Author Archives: Jonathan Moallem

Posts by Jonathan Moallem

Comments by Jonathan Moallem

"In my opinion, this seminar was a perfect way to start my college career. Not only was it fun, but I actually learned some stuff. Starting with all the works studied about 9/11, I learned the importance of memorials and the importance of arts. Two things I never thought were that important before. Studying 9/11 was eye opening, because we all lived through it, but we were so young that it was just a blurred memory. I didn't understand the enormousness of the situation when I was younger. Now, I see it as a tragic world event. What stood out for me in this class was definitely the different forms of media we used and saw to analyze each topic. Although very tedious, I especially liked using iMovie to create movies about ourselves and about the catastrophes that we picked. It was awesome to see everyone else's projects, I thought it was a great way to end the semester. This seminar not only taught me about the specific topics that we studied, but it also helped bring our freshman class together. I will definitely take the memories of all of our trips together along with me throughout college. Thanks Professor Perl and Sam for being awesome teachers!"
--( posted on Dec 13, 2011, commenting on the post Final Reflections on the Seminar )
 
"Jonny Moallem: Israel-Palestine Conflict "
--( posted on Dec 13, 2011, commenting on the post From Ashes to Art Research Project )
 
"Botanical Gardens Going to school blocks away from the Botanical Gardens, of course I had to go there. Going to the Bronx Zoo previous to this trip, I appreciated the different types of living things around us much more. As humans, we tend to see of ourselves as the most dominant living thing, and everything else is second nature. We believe that since we have the most mature brains out of any species, the rest of the species don't matter at all. The Botanical Gardens made me appreciate the beauty of plants in two ways; how they look and how they live. It was nice walking through the gardens because of the natural beauty of it. But it was also a way in getting in touch with nature, something we tend to forget to do, especially living in New York City."
--( posted on Dec 13, 2011, commenting on the post Museum Visits using Cultural Passport )
 
"Bruce Museum Although not on the cultural passport, I decided to go to the Bruce Museum in Greenwich because my cousin was working there. Not knowing what to expect, I found out that it was mainly an art museum. The main exhibit we were at was the American Impressionist Landscape gallery. What was cool about it was that it was mostly Connecticut artists from the early 1900's. My favorite piece of art was a painting called Spanish Ledges by Childe Hassam. Childe Hassam was a famous painter who lived in New York. He was known for painting urban and coastal scenes, two very opposite settings. Besides the gallery, I enjoyed a nice day with my cousin and we got to catch up on life. The museum was ok but I am not really into the whole gallery thing, I am more interactive."
--( posted on Dec 9, 2011, commenting on the post Museum Visits using Cultural Passport )
 
"Museum of Natural History I decided to go to the museum of Natural History because I haven't been there in years and it is only a few subway stops away from where I live. I completely forgot how much I love that place. Right when I walked in I remembered 5th grade, and how excited I was to be there and check out the exhibits. I got to check out the outer space exhibit, along with the biodiversity exhibit and the ocean life. The biodiversity was awesome, because it showed the evolution of creatures and how many weird species there are in this world. Also, how we still are unaware of many species that live on the Earth. My favorite part of the museum, though, was in a hallway between the food court and the outer space part. There were pictures taken on the moon of astronauts, the emptiness in space, and the sun. It was inspiring to see the sun from the moon. I didn't get to check out the whole museum because it is huge, but I will definitely go back when I have a chance."
--( posted on Dec 9, 2011, commenting on the post Museum Visits using Cultural Passport )
 
"Bronx Zoo Although this was not on the cultural passport, I decided to go to the Bronx Zoo. The last time I was there was in elementary school for a class trip. I remember it as a magical place straight out of the movie. When I went this time, it was just as nice as I remembered, but with virtually no people there. It's a shame that such a wonderful place gets hardly any visitors anymore. Hopefully it was just due to the cold weather. The animals at the zoo were so interesting. As a kid, I just looked at the animals and thought they were "cool". This time, I actually read a little bit about each animal I was looking at, and I actually learned about the animals. The best part of the day was when we got to see the african lions. We witnessed them roar on the top of their lungs, which we were told was a very rare occasion by the zookeeper. Overall, it was a great day."
--( posted on Dec 2, 2011, commenting on the post Museum Visits using Cultural Passport )
 
"Having never been to an opera before, I had no idea what to expect out of Satyagraha. Walking in to the Met Opera I was amazed at the beauty of the whole place, but I felt a little out of place next to all of the fancy old people drinking their champagne. The opera itself was very soothing and relaxing. Maybe even too relaxing... I'll admit, the repetition of the same rift in the first scene put me in a trance, and I dozed off for a little bit. But it wasn't because I was bored, the music was just so calming. My favorite scene was in the second act when all of the monster-looking giants came on to the stage and were surrounding Ghandi. I thought the whole idea behind Satyagraha was inspiring, but the acts themselves were hard to follow. If we didn't learn in class what was going to happen as the play progressed, I would have been totally lost. Besides that I thought the singing was great. I am still not a fan of the whole repetition aspect of it and the slow moving progressing, but I learned to appreciate it. Sometimes you just need to relax and take it slow for a few hours, and try to enjoy yourself. This may not be easy, because New Yorkers are always in a rush, but it is healthy"
--( posted on Dec 2, 2011, commenting on the post Satyagraha at the MET )
 
""Gandhi initiated the first collective action among South Africa's Indian residents." - The setting will take place in South Africa. Gandhi is seen as a pioneer to the Indians in fighting for peace."
--( posted on Nov 21, 2011, commenting on the post Preparing for the Opera )
 
"The digital story project was my favorite project so far in this class for two reasons. First, because it was different and a lot of fun using iMovie. Second, because it was awesome to watch everyone else's projects and learn about their backgrounds and where they come from. I was nice to see all of the diversity in our class. It was challenging at first to use iMovie, but after a while I got used to it. The hardest part was definitely matching up the pictures and clips with the voice over and the background music. Although somewhat difficult, it was a challenge I was actually excited to take. I enjoyed using iMovie so much that I will probably use it for my final project. Aside from learning how to create a movie, I learned about all the other kids in class. We all come from such different parts of the world, but somehow there were connections and patterns with all of our stories. That is what fascinated me the most. I love learning about different cultures, and I have pride in my own culture, so I enjoyed showing my movie and watching everyone else's."
--( posted on Nov 15, 2011, commenting on the post Reflections )
 
"Where I’m From I am from worlds far apart From clashing lifestyles I am from “Bayberry” Kids playing after school leading to fights I am from the reservoir From a packed house that gave not even an inch to escape From dark streets filled with the voices of restless children To sleep talking with my brothers from across the room I am from Manchester United every Sunday morning My dad, my brothers and I screaming at the tv as if the players could hear us I am from New Ro soccer and New Ro rugby I remember the feeling if scoring my first try I am from Nana’s famous potatoes To the aroma of Safta’s Kuba and Falafel, drawin g my into the kitchen From her “pets as children” and “children as pets” To her number one rule of never leaving food on your plate I hear stories of growing up in my town To stories of terrorists on the roof of the house I am torn between the American dream To soldiers with guns on every corner I am from four siblings on a cot No A/C and sweaty nights I am from busy streets And everyday beach days I’m from the overwhelming smell of cigarettes And a world in which communication is nonexistent I am from the birthplace of religion And feeling like a stray cat that roamed the paved streets I am from that moment when two different worlds come together Not understanding each other, but giving a smile of acknowledgment My life is a bridged gap Ramat Gan meets New York I am old school and new school I am a family tree With roots deeply situated throughout the world A human who understands humans are humans"
--( posted on Nov 15, 2011, commenting on the post Poem )
 
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFnbBB5mbew"
--( posted on Nov 15, 2011, commenting on the post Video )
 
"Although I was not able to attend the concert Saturday because of my game, it sounded like I missed out. From how you explained the performance, it sounded like a very unique take on a classical American style of music; jazz. You begin to appreciate the arts more when you see people from different cultures portray their take on a style. It creates more unique categories. I believe that art is self-expressive, whether it be through music, paintings/drawings, or literature. Lionel Louecke is very well versed in music, specifically jazz, and he is very knowledgable in the structure of creating jazz pieces. He is not just some random guy who decided to make up his own version of jazz. With that said and from what I heard, Lionel Louecke brought self-expressiveness and skill to the table, just like an artist should do."
--( posted on Nov 9, 2011, commenting on the post The Lionel Louecke Jazz Trio — + Trumpet Player — Responses due by Nov. 8. )
 
"I went into New York's City Center on thursday night not knowing a thing about dance, and not really caring about it. When I left the City Center, I turned my whole view about dance around. Fall For Dance was such a good time; my favorite trip we went on yet. It was amazing to see all of the different varieties of dance, coming from all over the world. Although we only saw 4 groups, they were all very distinct and tied to a separate culture. Humans interpret things differently depending on where you are from and your beliefs. In this sense, dance is no more different then anything else unique that a culture has to offer. My favorite performance was by far the first one: "Agwa". The dance group "kafig" really got the crowd going after their performance. They mixed hip hop dancing with brazilian capoeira. Besides from being technically amazing, There was a them to their show. The water cups represented just that- water. Everyone can relate to water because we need it in order to survive. To me, the show seemed like a skit of human history. We learned that we need to drink the water in order to survive. The dance was very tribal and took you back hundreds of years. As for the worst performance, I'd say it was the second one: The Tao Dance Theater. What started off as an amazing talent of twirling the stick around and dancing, ended just the same. There was no progression in the piece. Even the music was just a looping of piano notes. In the society that we live in, progression is important for us to see. Not just in movies, songs, etc., but in our everyday lives. We all strive for things and progress towards them. We do not like to be stagnant and stuck on something."
--( posted on Nov 4, 2011, commenting on the post Fall for Dance — Responses due by Nov. 6 )
 
"My experience at East meets West was surprisingly pleasurable. I say "surprisingly" because this is not my type of music at all, nor have I every been to a show like this in my life. It was crazy to see how the violin played by Daniel Hope infused so nicely with the sitar and tabla, played by Gaurav Mazumdar and Vishal Nagar. It was almost like these instrumental were meant to be together. The whole idea of "east meets west" didn't quite stick with me as much as I think Hope wanted it to. It was nice hearing the little excerpts between songs explaining the history of the next song, but as he played, it did not sound specific to any part or culture of the world. Maybe it is because in my mind, violin is an instrument played in orchestras and it is in a specific category of music. Although this may not be true, it was my mindset going into the concert. As for my favorite piece, I enjoyed listening to "the kaddish". It took me back to the days of hebrew school. Although I didn't particularly like hebrew school, I connected with this song on a more personal level then the rest. All of the songs with the sitar in them sounded amazing. It is such a majestic sounding instrument. The sitar has a very old school feel to it, and it has a lot of history. I only wish the sitar and tabla were in the show for a longer period of time, because that is what most of the audience and I enjoyed listening to the most."
--( posted on Oct 30, 2011, commenting on the post Daniel Hope’s “East Meets West” — Responses Due by Sunday, Oct. 30 )
 
"I never thought about it in that way; that the main betrayal in the book was the American society. As an American you are supposed to feel this sense of freedom and you are supposed to feel comfortable enough to express yourself. But as we all know, even freedom is not free. America was built on these ideas of how everyone should be free, but we still have some work to do as a society in order to reach this goal."
--( posted on Oct 16, 2011, commenting on the post Responding to Amy Waldman’s The Submission Part 3 pp. 207-299 )
 
"In my opinion, this novel represents every human's life, and how we all change as life goes on and eventually submit ourselves to something greater than us. This wasn't any spectacularly written novel, but the story behind it is what made me get into it. All of the characters in the book, especially Mo, Claire, Sean, etc, start off with such a strong opinion on the matters regarding the memorial. Claire went through the most apparent change of them all. She started off backing up Mo and standing up for his rights as an American citizen. In the early chapters of the novels, Claire said, "it is about the memorial, not who creates it." Then, all of a sudden, she falls into the trap set by all of the pressure and the media. She tries to persuade Mo to withdraw from the competition. I am happy for Mo in the end, because he finally accepts himself for who he is. This is a lesson we can all learn from. You can never truly be happy in life until you accept yourself. "He had forgotten himself, and this was the truest submission." As I said before, this novel is symbolic to how people change during their lifetime and eventually submit (die). It is depressing to see life in that retrospect, but it is bound to happen to ever person. The story itself was interesting because it had to do with everything we have been talking about in class (9/11 and islamophobia). At the same time though, I did not enjoy the plot too much. Even though islamophobia is apparent in America today, I thought the who conflict was a stupid one. So what Mo was Islamic? He was an honest American. This issue blew up quick with the American people, even though it wasn't such a big deal to me. It just goes to show, ignorance often leads to social and political conflicts."
--( posted on Oct 11, 2011, commenting on the post Responding to Amy Waldman’s The Submission Part 3 pp. 207-299 )
 
"It sounds like the Indian Painter's exhibit was awesome, I wish I saw it. I like how you found a connection between the cultures of India and Korea, and how their arts have similar characteristics. In a way, we are all related and every culture has influence on another. Making these connections make you believe that there is only one human race."
--( posted on Oct 11, 2011, commenting on the post Met Museum Visit )
 
"The effect that the media has on the public was greatly emphasized in this section of the reading. The reporters in this book are vicious and try to start conflicts to spark public interest. One quote that really got me was when the governor said on TV, "even if Mr. Khan is not a security threat- and there is no reason to think he is- his finding his way to victory in the anonymous competition reminds us that radical Islamists could use our democratic institutions and our openness to advance their own agenda." In other words, the governor was trying to put fear into the minds of the public, saying that radical Islamists in America are going to take advantage of American democracy and impose their beliefs onto people. This is a very ignorant comment, especially coming from the governor. But since someone with such a high authority said it, people will believe it. In philosophy, this persuasive technique is called "appealing to authority" (if a high figure says it, it must be true). Another quote that I found to be garbage was from when Asma was reading the newspaper. There was an article that said, "Islam means submission- it makes slaves of its followers, and demands that people of other religions submit to it, too." This quote totally butchered the meaning of Islam and gave it a connotative twist. Its also ironic that the name of the book is "The Submission": is the book referring to Islam specifically or the idea that people submit to popular belief and follow what they are told? I think this question is the underlying issue that Amy Waldman is trying to bring up. The last thing that struck me as odd in the novel is why Mo refuses to stand up for himself. He had committees working for his behalf, fighting for equality and an end to prejudice, but his support was not present in these committees. Instead, he continues to be mysterious. This stirs up controversy because instead of being firm and telling everyone his side of the story, he lets the conflict build up. It will be interesting to see what he ultimately does in the end of the novel."
--( posted on Oct 9, 2011, commenting on the post Responding to Amy Waldman’s The Submission Part 2 pp. 124-204 )
 
"Having not been to the Metropolitan Museum since middle school, I was really excited to go. All I remember from the last time I went was feeling overwhelmed by how many pieces of art were in there and separating from my classmates and getting lost. This time, I went in with a goal- to not get lost and actually learn something from this art. My favorite work of art that we saw as a class was definitely the zen garden. It was amazing how you walk from one room with all these chinese artifacts, to peaceful, quiet garden in the middle of the museum. I thought about how your sight can drastically alter your mood how you feel. Plus, it was really nicely set up. When we went our separate ways, I decided to go to the musical instruments exhibit. I love to play the guitar, so I thought this would interest me. The instruments they had there were all beautiful works of art from early times. They had the roots of what all modern day instruments emerged from. There was one particular instrument that stood out though. I saw it at the way end of the room, with its gold shining bright from the light above it. It was a beautiful Roman harpsichord, designed by Michele Todini in the 1670s. I was amazed by the detail in the engravings on it. There were men with dragon tails swimming in water and supporting the instrument. On the harpsichord itself there was a depiction of a war that took place. There was also a baby riding a clam shell that was supported by two fish. That really puzzled me. I began thinking, how long did it take the artist to make this? Is it just a work of art or also a functional instrument. After looking into it, I found out that besides being an artistic masterpiece, it was functional and it's design later led to the invention of the piano. That gave me even more respect for the art."
--( posted on Oct 9, 2011, commenting on the post Met Museum Visit )
 
"The Submission really grabs my attention in the beginning of the novel, because although it is fiction, it is based on real life events that are directly related to my life. Living in New York City and seeing the debate over the ground zero almost puts this book into real life perspective. Any great authors main objective in to engage the reader, and so far the book has done so to me. It was very amusing to me when they took the piece of paper with the winning name out of the envelope and said, "Jesus fucking Christ! It's a goddamn Muslim!" When they found out it was a muslim, the people were bugging out and didn't know what to do. They were questioning his American citizenship. This passage really portrays the true ignorance of the American political system and the people of America. Islam is the second largest religion on planet earth with roughly 22% of the world's population practicing it. Are you trying to tell me that 22% of humans are terrorists and are out there to destroy America? If this was true, we would be long gone. The facts are clearly visible and I just don't see how some people can go against this. It was messed up to see how mistreated Mohammad Khan was at the airport and how he was being so interrogated. I think its messed up because this is so evident in America everyday. My dad is always stopped and questioned at the airport because we have an Iraqi last name: Moallem. People are stereotyped all the time just as Mohammad was. The worst part about all this that is true in our society is that the media can take what they want out of a situation and cram bias information into the public's head. I was always told, "don't always believe what you hear." You can never be too sure what is the truth and what is a lie in the modern day society, because ultimately media controls the public opinion on what they do not know."
--( posted on Oct 2, 2011, commenting on the post Responding to Amy Waldman’s The Submission Part 1 pp. 3-119 )
 
"Jonny Moallem The class trip to the ICP on friday was one to remember. When I got to the building, I sat down and read one of the books that was attached to the table. I'm a type of visual learner, so the fact that this was a picture book was very appealing to me. The book had old school, black and white still frames showing New York City and New Orleans. It was interesting to me to see how much people have changed in just 100 years or so. Everything looked so much different back then. After everyone else arrived, we went downstairs to the 9/11 exhibit. I found myself sitting in the screen room for about half an hour with a couple other kids watching the videos that Elena del Rivero shot from her apartment. Nothing crazy was happening in these videos, but it brought me to the realization that this actually happened in my lifetime. I pictured it as if 9/11 happened yesterday, and suddenly the mood all changed. I soon left the room with the TVs and looked at some of the pictures hanging on the wall. I noticed that whoever set up this exhibit was really focusing on the aftermath of the plane crashes and the cleaning up of the mess. The exhibit had almost nothing to do with the actually day of 9/11, but more-so with the effects. There were two pictures that stood out to me the most. First was the picture of the top view of the twin towers peeking over a sky filled with clouds. Besides from being a breathtaking photo, this picture was a symbol of the enormousness of the twin towers and how it is the opposite today. The next picture that stood out to me was in the section of missing people photos. It said: "Missing: 110 story office building, filled with thousands of innocent souls, center of great human achievement." I thought this was a very clever photo that pretty much summed up the event of 9/11. After the ICP, we saw Xu Bing's dust artwork. Some of the kids in class were in love with this, but I honestly wasn't too crazy about it. I think seeing the photos and videos of 9/11 brought more emotion out of me than this exhibit. It was crazy to think about that being the dust from the towers, but I guess it just wasn't for me. Finally, we went the deli and had a nice lunch together to change the depressing mood. The food was delicious and Professor Perl really held it down. Overall, it was a great day."
--( posted on Sep 26, 2011, commenting on the post Class Trip to ICP, Xu Bing’s Dust, and Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop )
 
"Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and just like every other person in New York it was a day of solemn and sorrow. In commemoration for all the lives that were lost on that day ten years ago, I decided to have a mental day to myself to reflect on how lucky I am as a person to be alive and how fragile life really is. I went to a few small memorials around where I live. Seeing people mourning over their lost loved ones made this real. What seemed to me before as an act of terrorism long ago that didn't really impact me suddenly seemed so surreal and recent. I thought about all the lives lost in that single day. Not just any lives, but innocent neighbors, New Yorkers, workers, and people from all over the world who were effected by these attacks. I decided to watch a documentary on youtube called "loose change," to better understand my knowledge of this day. This documentary gave insight and the idea that the attacks of 9/11 were a United States government conspiracy. It was bizarre to me what I had seen on this documentary, because all of the clues led to a controlled demolition of the twin towers. On top of that, flight 93 and the plane that hit the pentagon were not found and "disintegrated" on impact, which makes absolutely no sense to me. This documentary made me really that there was something fishy going on here and people were hiding information to the American public. Regardless of why these attacks happened and who did it, the most important thing for me was to commemorate all the lives that were lost. Any way you look at it, 9/11 was a tragedy that affected people all around the world, especially in New York. These lives will always live through the hearts of their loved ones, and it is important that as a society we rebuild and grow from here, and take nothing for granted."
--( posted on Sep 13, 2011, commenting on the post What I did on 9/11 )
 
"It is really fascinating to me that Danto starts off by saying that all of his fellow artists “feel like everybody else”. This is somewhat ironic because art is all about expressing an individual feeling. So how could the attacks of 9/11 be shown by particular artists if they all feel the same? I don’t think art can justify the exact feelings of the people affected by the 9/11 attacks. Sure an artist can try to express what had happened that day, but the some feelings are too intense to be conveyed through artwork. It is almost like hearing a tragic story from someone who lived through it. Sure, you will feel bad and sympathize for them, but you will never have the feelings that they had because they lived through it and you just heard about it. That is what artwork is to me. It is a story telling how someone felt, but unless it is your art you will not get the same feelings out of it. Lastly, I loved how Danto realized the force that the 9/11 attacks had on all the people that were involved in them. He brings up the fact that “the poorest he has the right to live, as does the greatest he.” This makes so much sense to me because he is stating that everybody has their own life to live, and they should all be observed. I am a strong believer that no matter who you are or how you survive your day to day life, you have as much of a right to live as the next guy."
--( posted on Sep 5, 2011, commenting on the post Response to Arthur Danto: Art and 9/11 Due Sept. 5 )
 
"James Young starts out by asking the question, “will this be a site commemorating the old world trade center and the thousands murdered there or one that merely replaces what was lost in the attacks?” Just like Young, I think the memorial should be both. Mr. Young is clearly a patriot and I respect his opinions. He says over and over again that we cannot make it look like the terrorists won, but instead make it a reflection of what we survived and that we will rebuild and continue to grow as a nation. I also like the fact that he brought up Israel’s relation and reaction to the holocaust because I can really relate to it. He says that they are planting a forest of six million trees in between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to commemorate the six million Jews that died in the holocaust. This is not just a memorial, it is also a symbol that you may have taken lives away from us, but we will continue to create life. Examples like these show that even though there was a tragedy, we are not giving up. I really enjoyed the end when Young says, “If they hate our buildings, lets rebuild them here. If they hate our lives, lets live them here, etc…” Young shows us some heart when he says this. He is basically saying that we should be proud of who we are and not let anybody bring us down or suppress us. I can relate to James Young because we are both New Yorkers who lived through the 9/11 attacks and we both have Jewish backgrounds and learned a little Jewish ideology. He brings up the "etz chaim" (tree of life). I grew up learning about this and it is basically saying that there is a circle of life and as lives are lost, lives are being born. It is interesting that he brought this up about the 9/11 attacks, but it makes a lot of sense that he did. He is stating that we lost a lot of lives that day, but we will rebuild and continue to prosper. [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us '66667829 which is not a hashcash value."
--( posted on Sep 5, 2011, commenting on the post Response to James Young: Due Sept. 5 )
 
"hey I'm Jonny Moallem. I got into the blog! Excited to discover NYC"
--( posted on Aug 30, 2011, commenting on the post Commitments )