A Bloody Collage

Picasso made a collage based on the attack of Guernica, a village where women and children mainly lived. Guernica was bombed by the Germans however and Picasso painted this picture to show everyone what's it's like to get bombed.

My thoughts on this picture is everything looks really confusing. I mean you can't see what exactly is going on and everything is distorted. So I wondered why everything was messy and everything is very distorted. Than I realized, if your city was getting bombed, than wouldn't everything be really confusing? You would have people screaming and running for their lives, you'd have dead people on the street, injured people everywhere. So I think that the chaotic feel to this painting is because Picasso wanted to show everyone what it would be like to get bombed.

The painting Guernica, gives off a really weird feeling. It gives off a sort of disturbing feeling. I think that feeling comes from the facial expressions from the people and than it just makes you feel really weird. Also the other feeling it gives off is more of a intruding feeling. I feel like I don't really belong, and I feel like this isn't something I should be looking at. I think I feel this because of the distorted people, like they're different and I'm just here watching.

One of the questions I had was 'How did people feel in Picasso's time when they first saw this?' Often in times in history, when people saw things they didn't like or disagreed with, they destroyed it, or hated the person who created it. People who saw this, and disagreed with what they saw, like they thought "Oh it's not that bad, and what we're doing is right, those people deserved what we doing to them". People would think that because everyone had an opinion in the war. So what did those people think?

The most interesting thing in this painting, is the facial expressions. Everyone has a certain facial expression, confusion, uncertainty, surprised. Even the horse has a surprised look on it's face. Picasso probably put this like this because in a bombing, everyone would be very surprised and confused and really scared.

Picasso did an amazing job potraying the scene of a bombing. He was able to collide everything and make it look scary and confused. He maked an amazing job in showing the facial expressions and I think that this is a wonderful painting.

Regretting Past, Changing Future

This is a story of a man named Jesús Colón. Jesús Colón was on a subway. He's a black, Hispanic, and he's living in a racist time period. He sees a white young lady, with two young children, and a baby. He knows what he should do. He should help the young lady. But he doesn't. He rushes right past them, as he rushes out of the problem that he could've helped. I believe that he should've helped even if he may have gotten in trouble.

Jesús Colón is black and he's Hispanic which is a way he describes himself. He is living in a racist time and that's exactly how he described himself. He also described the young blonde woman as white, and as a woman. This was what held him back from helping her. The fact that he was worried she would call the police on him because it was late at night, she was alone with three children, she was white, and he was black. However he didn't not stop to help her off the train worrying about himself, because he may have gotten in trouble or the lady may have thought something of it rather than actually him helping her. He was being selfish and put himself in front of her and didn't want to get in trouble instead of taking an chance and helping her.

The skin color in this time period was a big barrier to everyone. Black people were segregated from white people so I understand why he wouldn't help her. He may have been worried that she would've gotten the wrong idea that he was trying to help her, she might have thought that he was being to friendly. So the skin color was one of the reasons he didn't help, but I think that he should've tried to see past that even though the larger society says that because of someone's skin color they will either be accepted into society or not be accepted and the blacks at this time did not feel accepted.

Jesús Colón regrets not helping the lady out of the subway. He didn't make the right choice. It's the thought that counts to at least bothered to help her and what I think is, I don't think she would've acted racist in front of her own children because what if they copied her to their friends or repeated some of the words that she said to him. So I think that he made the wrong choice in rushing off and not helping her. He knows he didn't make the right choice and he wishes he could've done something to help her.

If Jesús Colón were white would my answer be different in how he reacted? No, if he rushed off without even helping her than that would be just wrong. Jesús Colón's dilemma was that he was black and she was white, so she might have thought something different, but if he were white and she were white than he should help her, because they are the same race and she might not think anything of except for the fact that he's trying to help her.

I think that the victims in this story are the woman and Jesús Colón. But more of Colón because first of all he wouldn't help her because he was worried she might call the police on her and he was black so she might think something else rather than he was trying to helper her. The woman was a victim not so much because she had trouble getting off the train and he didn't help her. The Larger Society victimized them because if there were no racial problems, he wouldn't think or even worry about him being black and there wouldn't be a problem helping her. But everyone thinks of racism then people worry about it and they hate one another because of people's skin color.

I chose this photo because it's a photo of the 'Larger Society' and what we have here is a group of black people in a restaurant. There are no white people because white people wouldn't go into that restaurant during this particular time because of racial problems. So this represents the Larger Society and right now the Larger Society doesn't allow black people to mix with white people.

This is related to the story we read in class called 'The Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. Hashim was not accepted into The Blokes because he was a foreigner. The Blokes represent the Larger Society because what they say goes "What the Blokes say goes" and so the Larger Society are the white people, they think that they are the greatest rather than being equal. So Hashim represents the other races, different and non-white. When they aren't accepted they don't do anything because they are powerless unlike the Larger Society. The kids who keep their heads down, and don't say anything represent the people who could make a change but don't. John, Hashim's friend, represents the people who do make a change in the society and help the 'Hashim's".

This story is connected in my life because, when I was in third grade, we would all play together at recess. My friends and I always stuck together and we would go into different groups to play games. There was one girl, who didn't fit in. She told "out of the world" lies and we all knew that she was lying. One day she decided to hang out with my friends and she was telling us all about how she could do flips off a bar. My friends and she were having an arguement. I said nothing and they were still arguing and I told my friends to shut up about her. I didn't stop and "rush off the bus" I stopped and "helped the lady" I feel really good about this and after that I heard the girl say, "Rachel is a really great friend" I still feel pretty good about what I said over 4 years ago.

URL: http://ltcsociety.in/files/2009/08/ltcs.jpg

Forgiveness is the Power

Forgiveness is Power
November 27 2010

Fatmire Feka was separated from her brother and sister ten years ago. It's been 10 years and she has released the idea that they might just be alive. She and her mother think that they have been shot because their uncle was shot in the shoulder and doesn't remember who it was, or if her siblings were killed. I believe she is a hero.

Fatmire Feka has one remarkable personality trait. The power to forgive. Because of her past, of someone helping her and teaching her about forgiveness rather than hatred and anger, she wants to forgive everyone. But the problem is, not matter how hard she wants to forgive, she doesn't know who to forgive. This is a heroic act of hers and I think that if this were me, I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive so this is amazing what she's doing. Also in the Bible, because I'm Christian, there is a verse that many preachers and bishops like to quote. I don't know where to find it, but the quote is 'Turn the other cheek' I believe Jesus said this to his disciples. These are powerful words, when you turn the other cheek, I think it means to not fight back, and forgive. Though sometimes it may be hard.

This story is connected to the story we read in class called 'The Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. There was a boy named Hashim and The Blokes blackmailed Hashim's friend John, into destroying Hashim's school project, his village. When John did so, he felt awful and like a horrible friend. Hashim did not hate John or The Blokes. He did not fight back. He forgave everyone and he was then called the strongest link by his friend John. Fatmire Feka hasn't gone around saying she wants to hurt the person who killed her sister and brother, not because she doesn't know who it was, but because she wants to seek to forgive them. She and Hashim are amazing people, who seeked refugee from somewhere and have came into people's lives and changed them, for good. That's what makes them both heroes.

This is related to my life because sometimes, when I mess up, or I hurt people's feelings, I want forgiveness. I would say I'm sorry and I would want them to forgive me. Although sometimes I don't exactly show it but I would want it. Fatmire Feka although has been able to seek forgiveness even though it was hard and she is a hero for that and if we all were able to forgive and turn the other cheek, I think we would have so much more peace in the world.

I chose this photo because it shows someone's hands in a prayer position. When you pray, in my culture, what you do is you thank God for all the blessings, than you ask for forgiveness in all your sins, like if you lied, cheated, or stole, than you ask for forgiveness with all your heart. So this reminded me of someone asking for forgiveness.

Artist: Unknown

Painting: Unknown

URL: http://wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/forgiveness.jpg

The Visual Poem

We watched a visual poem in Humanities about two people, Jason Van Genderen and Shane Emmett who live in Sydney, Australia, and New York City, New York. They went around taking pictures of the city around them but they only used words to describe how both of the cities are connected. We all watched the simple street words transformed into powerful words.

In the beginning we learned about how both New York City and Sydney are completely different cities, they are separated by an ocean. They are on different sides of the world and are even different time zones. They are each different. But are they really? They have people who live and have families. They each have poverty in their cities, homeless people, they have children, adults, grandparents and animals who live in one city. So why is it just sea that divides us? In the poem that we had, it talked about how we aren't just two little separate islands with our own stories and disconnected from one another. Rather we are one massive "continent" that Donne refers to. Both Donne and Van Genderen have suggested that mankind is interconnected and have used continent as a metaphor to show that we are all united. Although we each have our own stories and lives, we can share this one another. 'No man is an island entire of itself: every man is a continent, a part of a main.' Van.... said that we all have stories and that wherever we go, there will be someone with a unique back round, personality, and family. So while we are interconnected, we cannot forget the people who don't have as much as we have. Even though they may be invisible and as we walk by them we need to accept that they are humans just like

This poem is like an opposite of the story "The Blokes" , a short story by Alan , this was their problem. They could not accept the fact that they aren't the great continent while everyone else is just a little island out in the ocean. They.... don't realize that we are millions of people, hundreds of races, many different faces, one human species. I think that they think that they are the best out of everyone and that's what gets to them to do the mean things they do. The pride. They pull strings and that's what makes them think that they are the best and that they are super and that they are the greatest.

I chose this photo because if you take a first glance at it, it shows just a man's face, but if you take a closer look than you see more people. The face represents the 'Continent' "No man is an entire island of itself; every man is a piece of the main" and the people there represent the people, that's us, who make up the island.

My blog post shows that this video is encouraging us to relate to others no matter who they are and why they are that way and everything like this.