I visited the MOMA on Saturday May 14, after going through every floor, I chose Picasso’s oil on canvas portrait “Three Musicians”. It was painting while he was with his family in the FountainBleau in the summer of 1921. The picture depicts 3 flat abstract figured men. One playing the guitar one playing the clarinet and the other holding sheets of paper. This is a perfect depiction of Picaso’s cubist style. which is described as a very intellectual style of painting. It is very interesting how picaso makes these real life subjects into different shapes and sizes.

-Optimistic Oliver

The black party as well as scum manifesto use a very extreme radical language to let people know that everyone should be an equal. I was surprised to read that in the SCUM manifesto, women think men are pretty much the bottom of their shoe. But after further analyzation I could see why they think that, even though some men have a great deal of respect for women and their rights, there is also a whole other side, in which men have no respect for women, which is a problem. The SCUM manifesto is very informative for any woman who has ever thought these thoughts and in order for their voices to be heard, there needs to be some vulgar language to express their points. “Every man, deep down, knows he’s a worthless piece of shit”: even though this is very untrue, it definitely gets more women on board to the feminist party, since in reality there are not many people who speak out about this cause. Since many influential black leaders have been assassinated in the past, it is also the black party’s obligation to speak out on their equality, and in my opinion both radical languages in these works, are extremely effective and one of the only ways they can be heard.

It was a gloomy Monday morning; Oliver tentatively woke up at 7:15am but snoozed a few times till 8am. Once that final 8am alarm rang, his sheets flew off, he stood up had a stretch, did his morning bathroom routine, and once that ice cold water hit his body in the shower, he was officially awake. Music playing and clothing flying everywhere he put together an outfit that was both comfortable for school and appropriate for work. Flying down the steps of his walk up building he picked up a small iced coffee and walked east to the R, W train. It was foggy and misty morning, which reminded Oliver of a high school football practice. A light shined on his head- he forgot his umbrella. He had to turn around and conquered a massive amount of ground in order to be on time for his 9AM. Thankfully he was able to get the umbrella from his apartment without wasting too much time. Back on the road, there was an abundance of tall good-looking girls while walking on Prince Street, the heart of SOHO. But with those pretty girls, came many businessmen smoking cigarettes on their walk to their destination. Finally, Oliver made it to the train station, once he got there he noticed he had insufficient fare on his metro card so he had to quickly refill. Waiting on the line, while watching a train pass, he was getting frustrated. He then got on the next subway, went north to 23^rd street. In need of some potassium, he was able to buy a banana from a cart and get to class on time. Before walking into class, Oliver noticed a man with long red hair and freckles who was smoking a vaporizer blowing a cloud of smoke which blasted in someone’s face.

While reading Freud’s thoughts, I had a few flashbacks to when I was younger asking my mother if I could have something, and if she said no I would run to my dad and he would say yes. But after thoroughly reading and not trying to take any preconceived notions, I realized that this is a very old fashioned way of thinking. I did definitely agree with the thought that when you are young all you want to do is be exactly like your parents, you want to learn from them, you want to look like them you want to do what they do. But then the thought of when you get a bit older, seeing other parents and comparing them/their families to your own, “He gets to know other parents and compares them with his own, and so acquires the right to doubt the incomparable and unique quality which he had attributed to them” This happens when they are entering their teenage years and they are questioning life, how it works and how to succeed. When you are at that age, you pretty much think you are an adult, you think that anything you believe is right and you wont take any other answer. I was without a doubt like this when I was a child, and totally understand, and am a firm believer that the way parents bring up their child, act and speak around them is a huge factor on how they are when they grow up.

-OO

Whitman’s explains ones untranslatable self Poem “Song of Myself” I started to understand what he was saying when it said “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” After further analysis, I realized that everyone has his or her own untranslatable self. A part of them inside that is just unexplainable, it’s the way ones mind works and how they think. In my opinion, one needs experience in order to understand or realize this untranslatable self. I have been sitting here and trying to think about it, how does one characterize themselves to others? How does one begin to explain to another person how their minds operate? I guess the question is- how does one translate their untranslatable self? Our souls are the untranslatable part of a person, that can not be explained, for everyone is made of the same parts, but on the inside, everyone is different, and everyone’s perception is different.

-OO

This poem brings me straight to the end of chapter 27, “The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more –”After reading the first part of this poem, it reminds me of when Jane refuses to marry Mr. Rochester and move away with him. She then dreams that night of her mother telling her to not break her temptation, and leaves Thornfield on the spot, not knowing what her future has in store. This seems to happen to Jane many times in the story, she ends up going somewhere, shuts the door in which she gets comfortable then something unfortunate has to happen and she is forced to leave- Present no more. Another example from this poem is “An emperor be kneeling upon her mat” after reading this part, Mr. Rochester Jumped in my head, when he confessed his love to Jane. The rest of the poem is another reenactment of when Jane leaves the “ample nation” (Thornfield) and closed the valves of her attention like stone. Once Jane leaves Thornfield and ends up with St. John, she closes the valves and does not think about what and who she left behind at Thornfield.

After reading Audre Lorde’s The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action & The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House we see so many situations in which Jane’s oppression can be depicted. Starting off in the beginning of the story when she took one of Mr. Reed’s books and was punished for it, as if she was a lower form of life, just for touching a book she was smacked in the head, and was shouted at. Another example of Jane’s oppression was when she was called a liar in front of everyone and just stood there, scared of judgement. Audre Lorde, a black, female, lesbian feminist who fought so many battles including breast cancer, is not so different from our little Jane. Looking back, Jane vicariously died a little bit inside, when losing people that were close to her, including Helen. But, when there’s a will there’s a way, Jane and Audre so far, have been able to overcome their hardships. Lorde expressed that her voice did not mean anything until she realized she had a timer ticking on her life. We can conclude that Jane, HAS a voice, when speaking back to her aunt after she set such horrible things, we saw that even a little girl can stand up for herself.

The moral of the story is, why wait until the time of hardship to express yourself? One must take advantage of every opportunity they get to have their voice heard. No matter what age, race or gender, everyone’s voices must be heard! And even though Jane is a little girl, she is Jane and Jane has her own voice, just like anyone else.

-OO

Throughout Jane’s entire life, she has been oppressed by older figures, mainly males. But it was not until Jane met Helen that she started understanding the meaning of acceptance and tranquility. After having such a harsh childhood from losing her parents to Typhus to having to take all Mrs. Reed’s crap. It seemed as if Mrs. Reed was out to get her. From stuffing her into the ‘Red Room” where her uncle had died in, to not listening to  her screams as she was having an actual panic attack. The one thing that had put Jane over the edge was telling Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane lies to get attention. She was humiliated infront of the whole school, until Helen came to the rescue letting her know it will all blow over. God bless Helen, he angel that she is for saving her friend Jane’s life that day. Thank god that Mr. Brocklehurt was seen to be as the cause of Typhus and his leaving directly related to Jane’s future success in leaving Lowood. After going to Thornfield, we see that Jane is finally happy, tutoring the very intelligent and vibrant Adele. I am itching to know what’s going on after that cliffhanger we are left on when she is greeted by Gytrash the spirit and Mr. Rochesters dog, Pilot. Once Jane finds out the dog is his, the plot thickens…

-OO

When I think of something sublime, there is only one thing that comes to my mind, human beings. Animals that have built nothing into something. Human beings are truly a fascinating and sublime topic. We are able to wake up every day, do whatever we want, we have body parts, a brain and eyes. Yes, no human being lives forever, and that’s the beauty of it. We have as many years as we have to make the most of our opportunities. After sitting here for 15 minutes trying to think of something that I truly think is sublime, it was right on my fingertips, (pun intended) What can be more beautiful than our race? We have accomplished the most out of all, and without us, there would be nothing. Yes, human beings is a pretty general topic, but the fact that we are here, trying to better our brains and become the most knowledgeable we can be, even in this very English class, is mind boggling. Everyone on this earth was created for a reason, and the point of living is to find that out. There is never an answer for anything of that magnitude, but that is the sublime part about it, you don’t know until you know.

-OO

Living in the twenty first century, being as lucky as we are now, we often look passed how we got here, and our history. A culmination of the past, has brought us to where we are today. More specifically, in the 17^th and 18^th century, The Enlightenment was a time where people questioned their individualism and forgot tradition and religion.

Society was questioning their existence, kings and queens were supposedly not royalty, everyone was an equal, questioning science and how we got to where we were. With these conflicts at hand, questioning individual equality it started the development of society which started political conflicts. David Hume said, “I think therefore I am” at this very time, society did not care about their work or their families, people were thinking about themselves and themselves only which is how the enlightenment began.

Today, our lives are not so different from back then. People are able to voice their opinions whenever they want to whomever they want to. During the enlightenment females wanted the same treatment as males, with time, so much has changed, but even today females are still having trouble voicing their opinions.

I believe that even today there is an enlightenment still happening. Donald Trump becoming president has put everyone in turmoil, with his ban on Muslims, it seems as if he is starting up another period of questioning individualism. Humanity is dividing as we know it, but I believe if we stick together and realize that society is always changing, we have to be the ones that need to realize it and acclimate to it.

-OO

(Optimistic Oliver)