Category — RRoss

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Listening to Richard Price speak, I could hear a down-to-earth presence about him. The way he spoke made me feel comfortable listening to him. You can see that he is extremely intelligent, but he doesn’t flaunt it in the way he speaks or gets his message across. He doesn’t get too wordy which is something I liked about him. He wasn’t afraid to use foul language in a room full of people. He spoke in the language he knew how and didn’t try to hide it. He speaks using his own voice and doesn’t try to sound different than who he is, which was admirable. To be honest, I expected to hear some big time writer talk about his books in a way I couldn’t comprehend. I thought it would be a bore the whole way through. Instead, he was genuine with his answers and added his own touch of humor which made him fun to listen to. After every question, I was waiting to hear the witty answer he had and a comment to follow it. He sure does know how to keep an audience’s attention.

Aside from the interview itself, you can see how much work he put into his books with all the research and interviews he had to do. Using his own experiences and the collective information of those around him, he creates these real life stories, such as Lush Life. But its his creativity that makes them as famous as they are. You need to have a sense of history, humor, and writing in order to create those types of books. Having those three qualities isn’t an easy thing to have, but Richard Price has it and it shows in the way he speaks and writes.

Protecting the streets of Brooklyn

Verdi’s, Rigoletto, was the first opera I have ever seen, and it without a doubt left an amazing first impression. From the moment I walked into the beautiful, luxurious Metropolitan Opera, I could tell that it was going to be something special. The size and structure of the theater itself is something marvelous to look at. I have never witnessed something like it before so it was a special sight for me.

When the chandeliers started to rise and the lights began to dim, the sudden chatter and anxiousness of the audience abruptly came to a halt. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the stage waiting for Rigoletto to begin. I thought it was tremendously put together how the orchestra began playing moments before the curtains unveiled the characters. It set the scene well when the curtains finally opened and there was a party going on. I felt the music, setting, and plot meshed well together at all times.

I thought the actors of Rigoletto were extraordinary. The voices they have are unbelievable. The base they have in their voice and their ability to hold notes as long as they do is truly remarkable to witness. Rigoletto, played by George Gagnidze, managed to persevere through his cold in order to put on a superb performance. At one point after finishing a final note, you could actually see him start to cough. He had to fight the whole night to give the impression that he was feeling alright and he did an amazing job at it.

I think that discussing Rigoletto in class before going to see it helped capture and understand what was happening during the opera. I was never lost or confused on what was happening even though it was in Italian. Knowing the plot beforehand and having the translation in front of my face helped keep my focus on what was happening. I didn’t have to do any catch up on what had occurred. All in all, I think that Rigoletto was a phenomenal first opera to see with all its history, tradition, and flavor.

For the Columbus Day weekend, two of my friends came back from college for a few days. One from Trinity College in Connecticut, and one from the University of Buffalo. After talking to both of them individually about their respective schools and how they liked it, I realized how much I missed out on by staying home for college. One of the two referred to their college life as being a “fantasy world.” He’s having the time of his life being away at school on his own and he’d rather stay there all year than come home to visit. He says coming back to Brooklyn is like coming back to reality, and it’s depressing to him. He loves the independent lifestyle and the enjoyment of living with friends. He’s having the time of his life at school and doesn’t want that feeling to end.

My brother, Kevin, went to Binghamton University and graduated in 2008. Ever since then he’s talked about how much he misses college. I never really knew if this was how everyone felt until I heard all my friends that went away talk about how much they love it. As much as I am happy for them that they’re having a good time, their good time makes me feel like I made the wrong decision on staying home for school.

The college lifestyles of staying home and going away vary in many ways. Staying home, I still feel constricted in the same house with my parents, my aunt, and my brothers. I feel like I’m living the same way I’ve been living the past seventeen years of my life. There hasn’t been a change. From what I’ve seen and heard, going away to college is a thrill, an excitement, and a mystery. It’s something new. It brings on new challenges, new stories, and life lessons. I feel like I’m missing out on an important aspect of life by staying home.

Sure, I like Baruch College and Macaulay, but I think college is about more than just the school, the academics, and the grades. It’s about the whole experience with new people, new places, and a new environment. With that being said, I feel like I didn’t give myself a chance to have all those experiences when I made the decision to stay home.

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It seemed as if when the first performance, “Xover”, began, everyone in the audience around me started looking side to side at one another as if to say, “Is this serious?” “Is this really the performance?” For myself, I honestly thought that maybe the microphones were getting too close to the speakers on stage and it caused that achy, high-pitched “noise.” I understand that this “music” by John Cage is where the origin of electrical music began, but everything seemed so unplanned and ill-prepared that I don’t think it is worthy enough to be played at a performance. Partially because I don’t really think you can dance completely accurate to these sounds. In my opinion though, Merce Cunningham’s Dance Company did a good job for the most part, staying in sync with all their combination of acrobatic and ballet moves, despite there being no real flow to the “music” to keep rhythm on. Like I said, dancing to the music being played is very difficult, but I believe they did an adequate job for what they were given.

I think it’s fair to say that the second performance really captured everyone’s eyes and was the clear cut favorite of the audience. It was such a pleasant change from rather slow ballet dancing, all white leotards, and unclear “music”, to the upbeat dancing, colorful outfits, and contagious music. “I Can See Myself In Your Pupil” by Gallim Dance was really exciting to watch starting with the quirky duet between the boy and girl, all the way to the final bow. The dances seemed so provocative, quick, and rhythmic that you just couldn’t look away. Every part of this performance was a show in itself… The dancing, the music, the outfits, and even the background. The back-screen of the performance created a whole different perspective of the dancers through their shadows. It enhanced the size and movements of the dancers in a way where you didn’t know whether to watch the actual dancers or their shadows. By the time the performance was over, the crowd showed its delight in this particular performance by the loud, thunderous, standing ovation they gave. This to me was the highlight of the night.

The third performance, “Vistaar”, seemed to me like the most unique performance, dance wise. It was a very traditional dance style, which focused on different hand movements belonging to the Odissi dance style. This dance brought the focus on one lead dancer and basically her four imitative dancers who would follow her movements. I felt that their synchronization worked well and that the movements with their hands through their fingers brought a liveliness to the dance altogether. The outfits worn for this performance worked very well with the Indian theme. They were very lively looking with the gold and crimson colored designs included on them. They worked well with the performance. The only negative I saw with this performance was that it had to follow “I Can See Myself In Your Pupil”, because let’s be honest, that was definitely the hardest act to follow. I think having to follow it made it have to live up to higher expectations, which I don’t think were met… But not necessarily their fault.

I actually really enjoyed the final performance, “The Golden Section.” The first thing I saw was all the matching gold outfits and right away I liked it. The energy on stage and the highly acrobatic “flying” of the dancers made it exciting to watch. With the costumes, I felt like I was watching a pack of lions running and tearing around the stage. The dancers were obviously extraordinarily talented and meshed well with the energetic music playing alongside them. All in all I thought this was a great ending to Fall For Dance because it ended the night on a good note.

Fall For Dance was a performance I was not expecting, nor ready for. But at the end of the night I was definitely pleased with the performances and was truthfully happy I went. I thought I might be a little bored by the show, being that modern dancing and ballet aren’t really some of my strongest interests. But even sitting through “Xover” I wasn’t bored because it was so new and interesting, that even though I didn’t love it, I couldn’t stop watching it. Everything was a mystery to me so I was glad I got to see and listen to these performances to open myself up to these new genres and performances.

For my collage theme, I’ve decided to do it on the city that doesn’t sleep, New York City. Personally, I am ALWAYS tired and that’s pretty much the reason I decided to do this topic. Most days going to school in the morning, I sleep on the train. Most days going home, I sleep on the train. Some days when I get home, I take a nap. I love sleep. You can almost say that my hobby is sleeping and I know I’m not the only one. I always see other people sleeping on trains, on buses, even on the street. You can walk through Madison Square Park right outside of school and see people laying in the grass sleeping. Everyone sleeps obviously but I want to capture the moments that don’t just happen between the hours 11pm-8am in our own cozy beds. I want to be able to capture the moments where people just happen to fall asleep, whether it be on the floor of a living room, or a bench in a park.

I would like to capture the city’s tiredness and include it in a collage. I want to point out all the naps and rests that the city that “doesn’t sleep” has to offer.

The image shown above is a picture I took while walking to the train through Madison Square Park. Class had just ended as I was approaching the 23rd street train station, I saw this man who was by himself in the middle of the park and he seemed to be doing an interpretive dance. But as he was doing these exuberant moves, he also was moving around some sort of glow stick, giving the illusion that it was floating around him. To be honest, I had no idea what he was doing. Was he dancing? Was he trying to do magic? Did he want money? Maybe all of the above? But the more I looked, it seemed as if he was just doing it because he wanted to. He had headphones in so he was listening to the music by himself. He could care less if anyone was watching him or not. This whole scene interested me. I was really curious to what he was doing so I decided to take a picture of him while he was doing his….. “thing.”

It turns out, what this man was doing is referred to as “glowstringing.” Glowstringing is a form of “glowsticking” in which it’s a combination of dance moves with a glow stick tied to a string. This activity is generally done at raves but that is not necessarily where it came from. It is said that glowstringing comes from poi (performance art) whose origins come from New Zealand. Poi is a performance art in which a ball suspended from a cord, is held in the hand and swung in circular patterns. From that art, glowstringing came about.

I’m glad I happened to have stumbled upon this scene in the park because it showed me how there is a lot of variety in the world. When I think of dancing, I would never think of someone by themselves making gestures and twirling a glow stick in mid-air. But that is DANCE… Whether me or anyone else is aware of it. There is variety in dance just like there is variety in everything else. Sometimes you just have to open up your eyes to see it.

I believe that every moment in one’s life has an effect on them in some way. Everything we do matters, whether it become something important worth mentioning, or something small, not even worth remembering. Regardless of how significant you think your life has been or how exciting or meaningful it is, what your life today is is a culmination of everything that’s happened in the past. I do believe that everyone has at least one point in their life where who they are changes in some way. For better or worse, everyone has an “About Face.”

For me, it happened in my freshmen year of high school. I had chosen to go to Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Brooklyn, New York. That decision in itself was a life changer. My two older brothers had both gone to Xaverian High School so automatically, my family, friends, and relatives had pretty much all expected me to go their because it was “familiar” with us. When it came time to choosing where I was going, I had convinced myself that I didn’t want to go where my brothers went. I didn’t want to be known as “Little Ross” throughout my high school years. All the teachers in my elementary school knew my brothers before they knew me so I always felt a little pressure to live up to the standards that they had set. I didn’t want to feel that pressure in high school. So in the end, I thought it would be best to go to Bishop Ford.

My freshmen year in Bishop Ford was without a doubt the most stressful, challenging time of my life. I had pretty much gone to school with the same 30 people from grades K to 8th grade so now everything was different. I was this little kid surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people that I had never seen before and I honestly didn’t know how to handle it. Everything was a struggle for me. I was so used to knowing everyone and knowing all the work, that this was all just a shock to me. Nothing came easy to me my freshmen year. My days consisted of waking up, going to class, going to football practice, and coming home to sleep… Many times without even eating dinner or telling my parents I was home. I was rarely happy during that time. I think it was just that the whole “high school” experience was very overwhelming and it took me pretty much the whole year to eventually be comfortable with school.

I think that year of high school, although it was the hardest and most miserable time of my life, changed my life forever, for the better. The next three years at Bishop Ford were an unbelievable experience for me. I can honestly say school went from being the worst time of my life to the best time of my life. I have never been happier than I was for those last three years of high school… And I think I can attribute that to all the challenging experiences I had during that first year. My freshmen year changed me socially, physically, and emotionally. From this roller coaster ride of an experience, I now believe it’s true that you “have to go through hell before you get to heaven.”

Charles Li’s, The Bitter Sea, talks about Li’s growth in China with himself, his father, and his horizons. He grew up through the Communist takeover in China near World War II and his childhood was a tough time for him. Until he was 5, he pretty much was restrained and confined within the walls of his father’s mansion in Nanjing. He was prevented from seeing the outside world for a majority of his childhood and Li even goes to say how hating this confinement was his first childhood memory. It was a struggle living there for him because him and his father were never on the same page and much of his life circled around pleasing his father.

I think this confinement for Li is a major contributor to why that happiest time of his life was spent while living in the slums. When first forced into the slums, Li’s mother tells him and his siblings how their father constructed a sheltered world for all of them. She pretty much tells them that they were spoiled living in the mansion and now they’re getting a taste of how life really is. They’ll “have to learn to cope with squalor, poverty, and hunger.” But unlike his siblings, Li felt free for once in his life. He found happiness in the slums and that is something I truly admire about Charles Li. He made the best out of what he had. He admired the world around him and that’s all he wanted as a kid. He wanted to know what was beyond the tall brick walls of his mansion in Nanjing. I actually believe that his confinement early in life molded him into what he became later on in life. I think it made him appreciate the little things in life more and not worry about what people think of him. He always strived for his father’s approval and acceptance but I think after living in the slums and experiencing happiness, he slowly learned to accept himself and not worry about what other people thought of him.

I admire Charles Li’s outlook on the world and how he built his own life single handedly. He had a pretty miserable childhood and he worked to make a life for himself in America, eventually settling differences with his father in the end. When he steps foot on the plane to head to America, I think he reflects on the life he’s lived and the life he’s moving on to. With everything he’s gone through with his father, Communist takeover, and just his life in general, emotions set in and I think that is sort of a “bitter” feeling. Although he’s happy that he’s expanding his horizons and taking a step forward in life, I think he also feels a bit of an undying connection with China that he’s not completely ready to let go of and that he’ll miss.

“Life is something that happens to you while you’re living it.” That is how Howard Greenberg started his presentation on Tuesday night. These words are an inspiration in themselves. It gives you the feeling of comfort and satisfaction in the life you’re living. That statement is able to depict the life that Greenberg led. His life and business of work came upon him while he was just living life. It was unexpected, yet gratifying.

Howard Greenberg never intended on making a career out of photography and art. He initially went to school to become a psychologist. That’s what he was planning on doing with his life until the Vietnam War got in the way of him going to grad school. He didn’t realize his true passion for photography until his mother’s friend got him a camera while in Japan. Howard knew he “liked” photography at the time but it wasn’t until he started using the camera and taking various and multiple amounts of pictures where he realized that he actually “loved” it.

Howard Greenberg says how his love of photography, the history of it all, and also the need to make a living is what got him into the business of running a photo gallery. He mentioned how just “trying” to make it was all worth it to him. Whether he could actually make it big or not didn’t really concern him at the time. The aspect of at least attempting to follow his dream made it worthwhile. Luckily for him, he did make it big, owning a well-known photo gallery in New York City, and also being one the top photography dealers in the world.

Greenberg is a big fan on following your dream and from personal experience, he encourages all of us to “make a living out of what you love, rather than what you think you’re supposed to do.” He is an inspiration to me because he accidentally fell in love with photography and as of right now I’m not sure what I love… But now I am at least hopeful that I can be fortunate enough to stumble upon that certain something at some point, just as Greenberg did. And when I do find that certain something, I will be genuine about it because Greenberg said that nothing works better than enthusiasm. When you love what you do and you’re excited about it, the finishing product will always have a good outcome.