Florence: I can't believe I only got through the first week because I've been writing for hours edition!!!

When I first entered Florence from the train station, the first things I noticed were that the buildings were a few stories shorter than they were in Rome and there were fewer people with less traffic. These alone put my mind to ease, something I didn't realize was actually bothering me -- the ridiculously small rodes and very tall buildings of Rome. Florence, as a whole, is more beautiful than Rome. It, however, has fewer locales to visit, especially ones of the "so much money went into this I can't even believe this exists" kind. Florence is more clean and more compact than Rome, which is also very nice. It core of the city, however, is still ridiculously touristy. In fact, there are around 400,000 people in Rome, yet, at any given time, there are around a million tourists.

I was disappointed that we weren't going to really ever see Florence how the Florentines see it (if that is even possible), but then I realized that we live far away from the core tourists. Our apartment is to the north of Florence, east of the train station. We have our windows open all the time (it's hot) and we get to hear Florentines in their apartments living. What we hear is often loud discussion, some American music, some (what sounds like) Ukulele, a lot of techno/club music, some low-pitched woman singing, and the sounds of clanking and general living. While this is little substitute, it is cool to hear.

Our first day in Florence was spent trying to get to know the place. We walked around the city, marveling at its more homey feel (many said they could see themselves living here). Then, we walked into Florence's Duomo (Cathedral). It's the third largest Church in the world and was the dome that beat the Pantheon's as the world's largest after almost 1,500 years where it held the title for almost another 500 years. It remains the world's largest brick dome (while the Pantheon remains the world's largest cement dome). It's construction is very interesting. The main body of the church stood for over 30 years before work started on the dome, because no one knew how to build it. Luckily, Filippo Brunelleschi found a way after studying the Pantheon (there is a lot of interesting stuff to know about Brunelleschi, including his rival Ghiberti (who made the Gates of Paradise -- the most famous doors in the world -- that are on the Duomo's baptistry) and Cosimo de' Medici (the main family member of the most powerful man in Italy that started the Renaissance, he is also the main subject of my study here in Florence in how to build a new republic) so ask if you want to know more!).

Anyway, after more walking around Florence, we decided to head back to the apartment. And then it happened. Pauly D from the Jersey Shore with a team of cameras and others came down the alley and passed us. Jersey Shore was in Florence with us.

The first week in Florence was ridiculously busy. Professor Petrie was double-loading our days with 3 hour classes plus a lecture or excursion every day. We also happen to live the farthest away from our classroom at Accent, so we averaged about 2 hours walking just to and from these events. On Tuesday, our first day of classes, we met the person that would define our interest in Florence: Rocky Ruggiero (you can see him in this History Channel documentary here!). His first lecture to us was titled "The History of Florence" but it was much more about the art history of Florence. Interestingly, art and history go hand-in-hand in Florence where you can see who rules and what kind of rule is happening depending on what contracts are being made to artists. We learned about just how many famous people came from Florence:  Dante, Boccaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Niccolò Machiavelli (the author of our class book, The Florentine Histories), Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Donatello, Galileo. We also learned a lot about Florence's medieval roots as it emerged into the Renaissance powerhouse it became.


Rocky Ruggiero met us the next morning for a tour of the Medici Chapel called San Lorenzo, a patron saint of the family. I wrote a short response essay on this place, so here it is:
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The class tour to the Medici Chapel has been, so far, the most interesting tour during my trip to Italy. The chapel consists of the Sagrestia Nuova (the New Sacristy) and the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes). These are both attached to the Basilica of San Lorenzo, where Cosimo de’ Medici is buried in the center under large amounts of porphyry, a substance that only occurred once on the planet, in Egypt, and no loner exists in nature. 

In the context of MC 390 and our reading of Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories, the tour of the Medici Chapel was paramount to our understanding. In class, it has been expressed that Machiavelli placed the most importance on his fourth and fifth books in his Florentine Histories [note: this turned out to not be true]. These books speak directly about the events surrounding Cosimo’s rise and the Medici rule as the de facto rulers of Florence during the Italian Renaissance. This would suggest Cosimo’s importance to Machiavelli’s main themes of unification of faction and even the stability of republics. Cosimo’s importance to Florence would have been lost for us without this tour.

The first thing we entered on our tour was the Chapel of the Princes. Inside were walls covered in multi-colored marble, including entire pillars of porphyry. Along the walls rested sarcophagi, elevated above the people, as if suggesting the dead’s superiority over the living. These dead, however, were the Medici’s dead, and consisted of many superior Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Sculpted above each sarcophagi was the Medici coat of arms: a shield with five red balls, a blue ball on top, and a crown enwreathing the top of the shield. These men were royalty. 

The Florentine Histories shows that this was not always true. Giovanni, the father of Cosimo, lacked the ambition of his son and prided himself on making decisions that pleased the people. Professor Ruggiero described Giovanni as under attack from the old wealth of Florence when they would say “who do you think you are?”  Giovanni thus had to be very careful with his wealth. This was demonstrated in the New and Old Sacristies that we visited next.

The New Sacristy was Michelangelo’s first attempt at architecture. His work was apparently bold and unprecedented for the time. Professor Ruggiero urged the class to start with the floor plan, which consisted of two spaces with a 4:1 ratio. The larger space was reserved for Michelangelo’s art and sculptures and the smaller for the Medici family to worship. In the larger space, Michelangelo created four statues to represent the four times of day: day, night, dawn, and dusk. While day was a huge, awake man looking over his shoulder, night was forward, looking downward, and had odd cones pointedly representing the breasts of a woman. Dawn and dusk also had similar opposites both with each other and the day and night statues. Behind and above these statues rested more sarcophagi, again elevated, but this time with statues representing dead persons. Along the wall opposite the smaller room for service were two men with the Virgin Mary between them. The men beside her were looking at her directly. The statues of the dead Medici may also have been looking at Mary, but this is unclear, as one statue is so obviously looking at a door where a human would enter. If this were true, Michelangelo would have been creating a room more in line with Baroque-period design, where balance is traded for theatricality and performance. Sadly, Michelangelo never finished this room and it was finished by a close friend of his. It is unclear whether that friend completed the room correctly or not.

The Old Sacristy was a simple room designed by Brunelleschi. He was the first to portray the openness of Roman architecture indoors with white walls acting as space, rather than the ornate Gothic style. This style continued into the Basilica of San Lorenzo, where, in the center of the simplicity, a giant circle of porphyry lay where Cosimo’s grave is. Understanding Cosimo as the center of this Medici infrastructure is paramount to understanding Machiavelli’s work with Cosimo in his Florentine Histories. 

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After this, we had class, and after that, our Professor wanted to eat out with David, Dylan, Joe, and me. The place we wanted to go opened at 7, and it was only 5. So, he offered to open his apartment's garden for some wine and conversation. I could tell he was trying to get to know each of us individually beyond the classroom. We finished talking at about 7:40 and finally went to go eat. The place we went is the best I've had yet in Italy, and it was cheap. I ordered a plate of spinach and cheese ravioli with octopus for 10 euro. It was fantastic. We stayed, ate, and talked until 11:00. We spent 6 hours with our professor after a 3 hour class. We had a blast.


On Thursday, we toured the Uffizi Art Gallery, which was actually an office building built by the Medici where the top floor was designed to display their art collection. The entire thing is now a museum that sections off its work by period and artist. It is one of the best collections of Renaissance art in the world, and is probably the best museum I have been to on this trip. We had a new tour guide, an Australian girl, who did a good job describing the changes in art throughout the period. We began the tour outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the city center where Michelangelo's David sat until it was replaced later on with a copy. As we waited, the entire cast from Jersey Shore were in the square getting a tour outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Their tour guide was wearing a top hat and a blazer and was pretty animated while talking. The rest of the cast stood traditionally with crossed arms and bored looks. It was pretty funny. 


Inside the Uffizi we began with the medieval times and saw the transformation of how man expresses himself, his surrounding nature, and heaven above. We often think that artists from the past couldn't pain well, so that is why a lot of it looks weird. This, however, is not always the case, as artists searched for a way to express heavenly figures. In their attempts, they made exaggerated features that made characters like the Virgin Mary with Baby that look very odd. They were, however, heavenly figures that extended beyond human mortality. As the human condition began to increase, however, humans and heavenly figures began to show more and more similarities. Once the Renaissance hit with Da Vinci, he painted the first angel with actual bird feathers in his Annunciation. 





Soon, it was not necessary to paint about religion at all, and normal humans could be the focus. One famous example is Francesca's Duke Federico da Montefeltro and Duchess Battista Sforza of Urbino. This painting had two sides to it, a front (as seen below), and a back which had a zoomed out image of these two people riding toward each other in carriages. This was one of my favorite pieces because of that.





Wikipedia: Here is only a small selection from the world-class collection of paintings:

• Leonardo da Vinci (The Annunciation, The Adoration of the Magi)
• Sandro Botticelli (Primavera, The Birth of Venus, The Adoration of the Magi and others)
• Giotto (The Ognissanti Madonna, Badia Polyptych)
• Titian (Flora, Venus of Urbino)
• Michelangelo (The Doni Tondo)
• Raphael (Madonna of the Goldfinch, Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi)
• Cimabue (Maestà)
• Duccio (Maestà)
• Simone Martini (The Annunciation)
• Paolo Uccello (The Battle of San Romano)
• Piero della Francesca (Diptych of Duke Federico da Montefeltro and Duchess Battista Sforza of Urbino)
• Fra Filippo Lippi (Madonna with Child and Two Angels, Incoronation of the Virgin)
• Andrea del Verrocchio (The Baptism of Christ)
• Hugo van der Goes (The Portinari Triptych)
• Piero di Cosimo (Perseus Freeing Andromeda)
• Albrecht Dürer (The Adoration of the Magi)
• Parmigianino (The Madonna of the Long Neck)
• Caravaggio (Bacchus, The Sacrifice of Isaac, Medusa)
• Artemisia Gentileschi (Judith and Holofernes)
• Rembrandt Van Rijn (Selfportrait as a Young Man, Selfportrait as an Old Man, Portrait of an Old Man)

The collection also contains some ancient sculptures, such as the Arrotino and the Two Wrestlers.

On Friday, we went to Santa Croce where tombs (and fake tombs) to some of Florence's most beloved citizens reside. Some include Machiavelli, Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo. This was pretty neat to see. Saturday we rested, visited with friends, and went to the Duomo for mass. Then, we had another dinner out with our professor. On Sunday, however, things pick up: I lock myself in my room. The door handle fell off and the door slammed shut because of the wind while I was in the rest room. We were supposed to be meeting some friends for a Latin/music mass, when it happened. It took about 30 minutes, buy Dylan finally got me out after holding an ironing board out the window next to my room so I could put the door handle on it. Then, it was as simple as putting the handle back and turning the knob. Pretty funny stuff.


After that, we make it to the Duomo, but decide to climb the tower next to it. Several hundred stairs later, we see the entirety of Florence surrounded by mountains. We are in a bowl. No wonder it's so hot here...

When in Rome...

Since my last blog, I have finished my stay in Rome and am now living in Florence. Here, I will try and summarize the rest of my amazing experience in Rome.

Since my last blog, I have finished my stay in Rome and am now living in Florence. Here, I will try and summarize the rest of my amazing experience in Rome.

MC 272: My last blog was sadly a negative depiction of my class in Rome. Yes, I did end up not enjoying my professor, but class became better once I stopped giving my opinion in class. Soon after I wrote my last blog, my professor and I had a good conversation and from then on, we were fine. I'm disappointed in the class, but not in Rome.

June 1st -- Villa Borghese | Wikipedia Page |

The Villa Borghese is a lot like Central Park in New York City. It’s a gigantic park in the middle of Rome with events happening all the time. Near the back of the Villa Borghese is the Galleria Borghese, a museum of the collected art of the powerful Borghese family in Rome. It’s basically a house created to show off the Borghese wealth and has tall ceilings with frescos on all the ceilings, paintings against the walls, and statues in the middle of the rooms. These paintings and statues, however, are some of the most amazing I have ever seen. Examples:

Everyone knows of Michelangelo’s David, but what about Bernini’s --

This is Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne -- Here Apollo is swooning after Daphne while she is in the middle of transforming into a tree. To see the detail up close is astounding.
 

This final Bernini is the Rape of Proserpine -- The most amazing part is in Proserpine’s leg, where Pluto’s hand is grasping it. It seems impossible that these are made of stone, it looks like flesh up close.

Check out the Wikipedia Page to see more on work from Caravaggio, Raphael, and more.

June 2nd -- Republic Day

June 2nd was the Italian Republic's 65th anniversary. This was a pretty cool day. Normally the streets are packed with cars and the tram is filled, window-to-window, with people. Not on Republic Day. It seemed most people had the day off and those who were up were probably at the parade near the Victor Emanuele building for the parade. Sadly, our class conflicted with most of the festivities, but we did get to catch them on television.  It looked to be a large military display demonstrating long range missiles, tanks, speed boats, battalions of troops on horses, on foot, with instruments, and more. It ended with a group of 9 planes that sprayed green, white, and red streams to form a giant Italian flag in the sky. Pretty cool stuff.

There was also a car accident this day. We were talking toward our apartment when we heard the horrible squealing of tires followed by a crash. The two men involved jumped out and began arguing in their suits. It was fun to watch, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar in the States.

June 3rd -- CLIMB CLIMB CLIMB

After class on Friday, a group of us decided to climb to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica, or the Vatican. It cost 5 euros to walk to the top or 7 euros to take the elevator. So, we took the stairs, of course. This was quite the ordeal as we climbed hundreds of stairs that spiraled around up and up and up. A few minutes later, we reached the base of the dome and walked inside to see the vatican church far, far below. We were able to appreciate the mosaic art in the dome that is unseeable from the ground, all beautifully done. After this, we decided to climb some more to the very top of the Basilica, on top of the dome. As we began our assent, the walls began to close in around us, up, and up we went. As we continued, the walls began to bend toward us, demonstrating that we were literally in the walls of the dome. This gave the illusion that we walking on the walls and could fall at any time. One of the coolest climbs I have ever had. After this there were some very tight spiral staircases to the top with a single, thick rope in the middle to hang onto. Finally, we made it to the top and saw the most breathtaking view of Rome we have seen yet. We could see the entire city and the landscape around it. I wish my camera worked so I could show you all the pictures I took. After the climb up the vatican, we went back to our apartments, packed for our early train to Naples the next day, and fell asleep.

June 4th -- NAPLES and POMPEII

Yhe train to Naples was a simple 2 hour trip very early in the morning. When we got to the station, we were surprised to find that no one was there to check our tickets. We awkwardly climbed aboard the train, found some seats, and sat down. Little did we know that we had chosen the only 1st class car, while everything else was 2nd class, which our tickets mandated. After the train had begun, we realized this, and made the effort to move (even though no one ended up checking our tickets). We traveled to the very front of the train where we sat near a loud family with children, and attempted to sleep. Magically, 2 hours later, we were in Naples. I was now on a vacation from my vacation... wow. 

Naples has a completely different feel to in than Rome. While Rome is for the tourists, Naples is far more gritty, with trash flowing through the streets, graffiti lining all walls (even the beautiful churches *tear*), and people... oh wow! PEOPLE LIVING THEIR LIVES. This was the coolest part about Naples, seeing Italian families -- children with bikes, groups of women in one area, and groups of men in another area, both discussing loudly. Anyway, we stayed in a hostel where the person who checked us in took advantage of our political knowledge to catch up on United States politics. After we checked in, we immediately headed back to the train station to grab tickets for Pompeii. I was now on a vacation from my vacation... from my vacation. 0_0

Pompeii was phenomenal. Most people know the tale of Pompeii being buried by the ash of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. Naturally, my theme song for the place was “Blow” by Ke$ha -- “this place about to blowwwwohhohohohohhohhohhh.” Sadly, I know this song all too well from working in the Cafe at Michigan State and had it stuck in my head the entire time. After some digging by archeologists, what is left of Pompeii is amazing. You may be imagining some ancient ruins that aren’t all that impressive. Oh no, Pompeii is a city of ruins... and by city, I mean 1.5 miles in length city. There were houses, shops, theaters, and amphitheaters. Most everything was missing its roof, but it still felt like a city with walls and roads and buildings. After this, we struggled back to our hostel, and passed out with ease. 

June 5th -- Pizza and Drizzle

When we woke the next morning, it was drizzling outside -- our first rainy day in Italy. Luckily it wasn’t hard, so we braved the weather and began to walk around Naples. Naples is known for inventing the modern Pizza and thus everyone who comes needs to get pizza. So, naturally, we searched for a good restaurant to eat pizza. While most in our group agreed that what we found was some of the best they had ever had, I am clearly spoiled by Chicago. It was fantastic though, and I even got to try a pizza with corn on it.

Our goal for the day was to visit the two castles in Naples, but both sadly were closed for the day. Thankfully, there were some churches open to see, such as the Doumo. Other than that, we spent the day walking around next to the coast line in the drizzle exploring Naples. With little else to do in the small time we had, we caught an early train back to Rome, and trip that took 3 hours. The reason for this increased time probably had something to do with the fact that every inch of the train was crammed with people. At one point, a baby started to cry, and the mother couldn’t console it. The father asked for someone to please give up their seat. My friend Dylan immediately stood up, raised his hand, and gave his seat to the mother and child. The father was so thankful that he not only shook Dylan’s hand about 5 times, but also hugged him when we were all off the train. This is ROMAN VIRTUE! 

June WHAT? -- The Blur of Rome

For the life of me, I cannot remember what day we did what from here on out. We started revisiting a lot of sites, wrapping up the final stretch of our class, and just began to live in Rome. I think I can say that I toured Rome for 2 weeks, and lived in it for 1 week. New places that we visited include an outdoor market outside the Castle St. Angelo, the Mausoleum of Augustus (the first emperor of Rome), the Alter of Augustan Peace, the Piazza del Popolo (saw more incredibly famous Caravaggio paintings -- The Conversion of Saul and the Crucifixion of Peter -- and Bernini sculptures). 

I do know that on Wednesday, June 8th, we went to the ancient port city of Rome, Ostia Antica. While not as preserved as Pompeii (most of the walls were gone with only foundation and stone left), it was incredibly preserved. There were even some buildings that were refinished to look how they were supposed to in ancient times. Basically, this city was loaded -- it had a sauna, a bar, a sun room with glass, and a section of the city dedicated to the dead. Our tour guide was fantastic. He is a historian from Stanford who had that stereotypical calming voice of a scholar. He had a lot of information to delve out, that's for sure.

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Later in the week, a group of us returned to the Palentine hill in order to take more extensive photos of the area. This time we weren't with a tour guide, so we spent hours visiting the ruins. We went back to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum as well. It was a good wrap-up in the city, as the ancient ruins were my favorite part. Many times I would look at the ruins with domes in the background and think of Naboo from Starwars. 


That friday, we had a class dinner that was paid for by our professors Craig and Petrie. Professor Petrie had just gotten to Rome and came to dinner after a quick nap. You could tell he was exhausted. Dinner was nice, even with a TV right above our heads that was showing some kind of funniest home video show. It distracted all those who were facing it, but was fun to watch my friend's reactions. Afterward, we all traveled to the Vatican for one last group photo. After this, the entire group, including Professor Petrie, went to the bar for one last night of fun in Rome. Great time.


Now, with Professor Petrie in town not knowing anything about Rome, he was very insistant that someone take him to the best places in Rome, and there is no better collection of Roman statues and art than in the Vatican museum. The next day when Dylan, Joe and I took him there, we were surprised to see Petrie rush through as if he didn't want to see any of it. He stopped at a few statues and paintings here and there: one of a man sticking a sword in his head (which is now called the PTCD major statue), one called The Nile that disgusted him, and lastly what is now dubbed the PTCD room, Raphael's "School of Athens." Other things he stopped to take pictures of were the window views to the outside of the Vatican. He told us that there is an excellent painter who went to the Louvre and when asked what he liked, he said they had some nice window views. He then continued to take pictures of the Vatican's window views. Everything else he skipped, probably because of his fear of crowds. The Sistine Chapel was as awfully crowded as ever, so that too was mostly skipped after a few minutes at attempting to enjoy it. Afterward, we four had a fantastic lunch and talked mostly about the upcoming Florence class. It was a great time.


Sunday was our last day in Rome. Like every Sunday, the market magically appeared in the morning when we woke up. I went down one last time to see all the illegal branding and shoddy consumer electronics. I almost bought a wallet, but decided to wait for Florence to get a real leather one (now being here and seeing their expense, I may just stick to the one I have :P). In all, it was a relaxing Sunday getting ready for Florence.


The next morning we got up incredibly early to please those in the group who were worried about getting to the train station on time. We awoke at 6:30, got the the train station at 7:15, and waited until much later to get our tickets and for our train to finally leave. After a quick 1 hour 30 minute train ride, we were in Florence! A taxi ride and some stairs later, we were in our new apartment, a much more homey and inviting living quarters. The rest of our day we had our orientation to Florence.


We were out of Rome and into Florence. A new city awaited. 

Classes and Papers -- MC 272

It has been a while since I last blogged, and it mostly has to do with class. So, I thought I would take this time to talk about what I've been learning here in Rome.

MC 272 -- Political Theory and Issues
Professor -- Tobin Craig
Place of Study -- Rome!!

The name "Political Theory and Issues" is incredibly dull and hardly begins to describe my first class here at Rome. If I were to name it, I would call it the "Study of Livy's History on Rome and How Liberty Has Evolved Over Time and How Rome Got a Republic Right and Americans Lack Virtue" class.

It's important to understand that this is a PTCD (Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy) class. A lot of our conversation boils down to how the state of the union or Rome is at any given time in its history. Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by a guy named Romulus who was found with his twin brother Remus suckling on a she-wolf when they were infants. Romulus eventually got the better of Remus (and debatably killed him) and founded the city of Rome as king. After that moment, Rome began balancing on the edge of existence as factions (i.e. rich vs. poor) rotted the inside of Rome and war pounded away on its outside. Somehow it was usually able to accomplish things that are often described as an "accident" because they were always so astonishing. Truly a fascinating regime to read about as it moves to a republic and beyond.

As a part of the class, it seems necessary for us to compare Rome to the United States. Now, this is where PTCD comes into direct conflict with my other major, CCP (Comparative Cultures and Politics). In our class, we are encouraged to reflect on such things as virtue in Rome versus virtue in the United States. In Rome, it was common that one's first attachment was to their city, Rome. Mothers bore children for Rome. Armies fought for Rome. There was none of this silly protesting based on individual rights nonsense that just ruins the state morale. There was none of this ridiculous modern liberty that protected people's physical, mental, and moral "rights". Haha, rights, what even were those?

My professor is a raging conservative. He is the guy that complains about colleagues for riding their bike to class because they want to "save the environment." He describes them as "repulsive." He instead has the noble character to ride his bike for exercise and aims to not look pretentious like his fellow professors.

He is also the guy that comes to Italy, sees the amount of police to remind its citizens of the law, hears stories of pickpocketing, and then says that the regime must be in shambles and doesn't know what it's doing. I'm guessing he is ignoring the multiple factors why Italy is in its current "second-world" situation, and that maybe the regime is doing its best to recover, but there are reasons beyond their power (like the EU), that force austerity measures in order for a slow recovery. Perhaps these austerity measures are exactly why Italy's citizens pickpocket dumb tourists.

Basically, I'm convinced he does not like me. Most times I speak in class he "teases" me, yes, his word. It began when I asked the class not to put Rome in a "box" and make comparisons to the United States like "Rome had the Colosseum, the United States has television, they are the same thing" (sorry Caryn). He then used that for three classes as a joke to make sure he wasn't putting Rome into a "box."

Next, was that I said that the average Roman people (the plebs) could not relate with the aristocracy. I was using Adam Smith's theory on moral sentiments, that any action too extreme for a person is un-relatable, and seen as abhorrent and wrong. The aristocracy in Rome was seen, in my opinion, as having too extreme of opinions for the people to understand, thus they could not relate. My professor, when I said this, laughed for a solid 30 seconds about how I was providing the "high minded" argument and that I was a true "aristocrat." I think he thought I meant that the plebs were so vile that they lacked virtue, and thus could not relate to the virtuous aristocracy. What I meant, was that the two groups (the people and the aristocracy) simply couldn't relate with each other because they were so extreme. Later, I had him meet my parents so he knew that I came from a humble upbringing full of conservative family values (love you mom and dad!). I don't think it helped.

Finally, this came to a peak last class. We were in a debate on what is politics. After a lot of discussion from others in class, Craig had come to the point where we had defined politics as a mix of force and persuasion to follow law in order to benefit the individual. Everyone's input was welcomed and accepted. Not pleased with the direction, I raised my hand to argue the following: Politics is the deliberation of those matters that interest the state and the nation (meaning the institutions and the people). This thus means that everything that the people engage in is political in some sense, that there is overlap between what people watch on tv, whether someone gets married, whether someone is religious, etc. and the political realm. Thus, everything is political.

He did not like this and did an argument that led to our previous conclusion, but didn't disprove my contribution. His negative reaction, at this point, didn't shock me, but he continued to make jokes about my point throughout class saying things like: "I like to think that what my wife and I do isn't deliberated by the government," among others. He even summarized our argument of politics as ending with: "and then I teased Brandon for his idea that there is no private realm." >_>

This all sucks because I love the material we are learning about, and I want to learn about it in a CCP context and a PTCD context. I think a consensus has formed with the class that we aren't really learning much in this class beyond the history of Rome. What is cool is that we are having tours of museums and other historical sites in order to get a better understanding for what Romans were like. It's too bad that we can't better historicize this in class.

/rant