Mommy, They Look... *Whispers* Different

Classic Black-And-White Photos Capture The Glamour And Grit Of New York CIty's Past

By: Priscilla Frank

Source: Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/22/arlene-gottfried_n_6023168.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

        Photographer Arlene Gottfried has been working on a photography project titled "Something Overwhelming" (showing at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York From November six to December twenty) since the 1970s, capturing scenes of the everyday queerness and indescribable variety seen on the streets of New York. Her images today show a part of New York that seizes to exist in its entirety. The photographs depict an open eye, open to all characters, all depictions, all beliefs. Throughout the course of many years, Gottfried has worked towards portraying the peculiarly diverse individuals and “inimitable moments” (Frank, 1) so characteristic of New York itself, depicting the character and change of life throughout the city. After mentioning her mother’s direct orders to not wander, Gottfried stated,  “Then I started wandering, but I got a camera because it gave it a little more meaning... a life of wandering is really what it all is” (Frank, 1). Within these words, Gottfried is able to add a form of depth into her images, one that would be absent without the casualty and realness with which the photographs were captured.

        As a norm-based and monotonously “equal” society, people grow more and more judgmental and unaccepting of those who fail to conform and get lost within the existing normality. Such works of strangeness are needed; they are needed for people, as a whole, to open their eyes towards the beautifully diverse reality that exists beyond what they are led to see. New York, a fitting description of such characters, is not only the melting pot of culture and varying ethnicities from all over the world, but, for many, it is the epitome of queer differentiation, holding within it the one thing that simultaneously characterizes all of human nature, diversity.

Riis Nude Bay, Queens, NY

Brothers with Their Vines, Coney Island

Doorway In Soho, NY

Family In Car Coney Island, 1976

Lloyd Steir and Dogs at the Big Apple Circus, NY

"Education" SOAPST

S- educational reform, philosophy

O- American Scholar, 1800s

A- readers of American Scholar, educators, parents

P- to persuade, to educate

S- Ralph Waldo Emerson

T- philosophical, confident, professional, passionate, concerned 

a.                                      A general depiction of the overall SOAPST of the piece allows readers to gain a wealth of background knowledge on the literature, therefore becoming familiarized with it and increasing their chances of comprehension and acceptance. Understanding the subject of Emerson's "Education" allows the reader to more avidly comprehend his complex concepts and passionately proposed ideas. It forms the pathway to the complete comprehension of the piece, and one cannot judge the validity of any piece of literature, especially one meant to persuade, without fully grasping its purpose and meaning. By seeing that this piece was written in the 1800s, one is able to see the reason behind the language, as it is greatly influenced by its time. The purpose, to persuade and educate, may cause the reader to perceive the writing a different way; rather than taking offense or being drawn back due to such direct ideas and suggestions, the reader may take it as it is, a piece made to pass on knowledge and open possibilities for a wider field of thought and opinion. Ralph Waldo Emerson, is known by a majority of people worldwide as one of America's strongest minds and literary/philosophical influences. Therefore, as the author of this piece, he holds automatic ethos with the audience. The overall aspects of the tone present the idea of a writer and his writing as assured yet not overly forceful. The author presents ideas in a manner that is meant to educate, and not solely criticize or offend.

b.                                      The main purpose of Emerson’s “Education” is to, fittingly, educate his principal audience of educators and parents on what he believes to be the proper way to instruct children by using the his proposed “natural method” (Shea, 191). Such a topic appeals profoundly to his targeted audience, as they, in any society, naturally show the most concern on such values. By speaking of a topic as significant as the education and shaping of a generation that will soon and continuously replace the current, Emerson makes proper use of pathos, appealing to society's concern and tenderness towards the youth and future of tomorrow. These facts, alongside Emerson’s passionate concern and knowledge, as well as his connection with human nature and innately appealing natural forms of education serve to show that his “Education” piece is in fact effective in reference to its audience and proposed purpose. 

On the Road to Death

One Artist's Correspondence With Prisoners Sheds Light On The Dark Realities Of Death Row
By: Katherine Brooks
Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/17/amy-elkins_n_5993260.html?utm_hp_ref=arts

     It was 2009 when photographer Amy Elkins began "Black is the Day, Black is the Night", a photography project which began as a mere connection, but later grew into a large scale art project. She found the inspiration for this within the minds and lives of prison inmates, specifically seven men, who had been in prison for thirteen to twenty-six years, and were either serving a life or death sentence. Reaching them through a prison pen pal system. Elkins was able to gain a perception of the minds of the prisoners (whom she had never met), and how they felt within concrete and confinement, and the memories that buried them within their now hopeless confines and promises of freedom. By being able to achieve such a level of connection with them, she was able to depict their lives through her chillsome images in such a way as if instilling in the viewer the feeling of being the prisoners themselves. Through a period of five years, Elkins worked on this connection, later sending the completed projects to the inmates, who provided input and occasionally sent art themselves in return. Currently, she only keeps contact with one man (in prison since 1995, when he was the age of sixteen), as the rest were either released, response-less, or victim to the death penalty "despite maintaining their innocence"(Brooks, 1), as stated by Elkins. This concept is one often brought up to question, especially in the current day, as the life sentences in America reached a record high in 2012, while a large percentage of those wrongly convicted of murder are "neither executed nor exonerated" (Brooks, 1), according the The Sentencing Project, but rather "sentenced, or re-sentenced to prison for life, and then forgotten (Brooks, 1).
     Such projects, contrary to the perceptions of the general public, may not necessarily be as support towards those convicted of heinous crimes. Such projects, ironically, may have meaning all their own, slight, subtle, open to interpretation. Such projects may be for the purpose of awareness, the depiction of a life that people are often blind to, a life that is unimaginable, almost impossible to relate with. And these are the lives, strangely, with which one may possibly build the strongest connection with in the briefest period of time, as these are the lives which carry a certain weight, a peculiar mystery or arcane nature to them. And often, works such as these are done to evoke feelings, within which sympathy can guiltlessly have a place, as the viewers of such images and the readers of such words feel as if they themselves are within the six by nine feet cubicles for twenty-two and a half hours a day, "not only facing their own mortality, but doing so in total isolation" (Brooks, 1), as stated by Elkins, waiting ever so patiently as the seconds tick by, for death to come to them.
Postcard from Solitary. "This is a place in the world where I would love to go wherever it is."
(Not the Man I Once Was). Portrait of a man 19 years into his life without parole (solitary) sentence where the ratio of years spent in prison to years alive determined the level of image loss.



Letter written in 2010 by a man on death row in Mississippi, describing a fellow inmate's execution. Two years later his execution also took place, despite the many appeals he had filed in attempts to save his life
.
Fourteen Years out of a Life Sentence (Sky). A pen pal serving life without the possibility of parole in a super max prison (solitary) described being able to see the sky through a metal grated skylight in the small concrete exercise area he was permitted in alone for one hour a day. The additional 23 hours were spent in isolation. This image was constructed out of his description of the open sky he wished to see, using appropriated images which were then composited to account for the amount of years spent in prison.

Nine Years out of a Death Row Sentence (Forest). A pen pal 13 years into his death row sentence describes a childhood memory of taking refuge in the forest throughout his youth. This image was constructed out of appropriated images and composited to account for the amount of years spent in prison.

Education

     The concept of education has in fact been pondered by an endless variety of minds, each yearning to uncover the intrinsic, concrete explanation for it. Yet I personally believe there is none, but rather an endless list of interpretations, in coincidence with the interpreter themselves. Therefore my own perception of education is one, simply in which time is passing by and life is being lived. I find every moment, in its entirety, to be providing to ones education. Therefore I must unarguably state that our schools, or any schools for that matter do provide an education. The magnitude, however, cannot be measured, as I find such generalizations too broad to be labeled as more or less effective than their counterparts. Rather, it is they as a whole that add up to the total knowledge one attains throughout a lifetime. 
      The education attained in school is not one of math, English, history, science; it is rather ones perception of the overall experience of it. It is the way in which one takes in such forced information, the way one interacts with students and teachers, how one perceives labels and grades presented, how one responds to the concept of time being applied to their everyday lives, the way one comprehends the act of doing tasks without desire, inflicting out of themselves ideas and words which are inexistent, merely to complete an assignment that is due the next day. I do, ironically, believe in the ability of schools to cause one to think and question, to gain a sense of others and the varying mentalities of human nature. And this I do view as education, but doubt that it is largely different from or superior to experiences attained elsewhere. It is at this point where I question the forced nature of schools, and believe that education, in the context of my perceptions, can be acquired anywhere. Yet I queerly believe as well, that it is this forced nature that does contribute, in a sense, to ones education, as it leads them to wonder, why.

Art Behind Bars

Inspiring HOPE Art Challenge Turns Former Current And Former Inmates Into Artists

By: Priscilla Frank

Source: Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/hope-art-challenge_n_5900456.html?utm_hp_ref=arts

            

             Art is within anyone. Art is within prison inmates. An organization known as 1HeartArt works to raise money for former inmates engaging in art along with students whose parents are in prison. They also provide a way for people to connect with the artists in the program through a penpal system. Recently, the organization set up poles for the masses to vote amongst the artwork of fourteen current or former inmates, rewarding select sums of money to the first, second, and third place winners. Art is the last thing one may think about when the image of prison or prisoners for that matter appears in their head. However, it does exist, and this organization provides such individuals with an outlet for expression and creation, thus feeding their motivation to “create change” (Frank, 1). It provides possibilities for desires to be actualized, not only by the creation and displaying of art to the world, but also through the relationships established in the penpal program, with the hope of inflicting change and reducing the chances of recidivism.

            Art is not an exclusive privilege attained by select individuals. Art is rather a diverse perception of the world. It cannot be avoided or singled out, as it is everywhere, at every moment, in everyone; although it can often be restricted and therefore unseen. This organization allows the art locked behind bars to become visible, as its natural state has meant for it to be. This is not a way of forgiving or forgetting the heinous acts of many prisoners, allowing them to freely pursue what they please. It is rather a method of exposing the expression within them, often a rarity. Art is not only within the “good”. Art is within “bad”, pain, confusion, the outlawed, dejected, angry, violent. All is not positive. It is the endless diversity of artistic origins rather, that conjoin to form this “all”, which is not "good", not "bad".

Community Service as a Requirement

            The subjective importance of tasks and the necessity to make them more widespread often hides the fact that such acts significantly reduce meaning and motivation through the restriction of freedom and absence of individual choice and desire. This concept applies fittingly to the forced nature of community service in schools making it a mandatory graduation requirement. By doing this, the supposed “generous” act becomes forced and independent of individual choice or desire. Therefore, there is a large possibility that the student no longer does the task out of the goodness of their hearts and individual will, but rather mindlessly as a way of completing it as soon as possible, so as to move on. One may argue that often in life, people must do tasks which they view undesirable at first, but manage to learn something out of or enjoy in the long run. However, mandated community service, as stated in Source 5, “can have negative effects on the students’ intentions to volunteer freely in the future”, often due to the reason of the requirement being “too controlling”. This clarifies that the restriction felt from the forced nature of doing community service largely outweighs possible benefits that may arise as a result of it. 

            What is the purpose of community service? The purpose, although subject to personal opinion, is to help others through voluntary acts of kindness, with the only gain being the way one feels when completing such tasks which they themselves have chosen to do and feel a rather personal connection to, and not the collection of money or future opportunity/success. This, however, is rarely seen anymore. In modern times, as a result of school requirements, many may actually define its purpose being to graduate high school or be accepted into a good university, also stating that their motivations for doing such tasks are “to make a stronger case to please college admissions officers” (Source 4). Such motives, though seemingly commendable on an academic level, are fake and shallow in regards to community service. They have allowed the concept of community service to become rather degraded over the years, losing both meaning and purpose, and becoming subject to a lack of care and personal connection.