Asia 4/15/15

Well tonight we finished out the coarse with Asia. Amazing when you see how populated this part of the world is and yet it is steeped in history, culture, tradition, and so much more. The worlds oldest spoken language is chanted from the Brahman to apprentice for thousands of years in a language that probably died before Latin was spoken in Europe. As a history person I look at a country like China that has written records that date back to 4000 bce and is still as important to the world today as then that is incredible. The ancient temples of In-do-China and the Great Wall (the only man-made object visible from space). W e talked about the political circus that is this part of the world and our own involvement in stopping the spread of  communism in this region of the globe. Very enjoyable class tonight.

   

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT: CORNELL FINE ARTS MUSEUM Winter Park, Fl. Featuring the works of Peter Schreyer, Kara Walker, and Tobi Kahn

     The Cornell Fine Arts Museum on Rollins College carries on a tradition of culture and arts in Winter Park that goes back more than a century in Central Florida. I was able to get a guided tour of three featured artist each with a different and diverse view of the world that comes through in their art. I enjoyed the show and felt privileged to be able to get this view of the world thru the eyes of these artist.

     The first Artist was Peter Schreyer and his exhibit titled “Returning Home”. Peter Schreyer is a Swiss-born landscape and documentary photographer based out of Winter Park. His work has been displayed in over one hundred shows across the U.S. and Switzerland. Although he is most known for his black and white pictures of Florida he recently went back to his home village of Pieterlen to take the pictures for this show.  

 

1: Town Center with Historic Schoolhouse, Pieterlen, Switzerland, 2013.

 

 

     The second artist on exhibit is Kara Walker titled “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated). Walker is a renowned African-American Artist who used 15 iconic prints from Harper’s that chronicled Union troop movement during the Civil War. Walker than superimposed her black silhouette figures over them. This marks the first time she had incorporated her work with historic documents. This gives us a telling view of how African-Americans feel stereotyped and depicted in post-Civil War America.

 

  

 

    

The last featured on exhibit was Jewish Artist from New York Tobi Kahn with “Reverie” and his focus on the transformative beauty of nature. He also has a strong interest in recording and preserving memories in traditional symbols with a modern flare. His use of abstract shape and texture infused with bold colors is a stark difference to the black and white works of our last two artist. I enjoyed his art most of all and could feel the texture in every paint stroke.

 

 

 

Overall I really liked this exhibition and gave me some insight on how three very different artist view the world based on their very different backgrounds and cultures. I was captivated by the crisp B&W images of the first two artist and their totally different views on art. Peter reaching back to his past to bring us images of his youth in Europe, or Kara with her abstract black silhouettes of stereotyped blacks in a post-Civil War America. Last when we look at the work of Tobi Kahn we see the strokes just jumping of the canvas and wanting to be touched. The stunning use of colors really blew my mind and was a refreshing alternative to the black and whites of the previous exhibits. 

I think my biggest take away from this whole experience was that just because they weren't part of my culture, I may never have had this experience had it not been part of this assignment. I want to Thank you for this as it will help me be a better educator in the future. I really hope that others visit this wonderful free museum and gain this experience for themselves.

Europe recap of class on 4/8/15

We looked at Europe and the idea that if you control Island Europe you control the world. This theory led to the punishment of Germany after WWI and the cutting up of the Axis countries into the Eastern European countries. This directly led to the rise of the German NAZI party and WWII. Later after WWII we will split this area up again and it will turn into the communist block countries under the influence of Russia. This idea of Russia controlling Europe and than the world led to the Cold War and decades of tensions around the world. We now know this is a crap theory but think of how different the world would have been if we looked at it another way!

 

Recap of class on 3/25/15 North Africa/Middle East and Israel with some Terrorism on the side

Well we covered North Africa and the issues with the encroachment of the Sarah (by the way this means desert so don't say it twice) into populated areas causing conflict. Speaking of conflict we had the pleasure of seeing Sun City, South Africa and the De Beers family and their monopoly of the worlds diamonds, buying up of Conflict Diamonds, the use of slave labor to work said mines, and the squandering of a major natural resource WATER to do their patented flood mining. So go ahead and get her a Diamond you "TOOL"! Big supporters of Apartheid also! The 1%, love'em or leave'em!

Then we move into the Middle East and how the main force that drives population growth is access to water. The fact is that more and more areas are loosing this precious commodity. On the other hand they do have oil and the (haves') have "more money then God" while the "Have nots" Have  God and nothing else. Meanwhile the two Islamic powerhouses(Saudi Arab and Iran) wage proxy wars against each other. The latest is in Yemen where Iran Backed "Hootie rebels" tried to overthrow the elected government with the backing of Iran. The Saudis are dropping bombs to maintain the Pro Saudi regime that was in place. Meanwhile with the with all the confusion there seems to be a golden opportunity to Foster Radical Islam. Why do they hate us? Well we promote freedom, women's rights, and materialism. How horrible! It's always better to oppress all women, Kill women, children, and anyone who wants to speak out about the brutality. All this in the name of religion or just to cover the brutality of man. In class it was pointed out how Israel used terrorism to help achieve its state hood but should be ready to do it again if threatened. Well if we're going that route then what about a tea party, the targeting of Royal goods and employees, and full on attacks by a rebel alliance.

Latin America and Africa (South of Sahara) 3/18/2015

 Well tonight we started up with Latin America and the liberation of Grand Columbia by Bolivar. He took his example from us and is considered The George Washington of South America. He liberated the Spanish Colonialist from Spain's oppression. This would have been a golden opportunity for a true relationship between North/South America if they only spoke English. We have always been snobs about that fact that we want freedom but only if your WASP.
  We also looked at Argentina and Peronism, don't be misled, this is Fascism renamed after WWII by Nazis and remnants of Mussolini's party who fled to this safe haven after the war. They practiced their own atrocities as we in the U.S.looked away. Well they weren't communist so who cared. It's sad that we put so much effort into stopping the spread of communism instead of making the lives of the people in South America better. Now we have an illegal immigration problem because of all the crap we stirred up with regime changes to keep the red threat out.  
  Lets look at Africa now. It seems that with global warming and the expanding deserts, the continent is in turmoil. HIV/AIDS have killed generations of Africans and created some of the worst refugee criseses since WWII. It seems that some are under the impression that Catholic Charities is the  biggest cause cause of this because they maintain most of the medical and educational needs of these poorest of the worlds poor. Well I may not be a practicing Catholic but I am a Catholic and I Say what has any other group done to really make a difference in their lives. We watch Islamic radicals come in  and kill and force their views on the weak. Yet they make no one they touch better and destroy all they conquer. More Christians (Most Catholics) are killed for their beliefs then any other religious group today. They still go and help regardless the threat, and they don't force conversion on those they help. So I say if you don't agree with their views then come help these poor your own way. Don't hate Catholics for being Catholics. Well thats my rant for this week.