of the most coined phrases is “you hit like a girl” or “you play like a girl.” As if girls are not good at sports, if you ask me, girls are better than boys, but maybe I am being bias…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Class Comments, Week 06: Related Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.