Introductory Paragraph: August 31, 2011

The 1950's was full of optimism and prosperity but great conflict. This little boy has taken his bag and has run away to a diner. He then has lunch with the diner owner and a local police officer. The painting overlooks all the conflict going on in the 1950's and focuses on the optimism of the little boy who has run away. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950s- an emerging counter culture that was not concerned with how things were in America but rather how they are.

Listening Journal: August 30, 2011

Three images in "Across the Universe," by The Beatles are: pools of sorrow and waves of joy are drifting through my open mind, sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears, and thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box. None of the three images I selected are symbols because they do not represent anything other than their concrete meaning. They simply paint a picture and do not have a figurative meaning. The color red generally symbolizes fire or blood. An image because a symbol when it stands for something else in the context of the piece of literature or artwork it is in.

Listening Journal: August 28, 2011

In 1974, Shuggie Otis wrote "Inspiration Information," with an upbeat, feel good feeling to it. The tempo isn't slow, nor is it lightning speed, but it had a nice fast pace to it. There did not seem to be much to the lyrics, which made it easy to follow and roll with. The musician choose to have a mellow instrumentation because it is easier to listen to and fit the time period of the 70's. There wasn't much heavy metal or rock and roll in the 70's. There also was more substance in the musicality than there was in in the lyrics. Sometimes the instruments drowned out the actual lyrics.

Art Journal: August 25, 2011

Two farmers working in a field during the Mexican Revolution, was communist, Diego Rivera's subject in his painting "Semeadores." Rivera was trying to get across that the laborers and working class needed to stand up for themselves and not just blend in. In the painting the two workers flow with the ground and do not have any distinct traits that make them stand out or ever people because they are lacking faces. The only thing that makes the workers stand out from the ground is the difference in color. One worker is hunched over digging a hole, while the other has a bag and is standing up right. This painting is very pro laborers. They do all the work; therefor, should be the ones empowered.

Listening Journal: August 22, 2011

Wilco's approach to writing a song is to go directly for what he and the band think the song should sound like, and then take it apart. They deconstruct the song to see if there is a more exciting way to go about the song. They have the philosophy of, we can destroy the song since it is ours. My creative writing process generally is not much of a process. I mentally think about what I want to write about and what direction/ side I am going to take on a subject. I do not sit down and write down all my ideas and how they should all flow together. When I first start writing I focus all my attention to my thesis because I want it to be perfect and then I write my into around my thesis. I write/type my topic sentence for my body paragraphs and go from there. As ideas come to me I add, delete, and re-arrange things in my paper.

Listening Journal: August 18, 2011

Nostalgia can be defined as a longing or a sentimental feeling for the past. When I think of my childhood many images and memories pop into my head. I grew up at Ecton Park and Romany Road. I remember playing up at Ecton then going to Suggin's and Greators, and the occasional trips to Wheelers. I also think of my old house on Pepper hill, when I think about my childhood. At my old house, my bedroom was at the end of this very long hallway and I used to go running down the hallway. Sounds, smells, and often similar situations can be associated with many different memories. When I am passing through a neighborhood and I see a motorcycle drive by it reminds me of the time when a motorcyclist crashed into our mailbox and my brother and I sat in our doorway and watched the paramedics and cops arrive. When we listened to the song today, it made me think about a 1950's diner, at night, and it had turned into this massive dance party. All the tables and booths had been pushed off to the side and all the people where dancing in the middle. It also made me think about the movie Home Alone, when the little boy is throwing a fake party to make the robbers believe his family is home.

Art Journal: August 17, 2011

Poverty is everywhere because of a lack of jobs, educational options, opportunities, and necessities, along with the fact that poverty is extremely difficult to get out of once in the cycle of poverty. In the painting studied today the artist is portraying poverty in a negative light because the people in the painting looked gloomy. The artist does have their clothes looking a bit ragged but to where they seemed to have been washed. They also do not have any bags full of personal belongs because they either do not have any or have a place to stay. The little girl is selling flowers, showing she may be to main provided for her mother, brother, and baby sibling. The message about poverty the artist is trying to get across is that people can get trapped by poverty and then can only hold out hope for their children to succeed. The little girl is holding yellow flowers which makes the contrast of how dark their clothes are more distinct, and they are also huddled together in front of the bars.

Reading Response: August 16, 2011

Third world countries are thriving with poverty stricken families and individuals. The article "Live Free and Starve" by Chitra Divakaruni focuses on relieving poverty but offering programs to help keep children and families off the streets, getting them real jobs, and giving them a bright future to look forward to. There was a bill passed by the House of Representatives stating the United States would not be importing any goods from factories in countries with child labor laws. Most third world countries do have some sort of child labor laws or poor working conditions, that America may not agree with, but until America can make its own goods, either the citizens learn to live without them or learn to accept other countries have their standards for working conditions and we have ours. If the Senate and the President sign this bill almost a million children will be jobless, resulting in their families' already shaky finances to plummet even more. "[The children] aren't even allowed to stand up and stretch. Each time they go to the bathroom, they suffer a pay cut," (530). These children are working to help support their families and they know that if going to the bathroom means a pay cut, then they will make sure they do not go. The children are often not even feed enough or hydrated enough to even have the urge to go the the bathroom. These children are often sold at the age of 5 or 6 and are too young to fight back from abuse, and these children are then found begging on the streets for food, clothing, water, and shelter. When they become desperate to survive they steal crops that are not ready to be eaten, knowing they will be beaten if caught. They live in a very grown up world, thrown into a job and caring for themselves at an extremely young age. The next article, "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" by Peter Singer focuses on people who spend large sums of money on a lavish lifestyles, when they could be donating to oversea relief programs to save children's lives. "Whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away," (539). Singer is advocating for people to stop spending money on lavish lifestyles and send it to agencies to help the starving children, but how can the people sending in the money be so sure it will make it to the children? Singer claims the money will get there, but if it does, will some cruel slave owner take the money and use it for his personal gain? There are a lot of gray areas when sending money overseas to help children. I am not advocating for people not to, it just makes it difficult to believe in a something when there are so many unanswered questions.
My heart does go out to child in need. ASPCA commercials make my cry, and it would be a lie if i did not say I have a soft spot or bias toward children in need. Both of these articles prove that Americans really do not know how great they have it. Children are starving, being beaten, and being sold for money. Singer does put all the blame on people who live lavish lifestyles but when one is not physically there to hand one's money over to a relief organization, one typically does not. One person can make a difference in a child's life, but will that difference even amount to something? The child may live another year or two but may never make it off the street. That is why I would have to stand in favor of Divakaruni's article. To prevent the current situations in third world countries, there needs to be programs to help people get on the right track. Educational options, shelters, and job security need to available to actually help these people.

Listening Journal: August 15, 2011

Today I had to opportunity to listen to Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti "Round and Round." When the song first began there were many thoughts going through my head. Will I enjoy this song? Will it go somewhere, musically? Yes it did. One interesting aspect of this particular song is the dynamic changes. Coming from the dance world a song has to either be artistically interesting, or musically intriguing, to grab my attention and keep hold of it. As the song went on I lost a little bit of an interest because there wasn't as many accents as I would have liked. They dynamics of the song influenced my opinion in the sense of I went from being bored in my chair to thinking this could work, the slow moments and then the quicker ones really mesh nicely. Also the end of the song the music faded as the singer or singers continued to sing and it had this breathless feel to it. The breathless feel influenced my opinion of the song slightly. It goes back to the dynamics, it flowed seamlessly. I do have a listening bias because at dance competitions you hear a lot of music. I am a huge accent person, the occasional unexpected crack or pop is defiantly something I look for in music. Naturally I am drawn to songs full of accents because it is easier to choreograph for, but there are always songs that surprise you.