The art piece that I picked was an 8mm color film by an Indian artist,  Nalini Malani. Although this piece was made in 1969, it appears to be very modern due to its very abstract qualities. While often times abstract pieces bore me, this one really caught my attention due to its eye grabbing color schemes. The the various shades of blue accompanied with white cubes fading in and out makes for a very beautiful aesthetic. Just when you are ready to look away, the piece transitions slowly into areas of pink and red fading in and out as well and then returns to its original blue interface. After staring at this piece for five to ten minutes I couldn’t depict the intention of the artist however if I was to make a guess I would probably say that this piece resembles feeling anger and sadness at once. The plethora of blue shades at the beginning of the video definitely evoked a sense of gloom which was followed by a very intense transition into red and pink colors evoking anger frustration and conflict. The thin white cubes could resemble moments of clarity during an internal struggle not only because of the neutral color but because of its very scarce presence in the piece. This piece really caught my interest because it is abstract on many levels. Its lack of detail not only creates a lot of room for interpretation but also room for confusion. Not only was I uncertain of what this piece resembles, but I was also unsure of what emotions to be feeling.

It is yet another foggy and chilly morning in Long Island. Morris, who foolishly stayed up late binge watching Fx’s new show “Atlanta,” lays on his bed cringing at the thought at getting up and beginning his long and strenuous trek to school. He slowly lifts his lazy ass out of bed, gets dressed, brushes his teeth, and heads downstairs. He walks into the kitchen and sees a fresh omelet prepared for him on the glass table. He glances over at the time, it is 6:30am and Morris is not hungry in the slightest. Morris stood there half asleep and thought to himself, “how could any one be hungry at this hour?” Regardless, he crams the eggs into his mouth, slips his shoes on, and locks the door. As he gets into his car, Morris connects his phone to the aux cord and plays his favorite morning tunes. Pulling into the train station, Morris lucky got the last parking spot in the entire lot. As he gets out the train is pulling in, he had just made it. He enters the train and sits at a vacant spot. The train is empty but not for long. Morris tries to shut his eyes however the lights from the train were so penetrating he is unable to. As the train was arriving to the next stop Morris spots a friend of his from high school also commuting to the city. Tony, Morris’ friend gets on and sits next to him. Noting that Morris is both sleepy and cranky Tony turns to him and says, “morning sunshine!” Morris unamused murmurs “please Tony, I don’t have the capacity for your optimism this early.” Tony replying with a simple “copy” takes out his laptop and begins typing. Glancing over, Tony looks over at Morris. “good god this kid looks miserable, he really needs to get some sleep.” After another 20 minutes they arrive to Jamaica station where they must now transfer trains. They get off and cross platforms. The new platform is extremely crowded as it always is during peak hours. Morris turns to Tony and says “great, guess we’re not getting seats,” Tony shrugs his shoulders. They get onto the second train and Stand in the enter/exit section. There standing next to them is an intimate couple no younger than them. Morris looks over for a second, sighs, and puts in his earphones. After 20 minutes they have reached Penn Station. They get off the track, walk a flight of stairs, and exit the building. Walking down 30th from 7th ave to 6th, Morris smells a plethora of breakfast foods reminding him that he hasn’t eaten. Morris checks the time and notes to himself that class starts in 10 minutes and he has no time to grab food. They reach Herald Square and take the NQR subway to 23rd. Walking down 23rd, Morris sees one of his favorite Burger joins, Schnippers. This reminds his of his best friend Jeremy who showed him that place back in the 8th grade. Morris is slightly saddened for he has not seen Jeremy in 2 months and misses him terribly. Finally after an hour and 20 minutes, Morris has reached his destination, Baruch College where he will begin his day.

The New York Times article How ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Silences Black Women exploits the absence of the perspective and narratives of female slaves. Although slavery was a horrid time for all black Americans, women undoubtedly had to deal with much worse conditions than men. While a racial construct separated black people from white people, gender constructs separated males from females. Gender stratification made women powerless compared to men and therefore easily susceptible to beatings and often rape by white slave owners. Although in Douglas’ narrative there weren’t really any female slave characters, he portrayed several vidid and horrific scenes of female slaves such as the beating of his aunt Hester in the very first chapter. Douglas stated he felt so traumatized that he himself felt as if he was the victim.   While rape among female slaves was quite common, it is often ignored today when covering this time period. As stated in the New York Times article,  in The Birth of a Nation while there are depictions of women being raped, the viewer does not see the female narrative but rather the tole it has on Nat Turner.  Similarly in the Douglas autobiography, there are scenes with women being raped but we only see how it affects Frederick Douglas. As views or readers, we really don’t get an accurate portrayal of how female slaves coped with these hardships. The conclusion I’ve drawn from the article is that it is hard for us as a society to anknowlge that the reoccurring rape among female slaves was at one point reality, therefore directors and authors often times find it easier to avoid it.

This is a photo of my coach after I beat him 15-14 in overtime.

This piece displays a very gloomy image. It is a canvas painting with what seems to be some sort of pastel. The piece consists of very few colors such as grey, brown,  black, and touches of bashe. The painting carries a very foggy smokey look reflecting a gloomy and depressing vibe.  In the center is what looks to be the remains of a mansion or a large estate for only the big arch entrance is standing. The large entrance is surrounded by black dead leafless trees as well as gravestones and crosses in the ground all of which are located in the center of the piece. On the outer parts of the painting, is nothing but emptiness. While this painting is some what abstract, its details reflect a common theme, termination. The mansion which used to exist had been deteriorated with time and only its entrance has been left behind. The trees which used to be colorful, leafy, and most importantly alive, with time have died and left behind only their corpses. The people, who’s time has unfortunately expired has left nothing but a grave stone. The bottom right part of the piece is rather interesting for it has a very dark mustard color thus making it the lightest part of the image. If my assumption is correct the artist used that color to represent a sun rising. This rising sun is shining light on the the bottom dark part of the painting. I believe the real message is that from death comes birth.

There is no direct correlation between fiction and knowledge, for knowledge is an individuals accumulation of factual information. Obviously, fiction is not fact, however often times fiction can lead to knowledge. For instance, before the enlightenment one can argue that peoples explanations for common earthly aspect were fictional. There were no real answers for why things were the way they were so people created an understanding for them through fiction. Although their understandings were not accurate, they essentially led to the enlightenment, a period where people were hungry for scientific explanations. Another example that comes to mind is from the 15th century when Christopher Columbus challenged the idea of a flat earth. Although every one had  established that the planet was entirely flat, Christopher Columbus sought the truth and eventually succeeded  in proving that the earth was indeed round. These two examples show that although the original explanations  may originate from fiction and imagination  often times result in truth being discovered. One can argue that many innovations can come out of fiction and imagination. In my opinion every invention comes from a “what if” idea. For example “what if we had a device that can capture a moment forever?” Eventually the camera was invented. This applies for improving inventions that already exist. For instance “what if we had a telephone that is portable and can make calls from almost any where?” Thus the cellphone. While fiction is not real or true, we obtain real factual information from it when attempting to seek the truth and we push ourselves technologically to create innovations that all originate in ones fantasy.