A Broad Perspective of Community

       I'm growing up in a world of shrinking geographic boundaries between nations and political and economic dependency of governments. Tourism is a growing industry that is now one of the most impactful economic variables that control international relations (second to oil). For me, traveling has always been limited and unfulfilling, though I have always yearned for experiences outside of what I can achieve at home. I play basketball competitively, and though it has afforded me many opportunities and allowed me to travel across the nation, I never was able to gain a sense of where I was outside of my hotel room or whatever predictable and cookie cutter chain restaurant we happened to wander into at night after long car rides from gym to gym. I applied for this scholarship last year, and the painful feeling of having let it slip from my grasp because of my own negligence, I approach this year to the application process with a greater sense of desire and urgency. Between basketball, AP classes, and limited travel funds, I will have no better time to travel than this year and with this opportunity, before my life is signed away to representing UNLV as a dutiful player on the basketball team. Because the world is shrinking in a sense, pertaining to the ability to live or visit anywhere so easily thanks to technology, I would also love to be able to get a sense of cultural immersion and learning to make it your own. Not basic textbook research, but a personal understanding that I was able to create for myself and taught to me from people who are passionate and willing to guide me. In Rome, I want to become a student of a new culture and history that is richer and older than that of the country I live in.
       The most intriguing element of the timeline research had to do with the transformation of the Catholic Church and the power it held socially, religiously, and politically.

(NY Times)

Rome was the center of the papacy, which lead to an increase of the number of residents of Rome and pilgrims who ventured to the city. The church was a power that censored and controlled it's followers through fear and by law. It restricted and banned certain texts written by free thinking individuals such as humanists, scientists, or Protestants. Dante's "The Divine Comedy" has played the role of fear; he essentially being the creator of a fiery hell, illustrated as a map of hell by Botticelli. The church has gone back and forth, through stages of controlling abuse and straining to clean up their image by way of forward thinking Popes and the Renaissance. Catholicism was woven through every aspect of Roman life, from the race of power amongst wealthy families to the attraction of some of the most significant and famous artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo.  

Sadly, I only know the things I do from the occasional internet exploration or textbook I happen to cross. None of this information is personal or complete, rather just colorless and bland facts I read. Going to Rome would connect me to this history, and make it an account I can describe as my own experience, instead of just reiterating something anyone could read for themselves.

Simone Sheppard