Category — Authors

In a play, there are actors on stage, pretending to be people made up by playwrights and directors, sometimes based off a real person from the past or the present, yet a character nonetheless.  In Conflict had actors pretending to be living, breathing, existing human beings with deep and sometimes dark stories to tell.  People that had served in Iraq and decided to tell all that would listen their stories of hope and betrayal and utter depression.  The actors up on the stage had no choice but to be on top of their game, because the person they were portraying could be out in the audience, or even more stressful, their spouse could be.  And all the actors were on top of their game.  There were some that were better then others, some stories that were more interesting or heartbreaking, and still each person pretending to be a different person was practically who they were pretending to be. [Read more →]

            “Run and hide,” everyone told her. Run and hide. Revolution had descended on the USSR and with it came murder, destruction, and chaos. Its bloody cloak enveloped the entire nation including her hometown of Poltava. The royal family had been murdered and other members of the royal bloodline awaited their execution. A hunt was on for anyone related to the monarchy and Anna Dehktyar knew that with her nobility status and her husband’s former position as a high-ranking officer in the imperial army, she and her husband toped the list of most wanted. All she could do now was run and hide. [Read more →]

When we were first given this project, I didn’t waste much time before I knew my theme.  I would put together a collaboration of different things that define me.  There are three things that I hold very highly in life: sports, family, and religion.  Ever since I was a child I knew these three aspects of my life would give me strength, power, and determination to succeed.  Surprisingly, as soon as I decided on this theme, I knew exactly what I wanted to include in the actual collage. [Read more →]

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Initially, I thought that street photography was no big deal, just find some interesting characters and shoot their pictures. Nothing in life is that simple. Often, even the most basic shots take thought and effort to capture from the right angle, distance, and lighting.

            The theme for the photography project assigned to my class is cultural encounters. The isolated Chasidic Village of New Square is three miles away from my house. My theme is a subculture of Chassidism in America. New Square is .4 square miles with close to 5,000 residents. There is an average of 5.8 people per family and the median age is 14 years old. [Read more →]

          The title of my collage is “Exploration → Progress.” It is based on the idea that exploration fosters progress in our society. This idea is the general truth that I came to when I was thinking about the theme of cultural encounters. Cultural encounters are a form of exploration because through these experiences you are able to learn about the various groups of people in the world. With this new understanding comes progress because by using the knowledge that you obtained during your cultural encounter, you can create something magnificent – a relationship, an idea, or something material. [Read more →]

The lights dim, the stage is set, and suddenly the audience is thrust into the mid-1940’s. There is a palpable sense of tension as the audience comes to the understanding that what s being portrayed is the nerve center of the project behind the creation of the atomic bomb. The voices of the scientist sing out as they describe the science behind the creation of this terrible device. As they finish their discourse on molecular structure, the story becomes real and personal. We are shown the high-stakes world of radical science, where any new development equals a possible new weapon to be used to wage war. Morals and ethics [Read more →]

I was very excited to have a chance to meet Jeffrey Mermelstein. I had never met a professional photographer before and the people who have this as their career have always fascinated me. I knew that he was very proficient in his field and I was glad to meet someone who has been a photographer for some time and knew all of the ins and outs of the job. His photos were very entertaining as were his stories. [Read more →]

The reading by Francine Prose was very beneficial for an aspiring writer like myself. She read her own short story and provided enlightening comments. Her relaxed demeanor struck me as she discussed the arduous task of writing a novel. I was also interested in the calm demeanor with which she read her work.  I tried to take cues from her poise as she spoke her own short story aloud because she seamlessly told the story and made me feel as though I was reading the work instead of simply listening to it. It seems to me that being able to do that is harder than it looks because you have to use your voice to transport the reader, rather than trusting the written text to do it for you. [Read more →]

Upon entering the theater to see Waltz with Bashir, I was very unsure as to what I should expect. I knew that it was an animated film but not much more than that. As the lights went dim and the first scene began the audience is thrust into a state of terror as a pack of rabid dogs tear across the screen. This sudden entrance into a particular scene is typical of this movie as it chronicles a man’s search for his lost memories regarding the war in Lebanon that he was involved in. The story is told in a somewhat abstract fashion as it continuously jumps from the narrator’s life as an older man to his memories from the war as a young soldier. [Read more →]

The International Center of Photography is home to many examples of excellent photography. Various exhibitions line the walls and one of these is by the renowned photographer, Susan Meiselas. Ms. Meiselas took a series of pictures of the conflict in Nicaragua in the late 1970’s. It takes a special kind of person to take pictures on a field of battle because of the vast amount of risk involved. It is not exactly safe to go around snapping pictures of armed factions who are currently at war. Ms. Meiselas was able to not only document the conflict but to capture the emotions of the combatants. She took many photos that showed the humanity of war and the conditions that people find themselves in. [Read more →]