the last but not the least

This would be my last blog post for this semester... sad :`( Well... if I want or have time, I will keep going! From this class, the Ishmael: Saving the World...I learned quite a lot. Although I did not take much notes as other classes,  many different ideas and thoughts were stuck on my brain, and also I am still thinking what would be the best solution for me to solve problems that we discussed in class. On the first day of class, I remembered two things that we are going to save the world and we are a team! At that time, I thought okay... well... how about grade! However, as we read interesting books, had guest speakers, shared opinions, discussed problems, and tried to find solutions, I could learn real stuffs or life lessons, such as wise old man's story, how to live, captivity ... lots of new knowledge. For the grades, we wrote three papers, but these papers took more effort and time than I expected. This was because of my lack of creativity! I was used to follow rubrics that instructor gave and not used to write something without any references .... These papers had topics but not many rules. At the same time, I thought that these papers contained what I actually wanted to write because there was no limitation. My first paper was a bundle of different Taker problems and presented as a collage, and the second paper, parable, was kind of fun to make a story for kids...I could add some my illustrations. The third paper was writing a grant essay or an alternate essay, so I wrote an essay for a general UAA scholarships. The information about scholarships and grants were very useful to know, and I would prepare and apply for them before I graduate! During the last two or three classes, we did  the Talking Circle, which new and fun to me. I felt that each one of us had different stories, backgrounds, ideas, feelings, moods, and others, there were some commonalities I could feel in a same way and agree with.  Thanks for everyone! I appreciate your honesty and brilliant ideas! Thanks for Don to make a great fun class! The class was kind of new styles but I think it works very well.

Things Fall Apart

               When I read the short book, The Way of the Human Being, the theme of the story reminds me Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart well describes about lgbo, one of Nitgerian tribes, and has interesting plots. One of big conflicts in the book begins when European people come and scatter the tribe's culture and tradition. The protagonist, Okonkwo, who is a strong man and never shows weakness. He and his tribal leaders try to hold their land and fight against white men by destroying a local church. However, in return, the leaders of white government take the tribal leaders prisoner with humiliating and insulting. With anger, Oknokwo advocates his people for war against white people, but his people do not try to protect themselves because they know that they cannot win.  

                Takers came to Leaver and took everything away from Leavers. Leavers were left behind with nothing but pain and confusion. Leavers were forced to adapt a whole new system, which was opposite to their tradition and culture. Both books are based on true stories and contain a huge conflict, which white people take over native people forcefully. Before I read these books, I did not really know about the reality of native people who went and currently go through all kinds of terrible situations. I could understand these people, and I also imagined what if I am in those situations....

Would I have hope for my life?

How I can define my identity?

Could I stand up and endure all kinds of pain?  

(book picture retrived from http://myuniversitynotes.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/things-fall-apart-chinua-achebe/)

Nighthawk

Nighthawk by Edward Hopper in 1942

This painting is one of the most famous American paintings. When I first looked the painting, I liked the painting's colors and spaces that attract viewers and deliver some messages, which I think isolation and captivity. The setting is at night in a city, but the city is empty, quiet, and lonely. The focus is on people who are in a cheap, simple restaurant because of manmade light in the restaurant. People in the restaurant do not look joyful but they seem like silent and some distances between them. A worker is standing behind a round table, which separates from the people.  Another building has several of square windows, which show no human but just black spaces. This painting is unique because it does not depict the bright, fanciful side of a city, but it shows the dark, mundane side of a city.

Together

Last few weeks, we had great guest speakers and shared their stories. First person was a wise old man, Larry, and the second person was an ambitious young man, Victor. Both of them told about problems that they recognized in the world, the Taker world. I learned various valuable lessons.

One common problems that both of them mentioned was although people knew that there was a problem, they were not willing to work together. Larry's example was when scientists from different fields came to solve a big problem, they collected data and studied. However, because they focused on their parts, not shared data and forgot the purpose of the project, solving the problem. Victor's example was that he wanted to gather several non-profit organizations to solve a problem. However, uniting these organizations was not an easy task, but they had their reasons to explain why they could not work together.

People are busy with their works and think about them and their things. It is not easy to bring people together. This can relate to the beginning part of Ishmael. One of quotes we talked  in class was that five different fingers could not make one hand. Although most people knew the problems in the world, they were not looking for the solutions. They wanted an easy way. Something takes not much time and effort, and often this could cover the problems or lessen the problems. However, the problems remain. We did not need the "program" but the "vision."   

Books...Children's Books!

The library day was interesting...I was lost for a while and read questions again. Then,  I was wandering around and looking all different kinds of books about Alaska. There were also many documents, CD, magazines, new papers, and including children's books! I picked several children's books. First, I was attracted to all colorful, cute, pretty drawings, and began to read these books.

                Because the children books were fictions, I could not strongly disprove our culture's contemporary view of the indigenous lifestyles as "wonderfully horrific" and difficult. However, the books were based on the real life of Alaskan Natives and gave well descriptions of their lifestyles through good stories and beautiful pictures. When I was reading the books, I saw some hardships, such as hunting and fishing for food, but I felt that their life was happy.

                 These Alaska native children's books had nature as an important element to people. Native people were fishing in seas and hunting in forests, observed nature and felt happiness, and believed that they were belong to nature. I loved that the writers used various adjectives and details to tell about nature, and I could clearly visualized what they were saying about. These Alaskan children's books also highlighted relationships between people. Some stories were about their families and people in communities. People cared each other and shared things they had. Their relationships were tight and showed true love. There were no anger, jealousy, hate, and envy between people. I felt that people were thankful to little things, such as thankful for catching a whale and thankful for being with family. Their thankful mind made their life happier, and I thought that this could be one of "certain knowledge about how to live."

 Arctic Son:
"The stars were enormous bonfires in the sky. Then, silently and slowly, yellow, rose, and green lights fountained up and filled the sky."
"You and I live where the lights are born."

Whale Snow:
"Momma, I feel happy inside. Inside is like a giant smile."
"... the spirit of the whale goes after... the people leaves." "Whale happiness is the gift the whale leaves."

An easy life

I was thinking  that changing from Takers to Leavers is not easy or even impossible. Takers would have hard time to let their things to go and convert to Leavers. Technology would be one of things Takers would want to hold.  Technology made our life easier, faster, and more convenient. However, I also believe that technology easily makes people to think less and sometimes degrades our intellectual ability. I would like to relate to an article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicolas Carr. First thing I noticed was the title and I was questioning why Google makes us stupid, because I used Google to search various information in all fields. Carr's main idea was that information flows over media and that even though we could access to information easily, media affects negatively on people by consistently distracting us and making us to lose focus on long pieces of reading. I could agree with him, and this reminded me of when I was taking AP Literature class in my high school. I skipped through many books and accessed online and found all various information about books, such as character analysis, settings, and others. Although the sites helped me to do well on my assignments and tests, I did not directly get connections from authors through the books and missed several important concepts.  I also no longer used a paper dictionary, instead I searched on websites, which was very fast and easy. However, When I used an online dictionary, I found that the definition did not really stuck on my head as much as when I looked up a paper dictionary and highlighted the words. I agreed with Carr's statement, "we turning into 'pancake people'-spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of button."  

I also wanted to mention Quinn's idea, "The Leaver life-style isn't about hunting and gathering, it's about letting the rest of the community live... The Leaver life is not an antiquated thing that is 'back there' somewhere. Your task is not to reach back but to reach forward" (p.250).
Does this mean that we do not have to give up technology?

Ishmael is done but the ideas are continued!

Waste Land

I just want to share one of things my art history class talked about.

WASTE LAND by Vik Muniz

The subjects of his art is the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and “catadores," who are self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.  Muniz’s first objective was to paint the catadores with garbage, but he changed his mind that he recreated photographic images of themselves out of garbage and used garbage as tools/mediums to create great art pieces.

visit http://www.wastelandmovie.com/ all about Waste Land;)
Death of Marat by J-L David

3 thoughts after looking pictures:
1. Vik Muniz is creative!
2. I would like to make some crazy art pieces!
3. People made, have made, make, and will make lots of wastes...