Anne Rowan SMP

"Life Stilled" by by Anne Rowan 

She was a photographer and looked for intimacy in photographs. She is a believer of Budhism, especially the idea that all things are connected. In her work she tried focusing in and connecting. 

She likes taking an object or person and focusing on a particular part rather than looking at it as a whole. For example, she had a side profile picture of a boy but cuts out most of his face and body and focused on his hear and mouth area. This was to ensure a high level of detail and resolution in a non-conventional way. 

One thing that I liked about her SMP was how she talked about how she photographs her immediate surroundings because she doesnt believe that we need to travel anywhere in order to be dazzled by what is around us. I also really took a liking to a quote she provided by Tony Feher: "I think people are looking all the time, but I don't think they are seeing anything."

This quote reminds me exactly of what James Elkins discusses in his article, Just Looking." 

Sarah Kramer SMP

Sarah Kramer: "Flights of the Mind"
-she likes distorting her objects
-she has a fascination with hands and eyes
-she also has a fascination with the female figure (which she described as not self-portraits, but maybe self-reflection)
-she mentions how she is not trying to make a statement on gender issues. However, this issue IS thought of when other people look at her art (as someone in the audience pointed out during questions)
-her fascination that interested me the most was relationships and struggles for power. When discussing this part of her project, she asked a lot of good questions that I always ask myself, such as those pertaining to financial dependence, tensions caused by self-sacrifice, when/why too many boundaries. 

Mike Benjamin SMP

Mike Benjamin:
He is renovating Charlestone Point; it is a work in progress; not finished yet. The program is called "Local Immersion" and it is located in historic St. Marys. He described it as almost like a study abroad program at Chancellor's Point that is 3 weeks long.
During his presentation, Mike talked about how today people can't function or pursue their goals without technology and how this is unreasonable. I don't usually think of things like that, but after he brought it up, I began to realize that he made a very valid point. What he said next made an even bigger impression on me. After talking about how people rely on technology and such, he argued that there are even bigger unreasonable things going on even WITH computers and institutions, such as people being bored in class or not being interested in their major. He called it a "lack of fascination" (in curricular activities). I have never taken the time to think about this concept until he mentioned it and after dwelling on this idea for a while, I realized that he made a great point. Even with all the technology and help in the world, some people are STILL not getting anything out of what they are doing or learning. This is tragic and I am glad that someone has finally taken note of it. After his presentation, one woman in the audience asked him: how do you reconcile the fact that this program is located on land owned by an institution? Mike responded by saying that the academic world and the outdoor world/environment need to communicate. I think this was a great answer and a good point.

artist: Radical Software Group (RSG)

"Carnivore"

Computer networks empower us to share information, but they also make it easier for governments and corporations to monitor our electronic communications. In the 1990s, the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used a digital wiretapping software application called Carnivore to surveil traffic flowing through the servers of Internet service providers. This technology enabled agents to read e-mail messages and eavesdrop on the chat-room conversations of citizens. In response to this surveillance, a team of artists calling themselves Radical Software Group, or RSG, developed CarnivorePE (PE signifies "Personal Edition). I agree with these artists that the government practicing such surveillance is a complete invasion of privacy and should be stopped.

artist: Mendi and Keith Obadike

"The Pink of Stealth"
As the Internet first gained popularity in the mid 1990s, some cultural theorists argued that it was part of a new kind of virtual space (sometimes called cyberspace) that we enter as disembodied subjects whose identities are disguisable. Our bodies are left behind along with our genders, races, and ethnicities. In this new environment, our flesh-and-blood bodies don't register because they aren't visible. If a teenage girl could disguise herself as a middle-aged man, or vice versa, the old rules of identity no longer exist. 
Other people argue that our embodied identities follow us onto the Internet, and that categories such as female, white, or hispanic are every bit as real online as off. 

I personally agree with the argument that cyberspace allows us to completely change or disguise our identities. 

Literal: recounting events of the story; what happens in the story

Structural: patterns (repetition) For example pairs of characters or do two characters do the same things?

Anthropological: historical and biblical themes that are throughout text; biological concepts-man vs. women; raw, primitive way to view
-sociological and he might even mention psychological
-human experience

cosmological: the solar system; he was comparing the movements of mercury (god) with venus
-planetary compartments

IN CLASS
-compare ways of describing with Repunzel
-taking these categories and applying to contemporary narrative


LAW AND ORDER
-literal: a show in which each episode is a different story where a Special Victims Unit solves crimes in New York City

-structural: pattern-each show follows the pattern of beginning with a crime scene and immediately moves into detectives Bensen and Stabler pursuing suspects and obtaining evidence. In most episodes, after the perpetrator is caught, the show moves from detective work on the streets to the District Attorney trying to prove their case (while representing “the people”) in court.
-another pattern: usually, the first suspect is never the actual perpetrator

-anthropological: criminals are usually smaller in size and less attractive than Bensen and Stabler (the two detectives)

-cosmological: (just like in the reading in which at first glance people just see a plant but after further study and observation they realize that there are roots and ultimately deeper meanings) when first viewing this show, people do not see the detectives as their own persons; they are simply vessels of justice. However, after paying closer attention and watching more episodes, one begins to realize that both Bensen and Stabler have their own lives, which the show sometimes incorporates into episodes.

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I found this coffee lid on my desk next to my empty cup of coffee. To me, this is not just a coffee lid; to me, this represents all the coffee I have forced myself to drink in order to help myself focus on homework.
I have ADD and am prescribed to Adderall. However, I did not like the idea of taking a drug so I stopped taking it before I came to college. Doing so, however, left me with the problem of never being able to focus or concentrate. One day, I decided to get a cup of coffee even though I hate coffee. I added tons of sugar and flavored cream to sweeten it up (my friends say that it is WAY to sweet and makes them feel sick). After I drank a cup, I began to focus and concentrate very well. So next time I had work to do, I drank a cup of coffee and got it done. Eventually I realized that coffee was my adderall replacement that did not have the same side effects as adderall, such as lack of desire to sleep, lack of hunger, and general unhappiness/depression. So the fact that this coffee lid represents my "savior," allowing me to get my work done in a timely fassion, it deserves much attention and recognition and praise even though it is not considered art.

artist: Olia Lialina

"My Boyfriend Came Back from the War"
This piece produces a compelling and emotionally powerful experience that is especially impressive for an early work of New Media since most people expect such an experience to come from older, more established media (film).
This piece of art tells the story of two lovers who reunite after a military conflict. The different fragments of dialogue convey a lot of difficulty that the couple has reconnecting. It seems as though the woman confesses to having an affair with a neighbor while her significant other was away at war. This piece of art caught my attention because I am very interested in the dynamics of relationships and this particular story is different than most because in most cases, the man cheats on the woman. I do not console cheating but if it has to happen, I think that it is good that women are finally not the only victims of cheating in relationships.

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I found this pink deflated balloon on our common room table. As I was about to throw it away I realized that it was a leftover from my best friend's birthday celebration, and it drew my attention. Aside from the fact that it is my favorite color, I kept it because of the memories it represents. Unlike most birthday celebrations people have in college, my suite-mates and I sat around our common room table and played games. We had about three or four other people over, making it a very small, personal get together. We played Cranium, Clue and Charades and we all had a blast. I remember laughing harder than I had in a really long time and I'm pretty sure that everyone else felt the same. These memories were all brought back to me just at the site of this pink deflated balloon and that is why it deserves recognition even though it is not art.

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I found this earring in my jewelry case and it drew my attention because to me, it is more than just an earring like any other piece of jewelry. My father is Mexican and Venezuelan and therefore I was born part Hispanic. In the Spanish culture, it is custom for baby girls to get their ears pierced when they are only a few months old. This is done in order to distinguish the baby as a girl since at that age it is almost impossible to tell because the baby has not grown hair yet. Therefore, I have had my ears pierced since I was barely born and have always worn hoops. Only recently have I realized that hoops are also associated with the Hispanic culture, which helps me understand why I have always worn them and why I like them so much. This is why this particular hoop earring deserves attention despite the fact that it is not art.

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I found this coupon on the floor of Monty Lab last week and rather than just leaving it there, I picked it up, not to throw it away, but to read it. What I saw brought a smile to my face and even made me laugh a little under my breath. It instantly brought me back to the summer after my freshman year here at St. Mary's when my friends and I came back to visit our friends who lived off-campus. As soon as I pulled up in front of their house, my one friend came running out to greet me. Without thinking, I closed my door and automatically locked it out of habit. A few minutes later, when I went back to my car to get my bag, I realized that my keys were missing. I began to panic and looked around everywhere until a horrible thought made my stomach churn. I slowly peered into the car and saw them sitting on the drivers seat. I had been so caught up in saying hi to my friend that I must of put them there and forgotten to bring them with me. And since I always lock my car out of habit, I did it again except this time with the keys in the car. We were in the middle of nowhere and there was no way that I could call my mom (it was her car) to ask her to drive down three hours to give me another set of keys. That was just out of the question. I remember that I was so panicked that I could not think straight. Finally, my friend asked if I had triple A and I wasn't sure so I called. They showed up within the next hour and I felt like a world had been lifted off my shoulders. Anyway, that memory, which is funny to me now, after the fact, is why this particular coupon deserves attention despite the fact that it is not art.

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I found this gum wrapper in my purse and it reminded me of my training trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I have always been searching for a type of gum that I really loved and had never really found it until that training trip. I discovered Orbit Rasberry gum in a grocery store right before practice. My favorite scent used to be sun-rippened rasberry from Bath and Body Works and even though that was just smell, I figured, "why not see if I enjoy the taste too." So I tried it, and I loved it. Now I have at least three packs in stock so that I never run out. One time, I went to target and they were not selling this particular type of Orbit gum. I freaked out. I did not know what to do because it took me SO long to finally find my signature gum and right when I did, they stopped selling it. Or so I thought. A few weeks later I went to Bed Bath and Beyond at my house and saw it. I bought three large packs with three little packs each. I never want to be out of this gum again. My love for Rasberry flavored Orbit gum, which is represented by this wrapper, is why this wrapper desrves attention even though it is not art.

artist: Natalie Jeremijenko

"A-trees"
Natalie Jeremijenko creates works that force us to examine the problematic consequences of technologies like cloning and software. This particular piece of work allows us to witness the growth of a synthetic tree on a computer desktop. The tree is programmed to change gradually in size by more than the artists' programming. Every upward spurt reflects the actual level of carbon dioxide in the air in the microenvironment surrounding the computer, measured by a real-time carbon-dioxide meter. So her A-trees serve as monitors of actual air quality and, by extension, global warming. They call into question the fate of real trees in a world whose environment is increasingly impacted by humans, as if to suggest that one day the only trees left will be digital. 

Natalie uses the term "artificial life" Perhaps the idea of this "artificial life" is supposed to ask if A-trees grow and die in response to their environment, are they in fact alive? Jeremijenko combines the real and the virtual and makes me question my understanding of life and how we might work to preserve it.

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I found this grill recite in my backpack and decided to keep it because of the memories it will bring back in the future when I have graduated from St. Mary's. I have been going to the grill multiple times a week for the past three years since I was a freshman. My favorite items that I always choose from are buffalo wings, chicken quesadillas. grilled cheese, and grilled cheese with turkey, in which case I also get tomato soup from the grind. On this particular recite I ordered chicken quesadillas. Not only does this recite bring back memories of what I always ordered, but it reminds me of the different people that I used to go with or sit with while eating my food. Some of my funniest and some of my most serious conversations have taken place at the grill and this recite reminds me of them. This is why it deserves my attention despite the fact that it is not art.