Dance (I) by Henri Matisee is an oil painting on canvas created in 1909. While analyzing this piece there were a few things I stood out to me.

While inspecting the piece in an objective tone there are many things to notice; the colors, the background, the figures and what is occurring in the picture. One of the first things that stood out was that while many other oil paintings consisted of an abundance of colors and mixing, this artist only used around 4-5 colors for this piece. Next I noticed how the piece was extremely simple, it did not contain many details. The background was just a green hill with a blue background. The people in the painting were all the same color and all had simple sketches of their features (eyes, nose, lips, breast, buttock). While observing the colors I noticed how the artist used dark colors in the background but lighter colors on the people. Lastly while trying to figure out what was occurring in the piece I concluded that they were all dancing in a circle (hence the title of the piece) and that the girl on the bottom right had fallen. I would personally point to the person the bottom left as the most prominent figure in this piece due to their hieratic scale (being the largest thing in this piece) and his contrapposto position with his feet. The contrapposto could be seen throughout many pieces of art throughout history, this position is usually linked with the image over power. As you continue to look at the figures counter-clockwise you can notice how they are slowly progressing from standing up and dancing well to falling and on the floor. If you look even closer to the the last figure, you can notice how their hand is outstretched but not connected to the next person, thus breaking the circle.

After this I started to truly analyze the piece by closely examining all the things I stated in my objective analysis. I noticed that by making the people a lighter color they stood out a lot more and made them a general focus of the painting, as he probably desired. I concluded that his lack of detail was because the artist didn’t want the painting to distract you from a message he was trying to send. This message could be seen in the figures dancing and how they are falling apart. After reading the note on the side, I saw that the artist once stated that the piece evoked “life and rhythm”. Life and rhythm can easily be seen in this painting. When viewing life it can easily be associated with the word rhythm, much like a rhythm life consist of many ups and downs. In this painting you can see the figures representing this as the figures go from quite literally standing up to being down. However, just like the figures in the painting, life and rhythm is a circle, they constantly go through sequences of being up and down. The faces of these figures does not matter because they are us. All of us are dancing to the rhythm of life, constantly experiencing all of its ups and downs. Going back to the background you can now see how the background is so simply because in life things are always changing, thus where we are doesn’t matter. What matters is that through all these changes we are always ourselves, and no matter where we are, we will always fall down but just to get up again.

Manifestos serve as a declaration of an individuals or parties policies, goals, intentions and motives. While this declaration does a vital role in describing them, we must also acknowledge that these pieces also hold the intent of persuasion. Manifestos shows how the authors acknowledge the absolute urgency of the issues present and that they know proper steps that will not just fix, but conquer the issue. They then state the importance of the readers, stating how each reader has tremendous amounts of power and how their commitment is vital in the effort of conquer the problem. In order to achieve all of these points and persuade the readers to join their movement, authors turn to the use of radical language.

The use of radical language in manifesto’s not only set them apart from other outlets that discuss either the manner in more passive or not at all, but it also represents their character. It shows the true raw emotions that the author/group holds towards the issues present and the dedication they possess and use towards conquering the issues. In the Black Panther Party Platform and S.C.U.M. Manifesto they discuss the the black rights moment and the feminist movement , respectively. Through radical language they are able to successfully motivate and persuade their targeted audience to join their movement by; educating them of the issues and its background, stating what has to occur for the issue to be conquered and how they are dedicated to the cause and need your assistance.

The Black Panther Party Platform for example acknowledges the desires of the their audience and uses radical language in establishing they also have the same desires. By using the word “we” they represent what they want, but it also subconsciously causes the leader to include themselves with the word we. Thus when they do recognize this, the readers essentially already links themselves to the group. They differentiate themselves from other groups by not just asking for rights, but demanding them. They provide examples of the injustices that they have incurred and blame those who caused it, thus following the famous quote “An enemy of my enemy is my friend”. This leads the readers to stimutameously truly see the absolute urgency of the problems but to also grow more passionate about it.

The S.C.U.M. Manifesto also does the same by acknowledging how society degrades women and places them in a low level of social hierarchy. Then through the use of radical language, empowers the readers by establishing how men have their abundance of flaws too. This use of radical language is extremely vital in the success of this manifesto because it allows them to be literally the only group that is both attacking and insulting men by exploiting their flaws. While the readers may have originally read the articles with the thoughts that women should have equal rights, they leave with the thoughts of; men have a lot of flaws themselves, women should demand their equal rights, women are an essential part in both society and men and quitting is not the answer. Through all this they see how S.C.U.M. wants to and will obliterate all these problems and that they are literally the only group that is willing to do so radically.

Vivak woke up to his usual 8:00AM alarm. However, instead of jumping out of bed and starting his usual mundane morning routine he decided to lay in bed a little bit longer and peer out his window directly above him. It was an exceptionally gloomy day, the grey sky was littered with clouds everywhere as it illuminated a sense a despair and sadness, the obnoxious sounds of birds chirping  had somehow turned into an erie tone. Finally at 8:10AM his father called him, “You’re late.” he said in a stern voice, a voice aged with hardship, courage, dedication and success. A voice that Vivak knew he wanted to obtain, hence why he tried so hard in school. Vivak finally stood up, rubbed his eyes with his balled fist before putting on his glasses and headed to his bathroom. Here his usual mundane morning routine started; he brushed his teeth, stripped of his clothing and flexed in the mirror (a way to start off the morning confidently he thought to himself), went through his phone picking the recommended playlist by Spotify and blasting it as he went into the shower. As he exited the shower he looked at his clock, 8:30AM, he was very late. As he ran toward his closet his wrapped towel started to rise like a cape with the speed he was running at. In a frenzy he picked out his go to outfit; his CK briefs, his UA socks, H&M faded denim jeans, the first shirt on the neatly folded pile and his adidas superstars. As he ran down the stairs the sounds of his heavy footsteps echoed the house, the sounds you heard next was the sounds of keys, the lifting of a cup and the slam of the door. He quickly entered his car, pushed it to start, and went full throttle towards the LIRR station. He payed no attention to his surrounded, just the holes between the cars infront of him and the sound of his revving engine, he would speed up and both quickly and preciously turn into the whole and speed up infront of the cars. As he approached the train station he quickly turned left into the parking lot and got the first parking spot he saw. As he ran out of his car and towards his train he noticed the fog around him, as if he was in a forest in one of the artsy pictures, yet before he could finish his thought the train arrived infront of him. Loud and obnoxiously. He boarded the train and walked to the first empty seat he saw. He popped in his headphones and continued to listen to his music as he fell asleep. Finally he arrived to Penn Station, he gathered his belonging and headed up the long flight of stairs. Yet instead of his stepping sounds powerful and heavy like in his house, they only made a faint noise in the flurry of all those around him. As he finally got out onto 34th street he walk left towards 6th street. Today was just another usual day in the unusual NYC. Homeless people in the same spots as the days before, just with different un-rememberable faces. He continued this walk concentrating his head to the ground, he didn’t want to think or look at anything else, he wanted to be lost in his thoughts. As he approached 6th street he made another left and continued to walk down under 24th street. Each brief moment he lifted his head there was a different surrounding. The first time he lifted his head he noticed the row of Citibikes to his left, the blue bikes stood locked to their base, while they looked prestige and maintained at a first glance, he saw under deeper inspection the damages they all had. Some had small tears on their seats, some of their handlebars were faded from the sweat and pressure of the hands of those who rode them, some had marks that indicate that they had been dropped or collided, each the same but different in its own way. This next time he glanced up he saw a giant inflatable rat. This 10ft large rat with red eyes was just another usual unusual NYC thing, as it stood prominently in middle street with tired looking construction workers surrounding it he noticed how no one else on the streets noticed it. Everyone gave it a small glance and continued on their busy day, no one had time to wonder why. As he approached closer to the rat he could see that it had caught the eye of an individual. The man laid mesmerized by it. He was clearly of asian descent, about 5’5, dressed up in old running shoes, loosely fitting sweatpants, a black ECHO hoodie with small holes on the right side, and a dirty faded white golf hat with RF on top. Wrinkles claimed his skin, the wrinkles on his face carefully surrounded his eye, deep black, concentrated on his phone while he took a picture of the rat. It only took Vivak about 3 seconds to see and analyze him, quietly he said “Tourist” with a grin on his face. He continued his walk finally turning left onto 24th street. He looked at the time, 10:20AM, he was late. This time he finally looked up and dashed towards Baruch. Just like he was in his car, he payed no attention to all his surrounding, he focused on the holes between people and his loud footsteps. Finally he arrived at Baruch College at 10:24AM, panting and sweating, he swiped his Baruch ID card through the old turnstyle and was ready to offical start his day.

Song Of Myself by Walt Whitman focuses on the power of self-identity. Throughout the whole poem are there are various parts where Walt discusses how self-identity plays a role in defining yourself and your part in the world. By doing so not only does he show the importance of self-identity in yourself but also how society and the world around you plays a role in various factors.
The first part focuses on caring and celebrating yourself. This is an aspect that seems lost in society, Walt Whitman really touches a vital point in the “untranslatable self” by describing self virtue as an internal energy that can’t easily be explained.

The second part focuses on people and the world as a whole. In this part he refers to people as “fragrances” and explains how each person becomes “intoxicated” by the people around them because they influence them so heavily. However, at the end of the day it is important you who are as a person and whatever the situation, you should always listen to yourself.

The fourth part focuses on the differences between individuals. Even though we don’t have a specific reason as to why were are on this planet and that we all may look different, we still all live. This part shows how each individual should understand that they are alive, and all that means is that you can anything. It’s something that is clearly obvious in our lives but not taken advantage of.

The last part focuses how “untranslatable” an individual is. There are so many parts of an individual that stimutameously make them up and at the same time remain impossible to explain. There are so many things about an individual and aspects around them that shape them as a person. Walt Whitman does an excellent job in dissecting them and explaining them.

In Emily Dickinson’s piece, “Hope is the thing with feathers”, she really connects Jane Eyre whole depiction of hope. This concept of hope is reflected throughout the whole entire novel in various scenes. Not only does Emily Dickinson accurately depict Jane Eyre’s concept of hope but she also see how hope plays a vital role in an individuals life. It isn’t just any other feelings, it’s a feeling that can withstand almost anything and still persevere.

The scene that I found most related to this poem was the scene where Jane meet Mr. Rochester for the first time. Throughout her whole childhood she was both physically and mentally abused. However, she stood strong and kept her faith in hope. Moments such as the time she was shut in the red room or bullied in school serve as a tribute to “storm” in Emily Dickinson’s poem however she still manages to overcome it and meet her love Mr. Rochester (even though as of now it is not working out well). She was able to escape her struggles and overcome them through the power of hope.

Growing up in the Reed’s house Jane Eyre faced oppression and resistance towards any act that she preformed. The reasoning behind this? Something Jane couldn’t control, her bloodline. Thus Jane followed what most women in her position do, silence. She viewed silence as a way to avoid further consequences without realizing how inadequate it was towards her situation. In many situations she continued to follow her way of silence however, it was the moment that she stood up that she finally understood the true power in her voice.

The scene where Mr. Brocklehurst humiliated Jane resulted in one of Jane’s largest accomplishment, her ability to speak out. Shortly after Mr. Brocklehurst humiliated Jane, Miss Temple asked Jane about her childhood. At this moment Jane was given the option to either speak out or stay silent. By choosing to speak out she was not only able to clear her name with Miss Temple but was able to finally feel free. This allowed her to draw strength and to excel further in her life. She was no longer burdened with all the things the Reeds and Mr. Brocklehurst had told the school, she was able to seen as who she truly is.

InThe Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde, Lorde states that; “It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for acting.” This quote accurately dictates how Jane was able to to draw strength from her conditions of life and apply it to further benefit herself.

The Beast Within a Beauty

It’s shape is of evolution with it’s origins in it’s thoughts.

It’s sound is of the roar of the soldiers that fought for it’s road.

It’s aggressive look is of the look we earned.

It’s power is of the strength that we possess.

It’s speed is of our lifestyle.

It’s name is of what we do.

It’s what it means to be sublime.

-2017 Dodge Challenger

Thomas Hobbes attributed the creation of social organization to men and women who “had originally banded together for the sake of preservation”. However, this interest soon changed as social organizations had become “elaborate hierarchical structures’, whom those at the top felt entitled to a share of social power. Along with these hierarchical structures, society seemed to have performed in a seemingly uniform way. Education was limited to the wealthy, while literature was used in means to stimutameously delight and instruct their readers of what is moral in society and what is not. Women only had the ability to accomplish getting married and taking care of their children. A divine spirit was the only explanation of the elements unknown. Finally, the past served as a concrete guide as to how the future should be approached.

However, the Age of Enlightenment was a time that ushered the whole world into a new era. This new age promoted us to see our own judgement and senses, to remain skeptical and critical towards everything around us, to question divine revelation. This age gave us a “new sense of equality of all humans beings” which demanded for universal human rights. As Isaac Newton marked the change of the unknown from God’s creation to science, revolutions sparked in all major areas of society. Modern values and science promoted individualism as opposed to the classical side. Social instability marked the initiations of a change as women started to expand and showcase their full intellectual and moral capacities. Social responsibility started to acknowledge human obligations and ethical standards. Literature started to focus on the art of realism, which allowed the readers to “convey the literal feel f experience” rather than read other’s promoted agendas. The value of permanence was challenged against the value of change. It was a change that people were stimutameously waiting for and astonished by.