Benjamin Shepard English Composition II

  From its time as a colony to now, Cuba has seen a few different flags flying over the island.   1.    The Spanish Flag of the House of Burgundy   This was the colonial flag of Spanish overseas territories and by default, the flag of Cuba from the founding of Havana in 1515, up until Cuba an American territory after the Spanish-American War in 1898. The flag was also known as the St. Andrews Cross.  2.    The Stars and Stripes   After the Spanish-American War, Cuba was a territory of the United States, and the American Stars and Stripes flag flew over the island for a short four-year period from 1898-1902. 3. The 26 th of July Flag   The M-26-7, also fashioned as M-26-J, was the flag of the revolution that overthrew President Batista in 1959. It was designed to appear similar to the flag of Angola. The M-26-7 stands for Movimiento 26 de Julio. The 26 th of July Movement was an early attempt to overthrow Batista that failed and resulted in the conspirators, includin

  Two weeks ago, my class was assigned the essay El Caribe Gris to read as a test of our ability to understand main ideas. El Caribe Gris is an essay originally written in Spanish that analyzes the writings of Christopher Columbus, Bartolome De las Casas, and Hernando Colon. From the very beginning of the essay’s English translation, it is made clear the essay was not meant to flatter Columbus, calling him “delusional” and small minded. The essay described how many of the records of the voyages were lost but a specific copy of the first voyage would be consequential in history, thanks to the annotations of De Las Casas, in which he contradicted many of Columbus’s writings and rewrote the colonial narrative. The essay was particularly difficult to read for a few reasons. First, the essay was originally written in Spanish and my copy was a translation. Often in translations, certain concepts can be lost due to a difference in language. Another difficulty came from an unclear delineat

  Please ignore the clutter My blogs meet all five criteria. Before I publish my posts, I pre-write them in a word document where I create the initial post, followed by editing and rewording in areas that may feel clunky. My last step is to plan my images and reference section. I then delete the images and copy the writing to blogger where I put the pictures back in and publish it. Altogether the process has taken me only a few hours per blog post and despite some early problems with my pictures, I think this system has worked well so far. I plan my blog posts by first reading the prompt/assignment after class ends. I then take the week to think about the assignment, decide how I want to interpret it and what points I want to cover so Tuesday morning when I go to write the post, I have very few issues and am able to type quickly, though as the expectations for these posts are raised, this system of pseudo-procrastination may prove to be ineffective. It does feel a little odd knowing th

Pedro de Heredia, Spanish Conquistador The earliest recorded history of Colombia dates back to about 1499 with the first Spanish conquest. Conquistador Alonso de Ojeda landed at Cabo de la Vela where he encountered the Muisca Confederation. A later expedition in 1533 led by Pedro de Heredia founded the first  permanent settlement of Cartagena. The Muisca Confederation was a nation of Amerindians located near what is now the city of Bogota. They had an economy largely based on agriculture and salt mining and would trade with other nearby tribes such as the Inca. The capital of the new colony, Colombia, Bogota, was founded in August of 1538 by Conquistador Jimenéz de Quesáda . The colony's main exports were gold and jewels mined through the forced labor of the Muisca people through the Encomienda system, a precursor to African slavery. In 1739 the Spanish holdings in the New World were reorganized and the Viceroyalty of New Granada Map of the  Viceroyalty of New Granada was formed to

                 Come to Colombia! Previously known as New Grenada and Gran Colombia,  come visit the Gateway to South America.  With a history spanning hundreds of years, come to see   t he  ruins of ancient civilizations of the Amazon, the cobbled streets of colonial towns like  Villa de Leyva.  Colombia offers a unique blend of Amerindian and Spanish cultures just ready to be e xplored.     Situated on the coast of the Caribbean Sea , Colombia  offers white sandy beaches  of Cartagena , towering Andean peaks  of the Paisa region , and deep tropical rainforests  of Leticia .  While here you should see where your favorite breakfast beverage is grown and visit the Coffee plantations of  Caldas,  Quindío , and Risaralda,  responsible  for over 14 million bags of coffee a year!  After touring the coffee farms, you will want to relax and enjoy the nightlife of  Bogota . For drinks, you should visit the Chapinero neighborhood, sporting both upscale and dive bars for all crowds . If you wan

  Hello, I am Ben Shepard. I am a  20-year-old  BioSciences major. I was born in Leominster ,  Massachusetts  but grew up here in Gwinnett County. Some things about me,  I was in  Boy scouts  for 12 years and earned my eagle award in the spring of 2017, I graduated from Peachtree Ridge class of 2018,  I lived in Louisville, Kentucky for about a year and a half and worked on a culinary degree while there, and just before moving home during the Covid -19  crisis I w as living in the Florida Keys and working at a restaurant in the Ocean Reef Club Resort.  I am  bad  at writing about  myself  so I will structure this as a question and answer where I try to guess what questions you all would have about me and do my best to an swer them.   How long have I lived in  Gwinnett?   I have lived in Lawrenceville for about 18 years, my parents moved back to Georgia shortly before my first birthday. Eventually, I do want to move ba ck to Massachusetts to be closer to my sister who moved to the Bosto