Street Art

Something which is becoming increasingly prevalent in our culture today is street art. I think it is one of the most pure forms of art because it is not to make a profit, and most street artists hide their identity, so it is not about fame. Street art is more and more about reflecting and putting a light on the downfalls of our society. I am mildly obsessed with Banksy and his recent movie “exit through the gift shop”. This movie illustrates the interaction between money and the art world. Shepard fairey for instance could be labeled a sell out. If you look at his work before and after he got famous, it is so different. Street art takes urban, and sometimes desolate areas and transforms them into works of art. Its kind of like graffitti, but it makes us think, its art that you are forced to look at. Thats something that I don’t like about museums, that you have to choose to go look at the art, and it is mounted on those empty white walls with the same amount of space between each painting. Street art takes the art to the people. It forces these ideas and questions into our heads. I think it is important for everyone in society to interact with contemporary art, and the issues it deals with. Street art has a sense of immediacy to it, a feeling of urgency. It is usually obvious at first glance, what the image is trying to say, so people who are walking by it almost immediately start thinking and asking questions about the issues which are being dealt with. In my experience, street art also has an exciting visual aesthetic to it, the longer I look, the more I enjoy the work. Street art also took graffiti which is negative, and illegal, and turned it around. Rather than tagging territory, it is reflecting society in a creative and innovative way. Although it lies in a legal gray area, I think it is ultimately beneficial to our culture. I think the more we can immerse ourselves in art, the better, and stronger our culture will be.

Digital Narratives.

The story I enjoyed the most was the video “only a dream”. It is about a man whose sons leave for the United States and he follows them there only to return. He realizes that the U.S. is not the same as the movies and he has little value there. His son dies trying to cross the border. It is a sad story, but I enjoyed it because at the end he talks about how he is happy now and he is hopeful for a better future. He has his own business in Mexico, and he is trying to rebuild himself. I like what he had to say about having more value in Mexico than in the U.S., I feel like that is not something people can understand until they experience it.

I want to talk about the Art Institute. I will probably use photography, to photograph different paintings. I’m not quite sure what I want to say about it yet, but it has had a huge impact on me and I think it would be an interesting topic. I really want to use video, but I can’t figure out how I would go about doing that or why, but I’m interested in making movies. I’m not even sure you can video in the museum. Maybe I can ask people about there experience with the art institute, what they liked and why. And I could use photographs of the paintings they liked. Maybe I could paint reproductions. That would take a long time. I could make rough reproductions. I have a painting I made with my dad when I was six or seven and it is a bad reproduction of Van Gogh’s bedroom, which I saw in the Art Institute the other day. I could use that.

Serving in Florida

1. Barbara Einreich chooses a hands on approach to learning about the blue collar experience. After describing the characters who she is working with, and the circumstances they work in, as a reader I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. There is literally nothing good about their situations. These people have little to no opportunity to move up the class ladder. They are bound by what they do not have. I think Einreich is trying to shine a light on the destructive cycle which blue collars workers are so often slaves to. It is easy for people of a higher class to say “just get a better job, or another job, or work harder”. But as we see in this essay, it is nearly impossible to just keep one job, and even then, it weighs on your mental health.

2. Einreich is a wonderful writer! She did an amazing job illustrating the slippery slope that is the waitressing job. After reading this, I feel like in order for a person to escape this dead end, one would have to put forth a lot of effort and take a lot of risks. Einreich has showed us in this essay, that taking risks and putting forth any extra effort is not a realistic option for these people, which is by no means any fault of theirs. If any effort is put forth to improve a person’s economic class, I think it would have to be made at a younger age, before they get stuck working a a Jerry’s, or as a housekeeper. People can use education to learn a trade, and begin to build a career. This probably seems impossible to people who do not have it modeled for them, which is why they blindly enter the cycle of blue collar work, careers which end right where they began.

The Media + Family

1. When I was younger, tv portrayed families as the generic vision of a financially comfortable family with a mother and father, and their cute kids. SHows these days depict different family setups like gay parents and second wives and such. Reality shows have a lot of drama, but it seems sensational and contrived. I feel like the media still isn’t dealing with poverty and conflict within the family.
2. I think society wants to see more of a realistic portrayal of families on tv, but still sugar coated. Since the entertainment industry has gotten so huge, everyone is fighting with each other to have a successful show, and society has more of a say in what it wants to see. Modern family is an excellent example of this because it caters to all different types of families and people. However I noticed that none of these families suffer financially and they don’t have serious fights. Poeple like watching this because it is the change we want to see. The family setups are different from the past, which is progressive, and everyone is happy.
3. I think the tv “family” is going to continue to progress in terms of how we define family. Gay marriage and second marriages and such will become more mainstream and accepted. However I don’t think the media is going to embrace the economic hardship that our society is dealing with any time soon, since we use the media to escape those issues. It is easier to see watch what we want on tv than what we live.
4. 
   
5. Wer getting married...

fam and my identity

Brother:

When I am around my brother, I am very much myself. He knows the best and worst of me because I act more natural around him than anyone else. My brother and I have always been very comfortable which each other which allows us to not have any guards up, and put forth our genuine selfs. Having him around my whole life has allowed me and almost forced me to be genuine and not act in ways which are not honest representations of who I really am. Except at home, we were usually pretty fake at home.

Dad:

When I was younger, I was heavily influenced by my dad, and the culture I was growing up in. My dad is an artist, and he was always talking about his ideas. This made me really comfortable with the idea of being an artist and it made me want to have ideas too. He called himself “un penseur” which means a thinker. He made me want to be a thinker too. Even after I moved away from my dad, I always wanted to be an artist and a thinker just like him. It felt natural to me anyway. Now when I talk to my dad, all we talk about is art because its all we really know about each other, but thats ok because its not fake. Being an artist is a huge part of my identity, and I attribute that to my dad.

Mom:

My mom doesn’t expect much from me academically and she never has. When I was growing up, it was really hard for me to read, so she thought I was slow, and she never expected me to be more than that. Its crazy how easy it is to underachieve when that is what is expected of you. Sometimes I wouldn’t achieve more than what was expected of me because I thought it would come off as fake. This had a negative impact on my identity because I spent a solid 18 years of my life thinking I was stupid, which is stupid. When my mom got remarried, she married a professor which was a big change from my dad. At that point, I was not great at english, and I thought I was stupid. I never said much around my stepdad because I didn't want to embarrass myself or make my mom look bad. This was good and bad because it forced me to figure out who I was and create my own identity separate from what my family expected of me, but it also sucked having to be quite and boring when I was at home.

I just want to be Average

1. Rose was being taught in a sub par educational system. He judged his societal significance based on his level in the educational system. Therefor he thought of himself as a lackluster member of society, not looking for greatness, not enthused about the thought of a future or lack thereof. It’s apparent when Mr.MacFarland takes an interest in Rose’s intellectual capabilities, Rose internalizes the praise. You can almost feel his rapidly expanding enthusiasm and excitement for literature, run parallel to his respect for himself.
2. I can’t find the word “cues” anywhere in the text. But I’m assuming he’s talking about social cues or maybe an academic version of that....academic cues? Cues are signals that are given during a social, or academic interaction in this case which can communicate an expected action. This affected Rose because the cues that were given to him led him to believe that he was expected to achieve a minimum amount. He internalized these cues which negatively impacted his motivation. He saw himslef as less because he was expected to be less, thus causing him to achieve less than his potential.

Response to the Memoir

1. Writing this memoir was very useful for me. It helped me process some things from my past and see them more clearly. I also feel that a grew as a writer while writing this paper. I learned to be a more thoughtful and introspective writer and communicator.
2. I think the second part of my memoir is the best part. I like the language and voice that I used to construct the second part. It took a lot of hard thinking and I am proud of that.
3. I need to rework the first part of the paper. I might even need to take it out completely. I need to think about the piece as a whole, how it flows and how it sounds to the reader. I think I was too busy worrying about keeping certain things for personal reasons but that might not be the best idea from the eyes of a reader.
4. I loved the mixed media piece, it was a catalyst for my creative process. I didn’t start actually writing until I started painting. I basically ended up writing about the painting, so it played a role in my writing process. Once I started painting, I really started thinking and asking questions and that is when the real writing started coming out of me effortlessly.

A Boy's Life

I think one of the main issues here is whether or not being transgender is biologically or socially constructed. Scientists argue that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain, which some believe to be reservable, but others believe should be accepted and embraced. The idea that the “disorder” comes from “family noise” is interesting butt4 I disagree with it. I feel that if they surveyed the amount of families as they did, they were bound to find some families with similar issues. A disorder by definition is an “ailment that affects the function of mind or body.” I interpret a disorder as something which is abnormal and caused problems. There is no denying that being transgender is abnormal, or that it causes issues. However I feel that the term “disorder has a negative connotation and a certain stigma attached to it which is why people reject this term.

I support Tina’s decision to allow Brenden to live as a girl. The text shows that he is happiest when he is a girl, and being happy is what is most important. I think that they should always be open to the fact that he might grow out of it, either completely or partially, however I do not think they should force that on him. It is hard because he is then loosing support from some people around him, however the most important people are his immediate family and he should not have to pretend to be something he is not according to people like his aunt who is clearly a bitch anyway. Rosen doesn’t express any formed opinion of it, but she seems to open to learning more about the issue. I like that she was really able to look at different sides of the issue and explore opposing views.

I think that being transgender is something which happens biologically and then it can be intensified or lessened but not taken away according to social environment. The science proves that a transgender’s brain is more similar to a woman’s brain then a man’s. However if you look at the cases where people go to therapy and change their ways, it shows that the disorder can be altered. But it cannot be taken away and I believe that people should be allowed to express themselves completely because it would be agaonizing to be actin differently than ho you truly feel. It almost feels like Zucker the therapist brainwashed the kids into feeling like their normal sex, but they still had the underlying gender confusion which caused the children much pain.

Gender

This essay made me wonder how we relate masculinity to men, and how much of it we look for in them. From my own personal experience, I know that a very masculine man is not usually attractive to a girl when she is looking for a relationship. I think the author of this piece was very clear in defining masculinity, but was pushed the label of masculine too harshly onto the male gender. The author is a transexual, and it seems as though he has a negative feeling toward these roles. He uses words like discriminate to give gender roles a negative connotation.

It is fascinating how he thinks that understanding your gender role is a prerequisite for becoming a full member of society. I would agree with that. I enjoyed reading about the different ages and how you understand gender differently at certain stages while you are a child. Since most researches see these gender roles as being binary and permanent, it would be interesting to see society if this was not the case.

The author describes gender roles as an important part of developing a concept of themselves as individuals. He goes on to explain that the tension created by the personal I and the social me is the creature known as the self. Gender plays a huge role in identifying these two part, whether you fit your gender mold or not.3 I realized that gender is something that we don’t generally think of when we are trying to define ourselves because it is such a given we just pass right over it. Gender is a huge part of our identity, even if our brains are wiped out we still have our gender.

My favorite part of the essay was learning about the different attributes of masculinity and femininity. Although I do not agree that these attributes are always true, I would agree that they are part of our primal instincts. The author describes masculinity as being characterized by dominance and aggression, and femininity as being passive and submissive. It seems insulting to be placed into that catagorie because of my gender, but the author did not say how feminine women generally are. I feel like people are watered down versions of these concentrated ideas. Although it bothers me to read some of the parts about women, I think about it and realize that they are general truths. For example when he write about “the social position of females is biologically mandated to be intertwined with the care of children and a natural dependency on men for the maintenance of mother child-units”. I don’t like how he is saying that women have a natural dependency on men, however his evidence, and my experience with it proves it to be true.

Response to question 8

My body has always been very average. Before high school, I liked sports a lot. I would dress comfortably and wear my sweatpants and casual clothes. My body was a tool that I used to succeed in athletics, whether it be soccer track or lacrosse. I ran a lot and worked out to make my body strong. Being good at sports was very important to me, it was a large part of my identity, and I needed my body to be strong. I didn’t care that I had strong looking legs and muscular arms opposed to small and skinny. When I got to high school though, I became more self conscious about my image, but at the same time, athletics were getting more intense than ever. A close friend of mine was struggling with an eating disorder, which made me think critically about my body for the first time, and really question how big of an impact my physical appearance had on how people saw me. I realized that all my friends were basically the same size as me, and a lot of them looked like me. It made me question if I had a completely different appearance but the same personality, who I would be friends with.

When I first started dating, I tried to loose weight and make myself look prettier. I realized though that I could not loose weight unless I stopped working out because I was all muscle. I also hated wearing makeup and getting dressed up for school everyday so that shit ended quickly. This didn’t change my relationships at all which made me more confident in my personality because I didn’t have to look perfect for people to like me. I have watched my friends and roomates struggle for hours over their hair, which made me realize that I am fortunate to have straight blonde hair. Having an average look like I do, it has made my body image not very important to me because I rarely have to worry about it.

Response to question 8

My body has always been very average. Growing up, I liked sports a lot. I would dress comfortably and wear my sweatpants and casual clothes. My body was a tool that I used to succeed in athletics, whether it be soccer track or lacrosse. I ran a lot and worked out to make my body strong. Being good at sports was very important to me, it was a large part of my identity, and I needed my body to be strong. I didn’t care that I had strong looking legs and muscular arms opposed to small and skinny. When I got to high school though, I became more self conscious about my image, but at the same time, athletics were getting more intense than ever. A close friend of mine was struggling with an eating disorder, which made me think critically about my body for the first time, and really question how big of an impact my physical appearance had on how people saw me. I realized that all my friends were basically the same size as me, and a lot of them looked like me. It made me question if I had a completely different appearance but the same personality, who I would be friends with.

When I first started dating, I tried to loose weight and make myself look prettier. I realized though that I could not loose weight unless I stopped working out because I was all muscle. I also hated wearing makeup and getting dressed up for school everyday so that shit ended quickly. This didn’t change my relationships at all which made me more confident in my personality because I didn’t have to look perfect for people to like me. I have watched my friends and roomates struggle for hours over their hair, which made me realize that I am fortunate to have straight blonde hair. Having an average look like I do, it has made my body image not very important to me because I rarely have to worry about it.

walking the dog down memory lane...

The first time I took a car ride alone with my step dad.

I had my first soccer practice at the same time ren had a doctors or dentist appointment. Mom wanted to go with ren because it was his first appointment and she had to get everything set up, Before we left she seemed stressed out and on edge. We hadnt finished unpacking all our things yet, and there were bits of evidence all around. My mom kept going through boxes, and bags looking for something, I don’t know what. My brother and I sat under the dining room table playing beanie babies, I had my shingaurds on ready to go. My shingaurds were red and white and shiny. I would hit them hard with my fist to show ren how strong they were. He asked if he could kick me in the shin to see if it would hurt. I let him kick my shin, and it hurt but I pretended it didn’t. As we played with our toys, I kept ooking up at mom to make sure she was okay. Tony was leaning against the counter watching her, smiling. He kept saying things he thought were funny and telling her to just calm down. She would look up at him and half smile before returning to her hunt. In my head, I think of her plunging her hand in and out of boxes, as her head rolls around 360 degrees and she mutters bad french words to herself. Its like a repetative loop thats never ending, like a scratched record. i don’t know whay I remember it that way, her head was securly fastened.

I was going to be late for soccer so Tony took me before mom found whatever she was looking for, I still dont know what it was. As we were walking at the door I said

“Tony, regardez!” He looked down as I banged my fist against my shingaurd.

“very good” he said and we went to the car.

Tony had npr on the radio and I didn’t like it. I asked if I could change it and he said no. I didn’t like the lady’s voice on the radio, it sounde like someone who had risen from the dead and then voiced her political opinion on public radio. I saw a building with a gold dome, it was so beautiful. Tony said it was harvard business school. I couldnt believe we lived so close to harvard, I had heard of it before, it was the smartest american school. I looked at the people on the street and I thought about how smart they must be. I asked a lot of questions and I asked them as they came, I was speaking in frenglish becasue that was how I spoke to mom and it was hard not to. Tony would make me re-ask every question in only english. But then he got tired of my questions so he turned up the radio. The dead sounding woman’s voice filled the car and I didnt want to look out the window anymore. I missed my dad alot then. I felt like he would be looking out the window too asking me more questions than I asked him. I felt like Tony didnt want me in his car, he face told me that. I really missed my dad, but at least Tony didn’t smell like cigarettes and malt liquor. I kind of missed that smell though. Tony smelled like new car and cologne, it was gross and made me feel gross. I felt gross like that a lot during that time.

I asked Tony to stay and watch because I wanted him to see how good I was, but he said he couldnt. He just didnt want to, he wanted to drop me off there and forget about me. I felt like saying “I don’t want this either jerk face. Lets just go home.” But we were both playing by the rules, fuck that.

Soccer was fun though. I was the new kid, but I was good at soccer and it felt good to be active. There were a lot of girls there, I felt anonymous which I really liked.

VR project

This project was challenging at first. I wanted my topic to be fear but I wasn’t sure how to narrow it down. I decided to do trauma and how it affects your mind because it seemed very interesting to me.

I had a lot of fun taking the pictures, it was the first time I had done anything like this. I had to take pictures of my friend in a bathtub for some of the images I wanted to create. That was a fun photo shoot because a bunch of people came to watch because they thought it was funny. The audience gave me a lot of energy while I was shooting and I think it made my pictures better. When I was shooting pictures with Keeton, he encouraged me and helped me brainstorm. I realized that working along side of at least one person can really enhance your creative process.

I think I put too much time and energy into a few select photos because I felt like I captured everything I wanted to say about trauma, but then I didn’t have enough 20 pictures. You can tell which pictures I spent the most time on, but I think thats k...I still filled the requirement.

I decided to make my pictures into a movie because I wanted to add music. I thought the piano would add another layer of pathos to my idea. I was also use the timing of the song to give the images more of a punch when they appear. I had a lot of fun making the movie because it was another thing I had never done before.

Since I am a visual artist, visual rhetoric came naturally to me. I am used to using images to express myself, so I was able to go deeper with this assignment then I would have with a music or dance piece for example. I loved this project....we should do it again some time.

Here it is:

CLICK MEEEE!!!

My Visual Rhetoric Idea

For my vr project, I want to illustrate fear, and how it can physically and emotionally handicap a person. Fear is such a strong emotion, and every person reacts differently to it. I want my images to really capture the intensity of it. I will either use images which would instill fear in the minds of the viewer, or show a subject in the picture experiencing fear, or both. This project will revolve around pathos. Fear is an emotion, one that is known to every person. It will be an interesting creative process, trying figure out how different people experience fear, and how I will successfully represent that.

I will have to be careful to avoid creating images which look cliche because they are similar to a horror film. I am not trying to make people scared, but rather I am trying to discuss the idea of fear. It will be hard to detach these two from each other. I will use captions in most of my pictures, where it is necessary. This will help me talk more about the issues of fear, rather than make a scary picture which scares people. I want to explore new ways of showing fear, maybe show it in a beautiful way or a gross way.

VR in the South Loop

This image is a prime example of an advertisement utilizing pathos. It uses strong words like "defend" and "freedom", they are large, bold and at the top. It shows a veteran leaning against the fence with the American flag waving in the background, tapping into the American's feeling of loyalty and passion toward our country and our troops. Then your eye moves downward to the smaller text, asking you to "Help the achieve their own". In even finer text underneath, the advertisement explains that only a portion of your money will go to the "Wounded Warrior Project". The background of the poster is a deep blue, which makes you feel relaxed and calm. The poster as a whole makes you feel compassion for the Veterans, and want to know more about how you can help. The text gets smaller and smaller and draws your eye downward until you reach the part about paying. It uses camouflage to frame the picture of the veteran, because that pattern automatically makes the viewer think about war and soldiers. This poster is very interesting contextually because of our countries, current war(s). War is currently a major household topic, something almost all Americans have some sort of opinion or emotion about. This poster would evoke different emotions from viewers if it were shown during a time in which our country is not at war. Budget, and the Wounded Warrior Project are the messengers, and the rest of society (people walking around on the street (who have compassion and some money)) are the receivers. The message is to feel bad for veterans who have been wounded, and to buy Budget's product so that some of the money you are spending will help the "wounded warriors".

I loved this project because photography is my main jam. It was fun to go out with my classmates and look at real examples of VR in the South Loop, I became more aware of how it is actually all around us. I got to know my classmates better, and it was a relaxing morning which is good for learning.

I <3 VR

Sex.

The photograph “Strangler Fig Embrace” by Jennifer Ray is a strong piece of artwork. It is an excellent mix of a posed scene, and found beauty. The image is endeering because of the beautiful way one tree has consumed the other, and the objects she paced under the tree add conceptual depth, and lead the viewer into a frenzy of questions. What exactly is under the tree, why is it there, who put it there? This image is part of a series of images in which the artist uses nature scenes to explore the nature of sex, and its position in our society. She uses the word “embrace” in the title of this photo, as it is evidence that both humans and objects in nature share this physical contact. She places man made objects from our society into this nature scene to allude to the duality of mankind pertaining to sex. Society places certain labels and ideas onto the idea of sex, giving it a negative connotation, however Jennifer Ray is trying to show that it is part of nature, something which is at our core....trees do it :).

This photo is also successful because it is a visually pleasing image. Jennifer’s use of light and color give the image a surreal and beautiful image. The composition of this image is successful because she uses the rule of thirds, and gives the objects their own place in the picture. It is a well designed image, using lines and shapes to move your eyes around. She uses the fore-ground, middle-ground, and background to give the image, both visually and conceptually, more depth.

The criteria I use to judge aesthetic is based on whether the image is visually pleasing, whether it makes me ask questions, whether I like the questions, and whether I like the answers I am able to come up with. If that whole process is enjoyable to me, then ya I like the picture. This picture has successfully achieved my criteria therefore I like this picture...a lot.

Wait....cats don't belong in dorms!

Visualrhetoricvisualrheticvisualrhetoricvisualrhetoric

Lucky Charms will make your child happy, and will give them nutrients in the morning!! This advertisement uses both ethos, logos,and pethos. Lucky charms resides in grocery store isles, waiting to be chosen by children, and approved by mothers. The front of the box uses bright colors, and symbols like a rainbow, heart, and leprechaun, and his wide smile, to make kids feel a certain way, and to lure the children in (pethos). These things create a happy emotion which is meant to catch a child's emotion, and hold it. A mother would feel good about buying this cereal for her child, because it has a bright and positive vibe, and it says "whole grain" in the top left, which uses logos to show that it is smart and healthy to buy this for your child. It also adds a bonus in the bottom right, advertising "Lucky's new webisodes ONLINE!". Putting that extra ad on the box gives the kids a sense of excitement, drawing them in further. I'm not sure if this is right, but I think this ad also uses ethos. The cereal is shown as a pot of gold, and it would make sense that I leprechaun is advertising a pot of gold. It would make sense for them to be called "lucky charms". A cartoon character with a big smile is something a child can understand easily. The body language of the leprechaun shows that he is inviting the viewer, almost giving them his gold. A child is also intrigued by the thought of small candies in their breakfast. It is much more appealing than regular corn flakes . The designer of this ad was sure to add many large and colorful marshmallows in the cereal, placing them in the front, to give the viewer hope for extra marshmellows...which is not true!! There are never any marshmellows its a lie.

Keeton

KEETON IS THE BEST PERSON EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

writingwritingwritingwritingwriting

I came to Columbia to be an artist. It seemed like a place where I could express myself freely and try to discover and shape my path in life. Writing is something that has always held me back in school. I never liked writing for school because it took me a long time and I would get frustrated easily and the results were never what I wanted. It is hard to learn and move forward when you try to ignore the writing part. I have always written in a journal, and recorded things from my past on paper in my own words, but that writing was only for me. It felt like as soon as I had to write for someone else, I couldn't write anymore, either because I was nervous about them judging me, or I simply didn’t want to. Coming to Columbia this summer for the Bridge Program helped me improve a lot as a writer. Being in a more accepting and creative environment enabled me to dig deep and find a true love for writing. Now that I am able to enjoy writing, and feel confident in my work, it allows me to push myself and improve. I used to hate it more than spinach, but now I love writing, and I am passionate about it. I hope that this class will challenge me to push my limits, and explore writing in a new way, continuing to give me a new perspective on my old enemy. Hopefully I will be able to learn from my peers, and perhaps give my own insight into class discussions. I want to be able to take what I learn and apply it to other classes, and be able to write my opinions and ideas more clearly in other areas like photography, or 2d design. Writing helps me organize my thoughts and ideas, so as I progress as a writer, I hope to better understand and verbalize my ideas. And of course I am looking forward to class with Keeton and Courtney first and foremost.