Every person is connected through experiencing hardships and them finding themselves again after their suffering.

Every person is connected through experiencing hardships and them finding themselves again after their suffering.

Media:
          Technology and media has allowed people to share their stories and connect around the world. People have always been connected but it is more than ever now. From the beginning of time, humans have made connections with other humans and other living things. "We [people] are actually soft wired to actually experience an other's plight as if we are experiencing is ourselves" (Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization). People connect with each other through empathy and other shared emotions. Rifkin is saying humans can see another experiencing an emotion and feel it themselves. This sharing of emotions allows people to make connections and understand something that one would never experience. Sharing emotions just by reading facial expressions and nonverbal cues can go even farther. If people from completely different backgrounds shared their stories with each other, those two people would share a strong connection. "We need, for example, empathy museums. A place which is not about dusty exhibits... but an experiential and conversational public space. Where you walk in and in the first room there is a human library where you can borrow people for conversation" (Krznaric, The Power of Outrospection). A human library would allow people that would never meet in actuality to share experiences. This sharing of stories can increase understanding and make people empathize. Many people are ignorant to ideas that don't directly impact their lives. Everything is connected and, in some small way, everything impacts everyone. By understanding more about the worlds struggles, more people would be willing to help and make it better. People are starting to move into this direction by utilizing technology. The physical human library is an idea that is hard to create, but a virtual one on the Internet for everyone to access is possible. "The Empathy Library is the world's first online empathy collection and a treasure house for catapulting your imagination into other people's lives. What might it be like to be a child growing up in Tehran, or to be born without sight, or to be a soldier fighting someone else's war? The library takes you on there journeys into unknown worlds" (Krznaric). The human library exists and allows people to connect in ways they never could before. People with completely different backgrounds and life experiences can find connections world wide. Sharing pains and stories helps heal people. Healing and connecting with others has always been a part of human nature but now this ability can be via the Internet too.

Smoke Signals:
          Everyone experiences hardships like poverty and alcoholism but there is hope even in the worst places to make a better life. Indian reservations are the most impoverished places in America. Alcoholism, gambling, and poverty are rampant and everyone suffers to some extent. Aaron Huey visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and took pictures of the terrible conditions people live in. In one of the images there is a man sleeping on an old, torn up couch cushions and the only other possessions in the house is a dirty table and an old chair. There is alcohol and other empty bottles on the table (Huey). This man is in incredible poverty and is driven to alcoholism. He has very few possessions and what he owns is damages or broken. The alcoholism is a natural response and a common self medication on reservations. Reservations seem to be their own country because of their suffering. America often ignores these poverty pits and focuses on other problems. "'Y'all got your passports?... Yeah, you're leavin' the rez and goin' into a whole different country, cousin'" (Smoke Signals). People are isolated and the cycle of depression and poverty is allowed to continue uninterrupted. Not much is done to improve conditions and, to the residents, America seems to ignore them. That isn't to say that the residents give up. For some, leaving the reservation is finding a better life, while others find the good in the bad. In Smoke Signals, Thomas lives on a reservation and could hate his life like his friend, Victor, but he chooses to be happy. Thomas says "some days, it's a good day to die. And some days, it's a good day to have breakfast" (Smoke Signals). Thomas loses his parents as a baby and has so many reasons to fall into depression but he doesn't. He is happy and tries to share that with Victor. Thomas is a living example to Victor. Even when everything is lost, there is a way to heal and find happiness in life. 

Seven Pounds:
          Moving on from suffering means accepting what has happened and finding a new path to follow. Healing can come in many different forms but many include paying for the wrongs someone has done. Karma is one of the central ideas for healing. The idea that people have good and bad karma depending on their actions. Good deeds cancel out bad deeds and the reverse. "It's a cause and effect. Karma is learning from experience... When you do things to pay back your karmic debts, pay them back with interest. Go above and beyond the call of duty" (Psychics Universe). Every action has multiple sides and can be negative or positive. People want to get rid of their bad karma so better things happen in their life and so they can move on. Guilt can eat at people and stop them from moving on. In Seven Pounds, Ben Thomas has awful karma and feels incredibly guilty. He is responsible for a car crash that kills seven people. "Ken Anderson, Nicole Anderson, Ally Anderson, Ed Right, Steven Phillip, Monica Freedman, and Sarah Jensen..." (Seven Pounds). Ben repeats there names to keep him on track. It reminds him of what he did and why he wants to save seven people. Ben begins paying back his karmic debt by donating himself to other people. He gives parts of his lungs and liver away. He picks seven strangers to give his organs to. One of them is Emily Posa who is dying of heart failure. She asks Ben if he ever thinks about dying and he says "every now and again... I lied to you. I think about dying everyday" (Seven Pounds). Ben thinks about what he has done everyday and it haunts him. He has found a way to move on by sacrificing himself but it is still a part of him. He is accepting what he did by dying himself and saving seven people in the process. His choose his new path to fix what he has done.

Ceremony:
          Religion and family can be a great source to heal and find oneself again after suffering. There are many ways to find oneself and heal after going through a hardship. Religion and stories are often what people turn to when they are need of hope and inspiration. "Throughout the novel, Tayo's own difficulties are being mirrored by those of the characters in the poems. Both are struggling with drought, loss, and a disconnect between the way things are and the way things should be, which is the source of all the problems, and both learn to heal there problems by rediscovering their roots and participating in ceremonies that are designed to reconnect them to the truths that they all have lost sight of" (Gardner). Tayo has suffered through war and now a drought. He is lost and looks to the Laguna Pueblo traditions to heal him. The poems are stories of people who have suffered and healed. Tayo follows these examples, completes his ceremony, and finds himself again. He accepts himself, scars and all. "..Thought-Woman/ is sitting in her room/ and whatever she thinks about /appear. /...They created the Universe/ this world/ and the four worlds below" (Silko 1). Ceremony starts with this poem about creating the universe. It is back to the beginning and that is where Tayo must start in order to heal. Looking at these old stories and seeing where his evil came from helps Tayo understand what he has to do. He begins healing when he understands what went wrong and how he can fix it. Tayo has many dreams that help him in his journey. "[Tayo's uncle] Josiah was driving the wagon, Old Grandma was holding him, Rocky whispered 'my brother'. They were taking him home" (Silko 254). Tayo also looks to his family to help him heal. Their stories and support help him overcome his struggles. Going back to ones roots is a great starting place to begin again.

Reel Injun:
          We are all humans and all experience the same pains and joys in life. People are the same when it comes down to it. People are all one species and the differences are irrelevant. Throughout history people have been oppressed by these little differences. Native people in America have suffered from this ever since settlers came over. "[The settlers] used war, history books, textbooks, and when film came around they used film... how many of us are trying to protect our identity of being indian... we are starting not to recognize ourselves" (Trudell). Being indian has become an identity when it shouldn't be. People are people and not whites, blacks, and indians. These labels have people believing there are different types of humans. These differences seem to make it okay to fight. If someone is different, they are less. Russell Means in Reel Injun recalls a time when he went to see a western movie with his brother when they were younger. "And we'd come out of those theaters after the, uh, cavalry had rescued the white people, and all of a sudden we'd hear, 'There's those Indians,' and we'd start fighting. We has to fight them white kids. Every Saturday we knew we was gonna get in a fight" (Means, Reel Injun). These children are not the evil indians depicted in the film but they are attacked. The kids attacking them have more in common with the kids they are hurting than the people white calvary in the movie. They live in the same place, go to the same school, and share some of the same values. People all experience pain and joy in life. These little differences shouldn't be a big deal. John Trudell says "We're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people, we're the human beings" (Reel Injun). Trudell sums it up perfectly. Everyone is the same when it comes down to it. From that, people are all connected by their similarities and experiences.

The Balance of Life and Death

There is an equal but opposite side to every event people experience in life. Life is a balance of good and bad. Some people believe in karma, e idea that ones actions directly impact their future. People who do good things get good in return while people who make bad decisions and harm others will get punished by the universe later in life. In the end there is even an opposite to life. Everything that lives will eventually die. Tim, in Seven Pounds, experiences this fragile balance first hand. On the night he proposes to Sarah Jensen, he is looking at his phone while driving and ends up killing seven people including Sarah. Tim decides he needs to suffer and pay for what he has done. After creating a secret plan, gives up going by Tim and becomes his brother Ben. With the help of his brothers IRS credentials, the new Ben sets out to change the lives of seven people and right his wrongs. He is trying to rebalance his world. The use of duality throughout the film in symbols, parallel editing, and diegesis demonstrates the imbalance of life and death that Ben is trying to right.

Throughout Seven Pounds, there are several symbols that have a dual meanings. From the first scene, the ocean is important. The audience hasn't even seen Ben yet but it is implied the voice-over and figure swimming in the ocean is him. The shot is from the bottom of the ocean with one spot of light in the top corner of the shot. A figure is swimming towards that spot of light (Seven Pounds). This shot implies hope for Ben. He is able to swim towards the light instead of being swallowed up by the dark ocean. The ocean appears in a few different scenes throughout Seven Pounds in various conditions. When the ocean is calm like in the open scene it shows hope and peace. When Ben looks at the ocean after the crash it is rough and chaotic just like how his life feels. The ocean in the film mirrors what Ben experiences. When the ocean is used as a symbol it often refers to life and balance. It has tides that go in and out just like life has its ups and downs. The salt water will often lead into salt tears and eyes. Eyes are another symbol that has multiple meanings. Ben chooses to donate his eyes to a stranger and picks Ezra. Ezra is a blind man who is lonely but the waitress he could love can't seem to get past his disability. When Ben asks him why he doesn't ask the waitress out, Ezra says "uh...no...I don't, I don't think she sees me" (Seven Pounds). Ezra is the blind one but he is able to see people better that a woman who has working eyes. Eyes are often referred to the gateway to the soul. Ezra is able to see peoples souls without seeing eyes while everyone else struggles to see past the surface. Another vital part of humans is their heart. Ben donates his heart to Emily, a woman with a failing heart and a rare blood type. After Emily gets Ben's heart there is a scene of her in the bathtub. Emily sits very still and lowers her ears under the water so she can hear his heart beating in her chest keeping her alive (Seven Pounds). The literal heart saved Emily's live but so did loving Ben. He gave her his heart both literally and fugitively. Ben loved Emily enough to finish his quest and give her the life that she wanted to have. But they couldn't both survive. Ben chooses to sacrifice himself but in a unique way. Ben chooses to die by the sting of his pet jelly fish. He has been holding onto death for years waiting for the right moment. Ben admires the Box Jellyfish and says "the first time I ever saw a Box Jellyfish I was twelve. My father took us to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I never forgot when he said they were the most deadly creature on earth. To me it was just... the most beautiful thing I had ever seen" (Seven Pounds). The jellyfish is a simple organism with no organs or emotions. It kills and consumes what it destroys. It is death, but it is also beauty. It is hard to imagine something beautiful coming out of death but they way it moves and just lives by floating in the ocean is mesmerizing. Ben is attracted to this beauty and this is what eventually causes his death. Symbols are often used to give stories more meaning but Seven Pounds also uses it to connect two stories. 

Parallel editing is a great way to tie two story lines together. In Seven Pounds, everything connects to death and the car crash that Ben caused. The crash is the cause of Ben's quest to right his world before dying. Everything he does makes up for the mistake he made. Ben carefully calculates every part of his death. He even tested out the bathtub he was going to die in. After Ben calls the ambulance to come get his heart and eye, he begins to prepare his final resting place. To preserve his organs, Ben dumps ice into the bathtub. The ice spreads out into the water as the tub fills up (Seven Pounds). The ice has a direct correlation to the car crash and the shattered glass. The ice is  scattered around Ben like it was Sarah, his fiancé. They are both surrounded by glass. Ice is often seen as ice because it shatters and it clear like glass. When Sarah dies, Ben goes over to touch her arm. To hold her hand and wake her up. Sarah is lying crumpled on the ground surrounded by shattered glass. Ben crawls over to her and touches her arm. In the parallel scene where Ben is dying, the Box Jellyfish is grabbing Ben's arm. The tentacles line up with the veins in Ben's arm and it stings him (Seven Pounds). The two images are comforting but they both end in death. Ben dies because of the jellyfish sting and Sarah dies from the crash. In both cases holding onto their arm is significant and almost a comfort before dying. As each person dies there is a series of shots that connect Ben, Emily, and Sarah together. The shots alternate from Sarah lying on the dark road surrounded by glass to Ben brain dead in the hospital nearly frozen and donating his heart to Emily still barely alive going into the hospital to receive the heart. There is a heartbeat playing in the background along with the beeping of the heart rate monitor. After flashing through the images quickly the heartbeat stops and the flatline noise is all that the audience hears (Seven Pounds). At this moment all three of the characters are dead. Ben, Emily, and Sarah are all gone for a moment. Emily gets Ben's heart and comes back but for a moment everything alines. There is also a duality where Ben dies so Emily can live. One of them had to die and Ben made it him. Emily understands this sacrifice and in one of the closing scenes takes a moment to listen to the heart. Emily is in her bathtub. It is rounded and light as opposed to Ben's coffin shaped bathtub. Emily lies very still and lowers her ears under the water. She can hear Ben's heart beating in her chest. The heartbeat sound gets louder and Emily's face begins to relax (Seven Pounds). Emily finally understands everything Ben did and why he dies for her. She feels his heart beating in her chest. His life became her life. The heart gave her the chance to live. The parallel editing allows the two stories to coexist by overlapping two story lines. 

Seven Pounds would not have the impact is does with out diegesis. Diegesis is what is used to fill the set and give the audience clues to what is going on in the actors head. Colors, music, and lighting can all indicate diegesis ideas that aren't explicitly explained. Each scene in Seven Pounds has these objects or specific types of editing that give it deeper meanings. Ben is very conflicted throughout the film. He is doing a great thing by donating parts of himself to people he has never met but he is haunted by what he caused. In almost every scene Ben's face is half-lit (Seven Pounds). This shows the light and dark in Ben's life. One side is hopeful and light because he is doing a great thing by donating his organs. He is significantly improving people's lives and it is light. The dark is the reason he feels compelled to donate himself. He is the reason for the car accident and he kills seven people. His one mistake cost him and seven people their lives. Ben's beach house is a good reflection of who he is. On the outside Ben looks alive, but inside he is dying. The beach house has beautiful gardens that are blooming and full of life, but inside the house it is dark and empty (Seven Pounds). Ben gives people hope of a better future and looks alive. He puts on the face so people don't worry about him while inside he is hurting. He lost his fiancé and killed six other people. He is filled with pain and loss. He is empty like his house. Emily is the opposite. She is alive on the inside but appears to be dying. Her heart condition makes her look sick and weak but her spirit and home send another message. Emily's house is full of family pictures, bright color and life (Seven Pounds). Emily wants to live and doesn't let the death that haunts her control her life. She is constantly battling her sickly appearance with her lively personality. Everything about Emily is alive. She makes Ben feel alive and she is surrounded by flowers and family. Emily is life but she is forced to think about death all the time with her heart condition. She asks Ben if he ever thinks about dying and he says "Every now and again...I lied to you. I think about dying everyday" (Seven Pounds). Ben has the full potential to live but wants to die where as Emily is near the end of her life and wants to continue living life to its fullest. Emily wants to go running and travel without having to worry about her heart. The diegesis shows the live and death duality in Ben and Emily's life. They want their life to end in completely different ways and it is all tied in the balance of life and death. 

Ben kills and saves seven people in three years before dying himself. Ken Anderson, Nicole Anderson, Ally Anderson, Ed Right, Steven Phillip, Monica Freedman, and Sarah Jensen all die in the car crash he causes. To repay his dept to the universe and rebalance his world, Ben gives part of his lung to his brother, part of his liver to a social worker named Holly, a kidney to hockey coach George who makes a team for inner-city kids, his house to the abused mother Connie and her kids, bone marrow to a little boy, his eyes to a blind man, Ezra, and his heart to Emily Posa.  It is simply one for one. One person is saved for every one person lost. Symbols, parallel editing, and diegesis connect the life and death in Ben's life. Life is a balancing act with good and bad. Film analysis allows the audience to see ever scene in a different light. The director, producer, editor, and everyone else involved in making the film put certain objects and moods into the film in order to evoke stronger emotions and pass on a message. Seven Pounds shows the world that there is balance in everything. Ben takes 'an eye for an eye' to a new level. People make mistakes and it may drastically change their lives. These changes might not always be a bad thing. It is just the reaction to the initial action. There is two sides to everything in life and in death. 

Mise-en-scene and Cinematography

Television is not often thought of as film or something that can be analyzed with literature. Many of todays shows focus on pleasing an audience instead of creating a grammy worthy film. That doesn't mean the same elements can go into its filming. Top dramas to ridiculous sitcoms have elements of a great film that deserves to be analyzed.


In this first image there is a deep space element which is a part of mise-en-scene. Taken from Game of Thrones, the image shows a castle that the charaters are approaching that is up in flames. The deep spaces shows how far the characters still have to go and what they still have to accomplish. The path ahead isn't what they expected and they will have to fix the chaos they are coming to.





Lighting can also indicate mise-en-scene. In this scene from Grey's Anatomy, the woman, Meredith, is in a coma and deciding weather or not to stay dead. The episode up to this point was dark and rainy. This is the first time where the scene is lit up with high-key lighting. It gives the audience a feeling of peace. She is almost in a godly place and the bright lights help portray that idea.




The opposite of high-key lighting is low-key lighting. In this image from Criminal Minds the man is kidnapping a girl after threatening and killing her family. He is a truly awful person and the lighting embraces that idea by creating a dark scene. The idea is to make the scene as dark as possible while still having the audience see the actions. It makes it hard to see and connect with the man as well as creating an eerie feel.

Mise-en-scene is all about the details. Costumes can send the audience subconscious messages. The character in this image is always angry and used to getting whatever he wants. He also has no mercy for anyone and when he feels threatened he wants that persons blood. The red overcoat and red tint to his hair can hint at his anger and want for violence. He is sitting on a throne and wearing a crown which shows how powerful he is weather or not he deserves it.

Decore is another way to hint at ideas. In the image there is an extravagant feast with gold glasses and candles. The clothing and candle light shows the era the show is said to be set in and the bounty of food shows the wealth of the family hosting. The main table and all the tables behind it are covered in more food than anyone could imagine eating. The idea of excess and the fine glasses and plates show wealth and power.


Cinematography is another element of film analysis and is definitely used in television shows. One camera trick that is used often is the zoom shot. In this How I Met Your Mother scene, the camera slowly zooms in on the yellow umbrella where the mystery girl who becomes the mother is hiding. In a sea of black umbrellas, the camera picks one to focus on. The audience never gets to see past the umbrella but its importance is emphasized do to the increased focus on the one umbrella.  

Another good way to focus on a key aspect of the show is by using an extreme close up shot. In House, MD.  this image shows a sick woman. The camera proceeds to go into her nose and show the audience what is wrong with her. Her illness is the focus and the whole episode is spent trying to figure out what it making her sick.




The depth of field might also emphasis an emotion or important piece of the episode.  This image shows Sherlock pointing a gun at Moriarty and his shock. The gun isn't in focus and neither is the background. This is where Moriarty almost loses his game. It is a turning point for him and all of the focus is on him.




Framing is another way to place focus on an event. In How I Met Your Mother two of the characters get married. The whole scene is shot in close ups and shots from above. The angle of framing gives the scene an intimate feel. The audience is able to look on and see the happiness. It's a looking over shot.

In the final image there is a point of view shot. The camera is looking through Meredith's eyes to her husband being held at gunpoint. It is an intense scene and seeing it through her eyes makes it more real. The emotion is more raw when it is seen through a characters eyes.

Music Videos

There was a lot of great music videos shown in class this past week. One of the most surprising videos I saw was Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar. Whenever I heard the song before seeing the video or hearing is analyzed I just assumed it was a song about getting drunk and having a crazy night. The auteur has a completely different message. It is about struggling with addiction and how alcohol can ruin a family. Seeing the video blew me away and I will never be able to listen to that song again without thinking of the auteur's message. It had very strong shots that helped portray the message. There is one with Kendrick Lamar sitting alone in a room with only a bottle of half empty liquor. He looks so alone and beaten down. The alcohol is the center of it. The light puts a focus on the bottle. It isn't the only object in the room but the eye is drawn to it.


The video with the most interesting editing was Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood. The scene where her wedding dress becomes the funeral dress is amazingly done and finally reviles the true message behind the song. It flips back and forth constantly between the past and the present. The lyrics don't give away too much of the real meaning but the video hints at it a few times. It is hard to tell if it is a wedding or a funeral for most of the video but the edited transformation scene gives it away.


Diegesis and mise-en-scene can go hand in hand and the music video that I thought best showed them both was Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri. The song is a pop song and became very successful. This was Christina Perri's first big hit and it has helped her other songs become popular.  From the beginning there is a diegesis of sadness and feeling broken. The whole video is black and white. It is smoky and most of the backgrounds and flashbacks are out of focus. The final scene has a great mise-en-scene. It focuses on the girls heart coming back into its jar. The scene becomes colorful and in the background, the black rose petals that have been swirling around the whole video turn pink and start falling gently. It changes the mood from sadness to happiness without any words.

Music Video Analysis

I have never really thought of music videos as films that could be analyzed but they definitely are. Music videos can make or break a song. There have been times where I don't like a song but after watching the music video I find myself changing my mind. The reverse is also true. I have loved a song and had it ruined by the music video. It doesn't match the image I have running in my head and from then on the official video that I didn't like is all I can see. I also didn't know many of the terms that go along with analyzing films. Shot, editing, focus, genre and scene were all pretty self explanatory but auteur, diegesis and mise-en-scene were foreign ideas to me. After learning that auteur is french for author that one made more sense but there is more to it. It is the ideas the author puts into it. In music videos it isn't always the artist. It can be the director. Diegesis is the subtle things everyone sees but doesn't really see. Symbols in the video and angles of the camera show the audience the story without explaining it. It makes the whole video more emotional. Mise-en-scene is not just a word a can't pronounce but a story put into one shot. At any given point of a video there can be a mise-en-scene. Like the diegesis, the symbols in the background make up the mise-en-scene. The details can tell a whole story without any words or movement.

I presented Already Gone by Sugarland this Friday. I had to look through a lot of videos until I found one that I liked and had everything I needed. Already Gone had very obvious and simple symbols but that's what I wanted. I don't quite get what I'm supposed to be looking for in videos but I needed to start somewhere. In school we are taught what to look for in books and I can find metaphors in lyrics. Finding metaphors and symbols in videos is a whole different story. The new medium is harder. Like many novels, the symbols are subtle and can be hard to find. I'm excited to see where it goes. I've never thought of taking a film class but so far I like it.

Communication: Bringing People Together from First Words

Mass media is an ever changing phenomena that has changed peoples lives over and over again. Mass media hasn't always been apart of human life. Mass media today is all electronic interface. When someone wants to spread information they put it on the internet where millions of people can see it. Mass media used to be spread through books, newspapers, and even plays. Print and performances where the interfaces for mass media but technology has changed that. Technology has allowed the media to reach even more people and change more lives. Mass media through technology has allowed the human race to break down the elite culture and create a community that everyone can be a part of.

Mass media and technology hasn't always been part of human life but communication has. People have communicated through speech and script for years before videos and other technological medium came to the public. Communication has many definitions but Mass Media Mass Culture defines communication as "a process involving the sorting, selecting, and sharing of symbols to help a receiver elicit from his or her own mind a meaning similar to that in the mind of the communicator" (Wilson-Wilson 12). Communication is a huge part of the human world and it is always changing. People have been talking forever. Before babies can even talk they communicate with facial expressions and as they grow up they become able to talk to more and more people. This exponential growth of communication has extended over the world now. Jeremy Rifkin brings up this point in his lecture. "With a forager/hunter societies communication only extended to the local tribe in shouting distance...When we went to the great hydraulic agricultural civilisation script allowed us to extend [communication]...We have gone from empathy in blood ties to empathy in religious association ties to empathy based on national identification..." (Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization). Mass media has made it possible to connect to people all over the world. The way we use mass media has helped as well. Communication using symbols has evolved too. In the early ages communication, if not done in person, was though books. "[Before the 14th century] most books were handwritten... In the 15th century the German printer Johannes Gutenberg invented the process of movable type" (Wilson-Wilson 22). In a few centuries books became more popular when the process for making them became easier. Since then, the world has come even further and invented a way to connect through technology.  "Television was invented as a potential replacement for the radio by adding pictures to sound" (Wilson-Wilson 29).  Technology has changed the way people communicate. It has also impacted peoples choices. When there is more information available people start to see controversial topics in a new light.

With the advanced of technological communication, elite culture is diminished. Elite culture is the idea that there are some arts or leisure activities that only a certain group of people can enjoy. Back in time, the elite culture was families with money. These families were able to afford to go to shows and buy art where the common folk might only have a folk story or two to pass down. Education used to be a big part of elite culture. Only the rich were able to get an education and everyone else worked. "But public education paid for from taxation, compulsory to everybody and free at the point of delivery - that was a revolutionary idea... [opposed people] said it's not possible for many street kids and working class children to benefit from public education, they're incapable of learning to read and write and why are we spending time on this?" (Robinson, Changing Paradigms). This gap has since been closed but for so long education belonged to the rich. The rich and poor were always on different ends of the spectrum but technology has allowed society to blend these two groups.  In Press Play Pause, Moby says "50 years ago, people didn't make things. People would go to photography exhibits. They would go to record fairs. They would watch movies. Now everyone is a photographer. Everyone is a musician. Anyone can make a film". Today people take more pictures with their Iphones than a camera. Movies can also be recorded on phones and a simple computer can make music. Almost everyone is equal. There is still a separation in some cultures where technology  is still reserved for the rich and the poor cannot afford it but most of the world is able to share art. This sharing not only eliminates the elite culture but makes way for a new community. A community where anyone can share their art and ideas with the rest of the world. Napster is a music sharing site that has played a part in making the music industry one large community. Sean Parker, co-creator of Napster, tells interviewers "the vision behind Napster, in the very early stages, was to just come up with a system that made sharing of mp3's so easy that a housewife or grandmother in Iowa could do it". Music is one of the biggest communities. People come together for concerts and now they can share music online. Technology made this sharing possible for local people and people miles away. It doesn't matter where the listener is, they can still connect with the music and others who like the same music.

The community created through mass communication and mass media is different than the community of the past. People today worry that this new community doesn't work and will separate people more than bring them together. In the documentary Craigslist Joe, Joseph Garner relays what people think about this community and sets out to prove them wrong. "Some say we have lost the sense of community that used to carry us through tough times" (Joseph Garner, Craigslist Joe). Joe spends the whole month of December relying on kindness from strangers he meets on Craigslist the website. He shows the world that there are still good people who want to help others. They help Joe survive a cold winter and make it back to his family safely. There is still room for improvement in the community but it is there. This community has become peoples identity. Slavoj Zizek says "but I claim in today's capitalism more and more the tendency is to bring the two dimensions together in one and the same cluster. So that when you buy something it is your anti-consumerist duty to do something for others for environment and so on, is already included onto it..." (Zizek, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce). Zizek is saying that the community doesn't extend to only consumers now. The consumers now want a charity or donation to be included in the price of their goods. That way they are helping themselves and their immediate economy as well as less fortunate people in other countries. It may not be the best solution but it connects people. Community is all about connects and the widespread media makes people want to help. The media advertises the problem and companies create products that people want and will give a small portion of the profit to the problem. It might not solve everything but it gets people thinking and involved even if it is the least amount possible. Media has began making connections all over the world. People connect over ideas projected over the internet. Roman Krznaric Believes these connections are just the beginning. "I think we need to be more adventurous in who we try to empathise with. I think we need to empathise with those in power [as well as the misfortunate]. We need to understand how those in power...think about the world and live their lives... Only then are we going to be able to develop effective strategies for social, political and economic transformation" (Krznaric, The Power of Outrospection). Mass media encourages people around the world to connect and try to understand each other. It is a challenge but it is where the world is headed.

Technology has helped the human race in more than one way but communicating is huge. The impact it has already made and the potential it has to change everything is making the world a bigger community. Mass media is just widespread communication. When people know what is happening they are more likely to empathize and do something to help or be involved. Communities in the past may have been close knit and helpful then but now the whole world can be connected. Technology gives people the missing piece. Before there was distance and language barriers between people but technology eliminates them. Online translators let people on opposite sides of the earth talk like they are in the same room. There is so much that has changed and so much that will change as technology and mass media grows. 

Sympathy vs. Empathy

Sympathy and empathy are often thought to be the same emotion but they are incredibly different. Sympathy is feeling for someone else's loss whereas empathy is the ability to understand and share someone else's emotions. Empathy helps us connect to people where sympathy cannot. In Zizek's lecture, he talks about the idea of donating to less fortunate or buying something that is advertised to help someone. "You don't just buy a coffee in the consumer act. You buy your redemption from only being a consumer... you fulfill a series of ethical duties" (Zizek, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce) . This charity isn't a bad thing but it make people think they did their part and they are done. It's putting a bandage over a bullet wound. It is out of sight and you did something but the problem is still there. Charity comes out of sympathy instead of empathy. If people helped out of empathy they would have to experience what these other people are going through. They would have to go grow coffee beans grown under awful conditions. After they understand what these people go through they can help fix it. Krznaric's lecture on The Power of Outrospection explains how he believes this idea would help us connect with out fellow humans. "We need, for example, empathy museums. A place which is not about dusty exhibits... but an experiential and conversational public space. Where you walk in and in the first room there is a human library where you can borrow people for conversation" (Krznaric, The Power of Outrospection). These empathy museums would allow us to understand each other and connect on a different level. Someone who sees the world one way might hear a story from someone they have nothing in common with and it changes their whole perspective.

Everyone is able to experience empathy at some level. Rifkin studied babies and came up with the conclusion that we all have to experience empathy. "We are actually soft wired to actually experience an other's plights as if we are experiencing it ourselves" (Rifkin, The Empathic Civilzation). People are programed from birth to feel empathy. It is how people communicate before developing a common language. Non-verbal cues and facial expressions can carry whole conversations and convey complex emotions. Others are able to understand this through empathy. They are able to perceive the emotion, understand, and even feel it through empathy. This connects everyone even when people are constantly being separated into different categories. "We still educate children by batches; we put them through the system by age group... Why is there this assumption that the most important thing kids have in common is how old they are" (Robinson,Changing Education Paradigms). Age is not the only thing these kids have in common. The opposite could be true as well. Maybe age is the only thing these kids have in common. The point is that it doesn't matter how people are grouped. Everyone can share connections.

Sharing Art

Art in all forms has been a way of bringing people together and invoking an emotion. Art will always be used for that, but the way people view art has been changing. There used to be an elite culture associated with arts. The artists were rich and the people who viewed art were too. In order to have the supplies to paint or make a film, someone would need a lot money. Then when the art was displayed in a gallery or in a concert hall, people would dress in their finest clothes and pay to go see it. In Presspauseplay, Moby says "50 years ago, people didn't make things. People would go to photography exhibits. They would go to record fairs. They would watch movies. Now everyone is a photographer. Everyone is a musician. Anyone can make a film". The elite culture has disappeared. Everyone has access to the tools to make a more or paint an amazing picture. And now everyone can see the art. Art is shared with everyone. Sean Parker, co-creator of Napster tells interviewers "the vision behind Napster, in the very early stages, was to just come with a system that made sharing of mp3's so easy that a housewife or grandmother in Iowa could do it". Music is illegally and legally downloaded everyday all over the world. We all have the means to do it and music can reach many more people.

Is this widespread access a bad thing? If everyone can make videos and posts them, how do we know which ones are good? Andrew Keen says "a you Hitchcock or young Scorsese wouldn't make into the movie business today. They'd slap up their films onto YouTube and it would get lost in the ocean of garbage". It may be harder to stand out but it doesn't make the art any less important. Every video means something to the person creating it even if it just a good memory now. Art is made to capture a moment or emotion and that is what all of the YouTube videos do. They are not all Golden Globe winners but they are art. Another debate in the advancing world is if a computer can be considered an instrument. Almost every imperfect sound recorded can be fixed with computer editing and many artist depend on that. Nick Sansano is a music producer and sees this happen more often than not. "Younger musicians and some older ones... rely too much on technology. They give a sub-par performance and expect the technology to compensate for it..." (Nick Sansano). I think it is still music. It is still an idea that people are choosing to share with the world. It is different but that doesn't make it bad. There is a lot to be said for those people who can play an instrument exceptionally well and produce record without any help. It is hard and they will always be admired for being able to do that. Those people who aren't that talented might have the same passion but are unable to express it. That is where technology helps. It allows people that are not as talented to still express themselves in the way they want. Human error is no longer our sole limitation.

PressPausePlay

I have never been a film person. I don't sit still long enough to really watch a whole movie let alone analyze it. That being said, I found the movie we started today, PressPausePlay, very interesting. It brought up a lot of good points that a lot of people are interested in. With everyone being able to make music on their computers today, how do producers stay in business. Recently there has been a hipster fad, where we are almost going back in time. Records are in and the classics are better than ever. People have always had respect for classic and timeless musicians but they listened to more current music. With this hipster era, producing music in a studio makes more sense. They want the 'old sound' instead of the more electronic new sound. I don't know where I fall in the debate. I like both the new and the old ways of making music. They can both create great music that can reach thousands of people.

It also gives people an overload of options. We are exposed to so many types of art, good and bad, through media. A terribly filmed video might go viral on YouTube while a great one is only viewed a handful of times. How do we as a society decide what is good and what is bad? There are personal preferences and it changes depending on the mood of that person. How are people able to stand out against everyone else? Today celebrities have to have a huge social media base to stay at their popularity level. If they hide from the media and don't constently promote themselves to their fans they will fade away. The attention span of society today has shrunk. We only watch something for as long as it entertains us. Then we move on to the next piece and forget we ever saw the first. The overload of artwork in various forms makes it a lot harder for people to stand on their own and get the worlds attention.

Finishing the Ceremony!

We finished Ceremony!! Some of my questions are answered but I still have so many. There are two parts that confuse me the most. The first is when Robert comes to visit Tayo. "'They want you to come home. They are worried about you. They think you might need the doctors again... Old man Ku'oosh and some of the others are wondering too why you haven't come. They thought maybe there might be something you should tell them...And Emo is has been saying things about you. He's been talking about how you went crazy and are alone out here. He talks bullshit about caves and animals'" (Silko 228). I started to question the reality of Tayo's situation. Robert is concerned about Tayo but he doesn't want to agree with Emo. Does he secretly agree with him? Is Tayo really imagining the spotted cattle? Most of the novel is through Tayo's perspective and there is no way to tell how reliable he is. There are points where he is more clear than others but I don't know if what he says is true or only what he believes is true. Tayo could be running around the open spaces chasing imaginary cattle and talking to himself. Maybe Emo is the more sane one of the two.

The other part that confused me was when Emo, Pinkie and Leroy attack Harley. The whole story that Tayo tells seems a little off. I understand that Emo is somewhat evil and doesn't like Tayo because he is a racist but would he go that far? They kidnapped and tied Harley up. "Pinkie held [Harley's] leg, and Leroy cut a whorl from the bottom of his big toe. Harley screamed hoarsely; the sound trailed off to a groan" (Silko 251). They were all friends!? How can someone do this to someone they were friends with? The they just laugh and leave. Tayo doesn't kill Emo because he can resist witchery and he is on the path to finishing his ceremony. I question the reality of the whole encounter. Tayo is dehydrated, exhausted and hasn't eaten in a day or so. Anyone can start to imagine things after being out in the desert all day.

The Spotted Cattle

In Ceremony  Tayo is represented by the spotted cattle. Josiah takes care of the cattle  in the beginning and he enlists Tayo to help care for them. Tayo has always been lost and alone and taking care of the cattle would help him find himself. By caring for the cattle, Tayo was caring for himself. When Tayo went to war with Rocky he lost himself again. His native ways didn't work with warfare. How were the Japanese any different than him? They were all beings on Earth from mother nature. They were all human. While Tayo was away the cattle ran off. They were as lost as Tayo. Tayo is sick and feels invisible when he returns. He lost himself and doesn't feel alive or human.

Tayo talks to Benito, a healer, and decides he needs to search for his lost cows. He headed out on his journey and found them. "The spotted cattle wouldn't be lost any more, scattered through his dreams, driven by his hesitation to admit they had been stolen, that the land - all of it - had been stolen from them" (SILKO 192). Tayo is realizing that he needs the cattle to be happy and cure himself. The cattle needs to be taken care of in order to feel better. Tayo is finally taking care of himself and trying to get better instead of letting the pain be dulled by alcohol. He has denied the pain for so long and tried to ignore it until it goes away. His pain won't go away and Tayo finally does something about it. The other veterans may be happy to drink their lives away but Tayo wants better and to get it he has to find himself. Not the man he was before the war but the man he is now. War and life changed him and the cattle grew with him. They were taken by a white rancher and had a new experience. Now they are back with Tayo who will care for them.  

A Marine Visit

Clay was different than I expected. He wasn't a normal guest speaker but what is normal? He didn't have a plan of what he wanted to say and he was clearly nervous. Not a lot of the presentation was about his tours and time in the military. Some of his training came up and it sounded incredible. I can't even imagine doing half of what he had to. He focused more of his talk on how to live. People like telling others what they can and can't do. Clay liked proving these people wrong. It is a great but hard way to live. I understand never giving up on what you want but proving everyone wrong is a hard task. I don't think that everything someone tells you you can't do has to be disproved. The ones that matter to the individual do. For example, if someone told me I couldn't rock climb to the top of a mountain I would agree with them. I have no desire to do it and I am terrified of rock climbing. If someone told me I could never run marathon or get into a specific college, however, I would prove them wrong. Those are things that I want. They may not be my deepest desires but I know if I tried I could reach them no matter what people say. I am stubborn that way and I think a lot of people are now. Today, so many people focus on following their own path instead of doing what others say. There are exceptions to the rule but from a young age we are trained to make our own decisions. Make our own path. I loved this point and think it is important for everyone to fight for what they believe in their own way. Clay went and fought in war but anyone can fight to prove something.

Clay also talked about PTSD. I thought he would have talked more about it because it is a large theme in Ceremony but he didn't. His story about the girl. I was talking to my table group after and we were all in awe. I completely understand why he questions what he did so much. I don't mean to say he made the wrong choice. He saved all of the strangers in the cafe and his fellow marines. It could have played out so differently if he never pulled the trigger. I don't know how I would live with myself if I was put in that situation. He said how if he had a do-over he would have gone and died with the girl. Sacrificing himself for the people in the cafe. Soldiers talk about losing part of themselves when they are forced to hurt or kill women and children. It may be the right call but they see someone they know in the person they killed. It might be their wife, son, daughter, cousin or anyone. To me this is what PTSD is. When something traumatic happens, like in war, you lose part of yourself.

Ceremony: Step by Step

Ceremony, like most novels, has multiple meanings in every passage and character. Night Swan and Josiah have huge influences on Tayo and represent much more than people he met. Night Swan on the surface is a prostitute that the village people hate. Every woman fears that her husband will visit her and them men don't respect her because to them she is only an object of temptation. She is nothing but trouble. Josiah was watched and criticized for going to Night Swan but they had something more than an affair. Through Josiah, and then Tayo, Night Swan reviles who she is. She represents confidence and independence specifically in women. Women throughout the novel are seen as objects to be possessed. Women are prizes. Night Swan isn't a prize. She slept with a married man who threatened her when his wife found out and never flinched. She calmly took his hateful comments and replied with the truth. He was just as at fault as she was but he preferred to blame her. He wanted to live in a lie but she was always the truth. There are hints that she is one of Tayo's healers in the novel and I think she helps him discover the truths he's been trying to hide underneath lies. 

Josiah is the only father figure Tayo has his entire life. Robert is there but Auntie would never let him father Tayo. Tayo feels responsibility towards Josiah and feels guilty for going to leaving Josiah with the cattle when he leaves for the war. Josiah is the bachelor and not the perfect man but he is a good one. He takes care of Tayo like the cattle. Josiah's dream is to raise the perfect desert cattle that they can live off of. He knows it will be hard but Josiah wants the cattle to teach him how to survive. Animals survive in the desert and drought and Josiah with Tayo will learn too. Josiah is Tayo's guide in life. Josiah never lies about how hard caring for cattle is going to be but he wants Tayo to help. Josiah helps Tayo see the balance in life and find his own place in it.  

Discussing Ceremony

Ceremony is one complicated novel. I am still confused but I'm slowly starting to understand. The PTS symbols are pretty obvious but the other problems Tayo isn't ready to face yet are confusing. This week I've started to understand Tayo's relationships. Tayo and Rocky could have been raised like brothers but were always separated by Auntie. She had every opportunity to take Tayo in and give him the family that he never had but she didn't. She refused to let go of what her younger sister, Tayo's mother, did. Sleeping with a white man and running off the reservation was unforgivable in her mind. Tayo never met his father and his mother left him with his aunt. He is completely alone from the beginning. I thought that Tayo's problems started with the war but he has been facing hard times his entire life. Maybe that's why he has more severe PTS than the other veterans he drinks with. 

Tayo and Josiah have an interesting relationship as well. Old Grandma and Robert are assumed to be nice to Tayo but he has no deep connection with either of them. Auntie and  Josiah are the big influences in his life. Josiah is not the best role model but he is a great man. He never marries and sleeps with Night Swan who is a prostitute but he is a good man. Auntie is ashamed of everyone in her family except Rocky but she can't through Josiah out. She hates that he has a relationship with Night Swan but she doesn't do much to stop it. Josiah is the only positive influence in Tayo's life. He teaches Tayo about the old native ways and to value all of life. When Tayo kills the flies Josiah tells him the story of the fly saving the people. Tayo feels awful and is terrified but Josiah explains how its okay to make mistakes. He tells Tayo there is good and bad in the world and he needs to live through both. Josiah is very insightful and the only father figure Tayo ever has. He is the only family that really loved Tayo as much as he loved them. Tayo wasn't that close to Grandma and Robert but he loved them. Rocky just wanted to get off the reservation and leave Tayo and the rest of his life behind. Auntie wasn't the nicest to Tayo but he understood and loved her. Through everything she did take care of him. Josiah was the only one who cared for Tayo out of love instead of obligation. 

Ceremony: The Puzzle

I am starting to enjoy Ceremony a little more. I know all of the pieces will fit together and make sense in the end but I can't help being curious. I get frustrated when I don't know what's going on. All of the different times makes it really difficult to keep straight. From what I have understood thus far there are a couple times that Tayo keeps going back to. The day he is living through currently opens with him having nightmares and taking his burrow up to a bar with his war buddy, Harley. He had to stop and take a nap on the way. Harley jokes that it's heat stroke but it's really PTS. They do get to a bar but I get confused here. Tayo goes back to a time where he tries to kill Emo for insulting him and being a mean drunk. I can't tell if Emo is at the bar at this time. Silko has shown the readers two sides of Tayo's Auntie. In the first introduction she is caring for Tayo, I assume right after the war, and in the other she is separating herself from him to keep up an image. She is ashamed of all of her family except her son Rocky. Josiah is sleeping with a Mexican woman, Tayo's mother slept and ran off with white men, and Old Grandma is blind and does nothing to defend her family.


There are so many stories and I can't be sure of the order of all of them. It makes more sense the more I read but I have so many questions. How did Tayo's mother die? When does Josiah die? Is Tayo responsible for the cattle dying? Does Auntie still distance herself from Tayo after the war and only caring for him to keep up an image or does she really change her mind about him? Every few pages leads to a new bit of information the clears up one question but gives way to twenty more. I know I'll get it but it's a hard book to read. I usually don't fall behind on the reading but this week I am. Not a lot but probably twenty pages. Going back and picking apart different sections is helping. I'm finding details that I missed the first time is it clears a few of my questions. My annotations are mostly questions and quotes I like. The theme of PTS is definitely  there but the other ones are harder to find. I like the book and I know I'll get it. I just have to catch up and wait for the ending to wrap everything up.

Ceremony

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is the most beautifully written novel I have read. Each line can be analyzed and have more than one meaning. It is amazing. However, I am incredibly confused. Silko's writing is not in chronological order and I have the hardest time getting around it. I always want to know what's going on, but to really enjoy and understand the novel I have to let go of that. The Laguna Pueblo timeline is not how Americans see it. When I think of time it goes in a line. I am in the middle, the present, behind me is the past, and in front of me is the future. The past has already happened and maybe I have learned my lessons from it but it is often forgotten about. I try to live in the present. The present is what is going on right in front of me. Depending on what I do, my future could change. The future is ahead of me. Sometimes I can picture what my life is going to be and somedays it is all foggy and I can't see anything. It will happen but it isn't me now.



In the Laguna Pueblo tradition, all three parts coincide. Instead of a line, time is a continuous circle or waves in the ocean. The person I am now is the person I was and the person I will be. I like this way of thinking but in writing it is really confusing. Many authors write what their character is thinking and it goes into tangents. The tangents are typically past events that make the character feel a certain way or explain why they like or dislike another character. In Ceremony  the tangents aren't separate stories. It's more of a second thought that Tayo, the main character is having. The thoughts aren't explained. It's up to the reader to draw conclusions but there often isn't enough information to complete a thought. I have to let go of the idea of knowing what's going on and accept that I am going to be confused. I wish I had already read the book so I had some frame of reference but it will all make sense in the end.

Ignorance is Bliss?

Native people are often portrayed at stereotypes. They are either the awful savage or the peaceful spiritual community that won't hurt a thing. Stereotypes are used in everything. Marketing items so it appeals to the largest group of people involves stereotypes. The problem with this is that not every person fits into these categories they are put in. This is where the public becomes insensitive to groups of people. Society comes up with standards for every culture. It can be divided hundreds of ways. Religions, race, color, country of origin and gender are all boxes people get sorted into. Each box has a label but it doesn't apply everything in the box. Each person is different and should be. If everyone was the same nothing would ever change. The world needs different people but different doesn't mean bad. There are all types of people in the world and similar characteristics are spread all over it.

I try to see people for who they are before I make any assumptions. I can't say this happens all the time. Humans aren't perfect and I will never make a claim to be so. I do fall into the habit of judging people by how they look. It may be my lack of experience with more diverse cultures or just the easy path my brain is trained to follow by society. Either way I don't want to make those assumptions and I don't want people to assume things about me. I have been told my life is perfect. That I am perfect. Nothing is perfect. It isn't possible. I don't get judged on being an awful person and being called perfect doesn't bother me because I want someone to sympathize with me. It bothers me because it isn't true. I lost my dad and moved away from my best friends. I woke up one day and found myself surrounded by a new step-family and it hasn't been easy. Life gives everyone a hard time. Some are much worse than others but people can all understand it to a point. Everyone lives on one Earth and finds a way to make it through the day. Are people really that different? They all look different on the outside but inside they are all the same.

Native People

The Apache 

The Apache call themselves nde, "the people", and currently live in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico. They were mostly hunters and traveled throughout the year with primarily buffalo. Wickiups, camp tent size homes made

of a wooden frame and bush, were made by the women. Apache women could build these Wickiups in two hours if there was enough supplies. Now there are thirteen different Apache tribes with independent governments and laws.
                                             

Famous Apache:
 Cochise was a chief of the Chiricahua Apache. He fought with the US over land but finally a treaty was reached in 1872 with the help of Tom Jeffords, Cochise white friend. His family now lives in the Apache Reservation in New Mexico.

 Warrior Woman Dahteste fought with the Native American freedom fighter Geronima. She was best friends with another woman warrior called Lozen. She was fulent in English and became a translator for Apache and US people.


The Lakota


Lakota are thought to be agriculturists and are known for their hide paintings. Battles and calendars were recorded on buffalo hides.
                                                   
The tribe was split into two main areas: one in the North/South Dakota region and the other by the Missouri river. Louis and Clark meet the Lakota people on their journey. The Lakota refused to let the two men travel upstream. They are often considered to be apart of the Sioux tribes.

Famous Lakota:
Crazy Horse was a warrior who lead the Lakota people against the US troops. After surrendering in 1877, Crazy Horse was stabbed with a bayonet while on guard and died that night. His death has a lot of speculation around it.

Sitting Bull was a holy man who also fought with the US over land. Him and 186+ followers were forced to surrender due to the risk of starvation in 1881. Today he is an iconic symbol to modern activists and an inspiration in many movies. 

Dancing into the New Year

A new year has begun and with it comes a fresh start. Life doesn't give people many so I don't plan on wasting it. This semester, my English class is starting to study films and native culture. I know almost nothing about both! I am a little intimidated with the film study part. Dances with Wolves is the first movie I've really started looking at critically. There hundreds of little details that producers spend years getting perfect so the audience subconsciously reacts to the scene. Poses like the Christ pose means sacrifice. In the film Dances with Wolves, John Dunbar rides his horse into an open battle field in order to end his life. He is giving up and sacrificing himself. Having his arms outstretched and head up is iconic now. I noticed this pose before but I never put much thought into it. If he wasn't in this pose the significance and his state of mind would be harder to read. It wouldn't have the same impact on people. The other pose that I never paid much attention to was when John Dunbar runs his hands through the wheat. It shows the audience that he is at peace. I subconsciously felt this but I never would have caught it. Subtle actions make people connect with the characters and make the movie that much better. I know I will learn a lot more than a few key poses but it's something to start with.

I'm not quite sure how studying native culture fits in with senior literature and composition with communication but it should still be interesting. I know almost nothing about native people and their culture. I can confidently explain the pilgrims in detail but Native Americans and other cultures like theirs have always been a mystery to me. I, like every little girl, watched and loved the movie Pocahontas but that doesn't count. I didn't learn about modern Native Americans last year in history. I studies how they live today on reservations. Most of them struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol along with terrible poverty. Seeing the pictures of some Indian reservations was heartbreaking. Throughout history, they have been a minority. I can clearly see that even in today's society. Native Americans are given many scholarships to college to help them out of the poverty. People also believe that taking children off the reservation will help them lead a better life but it is incredibly hard to do. It also isn't right. Taking children away from their culture isn't right. It may give them a better chance at an addiction free future but it takes them away from their culture. Where a person comes from gives them a foundation for where they can go.