People suffer from stereotypes everyday.  No matter what race, gender, or ethnicity a person may be, society tends to develop stereotypes against different groups of people.  Homeless people, unfortunately, have suffered a great deal from stereotypes.  I know that when I think of a homeless person, my image is someone in old, dirty, beat-up clothing who is sitting on the sidewalk of the city streets next to a can and a cardboard poster asking for money.  After the screening of this movie, I now realize that not everyone who is homeless lives like that.  Many people who are homeless do not have a place to call their home for an extended period of time.  Inocente, a 15-year-old girl from San Diego, is an example of someone who is homeless, yet does not fit that description stated previously.

The story of this 15-year-old girl’s life is one that is truly inspiring and powerful.  The MTV documentary, Inocente, goes through the extremely difficult life that this young girl has already had to encounter, yet somehow has been able to find the positive through it all.  At only the age of 15, Inocente is someone that many people throughout this world should look up to as an individual.  Despite her surroundings and lack of childhood, she never loses sight of her dream to become an artist and never loses hope in herself.

Inocente is an undocumented immigrant from a broken household who has been without a permanent home for the past nine years.    She is a victim of domestic violence who, now because of that, is without a father figure in her life and is left with a mother who she is not emotionally disconnected from.  Prior to viewing the film, I thought that her paintings and artwork were going to be very dark and gloomy, as anyone would expect from someone who has gone through pain of such great magnitude.  However, after the screening I was amazed at how Inocente uses a multitude of vibrant colors in her artwork which reflects nothing of what her past would look like on a canvas.  Her mind pictures mini cyclops creatures and fantasy worlds which are created out of bright colors.

Inocente expresses herself through her art not only on a canvas, but on her face as well

Going back to the topic of stereotypes, society tends to discriminate against the homeless because they add little value to the world so to speak.  Not many people would think and believe that someone who is homeless possesses unique skills.  Inocente is an individual who has an enriching personality, sweet heart, and the vision and ability to create vibrant and colorful works of art.  As a result of this documentary being created, she had her own art show in NYC in which every single piece of art displayed was sold, except one that she had kept for herself.  This just goes to show that one never knows what skills a certain individual may possess, so to stereotype against them is unfair.

One of the rooms of Inocente’s first ever art show in which all but one works of art sold. The one that did not sell she kept for herself.

The story of Inocente is one that society should look at and rethink how they form stereotype and opinions against different groups of people simply because of a title they may have adopted over the years.  It may not be someones fault why they are where they are in present time, and it is no ones business to judge against anyone.  The documentary does an incredible job portraying this.  Inocente will never be able to get rid of the memories of what her life was like in the past, yet her future is brighter then ever.  She is now living on her own at age 19 in an apartment in NYC and continues to create colorful and vibrant artwork.  Despite all of the obstacles that Inocente has encountered in her life, she has never let them slow her down from becoming the person she is today and will be in the future.

References:

“Inocente” the MTV documentary

Further Reading:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/02/26/inocente-homelessness-oscars-best-documentary-short/

http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/09/Inocente-A-young-artists-journey-through-homelessness

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/arts/television/inocente-izucar-documentary-on-mtv.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

In the 1930s, a puzzling discovery came about in a siege mine at the city known as Dura-Europos in Syria.  This city was controlled and run by the Romans as a military base backed by the Euphrates River, only until the powerful and overwhelming Sasanian Persian Empire made a push for the city.  The Persians, however, did not go about this raid in a traditional way by any means.

The Romans had established a large garrison to protect the city from any foreign invaders.  Persian forces had recognized this, so they designed a mine to be dug underneath the city wall in an effort to collapse it.  Romans soon became aware of this and dug out a counter-mine, which ultimately led to the death of 19 Roman soldiers and one lone Persian.

Diagram that shows the Persian mine designed to collapse Dura-Europo’s city wall, the Roman countermine which intended to stop them, and the possible location in which the Persians began to use the Chemical warfare against the Roman defense

Now how did the Persians manage to take down 19 Roman soldiers in such a tiny space? As the two different tunnels connected, the Persians had put together a form of chemical warfare, which to my surprise has been around for a significant period of time.  Stephanie Pappas writes, “One of the earliest examples was a battle in 189 B.C., when Greeks burnt chicken feathers and used bellows to blow the smoke into Roman invaders’ siege tunnels.”  The Persians used a chimney effect to gas out the Roman soldiers as the two mines met.  Recent excavations revealed bitumen and sulphur crystal remains that provide evidence that those crystals were burned in order to create choking gases.  The soldiers that were discovered were found stacked on top of each other to form a human wall for the Persians to continue on with their plan of taking the walls down.  With how the Roman soldiers were found, and the position in which they were in, archaeologists determined that the Persians successfully pulled off the chemical combat.

A diagram of the 19 dead Roman soldiers found in the underground mine

Even though the Persian’s were successful in setting up their plan to bring down the walls, they still were unable to actually bring them down, however, evidence shows that they still were able to break into the city.  University of Leicester archaeologist Simon James excavated a ‘machine-gun belt’ which looked to have been the Roman’s last line of defense that was never put into effect.  One can infer that the people of the city were either slaughtered or driven out of the city, leaving Dura-Europos abandon forever.  Although there was not much physical evidence at hand, archaeologists were able to figure out just what went down at this ancient city based on the 19 dead soldiers found in the mines.

Sources:

1. University of Leicester. “Archeologist Uncovers Evidence Of Ancient Chemical Warfare.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 January 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090114075921.htm>.

2. http://www.livescience.com/13113-ancient-chemical-warfare-romans-persians.html

Pictures:

1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090114075921.htm

2. https://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/more-inventions-of-the-ancient-near-east/

Further Reading:

1. https://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/more-inventions-of-the-ancient-near-east/

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/05/poison-gas-ancient-syria-chemical-warfare_n_3876017.html

3. http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/people/james/roman-soldiers-in-the-city/final-siege

4. http://io9.com/5798230/ancient-chemical-weapons-that-were-ahead-of-their-time

A team of Yale Archaeologists led by Professor of Egyptology John Coleman Darnell discovered a “lost” Egyptian City while on their “Theban Desert Road Survey.”  This survey is a rolling mission in which the goal is to map out and study the Egyptian Western Desert and its ancient caravan routes.  Through this survey, the Yale archaeologists discovered the so-called “lost” ancient Egyptian City, Umm Mawagir.  The discovery of this city answered and sparked up a lot of questions about the Second Intermediate Period in the Theban Western Desert.  The period of time between 1650-1550 BC is known as the Second Intermediate Period consisting of three main groups in the Western Desert; they are the Hyksos, the Nubian kingdom of Kerma, and Thebaid.  This time period represents the second time that Egypt fell into chaos right after the end of the Middle Kingdom and before the start of the New Kingdom.  The recently discovered city spans over a kilometer in the southern part of the Kharaga Oasis, which before this discovery had been thought of as an uninhabited ghost town.  John Darnell, however, believes that this Oasis was actually a center for caravan routes connecting the Nile Valley of Egypt to modern day Western Sudan.

Map of the area around Umm Magawir, which was originally proclaimed a wasteland until discovered by Darnell and his team of archaeologists

Nile Region

“The Western Desert of the Second Intermediate Period may well have been wild, but it was not disorganized,” stated Darnell as he reflected on his discovery.  Darnell also believes that this ancient city was at one point in association with Thebes, which may be able to explain how the Pharaonic power prevailed as the weakest of the three establishments, possibly leading to the early start up of the Golden age of the Egyptian Empire.  One of the main reasons this city was able to survive was because it produced a sizeable amount of bread at that time.  Having the ability to produce this much bread allowed the city to flourish through trade in the Western desert region.  Darnell was very interested about why the baking of bread was such a big deal in this particular city so he and his team decided to start a dig in a part of the bakery. The team of archaeologists was able to find close to half a ton of pottery in a relatively small area that caught Darnell’s attention right away.

Bread forms that were excavated from the ancient city Umm Magawir.  Umm Magawir means “Mother of Bread Molds”

In just that one dig they were also able to find two large baking ovens, stones for grinding flour, and a stone mortar for husking grain.  As the team began to search around for more information, they were able to find broken pots of Nubian Desert troops, which suggested that this city had once served as a major military stronghold for these highly valued soldiers because the only way for these pots to have gotten to Umm Mawagir is if they were carried up from the south.  The excavation is nowhere near done, with only about one percent of the city excavated.  Darnell believes that through further excavation archaeologists will be able to find things out about the Second Intermediate Period that have been left unanswered.

Sources:

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2979

http://news.yale.edu/2010/08/26/ancient-lost-egyptian-city-discovered-yale-archaeologists

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, and practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 20102010.

Additional Reading:

http://www.yale.edu/egyptology/ummmawagir_ceramic.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07archeo.html?_r=0