Greetings!

Welcome back to another Monday, and let’s not forget a new edition of our weekly blog! Not only has the weather been crazy, but so has school with the ending of another semester approaching. As I am leaving as one of Professor Natov’s interns, I look back at all the blogs and see just how useful, informative and entertaining they have been. It is only on this blog here that you get such a vast array of topics and interests—anywhere from the culture of tarots cards and water-bottle addictions to learning about the latest in news, TV/cinema, and music. Plus, for all you poets we have a great section that features poems from both the celebrated to the average Joe. Not to mention getting to hear your fellow classmate’s opinions on the latest debates, or questions that surround our everyday lives as students and citizens. My particular fondness has always been the Culture Corner section, but read on because no matter your interest the Boylan Blog has something for everyone—like I said before, it doesn’t disappoint. So, scroll down and immerse yourself in articles that will enrich you in more ways than one!

-Sabina Santiago

News Briefs

Genetic “barcodes” produced by the sequencing of the CO1 gene. From left to right: a Hermit Thrush, an American Robin, a Bumblebee, and a Honeybee

Though the possibility of discovering new species has long been a tantalizing prospect for scientists of many sorts, the existing Latinized list is of biblical proportions. The rules on taxonomic nomenclature and procedures are equally formidable. This “harsh burden” may soon be resolved as part of biologist Paul Herbert’s project to create DNA “barcodes” for every extant species. By reproducing a particular gene with enough sequential diversity, each species will be readily differentiated. Though this may correct long standing complications for taxonomists whose expertise cannot distinguish two species that appear anatomically identical, it threatens to mechanize a field coveted by naturalists. The idealized adventurous lifestyle involving trips to exotic locations has managed, up to date, to resist the rampant technological replacement of many specialists. The passion which drives the meticulous development of such expertise has the pleasing nostalgic effect of the pre-industrial craftsman. Much like the goldsmith and the carver, the legacy of Linnaeus may soon be marginalized to the free hours of hobbyists.

-Ashley Cohen

Article Source:
Kunzig, Robert. “Scanning Life.” National Geographic. May 2010: 30-1.

Image Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20778233/





Spelling Blasphemy!

Of all the things I am accused of on a daily basis, the charge of being a warlock is among the least common. Well, maybe if I lived in Saudi Arabia, then I would hear it more often.

An international incident has been being monitored by the U.N. in which Ali Hussain Sibat, a Lebanese man, has been accused of sorcery while he was visiting Saudi Arabia on a religious pilgrimage. No, his religion was not the dark arts or Satanism, rather, the indictment of sorcery came as a result of his occupation in his home country as a telephone psychic. What is the maximum punishment for such a crime, you may ask? Beheading.

Well, run for the hills Miss Cleo! In all likelihood, Sibat will not be put to death, even though he was sentenced to it... and has been in custody for two years. Now, look! I am not one for global policing, but come on, U.N.!

Useless Nobody's. Anyway, for the time being, Sabat will only have one future ahead of him: More wait.

-Joseph Fritsch

Article Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/23/saudi.arabia.sorcerery/index.html

Image Source:
http://knowledgenews.net/moxie/moxiepix/a1257.gif





The World’s First Ever Full-Face Transplant

Looking on BBC's website in the health section, I was intrigued by an article they had featured about the world’s first ever full-facial transplant. It took a team of thirty experts and doctors in Barcelona, Spain to perform this twenty-two hour operation. The patient who underwent this complex surgery was injured during a shooting accident. This patient received the entire facial skin and muscles of a donor, which also included cheekbones, nose, lip and teeth. The donor’s face and its accompanying blood vessels were stitched together using complex micro- vascular surgery.

This patient had previously undergone nine other surgeries, but to no avail—he was still unable to speak or breathe on his own. But, after this surgery he was able to regain some of these functions. Joan Pere Barret, the leader of the medical team responsible for this groundbreaking surgery, stated that the patient was calm and satisfied once he saw his complexion in the mirror. UK’s Transplantation Research Team, believes that this surgery was a “tremendous achievement” and how it “once again shows how facial transplantation can help a small number of people who are the most severely facially injured and for whom reconstructive surgery cannot and has not worked.”

I found this article intriguing for the fact that something so complex could be performed. Who would have thought that you could get a whole face transplant? The article stated that this would give hope to the few who are severely injured. I believe this would allow them to have some belief that they could lead a normal life, and this discovery would also aid in other medical issues as well.

-Sabina Santiago

Article Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8639437.stm

Image Source:
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47702000/gif/_47702123_face_transplant_466.gif

Culture Corner

Unknown Creatures

Have you ever wondered what a sea pig looks like? Or how about an enormous starfish that’s twenty four inches wide? Come to think of it, have you ever spotted a bright orange, ten inch long spider crawling along the bottom of the sea floor? Well, these were just some of the unknown creatures that the New Zealand crew of the Tangaroa vessel has stumbled upon. They were conducting parallel sonar sweeps to map the geography of Antarctica’s sea life as part of a marine census. The peculiar animals were discovered from the surface all the way to the sea floor.

On the crews’ two thousand mile journey, the specimens found were remarkable. The crew discovered a hydroid- likely a new species. The multicolored coral like animal measures 2.5 inches across its head and its stalks were over 39 inches long. One of the mysterious animals looks similar to a partially deflated balloon with a tiny crustacean resting on its back. This creature floats 7,218 feet below the surface in the Ross Sea, just off southern Antarctica. Another creepy discovery was a gruesome predatory fish, known as a stareater. It utilizes its glowing crimson chin appendage to lure prey into a striking distance then gobbles them up. A neighbor of the stareater is the 19 inch daggertooth fish which has a magnificent glistening body with bright sapphire eyes. This creature uses its protruding mouth and forward curved teeth to immobilize its prey; it clamps down and pulls backwards to paralyze its victim’s spine.

These were just a few out of the thirty thousand weird creatures the researchers got their hands on and were able to study. The team tolerated icy weather conditions as brutal as 9 degrees Fahrenheit- it caused equipment to freeze up and samples began to turn to ice as soon as they were pulled from the frosty sea. Many of these sea creatures were brand new to science, which raises many questions, is this evolution in progress? Are these new creatures being found now due to global warming? How many unknown animals are out there that we still are unaware of? Regardless, this was a wonderful find and proves that the earth will continue to surprise us.

- Alana Linchner

Article Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/photogalleries/Antarctica-pictures/index.html

Image Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/photogalleries/Antarctica-pictures/images/primary/1_461.jpg

Poem of the Week

The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No




Alright, ye academics, intellectuals and expositors of literature. Here’s one to wrap your brain around. But if you want to ‘get’ it, you’ll have to go back, back, way back.
You’ll have to go back to a place a long time ago, a place where the sidewalk ended and the shoreside began, and turtles spoke in rhyme, and fell in love at first sight….You’ll have to go back, back, way back, to a time a long time ago, when you read poetry to learn new ideas rather than to affirm those you already believed in.
So if, for a few moments, you can afford to forget about your finals, your bills, the expectations your mom has of you, and the paper you have due later today, then you are eligible to take this journey.
Sit back, and read carefully as Shel Silverstein relates a true story of love, despair, and the real-life consequences of a misapplied imagination.


The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No
By: Shel Silverstein

It was nine o'clock at midnight at a quarter after three
When a turtle met a bagpipe on the shoreside by the sea,
And the turtle said, "My dearie,
May I sit with you? I'm weary."
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "I have walked this lonely shore,
I have talked to waves and pebbles--but I've never loved before.
Will you marry me today, dear?
Is it 'No' you're going to say dear?"
But the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to his darling, "Please excuse me if I stare,
But you have the plaidest skin, dear,
And you have the strangest hair.
If I begged you pretty please, love,
Could I give you just one squeeze, love?"
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Ah, you love me. Then confess!
Let me whisper in your dainty ear and hold you to my chest."
And he cuddled her and teased her
And so lovingly he squeezed her.
And the bagpipe said, "Aaooga."
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Did you honk or bray or neigh?
For 'Aaooga' when your kissed is such a heartless thing to say.
Is it that I have offended?
Is it that our love is ended?"
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Shall i leave you, darling wife?
Shall i waddle off to Woedom? Shall i crawl out of your life?
Shall I move, depart and go, dear--
Oh, I beg you tell me 'No' dear!"
But the bagpipe didn't say no.
So the turtle crept off crying and he ne'er came back no more,
And he left the bagpipe lying on that smooth and sandy shore.
And some night when tide is low there,
Just walk up and say, "Hello, there,"
And politely ask the bagpipe if this story's really so.
I assure you, darling children, the bagpipe won't say "No."


Sorry. I never said there would be a happy ending. But perhaps we can all take a lesson from the story and make sure this never happens to us.

How often we misinterpret gesticulations, facial expressions, even silence. And how often our assumptions have more to do with our own preconceived notions than the conveyor’s intent.

Since bagpipes cannot speak, the turtle formulated answers to his questions based on his own whimsical emotions. But had he empathized with the bagpipe, he would have realized that the bagpipe was incapable of turtle-talk. He would not have personalized the bagpipe’s silence and he would not have felt the pain of heartbreak.

When we see beyond ourselves, when we empathize with our peers, it is easier to escape this pitfall.

Obviously, as humans, the simplest way to avoid this trap is through verbal communication. Rather than assume how a person feels, just ask.

You think that girl doesn’t share your feelings for a relationship? Ask her. You think your friend doesn’t need to talk about the death of his grandfather? Ask him.

There is a world inside each and every person, and none of us is so smart that we can possibly know what it going on in every heart.

Communicate. Listen. Empathize.

What? Why are you making that funny face? You didn’t like this? Fine. Whatever. I don’t like you either. Why don’t you just go finish that paper you’re about to hand in late?

-Rachel Weissman

Image Source:
http://www.icdc.com/~roadkill/images/silverstein/turtle.gif

Currently Reading

Absalom, Absalom!

When William Faulkner writes a story, he sees to it that nearly every word is bent on constructing the arc of his narrative. No chance to decorate the moments and objects of the story is missed. Where some girl's small, dingy house might have been, Faulkner erects a building "with an air, a quality of grim endurance as though like her it had been created to fit into and complement a world in all ways a little smaller than the one in which it found itself."

Such is the type of description that the reader encounters in "Absalom, Absalom!" Like a large sample of his work, this narrative invites the reader into Faulkner's South, which is filled with characters counterposed to their reconstructed milieu. This story speaks of Quentin Compson, a repeat character in Yoknapatawpha County, and his obsession with the local past (a man after Faulkner's own heart!).

What this eminent author can do, perhaps better than any, is invite a reader into a perfectly orchestrated world where one can expect to become a historian of a fictional world. In our analytical, utilitarian present, Faulkner provides an invaluable service, trampling us with an unbridled imagination.

-Joseph Fritsch

Image Source:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/February/confederate-states-map.jpg

Currently Listening

Common - Be

After a three-year hiatus following the commercially and critically panned Electric Circus album, Common made his triumphant return to hip-hop with Be, released in 2005.Produced almost entirely by fellow Chicagoan, Kanye West; Be marks a sort of return to form for Common who received harsh criticism for the hyper-esoteric Electric Circus. Acting almost as a West and Common collaboration album, Be represents a fusion between Common’s socially conscious and witty rhymes with West’s soulful, sample driven melodies.

Taking a cue from the album’s title,Common shies away from experimentation and instead focuses on his forte: rhyming. What ensues is a compact and directed album that aims to grab the listener. The hard-hitting intro track sets the tone for the following twelve songs of Be. Lyrically, Common takes a much more personal approach, akin to the work of his earlier albums. Concerned with actual people as opposed to the abstract, Be is a great deal more relatable and inviting than Electric Circus was.

With Be, Common crafted the anti-Electric Circus and exorcized the demons of that album’s failings. With the help of Kanye West,Common reasserted himself as one of hip-hop’s premier MCs, alongside longtime partners Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Outside of just returning to prominence among hip-hop circles, Be also enjoyed considerable commercial success, eventually selling over one million units. Even five years after its release Be is not only responsible for Common’s rejuvenation, but also stands as his (and even Kanye West’s) magnum opus.

- James Rodriguez

Image Source:
http://www.formatmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/13/common_be_cover.jpg

Currently Watching

Adaptation of Our Youth
Where the Wild Things Are

Now available on DVD is the adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s eternal Where the Wild Things Are. The book has become an institution generating more annual revenue through the sales of books, clothing, figurines, and other associated memorabilia, than many developing nations can boast (okay, that might be a lie, but it seems possible). Last fall, the cinematic adaptation splashed onto the big screen with great aplomb and critical acclaim. I finally got around to watching it this past week; what a disappointment.

With a screenplay by the talented director Spike Jonze, and the overrated Dave Eggers, the two transformed a brilliant work by Sendak into anything but a work of staggering genius. In Sendak’s short picture book, there are few characters, and the dialogue is sparse. Sendak’s “Wild Things” have no character traits aside from what is inferred from their appearance. They roar their terrible roars, roll their terrible eyes, and gnash their teeth, etc., and they threaten to eat Max up, that is, they act like wild things should act. Eggers and Jones bring the Wild Things to life perfectly in appearance, but then they go and screw the whole thing up by giving them a whole lot of dialogue which makes them sound more like a bunch of neurotics in a mental ward battling depression than a troupe of Wild Things intent on eating small boys in wolf suits.

Part of the genius of Sendak’s book is that the reader is invited to imagine why the characters look and act the way they do, and more importantly, the curious reader cannot help but wonder what has happened in the time between one picture and the next. Thus, it could be argued that the best parts of the book are not on the pages, but in the imagination of its many readers. The film adaptation does all the imagining for its viewers and the final product is more of an allegory to the latest fads in child psychology than it is anything interesting to watch.

The film is at its best when Jonze, whose music videos are legendary, lets the dialogue go and allows the film to run free. Although it is certainly challenging to adapt a short children’s book into a full-length film (and seldom successful, think: Horton Hears a Who and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, both starring Jim Carey), Jones and Eggers decided to face the challenge by adding a whole host of characters and motives. The mother, who Max actually bites, is now a single mother, struggling to get by as a professional and dealing with the resentment of Max as she cuddles on the sofa with Mark Ruffalo. Meanwhile, there is also an older sister thrown into the mix. She is too busy running off with a group of snow-fort crushing boys to pay attention to the lonely Max. Boo-hoo. Cue the weepies.

This movie looks like Where the Wild Things Are, but the story has been usurped by tired clichés of childhood gone awry as a result of broken families and pubescent angst.

-Jacob Somers

Image Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/goldberg/2009/08/28/wildthings.jpg

At This Moment

Stephanie and Ashley asked Brooklyn College Student’s:
“Is affirmative action still necessary in educational institutions?”

Wow I didn't know they were still doing it. I'm not sure if it's necessary because every ethnic group has equal rights in the U.S. and the ability to move up in an educational institution depending on their skill. However, discrimination still exists everywhere, even in a city like New York where there are so many different nationalities. I would say yes, we still need affirmitive action in order to stray away from uncessary discrimination and racism. As long as the worker in th educational instutition is qualifed, he/she should get the job, affirimitive action will be there to diminish discrimination and racism.
-Alex Sapozhnik

I think people need to understand why affirmative action is in place, instead of what it is. AA is a policy set in the 1960s to help offset discriminatory practices done to miinorities (mainly blacks) and to help the disenfranchised get into institutions that centuries of racial discrimination policies previously prevented them from getting in to.

The reason it's controversial is because people honestly believe that it gives blacks the upper hand in everything, when in reality it's to give blacks, women, and others the even stepping to get into places that they otherwise might not stand a chance in.

In the city of New York (where minorities make up roughly 70% of the population), AA might no longer be a practice thats suitable for our climate (The majority of private institutions are too small to be racist, and the public system has put up safe guards that may make AA redundant). Elsewhere, I wouldn't be so fast to curtail affirmative action laws since racism is still very much prevalent in our society.
-Alshawn AdHoc Rushing

It never was.
-Jian Wilson Dong


I don't think it is and i think it's pretty unfair…I agree more with Richard Rodriguez's way of thinking...affirmative action should be focused on the poor who can't afford school, rather than based on color.
-Holly LoVoi

Greetings!

Hi. It's a Monday, and we all dread waking up to start another hectic week--a week that brings us closer to finishing another semester, or a week closer to realizing all the deadlines that have to be met with projects, papers and presentations. :( But what's good about Monday's? Well.... This blog of course! Take some time out today to read and enjoy all the great articles written by your fellow peers. I promise these articles won't let you down.

*Reminder for graduating seniors: Being a graduating senior you might feel a little lost like myself, so just to let all of you know if you want the most updated information regarding commencement services please visit: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/commencement.htm. Also, starting April 29th through May 13th you can start requesting tickets for commencement.

Let the reading begin........

-Sabina Santiago

News Briefs

The Secret Life of George Washington

If I’m a little late in returning those books I borrowed from the Brooklyn College Library, I’m in good company. President George Washington is over two centuries behind in returning two pieces he borrowed from Manhattan’s New York Society Library.

Back in the late 1700s, the library was the only one in the nation’s then-capital, New York, and it boasted a constituency of powerful men. According to a ledger discovered in the library’s basement in 1934, John Jay, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton all patronized the institution. But they returned the books they borrowed.

Not so the founding father of our nation. Monday, Oct. 5, 1789, according to said ledger, President George Washington walked out of the institution with a work on international relations, “Law of Nations,” and records of debates from the British House of Commons, Volume 12 of the “Commons Debates.” The books were due on Nov. 2, 1789. As of April 16, 2010, the books have not been returned.

When adjusted for inflation, Washington owes the New York Society Library $300,000 in fines.

Joked head librarian Mark Bartlett, “We’re not actively pursuing the overdue fines but we would be very happy if we were able to get the books back.”

Oh, if Brooklyn College would be so forgiving.

-Rachel Weissman

Article Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/04/17/2010-04-17_read_it__weep_by_george_prez_racks_up_300g_late_fee_for_two_books.html

Image source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Washington_(3).jpg/368px-Washington_(3).jpg







There’s No Crime like White-Collar Crime


How about those good folks over at Goldman Sachs? This past Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the uber-wealthy financial firm of security fraud. The civil suit, “claims the bank created and sold a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.”

Basically, Goldman Sachs “profited by betting against the very mortgage investments that it sold to its customers.” While Goldman Sachs adamantly professes their innocence, stocks in the banking sector plunged. “Goldman Sachs stock fell by more than 10 percent,” but what is interesting is that Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase all took a plunge as well. This may indicate that these financial firms were all pulling similar scams.

The amount of money these financial criminals cheat from their fellow man boggles the mind. Three cheers to the S.E.C. for going after these unforgiveables that created the housing crisis and then profited when the market collapsed.

-Jacob Somers

ArticleSources:
NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/business/17markets.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/business/17markets.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Image Source:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/onecity/greed_detox.jpg





SEC Files Fraud Charges Against GS


The SEC filed charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its traders, Fabrice Tourre, this past Friday (16 April) , alleging that the firm misled its investors concerning a financial investments related to subprime mortgages. Regulators charge that GS allowed the hedge- fund manager Paulson & Co to help choose securities but kept Paulson & Co's involvement from investors. Instead, GS told its investors that the securities had been selected by ACA Management, a third party. Paulson & Co helped design a CDO (collateralized debt obligation) and then bet against it, profiting from its failure. In 2007-2008, Mr. Paulson made four billion dollars betting on the housing collapse.

Goldman Sachs denies the allegations calling them "completely unfounded." Paulson & Co were not charged in the case but released a statement claiming that all of the responsibility for selecting the securities lay with ACA Management.

The charges come as the Senate is debating a major Wall street reform bill. President Obama seems set on making reform to the derivatives market a major part of this bill.

-Stephanie Kammer

Article Sources:
The Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/home-page
The Economist http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15928346&source=features_box_main

Image source:
http://media.economist.com/images/images-magazine/2010/16/NA/201016NAP175.jpg

Culture Corner

iPads for iSheep

Just as the Sony Walkman is a cultural icon of the 80’s, so too is the iPod a cultural icon of the past decade. The iPod, as a dedicated device for listening to mp3’s, is currently being supplanted by a new generation of devices which not only play mp3’s, but take pictures, play video games, email, connect to the internet, provide turn by turn navigation while driving, make phone calls… well, the list goes on and on. These devices are, of course, the so-called smart phones, and they do everything. That being the case, where does the iPad fit in?

The iPad starts at $499 with 16GB of memory and they go up to $829 with 64GB and 3G internet access (but that will cost another $30/month). Apple envisions that the iPad will be the device enabling humanity to watch movies, listen to music, read books and newspapers, play games, send and receive email. Their lifestyle ad shows actors curling up on a couch with the iPad, a cup of coffee within reach.

It’s a nice picture. It looks really appealing, but here’s the thing… The iPad can’t compete with a TV for watching movies. Everybody that wants an mp3 player has one, and it would be rather odd to trade in an mp3 player the size of a stack of cards for a 10 inch, 1 and a half pound iPad. As for books and newspapers… most newspapers, such as the New York Times, are free online. On the iPad, it isn’t. As for books, they still have to be bought to get them on the iPad which needs to be charged and will probably not last 5 years. Think how many books $499 will get a person. They don’t need to be charged, and a person can let their friends borrow them. Finally, the iPad doesn’t replace a laptop. Try writing as essay, or a long email, on an iPad. On top of that, small laptops (netbooks) cost only $200-$300 and usually have at least 160 GB of memory.

Bottom line, the iPad doesn’t replace anything. It complicates life rather than simplifying it. It is one more thing to charge and it charges people money for things they used to get for free. Nevertheless, it sold 500,000 units in its first week.

Will the iPad be the cultural icon for the decade to come? Time will tell, but if it is, then it will be a decade of excess. It is not a device that fills a need in the lives of most, rather, it is a device that one must make time for. Unlike a smart phone, it is not a device that a person has on them. Instead, it is a device they must bring.

Lately, people have been wondering if the recession is over. Last week 500,000 people spent at least $500 on a redundant device, so either the recession is over or there is a mighty big herd of iSheep in this nation of ours.




-Jake Somers

Image Sources:

http://www.letra.org/spip/IMG/jpg/isheep.jpg
http://mirkobonadei.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/ipad-netbook.png

Poem of the Week

A Far Cry From Africa
- Derek Walcott


A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt

Of Africa, Kikuyu, quick as flies,

Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt.

Corpses are scattered through a paradise.

Only the worm, colonel of carrion, cries:

"Waste no compassion on these separate dead!"

Statistics justify and scholars seize

The salients of colonial policy.

What is that to the white child hacked in bed?

To savages, expendable as Jews?

Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes break

In a white dust of ibises whose cries

Have wheeled since civilizations dawn

From the parched river or beast-teeming plain.

The violence of beast on beast is read

As natural law, but upright man

Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain.

Delirious as these worried beasts, his wars

Dance to the tightened carcass of a drum,

While he calls courage still that native dread

Of the white peace contracted by the dead.


Again brutish necessity wipes its hands

Upon the napkin of a dirty cause, again

A waste of our compassion, as with Spain,

The gorilla wrestles with the superman.

I who am poisoned with the blood of both,

Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?

I who have cursed

The drunken officer of British rule, how choose

Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?

Betray them both, or give back what they give?

How can I face such slaughter and be cool?

How can I turn from Africa and live?



Poems are often thought of as lyrical expressions of beauty, but they also have the ability to convey horror. Here, Derek Walcott describes the destruction done by colonialism in frighteningly violent images. Beyond just drawing attention to this human injustice, Walcott also considers his conflicted position as writer of English, a clear product of the very same colonization that he condemns. Much like a photograph, Walcott’s verse is able to speak what is usually unspeakable.

-James Rodriguez

Image Source:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/BW_MEDIA/Pix8/Derek_Walcott_small.jpg

Currently Reading

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens, master of the novel, itinerant raconteur, imbued his work so precisely with his passion, that I, a student, am educated by the accuracy and energies presented in Dickens' narratives. Of David Copperfield, it should be said that it is the sprawling autobiography of the eponymous lead. Of David Copperfield (Junior), it is important to bear in mind that this fictional author is the teller of his own tale; and so, I realize the immersion of Dickens into his work.

The story begins in the year of Copperfield Jr.'s inauspicious birth. The infant was born to a widow, who was too young to be a mother, in the witching hour of a Friday night with prophecies hanging Damoclean over his head. Yet, the foreboding circumstances of his birth were mollified by a number of happy chances. So, the thread of Copperfield's fate was spun and cut, leaving our author to use the needle of his language to embroider his life story out of that which he was apportioned.

A massive scope to capture... What is to be admired in Dickensian prose is the ability to coordinate numerous wisps of plot and texture with a hand that is absolutely fluid. Yes, the clerical work involved in telling this story is immense, but Dickens adamantly pursues his craft in a way that delightfully indulges in both imagistic tangents, and moments of self-aware criticism.

Of prose: Prosaic is Dickens never.

- Joseph Fritsch

Image Source:

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/IllustratedLondonNews-Vol56/pages/301-Charles-Dickens-last-reading/301-Charles-Dickens-last-reading-q75-947x1109.jpg

Currently Listening

Queens of the Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age, formed in 1997 by Josh Homme after the breakup of his former band, Kyuss, is characterized by constant change. In addition to the ridiculous amount of notches on his band member belt (Homme boasts more former band members than number of albums), the stylistic “signatures” produced over the ten years of the band’s career have constantly shifted. Though these two traits tend to be negative, associated with the inevitable talent wane in a band’s sunset years, Queens of the Stone Age has somehow used each new performer or sound as an ornamental component within a structurally powerful yet ambiguous framework.

The band’s fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, released in 2005, is organized by a fairy tale motif; particularly the macabre tales of the Grimm Brothers used to terrify children into the stiff obedient posture of the successful nuclear family. The track “Tangled Up in Plaid” is an adequate aesthetic representation of the album motif. The constant, nervous guitar pulse reminiscent of calculating, efficient evil pursuit underlies slightly melismatic vocals. The vocals have a quality not of one being chased, but rather, the feeling of an outside observer sympathizing with the victim while still attempting to stay true to a larger cinematic aesthetic.

Homme’s voice intensifies from a whisper to shout as intermittent, ambiguous sonic noise intensifies the mood. A powerful guitar solo floods the track in approximately the middle, relegating the vocals to drowned noises forcing their way into the few interstices between the overwhelming, dense reverberating sea of sound. Though this suggests the victim has been overwhelmed by the supernatural power of its pursuant, the instrumental climax becomes one of resolution as the vocals rejoin in a more high spirited style, as if a child has just realized there is no monster under the bed.

I slipped,
Didn't mean to do it that way.
But I blew in on a whim, gone tomorrow?
I'm gone today.

Come,
Lets play along and let each other lose.
A win would cause an alarm,
Don't matter to me.
Doesn't matter to you.

I could keep you all for myself
I know
You gotta be free
So free yourself

A self-inflicted wound, your gift,
Impeccable aim.
Can really clear a room.
All the bodies piled up in your way.


Oh yeah it hurts,
Oh yeah it must.

I could keep you all for myself,
I know.
You gotta be free,
So free yourself.

- Ashley Cohen

Article Source:
http://thefade.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=74

Image Source:
http://www.tedmills.com/images/12692360.jpg

Currently Watching

Foie Gras


I was strolling along the website Perezhilton.com when I came across one of his stories about Foie Gras. Foie Gras is the fattening of duck or goose liver. When I saw the video I wanted to cry in on behalf of these helpless creatures that were being tortured for the delicatessen of a person’s appetite. The process of fattening the liver is an everyday, three times a day process. The geese and ducks are caged while they wait their turn to have a 20-30 cm tube stuffed down their esophagus releasing a mixture of corn and oil for 40-60 seconds. The video was merciless to watch, and I am one to never even think about eating Foie Gras. I feel saddened that we humans are constantly abusing these animals that cannot defend themselves; I think that those people that want to hurt animals should try and attack a lion with their bear hands, so they could be reminded that we are not the rulers of the animal kingdom.

-Mariel Suarez

Article Source:
www.Perezhilton.com

Image Source:
http://www.downtownpet.com/blog/uploaded_images/foie-gras-main-761600.jpg

At This Moment

Alana Linchner and Rachel Weissman asked:

What methods do you use to cope with all the stress that comes crushing down upon you toward the end of the semester?

Alshawn Tofu Kelly Rushing - Meditation and always making free time.

Christina Denise Rodriguez - Making a plan (even if I don't get to use it), spending time with friends, talking about how I feel with someone and writing.

Ariana Costakes - It's called the Irish Car Bomb method.

Christina Squitieri - I try to make a plan of what I need to do, and then slowly begin to do it. I'll start by what is due first, but if I start going crazy I'll switch it up. Often I'll be working on two or three papers at once haha. I also have friends who drag me out of the house once in a while so I don't die from lack of sunlight and/or carpal tunnel syndrome!

Joseph Fritsch - I lie to people and say that I am farther along with things than I actually am. That way, I won't catch any flak from my peers.

Kate Conte - I acknowledge that stressing won't get my work done, what will be will be no matter how much pressure I feel and that at the end of the day, my school struggle is pretty insignificant compared to say, volcanoes erupting and earth quakes. Everything in perspective.

Alex Scelso - I try to set aside time to listen to music and dance like an idiot to get the stress out.....or just time to sit down and take a few deep breaths and just think of a weekend and what the first thing one would do when they are totally free :)

Heeyen Park - I write and I talk to my friend about it. Have a drink or hangout to get rid of stress. Pray to God.

Victor V. Gurbo - I participate in civil-war reenactments

Faina Dee - In advance, I make a list of what I need to do then do it - try not to think about how much work it is. And I make free time, take long walks, and just count down the days until the semester ends and the stress is over.

Jonathan Chan - I plan ahead - no stress! :)

David Tran - I have to agree with Jonathan. I plan ahead and you try to divide the workload so that it can be manageable.

Frieda Chkouri - Many breaks combined with procrastination... and lots of it...

James Rodriguez - I wait until the last minute.

Victor Janani - I dont have any stress I’m always chilled out

G. Nicholas Bhoj - Baby carrots

Image source: http://www.kf6nvr.net/blog/archives/images/computing_stress.jpg

Greetings!

Howdy y’all, and welcome back to the official first full week back from spring break; as we were the only CUNY college to start school on Wednesday. Why do you guys think that is? Any wild guesses? SO… we are more than midway through the semester (tear) but have no fear, the Boylan Blog is here. This week we have awesome articles, and we are looking forward to hearing your comments on it. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

-Mariel Suarez

News Briefs

Brave Little Clownfish

The False Percula Clownfish, who many people will know better as the star in “Finding Nemo,” has a very intriguing living arrangement with a deadly sea anemone. The Clownfish dwells within the sea anemone’s toxic tentacles. Those poisonous tentacles usually keep predators like morays, scorpion fishes and snappers at bay, but the clownfish is permitted to reside where it may within the anemone. The living arrangement is simple - the clownfish supplies the anemone with bits of food it doesn’t eat, along with its droppings which nourishes the poisonous polyp.

However, only the clownfish and some damselfish are able to have this living situation. Prior to taking up residence in a sea’s anemone, the clownfish must familiarize itself to the anemone’s tentacles by gradually brushing them against various parts of its body. A coat of mucus over the fish’s scales shields it from the anemone’s possible stings.

There are researchers though, who believe the clownfish’s layer of mucus is mainly sugar rather than proteins, which foils the sea anemone from acknowledging that the fish can be a possible source of food. Regardless, the minute colorful fish has discovered a method that protects itself from harmful predators. Should a predator approach the clownfish, it can dodge into the stinging tentacles of its host and wait for the danger to disappear. This conveys that friendship can be found in the most peculiar places.

- Alana Linchner

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36116554/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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"What A Trip"

Traveling is an exiting thought but airplane can be a mortifying one. Recently there was an airplane crash that killed the President of Poland. So how exactly is it that these airplanes find themselves in these vulnerable situations? Well according to Captain Prince on tipbase.com, there are three main causes for airplane crashes. The first being miscommunication among the crew; second, mid-air collisions; and third, runway incursions. However, to make this into a happy article, the following is a list of solutions to these unfortunate causes...

To avoid miscommunication among the crew while landing, a program called Electronic Ground Proximity Warning System was created. Captain Prince states that the program “constantly analyzes a number of flight parameters such as altitude, closure rate with the ground below/objects ahead, aircraft location in relation to known terrain, glide path, airspeed, etc.” This means that the pilots will be alerted of any malfunctions that affect the plan’s land.

For the mid-air collisions, the Threat Collision Avoidance System has proven to be effective. Radars are still used for airplane safety, but this system is a more intense control network. This system creates a security space around every aircraft which would send off signals to both pilots if any of its space is being invaded by another aircraft.

Lastly, runway excursions briefly defines means that the plane went off of the wrong runway which can be dangerous because the plane won’t be able to build up enough speed to take off if the runway is shorter than what it was expected to be. In order to solve this problem the Electronic Flight Bag (an index of diagrams, manuals and airport approaches) has a built in computer diagram display of the aircrafts exact position and movement in the airport.

Even though technology can lend a helping hand to our safety, it can only go so far. This article wasn’t meant to scare anyone but if it did just remember that at least you have a 9 million to 1 chance of having anything fatal happen.

-Mariel Suarez
family.beloblog.com/archives/NG_03JayJay.JPG

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Collapse in Kyrgyzstan

The government of Kyrgyzstan was overthrown on April 7, 2010 following a series of anti-government movements and protests. The protests were spurred by what the opposition party has dubbed the brutality, corruption, and human rights abuses of the government. As rallies gathered around government buildings, riots broke out as police began to fire into the crowd of angered protesters. Upwards of 100 people are believed to have been killed.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the ousted president of Kyrgyzstan has fled the Bishek, the capital, by plane. It is speculated that he has taken refuge in Osh, a city on the southern side of the nation. Though his location has not been disclosed, Bakiyev has issued a statment refusing to resign his post, and condemning the leaders of the opposition as fully responsible for the consquences of the uprising. A provisional government led by former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva has affirmed control for six months and already disbanded the country’s Parliament.

The future of the government of Kyrgyzstan is uncertain, as neither president Bakiyev nor the provisional government of the opposition wish to relinquish authority of the nation. The situation becomes more muddled when considering the American’s interest in Kyrgyzstan as an ally and home of an integral airbase relative to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. As a former Soviet country, Russian interest in Kyrgyzstan is also particularly piqued. Regardless of the outcome, Kyrgyzstan joins former Soviet Republics Ukraine and Georgia in recent political unrest.

-James Rodriguez

Source: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/kyrgyzstan/index.html
Image Source: http://www.stiglianese.com/Site%20Photos/2008_1009JeanneInKyrgystan-Orig/750x750_kyrgyzstan_m.gif

Poem of the Week

"A Grave"

http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2002/01/grave-marianne-moore.html

Man looking into the sea,
taking the view from those who have as much right to it as
you have to it yourself,
it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing,
but you cannot stand in the middle of this;
the sea has nothing to give but a well excavated grave.
The firs stand in a procession, each with an emerald turkey-
foot at the top,
reserved as their contours, saying nothing;
repression, however, is not the most obvious characteristic of
the sea;
the sea is a collector, quick to return a rapacious look.
There are others besides you who have worn that look --
whose expression is no longer a protest; the fish no longer
investigate them
for their bones have not lasted:
men lower nets, unconscious of the fact that they are
desecrating a grave,
and row quickly away – the blades of the oars
moving together like the feet of water-spiders as if there were
no such thing as death.
The wrinkles progress among themselves in a phalanx – beautiful
under networks of foam,
and fade breathlessly while the sea rustles in and out of the
seaweed;
the birds swim through the air at top speed, emitting cat-calls
as heretofore --
the tortoise-shell scourges about the feet of the cliffs, in motion
beneath them;
and the ocean, under the pulsation of lighthouses and noise of
bell-buoys,
advances as usual, looking as if it were not that ocean in which
dropped things are bound to sink --
in which if they turn and twist, it is neither with volition nor
consciousness.



Marianne Moore (1887-1972) adheres to her own description of poems as “imaginary gardens with real toads in them,” by vividly developing a truer subjective reality through the act of disassociating the reader with traditional images. However, unlike many of her school, Moore addresses the limitations of the imagination when it is applied to phenomena outside the scale and control of the human mind. The man Moore addresses in the opening of her poem, "A Grave," is seen as an unsuccessful antagonist. The usual passivity associated with subjective perception is given an active and aggressive connotation. The individual is attempting to employ the senses to transform a natural phenomenon, which imposes a subjective reality onto elements of the world outside his mental scope, and therefore, beyond his influence. Certain forces, like that of death, are indomitable. This is conveyed in the age-old motif of civilized man bracing the wild and mysterious sea. The human mind cannot form the epicenter around which overwhelming and powerful natural processes, like death or the ocean, organize themselves. The forest is likened to myriad feet in solemn procession, following the sea, which is a collector who strips away the importance of human relics rather than reinforcing them- nature’s pyre. In comparison to the vastness and self awareness of nature, humans are likened to small ignorant vermin, their boats collective spiders desecrating their own burial ground. The waves produced by the disturbance of the water are likened to wrinkles over a phalanx, which can mean a finger or toe bone of a vertebrate or a group of soldiers that attack in close proximity to one another, using their overlapping weapons and armor to their advantage. The notion of waves as wrinkles correlates with the anatomical definition, evoking the image of a spider crawling across a large foot. Even a group of human beings, contrary to our anthro-centric worldview, is a meager fraction of the vast ocean's anatomical extremity. They, unapprised, attempt to feed, and seek life from a digit constructed of the bones of their own dead. The idea of mass entombment also recalls the definition of a battle formation, giving the waves an aggressive and destructive quality. The foot, the image invoked by the other definition, is the element of the individual which acts in unison with others to form a battle phalange. The synthesis of these two definitions suggests that the individual act, though potent, is still within a frame of a greater whole. If the organization and explicability of a chaotic world is potentially granted by the blind endorsement of what Williams termed “the galvanization of the imagination,” such resistant and broad phenomena, presented in "A Grave," empirically threatened what seemed like the only viable solution.

-Ashley Cohen

Currently Listening

The Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind

In an age where music is increasingly categorized into endless genres and sub-genres in record stores and mp3 players, The Foreign Exchange complicates things. The eclectic duo comprised of vocalist, Phonte Coleman, and producer, Nicolay, has been pegged as a hybrid of hip-hop, r&b, soul, and even electronica. Because of the group’s style (or lack of one), their sophomore album, Leave It All Behind, is a mix of genre bending music that is difficult to categorize, but easy to enjoy.

Hip-hop aficionados will recognize the name Phonte as a member of the critically acclaimed hip-hop group Little Brother. While Phonte is an incredibly gifted MC, his work on Leave It All Behind demonstrates him breaking away from rap, and instead showcases his capacity to sing. The multi-talented Phonte is only half the reason for The Foreign Exchange’s unique sound. Nicolay is a non-traditional producer with a background in electronica in the Netherlands , and relies on a variety of live instrumentation instead of samples. The unlikely pair connected after Phonte came across Nicolay’s instrumentals on the Internet. The two then went on to create their first album, Connected, entirely via email, never once meeting until after the album was released (hence their apt group name, The Foreign Exchange).

Leave It All Behind represents a leap towards experimentation for the music of both Phonte and Nicolay-- a risk that pays off tremendously for their listeners. Phonte, with his experience as a lyrical MC brings that prowess to the album, crafting deeply personal and poignant verses that are paired flawlessly with Nicolay’s orchestration. As an album between genres, Leave It All Behind doesn’t just appeal to fans of a particular type of music, but instead fans of music as a whole.

- James Rodriguez

Image source:
http://www.netweed.com/prohiphop/graf/foreignexchangeleavebehind2.jpg

Currently Reading

The Complete Maus
By Art Spiegelman

The story of the holocaust is one that needs telling, but no one ever told it like Art Spiegelman has. In Maus, Art Spiegelman tells his father’s story in what is undoubtedly, one of the finest graphic novels ever rendered. Strangely, the characters in Spiegelman’s novel are portrayed as animals. The Jews are mice, while the Polish are pigs, and the Germans are Cats. It is an imperfect metaphor, but effective nevertheless.

I was reluctant to read this book. I felt like the last thing I wanted to do was read another book on the holocaust. What surprised me, however, was that once I started reading this book, I could hardly put it down. Unfortunately, there is a big swastika on the cover. The book is anything but sympathetic to Nazism, but regardless, I found it very uncomfortable to be reading a book with a swastika on the cover.

This is one of those rare books that everyone should read at some point in their lives (the earlier, the better). Scenes like the one below should never be allowed to taint this earth or our humanity again.



-Jacob Somers

Picture Sources:
-http://sumthinblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/maus.jpg
-http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/maus/images/Scanned/maus1_p33.jpg

At This Moment

Ashley Cohen asked Brooklyn College students: Should calorie information be legally required to be posted in eating establishments?

Dave Mazur: For multi-state franchises or anyone who is trying to promote their food as healthy, definitely. Single location restaurants, I'm not so sure.

Shannon Cohen: yes, americans are eating horrible things, and should be aware of it

Joseph Fritsch: I mean, there are worse things in foods than their calories.

John Varnas: Yes, they should post the calorie counts, but it probably won't change many people's minds. Once in a while, I'll see the high calorie count, and order something else, but that's really rare.