My Blog

I took a trip today to the area known in New Orleans as "Little Vietnam." I'd like to preface this post by saying that after I returned, I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to a coworker of mine(Quynh) that was born and raised in the Versailles apartment complex, in order to get a better picture of life in Little Vietnam. One of the first things that I noticed as I entered the area was that the architecture was not as Oriental as I had expected. Most of the architecture looked no different that other parts of the city, except for some signs above stores written in Vietnamese and similar things. I didn't go inside any buildings there, but Quynh told me later that this is the case most of the time regarding the exteriors of buildings. The interiors are much more ethnic I was told. This points to the idea that most of these buildings were probably not built by the Vietnamese upon immigration, but were simply repurposed to fit the tastes of the immigrants. I wen

This map is what I will be using today when I travel to Little Vietnam in New Orleans. Using this map, I hope to see the areas that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and also the ones that have rebuilt even stronger from the great loss. While the area might not be an incredibly wealthy one, I hope to learn a little of the character and work ethic of the average person that lives in Little Vietnam. I will also try and get an accurate view of how the locations of levees surrounding the area have affected/will affect flooding patterns. I will also be paying attention to architecture as a main point.

Haiti is a country that is considered the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. This caused worry to some and speculation that the Hatian government's emergency services would not suffice in the context of a real emergency. These fears were realized on January 12, 2010 when a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Port-au-Prince. In the immediate aftermath it was seen that the National Palace, once standing elegantly and tall, was now caved in across the facility under its own weight. This palace was unfortunately never rebuilt and at its location sits an empty lot. The National Penitentiary was another building that suffered major damage, but it was one that had more profound effects. Already considered an overcrowded prison, its managers were grossly unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude to occur. Physical breakdown of the prison's barriers allowed over 4,000 violent inmates to escape into the country. The Place du Marron before the earthquake seemed to be a calm, p

The Slave Trade was responsible for the cruel and unfair imprisonment of millions of people over the course of its existence. People were snatched from their homes and swiftly put on boats to work for cruel people in an unfamiliar environment for no pay. Regarding the slaves as a people, this is a perfect example of relocation diffusion using the Atlantic Ocean as a permeable barrier. It may be involuntary relocation, but relocation nonetheless. The Dutch also encouraged some cultural mobility in the form of hierarchical diffusion. Ideas from the Dutch spread through the leadership downward. Both sides whether unknowingly or knowingly, were receiving and giving bits of their own culture to others.

In this post I explored the many similarities and differences between the rice coasts of both the Eastern coast of North America and the Western "Rice Coast" of Northern Africa. In the reading by Judy Carney, it is proposed that it's quite possible for black slaves to have brought rice farming along with them from their home. Upon examining a few of the rice fields from both locations I've noticed a few similarities. One is that both of these rice fields operate on estuaries where salt water and fresh water meet. Some fields in North America look like the older fields found on the "Rice Coast," but I've found that they most of the time look a bit different. For example, almost all fields in North America have some sort of general polygon shape to them, but the majority of the ones I observed in Africa did not exist in really any discernible shape, but more of a geometric pattern. They are also bigger most of the time. In my findings, I would assume th

For this assignment I divided the Dixie region into 4 unique sub-regions. Cajun Country consists mostly of Louisiana with some spillover into neighboring states. It's defined by its food, music, and other aspects of culture. The Gulf Coast sub-region is neighboring the Gulf of Mexico and therefore has a big marine influence on its culture. Football Mania is defined by its residents' love, and sometimes obsession, of football. Mountain Country is obviously a very mountainous region and its culture reflects that with its unique style of music and rhetoric.