My English 15 experience

1.      I had some doubts walking into my English 15 class on the first day.  My friends who had Ms. Squillante last semester told me that she was amazing however, I still thought that it was going to be boring because how exciting can an English class get?  I was proven wrong because this has been my best English class in my whole academic career.  I learned a lot about my writing and I have used these lessons to help improve my skills.  In high school I was one of the best writers in my English class.  After my first paper, I realized that I was not that great.  On the other hand, I was willing to progress and I learned from the mistakes I made in the first paper.  English is one of those subjects that you will have to use in the future regardless of the career you are in.  Because of this, I am grateful that I had a great instructor like Sheila Squillante because she was open to help with any question I had and she explained them in a way that I could understand.  I saw Penn State in a good light with the artistic events that are featured around campus.  I learned that listening a book reading could actually be entertaining and that an embryo could come out of a Cadbury Crème Egg. (which still creeps me out till this day)  on the other hand, I was able to see Penn State in a bad view. Listening to the podcast showed how bad the drinking problem at Penn State could get.  Although I do not believe that this is the case for the majority of the students, it was interesting to have seen another perspective of the student drinking.\

2.       http://luketry.blogspot.com/2012/03/party-rocking.html#comment-form

http://meeten3.blogspot.com/2012/04/harry-potter-review.html#comment-form

http://keepyourweightback.blogspot.com/2012/04/art-event-1-mary-e-rolling-reading.html?showComment=1335708511737#c1228010485318096042

3.      I completed my SRTEs

Take Care

     With two albums reaching number one on the Billboard charts in their first opening week, Drake is on an unstoppable roll. However, the two albums are not one to compare.  Unlike Thank Me Later, Take Care has more slow and R&B songs and not as many fast-paced songs.  Take Care featured many artists such as Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Andre 3000, and even a solo from Stevie Wonder. 

      This album might come as a shock to some people because of its mellowness; however, Drake is exploring the different forms of musical styles.  He invited producer/singer, The Weeknd to produce and sing on a few tracks on the album. They offered a different genre than songs that are being released today.  They freely express the use of drugs like syrup and “XO” which is a mix of Ecstasy and Oxycodone on songs like “Crew Love” and “Marvin’s Room”.  This tone puts the audience on a slow and relaxing ride while Drake sings about love and heartbreak on this album. 

     Drake shows his willingness to be in a relationship regardless of challenges in the song also entitled “Take Care’ when he says, “I know you’ve been hurt by someone else/If you let me, I’ll take care of you”.  Throughout this album, he shows how much he longs to be with women in his past.  In “Marvin’s Room” he sings about how he wants to get back together with an ex-girlfriend even though she now has a new boyfriend.   His pain is felt when he boldly curses the man who took his place in the girl’s heart and tells the girl, “You can do better”; referring to himself.

     Overall, this album showed a different side of Drake.  He is more open about his feelings regarding relationships. The general slow and mellow tone of the album flows well with his lyrics. Though most of the songs were slow, there are a few upbeat songs such as “Underground Kings” and “The Motto”. As a precaution, he is advocating the use of dangerous drugs in his lyrics so this album should only be for mature audiences who are not easily influenced. Besides this aspect, the album is a hit and one to be remembered.  Drake is an artist to keep an eye out for because of his lyrics and style.  With two number one albums under his belt, Drake is making a name for himself in the Hip-hop world. 

Artistic Event #2

     My English professor told us about an artist named Greg Patton and about this unusual creation he made.  Because of the way my professor explained it, I expected to be a little disgusted because I have never heard of this being done before.  When I went on the link, my mind was completely blown.  Greg Patton created an “embryo and put it inside of a Cadbury Crème Egg and made it look as if it was hatching.  This hatching Cadbury Crème Egg was shocking in a weird way.  I have never eaten a Cadbury Crème egg but if I had, I would never eat one again after looking at this.  As I scrolled down the page, I just became more and more disgusted yet amazed at the same time.  I have to admit that it was creative because it really looked like the “embryo” had really just come out of the egg.  I could only look at the first two different “embryos”. I glanced at the last one all the way at the bottom of the page and I could not handle it because I felt like I was about to throw up. Greg Patton is artistic; however, I think he is a little twisted in the mind to have created such a thing.

    On the other hand, his other work is quite impressive.  He also makes face jugs that are not as grotesque as the Cadbury Crème Egg.  Greg is a very talented artist. Looking through his face mugs I found one that stood out to me and it was the one titled “old wise puppet”.  I liked this one because it really reminded me of an old man.  The features were well crafted from with the nose to the mouth.  The unevenness of his face made me assume that they were wrinkles.  There were also excessive wrinkles on his eyelids.  What confused me was why he did not have any pupils and why his lips were so dry.  It could possibly be to add fright to the creation.  Overall I think that Greg Patton is a well imaginative artist.  Besides the Cadbury Crème egg creation, I like his work and I think he is very good at what he does.

Link to cadbury creme egg: http://artifactotum.tumblr.com/

Link to face mugs: http://www.patton-pottery.com/joelfaces.htm

First Artistic Event: The Mary E. Rolling Reading Series

 On April 5, 2012, I attended the Mary E. Rolling Reading Series at Foster Auditorium in the Paterno Library.  It featured readings from Nicole Cooley and Julia Spicher Kasdorf from their book Breach and Poetry in America respectively.  I have never been to a reading before and because of the idea of sitting down and listening to someone read, I thought that it was going to be boring.  Yea, I thought there would be part that I would find intriguing but overall I thought I would end up falling asleep during the reading.  However, this was not the case at all.  I ended up enjoying the readings and most of it was quite humorous.  I’ll admit there were some dull parts, but the majority of it was entertaining. 

The part that stood out to me was Nicole Cooley’s poem entitled, “Evacuation”.  I loved her tone as she read and the emotion she added to the reading.  It was very descriptive, for example when she explained how she pictured her parent’s objects floating on the water and her childhood memories of riding her bike through the levees.  I felt as if I was actually in the scene while she was reading.  I felt a lot of emotion through her reading.  You can feel her pain as she talked about how worried she was as she waited to hear from her parents anxiously for three days.  Also, her emotion was expressed when she read how she was constantly calling FEMA to check the location of her parents only to get no response each time.  I felt sympathy when she talked about how she had to hide from her daughters so that they would not hear her talking to her brother on the phone about finding their parents.  I loved how the somberness of her voice changed to relief when she read that she finally received a call from her parents saying that they were safe.  A part that shocked me was hearing how a stadium in New Orleans that held survivors of the hurricane was dark and when the president came to say a speech, a bright light was shone on him then soon after they was turned off again when the president left.  I thought that this was inconsiderate to the survivors because they must feel as if they are not important because they were going through distress and they were denied light on top of that.    I learned a lot from this experience such as that there was another hurricane that happened in New Orleans and the levees were broken to protect the White neighborhoods while the waters invaded the Black neighborhoods.  In the end I thought that this was a good event and I will consider attending another.

The Party Life

When I first started listening to the podcast, I was shocked because of how the students were portrayed.  Then further listening to it however, I realized that the information was accurate.  It was shocking to hear how the 21 year old was given a strong alcoholic drink by the older woman.  Although it was not said, you can sense that the reporters had sympathy for the young girl. Another scene that stood out to me was how the delivery guy was treated by the students.  I felt bad for him because he did not deserve to be treated the way that he was and it was unfortunate that he had to experience this. 

The audience knows that they are getting an accurate description and not just the reporter’s opinion because they hear the information about party life from the students themselves.    The students were interviewed and the listener hears the student answer the questions themselves.  The reporter did not turn the student’s words around or said that they said something that they did not.  Hearing the actual voice of the person speaking on the issue makes the podcast seem more trustworthy. The podcast also included audio from the president of Penn State concerning the matter and how he tried to fix the problem. Although I credit him for being the first president to address the issue, I do not think that there is anything that he can do fix the problem.  I thought that it was ridiculous that he got the response that he did because he was just trying to fix the school’s image regarding drinking.   But at the same time, students will always drink regardless of what restrictions are put on them.  They will find a way to drink.

This American Life did a good job in explaining how the party life is at Penn State.  However, I do think that they could have shown that not every student live a life like this.  It portrayed the students in only a negative way.  They should have shown that being named the #1 party school in the country does not have an impact on the students academically.  Penn State is still a very good academic university in spite of this.   Being a student at Penn State, I can say that even though the majority of students go to parties on the weekend, everyone still gets their class work done during the week.  Students are not only concerned about partying, but everyone works hard at studying also.  If the reporters had went to the library one night they would see how hard students were studying and how focused they were. This would show a balance on how important partying is at Penn State.  The reporters showed one aspect of the school and did not explore other things that are important to a student in Penn State.   This being said, Penn State should not just be seen as party school.   Students drink and party at every school so that should not define any school.

POWER

     Art is any creation that sparks up any form of emotion.  It does not have to be beautiful but it can be something that makes you angry or even confused.  If it is capable to make you stop for a moment and absorb its message, I consider it to be art.  Whether it is tangible like a sculpture or not tangible such as a dance, it has to show the artist’s emotions through the creation.  I should feel the same way the artist felt when creating it; feel the anger he or she felt or the joy they experienced. 

     Something that I found to be artistic is Kanye West’s video for his song “Power”.  It begins with showing Kanye West staring in a sinister way wearing a big gold chain around his neck.  The camera is slowly moving back and other characters emerge.  The characters move as the full image is revealed. Surrounding him are two women on either side of him with huge horns on their heads, while two men and a woman on the upper left are trying to attack him with a knife and swords.  There is also a woman with big wings sitting in front of him with a sensual look on her face. The characters above him are upside down.   Behind him there is a sky with clouds and a light shining above him. There is a halo above Kanye’s head and there is some kind of sword going through the halo.  He is somewhat behind all of the characters and some of them are trying to reach him; for example the woman with a sheet over her is stretching in his direction and the two girls below him are crawling in his direction.

     The very first time I saw this image I was unsettled.  It seemed demonic to me and it left me with an uncomfortable feeling.  The look on the character’s faces creeped me out; especially the women with horns on their head.  When I eventually evaluated it I realized that it portrayed a lot of interesting things.  The use of colors sent a mysterious message and it was quite intriguing to me.  I got a seductive message from it also because the women were barely wearing any clothes and on the bottom right there are two naked women holding each other romantically. 

     I consider this to be art because it sends a message and it grabs the audience’s attention instantly.  It shows things that he is experiencing for example seduction, hatred and glory.  You see that some of the characters are either seductive or are trying to harm him and he is shown to be in a high position because he is in a chain and halo is above his head.  The colors and the way the characters are portrayed is captivating. The song is called power and you can feel that he has exactly that in the video even though he is just standing there not doing anything in particular. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L53gjP-TtGE&ob=av2e

Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action 1987
Artist: Jerry Kearns
Material: Acrylic on Canvas

    While walking through the Palmer Museum of Art, I came across this image.  It shows a woman dressed in a dress and heels with her hair done shoveling manure.  She and the manure are painted in black and white while the background has buildings painted in red and yellow.  It seems that the woman is in an elevated position because her head is above most of the buildings in the background.  This was a big painting hanging on the wall of the museum and the size and color of the painting automatically caught my attention. 

     This image was made in response to the affirmative action issue involving women.  I think that this image shows someone who is opposed to affirmative action because the way the woman is portrayed in this image.  It sends a message that says that women are too “pretty” to work.  It makes the woman look ridiculous because she does not look the part.  This is very political and strongly takes a stance on the subject of whether woman should be given equally pay or not.  

     This image left me with a negative feeling.  Though this was painted a while ago, this issue is still relevant today because double standards still exist.  The image shows contrast; the “pretty” woman is standing in an area that is dirty and filthy.  This makes the viewer wonder if a woman should take this role.  I think that women should be treated equally with men.  I will admit that there are some tasks that a man is generally more physically able to accomplish, however, if a woman is able to accomplish the task, there should be no reason why she should not be allowed to.   Even if she is allowed to, she should be paid the same amount as men because she gets the job done. 

      Jerry Kearns is a credible artist because he won a Rome Prize for Sculpture ("oneartworld.com").  Since 1976, he worked as a cultural activist and he was also an artist with the Artist Meeting for Cultural Change also known as AMCC, among other groups ("oneartworld.com").  He also co-founded Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D) ("oneartworld.com").  He has since then produced twenty-five one person exhibitions and his work can be found in thirty-three museums and public collections ("oneartworld.com"). This info shows that Kearns has a history in political art.  

     Naming this piece Affirmative Action shows that his claim is that women should not receive equal pay for doing the same work as men.  If I was in the time that this piece was made I would possibly take the artist’s message into consideration.   However, we are in an era where we have seen that it is possible, therefore, I do not agree with this claim. 

      I enjoyed the Palmer Museum of Art and would highly recommend it because the images are quite interesting and captivating.  This was my first time visiting the museum and I had a great experience there.  There were so many images that made me stop and take a closer look at the picture because they were so fascinating.  I like the diversity of pieces that the museum has; they have pieces that would grab the attention of anyone.  It is a sight to see and I definitely will be exploring the museum again

Source: 

"Jerry Kearns." oneartworld.com. One Art World, 09 apr 2007. Web. 28 Feb 2012. <http://oneartworld.com/artists/J/Jerry Kearns.html>.

About my Blog

This is my first time creating a blog and these are the reasons why I chose the things that I did for the blog.  I chose this template because it was pretty simple.  I’ve always prefer simple things over flashy and way too colorful things.  Another reason why I chose this template is because I love the color blue.  I think it’s a peaceful and calm color.  The color reflects my personality because I am a calm person and very simple. I chose this title for my blog because I think that these are one of the three most important things to do in life.  This phrase is very fun and positive just how I am (well most of the time). The “About Me” section is a summary of things that I am interested in.  My music style is very versatile.  I like listening to songs that have meaning and have a story behind it.  I tried to write as many artists that I could think about at the time but I’m sure there are more that slipped my mind.  In the same way that I love listening to different styles of music, I also love watching all kinds of movies.  I love movies that will leave me laughing and crying my eyes out.  At the same time I also love romantic movies and movies that leave me thinking about life and open my eyes to things that I am not aware of.

I think my blog reflects me well because it is neither flashy nor flamboyant.  Making the blog was harder than I predicted because I thought all I had to do was pick a template.  However, there is way more to it than just that. For example, choosing different colors for the fonts and background and how to arrange the blog and placing things where it would look best.  I hope I can get to see other people’s perspective on the different topics that we will discuss in class.  I also look forward to seeing other people’s writing styles.  I want to see how students that are in the same phases in their lives can write so differently from one another.  Enjoy!