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Greek Mythology Project

Hera the Goddess of Marriage and Birth

         Hera or Juno (Roman) is the Goddess of Marriage and Birth, the Queen of Heaven and Olympians. Hera was married to Zeus, the King of God and her brother. Before her marriage, she had dominance over the earth, heaven, and all aspect of existence including seasons and weather. Just like other gods, Hera had super strength including, immortality, resistance to injury, and her unique ability to curse or bless the marriage. As the goddess of marriage and birth, she symbolized women’s responsibility as wives, who need to take care of others.

      In most myths, Hera is depicted wearing the diadem,  jeweled in the shape of a half-crown, and holding a pomegranate as a symbol for birth, blood, and death, in her hand. She was known to have the peacock as a symbol, depicting her beauty, luxury, and immortality, and the cow embodies Hera’s watchfulness of human beings, as her sacred animals. Hera has a strong preference for lilies over other flowers. Lilies also symbolized humanity and devotion, and it is the 30th wedding anniversary flowers.

      Hera was the youngest daughter of  Cronus and Rhea. After their marriage, Zeus and Hera went on a 300 years honeymoon where they had three kids together, Ares the God of War, Hebe the cupbearer of the Olympians, and Eileithyia the Goddess of Childbirth. In some myths, Hephaestus was known to be the son of Zeus and Hera. In other myths, it was believed that Hephaestus was created by Hera alone after her anger of Zeus unfaithful action in their marriage. Hera is deeming to prove that she does not need Zeus, by having Hephaestus alone. However, Hephaestus was born with birth defect, which greatly upset Hera as well as Zeus.

      Even though, Hera was the Goddess of Marriage, her marriage, was unsuccessful. Hera was famous for the jealous and vindictive response to her husband’s mistresses and illegitimate children, and her revenge to their mothers and any gods or goddesses who claim to be more superior than she is. Hera had an unstoppable hatred for one of Zeus’ favorite sons, Heracles. To execute him, Hera summoned the storm over the sea to get him out. That incident had inflamed Zeus’ anger towards Hera. Hera was hung in the clouds with the golden chain, and anvils attached to her ankles by Zeus as her punishment. Hephaestus, who tried to help his mother, was thrown from heaven by Zeus, however, in other myths, it was believed that he got thrown away because of his birth defect.

     Hera was also known to be the creator of the Milky Way. The legend stated that Zeus brought his son who was born from a mortal woman, Heracles to suckle Hera’s milk while she was sleeping, in the hope of endowing godlike qualities. Once regaining her consciousness, Hera pushed them away allowing her spurt of milk to drop which resulted in the creation of the Milky Way.  

     There are many temples dedicated to her in various Greek City-states, women often keep the altars of her in their homes. Greek women, who wish to conceive sons, they often offered a vow:  small statues or painting, or apples, any fruit representing birth. According to researchers, one of the earliest Hera’s Temple was made before any of Zeus’ temples.This shows that Hera was worship by the Greek long before Zeus. In addition, entering marriage is considering as their rite of passage, and it is the only way for women to change their social status.

      Despite her vengeful tolerance towards her husband’s mistress and illegitimate children, Hera was faithfully worshipped by the Greece and Roman. The month June was named as an honored for Hera from her goddess named in Roma, Juno. June is the most popular month for weddings.

 

Works Cited

Hera, www.mythweb.com/gods/hera.html.

Campbell, Mike. “Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Juno.” Behind the Name, www.behindthename.com/name/juno.

“Goddess Names and Their Meanings.” Goddess Names, www.goddess-guide.com/goddess-names.html.

“Hera.” Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/greek-gods/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/greek-gods/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Story of Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Hera, Goddess of Marriage and Childbirth, Queen of the Gods – Greek Gods, www.greek-gods.org/olympian-gods/hera.php.

“Hera • Facts and Information on Greek Goddess Hera.” Greek Gods & Goddesses, greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/hera/.

“Hera, Greek Goddess.” Hera, Greek Goddess of Love and Marriage, www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_hera.htm.

“Hera, Queen of the Gods.” Myth of Hera, Queen of the Gods ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera-the-queen-of-the-gods.htm.

“Hera, Queen of the Gods.” Myth of Hera, Queen of the Gods ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera-the-queen-of-the-gods.htm.

Nguyen, Judy. “Greek Gods Strengths and Weaknesses.” Prezi.com, 18 Sept. 2015, prezi.com/pr6qlopnjw2i/greek-gods-strengths-and-weaknesses/.

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Gender Equity

During the course of seven weeks, we have looked at the various aspect of gender-related issues as well as developing a Gender Website, where we share different stories, and hosted a Gender Summit, to raise awareness. During the Summit, participants discussed gender-related topics: gender in power, culture, economic, and language. Our mission statement was to raise awareness about global gender issues with a focus on Cambodia society.We aim to create a healthy and constructive dialogue about gender equity, through communication, passion, and risk-taking by examining the past to transform the future.

Gender Summit

The summit happens for two days, January 27th and 28th that were in both English and Khmer. We have invited high school age students from all across Cambodia. It was my privilege to serve as a lead organizer for the Gender Summit. It was a marvelous experience to see so many young Cambodians come together to discuss this very sensitive and un-commoned topics. With the help of the younger generations and change agent, I am hoping that talking about issues related to gender won’t be as intimidating and limiting.

Gender Summit Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2GZMaDK0Ng

One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising is an event that gathers people to combat all form of violence towards women and girl. During the event, we listened to different speakers, speaking about the issues related to gender-based violence towards women as well as dancing to a song called, Break the Chain. 

A recap of One Billion Rising 2018 on Sunday, February 11th at Chenla theatre! Once again, we would like to express our gratitude and respect to victims who have come forth to share their stories and the amazing team of organizations and volunteers who made the event possible.Rise! Resist! Unite! Stop violence and exploitation against women and girls!

Posted by One Billion Rising Cambodia on 26 កុម្ភៈ 2018

 

 

 

 

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The Leftover Women

The Leftover Women

Ladies, do you know that you come with an expiration date?

In our contemporary society, many women are encouraged to pursue their dreams, higher education, and STEM related careers. Slowly, but surely, women have conquered more and more executive positions. However, these opportunities often affect women’s decisions about motherhood and marriage.

In China, women are 48.6% of the nation’s population. A study from 2017 shows that 40.1% of Chinese women are hesitant to have children, while the 63.4% are worried that having children would significantly impact their career development. Many advantaged women and less-advantaged men remain single due to the cultural beliefs that men should be more highly educated than women.

During Chinese New Year, when family members gather to celebrate, many unmarried women in their late twenties are pressured with questions: How old are you? Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? When will you have a boyfriend? When will you get married? Why are you still single?

The tradition of arranged marriage has been illegal in China since the 1950s, nonetheless, many parents remain strongly involved in the marriages of their children.

With the rapidly increasing rate of unmarried women, and with parents oppression on their children’s marriage life, the birth of boyfriend renting app, and marriage market, expeditiously emerged into the Chinese society.

In 2005, China started a place called “marriage market,” it is where parents post the profiles of their children including job, income, and property ownership, in the hope of finding the right match. “It is like selling your daughter” stated one of the casts in SK-ll: Marriage Market Takeover.

Furthermore, the demand for fake boyfriend and girlfriend renting have peaked during the Lunar New Year in recent years. As such desire could be found in an online shopping, Taobao, in China. The price of the pretend partner could be up to $250 per day, occasionally, including the overnight stay.

Many young people are turning away from marriage, which causes an alarm to the parents. Parents fear that the children will break family lineage or will be left with no one to care for them. Society has set an expiration date on any women who are not married by the age of 25, and will be called “Sheng Nu” translated to “leftover women.”

Many parents misunderstand their daughters and believe women must rely on men in order to have a “complete” life, that women are bound to rely on men and their life would be insufficient without men, even with a stable job. If a woman doesn’t find her partner at the early age she will be left unwanted, and that was her only chance.

The pressure of women needed to find their suitable partner at an early age, that sometimes would lead to arranged/forced marriage isn’t only the pressing issues in China, it is a problem in places such as; India, Africa, Middle East and Asia. That imprecise ideology was taught from generations after another, however, the beauty of culture is that it can also be untaught.

Do we, women actually have an expiration date on us? Marriage should be a choice at any age for any member of the society, it should never be considered as a “must”. Women who have chosen to pursue their career should be highly encouraged. Lastly, leftover women should be treated with respect and honor.

Source

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/04/05/national/1-4-japanese-men-still-unmarried-age-50-report/#.WmAWvaiWa00

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/05/time-fake-boyfriend-china-leftover-women-160519121232031.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqRt5boELkQ

http://www.jrzny.com

 

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WOMEN IN STEM

Mamie Phipps Clark

Mamie Phipps Clark was born on April 18, 1917, in Hot Spring, Arkansas. Her father was a physician and her mother was a housewife who had been actively involved with her husband’s medical practice.

At the age of seventeen, Clark graduated from Langston High School. Despite the race barrier for black students, Clark was offered various scholarships to further her education, two of which were, Fisk University in Tennessee and Howard University in Washington D.C. She chooses to attend Howard, where she major in math and minor in physic. That was when she met her husband, Kenneth Bancroft Clark who was a master student in psychology. Kenneth had persuaded Clark to pursue psychology because it is more favorable in term of employment opportunities, and would allow her to work closely with children regarding her passion. Later on, she has become the first female to a doctorate in psychology.

In her psychology master’s thesis, she had investigated the mental growth of the black children, who become aware of them self, belonging to a specific race group “The Development of Consciousness of Self in Negro Preschool Children.” Her research had become historic when it was used to support the Brown vs. Board education court case, it brought light to racial segregation in school. According to her research, children become aware of their blackness at a very early age, 4 or 5. The “race-consciousness” refers to the consciousness of self-identifying oneself based on their physical characteristics as members of the specific race group.  

Clark had started a psychological testing and service center for minority children called “The Northside.” With some financial difficulties, the Clark family had started this institution to provide psychological and educational service to the minority children and parents deal with the impact of racism and discrimination.

Along with her work at Northside, Mamie Clark was actively involving with her other community. She worked with her husband, Kenneth on the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited project. She worked with the Board of Directors of numerous educational and philanthropic institutions.

Despite, the societal barrel of African-American women she had fought her way through many challenges and had made several great discoveries for psychology filed until today. Mamie Clark served as the Director of the Northside Center from 1946 – 1979 the year of her retirement. She died on August 11, 1983, leaving her great discovery until today.

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TEDxISPP 2017

I was selected to be one of the speakers for  TEDxISPP 2017. This year,  I have talked about the issues of Maintaining Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World,  specifically focusing the minority and refugees, around the theme of “Creating a Hopefull Future”. I was inspired by some Cambodian refugees who had returned back to their homeland after the war, some of which specifically kids, had very little understanding of their Cambodian’s culture. Therefore, I strongly feel that this is a topic that requires discussion and needed to talk about.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPYcW9sQ40c 

Maintaining Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World

        There is a quote that states: “Home is where the heart is,” and I firmly believe this. To me, home is where I can freely and comfortably express myself. By that I mean, it is where I can express my childish self. Even though I am 15 years old, I am also a one-year-old, a ten-year-old, three-year-old, a nine-year-old, and so on. I want to be able to tell stupid jokes that sometimes do not make any sense, and talk all day about my obsessions with Harry Potter, Doraemon, Pikachu, and pick-up lines, but most importantly, home is where there is support and love for me. That’s what home means to me. Everyone defines the word home differently. So, while you are listening to my talk, I want you all to think about: “What does home mean to you as a person?” and “How would you feel if you lost it?”

         We live in a complex world with diverse people, cultures, traditions, religions and languages. Every individual somehow contributes to the changes in a society. Therefore, we should acknowledge and celebrate our variations in culture and identity. I grew up in a rural part of Cambodia with limited access to divergent world views. About five years ago, only a small percentage of the villagers had access to any modern technologies, and the idea of travel wasn’t that popular. It is a small village, so we interacted with the same group of people all the time. There wasn’t much cultural exchange happening between us, because we had so much in common already. Yet now, it is changing drastically. Today, almost everyone has smartphones and access to the internet, and are therefore more aware of the changes in their society and the world. Despite having access to modern technology and being more connected to different places, their understanding of human differences is still limited. Despite the limitations of my community, throughout my childhood, I was taught by my parents and relatives about Cambodian cultures and customs, the religion of the people, and about the minorities in my country. As I grew older, I was exposed to various people from many different backgrounds, from whom I could learn.

         About two years ago, I went to Mondulkiri, a province located in the northeast of Cambodia for a school project called Hidden Voices. We traveled to different provinces to discover old Cambodian songs, those who could still sing them, and their personal stories. As the final product, we recorded a podcast, narrating the background of different singers and songs that we discovered. We interviewed many elders and visited one of Cambodia’s minority groups, the Phnong community.

          The Phnong have lived in Mondulkiri for about 2000 years. They used to live in houses made out of bamboo, natural materials and thatch. They have their own language with the Khmer alphabet, as well as different beliefs, music, and culture. When we were there, they hosted a welcoming and good luck ceremony for us as visitors to their village with music and wine, which our teacher had to drink as a representative for all of us, as a part of their tradition. It was a really warm welcome from them. As the majority in this country, we, Khmer people, have played a huge part in influencing their lifestyle. It wasn’t my first time visiting a Phnong village, so I could see the tremendous changes in their society because of our influence over time. I noticed that more people could speak Khmer, when before, only a few Phnong men could speak Khmer. Nowadays, when Phnong children are born, they start to learn both languages: Khmer and Phnong. Furthermore, less people know how to play the traditional instruments and music, and their houses and clothing are more modern. I, along with my teammates, interviewed an old man, one of the elders in the village.

         He stated, “I never used to worry about the extinction of our culture, but when I think about it over and over again, I notice that it is fading.” These people now live in concrete or wooden houses, sing our music, and speak and learn our language. The old man could still remember what their community had been like, and had seen the changes firsthand. What about the next generation? Will they be able to interact with their amazing culture? What about refugees who become a minority in another country? Slowly but surely they begin to lose parts of their culture and become more like the majority.  Imagine yourself in their shoes. How much would you have to go through to preserve your cultural differences, while striving to assimilate to the community that you live in?

         I bet that most of you have heard of a country called Myanmar, formerly Burma. Myanmar is a country located in Southeast Asia, consisting of 100 ethnic groups; it borders India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. This country is led by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. Right now, as we all sit here in this luxurious and comfortable Black Box Theatre, Rohingya people, part of a Muslim minority group, are fleeing to join the more than six hundred thousand refugees who have left Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25th. These people were forced to leave their homes because of persecution from other ethnic groups, specifically the Myanmar troops, many of whom are Buddhist. Many lives have been taken and families have been separated. In a situation like this, what do safety, home, and culture mean to them?

         Where we love is the home — home that our feet may leave, but not our heart. We can think about culture this way: if a community is a computer, then culture is like the operating system; it’s what keeps people together and bonded. According to an article from ABC News that talked about the counselling work done with some Rohingya refugees, most of the refugees, including children, have been traumatised by the horrifying events they have experienced. The question now is: how will they, specifically children, live a normal life after being forced from their homes and everything they know.

         A Bangladeshi psychologist stated: “They have seen in front of them — father and mother both slaughtered or burned.” There are literally thousands of heartbreakiong stories, but I want to share one that really stuck with me most. A pregnant woman in her mid-twenties tried to cross to Bangladesh just like the others. Sadly, before she made it to Bangladesh, she witnessed the death of her husband and relatives and the loss of her one-year-old child, and she just gave birth to her newborn. She walked for days, alone with her baby, to the safety of Bangladesh. As a mother. As a father. As a child. Seeing family members going through all of these tragic experiences. At that moment, getting away from being abused and finding safety is their only priority. To them, the words home and safety just mean seeking shelter and having enough food to eat daily. How about culture? Does it mean anything to them at all? What keeps them all together? There is no answer. Becoming a minority group in another country means facing many challenges such as exclusion from society, learning to adjust to a new place, and having one’s culture be somewhat less appreciated. Therefore, it is important to teach young about the variety of cultures in this world so that we can help to raise awareness and prevent discrimination toward minority groups, including refugees. It is our responsibility to help preserve different cultures and accept people without pressuring them to adapt to the majority norms. Yes, I understand that the world is changing, as well as the people in it. The world is developing new technologies and artificial intelligence and many other cool things that make our lives much easier.

         At the same time, we are also faced with a blending of cultures, beliefs, and different ways of living. It is vital to remember where we come from, our home and our unique culture. We live in a world with around 7.6 billion other people; we must understand what keeps a community bonded and acknowledge our differences as well as our history. Appreciate what we have before it turns into what we had!

 

 

 

 

 

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Creative Writing

In past seven weeks, I along with some other students have been working on writing different short stories creatively. My favorite writing project from this class is fairytale remix writing. This type of writing requires students to re-write the traditional fairy tale stories with different character point of view. I have written a short re-creation of beauty and beast in Gastone’s perspective. 

Beauty and the Beast – Gaston’s Perspective

Oh! My dear beloved Beauty, you have denied my love countless times and your words had shattered my heart into pieces. I was damaged, and heartbroken. Every day, I kept thinking of you, our future, our marriage, our children, and our home. Sadly, those things never happened. History had written me as a relationship breaker, and murderer who wanted to kill his future-father-in-law. My pride, name, and reputation was a disgrace. In fact, I know for sure I wasn’t the one to blame. I was blinded by love, sacrificing everything I had for a woman. A woman who then trashed my feeling and good nature. Am I to blame? I remember the very first time I saw you. The feeling that I had, the instinct that told me that you are the one, the one, and will always be my one and only. It was a long tired two months on the sea. My men and I have visited many villages, meeting many beautiful ladies but never one like you. You, Beauty, you have the special aura around you, the way your sparkling eyes shine while you are reading your favorite books, the way your hair flows like a perfect wave, the way your lips curve into a smile that every man desire to see, the way your soft singing voice travel through the sound wave into my ears, and your rosy aroma that emanates from your flawless body. You have everything that every man on earth desire, independent woman, passionate at the same times very gossamer. However, you have made a very pitiful decision in your life. Rather than marrying a man with everything anyone ever wanted, wealth and fortune, power, fame, and appearance, you’ve decided to team up with the ungrateful and filthy beast, who was in a friend zone until he gave you his library. What a foolish way of living your life. There is no other thing like true love. Every man has one common wish of wanting a trophy wife and it would be a lie if I didn’t want the same. Although I wasn’t there to witness your ungratefulness, I wish you to live in eternal hell to compensate for your impertinent behavior. If you are reading this, engraved this deep in your mind, there are always two sides of the story and both should be heard. Unfortunately, my side will never be properly heard. No one will ever know how heartless, barbaric, and malicious you truly are.

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Kampot Reader and Writer Festival

On 1-5 of November, a group of Liger students had participated at the Kampot Writers Readers Festival that circle around the theme of “Courage”. During the event, we’ve met many authors, poets, and inspirational speakers. We have participated and learned about topics such as; writing short stories using the fairy tales as an inspiration, writing poem, and stage performance, listening to the spoken word artist Kosal Khiev, and being apart of the poetry slam session where six of the Liger students performed their poems. This trip as a whole has inspired me to read more, and express my emotion and thought through writing creatively. One of my favorite experiences was when we watched the performance from Cambodia Music Buss group, at one point the Liger’s group started to dance. We also, invited and encouraged most of the people who were at the performance to dance and enjoy the music with us. This experience specifically, had made me realized that music wasn’t created for only entertainment, it was created to bring people together, despite our differences.

Below is the poem that I wrote when I was on the trip.

Scares are tattooed against my beauty.

Humiliation is engraved upon my dignity.

Abandonment is concealed underneath my merriment.

I am a one-sided window.

I heartedly rooted.

Straight and rigid that’s what I’ll be.

I circulate as a shadow to the mist.

They are there.

Masking the precious me.

 

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Narrative Essay

We begin this year Literacy class by, writing a narrative essay around the theme of Coming of Age. In this unit, we’ve learned about comma usages, vocabulary development, concision, conjunctions, subordinates, anaphora, and connotation, and denotation. In this project, I wrote about my struggle when I first came to Liger and having a sister called “Fair Share”.

“….everyone devoted their attention to her……I hated my little sister! She was the attention seeker……Those words struck through my fragile heart……her thick eyebrows which look so much like mine……”

Read My Narrative Here!

 

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ISPPMUN 2017

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the 2017 ISPPMUN once again this year.  This year was my very first time to be selected to serve as a deputy chair of Human Rights Council (HRC). The delegates debated on the topics from protecting civil liberties, racial minorities to basic rights of prisoners. It was my duty as a deputy chair to write a research paper to one of the topics which I wrote about the topic of protection of racial minorities. It was my obligation to ensure that during the conference delegates are comfortable, stay on topic, and the atmosphere within the committee is safe for delegates to take risks delivering speeches and debating controversial issues. It was terrifying at first to be charing to a group of delegates who were mostly older students, however, with a help and mentoring from my kind-hearted head-chair I became very confident, and helpful to my delegates during the conference. Although I made a lot of mistakes, I believe that it was a chance for me to learn from it and to do better next time.

Credit: Samady Sek