The Freedom of Religion

The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution in the Bill of Rights states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our next project is going to be to explore a religion or faith which is protected by this right (i.e. no extremists, Neo-Nazis, etc). Each student in Humanities will need to choose a different faith to explore. Your first assignment will be to to give us the K-W (later the L) on the faith... you should have two paragraphs (and an image) addressing the following:

#1 KNOW- What do you know about this religion or faith? Are there a lot of myth or rumors surrounding it? Your paragraph should address issues (true or not) concerning your knowledge of this subject matter

#2 WANT- What do you want to know about this faith? Why did you choose it? Are you looking to verify possible wrong infomation? What about this religion fascinates you? Why do you think Americans practice it?

#3 Image- Include a religious symbol or image which is associated with this faith to give your readers a visual picture to associate with your research.

Completed blogs must be posted by Thrusday morning at 8am.

**Remember that your blogs are open for everyone to read, be respectful and academic in your approach to answering these questions.

Post-Modern American Myth

By defintion, myth is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

Our country was founded on the myths of other cultures, namely those from ancient Greece and Rome. Today, knowledge of those myths has is mostly unknown, but our postmodern culture has created new myths--in superheros, wizards, and vampires. You have chosen one character from our culture to research not only their origin but also the symbolic nature of their presence.

By Thrusday at 8am, you should have a blog post with a brief summary of your character, including an image. Your post should address the following:

-Why you chose this character
-What you would like to learn about them
-Why American is fascinated with this fictional story

Blog set-up and Immigrant Profile

By today you should have completed the following assignment:

Step 1 For this class you’ll either need to create a blog (free blogs are available on blogspot.com or wordpress.com) or acquire a journal or sketchbook. Blogs are preferable as they cannot be lost or stolen, their contents cannot be rained on and destroyed, and you can delete or change entries that you don’t like or need to begin again. If you do prefer the journal or sketchbook, see me for qualifications. You’ll title your journal or blog something like “DeBorah’s Story” or “Adrian’s Journey”… or something much more creative. Your journal or blog should not be titled “humanities: I have to do it”. You’ll end up posting your assignments on this, wether they be photography, video/movie, powerpoint, etc, everything can be loaded and viewed from your blog (have I told you, I like blogs?)

Step 2 Your first entry on the blog will be a diary or letter style essay which addresses the following issues. Please see my example…

REMEMBER if you don’t like your family history or have an interest in another culture, you may certainly create that identity as your own. Remember to research what immigrants from that culture/country were likely to have done.



Family Name:

Country of Origin:

Reason for departure:

Approximate date of arrival:

US Entry location:

Profession:

Intended Profession: