Love of my life

MyHeritage: Family tree – Genealogy – Celebrity – Collage – Morph

Final Project: Creative Components

What is your favorite animal?

Today I watched “Growing Up Walrus” 

An orphan walrus named Narius

He swims, plays with his trainer, his new mother. 

Her name might be Allison.

He lives in Indiana, which is surely far from his home-

but I don’t remember where they found him.  

Probably Alaska, or maybe Antarctica?

In freezing rain he waddles around,

His flipper arms dragging across rough cement

At first like a snail. Then maybe a ladybug. 

He jumps in the water. Now he swims like a flounder. 

The closest he’ll get to a wild existence

The trainer tries to feed him fish but he wants the sweet milk in the bottle.

He is reluctant to chew anything.

Then it snows. Mid February,

just approaching spring, its like a snail too.

A procrastinating snail.

Spring waits until the night before to start her homework too.

Narius wonders:

How many days ’till spring break?

 

 

p.s.

Recently I watched a rerun of “Growing Up Walrus”

just as cute, same little Narius

As I was convinced by those around me not to watch it again

(Animal Planet is an addiction of mine)

I thought of this little poem

maybe a way to remember him by

Instead of seeing it again

I opted for homework.

Surprisingly.

How many days ’till summer?

do the right thing

When I saw “Do the Right Thing,” I knew by the credits that the movie was going to be a powerful movie about race in America, which was because of a few things.  I had seen parts of the movie before, and the fact that Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” played during almost the entire movie, immediately gave me an idea of what the film is about.  What I didn’t know was how much of an impact the movie would have upon me.  The characters, lines, and scenes stayed with me for the rest of the week, and even caused the purchase of some Miller High Life.  I was reminded of the film frequently, but every time I asked people if they had seen it, the response was always “no” (which is surprising to me – I am a big fan of Spike Lee, as are my friends at home, and I know that some of them regard this movie as an all-time favorite). 

I just kept getting frustrated that I couldn’t talk to anyone about the movie, and when I tried to explain it, it just wasn’t as powerful.  The movie takes the viewer through a lot of emotions, and forces him or her to look at the issue of racism in America with a different perspective.  A lot of the movie resonated in parts of me – the similarities between Bed Stuy in the early nineties and North Philadelphia, then and now.  These familiarities, like the exact same Mr. Softee truck and the exact same song, the Korean grocery at one corner across from the Italian pizza place on the other, and the rest of the neighborhood, that is probably 80% Latino and black.  I think these similarities between my life and the movie made it all the more striking and intense.  The questions it brings up about communities divided by race are important ones, and Lee sets a situation up that strives to do just that – by taking the outcome of a seemingly trivial argument to the extreme.  At this extreme, the true feelings of both the characters and the viewers intensify and become problematic – to what extent is violence justified by previous actions – when is it acceptable, and when is it not?  How can you keep violence from snowballing into someone’s death, as witnessed in the movie?  These questions are further explored by the two quotes that Lee places at the end of the movie.  Their contradiction in a way sums up the point of the movie – at least in my eyes – and makes for the perfect environment for a serious and dynamic discussion on race in America.

Holding an un-bubbly bottle of coke
and a styrofoam cup of more drinkable liquid 
on the watch for a trash can
tied up bags on the corner are closed already
next to empty lots, debris like a whale skeleton
and a group of white kids like tourists
near that fancy glass building
“THE ABSOLUTE”
condos? really? surprise, surprise
another building with a stone archway
or a portal or something, i’m not sure of the correct historical term
even though i should be
it has a keystone, and other segments
that could be played like a xylophone
at the square root cafe, where some of us order cookies
we wait for them, sit, then go
next to a citgo actually
and a dog with a sardonic expression
and a man looking up to the buildings as he walks – a real tourist in brooklyn?
keep your eyes on the ground sir,
you’ll get dizzy if you don’t.

What is your favorite animal?
Today I watched “Growing Up Walrus” 
An orphan walrus named Narius
He swims, plays with his trainer, his new mother. 
He lives in Indiana, which is surely far from his home-
but I don’t remember where they found him.  
It probably wasn’t Africa, Rio, or Philadelphia.
In freezing rain he waddles around,
His flipper arms waling across rough cement
At first like a snail. Then maybe a ladybug. 
He jumps in the water. Now he swims like a flounder. 
If he could physically slip on a banana peel, I’d love to see it.
The trainer tries to feed him fish but he wants the sweet milk in the bottle.
Then it snows. Mid February,
just approaching spring, its like a snail too.
A procrastinating snail. Narius wonders:
How many days ’till spring break?  

a step away from them

Frank O’Hara’s “A Step Away from Them” was written during his lunch hour as he walked the streets of New York, making observations of the things happening around him.  He walks by taxis on the street, and describes the construction workers eating lunch on the sidewalk, and on the avenue the women’s heels and skirts blowing up over grates.  He uses the devices of color – the yellow helmets of the workers and the “hum-colored” cabs, as well as descriptions of movement and activity of things surrounding him. He then goes to Times Square and describes the smoke billowing over his head, a lack man leaning in a doorway and watching a blonde chorus girl, the midday city traffic and how neon in the daylight is a great pleasure. He notices Puerto Ricans in the street, which for some reason makes everything beautiful and warm to him. He reminisces about friends of his who have died, wondering whether the earth is as full of life as they were when they were alive.  He walks a bit more, past the Manhattan Storage Warehouse, has a glass of papaya juice, and gets back to work.  He notes that he too has a book of poems by Pierre Reverdy in his pocket, where he says his heart is.

driving

i dont think ive met one person at pratt who doesnt drive when they are at home, if i have met them they are few and far between.  i think i take for granted the convenience of a city and its public transportation, so although i know how to drive, i think its perfectly normal to not drive.  i know few people who drive in the city, so this is standard for me. but i was substantially surprised at the number of people who drive and the miniscule number of people who don’t. i’m not sure what this really means but i know somehow its relevant to my sense of my home situation and my school situation. 

midnight cowboy

Midnight Cowboy was an interesting film to watch because it was a way for me to see a city that I live in from a dramatically different perspective in a dramatically different time period.  The view of the city that the movie provides is gloomy, and it tells the story of a sickly and poor new yorker who is naively hoping to one day get to the sun and sand in miami and a cowboy from texas hoping to become a “kept” male prostitute in the big city.  It was really sad, and didn’t necessarily paint the city in a good light, unlike my impression of the New York’s of Speed Levitch and Colson Whitehead, in part.  It was also an enjoyable movie and has an interesting plot line that differs from most other films and reminds me of Brokeback Mountain a little. 

reading response #2: Sandburg

In “Chicago,” Carl Sandburg paints a picture of his city, but also engages the reader by speaking to the city in second person.  He begins, however, with a list of names and jobs that can be seen both as individuals who together make up the city, as as personifications of the city itself.  Sandburg then goes on to in a way tell the city about a conversation that he might have had.  He again personifies the city as human qualities – wicked, crooked, brutal – and then gives examples of actual humans he’s seen in the city that showed him these qualities.  He relates how he defended the city against the sneers of another by calling it “proud to be alive/and coarse and strong and cunning.”  He then contrasts his city against others calling them “little soft cities.”  He then gives out some more adjectives, this time more in the context of architecture and buildings, but still human.  Things shoveling, planning, building, and wrecking.  Sandburg then uses the connection of construction and destruction to dust and smoke, and then finally personifies a mouth, laughing, with dust all over his mouth.  A young man’s mouth, laughing vividly and heartily; the mouth of a yet undefeated champ, who only sees promise no matter what the hardship is. 

dominica paige lecture response

while we didn’t get to have the full lecture experience, we did get to talk to dominica about some photographs and photographers that have to do with the city of new york and that demonstrate a feeling of a cityscape.  one of the photographers who dominica mentioned was Lisette Model, who I actually have a book on but had not made the connection as to who she was.  i’ll bring in the book if anyone wants to read it.