Mary Shelley Video...

Though Mary Shelley was a British author, I made this video for my media & tech. class and Jennifer posted hers, so I thought I'd post mine =). Hope you enjoy!

Lost... in the Funhouse

I know that there is more to John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" than I am perceiving, but quite frankly I found the story to be distracting, frustrating and at times confusing while I found the narrator to be pompous, overzealous and down-right egotistical. I assume that Barth's purpose in addressing his audience like child-minded idiots is because he feels superior in his literary/grammatical skills and has to share them contextually every single paragraph. I, in no way, found his "tips" helpful; they were distracting and detracting. Barth wrote a decent story which has a fairly interesting story line, but this, in my opinion, gets drowned out by his continuous paranthetical inserts which are completely unneccessary. I actually really like Barth's boldness - he wasn't afraid to add the nitty gritty sexual details that would go through an average teenage boy's mind. I found this "free-thinking" refreshing, but that's about all I found pleasant about this story.

Some of the most distracting features about "Lost in the Funhouse" is the narrators repetition, his unfinished sentences and his off-the-wall "do we really need to know this?" information.

Though I am sure I am completely underappreciating the literary genius that Barth is probably embodying in this work, I wouldn't give this story the time of day, nor would I recommend it to anyone who understands and appreciates literature for what it is.

Final

http://jcoklmcalary.blogspot.com/

Trust Me

Here are some of my notes in the direction I want my version of "Trust Me" to go:

Perspectives: John Updike’s Trust Me
- First wife
- Afraid to fly – a background story about why she is afraid to fly
- As she is sitting in the plane, her fists clenched around the arm rests, she reminisces about the day of her marriage to Harold – he is overtly controlling and disregards her feelings
- Her pleading to Harold – asking if he will take pity on her and not make her fly again.
- Details of the plane ride that wouldn’t rise.
- The thoughts of the first wife and how she never wants to feel so tried and anxious again.

My Photographical Inspirations

After my discussion with Professor Hepworth today, I wanted to share about my three favorite photojournalists who have inspired me as an aspiring artist in writing, photography and ultimately impacting the world.

My hero and favorite photojournalist is William Eugene Smith who was a photographer for Life magazine. Through his photographs, he impacted the world by altering the future for those who thought their situations were hopeless; therefore, he inevitably made the world a better place. The first photo below is my favorite photograph. The emotion expressed through this picture is amazing. The first photograph is from Smith's collection while he resided in Minimata Bay, Japan. Through his work, he exposed the malpractices of the factories in the area. These factories were dumping their excess mercury into Minimata Bay where the fish were being infected. These fish, which were the main food source for the area, were then caught and sold for the people's consumption. After consuming these fish, many people became deformed; this led to many deaths. After his story was published, many American groups had a strong reaction to the photographs and the accompanying story and donated their money and time to get the mercury factories shut down. The people of Minimata Bay never had to worry about mercury poisoning again. The second and third photographs were ones that W. Eugene Smith took on the battlefield during the war and in Spain.
Another one of my favorite photojournalists is James Nachtwey. He is also a man who wanted to make a difference with his photographs. In one of his speeches, he told the audience, "I use the formal aesthetics of photography not for their own sake, but as a tool for social awareness. I want the immediate effect of my photographs to establish a direct relationship between the viewer and the people in the picture." He spoke about the power of photography in shaping public opinion, a tool for creating change and the obligation of journalists to exploit those resources. "It's easy to be cynical about photography, to dismiss its power to create change," Nachtwey said. "But it has made a difference, against all odds, sometimes in great ways, sometimes small. As long as there are things happening in this world that cry out for change, photography will continue to be a factor in the process." Nachtwey believes that war is a turning point in history and, as a photojournalist, it is his duty to document that contemporary history. "I want my photographs to be published while the event is still taking place so that the images become part of society's daily dialogue and consequently become an element in the process of change," he said. "Ultimately, I want my pictures to become a part of our collective memory."
Steve McCurry is another one of my favorite photographers. He has my dream job: a National Geographic photographer. His portraits are beautifully exquisite and express so much emotion. He once said, "If you wait, people will forget you have the camera and the soul will drift into view." This statement proves to be so true, especially in what I've found in my portraiture-taking experiences. Anyway, I believe his photographs speak for themselves - the soul naturally drifts up.

My Poem

I Carry Your Heart - E.E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The Sandbox

I found Edward Albee's "The Sandbox" interesting to say the least. The play is constructed like a play with voiced stage directions which is odd considering, in my experience, theatrical performances lean toward acting as "real life" rather than fictitious acting. I didn't know exactly why the characters "Mommy" and "Daddy" were named the way they were especially since it is not evident that they have children themselves. And why are they taking this poor woman out to the sandbox to die and be taken away by the melodious notes played by the musician and the muscley actor/angel of death? What is the purpose for the musician? Is he solely there to whisk Grandma away to her death? Why do Mommy and Daddy sit and wait an entire day and night for -what seems to be Mommy's mother - to die? Perhaps this is the story that is told to the children of Mommy and Daddy - to better ease their thoughts of Grandma dying. Really, I'm just confused about this play. I think there is a lot buried under the surface of this play and, if dissected, would probably reveal a lot of hidden tones and meanings hinting at life and death.