Best of Today: Art

One thing that really got me thinking in class was the painting of a can of tomato soup by Andy Warhol. This picture belonged to the postmodern side of the chart under the art category. With this picture we said that “Art is commerce; style matters most of all” as a class we broke down this quote into two parts.

The first part was “art is commerce.” This means that the can of soup is a commodity, or what we buy. We watched a quick movie clip with Andy Rooney criticizing post modern art. He was basically pointing out how stupid it is and how art has become very irrelevant and apart of the human life. In modern art it is believed that “art [is] a separate and somewhat privileged kind of human experience.” By Andy Warhol creating this painting of just a can of soup gives out a message of how now art is just as simple as things we buy and how new genuine ideas have vanished.

Another way I thought about this was the style. In post modern art it says that “style matters most of all.” But when looking at this picture I think it was being contradicting. Of course now in postmodern time people want very different and new kinds of art in their home because it catches their eyes due to the new variations of style. In our class that wasn’t the case; the class was boggled by why Andy Warhol would paint a picture of just a can of soup. Most of the people in the class would rather have a picture that makes the think and create their own interpretation of meaning within the painting.

I think there are limitations when it comes to style because the society wants to fall in between both modern and postmodern art. They want to be able to think about the paintings meaning along with absurd and abstract style. For example a painting of a can of soup or a statue of a painted cow and bunnies wouldn’t be as meaning full to society. I think a lot of people would like paintings like Braque and Picasso; because their paints are abstract but at the same time not as simple as a can of soup it actually makes you think.

When talking about modern and postmodern art it is very hard for society to go completely one way now a days because we are lazy and don’t want to think as much but we also don’t want something so simple as a can of soup which we see every day in our cabinets. This puzzles me because I don’t like being in between two ideas; I want to go one way or the other. Now when I look at different works of art I am going to try and figure out whether or not the artist was trying to create a modern or postmodern piece of art.

Connection: Challenging the Status Quo

Today when people take the risk to challenge the status quo, they often have a strong passion for why they don’t fit in with the “norm”. A great example in today’s society is the gay community. In the past being gay was not accepted at all. But as time has gone by more and more people are admitting to be gay. It is still not acceptable and against the “norm” mainly because people don’t see how a person of one sex can be attracted to the same sex. Being gay is often thought of a bad thing or weird. Society has made fun of the gay community up until today. Because of all the over whelming harassment recently in the news there are many cases where gay teens have committed suicide. The gay community is still standing up and protesting against the crude commentary and not being allowed to have gay marriage.  

In many cases people are weary about challenging the status quo. And when a group like the gay community stands up for themselves it causes an out roar and will eventually escalate into chaos, because they are not giving up just like the African Americans did to fight against desegregation.

This debate and fight for the right to be gay and it be acceptable and become part of the “norm” I would personally like to see how this turns out. I think of the mindset that people can do whatever they want in terms of who they decide to be in a relationship with and sexually active with. I do see both sides of the debate I think that over time it will become a part of the “norm” or socially acceptable to be gay.

Learning This Semester

This semester has been crammed packed with a bunch of things. At the beginning of the year this class I noticed off the bat that this class was going to be very different than what we are used to. Since this class was different I knew I had to find new ways or better ways to improve my learning.

      One of those ways is working on my book annotations. Since I had never been in a class where the teacher forced us to annotate; I never really learned a good way as to how to annotate, and when I did everything seemed so important. But Mr. Allen really stressed how important it is and how much it will help me in the end when having to take a test or write a paper. He gave us multiple examples on ways to annotate and I took those examples and tried to follow his pattern while I was reading. It was a struggle at first because it’s hard for me to focus on both the book and annotating while keeping a look out for the patterns and key things. But I started by doing a couple pages of each chapter that way in order for me to get the hang of it and would add more pages each time. I am not perfect at this yet but I have hope with enough practice I will be very successful.

      Another way that helped from another angel was the Mindbook has a whole because for all these assignments it forced me to think outside the box. It was hard for me at the beginning because my mind wasn’t used to thinking so divergently. But with practice it became easier for me to switch between the two divergent thinking and convergent thinking. This assignment also helped me a lot because it helped me use some of the ideas we talked about in class and work them into my own life which made me understand the material much better. I also would like more practice with using these kinds of thinking because I enjoy thinking this way and it helps me with the way I like to learn.

An Inconvenient Truth: Unconditional Love

The three word sentence I love you is often thrown around on a daily basis.  This phrase is used mostly friend to friend, boyfriend to girlfriend, husband to wife, human to pet, and in many other ways. But one way that it means most is parent to child.

It is said that parents should love the children unconditionally. This statement is an inconvenient truth. The reason I believe this is because from my person experiences.

My biological father left my mom when I was six months old. Ever since then he has not contacted me which just mind boggles me and my mom. I always wonder how my “dad” could know he has a kid out there but not even care to make sure she is doing alright. Since I did grow up with my step dad it made things a lot easier but on the other hand it bothers me that my father by blood can’t even provide and care for me like my step dad does could that mean he doesn’t love me?! To me that is not love. Now I have found him on facebook, and to see him happy with another child proves he doesn’t love me unconditionally or else he would have been there for me my whole life.

We all would love to believe that parents will love you no matter what. Although, in most cases it is true there are a lot of unspoken situations where the parents don’t love their child unconditionally. One example is when a parent who leaves the child at a very young age. Another example is when a child comes out about being gay or lesbian. Sometimes the parents will no longer acknowledge the child because they do not believe in homosexual relationships. Another example could be marriage of another religion. Also, has silly as it sounds pregnancy or abortion because either the parent disagrees with early or teen pregnancy and/or is against abortion can cause the parents to no longer want to be in contact with their child. These are all examples where the statement parents should love their children unconditionally becomes an inconvenient truth and I’m sure there are many other examples.  

Get Organized: My Closet

When I first read the prompt for this blogging assignment it was really hard for me to decide what to organize.  The reason it was so hard is because I am a neat freak and so is my mom so in my house  there really wasn’t much I thought needed 30 -45 minutes of organizing.  Then my closet came to mind. This was something I have been trying to organize for a long time but it is simply just to complex, I dread thinking about it. 

The moment I opened the closet door I knew it had all started. I really didn’t want to clean out my closet because I know how hard it is for me to get rid of my clothes. I thought that by the end of organizing and cleaning it that I wouldn’t have improved it at all.

As I looked through my clothes I decided to organize my tank tops by colors, put all the long sleeves together, same with my short sleeves, my sweaters, and then my nicer shirts.  But while I was doing this I realized there were a lot of clothes I forgot I had or that I haven’t worn in years.  It was very hard for me to let go of these clothes. Even though, I could give them to my little sister I just always feel that “I might wear this someday”.  But this time around I decided I was going to get rid of all the things I haven’t worn in the last 6 months. Not only did I go through my shirts I went through my pants as well. I found so many pairs I thought I had lost.  Even after going through my pants I was able to let go of pants that were once my favorite but don’t fit me anymore.

After organizing and cleaning out my closet I felt refreshed and relived that it was finally done with. I had been dying to do this for a long time now. What I learned from doing this project is that I like to clutter and I am a pack rat. It made me think about how there are probably more things in my room that could use some organizing. Also, next time that I’ m organizing something I’m going to have an open mind to getting rid of unnecessary things.  After doing this project my mind felt good and happy because now I don’t have to constantly think about organizing my closet every time I open those doors. I also feel very good and proud because I gave some of the clothes to my sister and the ones she didn’t want I gave to a thrift store near my house.   

This project was a very fun and useful project. Thanks Mr. Allen for finally helping me organize my closet.

Change of Mind: Sophie's World

Before being in humanities I had asked other students from previous years about taking this class and one of the responses I got was the book Sophie’s World was very boring.  So when Mr. Allen told us to bring this book to class my first feeling was ugh.

But as I started reading this book I was amazed. It was one of three books I have read and actually liked and understood throughout high school. This book as actually changed my perspective on a lot. Before this book I have never really understood why things existed, if there was actually a god, do we have a soul that lives on after death and many more questions like the ones Sophie is asked to think about.

Learning about all these philosophers, what they thought about and their reasons for existence really opens my eyes to a lot I had never known before. I haven’t figured out what I believe is the correct answers to my questions but I have a very good feeling that by the end of this book I will have a better feeling about my own beliefs, and the answer to my questions.

Although, I haven’t found all the answers to my questions, I have figured out that I might be agnostic.  Throughout my life I felt that I was forced to believe in “god”. But one day I had asked my mom where he came from, and she couldn’t really give me a good enough answer. I then formed all sorts of questions about god. Ever since then I have questioned his existence.  But by reading this book so far and by my own reasoning I think I am agnostic.

Knowing where I stand religiously really makes me happy because it has been something I have stumbled on for most of my life but I will continue to explore this belief and to see if it is right for me.

Sophie’s World has been really helpful for me and has changed my mind or opened my mind to a lot of new ideas that I have never thought about or gave me answers to questions I have been pondering for quite some time.

Best of Today: Atoms

Today in class we didn’t get into the book that much but we did cover some of the major topics from the book.  One of them being atoms. 

Every day I don’t really think much about what makes up my surroundings. I just take everything for granted. Democritus is the guy who thought of the idea about atoms just out of his own knowledge. He had no scientific equipment like we have today to figure out, that instead of there being one major substance that forms into everything like most of the other philosophers believed; there are multiple substances such as atoms that combine together in order to create everything.

What really amazes me is how this guy could possibly think of a thing as complex as atoms just from his mind.  When it wasn’t until years later there was scientific evidence that this guy was right about atoms.

An atoms structure contains about 99 percent of space or air, Mr. Allen said something relatively similar today in class. Then he pounded on his desk and asked if 99 percent of an atoms structure is air or space how come we cannot break through the desk. This got me really thinking, I never even thought about such a thing, it got me thinking all sorts of questions about how atoms are made and how they stick together and what makes the break or if u can even break them with your hands.  I once thought I understood atoms in chemistry class but now I’m just confused.

After today I’m going to start paying more attention to my surroundings and I’m going to be more aware with what actually makes up the things I use every day. I will remember this guy Democritus because he thought of something incredible just by his own mind. He inspired me that technology is not always the answer.