Collegiate Collages

Today was the presentation of collages in class. Some of the collages met my expectations and assumptions about the points and questions they would raise; however, others completely surprised me. The areas of interests of students manifested themselves in each of the collages. It has always been clear that Izzi is interested in women’s issues and in Africa and her collage, remaking the picture of a woman through different snippets succeeded in showing this. My interest in France was even more obvious and I tried to raise a question about the cultures which France is willing to accept and which it is not (similar to Jim and American immigration). I like that the topics of our collages reflected both our personal and academic pursuits, as if each of us were a master of some areas of knowledge (hmm…kind of like those country projects I guess). Two collages which really struck me came from Melissa and Tom.

Melissa’s collage came out of nowhere. We have discussed the question of the human condition many different times this semester; however, the language we use in this class has been focused elsewhere and our conversations appear to usually graze the surface of this topic. From Berreby to Fanon, from individual presentations to group ones, our language and discussion have been saturated with theories and examples of collective groups and individuals function within the human race. By using no language, Melissa surfaced something that is constantly present in our discussions, papers, and projects. I think that this demonstrates the importance of understanding concepts through different media. Verbally, I was unaware of the stickiness of the situation yet, visually, it became so clear to me that our class deals with these issues on a day to day basis.

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to see another person as human? How does membership in a group change our personal agency and what it means to be human? Are we always the most important actors in our lives? All of these questions raced through my brain when I saw Melissa’s poster.

A second presentation that was unexpected was Tom’s. Tom’s collage revealed to me that he pays full attention in class and that he has lots of interesting ideas despite the fact that he doesn’t always contribute to our class discussion. Haley and I have no problem explaining ourselves in class. We feel comfortable and confident using language; moreover, we both had problems pushing further using the collage and not using words in expressing ourselves. On the other hand, it was so clear that Tom expressed himself fully through the power of his images. They were picked very meticulously and the way they were assembled made his collage both interactive and intriguing. By exploring this visual media, we were able to hear and see new perspectives and unheard voices.

its time to get creative

I enjoyed this reading the most of everything we have read thus far. I think it was a combination of both her writing style and content. After reading the book though, I felt overwhelmed, frustrated and helpless. She touched on some of the topics we discussed in ICS 125 like borders. With the map project we had to explain how we use borders to create our own personal maps. Nordstrom describes borders as physical lines monitored by armed forces. I think these two types are borders are a lot more similar than most would think. The borders described in Global Outlaws were just as imagined as the ones on my map; they were imagined by those in control of the trade routes, monitored by men with guns.

After we discussed the book as a class, Marcy had us break into groups to do an exercise. She instructed us to pick an issue that Nordstrom talked about in her book. We had to identify the problem, describe it, and talk about the actors who gain/lose in the situation. This alone was a frustrating task. Nordstrom exposed so many different problems of today’s society that it was difficult to pin point one specific issue. Finally, my group decided we wanted to tackle the regulation of goods. We narrowed this down further to the regulation of goods at shipping ports. We identified the actors: producers, ports, countries agencies, customs, consumers, laborers… and the list went on. Next Marcy asked us to propose a solution to the problem. And so the frustration continued. Our group had struggled to pick the issue and now we were supposed to try to solve it? Isn’t this what the UN does? If they haven’t already solved this problem, how are we supposed to? My creative idea was to develop a large electronic scanner to install in the ocean. In my head I pictured a giant X-ray machine that a boat would sail through to be scanned and searched in a matter of seconds. I came to my senses and realized this was neither rational nor plausible. But it made me realize how frustrated I really was because these are real issues and we could not come up with any real solution that seemed remotely plausible. We talked about taxes and fines for people who break the law, but the image of the little Angolan boy Okidi, selling cigarettes made us think about how this would effect people who had benefited form these illegal actions. What would happen those illegally imported cigarettes didn’t make it to Okidi. Would he not have money to get food? Would he have to go another day in hunger? Would the benefits outweigh the costs, and who would really be paying for the wrong doings. Uhg, this is way to depressing and complicated and makes me not even want to think about it anymore. ….

Maybe we are looking for the answers in the wrong places. We (the students of ICS 200S) are the future masterminds of the world and we are going to be responsible for finding the solutions. Maybe we need to think outside of the box. Maybe a giant X-ray machine in the middle of the ocean isn’t such a crazy idea! I’m just sayin’….

Empire State of Mind

Haley and I left class today with mixed emotions. We felt really guilty about the discussion that our class had about international aid and volunteer experiences in countries around the world (for our class it was mostly Africa and Latin America) since we didn’t have any. We thought that we looked dumb and probably selfish, that we hadn’t given back in the same way the EVERY other person in our class had. This turned into frustration in not being able to include ourselves in the conversation. And ur exclusion then turned to a feeling that the topic was exhausted even before the class ended as we retreated to our own conversations unable to contribute to the class topic.

There were, however, moments of relief for the bloggers of Globally Challenged, when we discussed the two readings for the day. Ben Fountain’s The Lion’s Mouth and Rachel Corrie’s Let Me Stand Alone offer two accounts (one fictional and one real respectively) of aid which allowed our class to discuss aid from a critical perspective, which isn’t often done. The main character in The Lion’s Mouth, Jill is one who is motivated by dubious or selfish reasons to get involved with aid. She also takes actions with serious negative consequences while she thinkg she is doing good in Sierra Leone. Thus, the only person she seems to benefit is herself. It was interesting to see that Kana felt many of these emotions as well in her time in Africa. Aid is a frustrating process for all the member of our class. They made it clear that it isn’t easy to go to these places and adjust working there, but that it is harder to leave.

This is a nice transition into Corrie, who is frustrated about what she is able to do in Palestine to save homes and raise international awareness. Potentially motivated by less selfish reasons than Jill, she is successful in raising awareness and communicating the help that these people needs to her family back home. However, she dies in doing so begging the question: do her ends justify her means? Is this the best form of aid to be giving? (Ah, just like Nordstrom and food for work).

These two perspectives felt like they were drowned out by the experiences of the class and this is what caused us to lose our sense of understanding of aid and of participating in the conversation. Angry about this, we discussed aid during the car-ride home. In an attempt to justify the fact that we have never volunteered in this same capacity, or just to make light of the situation, we reached an important conclusion. We loved what we had done with our summers and if it didn’t include this same international volunteerism then too bad.

ICS is a major of individuals with different and diverse interests and backgrounds and while the connection with global aid is obvious it is not the only profession that we need to think about. Working in Bryant Park or at UBS were also enriching experiences that taught us about ourselves and the world we live in. They were also both volunteer positions since neither of us got paid. And most importantly, we were motivated by the right reasons to get involved. International volunteerism maybe make more sense to us one day, but for now we will except this exclusion and have fun in New York.

I love movie days!

Today we watched a documentary called Mechina. This film was made by two of our very own ICS graduates: Matal Guttman and Madeleine Sackler. The film documented a group of Israeli students who had the opportunity to take a gap year after school before entering into IDF. I’m not going to lie, this movie was pretty emotional. It tackled some tough issues and really opened my eyes to what kids my age are like in Israel. When I think about the decisions I make on a daily basis, picking classes or deciding how and when to go to the library to do work, it makes me really appreciate what these kids are going through. At age 18, both females and are required to serve for two to three years. This is a huge responsibility and risk. At 18, I was nervous to leave home for college, and these kids have to leave their families to learn to hold and shoot a gun and they are trained to kill. I have never held a real gun before (and don’t intend to) and I can’t imagine shooting one, let alone shooting one with the intention of killing.

I was extremely impressed by the group of students of the Mechina. Each displayed an exceptional maturity. I really enjoyed the conversational tone of the documentary that gave us real insight into how these kids were feeling. I felt a personal connection to Amitai and I must admit that I did get a teary eyed when the Mechina year was over and Amitai boarded the bus with his family surrounding him to see him on his way.
I think the point of this film was to show different ways of discussing global issues. Matal made the movie because she was “frustrated with the way Israel was portrayed on campus, as a place of conflict and violence and wanted to show the human story, beyond the headlines.” The film helped to expose this global issue in a more personal way.

Maybe this is what ICS is all about: creating a personal connection with global issues. I can’t solve all the problems of the world, I cant even solve some of the problems of the world, but maybe if I could just pick one that I feel a personal connection with, I could have a real tangible impact. Hey, maybe I’m getting somewhere with this now?

Check out the facebook page for the movie. Talk about globalization and getting connected....

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This blog is untitled on purpose: get it, no language?

How awesome is this video from Ukraine’s Got Talent. At first I was a little upset that we didn’t talk about it in class, but now I realize that by trying to put the message of the video into words or by using language to describe it, we would alter the individual impression/interpretation each of us has of the video by itself. Ahh, the fruitful frustrations of non-language! Enjoy. (as a side-note: it depicts the invasion of Ukraine by Nazi Germany). Click on the screenshot for a link to the whole video!

Holy Moly Quacamole: Religion, War, and Terrorism in 11'09''01

Ok so we discussed the film in class today. It was great that each person brought in a new point of view, interpretation, or opinion to the different sequences and to September 11th itself. It was like we multiplied the number of scenes by 18 and then added 18 more because each of us has a different way of envisioning and representing that particular day. This weird snake scene still seems pretty abstract to me and while there were good explanations offered in class about fable, holy war not being unique to Islam, the everlasting effects of war, etc… I am still struggling to understand the film. It seems too detached and obscure for me. After our class discussion, I think that the major link between all of the different films is the question of humanity and I understand that connection (even in the Japanese film), but I’m still not drinking the kool-aid. There is even a connection between this and Fanon.

There are so many different events presented in the different films and there is a blurring in the lines of what it means to be portrayed as victims or as perpetrators or as innocent or guilty. The film, in its entirety, challenges people’s preconceived notions about 9/11. I think the film must have been even more powerful right when it came out since people felt so confident in who they thought was guilty and who they thought was suffering. Other than the scene from India that I discussed yesterday, we discussed the opening scene from Iran at length.

This scene takes place in Afghanistan and shows a group of school children as they go through an average school day. This was a really powerful scene in challenging the way that we think about other cultures. The Afghani children don’t think about the conflict in America at all and are only concerned about the well that caved in a few days ago in their town. Right after the war, nobody spoke for Afghanis and this was an attempt the producer made to expose Americans to their voices. The students have no concept of Holy War or to their terrorist attacks on September 11th. Many Americans want to paint all Afghanis as complicit or guilty but it is clear that the children are clueless and that their teacher is in no way linked to terrorism (or even the concept of jihad). This makes me wonder, should the US have invaded Afghanistan? Should little kids and their parents suffer for something they don’t have any connections with? This scene was passed over since it was the opening and since there was not a lot of action involved; however, the message is powerful and unsettling.

This made me reflect on the Rebecca Stein lectures in ICS 125 where the class examined the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a perspective that wasn’t as pro-Israel as we are used to in the United States.(One that I am particularly accustomed to due to where I live: a village with a majority population of Jews). It is always important and unsettling to understand the opinion and the humanity of a people against whom you are fighting, perhaps that will lead to the end to the fighting and to finding a solution.

Dinner & A Movie ICS Style

If someone approached me and asked me to create an interpretation of the events of September 11th I don’t think I would be able to nearly as creative or insightful as the presentations that we saw at the film tonight: 11'09''01 (watch trailer by clicking on the movie poster). I know that I am not in the movie industry so this statement makes some sense; however, I am so shocked and impressed at how one event is portrayed so differently without overlapping or interweaving.

I have a strong personal connection with 9/11 since I live in Westchester. I remember when we were slowly given pieces of information throughout the day by our teachers and how this information was very secret and frantic at first but then became increasingly alarming. It was first a small plane in the river, then we were told about the large planes and the attacks, and eventually we were released to go home where my family gathered in front of the television and frantically called friends and other family members.

We watched as helicopters and planes flew overhead from West Point towards the city. Life felt like it went on as per usual in our town just 10 miles north of the city, but at sunset I vividly remember a majority of the town sitting on the Hudson watching as smoke and debris billowed up the river with an anxiety that the aftermath of the attack were getting closer and closer (both figuratively and literally as loved ones were no longer accounted for). This proximity to New York City has given me a sense that I know what happened on September 11th better than someone living further away; however, the film showed me that to tell the story of that day you could live anywhere in the world and come from any walk of life.

No part of the film conflicted with my personal experience with the events; they only complicated it and made me reflect more about my personal reactions and my personal connection to September 11th. Each portion offered something different. The directors used allegory, language/non-language, image, sound, and the seen/unseen to engage all of the viewer’s senses. Since I had a sensation of being there and being desensitized to the events since then, I was shocked at how real and how human these experiences were even though few showed the entirety of the events.

That last sequence from Japan was so strange; there is literally no way for me to make sense of how weird that person/snake was or how it fit in with the events of 9/11. Even Haley and the girl in the other ICS 200S section we were sitting with couldn’t make sense of it. Like what the hell does a creepy Japanese man who acts like a snake have to do with September 11th?

My favorite sequence was definitely the one from India because it made me think very differently about the United States and the way that Americans turned on American citizens who looked Arab after September 11th. It touches on the racism and paranoia that were present, but keeps a distant as not to fully criticize the United States (we don’t know fully about the son’s whereabouts when the film ends). It was so obvious that the family was judged not on the fact that they had lived in Brooklyn for so long but just that they were foreign. I think that, like Spitty said, my personal take of the events would have been different after seeing this movie.