In relation to my blog#3. Am I comparing the "Fab Five" with a madam? No, but I am giving another example of women who have shown diligence and success.

Blog#3 Mayflower Madam

I've been working very hard for my money. Legally, just so you know.  However the older I get, the more semesters I'm enrolled in college, the more changes I go through in my life, I require more money in order to adapt and not fall behind the curve. I have been scrambling for profitable ways to make money just to pay for the gas in my car and my education. So I can relate to the feeling that Sydney "Mayflower Madam" Biddle Borrows probably felt when she lost her job, needed to pay the bills, and also secure a chance to succeed in the future. Ambition costs something. She stuck her toe into the waters of the sex business and knew she could make a go of it HER way. She did.

I don't condone the way Sydney made her money, and I don't have to in order to just admire the skill, intelligence, and drive that she possessed. Not only did she make herself successful, but she managed to do get of some serious trouble down the road. It takes skill to solicit high end escorts and or prostitution for years and get off with only paying $5,000  and a "kiss on the wrist," (Sydney Biddle Barrows) instead of a slap on the wrist, after you've been caught.

Where did she end up after all the scandal? Well, she did not retreat to the woods and hole up in a hunting shack. She created a public persona that somehow people began to accept and even desire. She drug her name out of the mud instead of letting people leave it there. Admirable. 

Dear readers, DON'T take up prostitution. DO push forward with your careers and be smart about it. The legal way of course.

Sydney Barrows on "The View".

I wonder what Mr. Franklin would think if he heard this song? haha.

Blog#2--- Devotion

The definition of "Pilgrimage" from Dictionary.com "

a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion: a pilgrimage to Lourdes." 

The word, "devotion" sticks out to me. Even just the way it sounds speaks true dedication. What's that part of you that is so deep inside, and so vital to who you are, that you are truly devoted to it? 

Studying about William Bradford and the pilgrims made me start considering this question. 

  He came by a leap to the goal of purpose, not by the toilsome steps of reason. On the instant his headlong spirit declared his purpose: this was the one being for him in all the world: at this altar he would light a lamp of devotion, and keep it burning forever.
Gilbert Parker

The pilgrims were devoted to their walk with Christ. He was the largest, most characterizing part of their life and so they were truly devoted to being in a place where they could serve Him the best way they knew. Every single day of that journey they were relying on Him to get them through on it, and they were relying on each other.

I don't know whether everything William Bradford said about himself and the other pilgrims was true, but I honestly hope that it was. I love knowing that humans can stick it out through something like what the pilgrims did. 

I lose faith in humans a lot, but every once in awhile I come back to the fact that if tomorrow the entire world was thrown into chaos,  then so many people would take it one day at a time and their devotion would carry them through. 

*above is one of my all time favorite photographs, by Dorothea Lange.

I googled, "Humanity photography" and I saw this image. See how you think it could symbolize humanity.

Columbus through page 48 "Humans"

Columbus.
I'm not really sure how I feel about Columbus. If I wasn't thinking about him too in depth and just making a round about assumption, I'd say I think he was a bit ridiculous and that his selfishness came back to bite him in the butt. But then again.... I've been going through this sort of phase where I try to have a little mercy and understanding for people's screw ups. In that light, I'd say Columbus was desperate for achievement and he was desperate enough to make a lot of mistakes and lose sight of many important things (assuming he even knew these "important things" to begin with).

Bartolome'  De Las Casas
I liked reading what Las Casas wrote. When I read it I really sensed how grieved he was over everything, and also ashamed he was that he went along with the treatment of the Indians for as long as he did. He was upfront about his behavior though and I respect that. He didn't make himself out to be a self righteous saint. He confronted what was going on and fought it. Too bad he can't come back to life and do the same for this generation.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
Out of all the readings for this weeks assignment, I enjoyed reading De Vaca's the most. He went through so much and struggled just to keep on living for such a long time, but he admits that he may be one of the people in the world who, for whatever reason, are not recognized for what they went through and what they accomplished. He states that at the beginning of his letter.
When I read about the Indians he encountered and lived with all I could think about was how much more pure and unified they seem than the people I run into at church, ha. Obviously there were things about them that were primal and inhumane, but geez just the way they helped out their neighbors and were so loyal to their families (especially children) was inspiring and shaming at the same time. I guess in SOME ways the Indians are what humanity should look like when it hasn't been broken down by hundreds of years of sin.