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Childlike Wonder

We as adults, are expected to act mature, and serious. Thats not to say we should ignore our inner child. Children often see the world much differently than that of an adult, where they have the ability to see the world in an optimistic, magical and grateful way, whereas most adults see the world how it is, in a serious manner.. Examples of this childlike way of thinking is, having a rather crude, unsophisticated sense of humor, always looking on the bright side, and acting immature. Often times, this way of thinking, is frowned upon if you are an adult. And to that I say, why? How come it is terrible to go back to the past, and think like a child?

Pretentious ideas, like acting mature, is far outdated. In my belief, maturity levels call for the situation, as to why can't I watch a movie geared to children, and not be judged. How come, as an adult, buying Legos is "weird". Reading comic books, another example, is more often than not made for children, although sometimes the illustrations say otherwise. I, as a fully grown adult, or more accurately, young adult, should be able to enjoy the things that I would like to enjoy, without judgement, as long as its legal or morally correct. Regardless, I believe in letting people enjoy what they want to enjoy, without getting called 'immature'.

Humor, is in itself subjective. Some people enjoy dark humor, while others enjoy wordplay humor. Slapstick, and juvenile humor are what is considered childlike. Slapstick, being the humor where it is based around exaggerated movements and gestures, whereas juvenile humor is based on "toilet humor". Often times, movies use this both of these types of humor to appease the children of the audience, but can sometimes be enjoyed by adults. On famous example of this is the movie Minions: Rise of Gru, where there was a recent trend whereas young adults, like myself, dressed fancy in order to view the movie, which was the movie was perceived as childish. This was to oppose the idea that certain types of humor, specifically slapstick and juvenile humor, cannot be enjoyed by adults. This entire movement, proved that it can be enjoyed by adults, and by all ages for that manner. Although this entire movement was deemed, immature, they did get their point across, allowing the movie to be the top grossing movie from the studio so far.

Most people tend to be grounded in reality, whereas the world isn't really fair or kind. However, children think differently, mostly believe that the world is all "sunshine and rainbows". That is fine for a child, however if an adult thinks like that, then it is viewed negatively. However, I question why is it bad to look on the bright side? How come it is always negative to hope for the best? To believe that everyone is kind and generous. That shouldn't be a bad way to view things, just a different. Most people who have a positive outlook on life, tend to be happier, whereas the opposite happens to people who view the negative. As the proverb says "You reap what you sow". If you are always looking for the negative, then the negative will find you, however if you are searching for the positive, then positive you will receive.

At the end of the day, thinking like a child, acting like one, should not be viewed with distain. Although children, could be said, are less intelligent than an adult, they do have their way of thinking and acting does have a reason. They act happy, and laugh at "bad" humor, because they want to be happy, they want to laugh. They view the world in only a positive manner, because that is how they want their world to be. I believe that if more people had views similar to a child, acting less mature, and being more positive, the world will be a better place. Make this the world that children believe it is.

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Module 14 Assignment: Ekphrasis

Soup, good for the soul

I yearn for the taste

That a good sauce will bring

Soup, with many flavors

Reminds me of a caring home

With sick days and a chicken taste

Soup, satisfies my hunger

And fills the whole in my heart

That was caused by loneliness

I chose this art piece because, I actually know this art piece, and I find the simplicity somewhat funny. Obviously, the central theme is soup, specifically Campbells soup. Now when I think of soup, I think of when I was younger and sick, and when my mother used to take care of me. This is enhanced with the nostalgic feel and imagery this pop art likes to partake in. I feel like this artwork, is trying to convey nostalgia, or at least to reminisce on your past experiences. For example, everyone has had that food that only your parents can perfectly cook, and if you were to consume something similar to it, you would be reminded of your parents. This is the same message, all be it with soup, since chances are everyone has at least had some soup once in their life. As mentioned, before it could be when you, as a child, were sick, and had a parent take care of you. Again, this artwork, being pop art, could also have no meaning at all, or maybe the author wanted audience members to have different interpretations of the same artwork. Perhaps, Andy Warhol, the artist behind Campbell's Soup Cans, just simply really likes soup.

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Module 13 Assignment: Not Seen on TV

One of the pieces that stood out to me amongst the rest is Pipilotti risk, which upon first glance I had believed I ate something weird. It depicted two videos, one of a girl, and one of some foliage both overlapping one another. The video of the girl seemed like she was causing public damage with, what appeared to be a long stick, or perhaps a flower, while the other video was that of just seemingly random videos regarding nature, almost like a slideshow of random clips of a nature documentary, along with some extremely strange music playing in the background. What actually really stood out the most is while the women was causing damage to her surrounding, a police officer walked past and smiled, practically ignoring the damage that the girl had caused. Now after watching the video a few times over, I believe I understood the author's message, or at the very least have a interpretation of the message. I believe it is a message about how we often ignore what is happening to our environment, as in nature, much like the officer ignored what the girl was doing. Not necessarily a protest for a positive environmental movement, but more so that people are aware of what is happening, allowing people to make the decision for themselves. Considering when the artwork was made (1997), which was at a time where issues regarding the environment where not talked about, I believe that the "weirdness" of the artwork has actually delivered its message across quite well.

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Module 12 Assignment: Tragedy Scripted and Staged

Hamlet is a tragedy written by the famous William Shakespeare, and is often regarded as one of if not the best work that he has created, and it is the longest. Throughout the story of Hamlet, there are many scenes that are considered rememberable, such as the all famous "to be or not to be" scene. I however believe that the scene where Hamlet's good friend, Horatio seens a ghost that resembles the former King Hamlet. Upon seeing this, Horatio asks Hamlet to see if it will communicate with him. The ghost of Hamlet's father follows Hamlet and reveals that King Hamlet's brother, Claudius, poisoned him in the ear. Hamlet thus vows to enact revenge on his fathers murder. I believe this is one of if not the most important scenes of the entire story, because it gives our main character, Hamlet a sense of purpose. Without this scene, there would be no story, no climax. After watching a short re-enactment of the play, I have to say, originally I thought the scene would be more be played of as a more serious tone, but after watching the play I have changed my opinion. Originally I was lead to believe that this scene would be serious, given the scenario. However, after watching the play, my whole perspective of the play has changed. The actors presented the scene as a Hamlet going a little crazy/insane, which to much of the relation to the rest of the play, makes much more sense than a serious mellow tone.

Link to the scene (706) Hamlet Speaks With His Father's Ghost - Hamlet (1990) - YouTube

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Anatomy of a Scene

Movie from group B (not the analyzed scene): Black Klansman

Based on a true story, Black Klansman depicts Ron Stalworth in 1972, the first African American cop in the Colorado Springs police department, who reads an ad about joining the KKK. He picks up the phone and poses as a white man over the phone in order to attempt to infiltrate the white supremacist group. Due to the fact that Stallworth is black, he is unable to infiltrate the group, but he enlists the help of a fellow white Jewish officer name Flip Zimmerman. All along the course of the movie, Stallworth is the man on the phone, while Zimmerman is in the physical KKK meetings. The two officers end up meeting the leader of the group, known as David Duke, and they end up stopping a local civil rights protest from being bombed.

Movie from group A (analyzed scene): Moonlight

A fiction story, Moonlight, follows Chiron, who is a young African American homosexual male who grew up in a poor Miami community. He is constantly bullied, due to his economic status and his sexuality. He also has an abusive mother, who we later find out is also addicted to drugs. Ironically, due to his lack of friends, and lack of a parental figure, he befriends Juan, who is a local drug dealer. Chiron sees Juan as his father figure, but due to his rather unhealthy employment, Chiron's mother does not allow Chiron to see Juan. As Chrion progresses with age, he, instead of being peer pressured, begins to be himself, thus letting go of his pent-up emotions. At the end he eventually ends up with his childhood friend and love interest, Kevin, finally resting.

The scene where Juan, Chiron's, father figure, teachers Chiron how to swim, is one that really spoke out to me. On the surface, it depicts how Chiron struggles with swimming, with the camera lens placed on equal level with Chiron's head, allowing the audience toe experience what Chiron feels at the moment. There is also music that is played on a string instrument in the background, which is building up, showing Chiron's fear. At the end of this scene, it shows just Chiron, without Juan, in the water. If you dig a bit deeper, the water is a challenge Chiron must face, like his challenge with self-identity. The last scene, shows that some challenge he will only be able to face by himself.

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Washing the Dishes

Dirty Plate - plate that was used during breakfast

Washing the Grime off - cleaning the plate with water in order to discard most of the grime

Killing the Germs - disinfecting the plate, in order to prevent bacteria growth

Rinsing the Plate - washing the plate with water in order to wash the germs off

Dry Cleaning - cleaning the plate with a towel to make it dry

Clean Plate - clean plate ready to be used again

As something as ordinary and mundane as cleaning the plates, it can represent many overall themes. You can see me washing just a single dirty plate in the photographs depicted above, in these photographs I am simply just trying to get from point A, which is a dirty dish, to point B, to a clean and ready-to-use plate. Achieving a simple goal, such as cleaning a plate may seem simple, but in retrospect, it contains many steps. Compared to another goal, such as graduating college, cleaning a plate seems easy, but shares broadly similar steps. You want to get your dream job, but first, you must decide what classes to take and do well in those specific classes, and once you do well in those classes you must take more, and finally when you graduate college, you must partake in interviews in potential jobs, which only a select few will accept you, versus, you want to use a plate, but first, you must wash, clean, and disinfect the plate, as well as drying the plate at the very end. It may seem tedious, as nobody ever wants to do the dishes, or how most people do not find studying hours on end fun, but the end outcome is worth it. You finally get the dream job that you wanted, or you finally can have a nice meal on a clean plate. Granted you could also just keep on buying paper plates, or just be born wealthy, but to achieve one's goal is the thing that strives us forward, pushing us towards our next goal. Everything that we deal with in life is set in goals, even the small inconsequential things, like doing the dishes.

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Musical Themes

Death, it is all around us, and people embrace it in different ways. As someone who had to deal with death around me quite often, I feel connected to music representing death, as they all have different takes on death itself.

(634) Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings - YouTube - Classical

Very slow tempo, soothing melody with a high degree of consonance. The string instruments in the song itself allow they sound very lonely, however, they don't sound typically sad about the death, more so heartfelt, prehaps mourning/missing the company for someone who was lost.

(639) Death Don't Have No Mercy - YouTube - Blues

A decently slow tempo, all be it not as slow as the last one. Nice melody, this song describes how death isn't prejudiced, and it can affect/take everyone no matter what status/race/age they are.

(639) Pearl Jam - Last Kiss (Official Audio) - YouTube - Rock

Very much a lullaby, but with a twist. Faster tempo than one normally would, and much darker/harsher tones and notes. Playing notes that would usually lie lower on the scale. This piece evokes sadness and longing for someone.

(639) Justin Moore - If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away (Official Video) - YouTube - Country

Slow tempo'd, using surprisingly low notes for a country song. This song instills sadness and loneliness. Infact the singer of the song made this in tribute for someone close to him

(639) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Brendan's Death Song [Extended Music Video] - YouTube - Rock

Moderately tempo'd, with good consonance, this song represents the sadness of losing a good friend. This song was made in tribute to one of their fellow friends, one who actually gave the band itself one of their first gigs. It could also be to one of the first guitarists of the band, whom died of a drug overdose

(639) Soil - YouTube

Fast tempo'd, this song expresses grief and also rage, seeing if anything the person could have done, in order to prevent the death of their friends. The lead singer actually made this song to express his anger at his friend's death, not so much to his friend, but more to himself for not noticing that his friend was suicidal

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When I was around the age of 17-18, right after I graduated high school, I wanted to join the Air Force. I applied, and everything went well. I passed all the tests with flying colors, giving me the ability to do whatever job I would like. However, right before I entered boot camp, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, but my recruiter said it was fine, and that I could still join even though I have contracted the disease that I have mentioned previously. However, she said it would take a few more weeks to sort out the paperwork, which was okay by me, as long as I got in. Now it was Fall, and after a few more hospital visits I have befriended some of the nurses and doctors, which is what I now wanted to do in the Air Force. But shortly after, right after the first semester of school had begun, my recruiter told me that I was discharged suddenly, and after I was looking through the paperwork that I was handed, it turns out that I was discharged ever since I left the hospital. Now due to this entire situation, I had to skip a full semester of school, but on a more positive note I have figured out my career choices. On one hand, I despise them for not letting me know ahead of time that I was discharged and could not pursue my Air Force career, but on the other, due to them waiting I was able to figure out what I would like to do for the future.

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Family Album

BY DIANE THIEL

I like old photographs of relatives   

in black and white, their faces set like stone.   

They knew this was serious business.   

My favorite album is the one that's filled   

with people none of us can even name.   

I find the recent ones more difficult.   

I wonder, now, if anyone remembers   

how fiercely I refused even to stand   

beside him for this picture — how I shrank   

back from his hand and found the other side.   

Forever now, for future family,   

we will be framed like this, although no one   

will wonder at the way we are arranged.   

No one will ever wonder, since we'll be   

forever smiling there — our mouths all teeth.

"Family Album" by Diane Thiel, represents how often we express ourselves differently than how we feel. In this case, the theme revolves around the narrator's unhappy relationship, most likely with her husband due to the title "Family Album". For example, paragraph 2 explains how she refused to stand beside him, alluding to difficulty in their relationship, however, in the photograph she still remains smiling. For anyone else viewing the photo beside her will depicts a healthy relationship, but for her, it is just a reminder of the troublesome relationship. This poem also expresses wonderful imagery, such as the last line "our mouths all teeth" which represents a smile, however, with the way that the author expressed it, it seems like it has an underlying meaning, perhaps how the narrator was "biting her tongue" (prevent oneself from saying something) to save her marriage or to prevent further discourse in the relationship. Another theme that this poem represents is how often we misinterpret others, which is quite the opposite of the first theme. In the first paragraph, the narrator depicted an old family album with "faces set like a stone". This could very well be a reference to how family portraits were taken back in the day (they never had any smiles) or could also be representing the sad look that they had on their faces. Now, since she forgot who they were then, even though they had a solemn look on their faces, does not mean they were sad, very much how in the present era, the narrator bore a smile on her face, even though she was very upset with her current relationship.

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One space where I frequent daily is my own home. As shown in the image my bedroom is pretty open, with many windows, allowing the natural sunlight to brighten the room. On top of that, the large windows also incorporate nature into the room, with a lot of greenery from the outside. The rest of the house (images taken from Zillow as my family was currently cooking during writing) looks very much alike, with as few doors as possible. In fact, the only doors are to the outside and the bathrooms/bedrooms. The entire color scheme of the house is pretty minimalistic, mostly relying on neutral colors, such as brown white, grey, and on occasion black, thus allowing the building itself to appear very modern, despite its old age on top of it appearing friendly and bright. This is acceptable, with the house itself not needing any updates or changes, considering it looks great as it is, but on the other hand it doesn't really stand out. I wish it incorporated more colors, such as green, thus bonding the connection between the outside and the inside. Another location I frequent and enjoy going to is my local gym (planet fitness). Considering the rather harsh structure and colors of the gym itself (consisting of purple, black, yellow, and grey, with visible metal beams), the gym itself appears much more goal-oriented than that of my house. Whereas my house is bright and welcoming, the gym is very strict with its color and architectural nature, incorporating no nature into the building, with a singular window. The gym, feels very crowded, despite it having very large ceilings and being very open, with all the machines in the way. I enjoy both locations, but one is for enjoying life, making memories, enjoying pleasant food, and watching great movies with my family, whereas the other location, that being the gym, is used for one purpose which is to working out, which is something that I enjoy.

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Uncommon Friends

Built by sculpturist D.J. Wilkins in the year of 1985, "Uncommon Friends", located near downtown Fort Myers, this structure depicts Inventor Thomas Edison, car maker Henry Ford, and tire manufacturer Harvey Firestone all actual friends. This artwork depicts them on one of their regularly taken camping trips to the Everglades. Around the sculpture there is a round pond, with various creatures, such as frogs, spewing water, much like a fountain. Noting that the structure is huge, considering the statues depicting the three friends are rather life-like and life-sized, it can be hard to see considering it is around a five-minute walk away from downtown. Also worth mentioning is that around the structure, there is mostly green grass, as well as various trees, very much incorporating that natural aesthetic of Fort Myers. The Caloosahatchee River is also near by. On the structure's plaque, it calls all three of them "Fathers of the American Industrial 20th Century.” The purpose of such sculpture is to commemorate the friendship between Thomas, Henry, and Firestone, however, the sculpture itself has no explicit purpose other than depict their friendship. One may be able to interpret how their friendship helped shape how Fort Myers as a city developed later on, due to their wide arrange of knowledge, or it could also help depict how various people from widely different backgrounds (or in this case specialties) can come together. It may also be depicted with the Caloosahatchee River, saying how a few friendship can expand into something great and beautiful, very much how the river itself leads into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Tink Tonk - Nabil Nahas

Painted on a 60-inch square canvas with acrylic paint, this art depicts various colors, drown in straight, quick, jagged lines, while in the backdrop there is a mute, gray, and black abstract, with multiple shapes, and sharp edges as well. Drawing me into it was the sharp colors contrasting the mute background. Representing the background, it almost seems like TV-static in a way, with the quick straight neutral colors, with the colors having mute, complementary colors in straight parallel lines. In the foreground, you can see various shapes, in the form of either large triangles or squares, and all of these foreground shapes contain near or exactly the same colors as every other shape in the foreground. In the top middle of the artwork, you can also see in place of the generally mute background, you see a wide canvas of the same colors as the foreground, that being red, green, pink, blue, and white. As for as the texture goes, you can believe that it depicts a flat texture, with sharp edges. This painting elicits excitement to me, or just general excitement for the future, or the unknown. Another emotion it can demonstrate is fear of overcoming an objective, wheras it may seem bleak, once you accomplish that fear, then your world will be filled with color instead of what used to be fear. I believe that this artwork is trying to represent that instead of focusing on the mundane portions of a subject, something as small as a conversation, or big as your entire life, you should focus and put all your energy into the short, exciting parts.

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Made with oil on canvas, Wander above the Sea of Fog was painted by Casper David Friedrich, a Germanic Romanticist, in 1818. It demonstrates a man with his back to the foreground of the painting watching a landscape covered in a sea of fog. Due to it being made during the Romanticism period, it emphasized individualism, idealization of nature. For myself, I would both describe the picture as a man who is uncertain of his future, or a man who is trying to discover who he is, and what part does he play in the world. The painting highlights the bold man, by him being in the middle of the picture, thus making him the main focus of the painting. I can relate to this painting because, like the man, I am uncertain of the future. During various points of my life, I have decided to make radical changes to by plans, such as rapidly changing career paths, or more recently, changing what I am studying in school. Another keynote of the artwork is the man trying to discover who he is, which is something that personally I struggle with. I have spent quite a while trying to see who I am, between various moves, and different changes throughout the years, which even to this day I am struggle with. Tying it all together the Wander above the Sea of Fog does represent these ideas of uncertainty of one's life, battling the inner thoughts of man, as well as incorporating the ideas of which one's future holds. At the end, out of all the artworks and canvases in the world, I find Wander above the Sea of Fog, one of the most relatable pieces of art that has been made, not only to myself, but to most people who are uncertain about where they are headed in life.

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Hello everyone! My name is Kevin Fainguersch, originally I was born in Israel in a city that does not exist anymore, however pretty soon I moved out to New York, where I lived for most of my life. I recently moved to Florida to further pursue my nursing goals (and better weather). Currently I am taking this class as a prerequisite for the nursing program. My hobbies include playing video games, reading, working out, biking pretty much everywhere, as well as just cooking and eating .I look forward to working with all of you later on in the future!

Farewell!