Author: fmg8727

Open Letter Final Draft

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Dear Subway Dancers-

I’ve seen you on the train ever since I was a little kid and I was always in awe, asking my mother for money so that I could give to you all, people who I thought were so talented. However, now that I’m older I’ve begun to realize a couple of things that I think you all should consider.

Trains are not very safe, for neither you nor your audience. No one can control the speed of the train except the conductor, who cannot control anything that is going on inside their train. Trains can slow down, speed up, or turn at very fast speeds without warning, These conditions are hazardous to your routines, especially during the ones where you aren’t on the floor of the train. These conditions are hazardous to us, the passengers, as well. Any sudden movement of the train can cause anybody to move suddenly, directly into your path, which could end up harm both you and the passenger. I’m sure that you all are very careful and I can only imagine the amount of effort that goes into practicing and preparing your routines, but you are performing in an environment that is entirely out of your control, and as a passenger, I don’t need more hazards to pay attention to while taking the train.

Something else you all need to consider is who your audience is. Everyone on the train is looking to get somewhere, we didn’t fork over $2.75 because we wanted to “improve the MTA.” Although in-transit entertainment is nice, everyone has a book or a phone to entertain themselves these days, and if they don’t have anything out, they’re either talking to someone or asleep. The latter don’t like being interrupted, and the former are likely to look up and go back to whatever they were doing before your act began. In either case, you’re not likely to get much money. In addition to this, you can only perform at certain times during the day. Rush hour would be ideal, but there is no room to perform, and even if you could that would certainly be classified as dangerous. As a result, all of you must settle for off-peak hours, so there aren’t many people on the trains anyway, further decreasing the amount of money that you could have made.

To sum up, although having an audience who MUST sit through your performance in one way or another sounds ideal, the conditions in which such an audience is presented to you are not suitable for you or the passengers because of the danger presented and the amount of money that you can make.

However, I understand that you all have talent, and I find it fantastic that you all wish to express these talents. I understand that the fact that you all perform on a moving train adds something to your shows, but I would like to propose better places to show off your talents, and that would have a more receptive (and willing to give) audience.

There are several parks in New York City that have plenty of space for you to perform. Each individual show can have much more room to show off your talents, and as long as you don’t block any pathways, nobody will complain. People who are interested in seeing you perform can step up and watch, and people who don’t have the time or are aren’t interested can simply walk on. As a result, you are left with people who are actually interested in seeing you perform, and for the most part, willing to give you money. Although a permit is required to perform in a public park, it is a small price to pay in exchange for a safer environment with a more engaged audience, which could ultimately result in more money made for all of you.

I hope you understand that I really appreciate your talents, and I would like for all of you to perform in a manner that is safe for you and for us, and to make more money using the talents you have. Thank you!

-Frank Gutierrez

The Met Opera

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I’m not an avid theater-goer, but I have gone to my fair share of shows and musicals, along with assisting in all of the productions that took place throughout my four years of high school. But I have never been to an opera. In my mind I imagined some woman singing really loudly in Italian, and maybe she would have a fellow actor on stage, but that was not at all what happened.

In addition to the woman singing loudly (to perhaps a bunch of old people) in Italian, I had always imagined people with gold binoculars with the little sticks on the end and speaking in a really posh voice. I was not entirely let down. As I was looking around, I noticed a man in the row in front of mine already using the binoculars he had brought for the show!

I took this picture because I liked the aspect of candidness that were in almost all of Singh’s photographs. I don’t know if the subjects knew they were being taken pictures of and then they continued with their lives, or if Singh simply took the pictures, but most of them seemed to show the subjects of his pictures doing things as they were, much like how this man was simply getting ready for the show.

This is a picture describes what I actually saw at the opera. There were so many things that I did not know were actually a part of the opera. For example, there was an orchestra, many more actors than I had anticipated, and an actual a storyline behind the entire show. It was certainly not what I was expecting, considering the fact that there were sheep and a “bear”, but I found that I actually enjoyed some aspects of the opera. The plot seemed to be interesting, and the orchestra was phenomenal. However, I did not like how every single word was sung, because it made things hard to understand, and switching between the subtitles (although they were much appreciated) and actually watching the show made the show confusing and difficult to keep track of who was actually singing. In general, I enjoyed my time there, but I do not think that I would watch another opera again.

Coco Fusco

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We… the gente by Sandra Fernández

Initial 8 seconds

I initially went the wrong way and went into the adjacent exhibit, and after bumbling around for a couple of minutes not really knowing what was going on, I entered through what could be considered the exit of the exhibit. Because of this, this was actually one of the first pieces of art that caught my eye. This piece was actually a part of a bigger collective, the Uptown Prints portfolio, and this one specifically caught my eye because of its color, the people who both makeup the background but are also the subject of the piece, and what is clearly the United States Constitution in the background.

Further Analysis

As I observed the piece for a longer period of time, I began to form and idea of what I thought the Fernández was trying to teach her audience through her piece. The first detail that stood out to me from the piece was the scene in the background. It is quite evident that it is a desert–I thought that it was a subtle reference through the terrain that is attempted by thousands of immigrants every year, in search of a better life here in the United states. I think that the way the people are depicted in the piece is very powerful as well, in that they can sort of be seen, but at the same time they are not entirely there. I thought that this could be considered a reference to the people who try to cross the border, but are unfortunately lost to the perils of the desert, whether it be heat, dehydration, hunger, or fatigue. I took the way that (specifically) the preamble of the U.S. Constitution could be seen behind the people as a reference to the title of the piece: We… the gente (We… the people). In the title of the piece, Fernández illustrates the main point of her piece: that all of us, not just the ones born in the United States, or the ones lucky enough to become citizens, but also the ones who have emigrated to the country illegally, are people, and are therefore protected. The final detail that really stood out to me in this piece was the SB 1070 with the slash over it. SB 1070 refers to a piece of Arizona legislation that was passed in 2010 that allowed “police to determine the immigration status of someone arrested or detained if there is ‘reasonable suspicion’ they are in the U.S. legally” (ACLU). I perceived it as a powerful detail because it shows her stance on anti-immigrant and discriminatory sentiment, and it appearing alongside the depictions of immigrants and the U.S. Constitution is what I feel Fusco can consider an “unconscious structure of belief”: that immigrants really aren’t covered/protected by the Constitution, which is not what Fernández is teaching us through her work of art.

https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/state-and-local-immigration-laws/arizonas-sb-1070

Open Letter Draft

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Dear Subway Surfers-

I’ve seen you on the train ever since I was a little kid and I was always in awe, asking my mother for money so that I could give to you all, people who I thought were so talented. However, now that I’m older I’ve begun to realize a couple of things that I think you all should consider.

What you all do is dangerous, not only to yourselves, but to your audience as well. I’m sure you all have been on a train that either jolted or stopped suddenly. No one knows why it’s going to happen, or when. But when it inevitably does, I think that you would all be safest with both your feet firmly planted on the train floor. In addition to your safety, there are safety considerations you need to consider. Everybody else on the train paid their $2.75, and they’re not making any doing what you all do. In general, people use the transportation system for transportation, and not much else.

Here’s what I propose for all of you: find somewhere else to show off your talents. What you all do is something that I find special to New York, and I am by no means trying to shut you all down completely. I simply feel that what you all do deserves a greater audience, less traffic (and therefore disaster) in your space, and a more spacious and less dangerous stage. The D (or any train) is really not an ideal place for you al to perform. People find plenty of space in parks and occasionally even streets in which to perform uninterrupted, with a better audience.

Thank you.

-Frank Gutierrez

My “Memoir”

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Soul in Bondage, Elihu Vedder

 

How much control do we have over our lives in a complicated world?

 

The question that Vedder illustrates in this painting is one that I find extremely pertinent to my life. He used generally dark colors to depict the environment in which the angel or “soul” finds itself in, which is an accurate depiction of my observances of the world around me. Ever since I was little, I could tell that my family and I weren’t as well off as others: we live comfortably, which I am extremely grateful for, but we are not without our darkness. The swirls and the light behind the angel give the impression of a mixture of light and darkness in any given person’s life, and some may relate to one color more than the other.

Another thing to notice in the painting is how loose the ropes are on the angel. One can break free of their bonds at any time, to escape any darkness they may detect in their light. However, once free, a person has a choice: to follow the path of good, or follow the path of evil, as Vedder depicts with the butterfly and the snake, which the angel holds, one in each hand. This aspect of the painting in particular relates to me most because this is the basis of not just mine, but everyone’s life. Everyone’s life is composed of decisions, and each and every one of these decisions leads us down a different path, either darkening our surroundings or making them lighter.

In my own life, I would like to think that the majority of my choices have been ones of good rather than evil; I am grateful for the many good opportunities that have been offered to me so that I may try and brighten up my surroundings. I know that although I do not live the most comfortably in respect to others who are more well off, I am aware that there are people who are in a similar socioeconomic status that I am with my family, but do not live the same way we do. It’s families like these that I can attribute most to the following scenario: A family is offered two jobs separately, one legitimate and one illegitimate. The legitimate one may be the smart idea, but the illegitimate one undoubtedly comes with more money at a faster rate, which is much more favorable to a population in which many work paycheck to paycheck, with no guarantee that they will still be employed the next day. I am saddened to say that I have witnessed good families choose the “evil” path to benefit themselves, because they either had no available “good” path, or were too desperate to refuse the former. I knew a boy, not even old enough to vote, and watched him choose the “evil” path. I saw him again just a couple of days ago, chains brighter and bigger than necessary, a Rolex as big as his face, and on a motorcycle twice his size. No doubt that he’s reaping the benefits of his decision, but who knows what he had to do to get there…

 

Two nights ago, blue and red lights flooded the streets, from in front of his apartment building.