Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 7)

Snapshot day at the New York Historical Society was an awesome experience. It was exciting to see all of the photos taken by my peers presented at the museum. Our photos had become a part of the art. The curators did a great job of exhibiting the various photos and organizing them based on the approximate time they were taken. I liked the creative idea of choosing random times of the day, like 7:46 P.M., rather than exact times like 10 A.M. Finally, the question activity helped us to think about the meaning behind a particular photo, not necessarily our own. I happened to pick my own photo and answered the question by saying that my photo expressed that New Yorkers care about one another.

The photo that I chose to submit for the exhibit was the one that I took on our trip to the 9/11 memorial. I selected this particular photo for numerous reasons. Firstly, this honoring monument has an aesthetic beauty to it. The idea of a waterfall within another waterfall intrigued me. Also, the sheer size of the design was somewhat intimidating: an acre for each waterfall set within the footprints of the Twin Towers. Another important reason why I chose this photo was the overwhelming and deep emotion that I felt standing there watching the memorial. Of all the trips we’ve taken this year, I believe this one had the greatest emotional component to it. The memorial meant so much to people of many unique backgrounds. It acted as a unifying factor to bring New Yorkers closer together.

“The quality of the rich is determined not the quality of their riches but by the quality of the food given to the poor.” –Pope (paraphrased version)

I read this quote when I visited the Irish memorial on Thursday with Mark, Katherine, Adam, Sandy and Melissa.  Although this wasn’t the ideal destination of our trip, it was very informative.  The Irish Hunger memorial is dedicated to all those who suffered those harsh times during the potato famine.  The memorial was situated in an inconspicuous part of Manhattan, overlooking a large body of water.  When I read this quote, I was astonished and I decided to do some research.  It turns out that although the majority of Irish were Catholics at that time period, most of them were poor.  Most of the upper class members of society were English protestants, which explains the subsequent tension between the Irish and English.  The pope said this quote to convince those upper class Englishmen to provide for the Catholics living in Ireland at the time.

Overall, the memorial seemed somewhat drab and gloomy.  The location and the dark night sky seemed to enhance that effect.  Surprisingly, however, couples came there for the solitude and other small groups also came to see the memorial.  It seemed that some parts of the memorial need more renovation and merited greater attention from the public.  Even though I am not Irish, I believe that it is extremely important to rejuvenate this memorial for the sake of history.

Truth be told, I was expecting a greater turnout for the Snapshot day.  But it seemed like only a fraction of the Macaulay class showed up.  But it was immediately clear that those that didn’t show up to the Snapshot event missed out on the grandness of the event.  Despite being located in, what I believed, a drab neighborhood, the museum was gargantuan when viewed from the inside.  The building was so big, that to see the ceiling, one would hurt his/her neck!  Complimenting this architecture, I noticed the pictures that were displayed to the students.  It was immediately clear that the five or six curators had invested abundant time and energy to organize and assign a time to those pictures.  Each picture was neatly categorized into a time based on the position of the sun, the length of shadows, the intensity of lighting etc.  The amount of work that the curators put in must have been unfathomable!  Even though my picture was categorized into the wrong time, I was greatly impressed by their hard work to the task.  Uploading the pictures to a social media was fun but challenging because I had to find the “perfect” picture to do so.  The batmobile was also eye-catching, even though it wasn’t the new batmobile (the one from the movie not the comics).  The experience was, overall, very humbling.

How many people can say that they had a some of their photographs displayed as a respected museum? Not many. Thanks to the Macaulay snapshot event, we can say that. It was fun to be going somewhere to see our own art rather one that has been created by another. It was obvious from the photos that people had so many varying interests and it showed how diverse New York City is in terms of how we see it. Another fun highlight of the event was getting to see the vintage costumes and comic books being displayed in the Superheroes of Gotham. I thought it was a little funny how a respected museum can put superheroes such as Superman and Spiderman in a room that is called “Superheroes of Gotham” even though they are not from Gotham. All in all, it was a great experience.

Originally we had intended to go to the Museum of Feelings, however due to the 1.5 hour wait we opted to go to the nearby Irish Hunger Memorial instead. This memorial is truly a hidden gem; it is hardly talked about as a central tourist attraction but its design is incredibly interesting. It is also interactive: you can read the quotes along the exterior and walk on top of or through it. It’s a mixture of modern themes and old fashioned rock construction. It also makes a point not just about Irish hunger but about global hunger through the quotes on the walls. This message was in stark contrast to the grandeur and luxury condos of the nearby World Trade Center and downtown area.

I am proud to admit that i am a shakespeare fan. Even before the plays were assigned in school, i had read them on my own and i almost always fall in love with whatever work i am reading. Yet, i felt that this play didn’t exemplify what shakespeare intended it to be, which is fine, except that the play itself was pretty confusing.

I thought that the actors did an amazing job, especially since it was an all female cast all playing males. This rendition of the play was definitely entertaining, but at times it felt a little bit too over the top. I did think it was interesting though that the play was kind of a framed narrative and so even though it was confusing, it was very realistic in the sense that if prisoners were to do this play, it would probably be just as if not more over the top in the lewdness… Even though it came out of nowhere, i loved the song and despite the actual words, i thought the melody was beautiful. I also really liked the fighting scenes, the loud music and the spray paint on the floor, all unique to this rendition of the play I’m sure.

All in all, i thought that it was a very interesting performance. I don’t think anyone ever has or will ever see Henry IV performed quite like that again.

I was unable to go see the snapshot exhibition, so i will post about my submission instead.

I took this picture (see below) from the roof of a hotel in New York City. I chose to submit this picture because i felt that it captured another side of the city. Rather than the busy, industrial, super-crowded image that usually represents NYC, i wanted to show that the beauty of the city isn’t only in the hustle and bustle but also in the the appearance, the location, and the architecture. Beauty can be found anywhere at the right time and i had not intended to take this picture, but when i saw the view and was given the opportunity to capture the moment, i couldn’t pass it up and that was something i wanted to share.

I looked at some of the photos online and just wanted to say that everything looked amazing. Props to the curators. I know that it was a lot of work, but you did an amazing job.

I was one of the curators for the snapshot exhibition. I both enjoyed the process and found it frustrating. The frustrating part was the sheer amount of pictures, divvying them, finding both versions of each (large and small), among other things. The part I enjoyed was also one that I found frustrating. That was putting everything together. When putting the pictures up, the curators had double sided tape but it didn’t stick so we all had to use pushpins. I’m not the strongest person in the world so it was hard to stick it on the blackboards. But, I also really enjoyed that part because I got to put up what I wanted how I wanted it. I had 3 times and they were 9:06 (graffiti), 10:11 (linear pictures),  21:19 (night collage). I have attached pictures of my sections below (they were taken the day before the exhibition).

To be honest, during the exhibition, I did not stay for long. I saw all the pictures so many times I got sick of them. But, I was happy with the turnout and glad that I was part of its curation.

The G train coming into Smith-9th Street station, the most elevated in the country

This was the photo I entered into the snapshot exhibit. I feel it encapsulates the excitement of the train coming into the station, especially with the iconic downtown skyline beckoning in the distance. It is also the highest station in the nation which provides an overall feeling of thrill. I am being unusually brief because I feel the photo speaks for itself. I went out of my way to get a shot like this as I live in Marine Park, in southeast Brooklyn quite far and hard to access from the Gowanus area where Smith 9th is located. I am proud of the results of my effort and feel it was worth it.

Here is the link to my tweet about the actual event on Nov. 22: https://twitter.com/melemonbalm/status/668471303662243841

After sitting through three hours of the jazz performance, I realized that Vaughan was right: it was difficult to fall asleep during the performance.  The music was too lively and vibrant! Everyone, especially Vaughan, performed exceptionally.  However, the one saxophone player in the corner that played some disturbing, yet oddly alluring, music was eye-catching (or should I say ear-catching?).  My favorite part of the play was when the musicians emulated the sound of a crying baby, which succeeded in eliciting laughter and astonishment from the audience.  The play was also loud.  Really loud.  This intensity was one of the factors that made the music likable.  I also liked the great amalgam of sounds that were presented to the audience.  When I closed my eyes, I tried to separate the sounds that I heard.  I heard a little bit of the piano and some other instruments that I have difficulty naming.  Overall, however, the wind instruments (particularly the trumpet) and the drums were the loudest.

I noticed that the relationship between the musicians in the band seemed more informal than I thought it would be.  For instance, the composer picked out his friend from the audience and asked him to direct the show!  This was fascinating because it reminded me that the musicians were very relaxed and truly enjoyed what they were doing.  Unlike a professional setting, like the Opera, the musicians seemed more connected with the audience members, who sat in relatively close proximity to the musicians.  This physical closeness to the musicians also intensified the effect of the music that was made.  The musicians were also allowed their own solo during the performance, further contributing not only to the informality of the play but also to the audience’s enjoyment of the play.