The Arts in New York City

To say that theater day was a performance is a huge over statement. Jonathan Safran Foer isn’t an actor, so although he was on stage, he was not putting on a show for us Macaulay kids. Foer’s actions and style of speaking was directly related to the style in which he wrote the book. It seemed Foer was talking in run on sentences and unrelated thoughts. This style of writing was perfect though for the narrator of the book. Because I don’t consider Foer’s appearance as a performance, it makes sense that I don’t consider it art. To me, art is countless hours of devotion. So yes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close can be considered a work of art, but not Foer’s Q and A session.

The unique and interesting thing about languages is that it consists of meaningful words that can be interpreted in almost any way. Thus as a distinctive individual, my brain was incapable of categorizing the meeting with Jonathan Safran Foer as a “theater day performance”. Unfortunately, the only image that words like theater and performance managed to paint in my head was that of instruments, dance, songs, plays and all other sorts of film-like experiences. I stood corrected however, as the Free Online Dictionary reminded me that a performer is indeed one who “portray[s] a role or demonstrate[s] a skill before an audience”.  I had interpreted theater and performance differently all along, and grew up going to the theater to watch movies and going to events to watch musical performances. Little did I know, a meeting with an intellectual author and a conversation about his book too was a theatrical performance. Having re-set the buttons of my brain’s dictionary, I figured Jonathan Safran Foer was one talented performer. His very skill to construct a powerful story like that of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was itself a masterpiece, let alone the awakening conversation that took place on theater day.

To answer the question at its simplest, I enjoyed the performance very much. I didn’t find myself bored and drowsy amidst endless talks concerning solely Safran’s novel. A genuine conversation took place that not only gave advice but helped awaken me as well.  Jonathan Safran Foer wasn’t from some third-world country who fell in love with New York City because his own country lacked resources that he deeply appreciated here. He was simply from another state who still found himself fascinated by the arts that the city that to offer. Foer’s answers to much of the questions did not fail to mention the astounding arts and cultures that thrive in New York City.  Not that I was unaware of the opportunities that New York has to offer, but I definitely came to better realize that New York is indeed exceptional. I can stand in New York alone and taste the world around me. I can involve myself in multicultural experiences that a cowboy in Texas might never experience. I should love the subways because they get me everywhere I want to go even when I don’t have a car. I should absorb more out of the city life and breathe in the valuable atmosphere, for a life lost in the cyber world completely, isn’t a life worth living. It is only shameful to see that an outsider has come to knock on my brains to awaken it and make it appreciate the city that has raised me. Not only did Jonathan Safran Foer hold unique and sometimes odd viewpoints, Foer had the ability to express them publicly. Being ridiculed by the crowd wasn’t a fear he guarded himself by. I must stress however, that it was not necessarily the opinions themselves that came to impress me, but the very bold ability to express; a skill that we all should soon wrap ourselves around. Foer advised students to explore and take classes out of their comfort zone too. He stood as an example of his own advice as he shifted from a Pre-Med path to that of writing. Thus, Jonathan Safran Foer was a brilliant performer. Not only did he demonstrate his skills to the audience, he enabled the audience to apply those skills as well.

The human brain is the most potent possession, and when such a valuable item makes an effort to work, the result is indeed mesmerizing. When human creativity and imagination merge together, art is born. Art is simply your brain splattered all over. For every different brain, the splatter comes in different colors and ideas, thus making it unique to every individual. If I scribble in bright colors all over a paper, that’s my art. To me it represents jubilance and joy. If you put together words and write a song or a novel, that’s your art – it’s your brain’s creativity splattered all over. It represents a story, an emotion, a message, and perhaps anything you want it to represent. Art can be found in every style or form. This applies to the everyday activities as well. One can walk artistically like a model cat walks down the aisle. One can talk artistically like a clever detective who can force out every secret of yours unconsciously. At its very simplest, art is your brain expressing itself. According to Jonathan Safran Foer, art is anything that an artist intends to be art. That’s because the artist can see the picture, feel the emotion, and understand the message behind his work. Hence, the performance on theater day was art. The author was performing as he read his novel, and this performance was the very art that he was crafting as he stood. His words enabled the audience to visualize an image of the story. His interview represented his art, as he spoke in his own unique artistic way and expressed himself.  The interview was indeed a form of art; it conveyed a message, a picture, and a feeling to the audience.

On the last day of the Macaulay Orientation, we were given the honor of meeting Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of a New York Times bestseller, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Since I have never met such a successful author before, I was very excited for Arts Day. Unfortunately, the evening failed to meet my expectations. I was looking forward to hearing more about Foer’s book, rather than details about his life as a writer and how he adapted to living in New York City. I felt that I didn’t learn as much as I thought I would during the brief hour and a half we were sitting in the auditorium with Foer. However, I still enjoyed the eloquence of Foer’s speech and admired how strongly he held his opinions and beliefs. I also found it interesting when he mentioned that he did not plan on being an author when he started college. That made me more comfortable, knowing I am able to change my mind during college about which career path I want to take.

During one part of the night, Foer read us an excerpt from his novel. I know this gesture was a great privilege for us. Not everyone gets the opportunity to experience such a superb story through the voice of its author. However, I was quite disappointed with the way Foer read the passage. His voice was rather monotonous and low. I found myself straining to hear what he was saying from time to time. I also got the feeling that he did not really enjoy reading to the audience as much as I had expected. The interview between Tim Caron and Foer frequently strayed from the main topic, which was about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Mr. Caron attempted to encourage Foer to tell the audience how his novel is related to the arts. Foer would reply with general responses, instead of mentioning specific examples from his book. Thinking back to that night, I find myself remembering more about Foer’s opinions on technology and cultural events in New York than discussions about his story and its relations to the arts of New York. Although the interview was interesting, I felt that it was emphasized on the wrong topic. Overall, I did not enjoy Arts Day at orientation very much. I felt that it could have been more organized and the author could have made more insightful comments about his novel, which was what most of us were anticipating.

In my opinion, art is anything that allows people to express themselves. It could be presented in any form, whether it is a painting, song, dance or even the way someone speaks. Art should be able to allow people to appreciate its aesthetic beauty and teach them about the essential aspects of living. The performance given by Jonathan Safran Foer during Arts Day should be considered art. The author was expressing himself to hundreds of people, even though some found his personality pretty apathetic. I am pretty sure Foer influenced a significant part of the audience that night. I appreciate that I was given the chance to experience Arts Day with my peers.

Upon hearing that the third day of Macaulay Honors College orientation, Arts Day, would be an evening with Jonathan Safran Foer, I was excited. I never had the chance to meet with an author, especially one whose book I really enjoyed. I had high expectations but I was disappointed with the way Arts Day turned out. I found it pointless. I was expecting Foer to talk more about his novel rather than about New York City. I wanted him to discuss his characters, their relationships, the plot, the different literary techniques, etc. Though, I did enjoy what he had to say about New York especially about missing the subways and no one actually going to the cultural events. I felt pride in being a New Yorker. I realized I should appreciate living in such a lively city and be grateful for the opportunities that I have to experience culture, but that was not the point of the theater day performance. The point of Arts Day was to expose the class of 2015 to different mediums of art so we could learn to appreciate it; that did not happen for me.

When Foer began his reading, I was eager to listen. The story of the Sixth Borough was my favorite part of the novel. As I read and listened to the passage, I could not stop myself from visualizing the story. I was drawn in but I wish that he had read it with a little more passion and feeling. While he was reading, I felt disconnected. There was no attempt on his part to engage his audience. He seemed as if he were apathetic about reading. After the reading, there was the interview. The interview seemed superficial. The interviewer, Tim Caron, was trying to get Foer to talk about his book in a way that relates to the arts, in an attempt to bring together the third day of orientation and Foer’s novel. His questions were directed towards Foer’s opinion about the arts rather than his novel. Tim Caron kept trying to direct the conversation toward the arts and what constitutes it. Foer had strong opinions and he insisted on them, which obviously threw Tim Caron off-guard a little. I will commend Foer for being honest throughout the evening. He said that he does not enjoy the process of writing but rather what books do for him. I found that to be interesting because it was unexpected. Overall, I did not enjoy Arts Day. It felt as if there was too much of an effort involved in connecting Arts Day and Foer’s novel.

Art, in my eyes, is anything that conveys a message, sparks an emotion, initiates intellect, or just brings back memories. It is necessary for the artwork, a sculpture, painting, novel, film, photo, etc., to connect with the audience. For something to qualify as art, it should have a deeper meaning than what’s on the surface. Art is subjective; the same piece of artwork will have a different impact on everybody who sees it. It’s a way for the artist to convey a message and to express their ideas and beliefs. I do qualify the performance as art because I did learn something. Foer did convey some messages. The one that stuck with me was to appreciate the city you live in for all that it has to offer. I did feel proud of being a New Yorker; his talk sparked an emotion within me by the end of the evening. However, I did not feel curious; my intellect was not challenged. I’m glad that Macaulay Honors College provided us with the opportunity of meeting with Jonathan Safran Foer and reading his novel. I did not take anything major away from the evening but there are certain aspects of the night that I will remember.

After two exciting days of orientation, Wednesday provided a calmer atmosphere for the end of our introduction to Macaulay. After such formalities as a speech from the dean, an overview of our respective campuses, and a club fair, we sat down for the main event of the night: a reading and question-answer session with Jonathan Safran Foer.

He read a short story originally from his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This may have been my favorite part of the night. When I read the story in the book for the first time, I loved it. It was the perfect example of an urban bedtime story. Classic children’s stories about princesses locked in towers are outdated. Thomas Schell’s story of the sixth borough had the perfect mix of reality and fantasy to relate to the modern Manhattan kid. Even I, an 18 year old, found myself transported into the story: cheering on the long jump champion, amazed at the flickering lights of the fireflies, and talking to my friends through tin cans on string.

Hearing Safran Foer read the story just added to my total infatuation with it. His voice was hushed, in a way that made you want to lean in closer to hear just a little better. He remained constant in tone, but not monotonous. His pace was slow enough to be calming, but fast enough to keep you interested. If you didn’t feel the draw of the story when you read it, you certainly felt it in the room with over 500 silent college students listening to a fairy tale.

But the question “Did this qualify as art?” is still a difficult one. What is art anyway? In response to a similar question on that night, Jonathan Safran Foer responded that art is something produced with the intention of being art. While that is beautiful conceptually, I doubt an art museum is going to hang up a macaroni picture frame, although it was certainly thought of as art by its 7-year-old creator. So I turned to my very handy Mac dashboard dictionary. It defined art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination…producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

With a definition handy, we can run that night through a checklist:

• The expression of human creative skill and imagination? Check. [The story is extremely imaginative and original.]
• Appreciated for its emotional power? Check. [At least for me, the reading was extremely powerful. I felt the emotion from my seat in the middle of the auditorium.]
• And for the idealists: Was it created with the intention of being art? Check. [Of course I suppose we’d really have to ask Jonathan Safran Foer this question, but from his comments that night, I feel this is a safe assumption.]

           However the rest of the night didn’t exactly follow suit. The question-answer session seemed extremely repetitive to me and didn’t give me much insight on the art of Safran Foer. We got to hear a bit about his past and his objections with Macs, but not much was mentioned about any of his books until students were allowed to ask questions. Even then, he very quickly went off topic. It was rather disappointing. 

So while I did enjoy parts of the night, I think there were better ways to have an orientation focusing on the arts.

Greetings everyone! Honestly, this has been my first experience of meeting an author in person. I’ve never had the opportunity to witness an author discuss his own work in my presence and it was a new feeling for me. After hearing the author speak for a while about his book and listening to the answers he gave to the questions posed by my fellow Macaulay classmates, I felt that Mr. Foer was a very interesting and unique individual. Genuinely, I wasn’t highly impressed by the performance he gave on stage and found the answers he gave to people’s questions rather odd. I was expecting something very profound or inspirational to be said by Mr. Foer, but nothing of that sort took place. When I was reading his book, I actually found it quite entertaining and amusing, and could relate to it. I was hoping that Mr. Foer’s personality would be similar to the way he expressed himself through the way he writes. However, I was wrong and what I noticed was when someone asked Mr. Foer a question, he went off topic and talked about something different. Personally, I believe that he wrote a wonderful book, but his personality didn’t seem to reflect the emotions revealed in much of his writings. In addition, I thought an author would demonstrate much pride and joy in his writing, but Mr. Foer didn’t seem to manifest any of these sentiments. In fact, when questions were posed to him by the host, I observed that the answers he gave deviated from what was supposed to be answered. Overall, I did enjoy the Arts Seminar day because of meeting several new people and being exposed to a different kind of environment, but the author’s performance turned me down a little due to his nonchalant and aloof attitude. I do not believe that this performance would be worthy enough as being classified as art, since the author stated that art did not play an essential role in the writing of his book “Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close.” In fact, Mr. Foer himself said that he enjoyed writing as much as he did any other subject and there was no particular reason for him to write this book; it was just an idea that came to him. The word “art,” in my opinion, means a manner in which a person can express his or her emotions either through symbols, writing, and drawing. Basically, art is a way someone can relate to nature or other important aspects of life. Also, for me art is creativity, a chance to let your emotions burst out onto paper, a crucial agent of communication, and is the appreciation of beauty. Truly, I wished the author would have been more vivacious and energetic. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I hope that my next meeting with an author would be somewhat more engaging, and for that matter, more profound in the interpretations of his or her writing. In conclusion, I sincerely appreciate the many books Mr. Foer has written and just hope that he displays more affection towards his accomplishments.

Talking about the Arts Day orientation, although it didn’t seem to be as impressive as the other two orientations, it gave me a relatively new understanding about arts.

When we talk about art, we should really understand what the word “art” means to us. The way to gain a better understanding of art is to ask ourselves what and how we qualify something as art. In another words, we should define the word “art” in our own way. We should listen to ourselves truthfully about what art is in order to appreciate art. I personally have a very broad definition for art. Besides the traditional art form such as dance, music, visual arts, and literature, there are many other elements around me that I consider as art. For example, people’s dialogue, either formal or informal, is an important art form to me. I qualify something as art if they can enlighten my mind, and increase my awareness about the beauty around me. Because of that, I do not qualify some of the so-called “contemporary art” as art. I simply view them as part of the culture, and not all parts of the culture are qualified as art.

I consider the evening event with Jonathan Safran Foer a combination of two different forms of language art. One is the traditional art form—literature. The other one is my self-defined art form—oral expression. At the beginning and the end of the event, Foer briefly discussed about his novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. It was enjoyable to hear how the author of the novel interprets his own work, since it can help the readers to understand the novel more deeply. Furthermore, the discussion of the literary work was an artistic way to undercover the arts within the novel, because Foer tried to use the best words to convey the ideas of his novel so the readers can appreciate the arts through his oral and written words.

However, I think the interview itself took a more significant role as art throughout the event. First, the content of the interview was about art. Foer has shared with us his definition of art. He believed that there should not be a clear border between different forms of art. I agree with Foer’s point of view because many times a piece of art work can fit into many different categories of art. For example, calligraphy can be a piece of visual arts and a piece of literary work. The way calligraphers structured the words can create visual appreciation to the viewers, and calligraphers’ word choice in a piece of calligraphy can usually it into a piece of literary work. Speaking of word choice, I once again bring up this point because in my opinion, it is a very important art form. There are many words that we can use to express the same ideas, but different words can have totally different effects on the expression. Therefore, the words that both the interviewer and Foer chose to use had added some artistic elements into interview process.

The Arts Day event is considered an art for me in that it has enlightened my mind in how to define different art forms. It also gave me a new understanding of what art really is in my life. But more importantly, through Foer’s interview, I have learned the beauty of word choice. Although I didn’t apply what I learned in the event into this blog entry very well, I would continue to sharpen this skill in the future.

Orientations are always meant to be a fun day intended to introduce you to something (club, camp, college, etc.) but in a fun and entertaining way. The Macaulay orientation week was no different. The first day at Governor’s Island was a great way to meet various Macaulay students across campuses and Tech day was amazing cause well…we got our laptops ^_^. Arts day however, was the day I was most curious and interested in when we first heard about the orientation. Frankly, I was very disappointed with what we had for our “Arts Day.”

In the prompt you ask us to give you our impressions of the theater day performance but there wasn’t any performance. Although I am very passionate about writing and see it as an art form I don’t consider an interview with a writer – who doesn’t really speak about the book – a performance. Other than the twenty or so minutes he spent reading an excerpt from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathon Safran Foer spent very little time talking about the book. The interview was more about him, his personal life and endeavors. I will give Mr. Foer a break however, because I did find some of his points on technology and art interesting and some I even agreed with.

Yet, overall I would say the night and the interview barely grasped the theme of art that Macaulay has tried to instill within us all. The amazing thing about art is it has such an enormous scope that so many different things fall under its umbrella. Music, writing, drawing, sculpting, photography, these are all various mediums of art and the list goes on.

In my opinion there are also two sides to the coin of art, there is the practical sense of art that you yourself perform and engage in for self-expression and then there is the art that you observe and admire, forms that speak to you. For instance, I am absolutely terrible at drawing, even when I’m tracing the picture comes out terrible. But when I see my talented friends draw something for their class I’m usually just staring at it the whole period thinking ‘Woahhhhh.’ So I would consider drawing and the like as the art that I observe. However, I love photography and capturing moments/memories through my camera or phone.

Thus, even though I consider Foer an artist and writing as a beautiful art form I think the night failed to fill us up with art. The point of the Cultural Passport, this class and a major part of Macaulay is for us to fill ourselves with the culture and art that can be found in NYC. Moreover, we’re meant to experiment new things, go to exhibits and shows that we’ve never been to before. These ideas are what I believe Arts Day represent and I don’t think the interview with Foer really grasped those concepts.

Theater and live performance is pastime that has been a part of our culture for thousands of years.  Live performance is one of the many different art forms that incorporates many smaller art forms within it such as acting and speech. Different kinds of artistic expression such as these have been used for aesthetic pleasure but unfortunately, are coming to a decline.

Although the use of theater is still prolific in artistic areas such as New York, the use of theater is sadly dwindling due to advanced technology. With the introduction of internet and television, live performances are becoming obsolete. Nowadays, people would rather not take the one hour train ride to the concert hall and instead just open up Internet Explorer on their Macbook Pro’s and watch a movie or some pre-recorded show.  The doctrine of human nature says that we do whatever which is more convenient to us, hence we have all these technological devices such as the television and computers. It’s no mistake that we are currently in the “Digital Age” because of the simple things we do, from doing your homework, watching your favorite television show (The Apprentice for sure), or even reading a book. We usually do all these while looking at a computer or telephone screen with thousands of meaningless colored pixels flying around.

As the popularity of live performances decreases, the importance of these events increases.  It is a crucial part of our culture that we preserve this unique art form before technology completely takes over. In one hundred years from now, there might not be anymore Broadway shows to go to or music concerts from musicians. Theater is so important for our society today despite its waning popularity because it gives not only growth, but also character and culture to a society.  Who really wants to be a part of a uniform society with no diversity? Television and the Internet have completely revolutionized the way we conduct our lives but it is not what you do which qualifies as true art—but by the means you do it in.  Live performances can only truly be appreciated if they are viewed as beautiful works of art where performers devote themselves to fulfill our aesthetic needs right in front of us.

I am a victim myself to this widespread disease we call the “Digital Age” because I, unfortunately, have almost never attended an organized live performance at my own will. The performers dedicate themselves to us so we should acknowledge their work more. Next time we should actually spare some of our time from our busy lives to appreciate the dance performance we see as we are transferring to another train or that one person who sits at the corner of the train station with his guitar singing to make a living.  I know what it feels like to have a big crowd around you appreciating the show you just put on for them because I have been in a performers shoe and have put on a show for many people. There’s nothing like the feeling of sublimity you get either from performing or when you see something that transcends beyond anything you’ve ever seen before.

I really enjoyed the theater day performance by Jonathan Safran Foer, particularly because I had already read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in my 12th grade English class and the book immediately became one of my favorites. What really drew me to the story was the relationship between Oskar and his father—my father and I have always had a special bond, and my main memory of September 11 is that my father came home scarcely before midnight (he works in Manhattan). Reading the book made me think about how lucky I was that he was nowhere near the Twin Towers that day, since Oskar’s father also did not work in the World Trade Center and was only there for a meeting. I was very pleased that Foer chose to read the story of the Sixth Borough because that was one of my favorite parts of the novel—at its core the scene is a sweet bedtime story from a father to his son, but it also ends up being Oskar’s last memory of his father. I believe that this reading qualifies as art because Foer himself was reading his own words and conveying them with the feelings he intended them to have; if someone else had read the story of the Sixth Borough it would have been just another person giving a reading. To me, an author reading his own words gives them so much more meaning and generally makes them more interesting. Or maybe I’m just a delusional fan of the novel. Some people noted that they would’ve liked more feeling in the reading—I disagree, actually. He wasn’t overly passionate because the story was Oskar’s bedtime story, not a Shakespearean soliloquy. He read it simply, which is the way I would think Oskar’s father would have told the story to his son.

I also enjoyed the subsequent interview with Foer, but that was mainly because it was hilarious to watch the associate dean make a fool of himself for an hour. I think he really got too caught up in the fact that this was the “Arts Day Orientation” and most of his questions focused on Foer’s views of art. I would have preferred more questions about Foer’s actual books, particularly Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. They had us read the book in preparation for the orientation, but overall you really didn’t need to know anything about the book for that presentation. I think that “Arts Day” should not have been called that, because I felt like the theme of art was forced into the interview and made it pretty awkward. Despite it having an unfitting title and a clunky theme, this was still my favorite day of the orientation (I’ve never been a fan of camp activities and the technology orientation was more about the laptop than getting to know people).

But now back to the art– personally, I think that one of the most unpleasant discussions a person can have is the “What is art?” debate. Perhaps it’s because I was an art student in high school and I’m simply tired of it by now, or maybe it’s because someone inevitably takes the debate to the next level and decides that the design on the oatmeal box is art. It’s probably because I get annoyed at people who just give up and say that they “don’t get” art. I don’t really think there’s much to “get”—it is what it is, generally. Now, that’s not to say I like every kind of art—I most certainly don’t—but I can appreciate the time the artist took to make the piece and the fact that there is always someone out there who does enjoy it. I’ve never had to stop and look at something and wonder, “Is this art?” Art is something that comes naturally and is a manifestation of the artist’s feelings. To me, that makes a book reading art, just as a painting is art as a sculpture is art as a dance is art as a song is art. An oatmeal box design is not art because it was created to sell oatmeal, not to express the designer’s deep inner feelings about oatmeal. To put it more simply, I think that anything that is a true expression of feeling is art.