About two weeks ago Joe Cope came to class and discussed with us the the relationship between text and imagery. I found this class period to be really informative in terms of how text can support images in terms of description and illustration, but what really stood out to me was the topic behind the images that Cope had selected. Cope had chosen images that portrayed injustices through insensitive and narrow-minded narratives. Specifically, Cope explained how in the time period displayed in the 17th century pamphlets he selected, it was a common thing for people to be arrested and put in jail if they were unable to prove that they own property or had a working job. Continue reading “Poverty as a Crime?”
Providence and the Unlikely Scholars
While scrolling through the (Im)Possibilities blog this past week, I came across a blog written for the Steve Prince class that had underlying connections to our course. In Claire Corbeaux’s recent blog post, “Providence and the Baby Dolls,” she discusses the concept of providence and how it relates to Kim Vaz-Deville’s book, Walking Raddy and society at large. While this post doesn’t directly relate to our class, I found that the central theme of “providence” connects to the material we’ve been working with, especially in terms of Victor La Valle’s novel, The Big Machine.
As Claire begins to write, she notes that her class’s guest speaker, Dr. Cope, explained providence in relation to the Puritans. According to Claire’s post, the Puritans defined providence as “God’s control over the universe and its happenings as well as the lives of individual beings.” After reading this sentence, I realized that providence has developed as a theme in LaValle’s novel. Continue reading “Providence and the Unlikely Scholars”
A Moment in Retrospect to Push Me Forward
Recently, both Jen and Michee touched upon authorial intent and reader interpretation in their incredibly thoughtful blog posts. In “Whose Story is it Anyway?,” Michee brought up a debate I have been struggling with.
Continue reading “A Moment in Retrospect to Push Me Forward”
The One Where I Talk Too Much About Maps
The fact that the discipline of geography is classified solely as a science is one that I find to be problematic. The interactions I have had with modern geography tend more towards the hard science end of things, as physical geography especially involves a fusion of climate science, chemistry, biology, geology and more, but to classify the discipline as purely a science ignores its origins as a subject that once was more artistic than scientific in its endeavours. Continue reading “The One Where I Talk Too Much About Maps”
What is Real Anymore?
In class on Friday, we were talking about the Momo Challenge and the damages this hoax has caused internationally. For the longest time, I just assumed that the creator of this character had evil intentions, when in actuality, it was another social media scam that people from the disturbing parts of the internet caught hold of. When Professor McCoy informed us that this horrifying phenomenon is fake, it really concerned me with the way information is spread throughout the world and what actually holds authenticity in our lives anymore.
Side note: The fictional character, Momo, is a terrifying image to look at (trust me, I had difficulty researching for this blog post). The link that I included is the same article that we read through in class, so if you feel like you’re missing out on additional information, you don’t need to open the link if the image is troubling for you to look at. I will provide a paragraph that summarizes these turn of events so you, as a reader of my blog post, won’t feel disconnected.
Understanding the Different Forms of Consent
In the past two years that I have been a student at Geneseo I have not talked about consent as much as we did in Dr. McCoy’s class the other week. I found it helpful to talk about what consent is and how it is more than just sexual consent. Growing up I never talked about consent. When I started college at SUNY Geneseo, they show all their freshman and sports teams a video about sexual consent. The video compares consent to offering someone a cup of tea, and shows us how we should think about sexual consent in this way (if someone does not want a cup of tea, do not force it down their throat, etc).
Continue reading “Understanding the Different Forms of Consent”
Culture Viewed with a Mask or Veil
After Dr. McCoy passed out the essay prompt on Friday for the Spring 2016 African American Literature course I found myself immediately gravitating towards a particular epigraph stated on the prompt. I found the words of Glenn Ligon, an American conceptual artist who explores things such as race and identity within his work, to be compelling and interesting. On the prompt Ligon’s words are stated as such, “Perhaps it is a feeling that cultural products are used as substitutes for sustained and meaningful contact between people. It’s like send me something from where you are, but don’t come here.” Continue reading “Culture Viewed with a Mask or Veil”
The Art of Repetition
On the Spring 2016 essay prompt for this course, a quote is given by visual artist, Glenn Ligon. Before reading the prompt, I had never heard of him before. Being a lover of all things art, I decided to dig a little deeper into who this mysterious artist is.
『G』ENESEO: The Myriad of Navigating Geneseo’s Binaries [2]
Last week, I missed INTD 288. I missed class because I went to go see the keynote speaker for the Diversity Summit. In the end, I saw the lecture and it was a sharp reminder of how binary thinking is isolating.
In particular, the dialogue, put both Steve Prince’s concept of “process” and Dennis Childs’ concept of “progress” into question. In consideration to SUNY Geneseo, it begged the question: is Geneseo making progress on their “Community Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”? This transformative document is made to acknowledge, reward, and hold accountable Geneseo students, staff, faculty, and administrators on their commitment to diversity. The commitment came after and in response to David Sorbello, a professor of sociology who created a transphobic quiz that gained media attention.
Continue reading “『G』ENESEO: The Myriad of Navigating Geneseo’s Binaries [2]”
Those Who Straddle the Line
In my last post, I discussed the Baby Doll maskers of the New Orleans Carnival tradition and their challenging of the Puritan notion of Providence introduced by Dr. Cope. Particularly, I focused on their collective ability to be at once child-like and suggestive, innocent and powerful, traditionally feminine and masculine. This duality is born from the Baby Dolls’ unique, signature appearance and from their audience’s misguided attempts to label, and subsequently understand, them.
Similarly, the first four pieces of Steve Prince’s Katrina Suite, entitled “Second Line I, II, III, and IV,” display a certain duality that puzzled me when I first encountered them. Each piece stars a horseman, a figure and symbol that is prominently featured in Prince’s body of work. The horsemen are clad in suits, ties, and massive, spiked shoes. Additionally, and quite conversely, three out of the four horsemen are portrayed holding a parasol, an accessory associated with the Baby Doll maskers and an arguable symbol of their femininity.