Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

My childhood was mostly me burying myself with Archie comics. I constantly read treasuries of comic strips like pearls before swine, baby blues, peanuts, garfield and more. I certainly looked forward to the comic book archive. As a history geek I appreciated the historical aspect of the archives. It was disappointing that they did not have many pieces relating to mainstream comics. However, it was nice to examine the bigger picture of comics throughout the 20th century. I felt the archive did make the best of the limited resources it had. The documents were not easy to obtain and the fact that they were able to obtain that many is remarkable. One improvement they could make is they way they present the archive in a simpler way. The guide made too many assumptions about the knowledge we had about comics. If they gave more thought to that then we could have gained more from the exhibit.

First of all, who wasn’t excited to go to this event? I was on board the minute I heard food. I’ve never been to a panel discussion like symphony space so I was unsure about how it would be for me. The topic intrigued me because Jewish culture was something that was unfamiliar to me.

Let’s say it was not my favorite trip. It may sound harsh but this was a trip that I did not enjoy at all. Right when I sat down people were shocked that Justin and I were there. Simply put, we did not fit in with the demographic at all. The fact that we stood out as 2 non-caucasian teens in hoodies made me weary of the talk. I was certainly right. The next 1.5 hours involved me wondering what was going on and consulting with Justin about Jewish food. It seemed necessary that you had a basic understanding of Jewish culture in order to gain anything from the talk. I went hoping to gain knowledge about Jewish food. It only managed to confuse me. Overall the trip wasn’t what I hoped it would be and I did not get much out of it.

Seriously, are bagels actually Jewish food?

I was a part of my high school choir and had the opportunity to familiarize myself with classical music and music that was not considered to be modern or popular. It was a valuable experience because I gained an appreciation for classical choral pieces as well as the typical orchestra pieces. Listening to Mutter was an experience that I appreciated. I do not get an opportunity to listen to classical music often so this trip was something I looked forward to. It was an opportunity to listen to classical music which I could not devote time to since high school.

What I loved about this performance was the passion that the musicians had as they played the pieces. Mutter and her students had a command of the pieces and conveyed through their instruments as well as the way in which they used their bodies. As a musician myself I believe that instruments are an extension of one’s body. The art of music is an art form of the human body. Its draining to passionately sing or play an instrument which is exactly what Mutter did. Performing in this way definitely leaves an impact on the audience.

Looking back on the symphony space food talk I can say I appreciate the event more now than when I was in the actual talk. I enjoyed the conversation and learning about some history associated withJewish food, but like many of my classmates I wish the speakers would have talked more about the actual dishes and their significance in Jewish culture. But reflecting back I can understand why the speakers didn’t automatically talk about that, or directly shifted their focus to typical Jewish food because it’s getting harder to classify something as “Jewish” food, or any other cultural food for example. At one point in the conversation the speakers stated that bagels were stereotypical jewish food and Natalie who was next to me kept saying “no, no they’re not, what is she saying?” and once we got back to class everyone who was Jewish had something to say about how it Jewish food was a bit misrepresented. I always understood someone saying they’re Jewish as being in the same context as someone saying they’re a Catholic and never understood it is a culture and not just a religion. But through the input of my classmates and the Jewish food talk I now understand a lot more about the Jewish culture.

I didn’t really have much to say about this trip. We got there pretty early, so I went with Jeanette and bought new jeans haha. (fashion is art, right?) Then, we went in and I thought it would be interesting because I’m Jewish and all. I thought I would relate to it. But honestly, I was just as lost as any non-Jew was. They emphasized so much on one particular section of Judaism (Ashkenaz Jews) and that really bothered me. Like am I not part of the Jewish NYC culture? I got over it, but it did make the trip much less interesting. I was hearing names that I’ve never heard of and some that were vaguely familiar at best. But, it wasn’t so bad because I had the class with me and that’s always fun. The cinnamon rolls and mug at the end were pretty great, too.
That’s all about the food talk.
But, it did bring in the topic of food as art into class, which made Elizabeth’s great role in our skit.
Without it, one funny part of the skit would’ve been gone.
That’s always a plus.

Going to miss this class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlTxDhwhm64

Hey guys! Here’s our final project video.

We had fun and food, and we saw a play!

[videojs mp4=”http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/big-uploads/final-project.mp4″]

Going to Carnegie hall to listen to classical music was great. It was amazing to be able to close my eyes and listen to a performance and not have to use my other senses, however being able to look and see all the individual musicians use their bodies as they played their instruments was an amazing feeling. I really enjoyed hearing the four seasons part of the performance since I felt it provided the most emotions with the piece. It was intense to hear the women in the yellow dress(forgot her name) and the (base or cello) player performing together since it was amazing how they would build on one another’s instrument. I guess the only part that was not so enjoyable was when the harpsichord was playing solo, since people would cough and it was at such a low volume you could not really enjoy the music that was being performed.

Overall I really liked being able to go to Carnegie hall and listen to classical music since it was such an amazing and wonderful experience.

Reverse Midterm Questions!

1. Compare and contrast the Vietnamese memorial that was upright to the 911 memorial that was underground. What effect(s) do you think they had on visitors because of their structure and location?
2. Is Sol Lewitt an artist? Explain. What about Marcel Duchamp?
3. BONUS: If you had to choose a poem like we did, which one would you choose? Why? Analyze it.

I can honestly say enjoyed this event, was completely enthralled in it and was able to relate to it well because I am also Jewish. That said, I felt that a lot of people in the class at the end of the show couldn’t understand most of the things being talked about because they did not grow up with it causing sort of a rift in appeal.

A few things really made me enjoy this show. Firstly, i couldn’t stop laughing when one of the owners of Zabars advertised his company and skewed a question around in order to try to do such. I enjoyed the talk of many european jewish food because as stated above I’m a european jew. Imagining Kasha Varnikie and Matza Ball soup immediately reminded me of my grandmother’s house who i went to every shabbat night for dinner before she passed away so that brought back some strong memories too.

In conclusion, this event went better than expected for me as I was expecting something fairly bland. On a cold wednesday night however it was truly nice to go out and experience this public forum.