Megan Project #2

Natalie Orcutt

Megan project #2

For my second Megan project, I was stuck one night about what I should post, so I stared walking around the first floor of my apartment complex and I could not find anything. I went back to my room and started looking in plain sight and this is what I saw;

This first picture is on my other 2 roommates side. It is a picture of a mirror and in the top corner is a sticker of The Virgin Mary with her hands folded together as if she is praying. I was surprised by seeing this because I did not think they were religious. Did they get this mirror at this thrift store and it already had the sticker on it? Do they know the sticker is of The Virgin Mary or did they just think it was cool? This makes me wonder if people just want to come off as religious or are they honestly religious and don’t want to show it? Or do they not know better?

 

The second picture has to do with the point I just brought up in the previous paragraph. This picture is of my other roommate’s boyfriend and he is the complete opposite of the roommates mentioned above. He is very religious and not afraid to show it. I believe he is Christian or of some similar religion because there are tattoos all over his body of scriptures and Jesus. This is one that he pointed out as his favorite because it is a picture of Virgin Mary holding the cross. It Is interesting to me about how people want to portray their religion. Some people would consider themselves very religious and not show it. While others do not consider themselves religious but like to portray as if they are so.

 

330 Million Gods

“300 Million Gods” was nothing short of an eye-opening experience. In this movie, I saw how a religion that I am not familiar with can be so much more than what meets the eye. I was not familiar with Hinduism in the first place, but it was shocking to me how this religion Is way more than spiritual, it’s a way of life. Furthermore, in this movie it informs us how everyone in India practices Hinduism; I feel as though now a days it is very hard to find everyone in a large mass of people that practice the same religion. Another additional point that I found out that since there is 330 million Gods, there are symbols and murals all over India.

 

-Natalie

The Megan Project

For my megan project, I chose to use things that I see daily. They are both on me at all times; my cell phone and my tattoo. I got my tattoo two years ago and it is “psalms 46;5 God is within her, she will not fall.” I got this tattoo because it meant so much to me and that scripture has stuck out to me for years. To me, it is just a daily reminder that throughout the highs and low, God will always be there. I had never even thought about getting a tattoo until I realized I wanted this bible verse to be with me forever.

The second thing I chose is my phone screen saver. My phone lock screen is a colorful picture of flowers with writing that says “Commit your way to the lord; trust in him and he will act. Psalms 37:5.” This picture has been the background on my phone for about 6 months now. I look at it as a reminder to be patient and trust in the Lord.

I have never realized that both religious statements are seen every day by others and myself.

 

Natalie Orcutt

Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee

The movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was an eye-opening experience about the Native American hardships. The Native Americans thought so highly of their traditions and past that they would die for it to stay. I feel as if the modern traditions are not like that, almost as if our lives were put on the line we would betray our beliefs. Wovoka’s wanted peace within his tribe then and for generations to come, which was the main reasons why Col. Nelson Miles and himself could not find common ground. Wovoka could not possibly wrap his head around the fact that Col. Nelson Miles was trying to convert him to “Christianity”.  The white people simply did not respect their traditions and legends.

 

The Ghost Dance was a way to bring back their Native American ancestors from the dead and live in their traditional way of life forever. I believe that this started the massacre because the white people saw the Native Americans boastfully showing off their religion by dancing and singing loudly. Almost as if it were the final straw for the white people.

 

The Native American people thought that the white people took land for granted. That there was nothing spiritual and no previous history about the land. Simply that grass was grass.

 

Throughout this movie, a boy, Ohiyesa’s (Charles), life was documented from a personal point of view, rather from a tribe point of view. Ohiyesa was separated from his father to be placed into a higher status school, but forced to live the “white” life. He was asked by his teacher multiple times to choose a Christian/white name out of a book, in which he refused to do so for a portion of the movie. This was hard on the young boy because he felt as if he was betraying his people and he did not want to become a white man. By accepting the Christian name, you were accepting the European culture and becoming “civilized”.  Ohiyesa later changed his name to Charles to further his studies.

 

I believe that Sitting Bull’s interpretation of the Bible verse “Be fruitful and multiply” is just directed towards the white people.  He wanted the Native American population to demolish in size, not increases.

 

-Natalie Orcutt