The Outsiders

Journal Prompt: Jews, Gypsies, North Africans, and Mexicans.

Before coming to Italy, I always would get annoyed with people that could not speak our language and were foreign. One of the biggest reasons of this is because I worked in a hotel and helped many customers from other countries. I also admit that I did not oppose the law that was created in Arizona and had many reasons for my decision. However, that all changed when I arrived in Italy. Now I was the outsider and could understand what they were dealing with when they came to America.  I know how it feels to have the people that are not tourists hate you just for being from another country. This constant hatred towards people that are from other countries and cultures has always existed in our world and I feel like the hatred will continue until something extravagant happens to change the way everyone thinks.

Since the Roman Empire, the Jewish religion has been victim to discrimination. The Romans fought against them and Jerusalem. Then Hitler and the Nazi’s attacked their religion and civilization trying to exterminate them all. Both of these eras forced the Jewish people into ghettos that forced them to lose their independence and freedom. Now because of the current laws that are trying to be set up in Arizona, Mexicans are also beginning to face the same discrimination that Jews received. This has created some debate and protest for the actions that are being placed again illegal aliens and against Mexicans.

When walking through Rome, the two groups that are most noticeable to be foreign or Gypsies and North Africans.  At every tourist site there are gypsies that can be found selling items and running away from the local polizia. North Africans can also be found selling the fake Louis Vuitton bags and other items. These two groups do receive discrimination as well from the Italians. The Italians feel that their culture is being taken advantage of and that it is ruining their image that they have created for themselves. As Danillo would say, “These people are invading our country and we need to get them out of here. Don’t give them any money.” However, these two groups have not received the kind of discrimination that Jews and Mexicans have. They still are allowed to walk the streets without getting questioned and they were never forced to live in a ghetto just because they had different eating and living patterns.

I think that our world has a terrible track record with discrimination against race and foreign cultures. When growing up we learn about the civil rights movement and the holocaust. We learn how people were killed for religious practices and how people were forced to use separate facilities because of color. What is surprising though, is that even after learning all of this history, we still continue it. We still continue to discriminate against people that are different. My question that I would like to leave you with is: Do you think that we will ever get rid of racial/religious discrimination in our world?

The Catholic Religion: Both Universal and Roman

This week we had the chance of a lifetime. The chance that not a lot of people get to receive and we may never receive it again. This chance is the ability to see the pope and have seats for his audience presentation. This was a life changing experience to say the least! When Walsh University was called out, I felt very honored to attend such a great university. Every Wednesday people from all over the world come to Rome, Italy to see the Pope speak. Because of this tremendous outcome every week, a sense of universal comes to the church, but when viewing the history and tradition of the church a sense of roman also comes to play.

The Catholic religion is probably the most well known and universal religion that exists today. Back in the United States, every big city and county has a catholic school. The Pope is universally known as the moral leader of the world, and if there is ever an issue in the world, the Pope usually always releases statements that express the church’s view. Another way that the church is universal is through the Vatican II. Before the church was spoken just in Latin which did not make the church easily accessible to people uneducated. However, now the mass is in the language that is spoken in the region that the church is located in. This allows for the church to be practiced all over the world and in any language making it more universal.

Even though the church is universal, there is still a sense of the religion being roman. First, the history that is behind the catholic religion allows it to be most roman. For example, the pope has always resided in Rome, Italy and once had secular power over the entire Roman region. Second, one of the most important saints (St. Peter) was buried in Rome right under the Basilica that houses the capitol of the catholic religion. Second item that makes the religion roman is the tradition of the religion. Every week day the address is completed only in Rome. People come to Rome to view the most religious practices and artifacts. No matter how universal the catholic religion gets, Rome is and will always be the Capitol of the church. This practice allows the catholic religion to be named Roman Catholic.

In all, no matter what religion someone is, they know who the pope is and how important he is in the world. The catholic religion is known everywhere and is one of the most universal religions in this world. Rome is also a very important symbol of this religion. Because of this, the religion is both universal and roman.

Art of Rome: Week 5: Vatican City

In life we have many expectations of things that we have studied in school or know through stories.  One example of this for me is the Sistine Chapel. Growing up I have heard great things and viewed great things about it. Because of these, I created a great image of this chapel in my head. To me it was a place that was huge, well lit, and beautiful gold pieces. However, when I walked into the chapel, unfortunately, it was not this way to me. The room was darker and just wasn’t what I expected it to be. Now I’m not saying it was not amazing how Michelangelo could paint the whole Sistine Chapel, but it just was not what I expected. The part of the chapel that I am going to write about though is the whole ceiling.

This ceiling was painted by Michelangelo and was done by using fresco style. This style is completed by using a fresh surface every time the painter starts painting. This ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512. There are many different paintings on the ceiling telling stories of Noah or from the book of Genesis (Wikipedia.com). The most important of these paintings is the creation of Adam. The interesting part of this painting is the lightning bolt that is portrayed between the fingers of God and Adam. This creates the impression of God giving life to Adam. Also, the curvature of the bodies creates a unique aspect. The body of Adam is almost reflecting from God himself.

Another interesting aspect of the ceiling deals with the sizes of the paintings. When I looked up at the ceiling I was amazed at what I noticed and what I learned about it from the tour guide. The one side of the ceiling has smaller details but a lot of imagery going on in the paintings, while the other side has bigger subjects with less scenery. The tour guide explained that when Michelangelo was painting the ceiling it was a mistake at first and that he had to correct his later paintings in the end to allow for the subjects to grow in size. I thought that it was amazing how he could take something that could have been a huge mistake and fix it into something that was so genius. Without this mistake, would we have the creation of Adam? Would it be as well known as it is today? I think the answer is that it would not stick out as much because Adam and God would not be able to have as much detail that they have now.

The second artwork that I chose to do is one of the sculptures of the Catholic Saint. When I walked through the St. Peters Basilica, I couldn’t help but to notice the beauty and detail behind these sculptures. The height of these sculptures alone was unbelievable. The statue that I decided to talk about was the one of St. Longinus. When I first looked at this sculpture I felt so much power coming from it. I feel that the artist (Bernini) wanted to portray him as a very powerful Saint. The arms that are raised allow this type of reaction. It looks like St. Longinus is calling God from the Heavens. His clothing is also allowing this imagery because of how they lay. The robe looks like it is being riffled in strong wind and that something powerful is happening in Bernini’s image.

I feel that Bernini had to set up the sculpture of this saint with so much power because of the legend that is behind St. Longinus. It is said that he was the one who stabbed Christ in the side. Then because of the evil/sin that came about him after this event, he converted into Christian religion (saintpetersbasilica.org). This legend shows that he is a powerful saint because of his repayment for his sin. Here someone did the ultimate sin but was able to ask for forgiveness and change his whole life to better his soul. This is why Bernini had to show all of this power and greatness in this one sculpture!

Affects of the Ghetto

When people consider the suppression of the Jews, they often think about the holocaust with the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler. However, the suppression of the Jews started a long time before that period in time. The most important example that we can see of this is the Roman Ghetto. This Ghetto was set up when the Pope was in both religious power and political power. This ghetto followed an order that was created saying that people of the Jewish religion had to live away from the general Christians. They could only live in the Ghetto which would be closed and locked every night. Churches were also set up to force the Jewish people to listen to masses that told them that they were wrong and would go to hell. The Jews were only allowed to be money lenders or merchants and could not own any property. Instead, Christians owned the properties and rented them out to the Jews, never stepping a foot in the house. Because of these strict laws, the ghettos had a huge impact on the people inside and the people outside.

With all of the strict laws that were set in place with the Jews and the Ghetto, the people that were inside were the ones that were mostly affected. If I try and sit back and think about how I would feel with that much restriction on my life, I really do not know what I would do. I would feel like I was not really a human but someone else’s puppet. The Jews were never given a chance to pick their occupation or where they could live, besides what building in the ghetto they would like. In fact, even in Ghettos today they still have the problem. The only difference is that now they are not forced into them because of religion. Now they are automatically put in the ghetto because of the social structure that is in place now. Today, we do not discriminate against the people that live in ghettos, but we also do not help the people to get out of poverty and out of the “modern ghettos”.

The ghettos not only affected the people that were inside of the ghettos, but the outside as well. The people on the outside had to constantly view the ghettos and realize the sin that they were committing on a day to day basis. Even today, people on the outsides of the ghetto have to deal with viewing the lives of the people in the ghetto and yet they do nothing to help. Some people have all the money they could want and when it comes time to helping someone that absolutely needs it to survive, they never help. They conserve their money and think only of themselves. Now I’m not saying that we all should expect those with better lives to donate to us. However, I think that if someone that works hard every day and still cannot escape their tragic lives, then they should receive aid.

The ghettos both in the past and present are completely different because of how people were placed in them, but the affects that are caused from the ghettos are about the same. People are not always treated fairly and when that person tries for success and can’t achieve it because of laws or social structures then something needs changed. The Jewish religion has received multiple eras of discrimination where they were forced not to succeed even though they did nothing wrong except for believing in something different than the Christian religion.

The Piazza: The Connection to Italian Culture

Have you ever wondered how the Italian culture is? How is the Italian culture different than the American culture? The answer to both of these questions can be found in most of the piazzas that Rome, Italy has to offer. A piazza is basically a center of the town or area that has an object in the middle (such as a fountain or obelisk) with businesses and restaurants around the center. In fact, the Roman piazzas offer a lens toward Italian culture by providing a place for merchants, artists, relaxation, recreation, and communication between family and friends.


Whether a person is visiting the piazza at night or during the day, they are almost always going to see artists and merchants at work in the center. Take Piazza Navona for example, when visiting that in the day merchants have stands up selling goods and paintings. Musicians also are in the center by the Bernini fountain providing entertainment for the enjoyment of the tourists and locals. Another example is the piazza at Campo de’ Fiori. During the day there is a great market of local fruits and food, but at night the piazza offers great street bands and music from local bars.

Another way that the piazzas offer a lens into Italian culture is through providing a place for relaxation, recreation, and communication between family and friends. When the day begins to wind down, the piazza seems to change in ways that are indescribable. Around dinner times, the restaurants that are located around the piazzas begin to fill up with customers. If anyone would just sit back and take the time to watch the people at the restaurants, they would notice that the Italians are in no rush to leave the restaurants. After eating, Italians take their time to enjoy the company of their friends. The piazza at this time is a place where people continue to talk and just relax under a clear sky with the best summer weather anyone could ask for. Then, when the adults are relaxing the children play in the center of the piazzas usually by kicking a ball around to each other.

The piazzas could be a great way to view Italian culture. If anyone is just interested in viewing what their culture is then I suggest they just go sit at the bar that is located in the piazza. When sitting I suggest they watch everyone having fun and enjoying what the Italians have to offer. The experience of the Piazzas at night is by far the best in my opinion. It is so enjoyable to just see people enjoying life and the weather that they are granted with!

Authentic Hero

Too many times in today's society, we title people as heroes. People that we just idolize are now being called heroes without any real reason except that people want to someday end up like them. Well what about the people who sacrifice their life in order to protect and help others? What about the people who do not expect anything in return or who do not even tell others what he or she did? Are these examples not heroes anymore? These previous questions bring about an even deeper question. What qualities make an authentic hero? An authentic hero is someone that sacrifices their normal life in order to help others and someone that does not expect a thank you or any other grace for what they did, and Giorgio Perlasca is a great example of an authentic hero.




There are many examples of people that sacrifice their normal life and do not expect anything in return. The first example that comes to my mind are the New York firefighters that risked their lives on September 11th. They went into burning buildings and tried to save as many people as they could. While they did their jobs, they never expected anything in return even though they were given much honor afterwards. Another example are the people that sign up for the armed forces wanting to serve and protect our wonderful country. In fact, I have a personal hero of mine that did just this, but did not have the outcome that was expected.



Last year, my friend, Zach Nolen was attending Kent States when he decided to postpone his studies and join the Marine Corps. He went through all of the steps and on the day of his placement test an event happened that would change his path forever. On his way to the testing center with four other people, a semi did not stop at the intersection that they were at. Instead, the semi crashed into their car and killed three guys that were going to take the test including my friend. To this day, I remember the exact message and telephone call that I received notifying me of the tragic event. I felt like something in my body just dropped and words could never explain the feeling that I felt. Back to the original story though, I consider Zach Nolen as an authentic hero because of his courage and willingness to help our country, even though it did not turn out like planned. Because of this occasion, I will forever look back and thank Zach for all that he has done and wanted to do. It is sad that he will never be able to do what he wanted, but he will still continue to be known as an authentic hero in my opinion.



Along with firefighters and soldiers, Giorgio Perlasca is a great example of an Authentic Hero. Giorgio, through pretending to work for the Spanish Embassy, saved about 3,500 Jews during the Nazi Realm. In 1943, Perlasca worked for the Italian army going to Hungary and buying items for the army. During this year all Italians in Hungary were forced back to Italy, but Perlasca decided to stay, against the Nazi wishes. After this, Perlasca fled to the Spanish Embassy and started to help with Shelters that housed Jews to protect them. When the Ambassador left Budapest, Perlasca stayed behind and acted as the Ambassador by issuing protective passes to Jewish families. He let them stay in protective houses that were marked with the Spanish flag (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/perlasca.html). Not until he was about to die, did he tell anyone. Because of what Giorgio Perlasca did, he is considered an authentic hero. Giorgio Perlasca gave up his normal life and even risked his life just to help and protect others that needed it. Even after all that he had done, he never expected anything. He never even told the story to anyone until long after the event. That is why he is considered an authentic hero.



Like I said in the beginning, today rappers and other people are considered heroes that really are not authentic heroes. A person cannot just become a hero without any reason. That is why an authentic hero has such a strong definition in my opinion. There are, though, a lot of examples of this definition that I did not list. However, I did list the ones that stuck out in my mind. I will forever remember the firefighters that helped after the terrorist attack and the soldiers that helped us protect our freedoms by doing something I could never do. Mostly, though, I will always remember how good of a friend Zach was and how brave he was for what he tried to do!

Roman Art: Week 3

This week I have decided to take a different path in finding the right two artifacts to write about. Instead of the usual writing of something that is well known and easy to find on the Internet, I have decided to write about two artifacts that have no information online. I will interpret the paintings through line, medium, color, style, space, and composition.

My first piece is an image of  Jesus being resurrected. This painting is located in the San Giovanni in Laterano. On the sides of Jesus there are two angels and his disciples along side of him. First off, the medium is a painting with a Renaissance type of style. When speaking of composition, this painting has a more static composition which means that it has more order and balance between colors and lines (http://www.essentialvermeer.com/glossary).

In this painting there are a couple different lines that point to a general location. The first two more noticeable lines are the arms and hands of the angels that are pointing towards Jesus. These direct the viewers eyes towards the most important part of the painting. Not only do the arms of the angels point towards Jesus, but also the eyes of the disciples also direct the viewers towards Jesus and his resurrection. Another effect that is used to draw the attention to the upper center of the painting is color and shade. The lightest part of the painting is the background behind Jesus with the sun rays coming out from behind him. The light then descends to the people at the bottom of the painting and becomes faint the farther the viewer goes from Jesus. Also, when in the darker parts of the painting, the colors are cool, but as the colors get closer to Jesus and the center of the painter they turn into warmer type of colors. The other aspect that I would like to use to analyze this piece of art work is space. There is a definite space around Jesus and space of just the plain sky. There is also definite space between the people on the left and the people on the right of the painting.

The second art piece that I would like to use is also a painting that is located in the San Giovanni in Laterano. This painting is of Jesus with two people, a man and a woman, located at his feet. The medium for this art work is paint with a more relaxed tone. The composition is also a more static composition because the light and colors are balanced and lines are organized. The colors are mostly warm colors with orange tones, red tones, and tan colors with few cool colors like what was used in the shadows.

Along with the colors, the lines are also very distinctive here. The man is creating a line with his arm and finger which is pointing at Jesus. Also a line is being created by Jesus raising his hand almost in a leading way. Again, in this painting the eyes are almost creating lines, but not in the same way as the previous painting. In this one they are pointing down almost showing sadness. The light though is still raising out from behind Jesus. However, in this painting there is also a lot of light at the feet of Jesus. The edges of this painting are filled with shadows almost in a way to cause more attention to the center. In this painting Jesus also has his own space. There is also a distinct space of the sky and the two people with almost no clutter in this painting.

These two paintings almost follow the same style and tone. They both have a center which the rest of the painting trying to pull attention to the center. There is shadow on both edges with the light coming from the center. The lines of both paintings also point towards Jesus to give significance towards him.

Stories and Traditions: Week 3; History and the Impact on Religion

One of my history teachers in high school, Mr. Voorhees, once stated that historians usually entrusted the bible when dealing with problems that could not be answered through scientific explanations. He also said that the bible could provide access to a lot of answers about how the earth once stood and that we must use the bible as a tool to understand history of ancient civilizations. This same idea has helped religion gain the power that it has today and has had for centuries through time. An important question that one must analyze and find an answer to is: does history contribute or weaken religion? This answer to this question is yes, history has contributed a great deal to religion through traditions and power of previous leaders. However, it has also weakened religion through scandals and other previous practices.

History has indeed given a great contribution to today’s religious practices. In the past, the Pope was not only leader of the Catholic religion, but also the leader for the government and was given a lot of power. Because of the pope having so much power, the Catholic religion was able to intervene in everyday life and was given ability to control political decisions. This allowed the religion to control not just moral issues, but almost all issues that the people of Rome had. Because of the power that the Catholic religion had, the religion was able to prosper and gain amount of trust that is still present today. Not only did the power of the Pope have an impact on religion, but the traditions that religions had in history also caused faith to prosper. For Example, Jerusalem had the tradition of the temple or tabernacle which was in the center of the city. In these areas the temple stored a room which was the deepest room and only the high priest could go in that room once a year. This tradition gave a more sacred idea to the faith and enforced the practices of the religion.

Even though History has contributed to the success of religion, history has also affected religion in a negative tone. The first includes the scandals that were done by leaders in some religions. One well known scandal is actually causing negative effects of the Catholic religion in today's society. There have been accusations saying that priests have committed sexual abuse on some of the boys in their clergy. Not saying that what is being accused is true or not, this is deeply beginning to hurt the Catholic religion both morally and their finances. Another example of how history can hurt a religion is the wars that were caused by religion. Today we view religion as a freedom. We think that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and can believe whatever religion they deeply feel relevant to. In ancient times when Christianity was beginning to take over, they made sure to destroy and manipulate all pagan believes and monuments. This can be seen in the ancient ruins of Rome. When looking at the Colossuem where the pagan emperors once stood, people can now see a huge cross that shows Christianity. Another example is the religious persecution of the Jewish religion that was done by the Romans and many other groups for centuries after. This constant attack of other religions almost mock what they are preaching about loving all of God's creations. Because of this mockery, the religions are somewhat weakened.

Like I said before History has a huge impact on religion and how people practice it and view it. Even our actions now are going to have huge impact on future thoughts of religion. No one person can say how religion will be thought of in the future. However, our generation can help to shape those views. History can help people to understand just why others believe what they believe about their religions whether it is Catholic, Jewish, Christian, Methodist or any other religion.

THEO WEEK 2: COMPARISON OF THE ANCIENT AND THE PRESENT

When analyzing today's world, one would say that our civilization is based upon technology, democratic governments, prevention of terrorism/war, and freedom from religious control. When analyzing the ancient periods of Rome and Jerusalem, one would say that the civilizations were based by religion, power, and money, which seems different than today's world. These two statements then bring up an interesting question. How are the ancient civilizations of Rome and Jerusalem comparable to today's society? The answer to the question is that the United States, Rome, and Jerusalem are comparable because of how they sought power through expansion, provided aid to the poor, and honored leaders or soldiers after victory or for tradition.

The first parallel between the ancient civilization and America is that they all have sought most of their power through expansion of their culture and society. Rome, for example, was always defeating other civilizations just to obtain more land for their citizens and power for the empire. The king of Jerusalem, Alexander Janaeus, expanded the most by defeating cities which had belonged to Greek culture by using his mercenary troops (Rome and Jerusalem; Martin Goodman p.50-51). The United States somewhat follows this same pattern that was used by Rome and Jerusalem, but in a different manner. America does not go into other countries just to conquer and to turn the people into slaves. However, the United States does go into other countries to spread our beliefs there for causing our country to have more power. For example, this country has been in war in Iraq so that we could turn their once dictatorship government into a democratic government. This type of action has given America more power and has allowed our country to become the "world police" because America is the country that people look at when in need of help.

The second parallel is that both Rome and Jerusalem had accounts of the emperors or leaders giving aid to the poor and America also follows that same pattern. In each of the three civilizations, the aid that is given is not given to help obtain a higher class, but just enough to survive on. In Rome, some emperors decided to rely less on building new monuments and buildings and give aid to the people of Rome (Goodman). This aid, however, was not set up to help people reach richness or anything in particular. Instead, this aid was set up to just help them survive. We have the same system in America. When people lose their jobs or when people need help such as T.A.N.F (temporary assistance for needy families), which gives people below the poverty line access to funds. These funds do not help the families reach success or get above the poverty line. This aid just helps the poor to stay alive and continue to feed their families.

The last parallel that the three civilizations share is that they all provide a ceremonial event for their leaders whether it is for victory or for tradition. In Rome, it was tradition that whenever an army conquered new land they were given an exclusion to the law that stated no army was to enter the city borders of Rome. After the senate gave them this exclusion they would walk their army down the via sacra in a celebration form. In Jerusalem, it was also tradition that once a year the high priest would enter the deepest room of the center in the Temple and give the holy sacrifice to god. In the United States when a war is going on and the soldiers return from deployment, a huge town celebration happens especially in the smaller towns. Not only do the soldiers receive celebrations, but the President of the United States receives many celebrations in his honor. When he first wins his election he is given the Inauguration ball allowing for all of his supporters to join him in celebration of his victory.

The ancient civilizations had many ways that are similar to how we live today. America is a successful country because it has followed the positives that these ancient civilizations had and manipulated them to create something that is better. In fact, is that not the idea of history? Should we always look at history and live like how past generations did but in a new improved manner? If people would just follow this practice of looking at the past then our generation and future generations can be very successful in what ever they do or plan to do.