1/12/10
Guernica- Connections Beyond Connections
'I am involved in man kind' This quote from 'No Man Is An Island' By John Dunne really applies to the message of Guernica.
Pablo Picasso portrays the people as very sad, all with their mouth open in horror as they look up into the skies, at that time filled with bombs and smoke. You can imagine being there, in the atmosphere of the bombing. Smoke filling your eyes, you trip over something in front of you, but you can't manage to see what it was. Inside your head, all you can think about s dying. You don't want to die. You are praying over and over in your head, to any god you can think of, and hoping for the best. You don't know where you're sister is. Your brother. Your parents. Will you be able to say bye? You are thinking about escape. Should you run away? You look over your shoulder to see the people trying to escape being shot down. You give up. You find a corner, and cry.
Involved can also be defined as understanding. In this painting, you can tell Picasso clearly knows what was going on. He understood what people went through, and put that into his painting. He took all the emotions in the moment I just described, and brought them in with the color and facial expressions.
If Picasso was not 'involved in mankind', then this painting, had it ever been thought of, would not have any depth. If this painting was just a guilt painting, just to say, sorry, I know this happened, if would have just been meaningfully just a blank canvas.
I share the feeling that Picasso had. Last year, my eyes were opened to the affect cancer had on people. My friends mom had cancer and she was almost dying from it. I saw what it took out on my friend. She stopped being happy, just all the time sad. Sad, sad, sad. I decided I could do something, even if it wasn't really big. Some friends and I started a Fundraiser. We included my friend, and although sometimes it just made her feel worse, she started to accept this was a good way to deal with her feelings. I think that is what Picasso thought of as well. Like I shared the feelings with my friend, he shared feelings with the people of Guernica.
The Artwork: This time I chose a small sculpture to represent my post. When I saw this, I immediatley thought of 'No Man Is An Island' and once I had thought about it I thought about Matt Harding. He joined people together with dancing. Picasso joined people together with artwork. In the sculpture everyone is connected, like the way Picasso, Harding, and I are connected. Through connection. That means that we three, all though we never have and probably never will, have something in common. And that is that we all connect.
30/11/10
How to Help When You Don't Know How?
How to help when you don't know how? That's a question Eboo Patel has bene working very hard to answer. Although this was not his main point in his discussion, it stood out to me the most, and came across clearer to me than his other points. He had a Jewish friend, and he didn't know how to help him. In his This I Believe Patel talked about how he used to sit around a table with boys from four or five other religions, and one day they would say that they couldn't eat a type of meat and not bothering to explain about why. How can we stop this happening today?
People have come up with ideas, but I have only heard of one. My aunt, in Singapore, took a course on other religions. At first, all I could do was question why she needed to learn about other religions when she already had picked hers-Christianity. She explained the idea to me. That if you know a few things about how others function, they will feel more comfortable around you and you guys might become friends. I think this is what Patel is talking about.
You need to know something about a persons background to really connect with them, and when they connect with you, they will be happy to be your friend.
The Picture: This person is looking through the heart, almost reaching or looking out to take compassion. After all, if you don't even take the effort to try to care, how will you ever?
30/11/10
Breaking the Rules for Individuality?
Is breaking the rules clearly set in front of you okay? For Thxa Soe, it is okay, as long as he can express himself doing it. I agree with him. If someone finds a way to express themselves, if it is appropriate, they should never be forced to stop doing that. Especially dancing and singing. What's wrong with that?
I have a strong feeling towards this subject because these are the things I enjoy doing. If someone took away my drama, singing and dancing, I would have no way to express myself. I can't physically begin to imagine how I would cope with it. The worst position I have been in is Mr. Turko's math class where you can't sing while you work. That's the worst. 80 minutes of not singing.
This disadvantage is quickly made up for. In 2011 next year, I am going to Hong Kong for Honor Choir. My parents are providing the money, and are happy for me.
That's another thing. These people performing in Burma, they aren't only breaking the country's rules. They are also most probably going against their parent's will. We don't know how hard that is. Here, at an international school, our parents most probably support everything we do. In other places, it doesn't work like that. Parents don't support The Arts because it won't make enough money. We never have to deal with that.
So, no, I can't think of what they have to do to accomplish performing. But I support that they are taking a stand to express themselves. Because that is ultimately what I would want to do.
The painting: By an american woman named Lynne Taetzsch. I think the bright red and pink against the dull green and beige shows how 'different' people are standing up against the normal. Then there is the orange around the middle. For me, those represent the people that are half-half. They don't want to get in trouble but they do believe that people should be able to express themselves.
12/11/10
Fatmire Feka~ A True Hero
Fatmire Feka was eleven when her village in Kosovo was set to fire and invaded by soldiers. Trying to escape, she experienced many things kids should not experience, and after all that, started an effort to create peace between Kosovo and Albania, still being a child.
Since then, she has become one of the 1000 Women of Peace Across the Globe, and healed herself from the horrible wounds of the war, but still struggles to forgive whoever was responsible for the loss of her siblings, Sami and Sadete.How can you forgive when you don't know who to forgive? How do we learn to forgive? Why should we forgive those who give us pain?
It is a journey.Forgiveness is a process. This is mainly what Fatmire talked about. Being such a peaceful woman, it bothers her to not have forgiven someone. Imagine living with that. So she said: Forgiving is a journey, and everyone goes along it at their own pace, finishing at different times.
When we think about a hero, or heroic ideas, do we ever think about them in song?
Here, the Black Eyed Peas portray the idea of being a hero by making people aware of what is happening in the world.
This song has a strong message~ A world without kindness is not a world worth living in.
"People killing people dying
Children hurtin' you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?"~Black Eyed Peas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc&ob=av2e
