User:Moebb1

About Me
I am a computer science student living in western Washington. I was born in Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. I am very passionate about my culture. Chiapas is a fascinating place full of colors, flavors, and Mayan history. When I was a kid, I visited some archeological sites in Chiapas. I was so thrilled that my dream was to be a Mayan princess until I learned in history class that they were sacrificed to the gods. I decided to remain a simple peasant, move on with life, and keep my head. I first moved to the United States in 2016 to become an au pair. I spent a total of two years living and working as an au pair in New York and Seattle. Moving to an unfamiliar place with a different culture and language was certainly scary. However, the experience enriched me as a person, and it has changed the way I view the world today. I no longer consider myself a citizen of one country but a citizen of the world. I love traveling to new places, learning about their history, and exploring them through food.

My Wikipedia Interests
I speak, read and write in both English and Spanish. I recognize that being bilingual has increased the number of information resources that are accessible to me. I have noticed that there are almost five times as many Wikipedia articles in English as there are in Spanish. Wikipedia encourages translations if an article does not exist in English, or if the foreign language article has a better quality then the one in English. I hope to be able to give back to the Wikipedia community by translating articles in English that are not available or are not very accurate in Spanish and vice versa.

Article Evaluation
Mayan Culture has always fascinated me. The Mayans used to play a ballgame in which winning or losing meant life or death. I visited the Maya Ballgame page on Wikipedia, and I found three aspects of it worth commenting on: the reliability of its citations, its use of Wikipedia links, and the lack of information about the cultural aspects of the game outside of religion.

Wikipedia Links
The evaluated article has abundant Wikipedia links that are meant to  provide more information to the reader. Unfortunately, it appears that multiple of these links are broken. For instance, the Wikipedia link to the “post-classic period” leads to a separate Wikipedia page with no content. These void links could be either be replaced by a valid citation to an external source or be removed.

Cultural Aspects
The Wikipedia article Maya ballgame mentions the religious aspects of the ballgame. However, it leaves out the political and social role that the game had in the community. I have physically visited multiple Mayan sites where the ballgame was played. There I was informed that the Maya ballgame was also used to solve external and internal conflicts including defusing war.

Summary
In general, the article Maya Ballgame has interesting information, yet it could be improved to make it a reliable and complete article. The proper use of citations and Wikipedia links could set this article on its way to becoming a reliable source. Adding important pieces of information such as the cultural aspects of the game beyond religion could enhance the article.