Nans Goldin

Nans Goldin Nans Goldin Introduction If a still image can speak, it will tell you stories that will capture your imagination. It can describe how the photographer feels when taking the shot; it can also explain the emotions by the subjects to which the photograph has been taken, what the ambience of the location was and what the main feelings are during the poses. Even if the subject of the picture is not a living thing, that subject can be brought to life by the amazing shot captured by the master photographer. Composition and lighting have also contributed to the message the image wants us to understand. But then again still images cannot speak Which leaves us; the viewers create our own perception on what might the photo means. This has led to often wrong conclusions for those uninitiated by what the art offers. An image after being viewed can have different meanings, from different people some are quite far from the truth and others almost grasping it. The one, who really knows it and even feels the work, is the person at the back of the lens. One artist who really understands and definitely has passion for her work is Nancy Goldin, popularly known as Nan Goldin, she is an example of an artist who works at the most intimate level: her life is her work and her work, her life. It is nearly impossible to discuss Goldins photographs without referring to their subjects by name, as though the people pictured were ones own family and friends. It is this intimate and raw style for which Goldin has become internationally renowned. Her snapshot-esque images of her friends drag queens, drug addicts, lovers and family are intense, searing portraits that, together, make a document of Goldins life (Anon 2002). Biography Nan Goldin was born in Washington, D.C. on September 12, 1953. Soon she moved to Boston with her family. After her sisters suicide in 1965, Nan Goldin took up photography, in order to preserve her memories. Her camera turned into an eye that did not forget. Together with friends Goldin explored the aesthetics of fashion photography and got into contact with the Boston transvestite and cross-dresser scene. In the early 1970s Goldin strove for a documentary and objective depiction of the people, whom she admired for their special confidence. Later Goldin brought her pictures from this scene together in her book The Other Side. After studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Tufts University in Boston, she moved on to color photography. In 1974 she produced her first exhibition project Image Works at the university in Cambridge. In 1977 Goldin graduated and one year later she moved to New York. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Goldins main motifs for her photographs were her friends, whom she regarded as a substitute for her family and who were very important to her. The viewer penetrates deeply into the privacy of the depicted, due to the exact titles of the photographies including name, place and date. Goldins slide show entitled The ballad of sexual dependency reflects the wild everyday life of her friends. These shows, which are added to a soundtrack of music, are particularly impressive, because Goldin adds and rearranges the slides for every show to reflect changing moods, emotions, impressions and memories. From 1986 Nan Goldin also exhibited abroad. In 1988 she had to undergo withdrawal from drugs, during which she began with a series of self-protraits, which show an intensified affect control. The loss of several friends due to AIDS infections during the early 1990s made Goldin return to depicting other people. Following the invitation of the DAAD, Nan Goldin spent a year in Berlin and in 1995 her work was exhibited alongside that of other artists as part of the new Boston School at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art. Only one year later the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York hosted a retrospective exhibition of the photographers works. Today Nan Goldin is one of the most famous contemporary photographers and her work can be seen in many collections. The artist continues work to her lifes own rhythm in New York. References Nan Goldin Nan Goldin is an example of an artist who works at the most intimate level: her life is her work and her work, her life. It is nearly impossible to discuss Goldins photographs without referring to their subjects by name, as though the people pictured were ones own family and friends. It is this intimate and raw style for which Goldin has become internationally renowned. Her snapshot-esque images of her friends drag queens, drug addicts, lovers and family are intense, searing portraits that, together, make a document of Goldins life. Goldin herself has commented on her photographic style and philosophy, saying, My work originally came from the snapshot aesthetic . . . Snapshots are taken out of love and to remember people, places, and shared times. Theyre about creating a history by recording a history. On September 12, 1953, Goldin was born in Washington, D.C. Shortly thereafter, she and her family moved to a suburb of Boston, where Goldin was to spend several primarily unhappy years before moving away from her family. In 1965, when Nan was 14 years old, her older sister, Barbara Holly Goldin, committed suicide. Deeply disturbed by this event, Goldin sought comfort in her friends: in them, she created an alternate family. Having decided that conventional family life and traditional schooling were not for her, Goldin moved in with a series of foster families, and soon enrolled in an alternative school called Satya Community School. It was at Satya, located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, that Goldin met two people who would be great friends and influences for many years to come: David Armstrong and Suzanne Fletcher. As the memory of her sister started to become hazy, Goldin began to take pictures to preserve the present, and thus her fading memories of the past. She photographed her frie nds so she would never lose the memory of them, as had happened with her sister. Her photographs were her way of documenting their lives, and, in turn, her own. It was at Satya that Goldins fascination with photography truly began to take shape. Goldin, along with her new friends Armstrong and Fletcher, used photography as a way of reinventing herself and those around her. Heavily influenced by fashion photography, Goldin and her companions would dress up for one another. Trying their hands at cross-dressing and drag were commonplace; this early experimentation would shape Goldins lifelong fascination with the blurry line separating the genders. Through Armstrong, Goldin was introduced to the drag subculture in Boston, and thus a nightclub called The Other Side. There, she photographed drag queen beauty contests during the early 1970s and became friends with many transvestites. Goldin sought to depict her subjects in a straightforward, non-judgmental way: she saw drag as a way to reinvent oneself, and reinforced this idea by taking photographs of her friends in full drag regalia, as well as in various stages of preparation. In photographs su ch as David at Grove Street, Boston, 1972, Ivy Wearing a Fall, Boston, 1972, and Kenny Putting on Make-up, Boston, 1973, Goldin depicts her companions in various stages of drag. In the first two, the subjects stare unflinchingly at the viewer, each proud of his transformation, yet still calling attention to the fine line between masculine and feminine. In the third, Kenny is shown absorbed in his own beauty, concentrating intently on creating an alternate version of himself in the mirror. Through these portraits, along with the many others taken of her classmates and friends, Goldin illustrates the confusion and recklessness of the time in which she was creating her art. It was during this period that Goldin began her course of study at the Boston School of Fine Arts. This transition marks a change in Goldins photographic style. Prior to college she had used only black and white film, shooting primarily from available light sources (with the exception of some of the photographs made at The Other Side, for which she used flash). She soon began experimenting with color, which would become an integral part of her photographic style. The introduction of flash into her work also greatly contributed to what is known today as the Goldin look. Rarely working from natural light, Goldin illuminates her subjects with careful use of flash that extenuates her vibrant colors. She achieves bright, deep hues by printing her 35 mm film with a photographic process called Cibachrome. While normal, c-type prints are made from printing from color negatives, Cibachrome prints are photographs printed from slides. This process allows the photographer to achieve optimum colo rs and contributes greatly to the sharp, bright quality of color in Goldins prints. Goldins 1978 move to the Bowery in New York City marked a major life change, both in her career and her personal life. Goldins photographs of this period reflect her hard-living lifestyle: excessive use of drugs and alcohol and abusive relationships were commonplace in Goldins circle of friends. Goldin wrote, I believe one should create from what one knows and speak about ones tribe . . .You can only speak with true understanding and empathy about what youve experienced. True to her credo, Goldin documented everything: drunken parties, relationships good and bad, evidence of beatings, all of which created an intense portrait of a close-knit group of friends. In the early 1980s, these photographs would be shown in the form of slides during Goldins now-infamous slide shows. A melange of photographs and music, these shows were originally held at punk rock clubs in New York City in order for Goldins friends (and photographic subjects) to see the photographs that she had taken of them. Tin Pan Alley was one of the most frequent spots for these events, a locale that conveniently provided a working place for such up-and-coming artists as Kiki Smith, Cookie Mueller and Barbara Ess. At the time, the show (later called The Ballad of Sexual Dependency), which was made up of color photographs lit with flash, ran approximately 45 minutes. As Goldin evolved as an artist, the show also changed, and more photographs were added and songs were changed. Despite changes to the content of the show, the basic atmosphere of intimacy remained, and Goldins visceral style communicated raw emotion. It was in 1986 that Goldin began to take her show on the road, traveling abroad to exhibit her work. Ballad saw screen time at both the Edinburgh and Berlin Film Festivals. By 1988, Goldins drug and alcohol abuse had begun to take a toll on her life and work, and she entered a detoxification clinic. Though she had previously experimented with self-portraiture, it was in this clinic that she created many images of herself. Photographs such as My Bedroom at the Lodge, Self-portrait in front of clinic, and Self-portrait with milagro reveal an introspective Goldin, somewhat humbled by her experiences at the hospital. In Self-portrait with milagro, the viewer sees Goldin in her room at the clinic, sitting up on her bed. She leans toward the camera, taking up most of the frame; the remaining portion of the frame is taken up by her institutional bed pillows and a small crucifix hanging on the wall. Goldins proximity to the camera has caused her face to be slightly blurred compared with her sharply defined hand, which is resting on the pillows. This slight blurring, combined with the cramped composition of the photograph, communicates Goldins feeling of being t rapped within the hospital. The colors in the photograph are neutral except for Goldins mouth: situated in the center of the photograph, it is covered in bright red lipstick. This flash of color in the institutional setting catches the eye, then leads it down the pyramid-like positioning of Goldins body to her ringed hand, tense on her pillow. Self-portrait with milagro is a fine example of the simple way in which Goldin uses seemingly haphazard composition to carefully build the feeling (in this case, her claustrophobia in the hospital) that she is trying to communicate. During this time, Goldin faced an additional personal struggle: many of her close friends were dying of AIDS, which was then a relatively new disease. Perhaps most important of these was Cookie Mueller, a friend since 1976, the year in which Goldin started photographing her. Goldins series, entitled The Cookie Portfolio, is comprised of 15 portraits of Cookie, ranging from those taken at the parties of their youth to those from Cookies funeral in 1989. During the next few years, Goldin continued to photograph her slowly dwindling circle of friends, many of whom were afflicted with AIDS. She showed these photographs in many group exhibitions across the country and around the world and spent a year in Berlin on a DAAD grant, sponsored by a German organization that brings artists to Berlin. In 1994, she and her longtime best friend David Armstrong collaborated on a book called A Double Life. Composed of photographs taken by both Goldin and Armstrong, the book displays their differing styles of photographing the same person. Also included are some of their portraits of one another. A 1995 show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston grouped Goldin, Armstrong and fellow photographers and friends Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Pierson and several others, and dubbed them the Boston School. This name stuck, and the photographers have since been referred to by this title. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of Goldins work in 1996; it was called Ill Be Your Mirror. Composed of photographs from every period of her career, the exhibit also boasted a showing of a version of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Goldin continues to photograph and recently had her first solo show in London, at the popular White Cube Gallery. Her work continues to evolve with her life. Of this she writes, My work changes as I change. I feel an artists work has to change, otherwise you become a replication of yourself. With Goldins close, immediate style and stunningly beautiful images, there is no threat of her becoming a replication. http://fototapeta.art.pl/2003/ngie.php Your approach towards photography is very personal. Is not it a kind of therapy? Yes, photography saved my life. Every time I go through something scary, traumatic, I survive by taking pictures. You also help other people to survive. Memory about them does not disappear, because they are on your pictures. Yes. It is about keeping a record of the lives I lost, so they cannot be completely obliterated from memory. My work is mostly about memory. It is very important to me that everybody that I have been close to in my life I make photographs of them. The people are gone, like Cookie, who is very important to me, but there is still a series of pictures showing how complex she was. Because these pictures are not about statistics, about showing people die, but it is all about individual lives. In the case of New York, most creative and freest souls in the city died. New York is not New York anymore. Ive lost it and I miss it. They were dying because of AIDS. You decided to leave the United States because of the effect the AIDS epidemic had on the community of New York gay artists and writers? I left America in 1991 to Europe. I went to Berlin partially because of that, and partially because one of my best friends, Alf Bold, was dying and I stayed with him and took care of him. He had nobody to take care of him. I mean, he had lots of famous friends, but he had nobody to take care of him on a daily basis. He was one of people who invented the Berlin film festival. This was also the time when my Paris photo dealer Gilles died of AIDS. He had the most radical gallery in the city. He did not tell anybody in Europe that he has AIDS, because the attitude here was so different than in the United States. There was no ACT UP in Paris, and in 1993 it looked very much like in the US in the 1950s. Now it has changed, but at that time people in Europe told me: Oh, we do not need ACT UP. We have very good hospitals. Your art is basically socially engaged It is very political. First, it is about gender politics. It is about what it is to be male, what it is to be female, what are gender roles Especially The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is very much about gender politics, before there was such a word, before they taught it at the university. A friend of mine said I was born with a feminist heart. I decided at the age of five that there was nothing my brothers can do and I cannot do. I grew up that way. It was not like an act of decision that I was going to make a piece about gender politics. I made this slideshow about my life, about my past life. Later, I realized how political it was. It is structured this way so it talks about different couples, happy couples. For me, the major meaning of the slideshow is how you can become sexually addicted to somebody and that has absolutely nothing in common with love. It is about violence, about being in a category of men and women. It is constructed so that you see all different roles of women, then of children, the way children are brought up, and these roles, and then men, then it shows a lot of violence. That kind of violence the men play with. It goes to clubs, bars, it goes to prostitution as one of the options for women prostitution or marriage. Then it goes back to the social scene, to married and re-married couples, couples having sex, it ends with twin graves. You were one of the few photographers who started to take color pictures. How did it happen? I accidentally used the roll of color film in my camera. I thought it is black and white, but it was color. Unlike Egglestone and the other photographers using color, your pictures were discovered quite late. Some people discovered my photography early. It was just very underground. It was very good what they taught us at the art school: that you have to suffer to be an artist; that you do not need material, financial success, but you have to be driven. A lot of great artists came out of my school from that period. Some of them are my friends like David Armstrong and Philip Lorca diCorcia. When I first started to take pictures of drag queens my influences were glamour magazines, fashion magazines. I like Horst, Cecil Beaton, and the early work of Newton, I like Guy Bourdin. I did not know about art photography. In 1974, I went to school and there was a teacher who showed me Larry Clark. It has entirely changed my work. I knew that there had been somebody else who had done their own life. You know his book Tulsa? I knew that were precedents for using ones private experiences as art. So you just switched from this glamour photography to this very personal approach? No, I did not just switch. It was a long process of learning about the history of photography. He introduced me to August Sander, Weegee, Diane Arbus. The drag queens hated the work of Arbus. It was not allowed in the house, because they hated the way she photographed drag queens. She tried to strip them of their identity. She did not respect the way they wanted to be. Arbus is a genius, but her work is about herself. Every picture is about herself. It is never respecting the way the other person is. It is almost a psychotic need to try to find another identity, so I think that Arbus tries on the skin of other people. I have written a lot about Arbus. Some critics find connections between you and Arbus. What do you think about such comparisons? The daughter of Arbus thinks that there is no connection at all. I think there is some connection, because both of us have an unusual degree of empathy, but it is manifested in a different way. She was a photographic genius and I am not a photographic genius. My genius, if I have any, is in the slideshows, in the narratives. It is not in making perfect images. It is in the groupings of work. It is in relationships I have with other people. Is it not connected with your fascination with literature? You mentioned FaulknerÉ Faulkner wrote about one tiny community and he wrote around 25 great novels and many short stories. They are always set in the place he loves. It has an invented name, but it is a real place. It is all based on what he knows. I always fought strongly against traditional documentary photography. It has changed, but in the 1970s it was always strong white men going to India, making exotic pictures of something they have no idea of. I always felt that I have right to photograph only my own tribe or people, when I travel, to whom I get close to and that I gave something to. I never took pictures with a long lens, it is always short and I have to get close to people I photograph. What is the relation between the diary you write and the pictures you take? Nothing. My diary is really boring. Have you not tried to put together both diaries, textual and visual, and do something like Peter Beard? No. I think these are two different thingsÉ Have you ever published parts of this diary? No, I would never do this. I am writing it for myself and nobody else. My wish is to burn it immediately after my deathÉ Some of your pictures are blurred. You did it on purpose? Actually, I take blurred pictures, because I take pictures no matter what the light is. If I want to take a picture, I do not care if there is light or no light. If I want to take a picture, I take it no matter what. Sometimes I use very low shutter speed and they come out blurred, but it was never an intention like David Armstrong started to do what we call, he and I, Fuzzy-wuzzy landscapes. He looked at the back of my pictures and studied them. He started to take pictures like them without people in them. They are just out of focus landscapes. He actually did it, intentionally threw the camera out of focus. I have never done it in my life. I take pictures like in here when there is no sun or light that I think all my pictures are going to be out of focus. Even Valerie and Bruno and whatever I take, because there is not enough light, and so I use a very low shutter speed. It used to be because I was drunk, but now I am not. The drugs influenced all my life. Both good and bad. I hear d about an artist in Poland, Witkacy, who wrote down on his paintings all the drugs he was on. Depending how many drugs he took, that is how much he charged for the portrait. I saw his portrait at the National Museum, a kind of German expressionism, and I loved it. I saw your pictures in the 50th anniversary issue of Aperture magazine. What shocked me most was the relation between them and the new Leica ad this one with your hands holding the M7, very artistic and black and white I never thought of your photography being as classic as Leica. I always use Leica. Previously it was M6, and recently I work with M7 camera. I received one as a salary for this particular ad. However, I immediately lost it while photographing the Valerie floating series. I was swimming with her holding my camera in one hand and taking pictures at the same time. It was really difficult. The camera got broken, but the photographs were really worth the price. How do you feel having these radical works being shown at the most prestigious museums? In Paris, for instance, I had a choice between the Centre Pompidou, where all the people go, and the most beautiful museum in Paris, Musee de la Ville de Paris. I liked the women who worked at the museum, but I also loved the man who was taking over the Pompidou. I am very loyal to anybody who has helped me, especially before I was famous. Some told me that I should choose this beautiful museum, but I chose the Pompidou, because I wanted people to see it. To the beautiful museum go only artists and elites. What are you going to do next? After the Devils Playground and the Matthew Marks show in New York? I do not know. I never know. I think it is going to be something different, because I have been through hard times. We will see how the market will react to this, but I do not care about the art market at all. My dealers are becoming greedier and greedier. They start talking to me in this strange way saying We will show this and this picture, because they are going to sell well. I am worried about that they no longer even pretend to have any ideals. At least my American dealers. Interview by Adam Mazur and Paulina Skirgajllo-Krajewska

Increase Learning And Learners Development Education Essay

Increase Learning And Learners Development Education Essay Positive attitude, organisation, focus, communication, feedback, questioning, review and closure are the essential teaching skills that all effective teachers should possess to maximise student learning (Eggen Kauchak, 2010). First year teachers that possess these skills and apply these strategies in the classroom will feel less vulnerable and more prepared to meet the challenges of teaching, and they will be able to maintain a positive and manageable classroom. Combinations of strategies, such as agreeing on classroom rules and consequences at the beginning of the year, being consistent about expectations, reinforcing appropriate behaviour, being neutral, maintaining student dignity, etc, are also useful in classroom management. A calm and productive environment starts with the teacher. Appropriate actions and positive attitudes, of a teacher towards students, should be maintained at all times. Inappropriate handling of a problem student may make the situation worse. Teachers are a role model for students and students look to the teacher for safety and consistency in the classroom. If a teacher appears to not be able to handle behavioural problems in the classroom some students may become anxious and withdrawn. Teachers also need to be able to meet the instructional needs of an ever changing student population. The process used to meet these needs should also include examining learning style and how this, along with teaching style and classroom environment, contributes to the students academic achievement and fulfilment. If teachers have the right approach to teaching, satisfaction can be gained from teaching when students enjoy learning and apply learning to everyday situations. The more knowledgeable you are, the better able you will be to meet the demands and challenges of teaching, and the better able you will be to capitalise on its excitement and rewards (Eggen Kauchak, 2010, p6). When teachers encourage students this makes learning fun and interactive, students begin to learn and take interest in what lies within information/knowledge which are not in the basic concept of just learning for the sake of it. This has been how teachers have taught in past generations. One of the misconceptions about teaching is the idea that knowledge of subject matter is all that is necessary to teach effectively, knowledge of content is essential, but understanding how to make that content meaningful to students requires an additional kind of knowledge (Eggen Kauchak, 2010, p7-8). Strategies and concepts appli ed correctly and effectively by teachers means that the students learning begins to take on meaning and ownership. It is imperatively important that as a teacher you understand what is being taught, we cant teach what we dont understand (Eggen Kauchak, 2010, p8). If a teacher has little understanding of the content it is hard for the students to learn as the teacher needs to have very good knowledge of content as well as pedagogical content knowledge an understanding of how to represent topics in ways that make them understandable to learners, as well as an understanding of what makes specific topics easy or hard to learn (Eggen Kauchak, 2010, p9). Teachers need to encourage students to use their cognitive knowledge by forming groups within the classroom. Teachers choose basic concepts that they are confident the students will know and then get the students progressing onto more complex concepts. By having knowledge of basic concepts this allows students to recall knowledge that they have learnt in previous lessons to actively think about making connections and relationships associated to other subjects, for example how the ability to count is quite useful when completing scientific experiments. By doing this students are using both procedural and conceptual knowledge. When teachers call on an individual student to explain their process of thinking about the concepts of what they are learning allows the teacher to assess what the student has learnt. Placing students into groups allows the students to understand other students ways of thinking which then allows the student to assess and increase their own knowledge. Group placem ents allow the teacher to assess students Zone of Proximal Development. Students who have a low zone will be helped in their thinking by the other students in their group who have a more developed proximal zone. This method is effective in guiding the students who need a little more help. As booker et al (2010, p399) suggests, Meaning, understanding and appreciation cannot be given to children by a teacher-dominated transmission approach to teaching. Students need a wealth of practical and creative experiences in solving problems by observing, analysing, describing, exploring and drawing a variety of shapes, arrangements, patterns, maps and other geometric structures. Problem solving scenarios, in group tasks, best demonstrates this. Students are required to work in a team to encourage social interaction, critical thinking and active involvement. This also helps to motivate the students to stay on task and retain the knowledge and skills learnt. Encouraging free exploration allows the teacher time to assess the learning capacity of the students. Teachers are also more likely to offer help and assistance to the students who require further guidance or extra work for the students who excel at a faster pace. Having the ability to engage students in class activities and d iscussions, by using social situations and group work, also allows the teacher to discover what activities work towards helping students learn whilst keeping the attention on the lesson being taught. Children construct much of their reality through playing and their games almost always involve sustained attention, high-level thinking and collective as well as individual effort (Booker eta l, 2010, p8). The resources that are available to teachers are designed to introduce students to the topic being taught, but also give the students, who have a better grasp of the topic, to challenge themselves further. The students, who are more advanced, are an asset to the teacher. These students can assist other students in a group situation as they can provide scaffolding to other students in the way of their thinking and processing skills as well as their higher Zone of Proximal Development. By providing a safe, happy and positive environment teachers can guide students using a practical and hands on approach. Promoting team building that will challenge each students theories and learning skills through group activities can be achieved by creating socially and physically interactive classroom environments. Teachers need to be self observant and be able to adjust their teaching strategies and techniques to suit the needs of the students. Communication networks with other, and older, teachers are of a great value. First year teachers need to feel comfortable to ask for guidance and support, to ask for help when required and not to let problems increase. Think outside the box and be proactive and seek alternative resources which may be adapted to meet the needs of different students and their levels of learning. Teachers are responsible for every student that enters their classroom. These are the students that teachers help shape by guidance and effective teaching strategie s. The better prepared a teacher is, the better prepared the students of the future will be.

Israeli Etgar Keret’s The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God, and Iranian

Abstract Colonization most assuredly produced altered states of consciousness, in which the fundamental sense of â€Å"rightness† was understood to be subjective and culturally constructed, rather than naturally true. In conjunction with this realization came the idea that identity is not something personally owned, but rather, something inscribed upon a body or culture by an agent of power. In this case, identities were projected onto the natives by the imperialists. The colonial enterprise, particularly the European imperialist projects in the east, has forever changed concepts of identity, otherness, and power in both the Occident and the Orient. Both sides were indisputably and irrevocably altered; however, the effect upon native cultures (the colonized) was far greater than the effect on the imperial cultures (the colonizers). European colonizers were able to cherry-pick the greatest parts of â€Å"new† culture—their art, their music, their architecture, or their cuisine—and adopt or adapt it to modern imperial life. In many ways, the cultural practices and artifacts of a newly colonized civilization were treated like the natural resources (oil, silk, spice) the Europeans were there to gather: they mattered only in their usefulness to the empire. Unlike their imperial counterparts, however, the native peoples had no choice which customs and practices to adopt, and which to discard. The sheer military might and natur e of the colonial enterprise demanded that the colonized completely adapt to the social and cultural norms of the empire. In essence, then, the colonized were forced to lead a life of double consciousness, wherein they participated in customs and practices and obeyed laws and regulations in which they did ... ...periences with Western ideology, Etgar Keret and Marjane Satrapi offers methods for claiming identity that do not revolve around blind attempts to return to cultural roots. Works Cited Ghanem, Mary, and Jihad Makhoul. "Displaced Arab Families: Mothers' Voices on Living and Coping in Postwar Beirut." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 5.3 (2009): 54-72. Web. 10 Dec 2009. Keret, Etgar. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. Print. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1978. Print. Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print. Troen, S. Ilan. "Frontier Myths and Their Applications in America and Israel: A Transnational Perspective." Journal of American History 86.3 (1999): 55 paragraphs. Web. 10 Dec 2009. . Israeli Etgar Keret’s The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God, and Iranian Abstract Colonization most assuredly produced altered states of consciousness, in which the fundamental sense of â€Å"rightness† was understood to be subjective and culturally constructed, rather than naturally true. In conjunction with this realization came the idea that identity is not something personally owned, but rather, something inscribed upon a body or culture by an agent of power. In this case, identities were projected onto the natives by the imperialists. The colonial enterprise, particularly the European imperialist projects in the east, has forever changed concepts of identity, otherness, and power in both the Occident and the Orient. Both sides were indisputably and irrevocably altered; however, the effect upon native cultures (the colonized) was far greater than the effect on the imperial cultures (the colonizers). European colonizers were able to cherry-pick the greatest parts of â€Å"new† culture—their art, their music, their architecture, or their cuisine—and adopt or adapt it to modern imperial life. In many ways, the cultural practices and artifacts of a newly colonized civilization were treated like the natural resources (oil, silk, spice) the Europeans were there to gather: they mattered only in their usefulness to the empire. Unlike their imperial counterparts, however, the native peoples had no choice which customs and practices to adopt, and which to discard. The sheer military might and natur e of the colonial enterprise demanded that the colonized completely adapt to the social and cultural norms of the empire. In essence, then, the colonized were forced to lead a life of double consciousness, wherein they participated in customs and practices and obeyed laws and regulations in which they did ... ...periences with Western ideology, Etgar Keret and Marjane Satrapi offers methods for claiming identity that do not revolve around blind attempts to return to cultural roots. Works Cited Ghanem, Mary, and Jihad Makhoul. "Displaced Arab Families: Mothers' Voices on Living and Coping in Postwar Beirut." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 5.3 (2009): 54-72. Web. 10 Dec 2009. Keret, Etgar. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. Print. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1978. Print. Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print. Troen, S. Ilan. "Frontier Myths and Their Applications in America and Israel: A Transnational Perspective." Journal of American History 86.3 (1999): 55 paragraphs. Web. 10 Dec 2009. .

Ramblings from a Rednecks Diary :: Essays Papers

Ramblings from a Rednecks Diary Not since I was three have I been affected by a book this much. When I was a toddler The Berenstein Bears had the influence to make me cry from sadness and scream from fear. In reality I did not actually scream or cry after reading this book, but I was extremely close. In â€Å"Bezhin Lea† I was frightened for Pavlusha when he ran off after the dogs, and I felt real fear when the boys began telling fables of the surrounding areas. In â€Å"Meeting† the girl was so tearful that the urge to jump into the book and comfort her almost overcame me, and never had I wanted to see something bad happen to a person as I did to the bailiff in the â€Å"Bailiff.† My feelings regarding serfs had never been put on such a personal level. Sketches from a Hunter’s Album changed my perspective about serfs and peasants intensely. I do not think his book would have as much impact if it was not for his intense physical and emotional projections of serfs that Turgenev conveys for the reader. Every time a new character is introduced he stops to completely acquaint the reader with the person as much as he is acquainted with the person. Since I truly learned about serfdom, peasantry, and slavery, it has been common for me to generalize them by the statement, â€Å"they suffered,† or â€Å"they were stupid.† After reading just a few sketches, I realized that the serfs are actually human. They are not stupid animals to be pushed around and taken advantage of by their â€Å"mastersâ€Å". It was evident in the first sketch, â€Å"Khor and Kalinych,† that Khor was an intelligent and industrious man, but yet he was only a serf. He had been smart enough to find a way to make money for himself and to afford a pretty heavy rent imposed by his owner. He had enough money but if he actually bought his freedom he would be a small fish in a big pond, but as long as he was serf and rented his own land he was living large. He had his family, his health, and enough to keep everyone happy. It was also evident by this sketch and another â€Å"Lgov† that if a serf had education or intelligence he was able to maintain a certain amount of piece and happiness.

time of president jackson :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AGE OF PRESIDENT JACKSON By definition a president is defined as the highest executive officer and chief of the united states. President Jackson was the seventh president of the united states and was also called the â€Å" common man’s president.† President Jackson was not a normal president. Unlike all presidents before him Jackson was not interested in balls or fancy suits or anything. Jackson’s main concern was about restoring the peoples government, bringing it back the way it should be. Regardless of the fact that Jackson lost his first election, when Jackson was finally elected his first decision was to remove about 700 hundred clerks and replace them with loyal democrats and campaign workers. Jackson could have done whatever he wanted and it would have been approved by anyone. Jackson was voted in by popularity and no matter what his decision was, the common people always agreed to it. Andrew Jackson’s opinion on government was the same as Thomas Jefferson’s theory, which was that a government is best which governs least. Since the government had seem to fallen into the hands of bankers, owners of corporations, and wealthy people. One of his first acts of being president was changing the rules of voting. Before his time the only people that were allowed to vote were wealthy people with land. As the common people’s president Jackson wanted everyone to be able to vote, which indeed he did now any American citizen that owns even a little bit of land was able to vote. Jackson also had a strange but strong view against the national bank. When Congress passed the bill renewing the bank’s charter in July 1831, Jackson vetoed it. Jackson felt that getting rid of such things in the government would restore the government back to a simple republic. After Jackson’s reelection Jackson withdrew all of the government deposits and placed them into several dozen state banks. As a result of these transactions state banks were able to print paper money, then as a result the price of land increased and to lower the price Jackson was forced to introduce the Specie Circular which made people pay for public land in gold and silver which also resulted in many land owners going bankrupt. Another Jackson was greatly remembered for was the Indian removal act. As the demand for cotton grew southern farmers requested more land. The only problem was that the land belonged to many different Indian tribes. time of president jackson :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AGE OF PRESIDENT JACKSON By definition a president is defined as the highest executive officer and chief of the united states. President Jackson was the seventh president of the united states and was also called the â€Å" common man’s president.† President Jackson was not a normal president. Unlike all presidents before him Jackson was not interested in balls or fancy suits or anything. Jackson’s main concern was about restoring the peoples government, bringing it back the way it should be. Regardless of the fact that Jackson lost his first election, when Jackson was finally elected his first decision was to remove about 700 hundred clerks and replace them with loyal democrats and campaign workers. Jackson could have done whatever he wanted and it would have been approved by anyone. Jackson was voted in by popularity and no matter what his decision was, the common people always agreed to it. Andrew Jackson’s opinion on government was the same as Thomas Jefferson’s theory, which was that a government is best which governs least. Since the government had seem to fallen into the hands of bankers, owners of corporations, and wealthy people. One of his first acts of being president was changing the rules of voting. Before his time the only people that were allowed to vote were wealthy people with land. As the common people’s president Jackson wanted everyone to be able to vote, which indeed he did now any American citizen that owns even a little bit of land was able to vote. Jackson also had a strange but strong view against the national bank. When Congress passed the bill renewing the bank’s charter in July 1831, Jackson vetoed it. Jackson felt that getting rid of such things in the government would restore the government back to a simple republic. After Jackson’s reelection Jackson withdrew all of the government deposits and placed them into several dozen state banks. As a result of these transactions state banks were able to print paper money, then as a result the price of land increased and to lower the price Jackson was forced to introduce the Specie Circular which made people pay for public land in gold and silver which also resulted in many land owners going bankrupt. Another Jackson was greatly remembered for was the Indian removal act. As the demand for cotton grew southern farmers requested more land. The only problem was that the land belonged to many different Indian tribes.

Is It Education – Education in Hong Kong

Education is of utmost importance as it makes a great impact on a person's whole life. In Finland, kids at the age of 6 or earlier do not have to go to schools, but learn at home through playing games and interacting with people. The teachers there accompany the same group of students for a long time owing to the 9-year compulsory educational system. In Hong Kong, however, ‘education' seems to have lost its meaning and the educational system is still problematic despite several modifications. The first and major problem is being too examination-oriented.This can be explained by the popularity of tutorial schools. Those ‘super tutors' focus on helping students acquire a satisfied result in the examination. Many students seek help from them since whether they can further their studies mainly depends on their academic results. Another piece of evidence can be found on our textbooks. Many of them include a particular section merely for the examinations, such as ‘exam ti ps', ‘exam skills' or ‘exam practice'. This also reflects the phenomenon of examination- orientation. Setting academic results as the major criterion of school entry has twisted people's receptions of education.The existing educational system puts much emphasis on students' academic performance and neglects the significance of developing other aspects, including moral cultivation, life education and other abilities like interpersonal skills. As a result, people seem to have forgotten what the aims of education actually are. Apart from this problem, some social issues have arisen from Hong Gong's ‘education'. One of them is the problem of impoverishment, especially the intergenerational poverty and youth poverty. The former one becomes more severe hen the educational system does not allow poor students to get rid of it via education.The latter one can be resulted when the tuition fees of universities are so high that some students have to grant loans from the govern ment and repay them even when they have been working for years. Hong Kong government has spent many resources on education, though, there are still a multitude of problems that the government has to solve. Not only has it become too exam-orientated, but it also deepens some social problems. What the society wants is a real and comprehensive education which allows students to fully utilize their abilities.

Propaganda Throughout History

Propaganda has existed as a method of communication for a long time. It was originally a neutral term used to describe the dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. The redefinition implying its now negative connation arose because of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany's admitted use of propaganda favoring communism and fascism respectively, in all forms of their public expression. Propaganda under this connation still exists, however it’s evolution over the centuries has ensured its survival in the most unassuming ways.This paper will highlight the definitions of propaganda, the uses of propaganda in history through religion, Nazi Germany and the Cold War; its reappearance after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 1995 Canadian referendum, evolution into advertising and how society today has become almost indifferent to it. What is Propaganda? Traditional propaganda is defined as a systematic manipulation of public opinion, generally through the use of symbols, monuments, speeches and publications.Today’s â€Å"modern† propaganda is distinguished from other forms of communication in that it is consciously and deliberately used to influence group attitudes; with all other communication functions being secondary. Therefore, almost any attempt to sway public opinion, including lobbying, commercial advertising and even missionary work, can be broadly interpreted as propaganda. However propaganda, more often than not, is associated with political situations referring to efforts by governments and political groups.Propaganda itself can be categorized as White, Gray, or Black, depending on the accuracy of information and where source is credited – if it’s credited at all! White propaganda is defined as coming from a source that is identified correctly and contains information that tends to be accurate such as national pride messages. A message considered Black propaganda when the source is concealed or credited to a fa lse authority, and spreads lies, fabrications and deceptions. Gray propaganda falls somewhere between these two forms as the source may or may not be correctly identified, and the accuracy of the information is uncertain.Ultimately though, the success or failure of any propaganda depends on the receiver’s willingness to accept the credibility of the source and the content of the message. Religious Propaganda The first use of propaganda is credited to the Catholic Church with their creation of sainthood; which was created to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues. From the fourth century onwards, the church launched an immense propaganda campaign aimed at communicating the character, powers and importance of saints as a method of keeping the loyalty of their existing followers and as a tactic to gain new ones.The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith was responsible for the campaign in spreading this message. Through their monasteries, the church was abl e to target emperors, kings and upper noblemen with the message of the saints. Once the church had the buy-in of rulers, the reputations of these saints were given more validity to the general population and their shrines became protected as sacred places. It should be noted that during this period very few people outside the church were literate thereby making authentication of any information difficult.In order to spread the message of the saints, the church used relied on oral messaging and stories told through images such as in the stained glass seen today in cathedrals. For the average person, the church carried absolute authority as it was considered to be the leading source of knowledge. With this power, the church was easily able to bring their saints to life, so to speak. While the propaganda of saints was originally intended as a missionary tool, their resulting successes strengthen a variety of religious objectives.Saints helped reestablish the monastic movement after a p eriod of crisis by generating funds to complete cathedrals and gave the church a major tool for controlling popular religious trends. They also fueled the enthusiasm for the Spanish crusade; which is an excellent example of one of the church’s most immediate successful propagandistic campaign with its mission of bringing all together in Christendom. Spurred on by the words of Pope Urban II that Muslims had conquered Jerusalem, the Crusader’s mission was to recapture the ‘Holy Land’ and they dedicated their lives to this in return for the promise of redemption.Nazi Germany During the 20th century, the arrival of radio and television enabled propagandists to reach more people than before. In addition to the development of these modern medias, warfare and political movements had also contributed to the growing importance of propaganda in the 20th century. Of all the propaganda artists throughout history, no one is better known than Adolf Hitler. During his re in in Nazi Germany, he saturated schools, government and every part of German’s daily lives with propaganda.His keen and sinister insight into mass psychology contributed to Nazi Germany being noted for its psychologically powerful propaganda – much of which was centered on the Jews who were made the scapegoats for Germany's economic woes. Hitler was as a gifted speaker who, as history shows, captivated the masses with his beating of the podium and growling, emotional speeches. Authentic as they may have seemed, these speeches were full of propaganda and rhetoric which he used to appeal to the economic need of the lower and middle classes, while sounding resonant chords of nationalism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism.Threatened by hyperinflation, political chaos and a possible Communist takeover, Hitler, offered Germans scapegoats and solutions. To the economically depressed he promised to despoil â€Å"Jew financiers† and to workers he promised security. He ga ined the financial support of bankers and industrialists with his hostility towards Communism and promises to control trade unionism. Shortly after coming to power, Hitler’s Third Reich established the Ministry of Propaganda, whose aim was to ensure the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials and the media.Films in particular played an important role in disseminating racial Anti-Semitism, portraying Jews as â€Å"subhuman† creatures infiltrating an Aryan society. The Ministry successfully censored and/or eliminated any viewpoint it felt posed a threat to Nazi beliefs or to the regime leaving only the propagandistic message available to the masses. The Cold War Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union forced the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union into wartime cooperation despite their past tensions.However, from the start, the alliance between the world's leading eco nomic power, the world's largest colonial empire and the world's first Communist state was marked by mutual distrust and ideological tension. The Cold War began shortly after the end of World War II over disagreements on how postwar Europe should be rebuilt. While neither side ever â€Å"officially† fought the other, as the consequences would be too appalling with the Soviet Union’s Red Army and the Americans possession of the A-bomb, they did wage an incredible war of propaganda.Soviet propaganda focused mainly on overcoming such hardships as exploitation of the working class, racial discrimination and discrimination against women. Their propaganda described the Soviet society as a modern, progressive culture. While they relied upon a variety of resources for propaganda, their posters were the Soviet’s most influential pieces. These posters focused upon the achievements of Russian communists politically, economically and technologically.Domestically, these post ers aimed at increasing government support and building patriotism. Many posters focused upon anti-American sentiments. The American capitalist was portrayed as a large, plump old man dressed in a tuxedo and hat. Typical actions of the capitalist in Soviet posters included withholding grain from hungry peasants or running over children with his shiny car. These posters attacked the benefits of the wealth that result from capitalism, while other posters showed the effects of capitalism on poverty.In 1942 the United States created the Office of War Information (OWI), which was responsible for disseminating anti-communist propaganda in order to convince American's that the US was justified in this new battle. The anti-communist propaganda made American's fearful and strengthened the movement to support the United States' opposition to communist states. This propaganda saturated books, pamphlets, comics, films, and radio for nearly 30 years during the Cold War. Hollywood films became a common feature to further propagandize the communist platform with titles such as Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn and Dr. Strangelove .Among its wide-ranging responsibilities, OWI reviewed and approved the design and content of government posters and established the Voice of America, as a method of transmitting its messages to the masses. Voice of America still remains the official government broadcasting service of the United States today. Funded by the US government, it defines itself as an international broadcasting service boasting 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming weekly to a worldwide audience of approximately 115 million people†. Propaganda in North America Today 9/11 and the ‘War on Terrorism’In the wake of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in 2001, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld quickly created a modern version of the OWI, with the Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) to disseminate war information. In the critical â€Å"planning stages† leading up to an invasion of Iraq, the twisting of public opinion in the US, and around the world, was an integral part of their war agenda. Acts of war were proclaimed â€Å"humanitarian interventions† geared towards â€Å"regime change† and â€Å"the restoration of democracy†. Military occupation and the killing of civilians are presented as â€Å"peace-keeping†.In news reports on actual, possible or future terrorist attacks, the propaganda campaign exhibited a consistent pattern referring to ‘reliable sources’ or a ‘growing body of evidence’; and included key phrases such as terrorist groups involved had ‘ties to Bin Laden’ or Al Qaeda†. News reports unwittingly confirmed the America’s need to initiate â€Å"pre-emptive actions directed against these various terrorist organizations and/or the foreign governments that harbour the terrorists†. These types of news reports were also used to justify ethnic profiling and mass arrests of presumed terrorists.As it had done during the Cold War, the government also influenced the scope and direction of many Hollywood productions as immediately following 9/11. One third of Hollywood productions were war movies that reinforced the message of patriotism such as Black Hawk Down and Spy Game. In their book Propaganda and Persuasion , authors Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell suggest that overtly patriotic national celebrations are forms white propaganda. Celebrations such as the Fourth of July or Canada Day are designed to increase patriotism by bolstering national pride and glorifying ‘dying for one’s country’.In 1991, President Bush went to watch one of the US’ oldest annual Independence Day celebrations held in Missouri. Wearing an American flag in his pocket, he praised American troops who fought in the Persian Gulf saying â€Å"the war had made ever yone in the country proud to say ‘I am an American and I love my country’. † These types of propagandistic celebrations are crucial in times of war, drawing on the emotions of its countrymen in order for the government to gain support for its actions. My Canada Includes Quebec In 1995, Canadians faced the possibility of the province of Quebec’s separation from Canada.Since the referendum battle was over the hypothetical situation with complex facts and nationalist emotions, the most important fight of the referendum was for the minds and spirits of the Quebec voters. Spearheaded by the separatist Bloc Quebecois Party, Quebec residents were fed a continuous stream of negative images of federalism into their collective psyche. The majority of the propaganda during the referendum came from the Bloc Quebecois (separatists) and Party Quebecois (nationalists) who used a combination of party ideas, facts and images to spread the idea that rest of Canada would neve r recognize Quebec's distinctiveness.To that end, Nationalists launched the slogan that â€Å"a vote for the Non is a vote for the status quo†. However, the majority of their propagandistic campaign revolved around discrediting federalism as harming Quebec to help to reinforce their core nationalist support; presenting their images of a peaceful, easy separation and the inevitability of Quebec becoming a â€Å"normal† nation-state. On the flip side, Federalists launched their own campaign to counter the pro-separatist and nationalist propagandistic messaging.Federalists employed facts of the high cost of separation and the dangers of instability and ethnic conflict, as an attempt to for force the Nationalists into defending the need of an independent state. Today most of the propaganda in the North America comes from governments and ‘various private entities’. In this respect, propaganda is an ambiguous term that can often meaning the same as advertising. Radio, newspaper, posters, books, and anything else the government might send out to the widespread public can be considered, by definition, propaganda. Advertising as PropagandaIn the early 20th century, the founders of the growing public relations industry originally used the term propaganda to describe their activities. This usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the negative connotation it had acquired. Whatever you call it, advertising is a form of propaganda as it is ever-present and the message it carries is a result of ulterior motives by people who want to make money and maintain the status quo. Alongside the news, advertising is a tool that shapes public opinion.Everywhere you look there is some form of advertising, whether you’re driving a car or taking public transit, there is advertising. Billboards, posters, newspapers, magazines – everywhere we turn we are exposed to some form of advertising pushi ng a product, concept or belief on to us. Advertising is a fiercely competitive industry with success won not necessarily by the best product, but rather with the best advertising. As advertising relies on the amount of coverage or penetration, coupled with the quality of the delivery, it is easy to see how it compares to propaganda.If a tag or a brand logo is reproduced enough to become recognizable by a large section of the community, it becomes part of the social landscape and instantly embedded into the mind. Advertising has evolved from its beginnings as a text-based medium highlighting a product’s merits into the marketing feelings, lifestyle and fantasy with advertising campaigns such as Calvin Klein’s Obsession, which feature highly sexualized images that convey beauty and virility though photographs of almost nude models.Consumers have become oblivious to the propagandistic qualities of advertising but are not immune to its effects. Look at the successful mark eting of Energizer batteries with its creation of its Energizer Bunny ®. Since 1989, Energizer has featured its bunny in their commercials, hammering the simple message ‘it keeps going and going†¦ ’ into the minds of consumers. Energizer is an excellent example of a company that has successfully ensured consumers understand their product message by employing the techniques of propaganda.When watching a commercial for Energizer, consumers now immediately associate the infamous pink bunny to the Energizer product. For it’s success, the Energizer Bunny ® campaign was recognized as one of the Top Five Advertising Icons of the 20th Century, and has received multiple television advertising awards. Conclusion Throughout history, propaganda has been used and misused to suit the needs of governments during times of crisis, such as war and political instability, and to garner support for private causes such as Christianity in the fourth century.With increased lite racy and information readily available to support and/or refute arguments, society is more alert to messages of government/political propaganda and what is strictly information dissemination than its forefathers. However, under the guise of advertising, propaganda continues to be an acceptable tool of persuasion – a multi-billion dollar industry in fact! Consumers are critical when analyzing information presented by governing bodies, yet readily accept the messages/promising conveyed in advertising. Would society be as indifferent to advertising if it were still called propaganda?The formation of watchdog groups, such as Adbusters, call attention of the propagandistic messages by questioning facts and parodying advertising campaigns with unpleasant product realities. With their proclaimed goal to â€Å"[get] folks to get mad about corporate disinformation †, Adbusters’ has created campaigns such as TV Turnoff Week, a method of mass protest against the inundation of commercial messages. While such watchdog groups call attention to advertising’s one-sided, self-serving message, it is up to consumers to pay attention to product messaging and its effects on our culture.