Christine's Arts Blog!

I decided to get away from the subject of art. I wonder when people read this- do they wonder about me. I briefly introduced myself in the beginning of this blog. This blog was once a multicultural blog I had for graduate class that turned into an art blog. I had a blast in the class and the professor that taught the class always encouraged her students to explore themselves a bit deeper. I learned so much from this professor: she taught me to constantly keep trying, never give up, make sure I become the best writer and student I could be. I never would have made it through graduate school if I did not take her graduate writing course. I still refer to many of her notes she gave us in that class. As I get ready to defend my thesis ( it is coming up here shortly) I think of what one of my favorite professors would encourage me to do. So Dr. Anne Marie Fowler if you ever find this know that I am eternally grateful for everything you taught me. I will never forget the wisdom you ...

September and October are always busy months for me! I had a lot of homework and getting aligned to finish up my thesis. But I do enjoy now and then sneaking away to see different forms of art and films and such. I was lucky enough to win tickets to see a live presentation via Fathom events on the city of Pompeii. It was very interesting and much of the information I had never heard of! If you have a chance and want some interesting reading take out some books about the city and people of Pompeii. It was sure an eye opener for me!

Well happiness is to report I did pretty well in my World Literature Class :o) I think I might keep this blog up and not only dedicate it to literature but to art, film, and other mediums. It was pretty fun keeping a blog for class :o) I hope other students enjoy it as much as I did myself! I did see a new Woody Allen movie over the weekend called Blue Jasmine. It was a sad but good movie. It goes to show you can have all the money in the world but that doesn't make the world go around.

I thought after reading several poems from Yehuda Amichai there was a commonality of loss of innocence in each of this separate poems. What I found most fascinating from last week is that I wrote about Mahmoud Darwish who is a poet who wrote about being Arab in Palestine. Amichai is a writer who writes from the perspective of a Jewish person in Israel. I have always had a deep interest in the Middle East and Jewish cultures. I think is fascinating to see the different poems on different end of the spectrum as far as literary themes. In the poem "Jerusalem" the first stanza contains a narrator who does not produce much hope. "On a roof in the Old City-laundry hanging in the late afternoon sunlight- the white sheet of a woman who is my enemy"(1-4). These lines show little to no hope for this narrator where you cannot tell if it is a man or a woman. However, the narrator gives such a sense of diminished accomplish. In the middle stanza it shows the narrator reference...

The theme of Watan (homeland) is very much present in Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “Identity Card” because of the realism he writes of describing his homeland. Throughout his entire poem he writes about how his homeland which appears to be that of Palestine, furthermore that has been ripped right out from under his native land. In the beginning stanza of the poem, he focuses on making sure the reader understands his nationality fully as they will see him state it in every stanza from start to finish. I thought this was interesting because it shows that he is not ashamed of who he is, or what homeland he comes from. I also think that he states “I am an Arab” because he is attempting to be the voice for those who do not have a voice. There also seems to be an element of humanism that Darwish is attempting to provide to his readers. There are several references to him physically describing himself such as in “put it on record – I am an Arab- colour of hair: jet black-colour of eyes :brow...

In the poem “Walking Around” by Pablo Neruda there appears be several underlying themes of losing and almost near insanity. In the first stanza, Neruda sets up the reader to almost personify with the narrator of the poem, a man who is not lost with nowhere to go. Neruda writes, “it happens that I am tired of being man-It happens that I go into the tailor’s shops and the movies-all shriveled up, impenetrable, like a felt swan navigating on a water of origin and ash”(Neruda 1423). The city emerges in the first stanza as over populated yet homey sort of place. I am not sure as to why I feel that way, I can relate to the man who in the city as I have lived places where everyday seems to go with the next. I think it important to realize that this man comes off as crazy, yet as I read each stanza of the poem I do not see him as crazy. I see him as a man who has had enough of his present place and longs for something more exciting. In the sixth stanza a reader sees an even darker place...

In "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov there is much emphasis on movement and time throughout the story. Chekhov uses time and movement throughout his four comedy act to show the back story. Lyuba Ranyevekaya is the main character who owns the estate where the cherry orchards are located on. She is close to losing her estate, therefore, she must sell her house along with the orchard.  In the first act of the story Lyuba returns home from a trip to a world for which she is not familiar. Everything that was once familiar to her seems mysterious, however, her and her daughters reference the orchard several times throughout the story. I think the orchard is symbolic to a time where the family was once rich, and as time passed they became poor due to mismanagement of money and in essence time. "The Cherry Orchard" is really all the family has and once that is gone, there will be nothing left but time. Lyuba also references over the course of time the mistakes she...

I thought both Jose Marti and Ruden Dario were both excellent Latin poets that appeared to relate many of their works to that of poet Walt Whitman’s works. Firstly, Whitman had many works that could be compared to poems of Marti and Dario as they all contained similar poetics as far as style and technique. However, the most important thing to remember when it comes to these three poets is how they portray life elements in their poems. Whitman has a keen sense of style to write about life from the inside looking out. In his poem, “51” his lines contain that of self-awareness of society. The first lines read, “They past and present wilt- I have filled them, emptied them- and proceed to fill my next fold of the future” (1-2), which is fair to say that life goes on through Whitman’s poems. In Marti’s poem “I am an Honest Man” has similar life elements to that of Whitman’s poems. In the first few lines of his poem Marti writes, “I am an honest man- from where the palm grows- and b...

“ An Essay of Man” by Alexander Pope transcends new world order by making his arguments based off that life is more on man, than it is on religion. I think he bases more of his arguments that man in general is given free will. In in most religions people are given free will, thus; they have the ability to choose from right to wrong. However, I think that Pope takes it a step further in his essay by pointing out that it is man who makes disorder in the world. Thus, also creating the existence of evil.   Pope writes, “ better for Us-Perhaps, it might appear- where all harmony, all virtue here-that never air or ocean felt the wing- that never passion discomposed the mind”(165-168). I feel what he is attempting to say it that no matter the circumstance it is up to man to make his own path and do good in the world. However, I do think that Pope acknowledges the world to not be that great, yet it is up to man to make it better. One of the very interesting things I noticed in “An Ess...

I felt after reading Michel De Montaigne that his assertions were a little off base. I disagree with him when his states barbarism can best be defined as “whatever is not in one’s own practice”, because I feel his statements are unrealistic and selective.  Perhaps it was what was going on during this time period he viewed as barbaric but just because a human being is experiencing something out of his or her own realm, it is not fair to constitute the situation as always barbaric unless it truly is. Now that is to not say there are some pretty horrific and barbaric things that went on during this time period as well as today. I decided to focus on a very important yet extremely disturbing (at least to me) topic which is female circumcision. I feel as though regardless to what studies have been done about female circumcision, the subject matter is still very barbaric and germane to the female gender. I understand that different cultures have their beliefs but I am cannot quite...

In the West African Epic “Sunjata” it appears that Mansa of Konfara ‘s wife magically appears. He has all the power, therefore, all he has to do is dictate what he wants. The story was somewhat hard to follow due to the magical yet beautiful realism in the story.   I thought the whole ritual of the woman belonging to the as a possession to her husband, his family, and the village as germane.   It appears that the wife does not want to tend to her husband, let alone be married to him. It took me a few times to read the story to understand the woman’s role is below man in this particular society. The story does not evoke much hope for the female gender.   I am not sure as to why natural birth is not present in the story, I am wondering if it is because of Mansa of Konfara’s mystical powers. Since we are studying the Middle East and India this week I decided to research wedding customs in Morocco.   I found the sequence of wedding events surprising. For example, ...

The combination of the pieces of artwork and wording of the poems showed the cohesiveness of the story that is narrated to the viewer through artwork and words of poems. In the one poem and artwork combination the viewer sees a beautiful picture of a young Japanese woman brushing her long beautiful black hair. Next the words of the poem which are, "wrapping rice dumplings in bamboo leaves- which one hand she fingers- her hair over her forehead", which goes along with the first picture that is showed to the viewer. This is just one example, however, it shows how the pictures and words go together to ultimately form a story. In another example, there is piece of artwork that shows a house that appears to be synopsis of civilization. In the next scene of the video, the viewer sees the words of a poem as “with the air of a century past- the fallen leaves of garden”, which appears to be talking about the virtue of nature. The creator of this video wanted to show the art and ...

  I thought the different works in “Classic Poetry” as aspects of education was not far off than any other ancient teaching of poetry. The poems were all enriched (some more than others) with changing words and full of emotions. The poetry is focuses on different aspects of life more specifically that will be discussed which are rhetoric, morals and virtues. As far as teaching rhetoric the poems are full of ancient words that appear to be different languages yet one universal language. These poems also as far as rhetoric gave a voice to the people who did not have a voice. For example, in the poem “ Plums are Falling ” takes mention of how life changes daily. Focusing on the words of the poem in the first stanza gives a clear and direct indication how these poem teaches specific language. In the poem, “Plums are falling, seven are the fruits, many men want, let me have a fine one” (760), shows the indirect changing of one’s life or that of life in general. I thought this...

  The role of disguise in the story “Somadeva” is symbolic to the red lotus. It interesting that the red lotus was given to both husband and wife to keep in case the other one commits adultery. The red lotus appears that is almost used almost as a plastic love, and love should be forever. Yet, the plastic really shows the elasticity placed over the situation. One of the things the story fails to do is alert the readers to the story within the story. I think the main female characters Devasmita was used as a pawn to test her ability to remain faithful to her husband. One thing that I found fascinating in this story was that Devasmita comes off as she cares, but I highly doubt she did. She appeared to be a strong woman (even going against her father’s wishes to marry) but she also seemed somewhat aloof to what was going in the story. This reveals by some of the examples in the story and the nature of relationships between women in men, which a woman can play a man’s game ju...

Hello, My name is Christine Donofrio but please feel free to call me Chris. I have another blog that I keep where I write my poetry and about different things in my life. I am somewhat excited to use blogging as an assignment. My favorite things are movies and did I say movies. I attend movie marathons on a regular basis. I like anything from indie, science fiction, to horror films. I also write poetry and I am working on a play. I am currently working on a documentary about Gay and Lesbian families for my creative research thesis project. I have a best family and friends could ask for. Oh and I dabble in painting as well!