Quicksand Reading Response

“Yet she had continued to try not only to teach, but to befriend those happy singing children, whose charm and distinctiveness the school was so surely ready to destroy” (Larsen 5)

The above excerpt describes the side of the school system that Helga Crane sees in Naxos. It is noted that Helga can never like a place forever, she finds faults with the system, the people or the atmosphere, when in reality, its her own fault. She relates the school system to being mechanic and evil as it imprisons the minds of the youngest members, the children. Helga migrates from place to place and complains that the society doesn’t like her or that she doesn’t belong. Helga even regrets her decision of leaving the Naxos school system after the interview with Dr.Anderson, which leads only to confusion about whether or not her reasons for leaving are satisfactory.

Science fiction cityscape

Frank Herbert, the famed author of the DUNE book series does go into description about the cities such as Arakeen and Baronny; two major cities on two different planets. Arakeen is the bustling space port where it is the only comfortable section of Planet Arrakis, the very desert planet that the novel takes place in. As for Baronny, it s the industrial section of Geidi Prime. Large buildings pumping sulfur and hazardous mist attribute to a miasma that alone clings the air. No trees, no grass, just steel plaz. The point is, every science fiction author depicts the future cities as large, efficiently built and sophisticated. My question is, what will the minor cities look like. As it is, we don’t need to know what NYC is going to look like in 3049 or Neo Tokyo in 3673, but what will become of the cities that we don’t show attention to. I’d also like to see what future architects and interior designers would do to the suburbs.

In Class Writing Assignment

They accept checks a the bursar, but why won’t they give checks?

 Pluto was once a planet, much like indians were the natives. I feel as though this city I’m in, is going through a polarity shift. Yankees were once free but now are the very men who control or entertainment. Australia far off, a desert prison or refuge, much like fremen were in DUNE, have come forward to say this much. In ages ago, like San Tropez, flowers such as iris and hibiscuses were prevalent yet, the snow of which is tan and dry, the kind that sticks to your skin, unlike silk envelops you entirely. Yet we of the sands share secrets, much more that than you expect. Although we don’t dare handle the affairs of government and fat men, obesity is your affliction. Thereby the Chinese are leading the world. You lacking concentration, motivation and the will to live. You’re stuck in that egg roll, expecting others to take you, learn from you and worship you because of that crunch you call Washington. Out here the ear alone tells you what goes on. The harping of the dunes is like the strum of a guitar under a glass of water. Why isn’t that you hear us? We tell you time and time yet, you blame your own downfalls n other countries like South America. You’re not so better, in fact worse. You smell perfume on the dealings, even boundaries on a square, but all in all, you can’t get out of the Iron Maiden. Buildings, you call Gods and commerce your child, what is it that you have over me? South Beach Miami? Outer space? Easy Bake ovens? Bristol Board models of monuments? You’re being unused, bored, and stuffed like a robot chicken., confusing people under the litany of aggression of the enemy. You’re the enemy, penetrating our minds like an heroine users needle. constantly pumping the populace with the need to hear. But we miss you Frank Herbert, forever opening our minds to think for ourselves and not letting machines control us. May we join you in the never ending recesses of space. 

Is it worse to be dead or forgotten? 

 

Reading Response: Frank O’Hara

Travis Molina

Stacie Cassarino

Introduction to Literary and Critical Studies II

18 February 2008

Reading Response to Frank O’Hara

                From the readings prescribed as homework from last week, I choose to talk about “Personal Poem”, a poem in Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems. The poem starts off with O’Hara talking about good luck charms, 2 in particular that served him, yet others only helped him stay in NY. This statement could be understood as Frank being happy towards living in NY. Moving on, O’Hara meets a famous person and a beggar. The beggar asks for charity towards a disease, yet, O’Hara states that he doesn’t want to give money to a disease charity. Of all things, why would O’Hara mention this?

 The critical part of this piece is when O’Hara asks the question, “I wonder if one person out of the 8,000,000 is thinking of me as I shake hands with LeRoi”. The fact that he mentions eight million people possibly thinking about him when he meets a famous person makes me aware of how insignificant a nobody can appear to a famous person; just another face or fanatic. I like to think of all the people I meet or have met in my life. Do others think of me as I shake their hand, or better yet, in about ten years or so, will I be remembered? I like the fact that Frank O’Hara raises this point, and it does challenge us to ask the same about others, do we remember others when they shake my hand?

Opinions

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the science fiction video game “Half Life 2” but I wanted to show you an image that I particularly fancy. The description is that the menacing “alien” like person in the foreground is of the many guards that serve an organization that oppresses humanity. The reason why I like this is because it reminds of the retro guard promotion posters..ie- PROTECT AND SERVE, JOIN THE BODYGUARD…etc. Although the dark tones and futuristic element may take away the severity of the image’s meaning, I want to know what you guys think.

Film Response to Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy has to be a depressing film. The imagery alone makes me feel down, especially how the director makes the comparisons of Joe Buck being a dog dressed up as a human: no matter what he does, he’s always someone’s pet and toy. Aside form Joe Buck, I was surprised to see Dustin Hoffman play the sleezbag hustler Enrico Salvatore Rizzo. Although the idea of a hustler being two dimensiol: good guy and bad guy; he nonetheless provided a comedic element to the plot. The scenes were quite confusing, epecially during the flashbacks and drug/sex party. The camera shook too much, it reminded me of cloverfield. Overall, the movie was good, and I would watch it over again.

Fulton Street Market

I’ve always went to canal street or small bodegas to buy anything that I needed for the school year, until someone told me to check out the Fulton Street Market and Atlantic Center Mall. My it is a bustling hubub of shoppers.

There I was, marching along on De Kalb, plodding on the had cement. People slyly walking around me and passerbyers passybying. A puff of smoke lingered in the horizon, in the direction of the large prison like building of long Island university. Streets tangle like the veins of a man with high cholestoral, folks gradually piling in on the pavement. Hawkers eye me, as their vulture eyes tear apart my soul in interest of their product. A large arc, greater than Noah’s stands above me, FULTON STREET MARKET. She who walks with her kid, pulls him quickly from me, as if I’m sort of merchant of people. Cheap electronics the kind that you give your inlaws on their wedding and house warmings glitter the streets in an sea of grey that wants to wash upon my person. Then there walks a lady, quickly walking, muttering, “DVD”s, how can she protect the secrets of the world with those quick eyes. Ravens and vultures descend upon the crowds, buy me, eat this, promotions, promotions. As I stood there, in a daze that glared upon centuries peirced me from my slumber. Another colorful character props from a window, then crawls to the street on his thin bony legs, opening the death trap and bellowing a serenade that won my appeal. Melodious and yet tactful, his tricks does not trick that mother, but the child yes. It never ends, buy buy buy, why common sense is the last thing you need here.

Aside from my experience, I decided to write a little about the Fulton Street Market.

Surprisingly enough, Fulton Street Market, existed since the beginning of New York, when the dutch made that famous purchase with the local Indians. But in those days, Fulton street market was not known the same way as we know it. Fulton street was established around in the 1800’s when the steamboat operator “Fulton” made his first successful trip up the east river. Since then, the area populated with stores and became what it is today, the so called Fulton street market, where you can find anything you need in downtown Brooklyn.

Info courtesy of www.fultonstreet.org

Future Cities

Since we’re not to far from the year 2025, do you think by then that our world will like the set from Blade Runner or something starwars esque? I mean, we already have towering buildings and functional architecture, but how better could it become?

Reading Response: Defining the urban

Travis Molina

Stacie Cassarino

Introduction to Literary and Critical Studies II

5 February 2008

Reading Response: Defining Urbanism

You wake up on the train after what seemed like a short nap in between your commute to Brooklyn, from Manhattan. Without looking, you exit the train, and station. After a short stair case, the cold air of the Brooklyn night hits your nose hard and the smells of dirty streets, and greasy chicken houses assault your senses. Suddenly you’re overcome with the realization that you’re in the lush and vibrant community of “BedSty”. To your left, people on stoops waiting to hassle you for money, and about a block uptown and an alley, that shady character stands there waiting to mug you for cheap liquor. Children running and yelling in the streets, cursing, and misbehaving. Even the street  lamps seem to dim and wane, seeing as they were mugged too. You clutch your belongings and wallet; as if you’re actions were not reason enough to attract attention. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what we think of the urban.

Urban to me is defined as a section of a city where low income people live in dilapidated apartments that are roach infested and falling apart. My first impressions of NY as a kid seemed to be a place that everyone wanted to go to and live. I could remember always wanting to travel Central Park and play Frisbee there, while sampling all the fine pizza restaurants and hot dog carts. More to that, I’d say food sums up NY. You can’t go past a block without being intoxicated by the various eateries in most of the boroughs.

My experience of NY residency is very limited. Despite scholarly responsibilities, I have only visited Manhattan several times; but most of my time is around campus and Williamsburg. I’m particularly fascinated with the South side of Williamsburg because of the Latino foods, which remind me of home. In a sense, that small section reminds me of those intimate scenes of the neighborhood in films, such as “Once upon a time in NY”, “Spider-man”, etc.

However, my reason for liking NY is different than that of famed authors such as White, Kazin, Didion, Abbey and Schulman. White describes what is known as a location NY, where famous and monumental events happen everywhere. People come to the city either looking adventure, go just to work or just accepts it. Kazin on the otherhand, talks about how he felt being a stranger on the outside door of NY; he said this about his experience in living in Brownsville. Although he knew his pocket Jewish community, he focused more on that aspect, where as White talks key places. In comparison to White’s and Kazin’s views on NY, Didion’s experience and reason comes out of left field. She comes from Sacramento to NY at the age of 20 and realizes that the city is for the young, because it never changes. She moved on from apartment to apartment, without ever getting furniture, and partying. Didion does realize that there are never new people and she solved her problem of unsatisfaction by moving back to California and marrying. Continuing on the topic of outside NY, Abbey takes you from Manhattan to Hoboken. He does not like the city and prefers more nature. In one instance, he compared the blackout in Manhattan as a dark ship on black sees at night. Schulman, goes back to the idea of liking NY, but its hard to say. Her approach is more aggressive as her plot talks about taking care of problems so that they don’t come back.

In junction with the aforementioned pieces, I can most identify the NY in Schulman. Despite that I don’t see rats or roaches [thank god], I feel that the idea of being aggressive and eventually taking everything out is a central idea in my experience of living in NY. I’m learning that if I don’t take the opportunity to better myself or be the one in charge, then I lose control of city life, much like the rats are a reoccurring pest.

Reading Response: Sense of Place

Travis Molina

Stacie Cassarino

Introduction to Literary and Critical Studies II

5 February 2008

Sense of Place

What gives me a sense of place is the familiarity of objects and smells that are near me. I feel most comfortable if I can recognize subjects that I’ve seen back at home, such as McDonalds’ advertising, movies that I wanted to see, Bank of America. When I was over in Germany several summers ago, much of their city life is so different than that of NY or NJ. Dusseldorf, Germany for one, had more modern architecture and fewer advertisements that over here in Manhattan. Then again, I’m comparing two different microcosms.

I believe that identity is defined by what you grew up with, henceforward, stereotypes emerge. It is a common belief that people that come from the country are more inclined towards enjoying simple things and silence where as, people from the city have a propensity towards being hasty and aggressive. However, I think that places partially add to one’s identity, as well does culture and family lifestyle; thus a person’s identity could be best described as a pie chart, containing divisions of what that person holds dear and ultimately contributes to their identity.

“Home”, again, for me is being able to recognize certain little things, mostly sentimental objects such as a wall paint color, cats, and downy fabric softener. This could be why the phrase, “Home is where you make it”, sums it up. It is a mystery how little things like fabric softener can help one feel at home. But another odd event is, when I’m either tired or just unfocused, I can hear the sounds of my home or the familiarity of it. I woke up one morning in my dorm to the sounds of what I thought were my Dad making breakfast; aside from the delicious smell from the grill, you can tell if he’s cooking because of the sounds. I believe this notion has something to do with carrying our home’s with us. Look at the homeless, we label them homeless because they don’t have a mail address, yet, they can survive almost anywhere.

Jackson’s essay on the sense of place has some connectors towards this post. He simply states that “sense of place” is a false statement leading only into a spiritual acknowledging. I don’t agree with Jackson, because the spiritual tie can be interpreted as a religious thing, or a special moment. For me, my house in NJ is my home because of everything I experienced there growing up. Now, in Brooklyn, it is my new home because I have new experiences here.