12/02/2008
Conclusion
Annotated Bibliography
"Counter Culture." British Library. The British Library Board.
An encyclopedia entry about the term “counter-culture”. It defines and gives examples of what counter-culture is and different ways that it is expressed.
Haddow, Douglas. "Hipster: The Dead end of Western Civilization." Adbusters 7929 Jul 2008
The author talks about his experience with “hipsters” – youth that dress alike and reject “popular culture”. He talks about their so-called rebellion and the fact that it isn’t rebellion at all, just another form of consumerism. The author concludes that hipsters are the result of a detached materialistic western civilization.
Hoover, Michael. "Starbucks: Selling out the Counter-Culture?." MRZine
The author talks about what tactics the Starbucks company has used in the present and in the past to sell its product and image. He shows how the “counter-culture” image that Starbucks has is not a coincidence, but the result of deliberate marketing tactics to create an image that would appeal to young consumers.
Mishra, Guarav. "Hipsters: Counter-Culture or Consumer Group?." [Weblog Guaravonomics Blog]
The article identifies hipsters as a consumer group rather than a trend. The author compiles various quotes and articles that have to do with this idea. He calls them “ironic hipsters” because although they claim to hate the “mainstream”, hipsters are essentially just that.
The author talks about the buying power of “hipsters” and how some companies are targeting this generation of consumers especially. The new generation of consumers is one of the biggest yet, with an estimated 2 trillion dollars of buying power. However, the author says that this group has not yet really come into their full buying power since they don’t yet have access to “real money”.
Introduction
Every generation has its counter-culture - a group that rejects and opposes the accepted values of mainstream culture. ("Counter Culture") These are the people that are unsatisfied with the way things are, that disagree with the society that they were born into. One of the most famous examples of counter-culture is the hippy movement in the
However, these movements are not made to have long lifespans. They are either not strong enough to survive, or (as it happens most of the time) are accepted and adopted by society. Of course, the versions of these movements that society accepts are watered-down and most often stripped of their original purpose. As soon as popular culture takes any movement and turns it into a stereotype (usually by making it seem ridiculous, or changing it completely to better fit their needs) they make it so that it is easy to digest for the general public. As soon as the general public accepts it, then they can start dealing with it in the terms that society most understands – money.
The marketing of counter-culture is not a new idea. It is a tried and true marketing technique that is highly successful. Starbucks, Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic – these are all businesses that have made themselves wealthy by basing themselves in this marketing technique. Even companies that seemingly have nothing to do with counter-culture use it in their advertisements to try to get the youth market into buying their products. One of the largest growing group of consumers is what is known as the "hipster"(Mishra). This is the growing trend of self-centered youth that's only use for counter-culture is in terms of fashion. As Haddow puts it in his article, "We’ve reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end product of all prior countercultures, it’s been stripped of its subversion and originality."
Right now, it is trendy to look like a revolutionary and wear a shirt with Guevara emblazoned across it, although it is not necessarily important to believe in the values of what wearing a shirt like this would seem to imply. It is interesting to note that this is a cycle. Once something becomes accessible and accepted by society, it is no longer “counter-culture” and a new counter-culture will emerge in response. It is important that people become aware of the techniques used by big business to silence us into complacency with the status quo, because it is the only way that we can break these cycles and hopefully avoid having future progressive movements turned into cash profit.
Stream of Conciousness
Buy and by we can sell the whole world to a mob of starving consumers looking to own themselves there’s nothing sadder than a blank screen so I will fill it with an image that is easily recognizable and even if I don’t know what or who it is I know that’s what I want I want to bury it all in my closet in terms I can understand like free flowing thought turned into cold hard cash that flows just the same into someone’s hands whos? I don’t really care as long as it’s there guiding me to oblivion of consumerism which is the only answer to chaos the only answer is to speak in your language because my working language doesn’t seem to translate dollars and euros pesos y libras is all the same word like self-imprisonment keep going towards the future keep it for yourself discard it when you use it a big rotting heap of ideas and voices calling from somewhere it could be you or your past but it doesn’t seem like you recognize it. So what? So where is the big after-party (after the show, after the blow and the ecstasy of finding yourself after having been kidnapped by that freak show) Now you question whether or not the price is even worth it, you weigh it against not knowing where you’re going and that never feels good so you take it even though it’s a stained hand me down that smiles when it should frown give me the mona lisa so I can eat her while I wear Buddha on my sleeve and a certified real soldiers bag that came from some fight for something or maybe this face that they told me was once someone is really no one anymore or maybe it has always been no one and belonged to the masses and that I can understand because the same thing happens to my reflection
Hardcore Hipster
This consumer trend has its origins in the underground music genres of metal and punk rock. Once the preferred forms of expression of a generation frustrated with and rebelling from society, now more commonly associated with the trivial preoccupations of the young bourgeois. They roam together in large groups photographically documenting their every movement and express their unending dissatisfaction with life and the world through online communities. This hipster can be typically spotted with any combination of body piercings, strange hair cuts, black themed clothing, heavy eye-makeup, and a dour expression. Look for the Hot Topic tags invariably hanging from one of their 20 articles of clothing to identify them.
Earthy Hipster
This hipster looks to disguise their consumer preoccupations with more earth-friendly trends. Their watered-down views can be traced back to the original mindset of what was once a counter-culture by listening to the music of Bob Marley, who at one time was the voice of this revolutionary sect. Although their clothing style was originally the mark of creative lower-class seamstresses and tailors who eschewed the more common, more expensive popular brands, it is now the mark of “refined taste” as it now has its very own designer name (Valija Gitana) with price tags that only the privileged can match. What was once the every-day clothing of a people who shared ideals rooted in peace, closeness with nature and solidarity of man, has become the party-clothes of the fashion divas.
The Revolutionary
Evolving from a bloody history of revolutions in South and
Short poem
My money is my mouth
My kingdom for a personality
Sell it to me so I can buy my reality
It’s on my shirt but not on my mind, that’s fine
Now my brain is free to predict the next fashion craze
It’s not a maze; it’s a jungle out there
A revolutionary movement to decide what to wear
Recipe
Counter – Culture Soup
Ingredients
The main ingredients to this recipe are entirely up to the chef’s discretion. They should be elements taken from counter-culture movements a little past their prime, since counter-cultures in their prime are much too bitter for most. To make these flavors agreeable to popular society, take only the most easily digested elements such as music or clothing (here is where the tastes of the chef come into play). Discard the ideals and beliefs; leaving the barest hint is fine, but too much will certainly ruin the soup.
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded dollar bills
Procedure
- Boil a large pot of water
- When water is boiling, add counter-culture elements
- Maintaining water level, continue cooking all elements until they are soft enough to dissolve into one homogenized mixture.
- Let simmer until the flavor is agreeable
- Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with the shredded dollar bills to give it capitalist flavor
Serving suggestions
Serve with a large Starbucks coffee for those cold winter nights, or with a cold mocha latte for a refreshing power lunch.
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10/12/2008
Position Paper: Bad News
The situation begins in Georgia, a small country to the southwest of Russia. Georgia was once a part of Russia, but seceded from it in 1991. In Georgia, there is an autonomous region called South Ossetia. The people of South Ossetia claim citizenship of Georgia, Ossetia and Russia. There has been violent struggle between South Ossetia and Georgia for many years, stemming from the fact that the citizens of South Ossetia (which are a minority group in Georgia, Ossetians and Georgians are different ethnicities) claim that the Georgians marginalize them. There have been various violent and non-violent revolts throughout the years in South Ossetia, with the Ossetians aiming to either become independent or join with North Ossetia (which is a part of Russia) and Georgia not willing to give up territory.
This last summer of 2008, Georgia took advantage of the fact that the world was occupied with the Olympics and occupied South Ossetia with military troops. Hundreds of civilians died and thousands were forced to flee their homes. Russia responded to this threat to their citizens and invaded Georgia with its own troops. Now, compared to Russia, Georgia is a tiny speck on the map. Its army is absolutely no comparison to Russian forces. So then why would they make such a dangerous move? Why would they cause any trouble between themselves and their more powerful neighbor? Maybe because since the Bush administration, they have received ample US backing. Under the Bush administration they have received billions in funding – $151 million were given to them just in between 2004 – 2006. In fact, Georgia is currently the fourth- biggest recipient of US funds. On top of that, Georgian troops have received special training from US troops since 2002. Perhaps the reason that Georgia made such a bold move was because they had this western mega-power backing them up.
But why the US interest in Georgia? The US claims that they are supporting a “beacon of democracy”. More likely they are interested in having a foothold around Russian borders. Not to mention the issue that seems to shadow every move that the American government makes; oil. The Caspian Sea is an invaluable resource of oil and natural gas. To avoid dependence on Russian sources of these resources, the Clinton administration backed the building of a pipeline that did not run through Russia. This pipeline is called the BTC pipeline, and it just so happens to run through a certain “beacon of democracy” (you guessed it) – Georgia.
And so we come to the present conflict. Russia has missiles pointed to the United States, and has made agreements with Venezuela. The United States has missiles stationed in Poland pointed towards Russia.
The American media has said very little about the issue. In fact, all of the information gathered from this essay came from outside (mostly European) sources. You’d think that in between the presidential squabbles and Britney’s latest fight with Paris they’d manage to at least find 5 minutes to mention the fact that we are in a very tense state of affairs. This is happening right now. Right now, all it would take to cause a national tragedy (either in Russia or the US or anywhere else) is the push of a button (to be cliché). Why the lack of coverage? Why is it that almost nobody seems aware that anything is going on at all? If there is an attack on US soil, the public will be left in a state of confusion, followed by rage at what would seem to be an unprovoked attack. Just like what happened in Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In fact, the general public might cry out for a war…The truth is that the lack of coverage has nothing to do with the degree of significance. It has to do with the simple fact that the US government just doesn’t want the general public to be informed.
9/03/2008
Personal Memoir - Remembered Event
It was born out of a collective fury. That was why, in a matter of minutes after we found out what had happened, we had grabbed chalk (not finding any permanent markers) and a ladder and marched out. We wanted to make it known that it was not ok. We wanted to paint out our fury. We wanted to let it be known that, permission or no, we would communicate ourselves and our beliefs.
It was a Sunday night at around
I stopped for a second and sipped my root beer as I observed the latest painting and tried to discern its purpose. It wasn’t immediately obvious from my standpoint. There was a giant bleeding penis, along with the silhouettes of a man wielding a knife and a woman on the floor bleeding. All around these two images were messages of hate and violence against women – “Cut their clits!” “Beat the whores” and so on and so forth. Ahhh…it was an (obviously) ironic statement against the mistreatment of women. I appreciated it for a minute or two and then returned to my rehearsal.
Skip to the next day, and I was (not surprisingly) once again in the teatrito, spending time with my other theater geek friends. A friend of the group came to tell us about an incident that they had just seen happen. She told us, “S- has been arrested!”
“Ahhhh?!” (S was another acquaintance of ours)
She explained to us that he had spent last night painting a mural on the wall, but that when he had arrived to colegio that day at 7 in the morning it had been painted over, as if the mural had never existed in the first place. S got mad, and using spray paint, began a new mural. He did a hasty re-do of the giant penis (figuring that it had been this to cause the college authorities to erase it) and began writing a message next to it. It said, “My name is S. Last night, I painted a mural on this wall against violence towards women. This morning at
For about two seconds we stood silently. I couldn’t quite believe that what she was telling us could be true. Then we all got mad. Fast. We moved quickly to get tools we could write with. What we found was multi-colored sidewalk chalk, so we took these and went over to the wall. I got even angrier when I saw that they had again painted over what S had done. It was ridiculous, maddening. In their apparent haste to make the university “respectable” (or whatever their goal in erasing it was) they had apparently painted over it with the first paint they could get their hands on – a white primer that was so thin it didn’t even do anything to hide the image. It was like a double insult. There was the penis that had supposedly been such a big issue, clear as day. They hadn’t even covered it, they had just made it perfectly clear that they would decide what we would and wouldn’t express.
We grabbed our chalk and began writing our own messages besides S’s message. The messages we wrote were about freedom of speech, of our right to express ourselves. They were messages about art and its function. Messages challenging those who would to silence us. Hostile messages. Furious messages.
The guards, who always seemed so slow to appear when something had been stolen or someone had been hurt, now seemed to materialize out of thin air. It looked like they had all been ordered away from their posts to deal with our peaceful little manifestation. We were writing on a wall, for goodness sakes. Writing! Not breaking, not fighting, not even rallying more people to write with us. Nevertheless, the guards told us to stop what we were doing because we were vandalizing government property. Largely we ignored them, but they insisted so we pointed out that it was chalk. Students wrote all the time on the “government property” with chalk to announce all types of events – why was that any different from what we were doing? They acted as if we were speaking a different language, and again insisted that we stop. It’s chalk, we said. The rain would wash it away in a few days.
A friend of mine who is hot-headed could not hold back and began a discourse. He said things that were very true, and extremely valid. He condemned those who would silence anybody else because they didn’t agree with their ideas, or their way of expressing their ideas. Students had gathered in droves, all three floors of the building were full of people straining to see what the commotion was. All of them cheered when he stopped talking, but the guards (and other university workers that had gathered, and I’m sure that even some students) called him disgusting. One heavily built guard wanted to hit him and was held back. At this point things began to get a bit out of hand. A friend pulled me away as I screamed at one of the guards. After, we were taken to talk to the man in charge of student affairs. He was very nice, friendly and calm with us, but not at all helpful. We didn’t think things should be left as they were, so late that night we got together to talk about what we wanted to do. What we decided on was my first performance.
The next day at
It was an exhilarating experience. Performance is not quite like doing theater – in a performance, I am always myself, not a character assigned me. Doing this performance really helped me understand what performance was about and how it could be utilized. I realized that I could use my own passion to reach other people, that I wasn’t impotent. I realized that I could channel my fury, and any other stress or emotion, into action that could help me express myself.
Class Journal 2
Anyway, I should really get to the actual writing part of this blog. Not the babbling I've been doing up to this point. Since we are working with memoirs, I wanted to write about an experience that I once had with writing when I was in high school. It was one of the ideas that I had but discarded, but I figured I could use it for a journal, so here we are!
Well, it all started in my junior year of high school. Since they had no teacher for the accelerated 11th grade English course that year, they had put me in the 12th grade "Advanced Placement" class. It was AP English Language, and on the first day my new teacher told us we would each be expected to write a book during the last quarter of the school year. It made me nervous to hear that - this teacher was known for her very high expectations. Finally, the last quarter of the school year came around and she gave us our schedule for how we should be working on our book. We were to think of her as our editor and hand in divisions of our book for her to edit throughout the few months we had. Everything was coming along really nicely for me, I was on schedule and my teacher seemed to like my ideas. Remember how I said I've never been technological? Well, I had been saving my book on my little USB that I carried around with me everywhere...just on my USB. Like a fool, I had not saved any backups anywhere else. One day my USB went missing. I freaked out and asked everyone I knew if they had seen it anywhere. For about two or three days I was in a constant state of either despair or extreme stress, and my throat always had that funny tight feeling like I was about to cry. Then one of my friends told me that they had seen some guy with it. I was elated, amazed that I was actually able to find it. Of course, I was a bit nervous about talking to this guy, but I really didn't care about that. I just had four days or so left until my project - the book that I had strained and sweat over for months - was due. I found him and asked if he had my USB. He looked at me, a bit embarrassed, and told me he did. I was so happy I almost kissed him. If he would just let me have my project, he could even keep the damn contraption I said. The book was all that mattered. He stood there silently for a few seconds, looking at me with shame and...was that pity? My hopes began to fall even before he said anything.
"I deleted everything on it," he said.
Ugh. It was like a glacier had run me over and flattened me out. It became a bit hard to breathe. My brain went into a shut-down, as if I was panicking. I just stared at him and tried to get some part of my body working again. Finally I just looked at him and told him, "Oh. Well. I guess this is my fault."
I told the story to my friends in my English class and they all sat back and looked at me in shock. They, better than even my best friends could, understood the kind of stress and pain I felt over losing my book. "That's it?!" they asked. "You just let him off the hook?!" I explained that yes, I was mad at him - he had done a mean and extremely inconsiderate thing by deleting someone else's hard work without a second thought. But, I sighed, in the end I had nobody else that I could blame except for myself. It was my responsibility to make sure I had my work, no one else's. I still had the hard copies of some of my work, after all.
One of my friends (I remember exactly who it was too. I had a crush on him.) looked at me really solemnly and said, "Do you want me to beat him up for you? I will."
That night I went home and dug out all the hard copies of my work that I had. Most of them were written all over with tiny little editing notes. There were a few chapters that were missing; those I would have to write all over again from scratch. I sat down and began typing. For three days, I was immersed in a world of words words words and the little tcktcktcktck-tcktck-tcktcktck of the keyboard. I went to classes, came home and sat down to type. For three days I lived on coffee and went with no sleep at all. My brain was exhausted and overrun beyond reason, but by the end of the third day I had my book, and even though I was practically dead, I was pretty impressed by myself. I was determined to have my book in on it's due date, no excuses. I had not been sure if I could do in three days what it had taken me a whole quarter to do, but I had managed somehow to pull it off, and was really proud of that.
8/20/2008
Interest Inventory
Interest Inventory
1. What is your favorite activity or subject? Why? Your least favorite? Why?
My favorite activities are reading and doing theater because both are unlimited. I don't have a least favorite subject.
2. What are your best subjects? What makes them easiest for you?
My best subjects are probably lit and theater subject because they capture my interest the most.3. What subjects are difficult for you? What makes them the hardest?
Any subject is interesting to me as long as it is presented in a way that captures my interest. What I mean is that if something just seems tedious, even if it is reading a book (and I really love reading) I find it really hard to bring myself to do it.
Literature and theater are the subject that I invest the most time in and try to challenge myself most in.
5. Rate the following topics according to your interests (1 very interested, 2 somewhat interested, 3 not interested):
a) Dance- 1, b) Music- 1, c) Drama- 1, d) Sports- 2, e) Writing-1, f) Math- 2, g) Computers- 3, h) Science- 2, i) Social Studies- 2, j) Business- 3, k) World Languages- 1, l) Politics/Law- 1, , m) other interests ( visual arts -1)
6. What are your favorite games or sports?
Volleyball, swimming and dancingAstology, the Beat Generation, history and styles of theater, history and styles of music, different religions (including dead religions), any language (including dead languages), any new instrument, skydiving, underwater diving, sword fighting, fencing....and many many many other things.
Read and write, spend time at the beach, walk on stilts
TeatRUM
10. What things have you collected in the past? What, if anything, are you currently collecting?
Books, postcards or posters with actors and musicians I like.
I taught myself to draw, and I taught myself to cook (and I'm still teaching myself)
Bukowski, Kerouac, Burroughs...and a lot more but I'm pretty tired of listing ^^;
Books, authors, and cooking
I would go to the library in Alexandria. But if it had to be real I would choose any country I haven't been to.
16. If you could interview an expert on any subject, what subject would you like to talk to someone about? Who would you like to interview about that subject if you could?
I'd like to interview a director such as Anne Bogart, Augusto Boal, or Suzuki on their views of theater.
17. If you could interview one significant person from the past and one from the present, who would you interview? Why would you choose these two people?
I would choose Augusto Boal from the present, because he has managed to bring theater to the public in a way that gives people an outlet to express themselves without fear of oppression, it is a theater that makes people aware of their own voice and their own abilities and power to solve social problems. From the past I would interview Khalil Gibran because he was an amazing writer and person overall. His writings are amazing, and I would just really love to sit down and talk to him.
18. What careers are you currently interested in?
Right now, I am interested in continuing my life as a student. Hopefully I'll be able to get a doctorates degree in Theater. After that, I would love to work in anything in theater.
19. In my classes I prefer to work:
Alone
20. In school I learn best:
Alone
21. What helps you learn?
Reading and hands-on activities.
22. What makes learning more difficult for you?
If there is not enough interesting interaction.
My music teacher from high school never acted like he was inherently superior to his students, yet he always had their respect. He listened to the students and I learned a lot from him.
24. What past school assignment or project are you proudest of? Why?
I don't know if I would say I am "proudest" of it, but one that sticks out in my mind is a project where I had to develop a fully functional roller coaster using foam tubing and a marble. The marble had to go all the way across the roller coaster without falling or stopping, and it had to come to a safe stop (by itself) at the end.
25. What project done outside of school are you proudest of? Why?
The plays that I have helped with, because I feel that they have all been worthwhile.
8/14/2008
Personal Literacy Narrative
I don’t remember any moment in my life where I didn’t know how to read. I feel like just based on this fact, I can safely assume that my mind, at that time, was able to understand the significance of this new skill. I maintain the belief that the ability of written communication is what marks us as a superior species. Theologists say it is our belief in a “superior being”, artists say it is our ability to make art, linguists say it is our vocal communication system. I study literature. I say it’s reading and writing.
As I was saying, I don’t know when I began reading. I was a pretty sedate kid. I didn’t like the screaming games played in my kindergarten class. I preferred my own company to other kid’s. Yeah, I was a 5-year-old antisocial come mierda. More than anything else I loved to read. I used to go up and down whole aisles in my library looking for a book I might have skipped. I would go through whole sets every week. I became an accidental kleptomaniac because I had a problem parting with some books. Frankly, I was obsessed. I was also writing from a pretty young age. I would write letters to the tooth fairy or I would write songs that I’d invent. It’s pretty embarrassing to read these now, so I’m thankful for everything that has helped me progress as a writer. I’m grateful for those who supported and who support me by making me feel that what I write is worthwhile. I’m more grateful to a friend who once read my work and laughed in my face. She was the first person to ever tell me that she hadn’t liked what I wrote. Flippantly, flat-out, she told me it was cliché, badly-worded…just bad. It was a slap of reality, and I am eternally thankful for it. I’ve learned the value of a friend who will tell you the naked truth about yourself and your art.
But even more than a good critique is a good book. Books provide me with an unending source of potential. They allow me access into the minds of people that I otherwise would never have known. Ideas, styles, theories, insanities, experiences, worlds. It's like dreaming. A state of hypnosis comes over me whenever I read. I become extremely suggestible - strings of words disappear into all types of sensory hallucinations. It sounds like a type of madness because it is.
Writing is another type of madness. It involves creating a connection with your subconscious and pulling out strings of ideas and images, nightmares, fears, paranoia, experience, memories and fantasies. It is extremely difficult and most of the time just fucking frustrating trying to establish this connection. Sometimes you feel like you are there but then the words get blurry and meaningless when they cross the border from thought to paper. So right now, my main goal is to facilitate that connection between my conscious and my subconscious. I do exercises in dream retention - I make sure to write down my dreams as soon as I can (eventually I would like to manage to be lucid in my dreams and control them). Among this and other things, I do a lot of free writing. That is, you just write the first thing that comes to your mind, whether or not it seems to hold meaning. Maybe it sounds strange, but it's very effective.
Anyway. That is where and who I am as a writer. It's not much. But I am enjoying the madness.
Class Journal 1
So I've had this blog for a while, but I never really got into it. Really I just made it for myself, pretty much as a digital archive of things I have written, drawn, painted, made, etc...but yeah I'm not a very big computer person so that really didn't work so much. But I do have some drawing exercises I've done up here...also a story that I wrote for one of my English classes. Hopefully I'll get around to putting up more. Well, not hopefully. Definitely...probably. Well see how it goes!
