This painting was done by Rondolfo Abularach a native Guatemalan born in 1933. This is just one of a few paintings in a particular collection by Abularach in which the theme is eyes. The painter chose to do this painting in black and white rather than color. The black and white makes this painting seem dull and faded unlike if it were in color. In some of his other pieces in the collection he includes the eyelid or eyelashes but in this specific piece he chooses to include nothing but the eyeball itself. Is he saying we must keep our eyes open for something? The eye is open very widely and it looks like it is zoned in on one specific item. The painter seems like he wants everyone to open their eyes to some cause or problem in society. Something that people may be overlooking or maybe turning a bling eye to.

Nick walked out of his dorm building and turned onto 97^th street. It was a cool day out, some wind in the air. He made his way from 3^rd avenue to Lexington and entered the 6 train subway station. He was delighted to see that there was only a 3 minute wait for the next train. When the train approached a gust of wind came with it. Unfortunately there were no open seats on the train so Nick an his roommate had to stand. To their surprise, after 4 stops two seats opened up and the boys were able to sit down. As the train approached the 28^th street stop Nick rose from his seat. The doors opened and he made a dash for the exit. When he reached the top of the steps the cool breeze of the outside air hit his face. Nick then walked over from Park to Lexington. Walking down 28^th street there was a ton of constructing going on. The sounds of power tools and heavy lifting filled the air. H wondered what they could be building. As he left the construction zone and walked toward 27^th street there was a familiar smell in the air. It was the smell that Nick loved most on his daily commute to school. The smell of fresh baked bread at subway filled his nostrils and made him crave a sandwich right then and there. He made eye contact with the Subway cashier as he slowed down to take in the wonderful aroma. Jeffery wondered why the strange boy had almost come to a full stop in front of his store but before he could question it the boy was gone. As he rounded the corner of 25^th street ad entered the plaza he saw the vertical campus tower before him. Nick had made it to school on time and with the thought of Subway in his mind.

In Douglass’s autobiography, he usually associates women of color with pain and suffering. Although during this time period most women were seen as proper, wearing voluptuous dresses and always acting lady like, women of color had it much differently. Douglass recreates disturbing accounts of black women slaves being beaten and abused by their masters. Slave owners saw these women only as pieces of property in which they could do as they please with them with no consequences to follow. According to the article it says that these slaves that were raped are usually “doubly marginalized,” meaning that they are treated as extremely insignificant human being despite the horrors that they went through. This can be seen by the beating of Aunt Hester in Douglass’s autobiography and by how little people react or care about the situation. The beating of female slaves was a common occurrence on plantations and made them feel even more worthless and abused than they already are. In most cases women were separated from their husbands and children and thus were able to get no support from loved ones after these traumatic experiences. The article describes how husbands sold to different plantations than their wives, “had no more power to protect her than the man who lies bound upon a plundered vessel’s deck has power to protect his wife on board the pirate-schooner disappearing in the horizon.” One of the most powerful statements in this movie regarding the treatment of women can best be seen in the director’s choice to have a raped slave named Esther to have no dialogue at all in the movie. The actress who plays this slave says, “all her emotions are communicated through facial expressions.” This is expressed during moments of ferocious violence in Douglass’s book. Both this article and Douglass’s autobiography open the reader up to seriousness and severity of the treatment of women of color during this time period.

The tiger from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” shows a strong comparison to the character of the monster from Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. The correlation between the two starts off with the creation of each creature. The forging of both creatures was very difficult and labor extensive. The means by which each was created suggests an overwhelming physical presence for both creatures. Additionally, after both creatures were created it posed the question of WHY would someone construct such specimens? People are terrified of both the monster and the tiger. Without even knowing anything about them but basing it only on their looks, the two creatures are seen as hideous and dangerous beings. Both creatures are completely misunderstood considering their looks on the outside do not align with their personalities or ways of life. Although scary and intimidating on the outside, both creatures are sensitive and caring on the inside. The tiger and the monster were also both not appreciated by their creators. The monster was abandoned by Victor Frankenstein, which deeply hurt the sensitive giant since Victor was the only person he really ever had a relationship with. On the other hand the tiger is resented as well by the narrator commenting about if his creator was actually proud of his work or not. “Did he smile his work to see?” The narrator also is appalled that the same person who created the timid lamb also created such an intimidating beast. “Did he who make the lamb make thee?” Although the monster does show some of the same characteristics that are seen in the lamb, such as its sensitivity and sometimes docile ways, the monster is still more closely comparable to the tigeri

This past weekend I traveled to the University of Maryland to visit a friend of mine. This journey represented the sublime to me because of the act of traveling to an unknown place. Getting on a random bus by myself and traveling across several states to a place I’m unfamiliar with is quite scary. I was traveling to a place where I knew only one person and everyone else was a stranger. But there is also a side of traveling that is beautiful. Exploring a place you have never been before and not knowing what you are going to find is very exciting. The fear is worth the experience and memories you can make by traveling to a foreign place.

Although fiction doesn’t necessarily articulate concrete facts, it provides readers with a sense of derived knowledge. From fiction and story telling one of the biggest things a reader can take away from a piece is lessons. Most fictional pieces provide made up stories with made up characters but have real life underlying lessons to be learned. They provide readers with real life lessons through the struggles and triumphs of the characters. A reader can then take this instruction and make use of it in their everyday real life. Fiction is like a reality simulator, it allows the reader to think about what choices they would make in certain situation as well as learning what the result of their choices would be. Another aspect provided by fiction is the fostering of imagination and creative thinking. By reading about made people and places it lets the readers mind explore and imagine, improving cognitive thinking. By the reader putting themselves in the character’s shoes it allows them to be actively thinking and empathize with the character. This can help with expressing feeling especially ones of compassion towards others. Reading these types of stories enacts our brains to better understand people as well as look at the world from a different perspective. By looking at the world from a different perspective we see things we haven’t seen before or look at a situation in a different light. Additionally all reading in general helps with the improvement of theory of mind, or the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs and intentions different from ones own.

The lives we live today are all extremely influenced with the ideas and teachings of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was the first prominent time period of significant questioning of life and everything its comprised of. In our contemporary lives we are taught to express ourselves, question things, wonder why something is the way it is and search for answers. This all stems back to the idea of individualism, which was so heavily believed in by the moderns of this time period. We also see a push for equality during this period with beliefs such as “broad education for woman.” Ancient Enlightenment beliefs like this led to future accomplishments such as women’s suffrage and race equality. Although we have come an extremely long way since then, there are still a few more equality boundaries to break such as equal pay for men and women. Additionally, some ideas of the period conflicted with the times. Women were mostly seen as domestic caregivers but at the time of the Enlightenment, upper class women began expressing creative visions and began doing things such as writing books. For the most part I do agree with Descartes’s thinking but I believe he was a little too quick to push religion and the idea of God away. There is no reason logic and reason can’t be question while also having a belief in God or any religion for that matter. Religion gives people hope and without hope what is there? Descartes portrayed his views in a way that made citizens not believe in any “God-given authority.” Kings were being executed and new rulers rose. This idea can even be seen in modern day politics in which we have an election for our ruler, which includes no God-given authority. Overall, Descartes changed the way people viewed life and questioned the known and unknown. His views intrigued people around the world and the effects can clearly be seen even to this day.