The City Palace of Amarna

Hello! I'm Deborah, a student pursing a bachelors of science in architecture (aptly named B.S. Arch). As my writing and content develops, I wanted to post an assignment I had to research and compose. Since I enjoy writing, each essay I labor over with love. Despite that, sometimes I try not to care too much due to time constraints. This was finished while on study-vacation in New Orleans. It did not end up being as tight or polished as it could be. The scope was also probably too large, but the premise was sincere. I wanted to investigate the labor talked about in the Bible of the ancient Hebrews in Egypt. But it turns out no one knows much about that. So I had to switch my topic a little and it kind of got stuck in the transition. Overall I got 8.5/10.

There is no conclusion because I totally forgot to wrap it up as I sat hunched over my laptop, typing away in my hotel room. There are also few in-text citations - boo, I know better! A friend edited a couple grammatical things - adding a plural "s" and a comma. Thanks friend! That's about it for today. Until next time!

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Architecture_History_II
02_08_2019


Shrouded by the mystery of time and desert, the city of a strange and deviant pharaoh lies in ruins. Tell-el-Amarna, or Amarna, is the present day name for the old city Akhetaten, built by Pharaoh Akhenaten (Etheridge). As history goes, this pharaoh rejected the polytheism of the day and began a new monotheistic order that worshiped only the sun god, Aton. This power shift transformed vast, established priesthoods to basically a dual priesthood of just Pharaoh Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti alone. This was not a popular move. Akhenaten used military force to wipe out remnants of the old order across his kingdom and also relocated to a newly-built city, the subject of this paper. It was built rapidly with both stone and mud brick in the space of roughly two years, in order to move physically away from the old. Some of the remaining temple decorations appear hastily done. Because of the complete ruins still left of the site, it remains a thriving archaeological treasure and ongoing discovery. In the theme of labor, this paper looks at the workforce behind the city palace in its political and social context.

One theory is that the workers of this rapid city were comprised of non-Egyption slaves. Scriptures in the Old Testament or Jewish Torah indicate the earliest Israelite nation was living displaced in Egypt. While at first welcomed, with successive generations they grew in number so that the pharaoh of the time felt threatened by their potential political power. He reasoned that should an enemy rise against Egypt, this nation in his midst may join forces with them and overthrow his kingdom. As a result, he put them to hard labor for various building projects. It is recorded that they had to meet daily quotas of mudbrick and had no time for religious practices of their own. While the details are vague as to which pharaoh or pharaohs they served (most historians think it was at least two during their time of both enslavement and exodus), the conspicuous nature of their work - making mud brick - is a tie to the mud-built city of present day Amarna.

The research performed for this paper began by questioning the nature of labor for the Israel nation at the time of their slavery in Egypt. It was quickly discovered that they did not, in fact, have anything to do with the Great Pyramids of Giza, nor was it clear what they actually worked on. A cursory search revealed that new information was coming to light that showed the pyramids and some other structures could have been built by a well-fed, well-cared for citizen population of Egypt - not slaves of another land.

In the process of flipping through old National Geographic publications, little was mentioned about labor in general, except for Egyptian farmers. Both the World Book of 1926 and a 1985 National Geographic issue spoke of the fellahs or peasant farmers. The World Book called them “docile and subservient, yet naturally deceitful”. By contrast, the National Geographic expeditions had a friendly attitude towards this poorer, working class, and even mentioned the difficulties that minority Coptic Christians face from Muslims in the area (Caputo). Browsing Israeli-based news outlets and contemporary scientific outlets like CNRS France, it became clear that no evidentiary link between the enslaved Israel nation and Egyptian building projects has yet been proven.

While following up this line of thought, the ruins and graves of Tell-el-Amarna came up because of its possible association with that Biblical story. It was not unfamiliar, having been studied briefly in a previous class, but the discovery of the newly unearthed gravesites was certainly stunning. The reports from the archaeological project itself, Amarna Project, appeared the most objective, while more dark-web sites seemed to sensationalize the findings into “child slavery and Egyptian cruelty.” This cannot be proven, even though some remains seem to substantiate that narrative.

Overall, not too much has been discussed or found in the past two hundred years of modern expeditions and excavations. Much is known and recorded about the nobility and leadership, and the succession of pharaohs, but little is known about the workers who built a whole city for a rogue monarch. The only other finding, so far, is that the city palace had small homes or even chambers where slaves and/or servants would have stayed.

In conclusion, the older sources seemed to have a strongly negative view of working classes, and in the case of the World Book, a glossing of the plight of lower classes. The newer sources seemed more objective and curious, rather than dismissive. In the reading titled John Ruskin’s Labor, the writer Peter Anthony analyses Ruskin’s thoughts about labor and his romantic ideal of returning to the Gothic period of craft and creative work. In this light, Ruskin argued that it would be better to be a slave than to be restricted to the monotony of the industrial factory and its repetitive tasks. Under those auspices, the work of the slave in decorating the walls of the temple of Aton would be almost liberating. This is not the case, however, when one realizes the timeline of the work, so compressed as to effectively remove creative freedom from that laborer in order for it to be completed as quickly as possible, errors and craftsmanship notwithstanding.

A second reading, Palladio’s Villas and their Predecessors by James Ackerman, discusses the ability of architecture to legitimize power structures and subvert societal frameworks. While this is ancient architecture, the same concept is at play, with Pharaoh Akhenaten seeking to legitimize his rule through the use of a new palace, a city-size religious and political complex. Further, through the use of stone cut tombs for the nobility, and the absence of architecture for the very lowest classes, reinforces that inequality even when all become equally human in death and mortality.

While there is little conclusive evidence as to the identity of the workers in this place, there was a recent finding of mass graves by the Amarna Project that gave more information of what kind of people could have been part of the construction. Two mass grave sites have been found, filled with very simple burials containing few artifacts, if any, and only reed-like shrouds. The skeletons are small and identified as being young adults and children, some even as young as 7 years old. Some remains also show evidence of hard labor such as physical trauma and spinal fractures (Borschel-Dan). While these findings are incomplete, as the sites were most likely robbed, the simplicity of what remains stands out in stark contrast to the wealthier and nobler graves of the same period. Those were the stone tombs carved into the rock cliffs, begun during Akhenaten’s time, lavished with carvings and goods as fitting for their station in the afterlife.

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Bibliography of Research

Amarna Project, The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University,

www.amarnaproject.com/index.shtml.

Arden, Harvey. "Eternal Sinai." National Geographic, vol. 161, no. 4, April 1982, pp. 420-438.

Borschel-Dan, Amanda. "In Ancient Mass Graves, Archaeologists Find Child Slaves of Biblical Egypt." The Times of Israel,

9 June 2017.

Calloce, Laura. "The Lost City of Akhenaten." CNRS News, French National Center for Scientific Research, 11 Apr. 2016.

Caputo, Robert. "Journey Up the Nile." National Geographic, vol. 167, no. 5, May 1985, pp. 576-633.

Crossway Bibles. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton, Good News Publishers, 2001, pp. 45-57.

"Egypt." History of Egypt. The World Book. Edited by M. V. O'Shea, 1926, pp. 1969-70.

El-Baz, Farouk. "A Dam Against Famine." National Geographic, vol. 167, no. 5, May 1985, pp. 594-595.

El-Baz, Farouk. "Egypt’s Desert of Promise." National Geographic, vol. 161, no. 2, February 1982, pp. 212-213.

Etheridge, Laura. "Tell el-Amarna." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 23 Oct. 2008.

Handwerk, Brian. "Pyramids at Giza." National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 24 Jan. 2019.

Holy Bible: The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982

Karasavvas, Theodoros. "Was Pharaoh Akhenaten so Cruel that he Forced Children to Build his City of Amarna?" Ancient

Origins, Ancient Origins, 9 June 2017.

Rosenberg, Stephen G. "Who Was the Pharaoh of the Exodus?" Jerusalem Post, edited by Maayan Hoffman, The Jerusalem

Post Ltd., 1 Apr. 2015.

Uphill, E. P. "Pithom and Raamses: Their Location and Significance." Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, Oct.,

pp. 291-316. JSTOR.

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P.S. Here is a link to the Amarna Project website that shows lots of great pictures. Amarna is a real place in Egypt and the documentation of the archaeological finds is just fascinating.

Without Light, What Would We Miss

I pulled into my neighborhood tonight off the side street. As I turned, my headlights swept across the darkened yard opposite. In a moment, I saw two inflatable kiddie pools set up, and in one, standing clustered together, no less than 6 or 7 girls in matching black bikinis. 😂😅👙

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Hi, I'm Deborah. You'll read posts about little challenges and big gains. Today's post was a welcome bit of humor in the midst of my heavy summer course load right now. Come back soon, thanks for reading.

2v2 Beach Volleyball: how it went (photos)

Hi I'm Deborah. This blog (or blag) features challenges and adventures from a local Michiganerd. I meant Michgander, not really a nerd - too athletic and interested in fashion.

Today's look:

Highlights from Diggin' in the Sand 2017 2v2 volleyball tournament! 😀😀😀

Our cool group (only a few ppl had left so this is most of us)

Go green😸 This photo captures our friendship in a nutshell - laughter. Whether its an inside joke, laughing at mistakes, or thinking of silly scenarios, GK and I bonded early over a shared sense of humor. 

We went to Kohl's the evening before in order to find some coordinating superhero shirt. But another top caught our eye and the fabric felt good to the touch.

Our stand back i'm going to try science shirts were the perfect shade of green to our liking, and the slogan couldn't fit us better as a team.

The initial practice crew, the Core Four, bout 2 weeks prior to the tourament. We were rooting for Andrew and Eric while they were making a title run from behind. They eventually lost to the final champs.

Était contente...oui et aussi j'ai fatiguée à ce moment qu'il prenait le photo. Mais bien suis contente. <3

Good team. One of many like digs. Top team, good chemistry (married).

This is captain america. Seriously, hello rodgers.

This is team captain America, the champs.

Lefty serve on the only girls vs guys match. It didn't end well but did progress in the second game a little better.

GK and his good guns.

First time at Tubby's, there for a light snack before afternoon 

elimation rounds.

The newlywed couple - a different kind of team ^_^

Action shot of our team strategy and set-up :) 

Pre-game coaching consisted of GK finding a useful article on sand volleyball and sending it to me. 

Serve shot that I like.

My other favorite group shot. And to think we kind of moaned at GK for insisting we look to our left instead of him coming around to face us. Duhhh.

Great shot of Andy's reach and spike.

Another top action shot showing a bit of Temmon's starfish form

This one makes me smile back.

I like the stark background and that my right hand is hidden so you can't see my wonky form.

Kapow

Cool

Good-looking shot of GK. Idk why exactly.

Team Green in action. I offered my teammate a PB and honey sandwich for breakfast and he asked what is PB? Peanut Butter. He thought it meant something else. That was a good breakfast.

A release that looks like it made it over, judging by the look on my face.

Highlights of the day: praying for GK over lunch, rooting for our core four underdogs, and relaxing as a group in the shade of the tents. Final highlight was probably the cool shower at the end of the day :-)

Things I discovered: 

Craig - home schooled k-12, and later I thought it likely his mom's name is Lori, which would put him in a family we knew wayyyy back if it is.

Caleb was the first home schooled k-12 in his fam, and it was by his choice

Oil needs to be checked on cars...I found out the hard way after leaving...and my car was 3 quarts low :O Fortunately its driving wayyy better now. Also checked the front brakes which are good too, just don't know where the squeak is coming from.

Thank you.

Until next adventure!

Minimalist Packer - 5 days

Hi there, my name is Deborah. You'll find here a library of articles documenting challenges and goals. Today, we circle back to one of my favorite nerdy subjects - minimalist packing.

Newest Challenger: Spirit and Frontier airlines
Anything bigger than 18x14x8" or so will cost $$, and you only get one bag free, no purses or diaper bags, no exceptions. (But I did find one loophole.)
Basically, the bag has to fit under the seat in front of you. End seats have less room underneath than middle seats, and I did not know where I would be assigned.

Duration: 4.5 days including travel, 4 nights

Activities: travel by plane/train/car, concert at Red Rocks, sleep, hike, and then wedding - a little more variety than usual

Weather Report for Denver: 60s, 70s, sunny, with a chance of pot clouds

Strategy: Pack my smaller, non-wrinkling items, wear the bulky stuff, and pick the right bag!

Bag: I could have used my Adidas sport bag because it's squishy and would fit, but I freaked last minute in case they really would make me check it, due to being very slightly oversize (17x10x10").
So I took my school tote after cleaning it out. Having packed the tote for a week in Richmond, I was confident it could handle less than that.
It is soft sided, approx. 12x13x4.5" or 702 cubic in. I took it as a way to avoid overpacking as well, since the Adidas bag offers significantly more space (1700 cubic in.).

This is the tote, a free giveaway from a medical conference mom went to years and years ago. Not used much until this past year when I dug it out and appropriated it for school. It's held up surprisingly well, but now is showing wear around the strap connection :(
Next to it, there's my travel-home wear - similar to the travel-there outfit. Striped, 3/4 sleeve top under black cat t-shirt; comfy sweater vest; paisley neutral scarf; pink jeans and belt; wool socks; Reebok lace-ups with extra gel insery.
All items were slightly mis-matched, but chosen for their warmth on the plane, relative bulk, and let's face it, the cleanest items left.

Highlights: As usual, the sheer mobility of one compact bag is almost unbelievable. As I stood at the luggage carousel with my friends who had traveled on the same flight, I mentally calculated how much luggage they might have brought. They were standing up in said wedding so I understood a reasonable amount of extra baggage was needed. I would be hard pressed to fit their beautiful (and somewhat voluminous) bridesmaid dresses in my little tote.
I had travelled with some vets who used to share a checked bag, and their trip would span 6-7 weeks abroad. By the same token, I expected common wedding or family items to be thrown in one bag as well - i.e. curling irons, blow dryers, hiking shoes, whatever. So when it turned out each member took both a carry-on and a checked bag, I was inwardly surprised. Maybe there was more stuff needed for the wedding than I could have anticipated.

Later, on the train, walking and making connections, and riding in my uncle's car, the bag retained its compactness and mobility. I only removed my clutch purse for the convenience of paying for things and holding my phone.

Contents: This might be expressed best with a photo and description:

From top left
- Wedding sheath, non-wrinkle, inside out, wrapped around 2 skirts, one dressy, one sporty (skort)
- Orange shoe bag holding the dressy but comfy Jambu sandals and doubling as my intimates laundry bag
- Round earbud/jewelry case (hard shell)
- Phone charge cord
- Toiletries and liquids (all travel sizing except for deodorant, tooth brush, and a few make-up items and that are full-size
- Boundaries hard cover book (great on the plane; by far a bulky luxury item to bring)
- Pajamas and bra
 (sheer long-johns and Victoria's Secret sleep shirt stuffed inside my sports bra to help sustain its shape)
- 2 belts (could have left at home) but did use each once
- Also tucked in the pile were my 2 extra t-shirts, extra bra, undies, and extra pair of socks
- Additional items included my suglasses, eyeglasses, pen and slim notebook, new testament and Psalms
- Not shown but also packed inside the bag, my pink burrito clutch purse

The one tiny loophole was discovered when I first boarded from Detroit. I purchased a bottle of water after security because I didn't think they'd let me through with a non-disposable bottle in my hand (large one), as if it should be in my bag or not allowed.
As it turns out, I walked on to the plane with the big disposable one no problem. It's a small thing that actually frees up a relevant amount of space and I would totally bring one next time (save the planet haha)

Borrowed: 

1.   My aunt's fleece jacket for when the concert grew chilly on the first and coldest night, out late nestled in the Red Rocks ampitheater (see above pic). My friend got a little chilly
2.   Earplugs for metal concert XD
3.   Washer and dryer, some detergent for a little spot washing when I sat on something at the concert

4.   A friend's messenger bag to carry water and extra layers on two hikes (see above pic)

Conclusion: The great weather and initial assistance of a washer and dryer at my uncle's house made this one bag trip a breeze. In addition, the compromise of less-dressy shoes for the wedding and my super easy sheath made the formal aspect a breeze (see pic below). Along the way, I borrowed a few items and used old ones in a new way - like hiking down a mountain path in the cool evening, wearing a sweater vest and paisley scarf! It shall become hiking mode de rigueur I'm sure.

Perfect timing to be the helping hands on this wedding cake project, and my comfy shoes to fly me around the kitchen in relative style

Sexy sweater vest and grandma glasses ^_^

Final note:
As this is my personal hobby, it retains more charm to keep it very quiet and nonchalant, rather than making mental or verbal comments that in any way indicate negativity towards others or pride in myself. As in every minimalist packing adventure, you can fit almost anything, but there's never room for pride. Still a work in progress. XP

Pensées de Gem Lake, Estes Park, CO

Deb's Automobile Repair Shoppe

     Hi, my name is Deborah, and this blog is about cool stuff I do. Just recently, I participated in something just short of rocket science. 

     Let me rephrase that - it felt like rocket science trying to figure out how in the hay barn I was supposed to fix the turn signals on my 2003 Mazda Protege. After they broke coming north on I-75 in Ohio, I drove the streets another 3 months using arm signals, or more often nothing at all. I could never tell if people actually knew what my official signals meant, or if they just slowed down enough for me to slip in because they were befuddled as to why my arm was sticking out the window. 

     I researched forums (some here) and Google searched for hours, finally determining that a broken flasher relay could be the problem. Next I had to find it. My search was aided by a few diagrams, but photos would have been much easier to understand. Some people said it would be in the fuse box, that it was green; but others claimed it was white, located in the driver's foot well. I looked at both of my car's fuse boxes, tried pulling out some relays under the hood (unsuccessfully), and limbo-ed under my steering wheel a few times in my quest to find the flasher relay.

          Spread over a few weeks in three separate sessions, I spent around eight hours poking around my car, online, and attempting fixes. Here are a few snapshots of the third session, start to finish, that may tell the story better and help some other hapless soul looking for their relay:

     I wedged myself under the steering wheel near the gas and brake pedals to look for a mysterious rectangular white box of unknown proportions. (I ruled out green as a color because there was no green boxes to be seen under there.) After some time and little progress in that cramped position, my hair got stuck around the brake pedal.  I had to choose either to laugh or to cry. It was a make or break moment built from the mounting frustration. So I let out a breathy chuckle and untangled my hair. After that the stress eased off, and I encouraged myself by acknowledging my efforts up to that point.

     The relay was indeed a little ivory/white rectangular box with wires plugged into one end. It has eight connections but only six were used. It snapped onto a bracket and came off by pulling/pushing it off towards the front of the car.

     This shows the dangling wires (six connections) that are normally hooked up to the relay, and the place where it sits, which is a bracket bolted to the top of the foot well. I tried 7/16", 3/8", 1/2" and something called 3/3. They were either too small or too large to fit over the bolt. I still don't know what size to use. Shortly after giving up on the bolt idea, I found the relay and muscled it off without unscrewing the bracket.

     The new part, ordered from S&G Imports on 8 Mile Rd, arrived over the weekend and cost about $48. It was nearly identical to the old one.

     The fantastic lighting for my little phone camera is courtesy of my brother's small dollar store flashlight that takes one AA battery. It is very handy for looking around this small, dark space above the foot pedals.

     After I put the relay on and re-installed the electrical connection, I turned the key and tried my lights. No go! Close to crushed, I suddenly remembered that I had had to remove a 15 amp fuse to turn off my hazards. 

     They had remained constantly lit after my relay broke and turned off only when the fuse came out. I had the fuse and the little fuse remover tool sitting in my cup holder for months. I scooped them out and popped the hood.

     I re-installed the fuse, turned the key to the power position, and tried the hazards.

    Voila ! They worked like a charm, with the comforting click-snick of the new relay tucked above my feet. I hopped out and checked all around, making sure the lights all flashed, all six, one for each of the relay's connections.

     If you ever need to change the flasher relay in your Mazda Protege, I hope this will help. For me, it was another great experience working on my car. The failures leading up to the final fix only sweetened the conclusion. 

     Thanks for reading!

"Touchdown" Project

Bonjour! I finished my final project today for an introductory graphic design class. Here's the lowly process and lovely product that took somewhere around 15 hours or more to do.

Associated word list for New Orleans Superbowl XLVII

First sketches (A)

First sketches (B)

Second thumbnail session

Final sketch session

Riverboat (Belle)

Final in pencil

Transferring (A)

Transferring (B)

Transferred to final board

Beginning to fill in with blue marker

3D complete; missing details

Final rendering, on hot press illustration board with markers and colored pencil

 I also had some "competition": Here's what some other students did -

My other favorite

Energetic, even with the dark color; love the pop-out football and New Orleans font

TOP: A good effort with a great contrast using yellow and purple
BOTTOM: Clean and modern, professional. Nice font for New Orleans

The prof taking pics; other work; and a fellow classmate

Voila. One of my final projects. One more day of class, two finals to go, and then vavoom! Summer awaits with all its possibilities, cares, and warmth :-)


Until Next Time.