Author Archives: Miko Samiano

Final Essay The meaning of the Ocean Blue

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In Eric Roorda “The Ocean Reader: Theory,Culture politics introduction“,David Walcott’s “Introduction People and oceans,” and John Gillis “The Blue Humanities” When the Ocean is argued as a if there is a mention about how does the ocean connect all of us? The way of taking advantage of resources is how the narrative shifts over time due to how we want to stay relevant in the current narrative. In the linguistics Eric Roorda discusses that there is a part where both human authority and redefines words and relationships that show the importance of these roles that play into how we interpret linguistics and how language shifts over time and what people do. While Walcott’s approach in terms of writing is mainly on how do humans events have impacted memory and if it’s made up by humans not the ocean itself and lastly John Gillis modern interpretations of the ocean and how it connects more accurate to people.

In the Eric Paul Roorda “Ocean Reader: Theory, culture politics introduction” where in the text it states a term that defines how humans claims about land as their property. “Terracentrism, a term that is rapidly gaining currency, refers to people’s tendency to consider the world and human activity mainly in the context of the land and events that take place on land” (Eric Roorda,3). Roorda opens with a statement that translates to how humans own the land and define it in their own culture and influence others to identify themselves and it always keep expanding on itself to its best as far it can go. In further research and a another author named Derek Walcott “Introduction: People and Ocean” where it has stated about how humans history is created but questions if it exists. “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs? Where is your tribal memory? Sirs, in that grey vault. The sea. The sea has locked them up. The sea is History. In the first part of the verse he is asking about if any of those have significance on them that makes a surely questions its value. In the second verse where he question of if it is memorable and stored somewhere. The third and fourth verse has the saying that the sea is stores memories in itself and always stay there as long as possible of its existence. In further evidence of Roorda “The Ocean Reader combines a present-day perspective with a broad approach and consciousness of future implications” (Roorda,3). From this part of the text which means it is not that simple on what is truly more complex and having new perspectives and being aware of others consciousness. In more of a human perspective on its views of the ocean itself. “The era of geographic discovery by European powers, narrated in the third chapter, ‘Seas Connect’, etched water routes between all the Earth’s known lands and laid the foundation for the doctrine of the freedom of the seas”(Walcott,10). Having names that connect to many routes around the world and there is a way of knowing what is today to go to these places. What Roorda explains about how does the oceans have been labeled as Geographic markers. “There is one big ocean, and while its regions have been conceptualized as separate bodies of water and named as different oceans, the fact is they are all connected and seawater travels widely and endlessly across these artificial geographic markers”(Roorda,2). Even if there is a way of connecting and labeling all together is a way of communicating with the world and knowing what it is. What the line Walcott has said from earlier from is the part of “The sea. The sea has locked them up. The sea is History” which correlates with the part of text that connection is everywhere you go and it could be founded on labeled land or the unknown part of the sea. It is a way to see the world as something that has already existed can exist again in another form. While both Roorda and Walcott have different ways of interpreting it and the work Roorda has often mentions that there is a name that connects all the oceans together and what measurements they have, while Walcott has more of the approach of something of what humans do with the ocean throughout human history. In compare and contrast of two different perspectives of the same topic and how it is written.

Gillis another author perspective on how the ocean is about what people think about the ocean in the modern day. “The seascape, once a minor genre in art history focused mainly one ships and harbors, took on new interest when nineteenth century like J. M. W. Turner and Winslow Homer pioneered the representation of light and movement on canvas, “pure seascape, as some critics have called it”(Gills). For most of prehistory where the ocean isn’t really much apart of or even mentioned but its only mention are when it is geographically by a person. This new modern perspective is more of a interpretation of what it means to seen by humans.

On a further note Gillis has mentions how the ocean is more recognized more than ever before and what portrayals in the past that can be discovered. “The emergence of the Blue humanities is a belated recognition of the relationship between modern western culture and the sea” (Gillis). It has gotten more of a scientific reasoning after the nineteenth century and what it is. Also gillis mentions how people were frightened about the sea itself and to avoid it. The main words that people described the ocean was “Ugly” “Unfit” “Repellant” and “Dangerous”.

The beginning to understand of what the Ocean truly is and what discoveries have been found and what people focused on was so different. What might be called the second discovery of the sea beginning in the late eighteenth century and accelerating in the nineteenth century and twentieth centuries, produced a vast expansion of scientific knowledge and humanistic of the sea a three dimensional living thing with a history, geography and a life all on its own”(Gillis). It has shown that this another way of bringing science and humans together that doesn’t make it feel repellent. From the other two authors Walcott and Roorda where mostly geographic of the ocean is more of the leading topic and what humans have with the ocean over the centuries and what it led to being of a some sort way of understanding and not just believing in myths. It doesn’t mean that the myth doesn’t exist it could exist it just not believed by most people.

In Walcott’s perspective about how people viewed the ocean was about how scary it was to ventured out and believing these thing would make people mythical beliefs are justified.

“First, there was the heaving oil,”

“heavy as chaos;”

“then there is light a head of the tunnel”

“the lantern of a caravel,”

“and that was genesis.”

“Then there was the packed cries,”

“the shit, the moaning:”

“Exodus.”

Bone soldered by coral to bone,

mosaics

mantled by the benediction of the shark shadow,

The part when the word “Caravel” was a small ship that European explores have used and the “Genesis” part means that there is a a beginning of a conquest. For Walcott in the next passage is was about how people have horrors

According to Walcott there is a point of view that people wrote stuff about there journey out in to the ocean blue on a boast and it describes a terrible picture on how it went and it justify there beliefs because the fear of those stories that are told are something to believe in and never really try to ventured out in the large vast Oceans and it didn’t really connect them closer and this type of thing pushes people away from understanding what the Ocean truly is. while one the other hand Gillis uses what people have said on what they found about the ocean and it is more of a change in recent times in human history. What both of these authors believe in and having evidence backing them up and what critiques they have from each other is social versus scientific knowledge and what makes it contradict but it can be connected if both sides were to be understood.

Expanding on Roorda part of the argument is that there is a reason why humans are not thinking about Ocean isn’t much of a place to be seen as anything just to pass through to go to other continents and what this says about people is more important than looking into the ways of the Ocean. “They Relentlessly hunt sea creatures, taking 90 million tons of fish from it annually” The meaning behind this of Roorda article is that there is something essential to do instead of looking into it introspectively and what it does it proves how Human nature is the top of the food chain despite having a fear of going exploring the Ocean itself and what mysteries are beyond its surface. A person from Roorda article was woman named Karen Wigen and this quote is that “Maritime scholarship seems to have burst its bounds; across disciplines, the sea is swinging into view” This is a turning point of how unity can be used to acknowledge what can be done to have people learn about the ocean and gain new knowledge. in addition to that point is ” Environmental science, social history, marine ecology and other approaches have combined to transform the field of maritime studies”(Roorda). Education is important tool to be used in a way that the general public to understand what is underneath our Ocean floors. What this is that there is something to look forward to and what it can bring for the future.

Expanding on what Gillis has said about what people still do that hasn’t really changed all that much is that “Ironically, it was when nations turned away from the sea as a place of work that writers and painters turned their full attention to the sea itself”(Gillis). It is a contradiction on what Gillis usually says about how great the Ocean really is and when the most well known people turn away from a opportunity they missed and someone else like person who don’t get much attention from people unless they are very well known especially in the Visual arts where most people don’t take seriously and when the opportunity is reaching out to people such as them to make products or projects based one what they observed from the Ocean. In past years of when people were going on voyages to other lands a man named Thomas Cole was an artist before it mainstream. “Thomas Cole’s Famous 1842 four-part painting The Voyage of life captured popular imagination, with more and more people describing in their lives nautical terms” (Gillis). The rarity of a person such as Thomas Cole was one of those things you don’t really hear much about in the News or people talking about it. It is a type of interpretation that wasn’t common for people who stuck with limiting beliefs about the Ocean. Unlike Gillis is Walcott where in his poem where it was told in a short way of passing the message on to people even if its wrong people will hold on to it like it it is a part of their beliefs.

“Sir, it is locked in them sea-sands”

This would mean that a person would be locked into the sea hands that made them freak out

“out there past the reef’s moiling shelf,”

“where the men -o’-war floated down;”

strop on these goggles, I’ll guide you there myself.”

It seems like command to do something for someone and there is the meaning specific materials in this stanza is sea related and it would indicate that there is element attached to the people who were there at the time.

What Walcott continues to add is about how human experiences with the Ocean is scary and terrifying to go down there and this kind of thing isn’t really new at all and this an interpretation of people in the western world thought about the Ocean and what is ahead of them to avoid to be seen with them at all costs. It really show how much people are not having an irrational fears and some people won’t believe them unless there is physical or witnessed on what happened back there.

From Walcott’s mythical poem, Gillis Modern interpretation of what people think about the Ocean nowadays and Roorda connections with how does the ocean connects with people. There is lots of interrelations that a person can take a way from this and what better than seeing three different perspectives on what people throughout history and with all of these perspectives as something to take and having more knowledge about the ocean is something to be cool and what all three authors have different perspectives but isn’t really wrong or right this is just something fairly new to look forward as a society and what this has brought us was how does the Ocean impacts its impression on us and how we contributed mostly negatively most of the time anyways and it started to change and continue to do so in a positive manner as such.

Work Cited

John Gillis, “The Blue Humanities” (Humanities: The Journal of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Web. 2013)

Eric Paul Roorda, The Ocean Reader: Theory, Culture, Politics (Duke UP, 2020).
‘Introduction” (pgs. 1-4)
Week 11: The Blue Humanities: Oceanic Thinking, History, & Art Activism

Helen M. Rodzadowski, Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans (Reaktion Books, 2018),
“Introduction: People and Oceans” (pgs. 7-12) PDF

Derek Walcott, “The Sea is History” (1978), poem

Final thoughts

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In this reflection of my this class is that in my most of my years of academia has been an interesting and analytical struggles that it was something I have learned this year that throughout this semester is justified every time I have to to do a blog about a section in a chapter of a books, articles or poems and writing about these things have been one of the most difficult to analyzed and interpret into words to a understandable length is for myself and others.

What I have learned from this is that there is lots of mermaids that I didn’t really know about that there is much to learn about mermaids and it was a truly mythical experience that I usually don’t believe in and this class has shown me actual documentations on Mermaids.

Thank you Professor pressman for teaching me and my classmates about how Mermaids impact and how to analyze texts and writing them into blogs and essays. It was difficult but it was a skill worth learning.

week 15

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In chapter 5, Yetu has gone through looking out into the world without much thought and has stuck her that what is she going through is the feeling of being free and memories can slow you down and remember emotionally that affects her mental and physical state of her body. Feeling happy is freeing when there isn’t much to think about except the one good moment and reality hits back to state stability.

what is reflecting about her having this feeling freedom is that she states that “When she tried yo convince herself that she should go hunting for meat, she passed out again from fatigue and pain”(70). Usually this type of moment isn’t the most interesting but it has shown that there is a part of forgetfulness in this context is a form how memories are with you and has an impact your stability. The memories of others have taken over her mind physically and then gives her the privilege to not let It get it to her too much. Most People try to run away from horrible memories and try to forget them and leaving them behind.

The Blue humanities

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My final project proposal is about the Blue Humanites ocean thinking and history that involved the meaning of the ocean floor and what does it mean to people who perceived the ocean as a non living we don’t care about and in the article from Eric Paul Rooda and what he interprets how do we communicate with the ocean and how it impacts our own lives like in politics and history itself with meanings that humans don’t understand.

For my thesis statement in progress: In modern history the ocean isn’t recognized that much and how do humans interpreted as something to forget or use of a tool instead of thinking as one with the Earth core elements needed for others to survive and hustle humans have done so much damage that we tend to ignore Enviroment as if were nothing. This explores the idea of what it means to have an understanding of the Ocean as a place to be named and how should we the value in it.

What Separate between Identity and Unity

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What does an identify have that unity doesn’t well there is more to that. In Roodan “The Ocean Reader: Theory,Culture,Politics” where both the ocean and humanities are two different entities that correlates with each other. Showing what is similar versus being completely different are two separate things that intertwines with each other. Roodan portrayal of human relationship with the ocean has a connection to how people in the modern era see things. The Ocean is a essential key part of world and is not really in our control in some way shape or form.

The central point of this piece that explains that the ideology is the Ocean is more than just something Humans are aware of and take advantage of and use for their personal gain like naming them, having it apart of certain terrestrial continents on earth. “there is one big Ocean, and while its regions have been conceptualized as separate bodies of water and named different Oceans, the fact is, they are all connected, and seawater travels widely and endlessly across these artificial geographic markers” (1,2). It has imply that their acknowledgement of what the ocean is and how they connect to the land they are closest to and maned after their land region. It is a concept that people have owned and signed an agreement to name ocean or land that they claim is a Nation as recognition of the people who live on it. The process of nationhood is a human way in the modern age to have two differ from each other by a particular characteristic. Having specific names have connections to humans as a geographic location.

The Ocean never really had capitalizes us humans in terms of our written language but it has with Mother Nature itself, It is seen as resource and not having much meaning to it because humans are dangerous creatures who just use it as something if needed in certain situations. The lack of the relationship between Humans and the Ocean itself. The ocean is just something to bypass by instead of thinking about how we need to respect it. The Ocean has carried knowledge that we know and It is one of the first things that developed majority of Earths current and extinct creatures that have lived as long the environment is livable and Us Humans don’t really acknowledged it in deep in thought. “Ocean is capitalized in this book”(3). As Roodan explains it has been going on for a claim for a formal name that we know it as. As much as it is a Ocean of nothingness in the surface level due to the lack of desire for exploration of the ocean and our relationship with it is mostly consists of just being used for human desires and never thought of much as a vital part of Earth to taken care of. The Ocean and many parts that make earth livable and responsible for influencing humans to think of borders of where they are in the world for some sort of a identity to have. Oceans often decides on weather conditions like storms, hurricanes and when the clouds will let water fall to ground and we see it as a rainy day outside.

In our Nations Politics have gotten involved in such as thing like having good knowledge, economics or even policies and someone is getting something and what the Ocean get Nothing. There is nothing to give the ocean from Humans and we should think more of why the Ocean has purpose instead of just seeing as a tool to get around by. The recognition of the Ocean is needed and what we choose to do as humans is nothing more than wanting more territory of who owns more and gets more. Most people recognize as a Domain and always have and still will and we have to take small steps to have better understanding of what the Ocean really is instead staying comfortable as we are. One example to have for the first step of recognizing it as a important part of our planet and knowing how to take care of it and too see how it affects the creatures who need the ocean to survive.

As Roodan puts it as he makes readers understand how to the oceans and how is our relationship with as a whole. To have some sort of meaning to the Ocean and how we treat it as it impacts our way of living and changing our ways would indeed help of healing our environment around us. The Ocean Identity is part of our world and no matter how we see it the Ocean is something to be acknowledged to all living creatures and it an environment worth protecting and is a Nation even without any named statehood boundaries made by Humans.

The Water Will Carry Us Home

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In the short film “The Water Will Carry Us Home” The imagery has portrayed a slave ship the video shows. The short film shows us how do people that are depicted in the times of the Atlantic slave trade and the idea of a mermaid as a outside force and people had a belief in them to be their savor from their misery they faced even if it may not be real. The Insights of Tesafayes is the human consciousness is the sole focus of the video.

As the story concluded the interpretation is how people are always being remembered for just being imprisoned on a ship. The religious aspect of the video is a wake up call to let people know that there are people who are forgotten by name or anything they have done in their lives but only to be remembered for that one thing and nothing and the ending shows that pieces of the past physical or mental lives through us as a reminderof that particular historical event.

The mystery out in the ocean

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In the film Sironomelia where it is apart of a decommissioned Nato base and the silence of the film has. It has an impact of what humans are not really knowing what is out in the world where the most isolated and unknown.

From all the previous lectures and how it impacts on what we know about mermaids is very limited. Through out the film It shows how not immersed and knowledgeable that humans know very little about the ocean and the Arctic itself. From Eric Paul Roorda article “The ocean reader theory culture, politics Introduction” where it says humans have unbalanced relationship with the Ocean and how humans are aggressively treating the Ocean as if it were nothing and only care about land borders that is worth conquering. The one thing I often notice is the there is lots of humans aren’t really in the picture because of scientific discoveries isn’t often presented. There is more to the film that is audio and sound has showed that there is a message in the film of not many people are trying to have explorations into the vastness into the unknown ocean. Humans for centuries have been know have the absence of destruction and greed.

So what the film tells us is how life is precious and it prevails in nature unseeded. What the Mermaid sees is peace and quiet that no one else can live a life like them. It is very unique to them and them alone.

The vast ocean of the unknown

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In the reading “The Ocean reader by Eric Paul Roorada and what in the passage what stood out is how much involvement of human beings are in the ocean and still has lots of mysteries that we don’t much about.

Roorada says about how humans viewed the ocean and its entirety is that “Those who have considered the watery majority of the planet on its own terms have often seen it as a changeless space, one without a history”(1).

This describes humans people who are just ignorant about our planet and were too busy to try to understand on why the ocean is an important part of our planet and essential to life as we know it to be. It is crucial to have knowledge of the ocean itself because it is a large part of life that is needed and lots of potential to be explored. Most people rather go and discover parts of our universe out in space rather than taking care of our planet.

For what the author puts a spotlight on how humans are seeing the ocean “Terracentrism, a term that is rapidly gaining currency, refers to people’s tendency to consider the world and human activity mainly in the context of the land and events that take place on land”(1). People tendency to dominate other people have been for thousands and what the environment has taken a toll from humans for quite a while and really needs to considered how resources are limited due to climate change.

The wilderness in the wild

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In Williams Cronon ” defining “the wilderness” and ” the environment” The question of how the wilderness is defined by human civilization and the environment being used as a place for the wealthy to have more properties and ownership. Labeling can be one definition for defines the wilderness even though we humans are considered mammals yet we isolated ourselves from the animals in wild and not interconnected as we think. Like if we name monuments after people

In one part of the passage is that “If the core problem of the wilderness is that it distances us too much from the very things it teaches us to value, then the question we must ask is what it can tell us about home, the place where we actually live” (Cronon, 23). What we call home is just one way of knowing our definition and it usually in a city building, a house on the suburbs or even just a farmhouse hundreds and thousands of miles away from Human civilization. The meaning of this is that there is no such thing as a single definition of what to call a home no matter how much time passes and changes certain things will always stay the same. Another point is that in “Indeed, my principal objection to wilderness is that it may teach us to be dismissive or even contemptuous of such humble places and experiences” (Cronon, 22). Being apart of an environment means that to have humbleness regardless where we end up and having respect for nature. What cronon has taught us is that there is somethings that nature has a place in our hearts no matter if we to destroy or artificially change the naturalness landscape it will always come back somehow.

The Idealization of Human relationships

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In the story of Undine and the elements and how relationships have explorations through many aspects of life in itself that has been talked about since forever. It would call that there is no such things as trying to accomplish everything and even trying to do so will never happen no matter “Our condition would be far superior to that of other human beings,- for human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and culture, but there is one evil peculiar to us”(105).

From undine perspective of being such a extraordinary person has to always explain to her husband that she has found in him and says “we and our like in the other elements, vanish into dust, and pass away, body and spirit, so that not a vestige of us remains behind; and when you mortals hereafter awake to a purer life, we remain with the sand and the sparks and the wind and waves”(105). Being human is like any other living thing but with some more interesting ways of living but in principle it is the same. As long as humans continue to exist cultures and customs will continue to live on after the original person or group. Undine describes her husband as a person who lives and embraces who he is and loves Undine in the most human way.

People will always have something say and something to do and whatever our objective is to live with of what we have and not just think so pessimistically and without certain people there is no such thing as hope in our lives. Without humans most likely there would be no meaning on things we create and do for others. Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows but nature never changes its rules for us no matter how much we try to make our lives easier. Undine also says that “Thus my Father, who is a powerful water prince in the Mediterranean Sea, desired that his only daughter should become possessed of a soul, even though she must then endure many sufferings of those thus endowed” (105).

A missing component to all this is that there is an element that’s not morally desirable and it is being satisfied and enjoy what you and most people go on their entire lives trying to be the best and when any type of failure hits people its either give up and never try again or reflect on what happened and accept your failure and move on to the next thing and know how to solve the problem at hand. Undine claims that there is “Such as we are, however, can only obtain a soul by the closest union of affection with one of your human race”(105). Having a soul often mean that there is more to life than just completing tasks for everyone else but yourself. Being human is just to race to the finish line while completing the only major milestones that are commonly known as like raising a family, being successful that is defined by your career and also there is no happiness inside a person who living a hollow life and not being full of life is not worth living for. As a society the progression has gotten to the point where life is stagnant and stale because of no such as thing as being an authentic personalities only copy pasted from social media influencers are the ones who are makings big impacts on younger audiences. Will you keep up with this nonsense or have some sort of backbone to this problem.

As human beings we are meant to make progress advancing our accomplishments and it is often the goal to always pursue and move up with it. We are not meant to surpass our limits when its not humanly possible and our environment often says what state it is in and our responsibility is to carry on others creations, legacies and current traditions in our lifetime as we shall live. Our shelves may be just mortal but our human spirit hangs on to other humans. Through Undine nature is known as being stable and truthful when interacting with people around her like her husband and the local fisherman. Humans are often known to just being simple and yet being more complicated psychologically.

Types of social relationships has often just like in nature with along side with animals. Connection is one of those things that kept our species alive. where would we be without our ancestors? Well people have tried to become to most powerful and idealized version of themselves that would take them and seeing their limits. Mermaids are a type of species people wished to become because of costumes that people dress up as on holidays like Halloween party or a conventions. Most people as children wish to become mermaids because of film and tv shows that represented in one way or another. In early versions of mermaids were thought to be mysterious monsters and have been interpreted differently for each person who read or watch Mermaids. It’s has been interesting that when it comes to interpretations people would say “This isn’t the version of a Mermaid I grew up with”.

As long Humans race exist we will continues to better ourselves at everything and not stop. Human connections are needed and not meant to be apart to divide us. Values are important to keep and valid. Being doesn’t just mean to be living on auto pilot and living meaningful life is important. words that are said from is Undine is that ” He is however powerful, and is esteemed and beloved by many great steams; and as he brought me hither to the fisherman, a light-hearted laughing child, he will take me back again to my parents, a loving, suffering, and soul-endowed women” (106). It is always something or someone look forward to and perfection doesn’t exist.