During the first summer of out of high school, my mother signed up our family for a summer program at an upstate Buddhist monastery. I was reluctant to join a summer program, since I was satisfied with just staying at home. My mother already signed up, so we packed our bags and took the metro north to Chuang Yen Monastery. Both my parents were Buddhist so they were more inclined for this kind of religious retreat. I was more skeptical about religion and thought that this religious retreat was a method to preach Buddhism into my mind. However, I had an experience that was surprisingly good. In fact, this summer program was the most successful program I had ever seen. The program mixed together a variety of different races and age groups, unifying the efforts of all of them. Even I, a dedicated introvert, manage to have an entertaining time with my group at the monastery.
In an attempt to portray the amazing coordination of the staff and its brilliant planning, I used photos and video in a powerpoint. I used the powerpoint to show my experiences. The presentation is read like a story. At the end of my story, I learned that social experiences weren’t always full of awkward moments where somebody has to be left out. The presence of young monks also allowed for easy relations by same generation connections. A small age gap helps to form closer connections between youth members and the monks. This experience made meaning of religion suddenly became very vague. It no longer meant a person of seniority trying to preach his ideals to children.
The program though fun was short lived, only five days. One area for further study to truly see the culture of Buddhism, would be to study the religion as an apprentice monk. Monks study Buddhism for their occupation, therefore they are more knowledgeable about the customs and traditions of the monastery. However, that is not something I would be willing to try for 1000 years.
The opera used lighting in a more subtle manner than in plays and other performances. Act 1 started with a dim light to represent the rising sun. As time went on the light became brighter until the whole room was well lit. Act 2 started out bright, but dimmed out slowly until the its ending. The lights during act 2 help illuminate Octavian as the Rosenkavalier since she was wearing a shiny coat.
Primary lights were yellow and white, no other colors were used. Yellow for the rising and setting of the sun. White for lighting up indoor scenes. A spotlight was also focused on the conductor of the orchestra, only during the parts where the music was the main focus.
All the previous dances and plays paled in comparison to this production. Lighting was used extensively to demonstrate time of day and setting. The large white sheet often served as a projector screen to show a variety of colors from the purple flower to the blue woods. The dark stage with white spotlights was the primary standard for indoor scenes. The shadows projected by white light were used to amplify emotional effect during Oberon’s speech and when Puck is misleading Demetrius and Lysander. Simply put, a high production play with high quality lighting.
Say It Loud by Satch Hoyt is a podium made of books that all focus on the black legacy. The music that accompanies the podium clearly defines its function. A place for one to feel proud of their heritage is heard from the line “Say it loud – I’m _____ and I’m proud.”
Persian Telephone by Parviz Tanavoli is a piece of art from the saqqakhaneh art movement in Iran. The sculpture combines elements of religion with pop art to produce a peculiar telephone.
The lighting of the play focused primarily on the time of day and setting. The orange of the early morning sun and the dark blue of the night easily allowed for the audience to understand time of day. White light was used to focus on characters specifically or for indoor lines. The spotlight was used to great extent to specify which person was talking during the party hosted by Capulet. The only other time lighting was used differently was to show two simultaneous events: the marriage between Romeo and Juliet and the conversation between Benvolio and Mercutio. Lights abruptly went out to end the play in a rather unfinished state leaving a the audience wondering if the two families ever managed to make peace.
The Fall for Dance used a variety of lighting. The lights during the tap dancing section focused first on specific tap dancers, then on the legs on only and ended by illuminating the entire stage. Majority of the light during the tap dance was bright or dim white light. Motown that followed used and assortment of blue, red, yellow and white light. The color of the light was used to signify a specific mood. Ballet used primarily blue light in darker or lighter shades. The shade of blue depended on the feelings of the performance. Rites of Spring used white light in addition to yellow and orange light to portray a storm and the rising sun. The weather depended on the performance’s dramatic and peaceful moments.
The event of the first man on the moon was a result of the space race between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US). After World War II both the Americans and Russians gained access to German rocket technology. Using German specialists, both sides developed rockets and satellites at a rapid pace. In 1955 the US and USSR both announced plans to launch satellites. The dual announcement marked the beginning of the space race.
The first satellite to be launched into space was the Russian Sputnik 1 in 1957. The Americans responded with the Explorer 1 in 1958. Once again the Russians beat the Americans when in April 12, 1961 the USSR launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the Earth. In response, in May 5, 1961 the US launched Alan Shepard into space. The space race continued on with US and USSR launches in quick succession of each other. The next ambitious goal of the space race was to land a human on the surface of the moon. On July 1969 the crew of Apollo 11 became the first humans to walk on the surface of the moon. The walk on the moon was completely televised and Neil Armstrong said the signature quote, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” that many remember today.
As I walked along the high line I was in truth more interested in the architecture than the art on the buildings. What struck me first was the large number of fences that lined the buildings on the sides of the High Line. Obviously they were meant for security and privacy, but they blocked the view of potentially wonderful buildings. The second thing that stuck me was that while some buildings were modern and seek the old buildings next to reminded me that the area was still being developed and that the area was a far cry from the design of Times Square.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
