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Week 14 Visual Response

There is a lot going on in this photograph taken in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. The ground of dirt is rough and dry, with a more rocky terrain taking over the back area of the picture. However, my eyes automatically noticed the dead man laying on the ground in the center of the photo. He is lying on his back facing upwards towards the sky. His body faces away from the viewers so only one side of his face is visible. He is layered in pants, a white shirt, and dark unbuttoned coat. His belongings were probably robbed from him after his death. Behind the unknown man’s head is a rifle that looks perfectly and gently placed on the ground. Next to the back of the rifle is a hat that could possibly have belonged to the man since he is not wearing one. The picture is lonely as he is the only person in the frame. The surrounding area is cluttered with trinkets, belongings, and weapons but me eyes still focus on the dead man in the center of the frame and the rifle behind him staring into my soul. It is almost as if you can see and feel the life leaving the man’s body.

This picture humanizes those fighting in wars and battles. Rather than looking at a photo of hundreds of dying men who are grouped together as one, this photo individualized those fighting in the war. It is a sad photograph and it makes viewers reflect about not only the history of the time, but also those who were apart of it and put their lives on the line. The lone rifle behind the man’s head is also a haunting image. Something so destructive is just laying on the ground so casually. 

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Week 14 Writing Response #1

I chose to analyze Beat! Beat! Drums! By Walt Whitman. The poem captured my attention and interest due to the way we are able to “hear” the poem through his use of onomatopoeia. This adds another dimension to the poem which allows readers to integrate themselves into the world of war that Whitman is experiencing. 

The poem is composed of three stanzas and written in free verse. Whitman repeats the line “Beat! Beat! Drums!— Blow! Bugles! Blow!” At the beginning of each stanza. The use of this repetition allows for the poem to have a rhythm and flow. Though some may not think of drums and bugles when they think of war, I thought this represented the war really well in a non traditional way. The drums and bugles are instructed to play no matter how loud and disruptive they are. He mentions that they disrupt churches, schools, traffic in large cities, and more. This war itself is similar to the drums because the war is happening no matter who it disturbs. No one is able to get away from the war, just like everyone is unable to escape from the sounds of the persistent beat of the drums. The drums in this poem controlled their surroundings, not letting anyone escape the sound, just like the Civil War completely dictated American Society during that time. Whitman even says that the drums should be so loud it awakes the dead, which makes readers think of all of the people who died fighting in the war. The drums are also instructed to play despite objections from people. Here is an example on how the drums, just like the war, does not stop for anybody:

“Make no parley— stop for no expostulation,

Mind not the timid— mind not the weeper or prayer,

Mind no the old man beseeching the young man,

Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,

Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses”

Whitman thread the political and personal in small ways throughout this poem. Through imagery of the drums, he discusses the war and the large impact it has on citizens, whether they want it or not. He mentioned that many people oppose the drums (the war) yet they continue to play. This poem shows that some people opposed the idea of a Civil War, but Whitman as a narrator highlighted the encouragement of the drums to keep playing despite the ways it interrupts daily life for people.

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Visual prompt week 13

This photo was taken by Nigel Henderson sometime between 1949 and 1954. It is a black and white negative of children playing in the streets of the east end of London, but it is taken through the view of a window. From the picture, it looks as if it was taken early morning as the light from outside is extremely bright contrasted to the dark areas of the room. Inside the room from where the picture is taken, the only light provided is from the outside. Resting in front of the large window adorned with curtains are cloths, pots, and other small gadgets that do not look uniform, but add extra detail and depth to the picture. One’s attention is directed to look through the window and see the streets that are filled with unidentifiable people walking around. Closest to the window are two children in motion, one of them on a bike. Due to their posing, one is able to tell they are actively playing with one another.

The visual frame of this photo plays a large role in the story. If the image was captured from the street, there wouldn’t be a realness to the image. They most likely had no clue the image was being taken, so their play and movement is authentic. It leaves viewers to imagine what the story could be. Was the photographer lonely? Did these children play outside this building every morning? There are so many more possibilities about the image because of the way it was captured. The window view feels real as if I just happened to stumble upon this scene of the children playing. I also chose this image because it provides a glorified version of what Linda’s attic was like. This photographer is able to look out a large window and not only watch the children play, but capture a lifelong image. Meanwhile Linda is subjected to only the sounds of her children and then later a small peak through a tiny hole.

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Writing prompt week 13 #2

“The Loophole of Retreat.” What is a loophole? Loopholes provide means of escape from a situation that was once deemed impossible to leave behind. Is this what freedom looks like? Is this what freedom feels like? Is this what freedom smells like? Is this freedom?

Each morning, for what has been hundreds of mornings, I wake up in my living grave to the sounds of the outside world. Day and night blend into one in the attic. I dream of my children throwing themselves on me and cuddling with me in the morning, when in reality it is only scurrying mice and hundreds of little red insects providing that physical touch. My eyes are crusted shut and my sleeping side is somehow more sore than the day before as I am unable to fully sit up. My body is stiff and aches constantly, but it is only a small price to pay for this loophole of retreat. I wish more than anything to exercise and move my limbs freely, but I am subjected to crawling around this restricting space in order to get any sense of physical exercise. I can barely remember what this small garrett used to smell like because my nose has been stuffed and clogged thanks to the mold and dust encompassing my every breath. From sun burns to frostbite, my safe haven provided both a loophole and a world of pain and misery.

The attic is quiet, almost too quiet that the silence is haunting. Even more haunting are the laughs and screams of my children when I hear them walk by, unaware that I am near. This is not just a loophole, but a one-way glass of punishment that I must bear every single day seeing my children when they are unable to see me. The pain of not seeing my family each day surpasses the pain that came from slavery, but I know I must do this for them. Each night ends with a chilling and harsh darkness reminding me that another day is yet to come in this prison cell of mine.

Though I am listing my complaints viciously, “I would have chosen this, rather than my lot as a slave.” (Chapter 21) This shed was added to my grandmother’s house and though I resent this shed, I am also eternally grateful. As a black woman in America, this is my freedom and my only opportunity at chance for survival. My body is enslaved to this small, horrid space but my mind is free.

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Visual Prompt Week 11

This sketch is watercolor on paper from about 1840. The artist is Francisco Lima and it automatically grabbed my attention when I was looking at the photos on the results page on my google search. There are not many colors featured in this sketch, yet my eyes were still drawn to numerous places due to the stark contrast of the woman’s clothes and her skin. This woman is depicted as both conservative and mysterious, but there is a slight confidence to her as her upright body is turned to the side with her one eye staring directly to the left of the picture. The bottom of her dress is so large and flowy, that it is difficult to distinguish what her body type would be. Most of her outfit is black and the front parts of her dress are white, though most of it is not in eyesight due to the way her body is turned. Leading up to her face, almost its entirety is covered by black material, leaving the smallest room for her eye to creep out. This part of the drawing grabbed my attention the most because her eye and skin is the smallest part of the picture, but it also has the largest display of color contrast. All in one, this sketch shows grace, mystery, and power.

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Week 11 prompt #5

In our Melville unit, we read two different stories by the author: “Bartleby” and “Benito Cereno.” The story of Bartleby follows a Lawyer who runs his own practice on Wall Street. The lawyer claims he has known many scriveners, but the most memorable scrivener he has ever had was named Bartleby. Bartleby simply existed, doing not much of anything else. The lawyer is fascinated by him, yet pities him at the same time. The story ends in a tragic and sad way, showcasing the prison that is capitalism and complacency.

The story of Benito Cereno is quite different at first glance. The narrator is Captain Delano who is the captain of a whaling ship. From afar, his ship spots another ship carrying slaves so Delano sets off to see what is going on with this worn down ship. He then meets Benito Cereno, the captain of the mysterious ship, and Babo who is Cereno’s servant and right hand man, or so we originally think. The story takes a sharp turn when readers learn that Babo and the other slaves are the ones commanding the ship. The story concludes with the execution of Babo and the death of Cereno months later, possibly out of misery.

At first thought, both stories are vastly different: an action packed mystery out in the open sea and a grim tale about workers on Wall Street. However, “Bartleby” and “Benito Cereno” are very similar stories. Delano, who misses numerous signs that something is wrong on the ship, does not decide to do anything about it because he is complacent and set in his beliefs that no slaves would ever be smart or wise enough to take command of a ship. The lawyer is similar to Delano in the fact that he also never takes action. He too is complacent in his job and his workers. He notices that all of his scriveners do things their own way and are miserable due to the lack of pay and hard work. He has the means to support them more or give them more motivation by providing a better work environment, but he doesn’t. The lawyer did not have much care for his employees and Delano did not give any credit to the slaves on that ship.

Bartleby withdraws himself from human society over time because he becomes so mournful and depressed after working in the Dead Letter section of a post office. “Dead letters! Does it not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitting to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters, and assorting them for the flames?” This quote is from the end of the story, showcasing the lawyer’s reaction to finding out where Bartleby previously worked. This quote explains why Bartleby is so withdrawn and depressed, and it reminded me of the ending of “Benito Cereno” where Cereno died a few months after the trial (probably from misery). Those letters made Bartleby question everything about society, and Cereno probably had the same thought process after being on that ship. He became the hostage and the one held against his will by other humans. I think Cereno’s death was similar to Bartleby’s because he spent all of that time afterwards reflecting about his experiences on the ship. It makes me wonder if Cereno ever questioned the morals of society and the morals of himself. Though both stories are vastly different in plot, the overall themes of mental prisons, complacency, and one’s place in society are present in both stories.

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Week 9 Writing Response

Melville’s story “Bartleby, The Scrivener” introduces complex characters into the story by discussing their illnesses, caused from being overworked and underpaid. Melville’s story uncovers the dark parts of capitalism that affect laborers in and out of the office. I do not believe that Melville is arguing that all workers are sick, but he is showing that the strict demands of labor under capitalism can slowly deteriorate a person until they can no longer function. Humans are not meant to sit in an office for hours and hours each day, but most do not have a choice.

Turkey is the oldest employee of the lawyer and he works efficiently in the mornings. However, his work ethic and work quality diminishes in the afternoon as his face becomes flushed and his temper dwindles, meaning he is most likely drinking.

Nippers, on the other hand, is young and works best in the afternoon. He struggles with stomach problems in the morning and has anxiety and nerves when it comes to his work. He often grinds his teeth together over mistakes he makes while copying.

Bartleby is an employee that is severely depressed and has gotten to the point in his career where he simply refuses to do work. He represents burn out and numbness felt by many people caught in the cycle of capitalism.

The lawyer was not fond of any of his employees but he always found usefulness in them. This reflected what office culture is like in many companies nowadays. There are rarely any personal connections made and employees are rarely viewed as real people. They are only seen as assets to a larger institution. The lawyer said, “But with all his failings, and the annoyances he caused me, Nippers, like his compatriot Turkey, was a very useful man to me...” (Pg 4) The lawyer never thought about why these “annoyances” came to be. Rather than self reflecting on why his employees act like this, he chooses to ignore it and strictly view them as machines that keep the company running smoothly. Turkey, Nippers, and Bartleby represent parts in the well oiled machine of capitalism. The lawyer enables and plays a role in this machine. He is very aware and not afraid to point out the faults of his employees, but never once does he take a step back to self reflect on how they all came to be like that. Melville does not argue that workers are sick, but that most inevitably become sick due to the strict demands placed on them and the lack of care and compassion from those in positions of power.

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Week 9 visual prompt

I chose this picture of Wall Street in the 19th century due to the liveliness it portrays. When I currently think of Wall Street, I think of overworked individuals in a cramped cubicle staring at numbers on a computer screen all day. I just this image and portrayal of Wall Street because there is a liveliness to it and I feel as if I can hear the sounds of the street. From the horses to the groups of people chatting, Wall Street during this time period does not seem as gloom. In reality, I am sure many of these people portrayed are overworked, underpaid, and tired. However, I like that people are outside engaging with one another even in a stressful and high intensity environment.

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Week 7 Visual Prompt

This is a photo with girls on my team after our spring break trip ended. From March 6 to March 21, we played 5 games and finished the trip with a record of 4-1, only losing to Catholic University 14-8 who is currently ranked in the Division III Top 20. We spent nine days in Massanutten, VA and stayed in four houses (a coaches house and one house for each position). We got back to campus a few days early and spent that time prepping for our last two games. The trip was extremely tiring and busy, but it was a great time to bond with all of my teammates. We spent everyday of the trip together, but that bonding strengthened our chemistry on and off the field! Though I didn’t have the average typical spring break of a college student, I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world! 

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Week 7 prompt #3

In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative he describes how he carries a root in his pocket as talismanic protection from Covey. Though Douglass acknowledges that it was not effective or a saving grace by any means, he still carries it for his physical confrontation with Covey. Douglass also recognized this root as being important enough to include it in his autobiography. Though things such as manifestation, horoscopes, prayers, etc can’t fully guarantee or predict a desired outcome, I do believe that putting these things into the Universe and putting your trust in something is always comforting in any situation. I have played sports my entire life and when I was younger, it was all about the physicality of the sport rather than the mental components. As I became older, I realized that mental well-being and a sense of security is just as important to success within athletics.

I was a starter on the Varsity Field Hockey team my freshman year of high school and our team made it to the league championship which was so exciting, but very nerve wracking. This was a very important game because it was against our rival on our rivalry weekend. I went to boarding school, so rivalry weekends are very big events, especially because the rivalries date back over one hundred years! A few days before the game, our coach gave our team a pep talk and talked about the importance of feeling good mentally and having confidence going into the game. She also talked about visualizing and how it is super helpful to visualize yourself doing good things throughout the game. I thought it was kind of silly to visualize myself making good plays during the game but I decided that it does not hurt to try (I am a Pisces after all, so I’m a pro daydreamer!) The next few days, I envisioned myself making simple, but solid plays against the team. However, I kept having one vision of myself stopping a breakaway (I played defense). The vision would not get out of my head and I could not stop imagining myself stopping a hug breakaway. I thought it was funny because of how unrealistic it was. Yes I was a defender, but all season there had been no breakaways and if there was one, I certainly was not the player to stop it (there were two other defenders on the field with me). 

Flash forward to that Saturday, we were on the bus to the game and I had the same visions running through my mind while I was listening to music. Once warmups ended and the game began, all of those silly little visualizations disappeared from my mind and my only focus was on the present. During the second half of the game we were tied 1-1 with about 20 minutes left. Then all of a sudden, I found myself on my own at the halfway mark of the field and our team was attacking the cage. The other team’s defender whacked the ball out of their zone and another player quickly secured the ball and began racing down the field. My coach looked like she was going to sh*t her pants according to my teammates. I knew there was no time to play it safe and wait for my teammates to recover so as I was all alone, I ran up and made a clean tackle to stop the breakaway as the crowd erupted in cheers. It is extremely rare for a breakaway like that to occur in field hockey, but that day it happened and I was able to stop it. I could not believe it, not because I stopped it, but because I had been visualizing it all week and it became real. Would that breakaway still have happened if I did not visualize it all week? Probably. But would I have been that confident going into the game if I did not visualize? Probably not. It is a crazy story that I still can’t believe happened, but it taught me the importance of mental toughness and confidence. I now visualize before all of my lacrosse games at college. Even though most of my visions do not occur exactly how I imagine them, I’m able to go into games with a sense of confidence and mental strength that I did not have before my freshman year field hockey coach taught me. I understand why Douglass brought that root with him anyways, because it gave him a sense of security and something to rely on even in a hard moment.

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Visual Response Week 4

This is a picture done by Thomas Cole. As I was scrolling through the internet in attempt to find a picture, this one immediately caught my eye due to the differences in light shown throughout the picture. Cole only uses a few colors in this picture: brown, green, black, white, and blue. However, he mixes and crafts these colors into many different shades, which makes this painting intricate and beautiful. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the sky. On the right is a beautiful blue sky with white clouds, which serves as the brightest part of the picture. Beneath it is a landscape with a river running through the greenery. As my eyes shifted towards the left, the picture becomes gloomy and dark as storm clouds roll towards the bright sky and gleaming river. This darkness casts a shadow on the landscape below it, where the trees are dark green and the brown bark is so dark it almost looks black in places. I really like this painting because in one landscape it captures a dark and dreary rain storm as well as a bright, beautiful sky overlooking a river. I think Cole is portraying the duality of nature and all of the power it has over landscapes to change one’s perspective. At first I thought the right side was the most appealing, but after analyzing this piece for longer, both sides of the painting are beautiful in their own ways, even if there is a storm.

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Week 4 response #1

In Emerson’s speech “The American Scholar,” he gives readers an idea for the wholly American intellectual. He explains that an individual may live in either two states. The first state is busy, divided, and degenerate. In that state, the individual does not posses himself but identifies with whatever job or robotic action her performs. The second state, explained by Emerson as the “right” state, is when the individual is integrated with all of mankind, therefore elevated to the status of Man. Emerson explains, however, that this status of Man is not easily achieved. To do so, one must reject old ideas of thinking and think just for themself. He categorized individuals with no autonomy as victims of society and products of the thinking of others. 

Though Emerson’s words make sense in theory, it can be difficult to put them into practice, especially in today’s capitalist society where everything is influenced by tradition, history, and complacency. Most people today are products of those before them and are unable to see the world through their own eyes (especially with the media), which creates a reproduction of traditions rather than allowing for new traditions to be born. Below I have assembled two lists: the list of things people must have to be the “perfect capitalist follower” and the list of things that people should have to be a free thinking individual modeling after Emerson’s words. These lists are in no particular order.

Perfect Capitalist Follower:

College Education (preferably a Master’s Degree as well)

Financial literacy

Social networks and connections

White

Male 

Work first attitude (everything is about business gain)

Follower

Complacent 

Emerson’s Individual:

Curious 

Individualistic 

Fresh eyes 

Passion for travel

Knowledge of history (to learn from it)

Knowledge of different cultures

Diverse social circle 

Creative/innovative 

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Week 3 visual prompt

The man’s large glossy white eyes pierce through the photograph pleading for one’s attention. His lips are sealed tight in a fine line as he sits upright and stiff in his seat, emulating intensity and seriousness. His hair is straight and turns into a soft curl towards his ears, almost meeting the white collar of his shirt. Clad in a black suit, the unknown man has his right arm wrapped tightly around a young child while his other arm rests on his lap. With a scared expression hidden underneath the blur that covers her(his?) face, the child is unidentifiable, holding her arms across her tiny body in an act of protection, and looks foreign to the man with the stiff and unsettling demeanor. The contrast of the child’s frightened expression and the man’s ice cold demeanor leave chills up the spine of any viewer.

I am not sure what this portrait is conveying, and I’d love to know what everyone thinks. It is very dark and mysterious to me, and the subjects seem unfamiliar with each other/uncomfortable in the presence of one another. Is this supposed to be a father and child portrait? Or does this photo have a deeper meaning/message? I am not sure exactly what this picture conveys, but the look on the child’s face along with the man’s emotionless expression suggest a a mysterious and possibly even haunting background story.

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Week 3 Response #3

Shawn Michelle Smith brings in the observations of Ulrich Baer to showcase how history and time are brought into photographs, even if it is subconsciously. She explained how Washington’s portrait of Brown portrayed how difficult it can be to read photographs. This is not just true with Washington’s portrait, but it also holds true for other pictures that have history and a future connected to it. Baer explains that viewers of a photograph have “virtually automatic predisposition to link particular sights to familiar historical contexts and narratives.” (Page 106) When looking at his portrait, viewers subconsciously think of events that happened after it was taken. This alters the true meaning of the photograph because it was taken before anyone could have known about the future and what was to come. Though this can be the difficult part of viewing photographs, there is an imaginative side to these pictures because the stories remain so open-ended in the mind(s) of the subject(s). Smith explains that photographs hold even more power if the viewer suppresses what they know about the historical context after it was taken. It is fascinating to view a picture and look at a reality not yet achieved through the subject’s eyes, body language, and more.

The picture attached to this post showed me on “college t-shirt day” at my high school in May 2019. I am wearing a Kenyon Lacrosse shirt and giving “two thumbs up” to the camera, while my smile is as bright as the sun shining down on me. This picture was taken by a friend of mine who told me to turn around and smile. At that point, I had been committed to Kenyon for almost a year (I committed to play lacrosse in August 2018), so I spent many months daydreaming and wondering what my college experience would look like. I visited Kenyon in the summer, but not during the school year because of my field hockey schedule, so I had never been to Kenyon when school was in session. At the moment this photo was taken, I was so excited for a new chapter in my life to begin, but I had no idea what to expect due to the large unknown that was before me. My eyes and smile suggest that I am excited and hopeful for a great experience. 

I am only two and a half years through my college career, and I have been through so many different moments and experiences: freedom, fun, best friends, heartbreak, love, and a pandemic which I never ever thought would happen. My college experience has been filled with ups and downs ranging from the high of freshman year excitement to the lows of my sophomore year which was filled with covid testing, lockdowns, and frustration. Though I’ve had a very unique college experience that was infiltrated with a pandemic, I have loved my experience overall. I have amazing friends and the best teammates, I majored in something I hadn’t known much about previously (sociology), I have an exciting summer internship position across the country, and so much more. Looking at that picture and removing everything that happened afterwards, it is just a girl in her senior year of high school who is ready to move onto another journey. Her smile is bright and her eyes are hopeful. She is giving a thumbs up to a reality not yet redeemed, and it was all worth it.

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This painting is called the Hayne Hudjihini or Eagle of Delight by Charles Bird King. The painting is of a prominent Otoe (Native American people from the Midwest) who was the wife of a chief. Along with her husband she traveled with an Indian delegation of chiefs to Washington, DC where they met James Monroe. She died of measles shortly after her travels. This portrait now hangs in the library of the White House. I was drawn to this portrait because it portrayed a woman from this time, rather than a male. She is adorned in beautiful jewelry and clothing that showcase her hair and facial features. I think this portrait represents the women who were involved in these tribes, while also showing the beauty of Native American people.

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Reading Response Week 2

“Such images are indeed able to usurp reality because first of all a photograph is not only an image, an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something directly stenciled off the real, like a footprint or a death mask. While a painting, even one that meets photographic standards of resemblance, is never more than the stating of an interpretation, a photograph is never less than the registering of an emanation— a material vestige of its subject in a way that no painting can be….” (Sontag 80-81)

“An interpretation of the real.” These five words stood out to me the most in Susan Sontag’s piece of writing. Back then, a photograph was never one hundred percent real. When looking at photographs, there are so many questions one can ask. “Is this posed?” Is this what was really happening” “What is the story?” Depending on what the viewer sees and their outlook, one photo will mean a different thing to each person, therefore making it only an interpretation. 

The image has significantly evolved over the years with the emergence of social media, especially Instagram. An instagram photo is an interpretation of the real. Most of the time it is a very stretched interpretation of the real. Back then, photographs were used to make people think, imagine, and admire. More recently, photographs create a sense of jealousy and lack of self esteem in not only viewers, but also the creators. When one takes a photo, time is spent analyzing and editing it to perfection. There are certain aspects of photos that are fake like body shape, teeth color, and smooth skin. Along with physical edits, photos on social media only represent the best parts of someone or something. It is rare for people to show vulnerability on social media, especially apps like instagram.

On page eighty one, Sontag explains how through photographs we acquire information on something rather than experience. When looking at photographs, you are not able to be in the photo experiencing what is going on, but you can do your best to interpret it and therefore gain knowledge and information about the scene and the subjects. This outlook is still true today, but in a more harmful way. Social media is a highlight reel and when you see a picture of a group of friends out at a party along with a caption consisting of a few vague words or emojis, you assume that you missed out on the “best night ever.” In reality however, you only saw a snapshot that was taken in seconds and there are endless possibilities about what could have been going on at that particular moment, good or bad. Everyone knows social media is a stretch of reality, but it does not take away from the fact that it can be harmful to many. I am not only complicit but also a contributor to the fake world of social media because I whiten my teeth and add a filter to all of my posts that never actually represent what was going on at the time.

Though this historicization was completed in 1977 and many things have changed since then regarding technology, Sontag’s argument still remains extremely accurate. Photos back then and now are only an interpretation of the real and this holds true for the creator and viewer.

#songofmyselfie