Author: tasmimhoque

 

One night during a wedding ceremony, I stumbled upon a henna artist who was decorating the bride’s hands with incredibly mesmerizing designs of henna. After the henna paste had dried and crumbled off, the stunning crimson red stain of the design left me with an overwhelming feeling of love and appreciation for the body art. It was that night I decided that I wanted to be a henna artist as well, and I began to transform something I found beautiful into a craft that enabled me to pursue my artistic potential. However, I wasn’t very good at first. I became so obsessed with perfection that I would wash off an entire hand of henna because of one tiny mistake. This obsession with perfection drained my passion and turned this hobby I so badly wanted to enjoy into a chore. I knew I had to give up this perfectionist attitude of mine if I wanted to stay sane. I still continued to practice henna until my lines became straighter, my curves became smoother and my hands became steadier. However, my designs were never perfect. I still made mistakes. But it was when I incorporated those mistakes into the design and made them a part of the art that I felt like a skilled artist. We so often let our mistakes blind us more seeing a solution. We overlook all of our accomplishment because of one failure. Henna became more than just a passion, it taught me to utilize my mistakes and turn them into opportunities to create something even better. Henna guided me to my real, a real that is full of beautiful mistakes.

I found Beck’s reconstruction of David Bowie’s ‘Sound and Vision’ to be quite epic because this is the first time I have ever heard a yodeler, choirs, heavy metal guitarists, xylophones, mandolin, marching band and so many more musicians come together to perform the same song. The first time I saw Beck’s performance in class, I got goosebumps as soon as everyone began playing together because I did not expect such different and unique sounds to harmonize so well. It was also refreshing to see musicians from several different ethnicities unite under one very unique piece.

The original ‘Sound and Vision’ was very catchy and easy to follow because it was the same instruments and beat playing over and over again. Beck’s recreation of ‘Sound and Vision’ had the same lyrics and melody as the original but it was not a piece you can fully enjoy through headphones on a subway cart. Unlike the original which can be just be heard, the recreation needs to be seen as well by the viewer to fully make sense of the music. Considering all the musicians were in a circle, I expected there to be an audio chaos once all the instrument began playing together but it somehow worked out very well. Although the song does become fragmented in some parts, the musicians pull it off.

It was interesting to read all the different interpretations of both pieces from my classmates. Some of them were awestruck by Beck’s recreation like I was, while others just viewed it as a big mess. Similarly, the comments on YouTube under the recreation video were divided into several different opinions. One person stated “CHILLLS! Absolutely brilliant”, whereas the next viewer thought “Beck made this a bit too much for my taste”. Music, just like any work of art changes with each set of eyes and ears.

Beck’s recreation is performed similarly to how jazz is performed. Unfortunately, I did not get to view the Latin Jazz performance last week, however many of the jazz music videos I watched online were very similar to Beck’s recreation because they both consisted of several instruments playing one piece together. In the beginning of the jazz performances and Beck’s recreation, the songs were disjointed because each musician was doing their own thing but in time they all began to harmonize beautifully.

If I had a dollar for every time my mom told me “no pain, no gain”, I wouldn’t need a job. But it’s true. There is no gain without pain.

As Boxer mentioned “The only way people can really describe pain is to objectify it,” objects carry the burden of the pain people get tired of harboring. Pain is the fuel that drove people to build homes, cars, trains, phones, and almost everything many of us have the luxury of owning. Pain is revealed in the absence of the object. Without a boiler, there are no hot showers, without cars, trains and planes the world becomes smaller and without chairs people become more hostile.

Pain made Taylor Swift famous, not Kanye. Just as Boxer stated “When people forge tools or build things, they are often trying to alleviate discomfort. But first they must define the discomfort”, Swift forged her pain caused by her multiple failed relationships into multiple hit songs. By transferring pain into words, she was able to describe and alleviate the suffering she harbored.

Pain is art. Whenever I have emotional pain, I find myself either holding a whisk or a henna cone. Speaking about pain has never been easy for me, but there is something about baking and designing flowers and paisleys that always has a way of calming me down. Maybe it’s the sweet smell of the melted chocolate or the stunning intricacy of my henna that absorbs my pain while I absorb its beauty.

Part One:

The judge went on a rant in his monologue about crime consuming the city, and the Man on Wire was a crime itself. However, the crimes listed by the judge tore the city apart whereas the man on wire united it. All of the criminals: thieves, rapists, members of the mafia committed their crimes with selfish intentions and left their victims either dead or distraught. The man on the wire committed a crime to take his passion to the next level; a passion that left his audience united in awe.

Part Two:

I was really excited to know Tillie, Jaslyn, Corrigan and the man on the wire were in the same courtroom. McCann ended the prologue on a cliffhanger, and I was curious about the significance of the man on the wire throughout the different stories, but now I see they all cross paths in one way or another. When Soderberg finds out he may have the chance to judge the tightrope walker’s trial, he is relieved to finally get a case that doesn’t have to deal with barbarous crime. He had always imagined himself to be a reformer in the court, but he realized he could not change the ineffective system and will have to deal with charging the endless number of criminals. When Soderberg spots the tightrope walker in the line of defendants, he is impressed by his confidence and becomes anxious to hear his case because he knows the city will be watching him. Soderberg rushes through Jaslyn’s and Tillie’s case and judges them from their appearance and behavior. To him, Jaslyn and Tillie are just another pair of criminals he has to deal with every day. Soderberg without knowing anything about Corrigan assumes that he is their pimp. He believes the only reason a white man would be helping prostitutes is for money and does not even consider the possibility of them being friends. Soderberg’s attitude towards the two different crimes shows that he too is fascinated by the tight rope’s walker’s performance and is tired of the crime that puts the city in a bad light.

Part Three:

In the prologue, we encounter a strange man who is walking across a thin cable near the clouds without knowing whether he was able to complete his stunt. That cable is the beginning of a bridge that took us through New York City. As we cross this bridge we are exposed to the cultural prejudice and economic divides in the lives of the characters. However, at the end characters who are at the polar ends of the city and economy are bridged together through loss and fate. As the different backgrounds unite, the city no longer feels so big and divided. The novel ends with Jaslyn’s thought of the world spinning as she lay beside Claire. Although Claire’s life is coming to an end, the clocks keep on ticking, the fan keeps on whirring, and the world keeps spinning.

 

The bridge that unsettled me at first was the one between Ciaran and Lara. I could not understand how Ciaran can feel an attraction to someone who was involved in his brother’s death. But then I thought maybe he realized that she was genuinely not a bad person. When the two were together, Ciaran saw that Lara did not argue with the guy that hit the back of her car and let him go. She also confessed to him that she was not the one who was driving the car that killed Corrigan, and she attended his funeral. Her ex-husband Blaine was the reason behind her misery. Through his actions, it was easy to tell Blaine did not care about anyone but himself, whereas Lara still held onto her morals.

 

The bridge between Corrigan and all the people in his life made my heart sing. His heart made room for anyone who wanted space. From a very young age, he gravitated towards the unfortunate and put himself in their shoes to share their burden. After he moves to New York, he does everything he can to help the prostitutes in the Bronx. He even keeps the doors to his apartment open at all times to make sure they have somewhere to go to use the bathroom, rest and eat. Although he vowed to celibacy when he fell in love with Adelita he took good care of her and her children. Corrigan treated everyone in his life with love no matter their actions, social and economic position. Corrigan’s personality is an inspiration for everyone to be compassionate towards one and other. He created a bridge in his world and extended it to everyone else he met.

Over the summer I was watching a documentary on climate change, and there was a scene of potential consequences of rising sea levels. Requiem for a dream began to play in the background as the images of tsunamis, hurricanes, children being swept away by monstrous waves flashed across the scene. The intensity and power of the music made me want to learn the piece myself. I printed out the sheet music and for several weeks I practiced playing requiem for a dream on the piano. My perception of the piece changed as I struggled to play with the same intensity that had caught my attention. In the beginning, whenever I was playing or heard the piece, the horrific images of the natural disasters would flood my mind. However, after several weeks the music became almost encouraging. When I finally learned the piece I was no longer thinking about the horrible images, instead, I felt empowered. Now, whenever I remember the tune I instantly get an adrenaline rush and motivation to carry on with whatever I am doing whether it be getting up in the morning, climbing the stairs or even doing homework. I can not choose one specific color for this song because when I think about it in terms of colors fireworks pop into my head. I can imagine the spectacular multi-colored explosions being painted across the sky in sync with the rythm of this music. Requiem for a dream is too intense for just one color, it needs the entire rainbow to display its glory.