Awakenings

My Year Abroad
For my awakening project I decided to focus on a year of my life that truly changed me in many ways. After finishing high school I went on a year abroad to study in Israel, the land of my heritage. This collage tells of the cultural awakening I experienced from the first second I got off the plane, and landed in Israel. The center of my project is an airplane, which was how I physically was able to travel to Israel. Especially living without my family, I feel the culture shock was much greater, because I was stuck in this strange society, without anyone to guide me but myself. (more…)

I never really had a hobby when I was growing up. It seemed like all of my friends always had some sort of practice to go to: gymnastics, dance, piano, or karate. My parents never pushed me to develop any type of artist ability, athletic skill, or any other type of talent. It did not bother me much as a six or seven year old, but it started to really hit hard by the time I was in my early teen years. This was when everyone started to really shine in their extracurricular activities. After dancing, playing piano, or doing anything else and practicing it for more than ten years, you start to become skillful and adept. Most of my friends were extremely skilled at doing something outside of school. In a way, I really envied this elite group of talented classmates. (more…)

Rodolfo Morales

        The ancient Egyptians were famous for their many gods that they so faithfully worshipped.  These gods were usually portrayed as wrathful beings, ready to deliver punishment at any moment.  However, even the gods would have been happy with the performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” by the Metropolitan Opera on November 5th.  The performance of divine proportions starred Angela Brown as Aida, Franco Farina as Radames, and Lunciana D’Intino as Amneris.
The story of Aida takes place in ancient Egypt during a period of war with Ethiopia, and revolves around a love triangle made up of Aida, Radames, and Amneris.  Aida, an Ethiopian princess who is enslaved in Egypt and is a servant to Amneris, the Pharaoh’s daughter, is in love with Radames, the leader of Egypt’s army.  Radames is also smitten with the girl he believes is merely a slave.  However, what Aida does not know is that Amneris is also in love with Radames.  This whole mixture makes for a story with a tragic ending where none of these characters end up with the person that they desire.  This is the case unless dying together and spending the rest of eternity joined in the afterlife is considered a happy ending, as Aida and Radames consider it.
Angela Brown was perfect as Aida, with her soprano voice able to reach all the high notes demanded by the role, and she added a sweet sense of confusion and sincerity to the part.  The audience could truly perceive her distress in trying to decide whether or not to aid her father and country in taking down Egypt or if she should betray them for the one man she truly loves, Radames.  Lunciana D’Intino was also excellent as Amneris, with a much deeper tone than Brown, but still adding a depth to her character.  Her inner conflict of looking at Radames as a traitor and loving him is noticeable, especially in the final scene.  Franco Farina truly was a spectacular Radames, and his rendition of “Celeste Aida” was moving throughout.  He managed perfectly the balance of being a soldier and a lover.
One of the most dazzling aspects of Aida would have to be the stage sets.  “Aida” is an opera that calls for large, grandiose sets, and the Met delivered.  The detail of each set was truly awe-inspiring, and the viewers really felt as if they were viewing ancient Egypt.  One scene that stood out more than the rest was the victory march.  Throughout this scene, a huge procession paraded across the stage, carrying elephant tusks, treasures, prisoners, dead bodies, and even horse-drawn chariots.  Viewers could only be amazed by such a spectacle being seen on a New York City stage.  In essence, “Aida” is an opera that can and should be enjoyed by all, and it is not only sweet for the ears, but also for the eyes.

Rodolfo Morales

As I began to work on my collage project, I wondered what would be an appropriate topic that would fit in with the theme of “Awakenings.” As I pondered fruitlessly about what I should do for this assignment, I stared at a picture I have on my desk of my father when he was approximately my age. It was striking to me how much I look like him, and looking into the picture, I saw a certain reflection of myself. As I continued staring at the picture, I experienced my own awakening; my father could be the central point of my collage! I realized that his life story is one of despair mixed with hope, life itself being a constant awakening for him. Slowly, images began to come forth in my head of what he had told me about his life, especially about his decision to immigrate to the United States. (more…)

As a student in junior high school and high school, I was very interested in the business world and looked forward to a career in business.  However, I had an idealistic view of the corporate world.  I was unaware of the corruption of major, seemingly model corporations.  Little did I know that the crookedness of these companies was hidden behind fabricated images created for the public.  I had bought into these positive images and was shocked when the many corporate scandals erupted in the 2000s.  I was awakened to the fact that you can never judge a book by its cover, and the lessons that were learned or emphasized by the scandals are still relevant to me today.  (more…)

Interesting, this is the word that comes to mind when one thinks of Nuñez’s speech. Interesting is a weak word, one that a high school student would use to describe an event. Similarly, Nuñez’s speech was weak, one that a high school student could have delivered. Any high school student could have gone up to a podium and began reading a novel to the audience. Similar to what teachers do with their kindergarten class, just read them a novel to entertain them. It was not so much that she read her novel, but rather that she read too much of it. A snippet of the novel would have been better than a chapter of it. (more…)

Samuel Freedman captivated his audience with his luminous personality and composure. Freedman presented himself as an extroverted individual, very placid and docile. He did not intimidate his audience, but through his poise illustrated his intellect as well as his skill. As he spoke about his book one could see the confidence and mastery of language in his words. Moreover, even as a dominant figure in the literary world, he was overwhelmed with emotion by the memories of his mother and her genuine significance to his life.
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After reading a section from The Last of Her Kind, Sigrid Nunez gave the audience a chance to ask questions. To what extent the answers met the students’ desires is debatable.It is quite evident that Nunez shares a strong bond with the characters she has written about in her books. “I spend time imagining them [the characters],” she said. She later added, “I’m the character,” when writing. This technique not only adds dimension to the characters, but gives them a realistic quality, which, at times, can be misleading. Thus, it was not surprising that many of the audience’s questions centered around Nunez’s first novel, A Feather on the Breath of God, concerning the unmistakable similarities of the narrator’s life with that of Nunez’. (more…)

This is War! The title of the latest photography exhibition at the International Center for Photography is as eye catching as the photographs it features. Robert Capa is the featured photographer in this provocative collection. As a war photographer, Capa is known not only for his intense representation of difficult subjects like war, but he is also famous for coming incredibly close to death itself, yet he puts no one else at danger but himself. The photos in the exhibition, therefore, show not only the danger posed to the soldiers valiantly sacrificing their lives in World War II but also the extreme conditions under which Capa nearly risked his life in his quest to portray the war as accurately as possible. (more…)

Hindsight is 20/20. This is the main theme of my Awakenings collage. It is formatted to look like a postcard to my past self, as it is addressed “Dear Me” and it features a stamp in the upper right hand corner, which pictures a graphically created image of a movie set. I used this image because movies influences my life very much as I was growing up and also because movies represent the mass media, which plays a big part in everyone’s life. My awakening is one that relates to beauty, both inner and outer, and also the development of a consciousness of self. (more…)