Charlotte
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Myths about Violence in the Wild, Wild West
There are some certain aspects of life during the wild west in America that make most people think twice about wanting to travel back to that time: bank robbing and gun-slinging. It was a dangerous time in U.S. History, we were taught that as students in the U.S., the textbooks state it, movies depict it, and characters like Butch Cassidy and Wild Bill all confirm that life was bloody and downright unsafe.Except none of it is true, not really.Think about a town from the wild west, it [...]
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The Marquis de Sade: Man or Menace to Society?
This post will start off with a bit of a lesson in etymology in order to properly understand the reach and impact the Marquis' actions had. Sade is the root word for sadism or sadist. “Sadism, n. The condition in which sexual gratification depends on causing pain or degradation to others.” While de Sade is certainly not the first person in the history of the world who performed acts of sadism, he most definitely made his mark that a new word was added to our vocabulary be [...]
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Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood
I would venture to say that every person in America over the age of 15, maybe even younger, knows who Mr. Rogers is. Not only do we all know him, much of us spent our mornings with him, his sweaters, sneakers and puppets, all while in the comfort of his home. With that much time spent watching Fred McFeely Rogers, it may come as a surprise to realize how much any of us really know about the man. Born outside of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1928, Fred grew up surrounded by those who loved music, so much so that he was able to play the piano starting at the…
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On Buddhism: Two men, one Buddha
Two images come to mind when someone mentions a Buddhist Idol, such as a statue or a piece of jewelry; one man is seen as skinny and somber, while the other is depicted as a fat, jolly man. What is less known is who these Idols are and what each one represents, both of whom were prominent men in the Buddhist religion but only one was actually a Buddha. The fat Buddha, or The Laughing Buddha, is known by different names in different regions, Budai in China and Hotei or Qici in Japan, but he was not a Buddha at all. In China, Budai was a monk from Chinese folklore…
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The Holy Grail and Eternal Life
The Holy Grail has been popularized in novels, such as The Da Vinci Code, and in film, such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the Indiana Jones trilogy. Before the modern interpretations of the grail, there were plenty of stories and tales from every part of the globe that created and recreated their versions of what and where the grail came from. Modern and early depictions view the grail as some vessel of varying forms that holds special value, especially the gift of eternal life. In the west, the general Christian belief is that the grail is the cup from which Jesus drank from during the Last…
