Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

On October 4, we went to an exhibit about apartheid in South Africa.

The photo that caught my attention was Pauline Moloise, two women and Winnie Madikizela Mandela mourn at the memorial service for Benjamin Moloise , who was hanged earlier that morning, Khotoso house, Johannesburg, 1985 by Gille de Vlieg.

6 men and 4 women showed up to Benjamin Moloise’s service. The men are all in collared shirts, appropriately formal, while the women’s dress varies greatly, from the old lady in the blanket to the woman in a formal blouse and cardigan.

The younger men have their fists in the air and look defiant, while the older men seem more defeated and tired. It seems that Moloise died a political death, because other pictures had the raised fist symbol as well, and the young men are still fired up about the cause. It reminded me of the book “Loose Change,” when 2 of the characters get older and disillusioned with the revolution.

Another element of the photo that interested me was the old woman being in a blanket while the other people are in Western clothes. Is the younger generation more Westernized, or am I over-thinking it and she’s just like those little old ladies on Ocean Parkway who are always in at least 3 layers even in July?

Moloise was an important figure. According to my research, Moloise was a poet who was killed for conspiring to kill a police officer in the effort to protest apartheid. One of Moloise’s poems became a common chant at protests. The US even urged the South African government to “take another look” at their plan to execute Moloise. The execution only served to escalate resistance to apartheid.

That is the story behind this photograph.

Hello,

Symphony Space had a great comedy act last night with some highlights and some not-so-good moments.

The debate of Hanukkah vs Christmas was set up with three debaters for each team.

The first for team Hanukkah was funniest overall. He started a bit dryly with the story and threw in a few jokes here and there. He made fun of a few names, and called the heroes of the story bad-asses and mentioned that Jews were cheap then too. They were so happy because the miracle of the one day’s worth of olive oil staying alit for eight days saved them some money.

The first guy for team Christmas basically took a vacuum and make believe it was all the different smells of christmas. Pretty funny.

Overall the Christmas team was funnier than the Hanukkah team but Hanukkah had better arguments probably because they took it too seriously. The Hanukkah team’s woman representative, Jackie Hoffman, started with the history of the persecution of Jews… not funny. And she was too loud.

And then the Q and A…

The improvised remarks of some of the comedians were better than their stand up acts. For example, Jackie Hoffman calling Michael Showalter, “Moshe Showalter,” When the jerk called Michael Showalter fat (“Is that a pillow in your shirt or … “) the vacuum guy sprayed imaginary “turd” incense at him.

But I was biased from the beginning… Yay Hanukkah!

Either way happy holiday! (Thanksgiving…)

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of going to the opera on Tuesday night. The people, the atmosphere, the theater itself, both inside and outside: it was all new to me and I found it to be rather thrilling. I admired the set design, primarily in the opening scene, which I thought was well-thought-out as the layers of movement and lighting combined to portray the raging ocean. The costumes seemed fabulous, even from our seats at the top of the theater! I just wish I could have seen them up close to really admire their detail. The orchestra was also worth noting, which is something I don’t normally comment on after seeing a show. It was an important element in conveying the characters’ emotions- particularly Prospero and his internal struggle throughout the play- as well as manipulating the audience’s emotions: a key feature of any work of art.

On the other hand, I was slightly underwhelmed by other aspects of “The Tempest.” The script, for instance, was a bit off-putting, as mentioned in class. The use of contemporary English seemed out of place, a number of the rhymes seemed forced, and the repetitive use of couplets had an almost lulling effect. However, the use of Shakespeare’s poetic language probably would have made it even harder to focus on what was going on. Between the singing, the music, the costumes, the set, the story and so forth, it was difficult to fully appreciate any one thing. But then again, doesn’t great art have layers?

Nonetheless, it all made for another lovely evening in the city 🙂 Below is our beautiful class photo, by the way! (minus those who I think went to get pretzels)

Hi everyone,

I hope you all are doing well. Before tomorrow’s gathering at the Symphony Space, I want to share a brief reflection on a protest that I attended on Thursday for the civilians in Gaza. With the recent surge in violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip, millions of people across the world are organizing/attending protests to show their solidarity with the people in Gaza and Syria, who are both suffering at the hands of brutal regimes. It’s interesting to note that these people are not only Muslim; they are of different ethnicities, races, and religions. The protest I attended was, needless to say, incredibly emotionally charged; my friend was very angry and upset because she was unable to get in touch with her family in Gaza due to the Israeli government shutting down all forms of communication (i.e. internet, phone lines, etc.) in the Gaza Strip. I guess the only thing that I can do is hope for peace and justice in the Middle East. As one poster said, “WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR HUMANITY.”

While I was at the protest, I noticed various manifestations of “resistance art” directly on the posters, the signs, and the banners. The Palestinian flag was omnipresent; a blur of red, white, black, and green permeates my memories as I recall seeing weeping old men, teenage males passionately shouting “Free, Free Phillistine, Free, Free Ghaaza,” and fiery, young girls wearing hijab (the Islamic head-scarf) thrusting their fists into the air demanding justice. I help up a sign that boldly stated, “With Justice Comes Peace-Free Palestine!” and there were dozens of other people holding up the V-sign colored in the Palestinian flag colors. Perhaps what was most striking about this protest was not  the signs brandished by the Arab community, but by Hasidic Jews who held up signs reading, “Judaism Does Not Support Zionism.”

Overall, this experience will not be forgotten any time soon. I first-handedly witnessed protest art!

Prior to seeing The Tempest, the only things I knew about the opera largely came from its portrayal in film and television.  Thus I expected it to be a long, boring drawn out affair which only rich people attended. Nevertheless after seeing the small preview video in class I couldn’t help but be excited. After seeing the show, I can say that I wasn’t disappointed.

The opera opened dramatically by depicting the storm at the beginning of the play. I really liked the opera’s take on it. The turbulent sea looked almost real and Ariel dangling above the scene reinforced the fact that the storm wasn’t a natural one. Ariel’s performance was amazing. Honestly I didn’t even know human beings could make those kind of sounds. While this is a testament to the singers skill I also think it emphasizes the fact that Ariel isn’t a human character but rather a sprite.

In the beginning of the play I found it hard to get immersed in the story. Our seats were really far away and I had to constantly look at the subtitles. However, as time went on it became easier. I started playing attention less to how far we were and more to the quality of the performers voices. I began to notice the amazing range the voices had. I saw how they were able to raise and lower their voices to reflect the mood of the character at the time. I also noticed how the music followed the highs and lows of the voices perfectly and created a sort of a compound effect that amplified them both. The effect was so powerful that I had trouble getting a few of the melodies out of my head long after the opera was over.

The costumes and set design was also amazing. I liked how the set was dynamic, and sometimes changed to reflect what the characters were doing. It also helped add physical dept to certain scenes. Overall the costumes were pretty fantastic too, especially Ariel’s. I remember the glitter from the costume reflecting all the way to the ceiling.

I’m glad we were able to go the opera. It’s definitely an experience that I’m to going remember for a long time.

The Tempest was the first opera I went to. It was a new and different experience, and overall I enjoyed it a lot. I felt rich, though I was sitting so high up that I could touch the ceiling. I thought opera shows were like a Broadway musical and it would be a normal play but when you least expect it, a song starts. My favorite character was Ferdinand because he has an amazing voice. My least favorite character is Ariel because her voice hurts my ears. When I first heard her voice, it did not sound human. But I admire her talent. I agree with Daniel that some words would be stretched when sang, and those words were usually rhymes. Knowing the story of The Tempest is key to understanding the opera. The first acts were very easy to follow but I got lost on the last act. I could not figure out why Properso had a sudden change of heart. My favorite part was when Calilban tried to overthrow Properso but he failed miserably hahaha. I was really impressed with the background. When Ferdinand and Miranda were holding hands and moving towards the sunset. The background was the only moving but it felt real. Amazing!

Like many of my other classmates, it was my first experience at an Opera. And I have to say it was a really fun experience.

I read the Tempest a few years ago and remember hearing that it was Shakespeare’s last play. To be honest, it was the only Shakespeare play I enjoyed reading. And I enjoyed the opera version we watched a few days ago. I thought the way they reenacted the play was excellent and all the characters played their roles well. I also thought the characters had exceptional voices, especially Ariel – the coloratura soprano. I thought it was really incredible how she was signing with such a high pitch.

The one thing I didn’t like about the opera was the ending. While reading the play, I felt like there was a large focus on Prospero. Even though it seemed like it was the beginning of Miranda’s new life with Ferdinand and the end of Prospero’s story, Prospero was still left with a sense of authority. They way he addressed the audience in the reading was very powerful. In fact, I have heard that this represented Shakespeare saying goodbye to his readers. However, during the actual opera, Caliban was left as the main focus at the end. He was given the sense of power because he had his island returned to him. Prospero didn’t receive any importance and left with a feeling of weakness and despair, which I didn’t really like.

Aside from the ending, I found the opera very enjoyable.

For our assignment, we had to print a picture of the body. My printer did not have ink, so I decided to upload the pictures instead. As you can tell, these are pictures of people dunking. I believe the elegance (in Jordan’s dunk) and the power (in LeBron’s dunk) conveyed by their bodies make these a work of art. It can also be considered artistic how they show the limits of the human body by doing these athletic dunks. In one case, a commentator likened a dunk to the act of flying.

I’ve never been to an opera and honestly after seeing the Tempest, I do not plan on seeing another anytime soon.

The plot was interesting but the production was far too long. Each line was stretched unnecessarily to 30- 40 seconds. Although I enjoy music and can appreciate the skill in most styles of music, the opera voices annoyed me. Ariels voice jumping from to low to high pitch so abruptly gave me a headache. The inability to understand most of words while they were singing and reading the words off the screen, I felt, disconnected the plot from what was happening on stage.

But I did enjoy some aspects of the Tempest at the Met.

The building is very fancy. The main colors are red and gold, which reminds me of royalty. The seats and railings all are covered in red velvet which have the same effect. The chandeliers are beautiful.

The opera crowd that night was friendly.

The spirits’ costumes and choreography were interesting.

Plays and musicals make sense to me. Operas… not so much…