Paws of Pride, Partying and a Podcast

          My initial response after listening to this podcast is a mixture of conflicting feelings.  These conflicting feelings are arriving due to the fact that so much was touched upon within the podcast.  Beginning very negatively, I felt ashamed listening to the content of the podcast and embarrassed that I may be associated with the people first interviewed in it.  The opposing feeling comes from the end of the podcast, displaying a much more positive outlook with the final act surrounding the “WE ARE” chant, so famously exemplifying who we are as members of this university.

            I’m torn, probably because I’m not a partier.  I recognize that a lot of people do party and I don’t judge or act unfavorable towards them.  Honestly, I am friends with a lot of them.  Everyone is different so everyone has different personal opinions.  For me, partying isn’t as accessible or wanted at this moment in my life. I have a lot of other things that don’t allow me the time, need or want to party.  So here I may become biased because I feel like some of the people interviewed/or discussed were acting so stupid, for example, the young girls attacking the police car who acting so disrespectfully towards him.  Did they know they would be on a podcast for the whole world to hear? Probably not, but even so, it’s embarrassing for other university students, even partiers, to be judged and become victims of the persona that others have created.

            I’m proud to be a Penn State student, but am I ashamed too? I might be if I acted in the manner that some people interviewed in the podcast did, but I don’t.  I shouldn’t be ashamed for other people’s actions because they are embarrassing themselves.  While some might take a different approach, I feel that the university is large enough to hold a variety of stereotypical groups, not just the “partiers”.  I don’t have to be associated with them if I make it known that I am not.  Rather than worrying about our pride, we should be more focused on the safety of our students.  With safety will come better choices and therefore better outcomes.  To me, that is much more worthy of pride than being considered the number one party school in America, but again, that’s a personal opinion.  I’m not for banning alcohol in the University, but I do believe action can be taken to limit it so as to not inflict on those, such as the neighbors, who do not want to be a part of it.

            Many appeals occurred throughout the podcast.  I noticed logos a lot throughout it.  Credibility of many subjects came up, including the survey that ranked us “#1 party school”.  Graham Spanier himself quoted that the “students vote” therefore we were ranked #1 for a reason right?  He insinuated that we are ranked number one because students want to be number one, we want to be number one in everything, including football, mascot, partying, etc.  He has a point.  The fact that Graham Spanier was quoted several times and audio of him was used allows for better logos of the production company of this podcast.  With the President speaking, it must be pretty legit, right? I thought so.

            Ethos is obviously used too, we all have arguments within this situation, and so we all have claims.  For the students, the claim is that it’s college and according to the one fraternity member, when else will we get to do this?  He has a point too.  This may lead to the questions like, when does it become too much though?  This claim is that of those held responsible, the University, it’s staff, Graham Spanier, the alumni, etc.  Another claim in this podcast is the podcast itself.  They are making a point to shed light on the University’s drinking problem because that is the sole topic, so of course every effort has been made to expose it.  I do believe though that the podcast presented it professionally and made it personal, they included many recognizable on campus locations such as McLanahan’s, Indigo, Beaver Stadium etc.  This helped in its claim and credibility as well as constantly providing listeners with nation-wide statistics and research about university students and drinking habits.

            One major appeal to logos in this podcast too was the research and discussion of the most recent alcohol related death of a PSU student.  The interviewers/narrators provided insight into the ordeal, why and how it happened and what the University did afterwards.

            Overall, I felt that this podcast was intriguing and done respectfully.  It defined PSU through the perspectives of many, including community dwellers, students, police force, and even staff.  The definitions seemed accurate to me and were a mix of positive and negative.  I feel that there is still an issue here to be addressed but I also think that the University will remain much the way it is because it is loved so much by its growing abundance of students and alumni.

Opening Night

            This past Tuesday night, October 18,2011, I went to Eisenhower Auditorium where the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State presented the Tony-winning best musical, In The Heights.  The show started at 7:30 but my advisor, Laura Brown had reserved tickets for the special living option I’m involved in, Discover House.  I didn’t have a ticket but lucked out and was able to go in place of someone else on the floor that could not attend. How lucky am I?  We arrived an hour early to talk to two of the main members of the cast, Celina Clarich Polanco and Benjamin Perez.  Both were brilliant in presenting the musical accurately.  They are both so engulfed in their roles and are most obviously passionate about their careers, specifically in this musical.  Celina even described to us the process she took to land this role, including seeing the musical 36 times and auditioning 16 times.  They are a part of this tour, the second national tour for this musical, which we were told is rare in the theater industry, for a second national tour to be produced so largely and precisely like the original.  Fortunately for Penn State, they chose to start off here in State College with Tuesday night’s performance as opening night.

            The musical, In The Heights, is set in Washington Heights, New York, a Latino neighborhood.  Seeing that most of them speak English and Spanish, the musical incorporated both languages a lot.  They executed the use of the languages so well though that even those who knew no Spanish, like myself, could follow the plot and events easily.  The music was brilliant! A mix of hip-hop, rap and Latin, it was like none that I’ve heard.  It was very inspiring and the choreography was phenomenal.  I personally loved watching the dancing that took place throughout the entire musical because that is my favorite form of art, dance, most likely because I am a dancer myself and have been for most of my life.  The overall effect of the musical was wonderful.  I felt connected with the characters and the events that happened were ones that almost any family could relate to in some way or another.  For me, I identified most with one of the main stars, a young girl named Nina who struggled with finding herself and affording college at Stanford. Virginia Cavaliere, an amazing young actress, singer and dancer who really brought her character to life for us, played Nina’s role.  The entire musical was one to be remembered and I would recommend it to anyone to see if they had the opportunity.

A Peaceful Escape - Prompt #3

This afternoon, I experienced the most peaceful moment I’ve had since arriving at PSU.  Around 11:00 I grabbed a to-go lunch from Irving’s Bagels.  As I was heading toward Willard Building, the Hintz Family Alumni Center’s beautiful gardens caught my eye.  I entered a small, iron gate next to the colorful Secret Garden, a gift from an anonymous donor, which led down a small dirt path and to the soft, green lawn.  I crossed through the moist grass, passing the duck pond to the Ridge Riley’s Bridge.  It seemed like a great spot to sit and eat, study or relax. It was full of natural sounds, much different than the normal sounds of campus.  The ducks’ quacks were the most evident sounds I heard.  The ducks ran around near the pond, chasing students, or launching into the water.  I listened to the occasionally stirred water below and the rustling leaves above.  A massive tree seemed to lean over the bridge resembling a green rooftop, providing shade and concealment.  Today was a great day to visit, with the slight breeze that passed through, I sat very content on one of the cool stone benches of the bridge.  I enjoyed my savory bagel sandwich and sat still; just experiencing all that surrounded me.  I realized today how much I loved it there because it was an escape.  It created a feeling of peaceful separation from the busy bustle of campus life.  It allowed time for quiet reflection and most of all, comfort.

The Palmer, my first visit.

          While meandering through the beautiful Palmer Museum of Art, I came across a wonderful piece of artwork in the David and Gerry Pincus Gallery that had appealed quite rhetorically interesting to me.  It’s title is a date, 4.11.2007.  To me, this was a surprising title for such a piece of art, nonetheless it is quite simple and perhaps that was the artist’s goal.  The artist then, is Mark Sheinkman.  He is an American artist born in 1963.  The materials used for this brilliant piece are oil, alkyd, and graphite on linen.  It was made in 2007.

            I sat on a wooden bench in front of the piece to observe it and to create a thorough description, attempting to capture its essence in words.  The best descriptions I came up with were as follows:  The piece hung as a rectangular shape on the wall with a very dark background, almost black but not quite.  Its color scheme was made up of every variation of black and white, including every shade of gray in between.  The brightest white parts appeared the closest to me, while the soft grays seemed to hang in the air behind the white, reminiscent of mist, or smoke.  The entire picture conveyed the concept of smoke.  It was made up of soft, swirling motions that seemed to hang in the air.  It appeared to me whimsical yet ominous, both somewhat evil and yet very pure.  The “smoke” as you may call it took every possible movement through swirls, curves, turns, twists and circles, intertwining within one another’s rungs.  It seemed not as one definite wisp of smoke, but many that each started and ended on different parts of the linen canvas.  They spread out along the sides of the canvas but all clustered together in a diagonal across the center of the painting, leaving the bottom left corner and top right corner mostly empty.  The entire painting just radiated delicateness to me.  It seemed as if you were to move too quickly past it, or to reach out a hand and touch it with the tip of your finger that the entire picture would disintegrate.

            The rhetorical situation of the piece is that it is quite secluded.  I have researched to attempt to find a reason behind the title of Sheinkman’s 4.11.2007, but found no answers.  To me, this made the piece even more rhetorically interesting because it’s place/time of creation is not very precise.  I know that it was created in 2007, which matches the year in the title, yet I was unable to find any further explanation as to why it is a specific date. Perhaps, that was the date that he created the idea for the piece, began working on it, or maybe the finish of it.  I also know that Sheinkman has done various pieces that are part of an exhibition called Leaded, in which his pieces seem to imitate each other and are made of the same materials, and color scheme that go along with graphite.  I do not believe it belongs to a historical moment exactly, but rather Sheinkman’s own cultural moment in which he creates these similar pieces of artwork.  To me, the piece is very much in conversation within the moment, being so comparable to his other works such as Audobon, Chisum, Twelfth, and many others.  One other factor that may influence his work through this cultural moment is the fact that he resides in New York.  New York is a very busy, inspiring city and to me, the piece 4.11.2007 incorporates some qualities of the city such as the smoke that obviously comes with the pollution from any city, especially such a large one.  Another idea could be the evil and purity that radiate through the piece, like different parts of a city.  There are countless interpretations that can be composed from a viewer’s aspect.

            The piece involves pathos, especially to me, because it evokes certain emotions within me.  I found the piece very inspiring and peaceful, ominous almost.  It captivated me and I was forced to sit and stare at it for quite some time.  I felt at ease just looking at it, trying to formulate ideas behind Sheinkman’s purpose, and his strokes that seem so life-like.  Considering myself a very amateur artist, I felt so inspired by his painting because it speaks directly to the values I have, and the type of art that I yearn to be capable of creating.  To me, it connects to my values of passion and drive, to inspire people, and create art that can be interpreted in so many ways.  More than anything the beautiful painting just captivated me in every way, drawing me close and I believe that is it’s most powerful aspect in which I could not escape.  Also, a little personal fun-fact: My favorite colors are black and white.  They are so classical, and appeal to me more than most colors.  I have my entire room at home done in black and white, with silver and gray accents.  I think this is another reason why 4.11.2007 appeals to me so much, it is a piece of art that I would never even hesitate on having in my future home if I could.

            The artist establishes his credibility because immediately upon researching him, I found various pieces of artwork that match the style of 4.11.2007 which easily showed his passion for this type of art, and also his talent.  One thing I noticed about this piece was that along the sides of the canvas’ edge are his fingerprints that are left from the residue of the graphite.  I find it interesting that he left them there, giving the piece such a personal touch and credibility all in one.  He is an established artist in New York, and as I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, has many creations that are comparable to the one at The Palmer Museum of Art.  Here are some links to other works of his, as well as an article in which 4.11.2007 was used:  http://www.vonlintel.com/Mark-Sheinkman.html

http://www.marksheinkman.com/press/pressimages/sheinkman_2008Artpapers.pdf

I am unsure whether Mark Sheinkman is making any direct claims through 4.11.2007, but if he is, one that I may consider is simply the idea of inspiration.  To me, that is the largest standing aspect of the painting.  I feel as though it is meant to evoke emotions, as it did to me, in all viewers, whether the feelings are of mystery, or fascination, fantasy, or realism.  The piece can be interpreted in so many ways that I feel that is it’s ultimate claim, to be interpreted.  This also fits in with the fact that there are no words in the title, because the words may distract the viewer from formulating their own ideas of the piece.

            Finally, to reflect on my overall experience at The Palmer Museum of Art, I loved it!  I realized that I am a definite newly discovered museum-goer.  It was my first time at The Palmer, and I would love to go back to just spend some more time mulling over the beautiful pieces!  I was fascinated, specifically by the upper-level, with all the variations and varieties of art.  I love art, and I now know that art museums are a wonderful pastime for myself.  I have been in several museums before, but none close to home.  I recently was in the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. but our schedule lacked time and I was robbed of the overall experience.  This summer was my first real-loving museum experience at The Louvre, in Paris, France.  It would take months to go through everything in The Louvre, and although I only had a couple of hours there, I was in love!  So to experience, on a much smaller scale, such a wonderful, serene place so close to home was something that I will definitely continue to do.  Thank you Sheila, for the assignment. I loved it.

Prompt #1: Strengths, Weaknesses and Art!

           Thinking back on my experiences as “a writer”, I realize that I’ve never really credited myself with that term before. I’ve always seen writing I’ve done as an “assignment” but at the same time I’ve enjoyed it much more than most other subject area homework I’ve ever been assigned.  I guess in a sense now I see that I actually am in fact a writer to some extent.  Using this term in reference to myself is quite a new task and to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses is not exactly clear to me. I know that I can in fact write on a high-school level and am confident that I can adapt my writing to acquire new skills that will allow me consideration as a college-level writer.  I love to express my views through words because sometimes I feel like it portrays my thoughts better than simply speaking them aloud.   

My strengths then, lie within a variety of things I believe are useful in writing.  My first strength being my creativeness, I feel that I posses a certain ability to be creative when writing and that allows me to have a little more fun with it, therefore it is almost always enjoyable for me to write.  I think that I can be creative with my word choices, and I love learning new words that will expand my writing vocabulary.  Another thing I think I am strong in is transitioning between paragraphs.  When I write, I tend to write a lot, and that has allowed me the practice of transitioning among many paragraphs.  Additionally, I like writing conclusions because I love the feeling that the end of a work supplies to the reader. I love have a strong connection to a written work after I have finished reading, and that feeling is typically conjured through the summary of the conclusion, leaving a last idea to permeate in my brain.  I think I can establish this feeling in my own writing sometimes but I feel as though there is room for improvement, as there is in all aspects of my writing.

Moving onto weaknesses, I believe one of mine is the introduction.  I love a great introduction that grabs my attention, eliminating all distractions and forces me to read on. I attempt to do this in my own work because I want readers to feel that way about my introductions, so I’m always looking for an “attention grabber” (as we referred to it in high school).  I feel like I often used a question or quote to start off papers in high school, and although I like those two ideas, I wish to learn more ways to introduce a paper and improve my thesis statements as well.  Another weakness that I believe I have is comma usage.  Although I believe I have improved on this, I still feel like I overuse them.  I find myself questioning my comma placements while writing and I don’t know if this is a good thing, I wish it came more naturally.  I feel as though I may want to review the rules for comma usage in the hopes that I can better determine my accuracy of them.  I know my weaknesses are probably more but I can’t identify them very well, which may be a weakness in itself!  I feel as though in high school I may have not evaluated my own work enough, taking for granted that I simply just received good markings for the most part.

I hope that throughout the semester I will be more capable of surveying my own work and finding out what my strengths and weaknesses really stand out to be.  I am open to any corrections in my work and I aim to find constructive criticism from both my peers and the instructor.  I am anticipating this goal to be successful because we have already went through the general process of what our writings will consist of.  I hope that through the drafting steps and peer workshops I will be able to identify myself as a “writer” and establish my strengths and weaknesses much further, as well as finding ways to constantly improve myself, my writing, and my abilities as a student at Penn State.

My link is not exactly to one specific piece of art but rather a link to the artist herself, Demi Lovato. I have provided two links.  The first is a link to her site, http://demilovato.com/index2.phpwhich will allow you to view her latest music video “Skyscraper”.  This is a great example of her work because she is a singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and role model, which to me are all attributes of an established artist.  The second link is to a fan site created for her. http://www.demilovatodaily.com/ I have directed you to this site as well because it contains information about her campaign work for the jed foundation, “Love is louder than the pressure to be perfect” movement.  Demi started her acting career as a little girl but received her big break through Disney, starring in Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2 as well as having her own TV show, tours and now she is working on her third studio album.  I feel inspired by her because she has accomplished so much already in her life, along with the struggles of an eating disorder and even cutting.  She was recently in rehab and is now making a comeback with her newest album “Unbroken” and her work with the “Love is Louder” movement.  She has incredible talent for such a young woman and I am in complete awe by her.  I first encountered her through the Disney channel, but seeing her in person a few years ago soon topped seeing her on TV.  I have actually seen her live on a couple of occasions, in Pittsburgh and here at the Bryce Jordan Center while she was on tour with The Jonas Brothers.  She evokes feelings of inspiration, happiness, and compassion for me.  Her work merits the term “art” because it is all a form of her expressions.  Her music is by far my favorite of her art forms, because it is undeniably full of talent and meaning.  I also am awe-inspired by her joining the “Love is Louder” movement after all that she has been through.