Graffiti is Art!

As a little kid, I used to think I was cool. In fact, I thought I was so cool, that I felt it was necessary at times to run around with my "equally-as-cool" friends and do what I thought was graffiti. It took a while for me to realize that the idiotic little lines of matallic blue that I painted along ghetto sidewalks was nothing compared to real graffiti.

I first got a taste of true graffiti when I was living in Pennsylvania. There was this wall that I found when I got lost driving to New Jersey that was completely covered in strange multicolored characters and words and it was the most beautiful piece of art I had ever seen. Years later, I would be walking along a street in Atlanta with my mother in law, thoroughly embarassed that she just doesn't see the art in a wall covered in the paint the way I do. People keep talking about traditions that have become "lost art", and I wonder why people never think about the "art that never was". I think that graffiti, true graffiti, with characters and messages not the stupid juvenile things I used to create, really is art, regardless of where it's put.

Poetry Slam

You're thinking, "Oh. My. God. She's gonna bag on Diablo Cody, again."

Yes. Yes, I am. I promise one day I'll get to Stephanie Meyer.

So, I'm that one awful English major who hates poetry. SLAP ME!!! However, there is something poetic to me about a screenplay. Perhaps it's the need for structure. I'm not sure, I just love reading screenplays. So, for the sake of argument, my poetry slam is on the "Juno" screenplay. Because, really, what teenager talks the way she does? Screaming out "Balls!", when, everyone knows, every 15 and 16 year old would much rather scream, "Fuck!"? And, quite honestly, if I'd have said "You're a dick! I love it" to my step-mom, regardless of how I meant it, I'd have been slapped.

Really, people? If we're going for the pregnant teen thing, "Saved!" was so much better. The dialogue was real and actually felt genuine, the movie itself was funny, the music actually wasn't too terrible and (!!) you still get your underaged mommy story.

Diorama Drama

Here is my personal diorama. I created a "technology monster" out of a shoebox. What he's meant to represent is the slow death of the art of writing as we slowly move farther and farther into the age of technology, where things like the internet (cough, hack, cough) prevail over things like reading and writing, things that I love and respect. I felt kind of bold creating this, especially for a class that is all about the use of technology. Part of me also felt like a hypocrite, considering my love for movies and where movies have come, even just within the past 20 years, thanks to the growths in technology. Yet, it is something I feel strongly about and I'm glad I put it out there for the class to see, especially for a class that seemed as narrow-minded as "My issue is about how great football is", or the 5,000 people who's issue concerned something about the environment (I'm not bashing the environment and, yes, that is an important issue, but, please, people, be creative).

A diorama that taught me something: the one on the witch killings going on in Nigeria. I had no idea that such a sad and terrible thing was going on. I almost became obsessed with it after seeing that particular diorama. Innocent children and people do not need to be killed over such frivolous matters like superstition. Yet, on the other hand, those are another people's beliefs and who am I to judge?

A diorama that was very creative: The one about losing Pluto as a planet. Aesthetically, it was very creative how they represented the planets and Pluto being left out. I also thought it was a creative, and humorous, topic to make a diorama on.

A diorama that made me think more deeply on the issue: World equality. Sometimes, I feel like I still have a veil over my eyes with the fact that not everyone can see other people as just that: people. It takes a little thing like this diorama to snap me back into reality and remind me that there are still problems with equality in the world today.

A diorama I oppose: The one about how the economy effects one particular student. I'm not disagreeing with the state of the economy. That would just be stupid. I'm disagreeing with the fact that this student had on his diorama prices of things he can't buy, such as a rib-eye dinner or a brand new Ford truck. When the economy is in the state that it's in, you don't do stupid, assinine things like take your dates out for stake. That's just irresponsible and a lack of money sense.

A bold diorama: the one depicting the war in Iraq. I know they were going for the shock factor, but I thought that the fact that the student actually used some of the gorey pictures he used were very bold.

A diorama I agree with: Children that are overly medicated. That is another issue I feel very strongly about and I'm glad one woman brought it up. Using medication to raise our children is a serious problem we are facing today.

Human Struggle

Even though this is meant to be a Science Fiction movie revolving around aliens, it does make a powerful statement about the human condition and the struggle certain people have to go through. Using "aliens" to represent any kind of repressed people, be it illegal aliens, people persecuted because of race, gender, etc., everyone should be able to understand the underlying message within the film. This alien race is facing mass hatred, prejudice, being cast out of society, everything that people have to struggle and fight through. There are actually scenes within the film that had a strong resemblance to the photos taken during the Civil Rights movement that the feelings of persecution really hit home. This really is a great example of the human struggle.

Artistic Fashion

I have no idea how people find art in fashion. I can't walk into a mall and know exactly what makes a pair of shoes "fashionable" or just regular shoes. My perfect picture outfit is blue jeans and a loose fitting tank-top. I don't think I'm the best candidate for a fashionista.




That said, I was watching the "Rachel Zoe Show" and that woman seems to have the eye necessary to spot artistic clothing. Every time she goes to a fashion show or to some store, she is drawn to the most amazing things: things with fur, dark colors, light colors, funny patterns, stuff to layer, stuff to dress down... I would have never thought someone could focus like that on clothes. The thing is, it's not the stuff she picks out for her clients that I adore, it's the stuff that she wears. Even though she's insanely skinny, she seems to wear these clothes that even I recognize as amazing.

I guess what fascinates me about her fashion in general is just how varied it is. She doesn't seem afraid to pull off whatever she wants, no matter how slumpy (yup, my word) it may look or how loud it is. That's what fashionable clothing is to me.

Van Gogh

I'm not a huge painting person; not enough mobility for me in a painting. But in elementary school, my art classes were some of my favorite. Looking back, I don't understand what they were thinking. How in the world is a 5 year old going to remember what artist painted during the Renaissance? When my first grade art teacher (Ms. Hall!!!) started talking about Michelangelo and Leonardo, I could have sworn she was talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not artists.

Yet, Van Gogh always stuck out in my mind, and I'll never fully understand why. I think it's because of the ear thing (really, though, don't tell children about things like a man cutting his own ear off; that's the stuff that nightmares are made of).

My husband told me an interesting fact about him today, and it just made me start thinking about him the way I did as a little kid. Appearantly, the only painting he sold during his lifetime was called "Red Vineyards of Arles". In looking at it, the painting isn't one of my favorites by him. Yes, I've already admitted that I'm not all about paintings, but I can at least have an opinion about what I like. It doesn't feel... dark enough, I suppose. I'm so used to his things having this strange Gothic feel, even his sunflowers, and that's what attracted me to his paintings as I grew up. This one doesn't have that feeling. Perhaps that's why it sold...

Don't Tell Me How Happy I Am

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/10/14/ldt.women.happiness.cnn

I can't stand this! Why is it that we, as women, have fought for so hard to get the respect we deserve and have moved up in the world, but we have media telling us that we're still not happy? What happiness scale were they using? And what really determines "happiness"?

Quite honestly, I am very happy as a woman. I have a great job, a loving husband and two awesome dogs. I am going to college to better myself. What I am most happy about is that I am seen as an individual. I am not the product of my father or my husband. I am myself and no one can control me or stop me from being who I'm being.

Ladies, if you really are unhappy, find out what (or who) is making you unhappy and get it out of your life. We've come too far to be dragged down by emotions.