Just A Blog

There is not one certain story of the origin of the religion Obeah. No historical documents record the progress of obeah across the globe and there are many conflicting opinions on the subject. The only primary sources of Obeah that modern historians have are Colonialists fear of the magic the Obeah possess. What I have wrote about seems to be the most “popular” explanation of how Obeah spread. Obeah originated as a term used by the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. As members of the tribe were enslaved the were transported across the globe to the West Indies and other places where labor was needed, the term evolved to describe religious practices developed among enslaved Igbo West Africans. Obeah is similar to many other Afro-American religions like Haitian Vodou, Santería, and Hoodoo. Today Obeah is practiced in The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, The Virgin Islands, Caribbean nations, and by the Igbo peop...

                French courts are presided over by Judges called Magistrats. Magistrats are overly qualified professionals who have went through rigorous training. Today, all Magistrats graduate from the postgraduate School of Magistrature. A French Magistrat is not at all the same as a Magistrate in the English legal system. Only French citizens are considered for a position as a Magistrat because it is seen as a civil servant position. Procedures for the appointing or otherwise modifying a Magistrats position vary depending on whether it is for the judicial, administrative, or audit court stream. Judicial appointments must be approved by a special panel, the High Council of the Judiciary, made up of other judges. Once appointed, judges serve for life and cannot be removed without proceedings conducted before the Council with due process.            ...

Was it fate? The number three has always been a notable number. According to the Chinese, three is a perfect Number, to the Mayan, the sacred number of woman, to the Egyptians, the number of the cosmos, to the Japanese, there are three Treasures; truth, courage, and compassion. The number three also shows up in a certain novella called The Metamorphosis. The particular representation I would like to discuss is the fact that there are three Lodgers. I happen to be a complete Greek and Roman Mythology nerd and these lodgers dinged a bell and lit a bright lightbulb above my head. In Greek and Roman Mythology a series of three Goddesses determine human destinies. Specifically they decide how long someone should live and what specific allotment of misery and suffering they should receive. Their names were Clotho, which means Spinner, Lachesis, which means Allotter, and Atropos, which means Unalterable or Inflexible. Clotho spins the thread of human fate, Lachesis dispense it, and Atrop...

Throughout The Sun Also Rises there are intended parallels between the characters in the novel and Hemingway’s life. Here I have attempted to create and compile a list of interesting relations. Hemmingway’s Life: 1.        The novel is set in the summer of 1924. In the 1920s, Hemmingway lived in Paris, France and worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star . Jake is an American in Paris (a quite intentional Gershwin pun) working as a newspaper correspondent just as Hemingway himself was. 2.        Hemingway became intrigued in bullfighting during his time in Spain. He attended the bull festival in Pamplona, Spain three times; once alone, once with his wife, and once with a group of American and British friends. 3.        After the Hemingway’s third trip to Pamplona he went on a fishing trip to the Irati River. 4.        There are a number of uni...

The Iceberg Theory is what makes Hemingway such a unique writer and also what makes him such a stark contrast from Woolf. From Woolf's writing we were reading from the perspective of the iceberg beneath the surface. In this way we had to imply or discuss the surface level of the characters and to find out who they truly are. This however is the complete opposite of everyday life. Normally, unless you possess some mind reading power, you are unable to view a human from the inside of the brain. Like Hemingway's style you must view their outward appearance and dive into every little bit that they say to truly understand them as a person. This is the genius of the Iceberg. Through Hemingway's style we, as the reader, perceive as close to a real life experience as possible when it comes to Jake's interactions with others. Of course we also have the narration inside Jake's head, but it is not an unrelenting torrent of ideas and feelings as in Woolf's writing. This ...

In this post I would like to consider the role of the “governing class” in relation to current events of the time period, which threaten their authority at home and abroad. A view of this governing class from its own members provides a very different and interesting perspective if the reader understands the significant events taking place in the world during the time the novel is being written. This novel takes place on a day in June 1923. The 1920s were are turbulent time in British politics with the rise of the Labor party which would succeed to the point of having a prime minister in 1924. This was all leading to the rise of socialism in the later part of the decade. Her readers in 1925 would have been entirely aware of the events but today it is important to look back on them. On page 108 the actuality of the takeover by the Labour Government is realized. “Richard’s first duty was to his country, but it was a fine face, she said; and all the papers were ready for Richard down at...