Anita Houck Analysis

Choosing an unfamiliar place within the small town of Athens, OH was a difficult task for someone with a diverse list of interests to do. Personally, I had to think about where I wanted to spend my time ‘culture watching’. There are many places that I have spent much of my time, like coffee shops, multiple basketball and football games freshman year, and three well known dining halls across campus. I had to think to myself where have I not spent time in Athens, and then it came to me, church. For the cultural immersion project, I spent three Sundays observing the Athens First United Methodist Church, each service being one hour long focusing on different areas each time. The location of the church is extremely familiar to me being that I live

What I learned from Laura Bobnaks essay was the way we think in high school is extremely different from what we think when we are adults. In high school, it’s all about doing everything we can to get out of there whether its cheating or studying. It doesn’t matter because in high school no one like a tattle tale or a rat.

Hinduism practiced by individuals, certain groups, mass festival, and at the temple. In the beginning of the film, the narrator’s guru confessed his devotion to Kali – meaning that individuals can choose certain god which fits his will. interesting thing is that people having primary god means Hindus categorized into different sections depending on their gods. Those categorized people could experience tension between one another in my opinion. However, the existence of millions of gods decrease the tension between the groups. The festival of Saraswati was the perfect example to practice the religion for certain groups. The students celebrate the festival to refresh their motivation and seeks higher will to learn. Yet, there was another form of practice – mass festival like other religions. The example was the Ganges River cleansing festival. The river was considered sacred, pure, and has a power of cleansing sins of whomever bath himself/herself. To me, the catering of thousands of people trying to cleanse their sins off shows the power of the religion and devotion of Hindus. Also, the most common form of practicing religion is temples. Hindu temples have its own architecture and art forms to amaze people.

The participation in these events and overall repetition enforces the religious content and provides an optimistic vision of existence and eventual transcendence for the participant. It provides a break from a temporal and profane duration of time and into a sacred time of importance and meaning for a religion and its followers.

In Lofton’s book, she addresses that there is more to Oprah than meets the eye. Her thesis statement, “What is Oprah? Oprah is an instance of American astonishment at what can be” (Lofton 1), shows the reader that the author clearly sees Oprah as a significant figure in America and will proceed to show us how so throughout the book. Through several examples, Lofton conveys her point by pointing out the influence Oprah has had on others to help them live life to their full potentials religiously, economically, physically, emotionally and socially.

When given the opportunity, I am usually open to and enjoy stepping out of my comfort zone. This project allowed me to do just that. For my religious visit, I visited Shaare Emeth, Reformed Jewish Synagogue on Saturday June 20, 2015 for their Shabbat Morning Worship Service at 11 a.m. It is located at 11645 Ladue Rd, St. Louis, MO 63141.

I went to Grand Island, Nebraska, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 to the Buddha Matta Phaaphayaram Lao Buddhist Temple. The temple used to be an old Faith United Methodist Church until purchased on November 28, 2013 by local Buddhists in Grand Island. I was not the only one from my class that went. My teacher and four other students were there too.

One of the most striking was my grandfather’s temple in the small town of Mahoba where my father grew up. I spent a great deal of my childhood here, thus the pastel pink walls, intricate flower designs, and open layout immediately sparked flashbacks. I remembered the lenghas, traditional dresses, I would pick out to wear even though they were much more formal than the usual attire. I remembered waiting until no one was looking to sneak over to where everyone removed their shoes to try on my mom’s high heeled sandals. I remembered seeing my Dada, grandfather, leading the poojas, religious services, and feeling proud seeing how respected and genuine he was.

Belonging to a certain group is a natural experience in the lives of individuals. Groups are categorizable by a variety of options but often expel a trait that epitomizes each individual within the group such as rank, societal merit, or simply just appearance. Behaviorism gratifies purpose within cohort mentality among those in an association due to the psychological commonalities that bring these groups together. When it comes to an individual's development within a certain group, joint mentality helps create a safe environment but often times supports ideologies of self empowerment. Anthropologist Karen Ho composes the analysis of students whom graduate Ivy League universities and enter into financial professions, in her essay “Biographies

However, it is hard to practice religion due to judgment from other races and the location of the temple is further from home. Another reason is the person might not have the items needed for the rituals. One thing that I observed about my Vietnamese and Chinese communities is that the temple is a safe place for the community to practice their religious beliefs. However, it is exclusive with other communities due to religions are not a melting pot, where it might accept and possibly absorb some ideas, but language and ignorance become a barrier that some could not overcome. There is a quote in the narrative by Elk that I found relevant to the present culture; Elk wrote, “Indeed, he observed the way in which we fearfully, anxiously, shape our whole lives by religious, political, cultural, and personal labels and names – all of which function as a buffer zone of security between ourselves and the experience of life” (8). From what I gather from the quote is we form our identity around our religion and political and cultural

Jennifer Dailey already had her heartbroken in April 2015, on the day she gave birth to her daughter Jerrica Sky, Dailey explained “I had a stillborn baby.”

My grandparents and parents were Hindu priests, having been raised with the family ancestral traditions and belief, I have often been exposed to rituals based on spirituality.

Learning different religion and seeing what the eastern and western are like and comparing them.

To experience a new religion is to open one's mind to an entirely new world. For my World Religions course, I was asked to visit a place of worship for a religion other than what I was most used to. Upon considering being raised as a Pentacostal Christian, the first idea that came to me after hearing this was for Billy and I to go with our friend Arjun's family to a Hindu temple—since Arjun had moved away recently to go to college however, he was unable to attend.

I decided to visit a Hindu temple because the Hindu religion was the religion that I knew the least about and was interested in. This assignment gave me an opportunity to learn more about this religion and what their worship services and rituals were like. The temple that I went to was called BAPS Shri Swaminaryan Mandir and it was located in Lilburn. As soon as I walked in, I was amazed by the beautiful architectural design of this Temple. It seemed like it took a lot of hard work and dedication to make the place what it is now. While I was at the temple, I watched the Hindus perform an ancient Vedic ritual called the Abhishek, a ritual bathing to honor the murti of their God.