Black and White

Having gained an appreciation for black and white photography, I was looking for ideas for my photo midterm and I stumbled across Paul Caponigro, a black and white Photographer. I like his formalist style that looks at the beauty in everyday objects. The "Galaxy Apple" is the best example of that everyday beauty that people don't normally notice and might not have shown up in color.  

"Two Pears"

 "Galaxy Apple" 

                                                                       "Flowers"

"Two Leaves"

Modern Japanese Style/Influenced Art

I follow this blog called Lines and Colors, which does a weekly focus on different artists/painters/styles.

One week, they focused on Keiko Tanabe, who I really like. She has a modern take on japanese style.

Below is an example of a artist, Ralph Kiggell who was influenced by the ancient woodblock prints

Being Part of the Technology/Texting Generation

So I have reached the stage of my research where I have to start calling various governmental departments and the like requesting badly-needed information for my thesis. Now I don't like talking on the phone but it is a skill that I have acquired and use when necessary; I mean it was hard to avoid not answer and talking on the phone in the Congresswoman's office. Its just a matter of psyching myself up and sitting down and calling whoever it is I need to call.

In reality, I know that the person of the other side of the phone is a bored intern/receptionist who is just waiting for a call and then that call will be passed on to the appropriate person and that intern dreads the call just as much as I am dreading making it. As a former intern, there was always the possibility that the person on the other end is some angry constituent demanding to speak to the superior! No one likes those types of calls.

I really think this phone dread also comes from the generation that I grew up with-I was part of the generation that really grew up with technology (each year, there was a new piece of technology to try and integrate easily into our lives) like mac computers, texting, the iphone, etc. The generation after me is even more connected with technology. They literally grow up using technology from day 1. There is that over reliance on non-personal connection with other people-we use technology as proxies for actual communication with real people.

Research

 Right now, I am researching the case of Cobell v. Salazar, the landmark class-action lawsuit brought by American Indian representatives against two U.S. Gov't departments. The plaintiffs claim that the U.S. government has incorrectly accounted for Indian trust assets, which belong to individual Native Americans (as beneficial owners) but are managed by the Dept. of Interior (as the legal owner and fiduciary trustee). 


As I was reading through the case, I saw that one of the judges was kicked off the case for loosing his treasured impartiality-he kept ruling for the American Indians and lambasting the Interior and government. He even tried to hold the various Interior Secretaries in contempt of the court.


See for your self below:


The Court wrote that Judge Lamberth believed that racism at the Dept. of Interior continued and is "a dinosaur – the morally and culturally oblivious hand-me-down of a disgracefully racist and imperialist government that should have been buried a century ago, the last pathetic outpost of the indifference and anglocentrism we thought we had left behind."


Lamberth writes that "the entire record in this case tells the dreary story of Interior's degenerate tenure as Trustee-Delegate for the Indian trust -- a story shot through with bureaucratic blunders, flubs, goofs and foul-ups, and peppered with scandals, deception, dirty tricks and outright villainy -- the end of which is nowhere in sight."


On numerous occasions over the last nine years," Lamberth wrote in the now-infamous July 12 memo, "the Court has wanted to simply wash its hands of Interior and its iniquities once and for all.''


Those are some pretty harsh comments. The case took 10 YEARS. No wonder Lamberth is fed up. He is known for speaking his mind. And he is from Texas. And one of the most respected and skilled judges on the Court. 


This is why I like Wikipedia: I can easily expand my knowledge base about subjects that are found in 1 concise area and don't have to trawl through stacks of files or PDF's to search for gems of information like this. 

I'm up with an earache. Well either its a regular earache or its a I-poked-my-eardrum-with-my-headphones-and-now-i'm-going-deaf earache.....I hope its not the latter.

I have this theory that when all of the good wax is taken out of the ear, you are taking away this protective layer and then your ear is more susceptible to earaches and the like. This time is no different.

It just occurred to me that since I'm up, I might as well do some homework. I find that slightly depressing although it is a reality that we seniors face. I wonder what it is about senior year that the moment we become seniors, a profound psychological/mental change is adopted; we automatically become stressed from the first moment of being seniors, making the whole thesis process ten times more stressful than it actually is. Homework for regular class is slacked on, and the handy excuse of "I'm a senior" comes into play without guilt. We use the excuse "I'm a senior, I'm allowed to miss/do X, Y, and Z" without thought, masking our intentions behind this flimsy facade. Perhaps the use of that phrase is us seniors running away from whatever assignment it may be, knowing that this will probably be one of the few times in our professional/academic career where such an excuse is viable. It also may be that we are trying to escape the looming confines of the real world and it manifests itself in this senior year mentality. What do seniors think?

Euphoria in LA

‎"It was like the entire show," said Will Smith. "It was almost like people were coming there specifically to scream. And like the girls were taking turns going 'Yeah!' And when [one girl's] getting ready to stop, she points to her girlfriend to take over. It was like, damn, just hours of sustained screaming."

The night of Thursday October 7th was the reason I didn't turn in my civil libs and fundamental rights essay and only had 7 pages for senior seminar but it was soo worth it. I would honestly say that it was a different kind of learning that can't take place in the classroom but can only be learnt through experience.

I went to Enrique Iglesia's Euphoria concert in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, and let me tell you, it was the best decision of my life. In fact, it ranks as the best 3 hours of my life. Kike is just..amazing. He really cares about making a connection with his fans, it down to earth, and very unpretentious. At one point, I was literally less than 10 feet away from him, and would have been closer if it wasn't for dumb security (and no, I didn't have front row seats but I did have back-floor seats)!!!!

I was really nervous about traveling and spending the night in LA alone and navigating the train and metro system in LA by myself. I was extremely early (I arrived at 4, when the concert 'started' at 7). And on the way back, the train to Claremont left at 7:45, and I arrived at the train station at 7, having woken up at 6:30...and I was only 10 minutes late to work. Not bad. I was glad though that I decided to go by myself and navigate the trains in L.A. because now I am definitely more comfortable traveling to LA if I need to by myself. Spending several months in a country where the language is not your first and just a simple trip around the block can be an ordeal will definitely boost one's confidence levels and ability to act independently. Gracias Buenos Aires por todos.

So right now my throat is killing me because I was sustained screaming like a crazy fangirl for 3 hours, just like Will Smith said. But it was soo worth it. My next step is getting a VIP package where I can meet Kike...but they are expensive. The cheapest is $300, I believe. I think I'll wait a year or two and then spring for it.

I know it has been ages since I posted on this blog but I have been so caught up with the realities of Senior Year at Scripps-It feels like it has been ages when it reality, its only been a month and a couple of weeks. Right now the biggest challenge for me right now is finding a topic for Senior Thesis. Right now its a roller coaster of topics and boy do I hate roller coasters...More on that later, because this is me procrastinating on a civil libs and fundamental rights essay.

This picture is kinda making me sick just to look at....

A positive thing is that I am taking Beginning Photography, which is mainly black and white but it is very fun and relaxing and I get credit for it!