The Museum of Modern Art has always been on my must visit checklist ever since I’ve moved to New York City. It’s one of those places that tourists can’t miss out on. While visiting the Moma, lots of the art pieces created extreme atmosphere but what caught my eye was a hand painting by Bridget Riley. Riley was a British artist born in the year 1931. This piece is named Current from 1964, being a hand painting I thought the illusion of it being three dimensional was quite unique. Riley wanted to create works that minimize any signs of personal features. What she hoped for were the special engagements the viewers had with her works. The black and white selection of color in this piece creates what she called “the space between the picture plane and the spectator.” This style of art was known as Op art and was put out for exhibitions in 1965 at Moma. Some may see this piece as a disturbance, while others may accept it as another type of expression from the artist. I personally thought it was the difference from the other paintings because of the minimal use of contrasting colors. Also, because the painting moves as you stare at it, I believe everyone would perceive it differently. Effects from this piece are more based on one’s own response and acceptance. Looking at it in person and staring at the photo I took of it reveals totally different images and movement but none the less it’s a minimal yet effective piece.

-Shan Shan Chen

Both the Black Panther Party Platform and the SCUM Manifesto voices every extreme argument. Language is a very powerful tool, the way you use it can result in many different outcomes. Your tone in your writing may not be the tone the reader interprets it. Therefore, it’s crucial to be clear and blunt when you’re trying to directly attempt to deliver a strong belief or message. The Black Panther Party Platform speaks to provide a vivid story from what and where the issues were. The radical language used here is demanding but very effective. In able to support their huge movement, declaring rights and equality, they used language to their advantage. On the other hand, SCUM Manifesto also uses radical language, which allowed Valerie Solana to express her perspective on a controversial topic. This use of language provides a sense of strength and power into the position. It not only shows the seriousness of the writer but also voicing the important and urgency of the changes that need to take place. In the writing, she clearly holds a strong standing on her value of supporting women’s rights. Not only that but she also thinks that men are the main problem and there should be an elimination of the sex male. The use of radical language is used effectively because it shakes the readers and at some point, throughout the reading, you’ll feel convinced and you sort of sink into the thoughts of the writer even though it was out of the norm when it was first written.

-Shan Shan Chen

Woken up by her unpleasant alarm, she was forced to get out of bed knowing that any minute wasted would cause a deduction in her letter grade for her course. After slowly but with a fast pace of getting dressed and ready, she stepped out into the cold wind looking at the gloomy weather while experiencing cold sharp air being blown right towards her face. Avoiding the hunger that is calling out to her from her stomach. Knowing that there wouldn’t be a bus on time to take her to the N train station. She checks the transit application anyway, She then puts on her headphones pressing play for the playlist she updated the night before. After walking 8 blocks full of crowdedness and cigarette odor, she smiles as she crosses the street light right before the station. The station full of like and dislike, again there was no available train for Manhatten bound. She felt frustration running up her back as she gains flashbacks being late to her Music 101 class. Having to stand outside for 20 minutes even if she was late for 1 second. The eyes of classmates staring her down and the deduction in her letter grade really haunted her. As she got on the Coney Island-bound N train she recognizes a familiar face that she seen from school. She realizes that she’s not the only one who has to go through this every morning. The train stops at New Utrecht Avenue, she rushes off to catch the Manhattan-bound D train that seems to be slower than the N train to her. After her mind was weighted with the idea of being late she finally arrives at Bleecker St where she’ll transfer to the local uptown 6 train. With one stop on the 6 train she finally arrive at 23rd St station where she runs up the stairs into the street filled with the smell that would wake all the senses of her hunger. Minute later, she arrive in front of Baruch College, having her ID ready to swipe her way into tardiness.

After watching To walk invisible, written and directed by Sally Wainwright, I thought it was a really motivational piece for everyone especially women. From the creative introduction scene of the siblings running around with burning halos, I saw it as a metaphor of creativity within all four siblings. Despite their gender, they were all equally capable of creating their own fantasy or imaginations. The drama takes place in Yorkshire, the Bronte siblings were not rich but lived in a greater size home than many. The scene where the sisters go out to the wild landscape was a beautifully captured scene almost like the director wanted to show how much they have out there but also showing how they’re in the middle of nowhere. The film not only displayed the hardships of women who wanted their work to be simply accepted or respected but also the parallels between the two genders under the same family and environment. Branwell was a perfect contrast and his denial to the many offered chances, was what Charlotte needed, a chance or opportunity to be evaluated without specific titles. While Branwell threw his advantages aside, it was also what eventually crushed him mentally to a tragic ending. On the other hand, the Bronte sisters worked hard to achieve an offer under the terms of being reviewed as male writers. In a sense, they had to take an invisible path to achieve their ambitions. While Branwell had so much attention even under the circumstances of him being an addict with the predictable outcomes. This drama greatly demonstrated the obstacles the Bronte sisters overcame while voicing themselves as an women in the 19th century. The drama ends as we see that the sisters published works are still getting great feedback in modern society.

• Shan Shan Chen

Freud’s analysis from the reading “Family Romances” attempts to clarify the stages of child development. Freud’s notes from the beginning paragraphs stating “ The child’s most intense and most momentous wish during these early years is to be like his parents” is very agreeable. As a child, he or she would always want to imitate the parents, follow them everywhere, or do and wear whatever the parents did. However, with further reading it becomes hard to relate, Freud believes that at some point, possibly during puberty they will come to arguments and disagreements with their parents and so seek some sort of revenge on the parents through fantasies. I believe there are times where a child is more likely to be rebellious or make rebellious actions but I do not agree with the condition, Freud titles “Family Romance”. There certainly are some cases where some children try desperately to get their parent’s attention or to have the family return to happier times. However, those cases occur in families where the parents may be going through difficult situations. I don’t think every child goes through a mental condition where he imagines or elaborate tales of the family. After the courses of child development as Freud describes, he says some overcomes this condition but there are a class of neurotics who failed to moved pass this. To label a period of time where children develop into teenagers as a mental illness or condition seems a bit weird to me. I, personally admired my parents all throughout my childhood and till this day I still do and will continue to.

• Shan Shan Chen

Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself.” circles around self-identity and how everyone has an untranslatable self-hidden within them. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about things relating to this poem which made me really enjoy this poem. Right now being at an awkward age of just stepping into adulthood, I feel like there’s so much I should do and yet so much I haven’t figured out. Everyone around me seems to be in a rush of becoming someone, which I feel like makes them forget who they are. In Whitman’s poem, “untranslatable self” is mentioned, self to him isn’t just physical your body or mind but also your soul. It includes everything that has made you the person you are right now and even your undiscovered self. That one’s self is above and beyond anything that can be translated. Everyone is different so you’re not a language that has been heard of or researched, One’s self is untranslatable showing how individually we are all unique and no one is exactly the same which is why we are untranslatable. One’s self is also untranslatable because as humans we are constantly changing and our sense of selves are only temporary. The poet himself hints throughout the poem that he, himself, is also untranslatable. Being in a free society, he, himself is not identified, discovered. In certain ways, I feel like he’s saying we all revolve in a circle of which makes up one or another through our individual experiences. The world seems so big yet it’s so small, everyone has an untranslatable self that they’re trying to identify in order to become steps closer to the self they ought to be. The self you seems to know right now isn’t exactly who you are or who you can be, so take it at your own pace and maintain your individuality.

• Shan Shan Chen

The Poem “I Dwell in Possibility” written by Emily Dickinson is a poem that I believe speaks out to everyone. It shows us that there is possibility in life, little or big, which you can take a shot at. In this poem, Dickinson emphasizes how poetry is limitless, how it has no boundaries and to the readers and the poet it is home. The second line, “A fairer House than Prose —” describes how there’s a fairer or a house much more superior than the one we’re caged in or imagine. From this poem, I see the idea that Dickinson wants the readers to break through whatever cage they’re in. Allowing the readers to use poetry to give them hope, that there are possibilities outside of their cages. The word dwell connects me to Jane Eyre because It makes me think the poet is also feeling disappointment in the world around her just as Jane is. To dwell in a possibility, one must be in desperate of an escape of some sort. This desperate need of escape is what Jane experienced, her whole life she is told what to do and doesn’t have any sense of direction or a dream that’s called a dream. As Jane may not know herself, but her actions show how she dwells in possibility. Wanting to obtain freedom and better things. One scene that simply emphasizes this could be when she posts an advertisement of herself in the regional newspaper without telling anyone at Lowood. Soon after she receives notice and is satisfied and yearning for a life of excitement ahead of her. Jane is dwelling in possibility, she’s breaking her cage to search for her possibility, freedom that she’s been longing for.

-Shan Shan Chen

In the first twelve chapters of Jane Eyre, the main character Jane is faced with oppression and resistance without any words spoken. Audre Lorde’s analysis from The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action greatly explains Jane’s inner self, “What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and at, tempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? Perhaps for some of you here today, I am the face of one of your fears.” from these lines it connects to the exact words I’d imagine Jane had in her mind as she was locked in the red room. The silence she overcame, all the words she’d bottled up every time she was accused of a false accusation. The scene on page 30 where Jane overcomes the silence and oppression her aunt had placed her in. “I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again so long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up” After assuring of her departure, she bluntly expressed her powerful thoughts and she also threatens to tell everyone the cruelties she faced. As in Lorde’s writings, she strongly encourages women specifically to speak up, to turn silence into action, overcoming the fear because that is the way to survive and to grow. The resistance and oppression Jane faced were not only based on her class but also her gender. Audre Lorde speaks of gender inequality in The Master’s Tool Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. This relates to Jane’s experiences with oppression at Lowood and from Lorde’s message, the only one that can save her is herself, by speaking up and acknowledging the possibilities there are.

Three years ago, if I’d look out my window every night I’d see a circle of palm trees standing tall by the short houses of neighbors I see every day while coming home. Today, outside my window I see bright lights and tall buildings and numerous people walking pass all in a hurry. After moving to New York City from Southern California three years ago.I experienced the concept of the sublime in my daily adventures around the city that never sleeps. Besides the beautiful and advanced architecture that the city has to offer, is the nature of the weather over here on the east coast. The first snow that I experienced in the city really put me at great admiration and inspired me to travel the world and explore as much as I can. One day in the middle of December 2014 I was on my way out of a Japanese bookstore located around Times Square. As I walked out of the store, I saw snow flakes falling on my big fluffy coat that didn’t melt off for a good half minute. In the air, the snowflakes fell so slowly it seemed as if someone put a pause on me and everyone around. I could see every snowflake itself stuck in the air around me. This experience left me in excitement and comfort despite the cold wind that blew. It was beautiful to me because back home in Long Beach, California I wouldn’t be able to see fresh snow that fell from the sky. I’m normally not a person with good memory but from that day I can remember it as if I had the photographic memory. From that day on, I’ve always been trying to capture as many snow days in the city as possible. 

A huge aspect of our lives today is equality, likewise women equality. In the past decades, groups of women and also men has been coming together to create a better society by fighting for equal rights. Feminism is a social outcome that grew from the Enlightenment era. Where women could have equal rights just like men do. Without the roots of the Enlightenment era where scholars and philosophers thought thoroughly about how women can be more than just mothers at home or housekeepers. There wouldn’t be the idea of equal rights in today’s society. Gender oppression in the Enlightenment era caused many women in that time period the lack of ability to better their circumstances. Women were portrayed as weak individuals who were limited to childbearing and housekeeping. They were not given as many opportunities or professions as men. Women, who held property at the time would be in possessions of her husband after marriage due to the lack of belief on how she could expand the use of the property. Though during this time period, women’s intellect and ability to be just as smart as men were acknowledged. They paved way for many participants to embrace the role of women. Which allowed many to be driven to fight by their belief of how equal rights for women could improve the system and operations of society. “Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a Mexican nun articulated her passion for thought and reading, and became an eloquent advocate of the right of women to education and a life of mind” Despite the few opportunities and inequality of the enlightenment era, many women are now known as brave literary figures. Changes in women equality today really resulted from the enlightenment era. Today, we have females in high executive professions and also women running for president. To have women participate in cultural and political problems today the enlightenment really played a big role. Although from this recent 2016 election, results show that women’s ability and intellect are still being questioned by many which are some things all women and men should work together to assure the people to believe in women’s ability. To give more recognition to women, believe and be inspired by how far we’ve gone since the work of those from the enlightenment era.