Persepolis

After reading Persepolis, I definitely have a different viewpoint of other cultures I normally would categorize into stereotypes. It brought to light the good that lives inside the bad. Marji was just a girl going through her life the way she wanted and everything was uprooted and turned around for her, she was forced to wear the veil when she didn't want, forced to a school with all girls where she was separated from her friends, and she had to forget what she new about the old regime and relearn the new. The book shows the struggles her family goes through as well, and how they didn't want to abide by the new laws that were set in place for them. For Satrapi to include this factor it gives insight that even adults were forced to change everything they knew against their will or go to jail.
I think in today's society if a culture were to benefit from a "Persepolis-like" view it would be North Korea. All we think of when we hear North Korea is bombs and dictatorship. But we don't know what actually goes on inside of the country.

Bloody Saturday

The photo I chose to analyze is "Bloody Saturday" by H.S. Wong. The photograph was taken in 1937 and is black and white and depicts a baby, maybe one or two, dirty, alone, and crying sitting on the edge of railroad tracks with debris all around him. The subject of the photo is how awful and devastating the bombings in Shanghai were. The picture wasn't planned. The photographer said when he got to the South Station he saw the baby wailing while his mother laid dead on the tracks. The photo made me sad at first but the more I looked at it I got sort of angry that this awful thing had happened to the baby and he had no control of it whatsoever. I think that my reaction was exactly what the photographer was hoping for, to spark interest in people and open our eyes to the havoc war is causing.

Aspiration

Aspiration by Aaron Douglas was created in 1936 during the Harlem Renaissance. The painting represents the path of African American people from the chains of slavery to the city on the hill. The Harlem Renaissance was a new age for African Americans as they reached toward equality in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance was the first time African Americans felt they had a voice and each aspired to be something better but attaining an education and success on "the hill". The 3 people featured in the painting are showing the want and trying of moving forward, while the hands in chains represent that they will never forget their past. The city on top of the hill is also a focal point, we can tell because the figures attention are directed at it. But, to the left behind the figures there appears to be a storm coming, but they cannot see it. This represents the tough days that are to come, the figures don't know how hard it is going to be to get there but they believe it is possible.

An Existential Life

In my current life, I do live in bad faith according to existentialism. I wake up at 5 every morning to go to work until around 1 or 2 and then I go to work at my second job around 4 and don't get home until 9 or later. I do this everyday aside from Tuesday's and Thursday's when I go to school. It's hard for me to find time to do anything, when all I really want to do is sleep whenever I can because I know I'll have to wake up and do it all again the next day. But, this is my choice. I make this choice because I don't want to have to worry about money while I'm in college and paying all of my bills. Both of my jobs are as a server which means great tips, but that also means I have to deal with angry, annoying customers on a regular basis which honestly just makes my job harder.
If I were to picture myself as a existential hero, I wouldn't change too much about my life because it's not a bad life, I'm happy for most of it. However, there are a few things I would change. For starters I would quick my morning job and open my availability at my night job so I would just be working at the one restaurant, which would give me the most money. Another thing I would change is I would start doing color guard again. It really is my passion and I'm great at it. The things that keep me from doing it now are that it is very expensive and to participate in an independent guard(a color guard out of high school) is extremely time consuming. I would also like to start coaching color guard again, I did when I first graduated but gave it up when I moved to Arizona. These changes would honestly make me feel like I would be living my life to the fullest.

Socially Conscious Song - Chandelier

Link to Video

The song I picked is Chandelier, but not by Sia. The version I picked is by a cappella group called Twisted Measure. While I do like the original song by Sia, I feel like the a cappella version actually captures the lyrics of the song versus focusing on the music. Another reason why I like this song so much is there is no direct meaning to it and it can be interpreted almost to what you need it to be. What I interpret the song as is that you have all of these struggles and worries that keep you down but you just let all of them go and "swing from the chandelier". In one line they sing, "I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, watch my tears as they dry" what they're saying is that once they let all of their problems go and do what they need to do for themselves they're free. When I first heard this song, I was a junior in high school and was at a low point in my life. I had heard Sia's version already, but when I heard the voices from Twisted Measure just bursting out these beautiful lyrics and sounds, I remember breaking down in tears and just thinking to myself, "I can do this, I can get through this." For that reason this song will always have a dear place in my heart. I've pasted a link to the video above and if you can, definitely give it a listen.

Poem Explication

The poem I've decided to analyze is called "Woman and War" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The poem is about World War I through a woman's perspective. The poem starts by comparing dogs and humans, "let dogs delight to bark and bite" which is basically saying let dogs be dogs by being ruff and act in their true nature. But, it then says that humans have to rise above the brute and have self-control to not fight one another, the poet explains that this is what we teach our children. The problem then comes in the second stanza when it's said "And then - dear God! you men, you wise, strong men, Our self-announced superiors in brain, Our peers in judgement, you go forth to war!" Wilcox is saying that after everything we've taught to young children about the wrong of hurting each other is all thrown away when the men of the nation, who the children look up to, do the exact opposite of what they were taught as children. She ends the poem by saying that if war is what the world has come to, then maybe women should raise their children from birth to be killers.
Honestly, I really liked this poem. It made me see a different perspective of war. At the bottom of the second stanza, Wilcox says that women battle everyday like men but their battle is uncertainty. She goes on to say "And when at best your victories reach our ears, There reaches with them to our pitying hearts The thought of countless homes made desolate And other women weeping for their dead." I had never thought about victories this way before I read these lines, and what she's basically saying is that even though the news of victory is brought to their side, on the other side there are women who had the same worries as their side and now have to face the news that their men are never coming home.

Guernica

Guernica is a very important anti-war painting. Although, just by looking at the painting I would have no idea that is was about war. When first looking at the painting, it's a lot to take in. There is so much going on in every part of the painting that it's hard to distinguish where to start in analyzing it. The craziness of the painting in a way gives me anxiety because of how busy everything is. What I see in the painting is people running away from something. I'm able to make out disfigured people and disfigured animals in the painting. Picasso uses abstract figures, I believe, to describe just how crazy life is during the war. People and animals are panicking and running frantically. Overall, I like the painting. The craziness of the whole thing makes it interesting and I feel like there is always something new to look at. 

Evaluating a Van Gogh

Van Gogh: Two Cut Sunflowers
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/637/Two-Cut-Sunflowers.html
The painting can be interpreted into many different ways. The cut sunflowers are shown to be wilting symbolizing death but the petals that have yet to wilt are a vibrant yellow which would symbolize that they are still living. The contrasting ideas of life and death are one of the things that makes the painting interesting and draws in the viewer. The painting makes me feel calm, the array of dark blues in the background along with the vibrant yellow feed off of each other creating a calming tone. There is also a sense of sadness in the painting. This may also be due to the blues in the background, but also because of the second sunflower that is facing away from the painting. Also, the sunflower that is turned away looks as if it is more wilted that the sunflower that is facing the front. My personal interpretation of the painting would be that the two sunflowers represent two people in a relationship, but the relationship is wilting as they're growing apart. But, they haven't quite seemed to let go yet.

The First Post

My name is Gabby. My cultural diet has nowhere near as wide a variety as is had when I was in high school. In high school, I was an active member of color guard and for a year after I graduated I coached at my old high school. Sadly that had to end when I moved to Arizona because the closest team to me was an hour and a half away and there was no way I could fit it into my schedule. I do have a great appreciation for the arts of all sorts. On a daily basis I use my phone, Netflix, and music. My phone playlist has almost every genre on it. I say almost because it doesn't have any punk rock or heavy metal (my middle school one did), but it can go anywhere from Balmorhea and Olafur Arnalds to Luke Bryan and Clean Bandit. Music has always been an outlet for me and I can appreciate all varieties of it.