I bet everyone knows about the genius artist Picasso. In one of his famous drawings called 'Guernica', is a drawing that Picasso responded to a terrible happening. The bombing of Guernica.
Gurenica is a village located at northern Spain. Hitler needed a place to test his weapons and Gurenica was chosen, but people didn't know what was going on, they had no chance to stand up and speak, they were bombed helplessly and miserably. The bomving continued for 3 hours and 70 percents of the village was destroyed and one third of the population were killed or wounded. And Picasso tried to show this terrible disaster to the world with his painting.
The painting is painted white and black, and this shows the sadness and desperation in Guernica. All of the figures has some cuts on it. This means many people were wounded and killed. The part where I couldn't look at because the figure was in so much pain. The women was reaching their hand out, screaming up the sky, wanting help but is hopeless. Also the part where the women had a dead child in her arm. How much would she have been hurt mentally? The bull and horse representing Spain, drawn to show that it all happened in Spain and the eye ighting up the whole picture meaning this event should not be forgotten, is indicating more and more people should know about this man made holocaust.
This war relates to Fatmire Feka and 'Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. Fatmire Feka and Hashim in Blokes both have been in terrible war, not this one by Nazi, but by Serbian army. They have both suffered. Picasso tries to tell this to people around the world and Fatmire Feka retells the past with her speech. They have a lot of common things.
I don't get the whole picture but I am sure the theme of this painting is that the war is not the correct answer.
Recently, North Korea have bombed an island in South Korea called Yeon Peong Do. They have attacked our ship and killed our navy not long ago. And now they attacked the weak island and killed our nations and soldiers. They were all innocent. Picasso have told us that war is not the answer but North Koreans tries to make one. The war between North Korea and South Korea may lead to World War 3 so we really should stop here because the next time North Korea attacks South Korea, they won't be as generous as they were this time.
Through his paintings he tells us that war is bad and what we get from it. There are many other ways to express our ideas about the war. Right now some fightings are going on and their might be big ones coming. So I think we should stop it and take part as people who denies wars, like Picasso. Remember that your small actions can prevent things that can bring disasters. Before Hitler became the leader just because he had one more vote, and if that one person did not vote for Hitler, the World War 2 might now have occured. We are all part of a big continent, let other people know about this and make the fighting stop.
Here is the site
Here is the painting
November 28th: We Are Each Other's Business
Some people are different from others, for example, their looks or their religion maybe different which often makes some problems. Eboo Patel is an American Muslim and he was not quite same as other people. The problem was not Eboo Patel but his friend in a similar situation as his. He didn't do something what he was suppose to do and regretted it. After that he wrote This I Believe and gave a speech on "Religious Pluralism in a Democracy", also he started beleving in pluaralism.
It happened when he was in high schoool. He was friends Jew, a Mormon, a Hindu, a Catholic and a Lutheran. Even though they all had different religion, they never talked about it. One day, some high schoolers humilated Jewish people by writing and shouting Semitic slurs in the classroom and the hall way. This was the relgious violence. Eboo Patel should have confronted them but instead avoided the reality. Then his Jewish friend said to him that he was afraid of coming to school. He said he felt abandoned, the betrayal of his friend. This words of his friend gave him a strong belief, pluralism needs courage to act and that actions are what it seperate from a belief and an opinion. He now knows that he can stop someone from suffering by taking an action.
I think this story relates to the video 'Jesus Colon' It is because they both have done something that they shouldn't have done. Jesus Colon failed the white lady and her children by not offering help and passing them as if he saw nothing. Eboo Patel did not confront the high schoolers and made his friend suffer. After the incident, they both determine to not make the same mistake again. This story also relates to the poem 'No Man Is an Island' by John Donne. In his poem he says that we are all connected and so we are like an continent. In this story Eboo Patel says that we are each others buisness. They both indicates the idea of caring each other.
This reminds me of the bullies that I saw in the schools of Korea. Just because of their height, look, and their environment, they make fun of other ones. I stood by and watched them. I was afraid of getting involved and getting in trouble. I have made the bullied ones suffer. I try to stand face to face and confront them but I have not enough courage. I cannot take any actions. However, after reading the story of his, I think I will be able to stop the bullies. If he can do it, why can't I?
The painting is by Parhomenko Ivan Viktorovich and the title is 'Pluralism' This kind of drawing is very complicated because it has lots of meanings, but basically they are representing different types of people. This fitted well with people with different religion so I chose this one.
Being brave and taking actions can influence one from suffering or not. I agree with Eboo Patel. We are each others business, aren't we? It's not like I don't care what happens to you, I thinks you have get involved in the society and give each other help when they are needing it.
November 18th: The Authority Of Burmese Hip-Hop
Do you know a place where everything is being watched? The place where military goverment is in charge of EVERYTHING? Burma, also called Myanmar is one of those kind of places. So here in Burma, the guy called Thxa Soe uses hip-hop to express his ideas. For them, hip-hop is the source of strength and the power.
Thxa Soe mixes his homeland's traditional music and hip-hop together to make music. He says, "I like, and people like, the freedom of hip-hop. There is not much freedom in rock, but in hip-hop you have freedom to express, express your ideas." He uses the hip-hop music to secretly send anti-authoritarian message to the people in Burma. Nevertheless, Thxa Soe's 75% of his albums were banned by the military goverment. But the albums spreads fast and allows Burma people to freely enjoy hip-hop and hear the voice of people in Burma, standing against military goverment's rule.
This story of Burmese hip-hop relates to the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, hip-hop bands of Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi goes against the military goverment, in other words, they are both up-standers. Thxa Soe by sending secret messages through music and Aung San Suu Kyi powerfully telling the goverment to free the house arrested people. Military goverment's rule relates to the story 'Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. The goverment and the blokes are the same because they are in power and tells everyone what to do. In 'Blokes', Andy tells John to break Hashim's work and the military goverment didn't allow the National League for Democracy, which won 80% of seats in the last election in 1990 , to take place. The others don't like it but they know they will get in trouble if they oppose them so they have no choice but to follow them.
By reading this article, I realized that there were many ways to send anti-authoritarian messages. This Burmese hip-hop band reminds me of a masked dance in the ancient Korea. Some nations had unfair life so they said bad things about the aristocratics and deplored one's affair. In Burma people use hip-hop to send people message and in old Korea people used the dance to send people the messages.
This picutre is a famous picture by Eugene Delacroix and the title of this painitng is called 'Liberty Leading the People' I chose this picutre because I think this is what the Burmese People would want to have. Not like a war like this but something like freedom, fairness, so that they don't have to be under the control of military goverment. The democracy should take place in Burma so the nations have the power.
People in Burma don't live in a same condition like ours. All their rights belong to the military goverment, and because of that there are hip-hop bands like Thxa Soe that has some power so they can at least show an act of opposition. Thxa Soe speaks, "I have too many words, not only me, too many teenagers have too much to say. Because our country is a very closed country, and the older people have a closed mind, a concentrated mind." and also said, "It is very difficult being a musician in Myanmar. You are not free. You are always being watched, for what you say, and you are being told what you can say and what you cannot. [But] I believe music can change a country, not only our country, but the whole world."Again I must say that Burmese military goverment should free Burmese nations from the closed mind of theirs so at least these kind of words stop coming out of people's mouth.
The article about the military junta
The Painting HERE
November 12th: Forgiveness Heals Your Broken Heart
Her two siblings gone missing during the execution that took place in Kosovo in 1999. There are many people who has this kind of story and Fatimire Feka is one of them. She felt anger howeverm as she got older, she realized many new things. Her story is about these kind of process. It's the story about her journey to the forgiveness.
Serbian forces air striked Kosovo and executed Albanian Musilms which included Fatmire Feka's family and herself. During this execution, her two siblings have gone missing and have saw that a child shouldn't see. She was in the garbage dump so they could hide. The image she saw there, struck her hard, in her speech she said this, "I remember children were crying, but what scared us the most were that adults were crying, too." She saw dead bodies on the side of the streets. She somehow managed to survive from this war. 10 years have passed now but there are no news about her siblings. She is selected as "1000 Women of Peace Across the Globe" and is traveling around the world to share her story.
She says a lot of things about forgiving. About what she has realized during her journey. Fatmire Feka asks how can we forgive who cause you pain and when you don't know what happend? She says, "Forgiveness is a process. Its takes time. No one can force it upon you." and "True forgiveness is not conditional" However she says that forgiving is for yourself. When you forgive, you are releasing something that will ultimatlely destory you. It makes you move on. She is now ready to and is still on journey of forgiveness.
The story of Fatmire Feka relates to the story 'Blokes' by Alan Gibbons. Both Fatmire Feka and Hashim are Kosovan and they have experienced terrible things. They've both seen dead bodies, the war itself. Hashim is also trying to forgive John for breaking his work and Fatmire Feka is trying to forgive the people who made her siblings go missing. So there are lots of similitaries between those two.
The speech of Fatmire Feka reminded me of an incidents that happens frequently in the school. It's either I tease my other friends or they tease me, saying stuffs that can hurt your feelings always go and come back between friends. If my friend really hates what I say, I would definetly begg for forgiveness. The same goes for myself to, when they say sorry, I forgive them and by doing that you can keep the friendship between your friends. If you don't forgive, the word your friends spat at you would be stuck in your mind and always make you have antipathy towards your friends.
The picture is drawn by Angie Phillips. It's a painting of a tree with too many heavy fruits on it. For the tree to grow strong again it will have to let go the fruits, and this is where I thought the idea of forgiveness came in. Forgiving is releasing from something that ultimatley destroies you. For this tree, it's going to have to release fruits or else it's gonna keep on weakening the tree. I think people should just let go of things so they can feel free so they don't become like this tree.
Forgiving someone seems really hard. Despite what they have done to you, you have to shut your eyes like nothing have happened. They stole your siblings away from you and they took your son from you......How can we ignore the facts? This is what I think. Forgiving is quite easier than most people think. Do I mean that you just have to turn your face away from the reality? No. You can still be aware of the fact however, forgivenss is not for the others, its for yourself. By forgiving, you are freeing yourself from the heavy luggage that you have been holding onto for a long time. People say, "How can I forgive you after what you have done to me?" But remember, forgiving is an action of doing a favor to yourself.
More about Fatmire Feka HERE
The Painting HERE
October 5th
This is the song sang by Mariah Carey and its called Hero. This song talks about the hero ofcourse but it was interesting how they described it. Hero is inside you, inside your soul. I think this means that everybody is a hero but only if you search hero inside you, and there will definetly be one. So don't be afraid to find one, be confident of yourself because nothing can stop you from being a hero. To relate to my quote, A Hero Is a Man Who Does What He Can, it kind of goes together because to find a hero within yourself you will have to do everything you can to find it. This song has some deep meanings but its always a good song to listen to.
Mariah Carey-Hero
There's a hero,
If you look inside your heart,
You don't have to be afraid of what you are,
There's an answer,
If you reach into your soul,
And the sorrow that you know will melt away.
[chorus]
And then a hero comes along,
With the strenght to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside and you know you can survive,
So when you feel like hope is gone,
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth that a hero lies in you.
It's a long road,
When you face the world alone,
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold,
You can find love,
If you search within yourself,
And the emptiness you felt will disappear.
[chorus]
Lord knows,
Dreams are hard to follow,
But don't let anyone tear them away,
Hold on,
There will be tomorrow,
In time you'll find the way.
[chorus]
That a hero lies in.....you______
Ooohh that a hero lies in.....you_____________
