Author: Martin Alava

The play reading at the Macaulay building was a great experience. When reading the play, I really loved the characters and their uniqueness from each other. Each character had a unique backstory and, although they were all different from each other, they were all relatable in some way. Howe was by far my favorite character, somewhat nihilistic and optimistic at the same time. His growth from a man without a home to a person with a goal was really satisfying. The character interactions were also entertaining to watch. Seeing Howe trying to defend his decisions to Alex really added to his character. The interactions between Howe and Alex let the audience know Howe’s true feelings without compromising his relationship with the other characters. The other characters had very interesting motivations that led them to San Francisco. Whitney and Joshua’s relationship showed a lot of emotion for two people dejected from the society in Virginia. Paola’s journey to California was interesting, where she realizes she wants something more when already there, leading to a faster growth than the other characters. The play was very enjoyable, good story telling and character development. I would have enjoyed the show more if I didn’t watch it at 8 o’clock on a school night.

I really did not understand what that performance was about, but I appreciate the physicality that went into it. The dances looked like they needed a lot of practice to accomplish the impressive moves they pulled off. The music that accompanied the dances seemed to go with the title of each dance, but I still don’t understand how the dance was supposed to express the title. Also, the dancing did not seem to sync with the music. During some numbers, the people kept dancing even though the music stopped. I did really enjoy the music with lyrics in it, it helped make the theme of those dances easier to understand. The entire performance was entertaining and I enjoyed watching it, even though I did not understand the meaning behind it.

I was very interested in his lecture about the punk genre. He was very informative with the history about the movement, bring examples through posters and magazines. His portfolio of tattoos and punk art was very cool. The stickers and CD’s he brought were other examples of how people would spread the music. I really enjoyed when we made pins at the end of the presentation. It was clear to see how dedicated he is to the punk movement and how much he contributed to it.

The night at the opera was an interesting experience. I did enjoy the performance of “La Boheme,” but not too much. It was a good story, but the characters didn’t make me feel for them. They barely changed or grew during the 4 acts, with the acts feeling like they moved too fast. I didn’t have a problem reading the subtitles, I’m used to it, but from so high up, it was hard to tell who was talking at any given moment. The production of the opera was very detailed, with the actors being able to use props and the stage to tell a better story. The set design was great, the room in Acts 1 & 4 felt very empty, but that was the point. The street and cafe in Act 2 felt very lively. The snow outside the inn in Act 3 seemed very realistic, and the lighting added a somber mood to the scene. The experience as a whole wasn’t bad, I did enjoy the performance and the theater itself was very comfortable, it’s just that the story did not keep my interest.

I really enjoyed watching Avenue Q. The characters all had different backgrounds and motivations, allowing for very distinct personalities. However, even with their differences, I felt that each of the characters were relatable in some way. The show also brought up taboo subjects in comedic ways, allowing for open discussion about subjects such as racism or pornography. All of the songs were catchy and entertaining in their own way, making fun of how unnecessarily “politically correct” people are. Around the end of the show, they talked about how everything is only for now, and when they mentioned Donald Trump, it was entertaining hearing someone boo a bit.

Watching Avenue Q really reminded me how much of an existentialist I am. Every character was looking for something in their life, but things kept happening that hindered their searches. They said that not everyone figures out what their purpose is, but they keep living anyway. People will try to make the best of any situation there in, and they just have to deal with the world as it comes against them.

I thought Will’s presentation on Billy Joel was very interesting. The way he described how Joel’s family and upbringing influenced his path towards music was a great introduction. The presentation’s section on the struggle Joel faced in his personal life clearly showed what Joel had to overcome to be where he is today. When talking about Joel’s suicide attempt by drinking furniture polish, Will lightened the mood a little with Joel’s quote “It looked tastier than bleach.”

During the part about Joel’s musical career, Will managed to summarize the key events that led to the writing of one of Joel’s most popular songs “Piano Man.” The impact New York had on Joel is seen through the quote where he regrets moving to Los Angeles from New York and the important memories he had in New York. Will then ended his informative presentation with how Joel then influenced New York, being a staple performer at Madison Square Garden.

I was told that I should go to the Cooper Hewitt Museum for the independent trip, so I did. I had no idea what to expect so I tried not to have high hopes.

I found the first two floors of the museum to be very disappointing. “The Virtue of Vice” was interesting in concept, but the “vices” were topics that could have been debated as having positive effects. “Japonism” was of American-sponsored interior decorations made by Japanese, which barely touched on other forms of Japanese art. “The World of Radio” was fine, just not something that held my interest.

I greatly enjoyed the third floors exhibit. The floor was dedicated to the “Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age.” This exhibit showed a beauty in furniture design that could only be achieved through innovation. The “Bone series” showed the complex process of casting a single-piece asymmetric chair. The “-voxel tables” showed 3 tables, each of the same design but with an increasing voxel count, adding more detail to the design. The “Makerchairs” were chairs assembled with 3D printed pieces that came together as if it were a puzzle.

In the end, I enjoyed my trip to the Cooper Hewitt. Even though the first two floors did not appeal to me, I enjoyed examining the designs on the third floor. I wish I had went at a different time though, instead of 10-12 pm, because the morning was pretty dead and I was starving by the time I left the museum. oh well

The trip to the Brooklyn Museum for the “Night at the Museum” was entertaining for several reasons.

My group started on the 5^th floor with the intention of working our way down. That didn’t happen. We spent so much time there that we only went downstairs to leave.

We started with the charcoal pictures. They were all skillfully made, with some pictures looking as though it was photography. Works such as “Bullet Hole in Window” and “Einstein’s Desk, the Day He Died” were heavily detailed, it as a surprise to see that it was made with charcoal. There was a funny moment when one of us thought the bullet hole was smoke, and it took a few minutes of debating until one of us actually read the description.

The death exhibit was interesting and disturbing. The history behind some of those pieces were very interesting, such as the “Life-Death Figure,” which showed the Mesoamerican’s respect to those concepts. The “Ladle with Skull” was off-putting, used to show the change from a cannibal into a member of society.

The oil painting that caught our attention was “Columbus before the Queen.” It portrayed him as a hero, a brave explorer addressing Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. We tried to piece through any symbolism that can be seen in the work, such as color or facial expressions. The piece was beautiful, but I had to point out that Columbus was basically a psychopath.

The trip to the museum was made better by the bus rides to and from the museum. A group of us sat in the back playing music, singing along until it became off-key and incoherent screaming. The night was very enjoyable and I had a great time.

My trip to the NAWA exhibit was entertaining to me. It began with the doorman giving me not enough information to get to the exhibit, leading me to walk up four flights of stairs and enter through the back door. The exhibit itself was very interesting. The collection had a wide variety of styles that I would have never seen in one place otherwise. The different techniques and mediums used to show the artists’ skill was very interesting and diverse, from acrylic paintings to sculptures, from a statue with a bull’s head to a creepy deer with a doll’s head.

Some of my favorites were “Love Conquers Hate” by Judith Carlin and “So They Marched” by Linda Mulhauser. “Love Conquers Hate” showed a girl placing a flower at a street memorial. It showed exactly what the title said: “love conquers hate.” No matter how many things divide us, there will always be more that bring us together. “So They Marched” was interesting in that it used the art style to its advantage. The ink blots used for human faces shows people, unidentifiable, moving in one unnamed collective. People moving about without acknowledging those around them.

The NAWA exhibit was a fascinating collection of works that I might never had seen. It was truly a new and unique experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.