How Do You Review The Arts?

How do you review the arts? Well there are many different ways you can look at this question. HOW do you review the arts? How do YOU review the arts? How do you review THE arts? Lets explore with HOW do you review the arts. It’s known that art refers to a diverse range of human activities and artifacts, and may be used to cover all or any of the art, including music, literature and other forms. An artist covers broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing or demonstrating the art.

Some may wonder what do you look for when you are observing art? Personally I think about if the artist is clear on what he/she wants to portray. Does the art seem complete and enough detail to back it up. Might the artist have a personal relationship with its work and did they take a risk in making what they wanted to show. Did they show a distinct focus and bring out important themes. Lucy Lippard stated, “ I as related to public art, it is possible that the most effective place-specific art is that which differs least from the place itself; it might, for example, consist of clues and information rather than additional objects or places within places (pg. 286).

Analyzing art can be extremely tricky. The artist could be trying to tell you one thing but you could be thinking its something totally different. It’s good to have an open mind and respecting without judging other’s art. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid has an ongoing project called “ The People’s Choice.” It’s to show how the relationship between artists and the broad public might be transformed (Real Love, Andre Ross; pg 149). I think this project could be for the greater good because the more they get the public involved the more feedback and exposure the artist will get from their work. Today on television they have America’s Next Photographer and fashion designer. They are looking for new, hot art that not just other artist would enjoy but the mass media as well.

Taking Reviewing the Arts as an writing intensive has made me to be more open minded and willing to find different ways to express myself. Going out and reviewing other art at first to me was pointless because I automatically new it wasn’t going to be anything that interest me. I eat, sleep and breath dance and to me nothing was more interesting than that. Going and listening to poetry, looking at art gallery’s, fiction writing lectures, ASL dance shows, etc; opened up a new door for me. It has made me go places and think in ways I have never done so before. Look deeper into what certain things might mean than just focusing on what I see on the outside. I have a new appreciation for other art forms and going to continue to be open minded to art that might not be the art that I am used to reviewing.

Harrison Stop- Haiku writings

Students from Columbia College and Jones Prep College decided to come together and display poetry and some Haiku writings in Chicago's subway; the Harrison stop. As you go down the stairs entering into the subway you see the walls filled with huge font and bright tiles of white, green, orange and red. Some of the poetry was good and with others I thought to myself," What does it have to do with haiku or poetry at all".

One poem said, "Fleet through the night, Lips pressed against the dark, I can feel the sound. That's one that made me visulize night/darkness and the sounds you hear and feel when it turns dark. A poem written by Jones Prep college said, "Why do people get off at Clark and Lake? It's not as great as it seems. By reading that I didn't even take the time to anaylze it, I just walked away and read another until I came across another ridiculous poem. It said, "Because of one missing sock, I had to change my outfit; and this one was writtin by a Columbia College student.

I understand that the creative writting poetry program was trying to do something different and creative and to maybe get the community involved as well but where they advertised it wasn't the smartest idea. Why would you advertise it in a subway and of all subway's why the Harrison stop? The Harrison has to be the dangerous, nastiest, smelliest subway filled with water and dirt. People catching the train aren't going to be concerned about what writing is on the wall when the walls were horrible and peeling apart anyway. The people going to and from the train where more curious to what we were doing. Why we had pens and papers and taking picture's on our cell phone. I'm surprised that CTA let them do this. Maybe they wanted to see if it would succeed or not. In the Chicago Tribune a reporter stated, "This is a very important piece of the community in the South Loop," said Columbia President Warrick Carter. "We're glad that the CTA is working with us as we help britghten our neighborhood...as our neighborhood bloosms and blooms ( by Karoun Demirjian, Jan 31,2008).

This project was a great idea but it needed a little more research and maybe help from more outside sources. The color's sure did brigthen up the community but in a horrible way. The colors seemed to clash with one another and it would have been best to get a student from Columbia to actually paint the walls. I don't think it's helping the neighborhood blossom, I think that the neighborhood could really care less. I think overall they should have done a rough draft and then came to a final conclusion, found a different location, change the colors, make the font smaller so more poetry could fit on the walls. It was very successful just with extra planning it could have been better.

Flux Fusion

It has been claimed that deaf people could be taught to understand written combinations of symbols by associating them with the things they represented. The first book to teach sign language to deaf people was the manual alphabet published in 1620. Deaf people could communicate with themselves and the hearing world through gestures, hand signs, and fingerspelling. In 1817, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. A higher learning for deaf people was at Gallaudet College, in Washington DC. Which today is the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the U.S. and the world.
Columbia College offers you to get a degree in American Sign Language- English Interpretation. I am fortunate in getting a minor in ASL and let me tell you it’s fun but not easy. The ASL department sponsored an event on April 4, 2008 at the Hokin Annex-623 S. Wabash St, Chicago IL 60605. A group called Flux Fusion performed live with dancing and signing pop songs such as memorized and Waiting on the World to Change. Flux Fusion is a younger version of the Wild Zappers. An all deaf group who combines jazz, hip hop, American Sign Language and popular music to inspire and uplifts those of the deaf community who are trying to break the gap between the deaf and the hearing world.
Now just imagine you are deaf. You want to listen to music but you can’t, but you can feel the vibration of the music. That’s exactly how Flux Fusion performs. How they are able to stay on beat is with the rhythm of the vibration. All their acts were amazing. They picked great hits such as Let‘s Get It Started, Touch, Hero and All Night. The choreography wasn’t difficult but not easy. It wasn’t cheesy but had a commercial feel to it and their singing of course was impressive. The group is very diverse. It only consist of four people; two males and two females. One black and Hispanic guy and two white girls. Afterwards they had a Q&A and all of them had always had a passion for dance but never knew how to pursue it because they would never make it in the dance world because their deaf. So one of the guys decided to start a group, Flux Fusion to prove to the hearing that they aren’t any different from them and are capable of doing the same things.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be deaf? How your life would be different? Would society treat you differently? A lot of people mistake deafness as a disability. What is disable about it? Nothing is wrong with them physically, they just cant hear. I don’t like to be treated different even when I can hear and I bet it’s frustrating for the deaf because they are just like any hearing person. Matter of fact sometimes I wouldn’t mind to be deaf for a day to not hear all the drama and bullshit of politics and to be in my own world and to sign with other’s around the hearing because they wouldn’t know whether or not if I’m talking about them!

Columbia College is the Place To Be!

It’s always hard stepping into a new environment that you are unfamiliar with. Remember when you graduated from elementary school, moving into middle school and it was a big deal graduating from middle school to high school. You are afraid to go off to college because mainly you might leave all your friends behind or afraid you wont fit in. Columbia College Chicago is a private school that does not have a campus. The buildings are spread out around downtown “Loop” Chicago. We might not have a mascot or school colors, but people know who Columbians are.

If you are interested in finding out what Columbia College Chicago provides stop by 33 E. Congress and observe their art gallery. Columbia is all about creating change and showing off their artistic work. The gallery is full of complex, colorful as well as thoughtful art. While walking pass the building and looking inside the window, it pulls your attention in because you just have to know what’s going on and what these “awkward” objects are about. The objects range from paintings, photography “photos”, graphic designers, clothing lines. The overall mood of the work is very settle, but its bound to catch your eye. I used to have class in the congress building quite often and would always stop in to see what was new because the gallery seemed to change every month. Not many people take time to see what our other classmates are coming up with. I feel they need to advertise the gallery a lot more because it’s a lot of good work that shouldn’t be missed.

Another building of Columbia’s that would represent Columbia College quite well is the 1104 S. Wabash. This building holds a lot of events that go on during the week. Columbia just doesn’t show off their artistic skills with photography, graphic design and fashion designers, but also through instruments, dancing, singing and poetry readings. I never knew how many students at Columbia were fierce at playing instruments. They would rock out and you could just look on their faces and tell what they do they have a passion for. Those who dance, everyone knows it’s not easy shit. It takes a lot of time, mental and tons of physical abuse to train. Dancer’s break, sprain, twist, tear and pull different parts of the body everyday and continue to dance because they love it. Unlike many schools, Columbia lets second semester freshman choreograph and show off their work.

These two buildings are quite similar but also very different. Both of the buildings give students opportunities to show what they are capable of. The only thing that separates these two building apart are their audience. The congress building is on the corner of Wabash and Congress and many people are rushing and just brush by the place not aware of the building and what’s inside. Unlike the 1104 building that is surrounded by a diner, condo’s, little mini mart, tanning salon etc. It stays open pretty late and when events are happening, from an outsiders view, you see the lights and right away it catches your attention. It’s also a good way of getting people who aren’t from Columbia to come in and view what Columbia College is all about.

Are Violent Video Games Really That Horrible?

Is it true that violent video games tend to bring out people’s violent thoughts, behavior and feelings? Can they really be the cause of disgruntled teens wielding weapons and attacking their fellow schoolmates? Or are they a scapegoat for issues that society does not want to claim responsibility for. Today we live in a time where debates about media can not be left alone without talking about that effects they have on the children of today, and no medium of media has been the topic of discussion more then violent video games. With all the talking and arguing, the question arises: are violent video games really that bad?
This issue has been discussed from every angle, which has been supported by scientific research. It has been theorized that violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor. "One study reveals that young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games," said psychologists Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., and Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. Violent video games have been linked to increased aggression and decreased social skills and have even been though to be linked to acts of violence including the Columbine High school shootings.
I would have to disagree with them. Video games such as Doom, Mortal Kombat, and Grand Theft Auto don’t cause aggression, aggression is a personality trait that is caused by emotions that are too strong to be brought upon and manipulated. Violent video games or any type of video game in general do nothing more but keep a child indoors, which is what all videogames do. Society is so fixated on the negatives of violent video games that we don’t realize that video games actually have helpful advantages. Studies show that violent videos, especially the genre of first person shooters like Doom actually enhance hand eye coordination, especially enhancing awareness in new teen drivers. Also People who play violent games online actually feel relaxed after they have played.
In the real world scenes that happen in the video games, a smart kid would know not to go out and do because of the consequence behind it. The worst thing that can come from video games is a waste of time and the devolution into a cough potato; I can’t see video games causing anything more then inactivity among its players. What I truly believe and what I believe society refuses except is that it all comes down to how the child is raised. Let’s be honest, violent video games do not make a person do violent actions, violent people with violent tendencies; will do violent things, the fact that people blame a video game for something caused by poor parenting amazes me. Overall video games period do not interest me what so ever. I have no desire to play them or sit down and watch someone play them. What I can say is violent video games have nothing to do with people’s behavior. Parents need to get there act together, stop blaming the video games for how their child reacts and be more involved in their child’s life and just be cautious to what they do.

Sicko

Health insurance is generally used to describe a form of insurance that pays for medical expenses. It is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs. Many people in America today can not afford health insurance because of what they look like, gender, social class. When and if you are insured, you’re guaranteed to be treated like royalty than those who don’t have health care. Michael Moore’s Sicko, is an excellent documentary that might piss you off but keep you laughing. It portrays those who have a health condition and can’t afford to get health insurance or even medication, even those who do have health insurance and still get turned away. It shows those who have fought long and hard for themselves as well as loved ones for health care and have been turned down numerous of times for the most obscured reasons.

A 22 year old woman got cervical cancer and she was denied health care because they thought she was too young. A guy sawed off two of his fingers and had to choose which one to get reattached because he couldn’t afford to get both of them sewed back on. Having to put a value on your body is ridiculous. Laura Kipnis (Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustler discusses the topic of how pornography is a big deal and how male and female portray themselves in vulgar ways and does it tie in with their sexuality, social division of labor, sexual representation and class. Hustler is certainly the most reviled instance of mass circulation porn, and at the same time probably one of the most explicitly class-antagonistic mass circulation periodicals of any genre( pg 375). Andrea Dworkin (1987) writes: “Any violation of a woman’s body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography” (p.138).

Regardless of whatever you decide to do with your body, you have to remember you are setting an image of yourself. Taking care of your body and making sure that it is healthy is a must. If you are not able to take care of your body alone, there should be someone there to help you with your problem. This is a problem at the core of our health care woes. Moore finds scores of examples—people with tumors, heart problems, lost limbs and digits, you name it. And in each case the insurance company finds a way to deny paying for people's illness even though the people actually have health insurance. He also shows people who simply cannot get insurance because they have pre-existing conditions, are too heavy, are too light, and on and on (Michael Moore and the Beige Boomer, by Austan Goolsbee). I was shocked when they showed who got denied because they were young teenagers. America it’s self is worried about their image and more concerned about receiving money then giving it to those who need it more.

Ronald Reagan Speaks Against Socialized Medicine was brought up in Sicko. I got the opportunity to listen to his speech on youtube and it was quite interesting to hear that he had taken a vote for socialized medicine and it was turned down by the people. How he tried to provide social security, no matter how old and that you still got it if you were unemployed, died and even retirement. Surprisingly less Medicare was given when health insurance companies kept their money. If you’re a Canadian: Europe, France, London or even Cuba, your health insurance is free. In 1948 after the British WWII; they began to provide free medical care for everyone. One guy said, “ If you can find money to kill people, find money to help people”. Their kids college education is free, able to hire someone from the government to do your laundry, cook meals and even take care of your children for free. If you’re sick you can call someone to come to your house for a check-up for free. Even if a woman is in labor, the birth of her child is for free. A guy was playing golf and his tendon in his arm snapped and his bicep ended in his chest; his medical bill was free. Unlike the guy from America who sawed of his fingers, the same thing happened to a Canadian and he didn’t have to choose which finger to get attached, He got sewed up and didn’t have to pay a penny. FREE FREE FREE!.

I give Michael Moore a lot of credit of putting this documentary together because it could start a lot of controversy with the government and between the American’s and Canadians. You never know, if the government continues to do people wrong, everyone is going to end up living in France or becoming a UK citizen.

Story Week 2008

Ever since I was a child I always loved to listen to stories. From children stories, to ghost stories, to stories that my grandmother used to tell me about the “old day” and what things were like back in the day, I loved to listen to all of them. So when I heard that Columbia was having Story Week 2008 I was very interested in attending it. Story week 2008 is the 12th Annual Story Week Festival of Writers: Stories without Borders. It was basically a panel discussion of writers and story tellers who talked about the world of story telling: where it has been, where it is, and where it is going. The panel consisted of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, acclaimed writers Aimee Bender, Junot Diaz, Cristina Garcia, ZZ Packer, Fiction Writing Department Visiting Artist Colin Channer, performance artist and author Hillary Carlip, as well as some other readers, panelists, and performers. There was a brief Q&A segment where you could ask questions and concluded with the farewell and the notification that books of the panelists have wrote were on sale at the tables in the lobby of the theater.

Although I am not as die hard about writing and story telling as some of the people in attendance, I was very impressed by the whole event: It was held in the very nice downstairs theater in the Harold Washington Library and it had a very good turn out as far as people who were as interested as I was to come and see the event. But mostly I was impressed, interested, and entertained by the conversations that the panelists were having. It was not boring at all, which was not what I thought walking to the event. I was given a lot of incite into the writing/story world, including what was happening in the news about a woman who wrote a memoir about being a “Crip” gang member, and actually was a privileged suburban woman who had never been exposed to anything like that. I never knew there were so much politics in the world of writing.

Lastly, the panelists told stories: about there lives, and there pasts. One of the speakers talked about growing up in Jamaica, and how it has it flaws and problems he talked about the beauty and the good from the island. Its stories like this that shed light on things that others like my self have not been exposed to. I think that this is one the most important things about story telling, to carry on a legacy, almost like a chronicle of historic events. I once has a teacher who once said that everything what we know of today about anything that happened in the past was past through time by telling stories: from caveman to your grandparents telling you about there childhood, from historical events to current events. Overall I really liked this event. It was fun as well as informative. I am sad that I am graduating this year because I would love to see it again next year, but who knows, I might be in the neighborhood.