Despite the journey being much longer than the actual event, it was still a very fun trip. What still amazes me is what is considered art. I mean Rauschenberg found a taxidermy goat and called that art. He called a tire tract a piece of art. We as a society have deemed this so. What can or cannot be art? Are they any guidelines to what art can’t be? What distinguishes Rauschenberg’s tire and Van Gogh’s Starry Night as they are both art? What distinguishes “good art” from “bad art”? If I draw a circle, is that art? If someone like Rembrandt or Picasso drew the exact circle, would that be art? Is art something only famous people can create? Are these even questions we can answer?
Author: eitanarm
Turandot Lyrics
Turandot was my first experience with an opera and I was not disappointed. Despite not being able to understand what the performers said, as they were speaking in Italian, you can still feel the raw emotion they had. Reading the libretto gives you insight into the personalities. This is mostly evident in Turandot’s and Liu’s words. As the ruler, Turandot has an air of superiority to her as the way she speaks is confident and insulting. She is willing to kill any suitor who doesn’t solve her riddles as she is afraid of being controlled by a man and doesn’t show any remorse doing so. Liu on the other hand is the exact opposite, she speaks softly always putting other’s needs first. What’s also interesting about Liu’s words is that she refers herself by her name instead of saying I or me. In many Asian cultures, young girls do this and it may have something to do with the portrayal of innocence. Nathaniel and I discussed that when the opera was over, the one who got the most applause wasn’t the queen but the peasant, because people empathized with how she spoke. Turandot was a gateway into the world of opera and I hope to experience more in the future.
STEAM Festival
The STEAM Festival was a very enjoyable experience. I expected and dreaded that we were going to present in front of Alumni while they took notes on us. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it was the opposite. The people who asked us questions were other Macaulay students from other schools. They were actually interested in our projects. I thought that the juniors would shun us and only talk to themselves, but they were very open and cared about what we had to present. The Make Your Own Station was a neat concept and it was a good way to interact with people from different schools. What I expected to be boring morning was a fun event where time flew by quickly.
Life and Death
I honestly regret being late for this trip. It was fascinating being able to compare the religions of the west with those of the east, especially when it comes to death. The journey that a person after death takes is so much more detailed in Buddhism than it is in many other western religions. For example, there is what’s called The Tibetan Book of the Dead that describes the steps between when a person has passed until the next rebirth. To people who are prepared, it’s a way of discovering who they are and what they want to be. For the unprepared, they are riddled with temptations and hallucinations that may cause a undesirable rebirth. You don’t really have this detailed of an explanation of death in many western religions. However, it is interesting to note the similarities religions have when it comes to the overseer of death. Western Religions like Christianity there’s the Devil who resides in Hell, while in Buddhism there’s Yama the god of the underworld, and punishes people who have done wrong. This trip has made me appreciate different religions and how they can shape people’s beliefs.
Torch Song: Music
The music plays an important role in Torch Song as it helps the audience understand the era of when the play took place. Even without the neon sign that told the audience the year that the events of Torch Song occurred, they wouldn’t have trouble knowing. Most of the music in the play is disco music. Disco music was mainly popular in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, when Torch Song takes place. In addition, disco music has always had a deep connection to the gay community. Initially, disco music was only popular in the gay community. During that time, you would mostly hear disco music in gay bars or clubs. When Ed meets Arnold for the first time in one of these club, the audience can hear disco music blaring from the background. Torch Song gave me a new perspective on what it means to be in love and what it means to know who you are and the music helped accentuate these things.
Reality vs Expectation
Reality vs Expectations
- “For Fermi felt two underwent two shocks that day. The first was on seeing the power of the blast, and the second was on meeting an undiscovered part of himself.”
- “If you deny that part of yourself in order to feel more whole, than you might as well be a different person.
- Griffin’s quote is a small bit of her radiation sorry. She refers to when Enrico Fermi felt the true power and devastation of nuclear weapons when he helped create the first atom bomb. That despite not even hearing the blast, the magnitude and aftermath of it rattled him. He became more paranoid, more worried about the cruel world, and what it can accomplish.
- Expectations can be wildly different from reality. Humans thrive on being able to predict the situations they’re in and be able to solve them. However, they can’t handle if expectations differ from reality. Humans have always feared the unknown. They built their society in a way where they don’t have to experience the hardships of mystery. Unfortunately, this gave birth to the expression, ignorance is bliss? But is it really?
