My (New and Improved) Writing ID

1.My Strengths: My strengths still stand with my detailed and creative writing. I have learned throughout this semester to control my detail and make it flow with what I'm writing. I have also learned to make my writing detailed and creative without being colloquial. Although writing was a strong focus in our class we also had a strong focus on reading. At the beginning of the semester I wanted to improve my reading skills and become a deeper reader. With some of the readings we had, I did have some trouble following because they didn't interest me. However, having the discussions we had in class really made me think about the reading and appreciate it more. Each reading to follow had a deeper impact on me and allowed me to not only read the text but analyze and make sense of it.

2. My weaknesses: My biggest weakness would probably be my thesis in analytic papers. I need to focus on how to make stronger thesis's and putting forth a clear argument. Following this I need to make sure each paragraph relates back to my thesis and proves what I am trying to argue.

3. Goals: One of my goals is to take everything i have learned in this class and apply it to every piece of writing i prepare in the future. Another goal of mine is to continue to improve my weaknesses and further improve my strengths.

Now that the semester has reached its end I have come to realize how much I truly enjoyed this class. With our small intimate class we have grown together like our own little family. None of my other classes were as cool as ours. We had a ton of awesome discussions. This class was the first class to make me think as much as I did, and I have realized that is the reason why each day I looked forward to going to class. Thanks for making my first semester here so memorable!

Lost in Translation

If you've ever traveled to a foreign country where the spoken language isn't English, you know exactly what lost in translation means. Being to countries such as Mexico, France, Greece, Germany, and China, I've had this experience multiple times. Just thinking of these words evokes an immense feeling of frustration.

This clip from the movie Lost in Translation shows how frustrating and confusing it can be to try to communicate with people who don't speak your language. The movie is set in Japan and although English is not the main language of many countries throughout the world, choosing a county like Japan really drives in the aggravation of being lost in translation. Of all the countries I've traveled to, being in China was by far the hardest to adapt to. Like Japan, and other eastern civilizations, the Chinese language is extremely different from English and being so far away from English speaking countries it is not really a necessity to know. In contrast, when you travel to Europe almost everyone knows some bit of English because of tourism and their proximity to English speaking countries.

In the play Translations, Sarah has a speech defect making it difficult for her to communicate with others. Because she doesn't like sounding different, she communicates with hand gestures. Although people don't always know what she is trying to say at first, they usually figure it out within a couple guesses.

This made me think of how I act in foreign countries when I am trying to communicate with someone who speaks another language. Hand gestures are universal, allowing someone who speaks a language as different as Chinese to understand you. Although Sarah does not like to use her words, she still manages to communicate with others by using gestures.

So now whenever you find yourself lost in translation forget mom's advice of "using your words" and start using your hands, it is much more effective and saves you the aggravation.

portfolio review

Ive been thinking all day what I could possibly blog about this week. I'm somewhat sick of Power and although I find it to be a good read I just want to put it to rest for now. Instead I thought I'd focus on what has been consuming my thoughts since 12 am yesterday...portfolio reviews (small text signifying the tension it causes in my brain)

After setting up my work, I was overwhelmed with a sense of satisfaction. even though I dont really like each of the pieces that I did, I felt accomplished with it all right there in front of me. That night I felt at ease and thought this review shouldn't be so bad, that was until I talked to Corrine, she seemed quite nervous about it and the more I talked to her the more nervous I became. Thats when the trouble started.

When I woke up the first thing I thought was, REVIEWS TODAY- great. As I got there around one I was able to see a few students go before me. they made me feel better because it didn't seem as stressful as I had thought...that is until it was my turn..DUN DUN DUNNNN...

I enjoyed doing the review and I'm usually pretty good about receiving criticism and although Krista warned us not to focus on the negative comments, I couldnt help myself. The biggest thing that bothered me was on my invisible cities collage piece, a piece that happens to be one of my favorites. I guess doing work in black and white anymore is bad? I really liked that part of my project because it was different from everyone else's, and I thought it looked friggen sweet. Well, apparently not.

Ahhhhh, now I feel much better, hopefully this will let me sleep peacefully tonight!

p.s. i like my collage

Name: _____________

A name contains more than just the letters it consists of.

I didnt always like my name. As a young girl I wanted a cooler name, a popular name. I then remember asking my mom why she named me Caroline. I found out it was after her twin sister. Although they were very different, she always admired her for her free spirit. She told me how much I reminded her of her sister, not only my looks but my personality as well. As I've gotten older I am frequently told how strangely alike we are. Right after my mom got married, in her young twenties, she found out while her sister was in New Zealand, she was in a terrible car accident. She never returned from that trip. After hearing I was named after my aunt and the amazing woman she was, I realized how special it was. From there on i never complained about my name, on the contrary I took a strong liking to it.

What I find so strange is that before I was even welcomed to this earth my name was picked out for me. So how is that I resemble her in so many ways yet came from my mom who is soo different from her. I think it is a gift from god. I know my mom misses her every day, but i think it is helpful to her that she still has a part of her sister with her but in me.

After reading Lucy and Power, we see how meaningful names are and how they reflect our personality in such odd ways. In Power, Omishto's name means "the one who watches." This completely reflects her personality. She is always very observant with all of her surroundings. She also watches Ama and her mother and observes the differences between them.

It is truly interesting to think about the meaning of a name and how one's name compares to their character, especially after seeing how strangely alike they can be.

Power

As I pulled this book out from under my bed I instantly got excited. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover--but i figure with all of us being young artists we all probably do. Anyways, this cover struck me right away, not just the picture on the art but the feel of the book itself. Maybe it's because all my previous but books were used and crappy but the feeling of a new book with an eerie photograph on the front just got me real excited to crack it open.

The first thing I did was read the back cover. I was taken back because the description/synopsis did not match the cover photo, however, it still looked like an interesting read.

After finishing the first chapter i thought to myself how cool this book was going to be. Ive never read a book with tribal people set in the jungle. I have always wondered what the lives of those people are like. It's so different from how we live our lives. Basically their world is the land of the tribe and they live much simpler than we do. I can never tell if i would love that or hate it.

As i got into the second chapter i realized the picture in my head didn't match up with what i was starting to read. In the first chapter i pictured Omishto in a loin cloth with tribal paint on her face. But then when i heard of her sister wearing her dress and her "stepfather" the life i thought they lived was apparently quite wrong. I'm still a little confused with their lifestyle and how civilized/not civilized it is. I'm very excited for what's to happen next and to have a better understanding of that part of the world.

A Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes

And shes gone...

As I read this stanza from The beatles famous song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, I realized it went right along with our reading Lucy. From this reoccurring vision of yellow and the feelings it provokes to this brightly burning sun in her eyes.

As we've noticed this color yellow in multiple medias in class, we see that it carries many different meanings. In Jaws, a sign of caution. In Girl Interrupted, a sense of insecurity, but again a warning for bad things to come. In The Yellow Wallpaper, a sign of anxiety. In Lucy its a vision of beauty (not to be confused with perfection.) It is clear to us that yellow is dominant in provoking a feeling, it's just not always used to provoke the same feeling.

The other part of this verse that is reminiscent of Lucy is this girl with the sun in her eyes. In the novel lucy really struggles with fitting in. She didn't fit in with her past and she doesn't fit in with her present. She experiences a sense of nostalgia when she first sees the sun in her new city. Not because its similar to what she's used to, but quite the opposite. She talks about the sun in her new setting and how it is faded as opposed to back at home where its vibrant and stingy, so stingy it makes the objects in its light curl at the edges.

Parallels like these allow us to make better sense of our readings and enjoy them more. And novels like Lucy allow us to really bite into this juicy text and use these connections to better analyze the reading.

*I thought it was also funny that this was a song done by a British band, in connection to the influence England had on Lucy's life as well as the lives of all the other people living in the West Indies during that time period.

"O"

After discussing in class the relationship between the doves and hawk with the characters of the movie/play, I decided to do a little more researching. Although the symbolism of hawk and dove is only represented in "O," I believe it ties in well with the themes of the play. The dove, to me, represents Desdimona (Dessi). A dove is symbolic of innocence, harmlessness, gentleness, faith and marital affection. It also is known to be one to quiet troubled thoughts. If these qualities seem familiar, its probably because in the play/movie desdimona represents them. She is portrayed to the audience to be the fair virgin. Her innocence and gentle ways in loving Othello shows how harmless she is and how she truly fits her "dove-like" description.
The hawk of the movie is depicted in somewhat of a hazy manner due to its possible representation of two characters in the movie/play. At first you may think Othello (O) due to the hawks strong, dark, powerful nature. Also with his leadership, intensity and guardianship. Hawks are extremely protective of their family, which is reminiscent of how Othello is of Desdimona. However if you look deeper into the characteristics of a hawk you will find greater similarities between that and of Iago (Hugo). Iago is known throughout the play to manipulate peoples views of others. He goes around telling false stories so he feel empowered by controlling the lives of others. Hawks are known to be messengers awakening your soul purpose, giving you a reason for being. They also have very keen eyesight allowing them to hunt for prey. Iago, like a hawk, is a messenger searching for victims to spread his fallacies to. The hidden symbolism of the birds in the movie related to the characters in an intriguing manner. It makes me wonder in what other ways could one symbolize the characters of the movie if the storyline of "O" had been different.

coincidence? I think not

A thought struck- these two circles representing self and reputation oddly relate to the point of ocularity we are discussing. Could there be a connection? In class we like to not only find meaning within the pages, but the meaning that lies on the pages as well. Having this thought in mind I figured there must be a connection here as well. The inner circle represents self(the pupil), where the outer circle is a representation of reputation(the iris).
At first glance you notice the iris. The color is striking and grabs your attention. It's interesting and leaves you wanting more, but never reveals it. When someone acquires a certain reputation the same thing happens. People gossip and want to find the story behind the story but it's not always revealed. The iris is the facade of a person, its beauty -or lack of- to an outsider. In othello the "iris" is of most importance. The characters face many struggles due to the reputations that they acquire. If they would focus more on the pupil they would see that these reputations are far from truth.
The inner circle of the diagram represents self and the pupil. This part of the eye is much more hidden. It exists in everyone, but is not always seen by others. Although they are often ignored they carry a lot of importance. They are the structure of the eye. Without them, the eye, in whole, wouldn't make sense. We use them to see out of. We use them to make judgements of others-to establish their reputations. The reputations that we give others speaks a lot of ones self. The two need eachother to work. The pupil to view the world and the iris to see how the world views us.

Romare Bearden

http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/beardensart/collage/artwork/maudell_sleet_i.html

Romare Bearden was a man of many talents. With his wide range of scholarly interests and knowledge- including music, literature, the performing arts, history and world art- he became quite the fine artist himself. While attending NYU he became known for his cartoonist pieces in the monthly journal, The Medley. Bearden published many journal covers during his university years and the first of many texts he would write on social and artistic issues. After joining the Harlem Artists Guild, Bearden began his lifelong study of art. He gathered inspiration from famous western artists such as Duccio, Giotto, de Hooch, Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse. Bearden also used African art-particularly sculpture, masks and textiles as inspiration for his work. His success as an artist was recognized at his first solo exhibition in Harlem in 1940 and his first solo show in Washington, DC, in 1944. His pieces were then exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. His collages, watercolors, oils, photomontages and prints are filled with visual metaphors from his past in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Harlem and from a variety of historical, literary and musical sources.

I chose the piece “Maudell Sleet’s Magic Garden.” It struck my attention right away with all of the bright colors present in the piece. It doesn’t look like a typical collage but I liked how the colors look like different layers. At first glance you eyes are drawn to the foreground of the piece where the garden lies full of vibrant reds, yellows, oranges and greens. Tending the garden is a woman (Maudell). Her sky blue dress is complimentary to the colors in the garden. Due to the easy flow of the colors, the woman looks as if she is not only tending her garden but growing with it as well. Because of this, the piece evokes an all over feeling of growth from the garden to the stretch of trees in the background. It also brings to mind a feeling of comfort and joy. Although the bright colors used would usually represent anxiety, in combination with the softer and duller colors it makes you feel happy. Overall,this is a strong piece because of its use of vibrant fun colors that presents the viewer with a sense of bliss and content.

Infer-no[t] the ending I was hoping

The Inferno to me represented people living this “hellish” life and all of the struggles that come with it. Polo says how we live in this inferno every day and how we form it by being together. This shows how this pessimistic attitude spreads so rapidly and that by “being together” this inferno gets worse. He says one way to escape suffering from it is by just accepting it. Accepting that this life will not get any better; it’s just hell on earth and after a while it just becomes natural. Then he goes on and says another, more difficult, way of escaping it is by recognizing who and what are not inferno, and to give them space. At first this confused me but what I think he is saying is that you can’t be around the people who aren’t suffering because they will only drive you harder into the ground and make you feel the inferno even more so.

I personally didn’t like how this novel ended. I thought Polo’s intent was to help Khan with his empire and I feel all he did was tell him that there was no hope. I could be taking this section wrong and if so please let me know, because as of now I’m quite disappointed. Although I am one to always want the fairytale ending, I told myself in the beginning I probably wouldn’t get it due to the un-novelness of this novel. However, I didn’t expect this. I feel like this ending isn’t an ending, it just leaves you wanting more. Maybe the reason has to do with the cyclicality that we talked about in class and if there’s an end it doesn’t follow the rules of a cycle. Thoughts to help me appreciate this text..?

Cities and Memory: Zaira

The city of Zaira struck my attention right away. I enjoyed this city because of all the history it contains. When Marco Polo states that "the city does not consist of its physical features but of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past," I realized this tied in really well with what we're covering it class about what defines a space. Marco Polo shares with us that it is not the actual objects in the space that matters but the history and stories that those objects hold. I also liked the part that states, " as this wave from memories flows in, the city soaks it up like a sponge and expands." This meaning that the city will never die, it will just become more rich in history over time. In this quote I also liked how the author referred to the memories as a wave flowing in and soaking. This idea being related to water makes me think that not every part of its history is concrete, that not all of it stays, but some just trickles away. In the last section of this reading Polo states " The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand." This struck me because it shows how you have to be a part of the city to understand its past. It made me think palm readers and how they can look into your hand and search for meanings with in the cracks and crevices. Like a palm reader, when a person goes to visit Zaira they can learn stories of its past by exploring deep down in the crevices of the city.

Girl, disturbed

The more I watched the more I felt this gross deep pit sitting in my stomach. Although I enjoyed this movie very much I couldn't help but feel I was Girl, Disturbed. I think my favorite part was her line in the end, " Crazy isn't being broken- its you or me amplified." this just made me feel so badly for them, each one of them had gone through some event that obviously is going to take a tole on them whether it be on their self-esteem or self-worth or just leave you confused about your sense of self. I think its terrible that these girls didn't have somebody they could go to to help them through it or help them understand or just be there for them to vent to. If they had someone like this they wouldn't have to bottle everything up to the point where they lost themselves. This movie really made me thankful that I have people that I can go to when something happens. It also made me thankful that I'm not growing up in that time period, so if something were to happen people wouldn't automatically think I'm crazy.
If the lady at her school didnt tell her that writing was a dumb post-high school plan she would have written more about her life/experiences and never would have been sent to that institution or been diagnosed as a "borderline." In the end when she started writing she could organize her thoughts and make sense of them and simply just get them out of her head which helped her tremendously; so if she wasnt belittled in the beginning for wanting to write I think these issues wouldnt exist. Thoughts?
I agree with her that the doctors there didnt really know what they were doing. I hated how, one, they would diagnose them with something even when the patient wouldnt speak. They just picked some commonality between some symptom they showed and a disorder that happens to show that one symptom. And two, how they wouldnt tell the girls what they diagnosed them as. I dont know if doctors still do that but I think especially in this case when the doctors have no rhyme or reason to their diagnoses they just don't tell the patient because the patient is the only one who knows how they feel.
The thing I appreciated most about this movie was its truth. Being a woman and seeing other women having to go through this really got to me. I can't imagine going through some of the things that they went through, and it just made me thankful for growing up in the time we are.

to read or not to read

I sat down, read two sentences, saw my computer sitting in front of me and thought I'll blog instead. I lay in my bed trying to be a "deep reader" and realize I'm a better deep sleeper. I wake up early to finish my reading and say to myself "I'll do better in all my classes today if i get this extra hour of sleep." I find myself thinking of every possible excuse for why I'm not reading. I usually enjoy reading, so why is it that I just cant make myself read it, even when im stuck in my dorm room on a rainy day with absolutely nothing to do besides facebook stalk people (which usually is quite entertaining but after an hour or so gets quite repetitive.) Well I've discovered the answer. It's because I thoroughly dislike this book. Or maybe I just don't like the author. Her structure I just find choppy and extremely hard to follow. I find myself turning the page having no idea what I had read on the page before. As we sat in class and discussed the reading all I was interested in was the story behind the death of her. So wish me luck as I am off to go find another excuse for not reading.

My Writing ID

1. My Strengths: I am usually a pretty detailed writer. However although this is one of my strengths, it can also be a huge weakness that can make my writing too wordy. BUT usually it works in my fortune. Another thing I'm usually pretty good at is my creativity in my writing. I can put together a pretty mean clever clincher. (p.s. dont judge me it is quite clear my creative juices aren't flowing right now)
2. My weaknesses: Id say my biggest weakness would probably be my ability to veer off from my writing path, I'm an expert at this! Due to my detailedness(?) i tend to take one detail and add on and on and on and before I know it I'm on a completely different subject.
3. Goals: My main goal in this class would be to become more aware of my strengths and weaknesses and improve them both. I would also like to become a better/deeper reader.
4. For me writing is like...a release. It helps me express all of my thoughts that would otherwise rot in my head. Whether it be writing about a passionate subject or a letter/note to a friend or my mass amounts of daily texting : )