NYC is a place brimming with different ideas and opinions, fueled with excitement and unpredictability, and characterized for it’s uniqueness and creativity. All of which, my hometown of Valley Stream, certainly lacked. Going to the city, is always a breath of fresh air for me, because I never know what types of people I’m going to see or what I might encounter! It’s with this sense of excitement and anticipation that I traveled to Brooklyn to see Birds With Skymirrors.

Unlike most of my classmates, I absolutely adored the piece. One could argue that I might’ve loved it because I’m blind as bat or that my leaving during a particular scene in which a nearly clad man walked on stage enabled me to enjoy the performance. But I loved the whole atmosphere. I thought the music was hypnotic, the darkness entrancing, the choreography mysterious (again, might be since I can’t see that it was a mystery what they were doing), and the whole concept just captivating.

Birds with Skymirrors didn’t have to do with class, money, wealth or greed or any of the usual topics we discussed in class or saw in the other works; but I think it was the most truthful to New York City than the other works. It was crazy, loud, and unpredictable – everything I think of when I picture the city. Even though Leni Ponifasio isn’t a NYC native, he produced a work of art that I think embraces New York City is the realest light.

All that Birds With Skymirrors was, is essentially what I think NYC is made of. Here, you never know what’s going to happen, you could get mugged or you could see Jake Gyllenhaal! There might be a barefoot man walking on the sidewalk, or a robbery happening down the street. NYC is filled with creativity and uniqueness from its street musicians to its nightlife. And just like the performance, NYC is definitely loud!

The excitement, creativity and uniqueness that I always associate with NYC, took on a whole other level in Birds With Skymirrors. Whether you liked it or not, you can’t negate the fact that the dance piece unique and creative. All I could think of when leaving that performance was, “wow, that certainly was the weird part of NYC my mother warned me about.”

Chances are, you’ve visited YouTube at least once in your lifetime. And if you have, then you probably have scrolled down to the comment section, you might even have commented on a particular video yourself. Even more likely, you’ve seen comments ranging from “thos suxx my mim singz bettr thsn this!” to “OMG I luv 1D sooo much, Zane and Callum from 5SOS are my husbands <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!” My personal favorites are those that mention something along the lines of, “man, this guy has sold out! Where’s the old____?! we need ___, not this crap!!!”

This “selling out” the last comment talks about is a term used to describe someone who has thrown away their creativity and originality for fame, money, or to please others. Most of the time, these commenters on the YouTube section write these lengthy paragraphs about the “good old days” and the times where “musicians didn’t sell out for the fame.” And this isn’t just concentrated on YouTube, every artist has or will experience some criticism on any medium, be it the internet or a verbal encounter.

These particular comments are my favorite because it doesn’t just end with the comment. There will always be 20+ replies, either arguing or agreeing with the commenter. It seems that people can’t decide what “selling out” actually is. Some say it’s when you become more “radio-friendly” (you see this on a lot of the heavier bands pages). Others say it’s when you sound a lot like another, more popular, artist. Some even go as far as to say that when a musical group gains a larger following that they’ve “sold out” because they haven’t stayed true to their original 20 person fan base from when they’ve first started. Then there are those that say an artist has only sold out when they change their message to match what’s trending or a hot topic. I have to agree with the last example; I think “selling” out has to do more with an artist changing their styles to please others by hopping on trending topics than becoming mainstream or “radio-friendly.” I believe that these are side effects of what happens when you “sell out.”

I think a lot of people think that somewhere along the line to becoming commercially successful you have to “sell out” or compromise your ideas for want the audience wants to hear or see. Which, no doubt, we see a lot of this in the music community; many musicians completely change their messages or lyrics to attract recording labels or even to keep their labels. But I don’t think that it’s something that has to happen. It might seem like all that’s on the radio are these generic boy bands or pop stars but there’s a whole other world to music – one where artists have their originality intact and are producing music with actual political or social value while still making money.

While not as popular in mainstream North America as they are in Latin America and Europe, the rock group Maná is one band that comes to mind when discussing this subject. No other Latin rock act has sold more albums with the same consistency of Manà for a total of more than 30 million albums worldwide. They have earned four grammy awards, six Premio Juventud awards, fourteen Billboard Latin Music Awards, fifteen Premios Lo Nuestro awards and five MTV video Music awards. Manà has been named as a trail-blazer for many popular Latin rock music groups. But it’s safe to say that they haven’t “sold out.” Even when changing their sound in the 90’s, their messages have stayed the same. But don’t get this twisted; although they’re saying the same things, it’s not the same thing. In Manà’s case, they still sing about saving the environment, love, pride, and life without repeating themselves. Although politics have changed since they’ve started, wars have started and ended, and trends have come and gone, they manage to take their message and translate it through many different ways that allow them to attract such a huge fan base. It’s bands that are able to adapt to their changing surroundings without giving up their founding essence that avoid this trend of “selling out.”

Hopefully, in the future, people will start realizing how much more meaningful music and art can be when you stay true to yourself, and not look to fame and money as the ultimate goal.

When I was a child I used to ask my mother why nothing was free. I thought, wouldn’t it make sense if money didn’t exist? Because then no one would be in poverty, no one would be left out, and everyone would be equal; we could just ask other countries for goods and they can ask us. And she’d sigh and tell me that when I got older, I would understand. And so I did; as the years of my childhood flew past I began to see why my mother never bothered to engage me in these ideas.

In part, these fantasies of creating world peace and equality originated from my experiences in the Dominican Republic. It never fails to amaze me the dichotomy of the rich and poor, not just in my hometown – where there is the extremely poor side where people don’t even have generators to supply electricity or running water versus the side that owns mansions with swimming pools – but all over the country. While some of this comes the fact that some families truly worked hard, honest lives, a large part of it is the result of corruption in the government, professional companies and the drug industry. Seeing this in a country in which I strongly identify with really bothers me, but seeing this in America, a place where I identify with even stronger, is much more disturbing.

Wall Street by Oliver Stone is probably the only movie I’ve seen that manages to completely infuriate and incite me to do something, anything, to stop this gap from growing further. Because it’s knowing that there are people like Buddy who are willing to do anything and everything just to make it to the top, except when their personal lives take a toll of course. But even worse, it’s knowing that there are people like Gordon Gecko in this world that angers me more than just about anything. The way Gecko was easily able to manipulate people was nauseating because I know this exists outside of the movie. This film literally brought to the surface everything I hate about humanity. I’m not saying that we should all live in poverty, but I don’t see the appeal of being wealthy, especially if it means that others suffer at your expense. Throughout the whole thing, I was transfixed and disgusted at the whole thing. And for days after, I kept thinking about how privileged I was. I view myself lucky that I’m not filthy rich, because, in my eyes, its just an overabundance of unnecessary green colored paper shit (I’m sorry, I just don’t think there’s another word for this to express how strongly I feel).

I feel that this film is very representative of our American culture, because we are so geared towards “making it big.” Especially in New York, people come here for fame, money – to live life to the fullest. But, honestly, from this film, I’m very disturbed that people can be so nonchalant about their actions, because I have no doubt that this film mirrors reality for many people around the world. I’m a firm believer that everything you do has a consequence, long- term or short-term, whether you realize it or not. America is supposed to be “the best” but this film just proves that no one area is “the best.” The world is suffering from corruption and greed and some just don’t care. This disregard for others is what true horror really is. That’s what scares me more than anything in this world; it’s not dying, it’s not starving or failing school, it’s fear of what the world will be like in the future, not just in my generation but for generations to come.

What I had never factored into my childhood plan to create world peace was how greedy the human race can be. Realistically, I don’t think this characteristic will ever fade in humans, especially in our capitalistic, competitive American culture. So what can we do? Honestly, I don’t know anymore after this class and watching Wall Street.