Category — Jack

Performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Urban Bush women displayed African American culture and traditions as well as the struggle that came with African Diaspora, migration of Africans to America and later on to the world, through expressive dance performances. For many members of the audience like me, it was difficult to understand the story of the dance performance.  Only in the end did I realize that there was no plot. Without sufficient introduction in the beginning of the performance, Urban Bush women confused its audience. [Read more →]

The theme of my collage is childhood. Though I came to America when I was 11 years old, I still have fresh memories of my childhood in China. What I remember the most was the old culture of China that helped to shape the person I am today, especially my elementary school. Separated from my parents, I lived in the city alone for the four years before I came to America. [Read more →]

My cousin (left), her daughter (center), and her husband (right).

May 17, 1988.
On the morning of Xiao Yan Li’s (李小燕) eighteenth birthday, the air, diffusing through the opaque windows, was as hot and suffocating as normal. There were no signs of celebration. Not even a tinge of love did she feel, as she watched her mother, preparing her younger brother and sister for school. She envied their boiled eggs and new school uniforms. Soon, she was bored at the sight of it, for she knew that she would never be treated the same and that going to school was just a dream. For many mornings and nights, she had thought about the same fantasy of going to school, meeting new friends, and reaching above the low ceiling of her potential. But she now quit, for it was no longer a dream of a teenager girl. She had finally become an adult, and her dreams and wishes had now all been shattered and destroyed into millions of pieces. She was angry and hateful, not toward her parents who had lost affection since she was born, but toward herself and the harshness of the reality. [Read more →]

In the world we live today, we often ignore what is surrounding us, even if it’s free of charge. I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition Art and Love in the Italian Renaissance, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though the Renaissance occurred hundreds of years ago, the values of marriage and family were preserved through the paintings and jewelries at the exhibition. Though I had limited knowledge of the culture during that time period, the exhibition guided me to learn the culture not from words but with my own eyes. [Read more →]

How do we find the truth of the past? Visiting the class to share his experience of writing a memoir of his mother, Samuel Freedman was the author of Who She Was. What separated Freedman apart from other guests Professor Bernstein had invited before was the sharpness in his language. He could quickly convert his thoughts into proper language that I began to write down everything he mentioned because they were all clear and useful for my Who She Was project. [Read more →]

Once we make a decision, it’s often too late to change. For Frances Richey, however, she was able to repair her relationship with her son, Ben. I chanced to meet her at the Macaulay Honors event, hosted on the Veterans Day. Though I did not know much about her background, prior to the event, her poems reflected her internal struggle with her son. In a divided family with separate views on politics, Richey struggled to compromise with Ben. After He was deployed to serve at Iraq, Richey began to realize how selfish she was. In her published book, The Warrior, Richey attempted to reconstruct her fractured relationship with her son. [Read more →]

To my surprise the play Irena’s Vow was not a one woman show, where the actress would act all the characters in the play from the twelve Jews to the Nazi major, as predicted by my professor. The play, however, opened with Ms. Feldshuh, in a narrative voice, portraying Irena Gut and nine supporting cast members acting different characters in the play. Periodically, during the play Ms. Feldshuh would act as some of the characters, usually by with foot stumping, coughing, or changing in tone. [Read more →]

My theme for the street photography project is American dream. I want to express my feeling towards American dream that doesn’t exist anymore. Throughout my photographs, I try to tell the viewer the hardship of immigrants, came to find a better life, in the New York City. With the ideology of American dream, these immigrants, who were doctors and businessmen in their old country, came to America only to find themselves washing dishes and selling fake merchandise off the street. I also connected to the new immigrants because my parent went through the same struggle. Living in a Chinese community myself, I want my photographs to be dark and serious. [Read more →]

A war veteran smiled about her patriotism while paralyzed from losing her limbs, another war veteran traumatized by the killing of innocence, and another left in agony from losing his older brother during the war. I was among the many who watched the play In Conflict and was deeply touched by the ruthlessness of war. Opened at the Barrow street theatre, In conflict, was a series of interviews of war veterans expressing their views on war and their adjustments after exiting the war. Adapted from the book by Yvonne Latty, In conflict captured its audience with ambivalent feeling of bitterness and appreciation for soldiers whose life were in turmoil after the war. [Read more →]

Struggling to concentrate on the tedious, lengthy aria, I lost my focus. Brightness of the stage diminished; soon I won’t be able to see the stage anymore as I began to close my eyes only to hear the soprano vibrating in my ear. This is not what I expected of Dr. Atomic, which opened at the Metropolitan Opera on Oct. 06, 2008. Directed by Penny Woolcock, Dr. Atomic failed to capture its young audiences as well as the majority of wealthy people who left the opera during the intermission. Even the last fifteen minutes of anticipation ended in a single flash of light that has no resemblance to the devastation of the atomic bomb. [Read more →]