Greetings

“You’ve got to be really brawny to have that kind of strength—the strength to relax.” Or so says leading (angry) man Jimmy Porter in John Osborne’s 1956 play Look Back in Anger. As you stare down the barrel of the second half of the semester, Porter’s words might seem like the antithesis of everything we’ve been taught about hard work, but sometimes our greatest strength is in learning how to balance all of our responsibilities and still have moments to simply enjoy being in our own skin. Maybe that means putting on a clever costume today and doing some trick-or-treating. Or maybe it means curling up somewhere with a book that no one told you you had to read. Maybe it means baking some cookies, watching a good movie, or going for a cozy walk in the chill Fall air. But however you go about it, just remember as you start powering your way through to December that you can’t do everything everyone asks of you without doing something for yourself. After all, we just saw the biggest October snow since the 19th century. You owe yourself a warm beverage and some time with your feet up.

But before you start relaxing too much, check out these announcements:

1. You’ve been asking about it and here it is! Our Open Mic is next Thursday, November 10th from 12:15 pm – 2:15 pm in the Woody Tanger Auditorium. If you’d like to perform your original work, sign up on the door of our office in 3416 Boylan before the slots fill up! Otherwise, we’d love to have you in the audience to witness your talented peers in action.

2. If words on a page are more your cup of tea, fear not! The Junction is accepting submissions for this year’s issue and we’d love to read your work! Email us your poetry, other creative writing, and artwork at bczinesubmissions@gmail.com and bring a hard copy of writing submissions to 3416 Boylan.

3. The English Department is offering three Creative Writing classes during intersession. There will be two sections of Intro to Creative Writing (M-F 9:30 am-12 pm, 2 pm-4:30 pm) and one section of Fiction 1 (M-F 9:30 am-12 pm). Stop by the office or shoot us an email at boylanblog@gmail.com to get information about course codes/sections.

4. The BC Slam Team is hosting its second open slam this Thursday, November 3rd at 7:00 pm in the Occidental Lounge (SUBO) to finish assembling a stellar team, so check it out!

And as always, come by 3416 Boylan during the week with all of your questions. Now start exercising your strength of relaxation with a leisurely scroll through this week’s Boylan Blog!

Happy Halloween!

- Nora Curry

Image Source: http://gotshabbat.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/relax.jpg

News Briefs

The 2012 Presidential Race May Not Be As Sexy

Three years after the 2008 election, little has changed in America’s economic climate. We are still in a recession, and as of August 2011, the country’s unemployment rate is at 9.1%.

President Obama is running for a second term, and presidential campaigns for the Republican Party are picking up speed. Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney may be at odds with each other for the upcoming primaries, but in the end, it is all for one cause: to run for office against the current President of the United States in hopes to become the next President of the United States.

Obama met with donors in Hollywood who offered $38,500 each toward his campaign. He informed his beneficiaries that the 2012 election will not be as sexy as the historic (and sexier) 2008 election. Many presidents have been re-elected over the years, ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Obama has a fighting chance to win again. However, President Obama’s wavering popularity is enough reason to worry.

Attendants at the fundraiser such as Will Smith and Magic Johnson listened to Obama’s precaution toward ensuring a successful re-election. He warned that the upcoming process will not be an easy one; it will take persistence and hard work.

So, here we are again. Get your ballots ready. The United States of America is due for a less sexy presidential election in a year.

- Kerri Byam

Image Source: http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/obama-hope-sheppard-feirey1.jpg
Article Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-warns-hollywood-election-will-not-be-sexy-first-one

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Switched at Birth

If you look into the nursery of a hospital, you will see rows of babies bundled up in blankets like cocoons. With the vast number of babies in the room, it would certainly be a challenge to identify your own child merely by physical features. In order to recognize your child, you can either look at the label on the bassinets or check the wristband attached to each child. The label on the bassinette states the baby’s doctor, gender, mother, date and time of birth, weight, height, and length. But what if something goes wrong with this process? What if your baby is wrongly labeled or the label itself goes missing? What if your baby is taken home by someone else?

One would think that with the combination of modern technology and a hospital staff’s caution that this situation could never happen. Think again. Two girls who were born in eastern Russia and grew up a few miles from each other were unknowingly switched at birth. The girls were born only fifteen minutes apart in the same maternity ward and were accidentally given the incorrect nametags.

The twelve-year-old girls and their respective families recently found out this surprising news. One of the two mothers, Yuliya Belyaeva, was told by her ex-husband that he would not pay child support for their daughter Irina because she did not resemble him at all. The results of many DNA tests revealed that neither Yuliya nor her ex-husband was Irina’s birth parent. As a result, Yuliya was determined to find her biological daughter.

With the police’s help, Yuliya was able to locate the daughter she gave birth to. Yuliya stated that “their daughter, Anya, was blond and looked just like me and my ex-husband. And our daughter was dark-skinned and had dark hair and looked like the other father. He's a Tajik, and she looked just like him."

Nevertheless, after finding out the truth, both girls chose to stay with the parents who raised them. This predicament has led both girls, as well as their families, to befriend one another. However, due to the distress that resulted from this mistake, both families are suing the hospital for $160,000 in damages.

- Kerry Gertner

Image Source: http://static.blisstree.com/files/2009/01/cmsphoto017565-hospital-nursery.jpg
Article Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/girls-switched-birth-stay-wrong-moms/story?id=14803170

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7 Billion

Today is a pretty special day here on Earth! The global population just hit 7 billion, and we can all give ourselves a pat on the back because it wouldn’t have been possible without each and every single one of us! Why, it was only just 12 years ago that we crossed the 6 billion threshold. The UN has estimated that by 2100, the population will reach a staggering 10 billion people; some of us lucky few might even survive to see this happen.

For those of us who might be having a hard time grasping how big 7 billion really is, here are a few analogies to boggle the mind: 7 billion seconds ago, it was the year 1789 and George Washington was being inaugurated into office; if you decided to take 7 billion steps along the equator, you would have walked around the world 106 times; if you stacked 7 billion people on top of each other, you would have reached 27 times the distance to the moon (Please take into consideration that we now have enough people to take on this endeavor…are you busy next weekend?).

All jest aside however, the concept that we have managed to make so many of us has some pretty serious implications. Everyday I push and shove my way on the subway to get to school on time, but now that I can put a number to the people I’m pushing and shoving, it all becomes a little more surreal and a lot more frightening. Does this Earth have what it takes to carry our weight? Can we make the necessary changes to accommodate all the newcomers?

Food and water shortages, overcrowding, scarcity of jobs, destruction of natural habitats – these are just some of the problems our generation is currently facing and will continue to struggle with in the future.

At times like this, it’s easy to feel disheartened by all the Goliaths waiting for us to shoot down. But it’s also times like this when we need to look back on our past achievements and recharge our batteries of hope. If you haven’t noticed, we humans can be pretty darn amazing. We can talk to people miles away, drive to the other side of the country in a matter of days, heck, we don’t even let gravity keep us down. So then why can’t we tap into our well of amazingness and solve the problems ahead?

With 7 billion ideas, talents, and inspirations all working with each other, we definitely can.

- Mira

Image Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/10/23/1319388589182/Tapei-motorbikes-007.jpg
Article Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/29/world/7-billion/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

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Redefining "Bird Brain"

Are humans the only species with enough smarts to craft a language? Although many animals have their own form of communication, none has the depth or versatility heard in human speech. We are able to express almost anything on our minds by uttering a few sounds in a particular order. But are the rules of grammar unique only to human language? Perhaps not; according to a recent study, songbirds may also communicate using a sophisticated grammar, a feature absent in even our closest relatives, the nonhuman primates.

In each experiment, the birds were presented with the same songs until they became familiarized with the tune. The researchers then created novel songs by shuffling the notes around. But not every new song caught the birds’ attention; rather, the finches increased response calls only to songs with notes arranged in a particular order, suggesting that the birds used common rules when forming the syntax of that song. When the researchers created novel songs with even more complicated artificial grammar—for example, songs that mimicked a specific feature found in human (Japanese) language—the birds still only responded to songs that followed the rules.

If the tweets of birds can be roughly likened to strings of human words, and if birdbrains process songs in a way similar to how human brains process language, future research may tackle whether these animals possess other cognitive abilities once thought to be singularly characteristic of human intelligence. The next time you hear a bird chirping outside your window, you might think twice about what’s going on inside his little birdbrain.

- Ocean

Image Source: http://kswpgoodfriends.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/birds-singing.jpg
Article Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20615-first-evidence-that-birds-tweet-using-grammar.html

Culture Corner

Fitting Tribute or Total Travesty?



Much to my dismay, my father and grandfather embarked on a cross-country trip this past September and October. Obviously, I couldn't go because of school, and was sort of bitter (they later rewarded me with a t-shirt and an e-mail attachment of the 350-some-odd pictures from the trip). It took them two and a half weeks to drive from my hometown of Albany, New York to San Francisco, California. Of course, they documented the journey with countless brochures and photos of them standing in front of iconic scenes and locales: Chicago's Loop and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, to name a couple. There was one I didn't recognize, though: my father smiling in front of a sort of half-assed face carved into the side of a mountain. A weird Mount-Rushmore-looking hybrid: The Crazy Horse Memorial.

The Crazy Horse Memorial, which isn't far from the more widely known in situ or "in place" memorial of Mount Rushmore, began in 1929 when chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too." Ziółkowski, who had helped with the carving of Mount Rushmore, designed a model of Crazy Horse on a stallion's back, pointing out over the Black Hills of South Dakota. The monument is carved into the side of these hills--more specifically, Thunderhead Mountain, a sacred place for the Lakota Culture. The project is still underway. It's enormous. When (or if) finished, the 641 feet by 563 feet sculpture will be the largest in the world, and and first non-religious sculpture to hold the record since 1967.

Americans sure are funny, aren't they? Crazy Horse rebels against the encroachment of the federal government on Sioux lands in the mid-1860s. They go to war. Crazy Horse is killed by federal soldiers in prison. A Polish-American immigrant is chosen to erect a monument in his name, the largest in the world if completed. It's quite the story, really.

There's more to it, though--since the memorial is funded privately (the memorial's commission has reportedly turned down several offers of government cash, each around 10 million), it's taken over 60 years to carve it out of Thunderhead Mountain. And it's not even a third of the way done. Additionally, many modern-day Sioux and other historians liken the carving of Thunderhead Mountain to the carving of, say, Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The memorial, to some, is simply insulting--a gigantic, indelible insult at that.

There are no projected finish dates for the memorial, whose construction is now headed by Ziółkowski's daughter, Monique.

--Ryan Skrabalak

image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Crazy_Horse_Memorial_2010-2.jpg

Poem of the Week

Scars: An Open Letter to Hollywood from Heath Ledger
By Marshall “Soulful” Jones



If you're here, he's not Im not And I’m sure you'd like to know why we're not Ill tell you.... He loved her And she's not here right now because of you ....Fame is a disease We all got it We're all sharing needles with it If you're not careful

You will die before you die

I mean, look at us
NO!
NO!
Silly!
Put the suicide note down
AND LOOK AT US

Look at all the bottles on the floor
Half of these things I cant even pronounce
But
Did you notice Xanax reads the same forward and backward?
No
I thought it was funny
Anyway
Apparently my apartment on Broome st
Did not sweep enough under the rug
So now you see what you've done
Now you know how I got these scars
See the camera keeps rolling
Like a wheel
Turning your insides
You cant have a normal life
Without a production team
With a search warrant for your bad day
How many tabloids do you think it took to ruin him
How many gossip sites did it take?
How many lines of cocaine do you think we need to forget
That everyday we're getting farther and farther away from EVERYTHING
We love
Oh you thought he was acting?
Oh You think I'm not real
Oh I’m real
REEL TO REEL
And when you 're sick with fame like him
You need people like me to keep you laughing
So when the lady left with everything
I said Why So Serious
Just take two Ambien
Those are good for the nightmares
Take one of these
Two of those
A whole #%^#$%& of these


I kept the bathroom cabinets jokes coming

Because Painkillers can shove your mistakes off a balcony
And you can still smile about it
You think you know him
You don't
I was there
I was there to tell him that if were gonna go anywhere
We were gonna go out with a bang
So WHY SO SERIOUS!



It’s a Friday night at the Nuyorican Poetry Café. All of us are tipping elbows and sucking in as much air as possible in order to fit in the space we managed to claim. Mahogany L. Browne, the host of every Friday night, introduces Marshall Soulful Jones. Paper in hand, he utters the title of his poem in his natural voice. No one is prepared for what is able to unfold.

A resurrection occurs in the chambers of his throat. Twitch. His voice becomes the narrator of every nightmare you ever had as a child. Twitch. The tilt of his head allows shadows to sit underneath his eyes. Twitch. The helpless sheet of paper is strained and caressed between bipolar fingers. Twitch. This is not the same man Mahogany introduced seconds ago…

Soulful Jones becomes the reason why The Dark Knight became a blockbuster hit. He becomes the character we wished we got more of; he takes on the persona of The Joker. This villain’s lunacy is underscored by the influx of his tone and the disorientated speech. This poem erases the line between Heath Ledger and The Joker. Fame and it’s entourage of drugs, stress, and lack of privacy pushes Ledger to the point of insanity. The rhetorical question, “Oh you thought he was acting?” verbally assails Hollywood’s ignorance and neglect of failing to acknowledge clear the indications of much needed assistance.

Hollywood ignores those that define it.

-Joel Cruz

Currently Reading

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

There are moments in life when you feel the world touch you. When you understand the big things, like destiny, love and purpose...
I was fifteen and wandering the left wing corridor of my high school. After hours, I was probably supposed to be getting batteries for walkie-talkies during play rehearsal and taking my sweet time. Upon my meandering, I saw a nun sitting at the teacher’s desk in my homeroom. (Not as ominous as it sounds. Nuns are pretty much an old habit with Catholic schools.) Something made me go in and strike up a conversation. I sat Indian style on the desk top opposite hers. She talked. I listened. She told me about Truman Capote, how his wife and kids had showed up at her convent one night after he was violent. She told me I should tie my shoe laces and hem the bottom of my pants. She told me about where she went to college; she told me how much better things would be. She told me a couple of books to read- jotted down the names and author on a small piece of paper. She wished me well and sent me back to my life.
Six years later, my Mom took a position teaching art at my old high school, though truth be told it was hers first. One day she came home, put on a pot for tea on the stove top and told me a famous author was coming to talk to the students. She told me the name; I told her I never heard it before in my life. She went on and on about how witty and sharp-tongued the author was- how I should meet her and ask her every question I could. But I was busy. The day she was coming was my 21st birthday. I spent the night getting mildly wild and happy and then catching a 7am flight to Tampa. PS- best week of my life.
When I got back, Mom gave me an autographed copy of the author’s book. Personalized, just for me, wishing me happy birthday and love. I was touched by the gift. I promised myself I’d read it over the summer.
Over said summer, I was rummaging through my Narnia-esque desk drawer and pulled out a crumpled up brown paper bag. Full of junk. Knick-knacks, bobbles, pins, buttons, game cartridges and a folded paper. I opened it up and in Sister Brigid’s handwriting was: Adriana Trigiani- Lucia, Lucia. The very same unread book sitting on my night stand that Mom had given me.
...This wasn’t my first inkling of being tethered to the universe, but it was the first time when its revelation made me emotional. Raw. Scared and excited in the same beat. So much had happened to that girl six years ago. So much had changed. So much remained.

As if this strange occurrence didn’t scream ‘Read Me Now’, I was already drawn to the premise of the novel. Lucia, Lucia is about twenty-five- year- old Lucia Sartori and her Italian- American family living in 1950’s Greenwich Village. It follows her highs and pitfalls with love and loss in a captivating, deep and humorous way. But still, something told me to hold out just a little bit longer.

I didn’t have to wait long. The book called to me after my Uncle Joe’s death. My family from Italy came to the wake, not speaking a world of Italian.(For my thirty- year-old cousin Carmella, it was her first visit to America.) I was excited and pained. With the exception of my Popy’s brother, my Uncle Anthony, I had never seen this part of my family. And they in turn were seeing me for the first time too. I was overwhelmed by their warmth and affection. These people didn’t shake hands. They took my face in both hands, kissed me and hugged me. They looked me in my eyes as they cried and smiled; the family was together and all pain would pass.
I had been waiting for the moment in my life that would call to the book. When I needed a story to embrace me. I knew- trusted- that Lucia, Lucia would be special. The kind of read that you fall in love with. It had to be. After all that, it had to be something meant for me. So when Lucia, Lucia caught my eye on the Friday after the burial, exactly a week after Uncle Joe’s passing, I knew. I opened Lucia, Lucia for the first time, after both our journeys to find each other and it in turn opened me. It restored me, my faith and hope in the earthly and the treasures I could hold on to. And isn’t that true of all magical stories? You can look all your life for the great ones. But they end up finding you. No matter what.

I finished the two hundred and sixty page book that night.


-Kate Conte

Currently Listening

Rekindling Some Old Flames

The energy at Occupy Wall Street gets into your blood, somehow. At least, it did for me; I started thinking about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, a band I haven’t listened to in a while, but which was in my top five when I was younger and less disillusioned. Specifically, the title track from their 2004 album Shake the Sheets, a go-getter of a song that could make even the most adamant cynic feel like raising his or her fists. Maybe you’ve been feeling like you’ve been “defeated here by everything,” or have found yourself wondering when you’ll “get an hour to celebrate, find the time to breathe a sigh?” Ted Leo’s prescription is a drum beat made for boot-stomping, some nasty guitar riffs, and an order to “roll out and make your mark, pull on your boots and march, then roll on and meet me where you'll find me doing my own part.” This album may have come out eight years ago, but you couldn’t pick a more perfect time to discover it. Get angry with “The One Who Got Us Out,” discuss healthcare over “Heart Problems,” and remember what you’re fighting for while listening to “Walking to Do.” And just because we can’t be all business all the time, dance around to “Little Dawn” and let Leo tell you (about 40 times by the end of the song) that “it’s alright.” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists have released six full-length studio albums, including Hearts of Oak and Living with the Living, and if you like what you hear on Shake the Sheets, I urge you to listen to them all. There’s a place in my heart for all their work, but Shake the Sheets will always be my favorite. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists pour their hearts into this album, almost choking every song with soulful guitar work and turbulent hooks and choruses. In re-discovering the music I loved when I was passionate about making the world a better place, I re-discovered that same passion. I, for one, will probably always be ready to “pull on my boots and march,” just as long as there’s someone there to remind me that “if you do everything you can…that's more than a start.” And it doesn’t hurt if those words come with a kick-ass marching tune behind ‘em.

By the by, if going out to Amityville, Long Island isn’t too much of a hassle, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will be playing a show there on November 13th. Tickets are $10, which, if they bring half as much energy as they did when I saw them in 2008, is more than a steal.

-Margie Sarsfield



Image Source: http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/08/20/ns-nightlifepick_0500477823.jpg
Video Source: http://youtu.be/ko35ACvQIvM

Currently Watching

Revolutions via Social Media In Real Time

2011 has been sort of a revolutionary year. Starting in January with the overthrow of the dictatorship of Egypt, a domino effect hit the Middle East (and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter), erupting in significant protests, carnage, and changes in countries such as Libya, Tunisia, Burma, and Syria. Eventually this revolutionary spirit travelled across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in New York City. Three weeks after the historical event began, protesters issued its first copy of “The Occupy Wall Street Journal.” People have taken to the streets of the Financial District of Manhattan and have literally occupied the area.
Just like watching a movie in 3D, theories and ideals came alive for me and happened in real time. This protest is as a result of one percent of select Americans holding the bulk of wealth in a very tight vise. Out of frustration, people from all over the country came to New York City to let their voices be heard. There have been violent clashes and rising tension with law enforcement, and hundreds of people have been arrested.
The protesters are not fazed by this, however. In fact, the movement has gained momentum and has been felt across the globe. In addition to Occupy Wall Street, there has been Occupy Canada, Occupy Boston, Occupy Chicago, Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy the U.K., Occupy Rome; the list goes on. These global communities are sick and tired of bankers, investors, and brokers who are led by avarice.
People have taken to Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media that will be a platform for their causes. I and countless others are living, witnessing history as it occurs in real time. Are you watching it, too?

--Kerri Byam
Image Source: http://bit.ly/vBqX74

Greetings

Bring out the bags of candy corn, costumes and carved pumpkins because Halloween is right around the corner. Whether you’re taking your little brother trick-or-treating or you’re going to a Halloween party with some friends, make sure you enjoy the holiday. This is one of the few times you can stuff your face with candy, watch endless scary movies and truly feel like a kid again. After your bag of junk food is empty and you run out of horror flicks, grab a cozy chair and enjoy the new Boylan Blog articles.

Also check out the reminders below:

1) Making Work Visible writing contest. Open to all CUNY undergrads. The deadline isn't until January 2012, but be sure to visit http://www.lehman.edu/academics/arts-humanities/AHlaboressay.php for more details.

2) The Poetry Club meets every Tuesday during common hours in 2307 Boylan, so come and share your creativity!

3) Start sending in your submissions to the Junction! Send in your poetry and other creative writing to bczinesubmissions@gmail.com and bring a hard copy to 3416 Boylan.

4) Join us in the Woody Tanger Auditorium (room 150) in the library November 10th 12-2 pm for Open Mic!

5) Creative writing classes will now be offered during the winter session. Come to the office for more details.

~Kerry Gertner

Image source: http://www.womansday.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/wd2/content/family-lifestyle/holidays/carve-the-perfect-halloween-pumpkin/707645-1-eng-US/Carve-the-Perfect-Halloween-Pumpkin_featured_article_628x371.jpg

News Briefs

Living on a Prayer (and a Good Meal)

You might not like Jon Bon Jovi’s music, but it’s hard to find fault with his newest venture: The Soul Kitchen, a pay-as-you-can restaurant offering first class meals in New Jersey. The Soul Kitchen offers a fine dining, linen and silverware experience for anyone who’s hungry. Patrons can leave a donation (Bon Jovi suggests $20), or work for their meal by washing dishes, waiting tables, or volunteering at a soup kitchen like Lunch Break. "If you come in and say, 'I'm hungry,' we'll feed you, but we're going to need you to do something. It's very important to what we're trying to achieve," says Bon Jovi. What is he trying to achieve, exactly? A sense of community and cooperation. Giving dignity to the disempowered. Allowing people to both reap the benefits and contribute to the success of an establishment.

And the food? It at least sounds darn good: cornmeal crusted catfish, grilled chicken breast with basil mayo, and sweet potato mash are some of the dishes you’ll find on the menu. This is far from typical soup kitchen fare, and the reciprocity of working for a good meal allows impoverished people a sense of self-respect you just can’t get from accepting hand-outs. Not to disparage soup kitchens, which certainly do great work, but The Soul Kitchen’s approach to feeding the hungry is invigorating. People feel more attached to communities that they feel they play an active part in. They are more likely to fight for those communities and invest in them. By making its patrons feel that they are integral parts of its success, The Soul Kitchen creates an environment of pride and mutual support.

The Soul Kitchen also allows families and individuals impacted by the economic downturn to participate in a luxury that is often the first to go when cutting back on expenses. The experience of going to a restaurant can be very special for a family: it’s a chance to relax, enjoy delicious food of your choice, and let someone else worry about preparation and clean-up. In the modern family, where both parents probably work and where cooking dinner can be a source of stress, the act of going to a restaurant can be a true blessing. The Soul Kitchen’s donation-based system allows families to indulge in that blessing without worrying about how much it will set them back at the end of the month. Of course, patrons should give as much as they can to help support the restaurant as a valuable part of the community, but by taking away the pressure of fixed price meals, The Soul Kitchen gives families and individuals under economic strain a much-needed break.

This is not Jon Bon Jovi’s first foray into community building; his Soul Foundation has built over 200 homes for low-income residents since 2006. The rocker might have overshot his estimate when he sang that “we’re halfway there,” but if more people adopt his altruistic spirit, we might very well “make it.” After all, “we’ve got each other, and that’s a lot.”

-Margie Sarsfield

Image source: http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/EsWCUoUlVgxb9InfDAlO9g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTY2MTtjcj0xO2N3PTI0NjY7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTQyNTtxPTg1O3c9NjMw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/32b1847883110a17fc0e6a7067002844.jpg
Article Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/soul-kitchen-jon-bon-jovi_n_1021600.html

Why Do So Many Members of the 99% oppose the 99% Movement?

The events which have taken place in the past month on the doorstep of our nation's financial capital have been nothing less than extraordinary. Everyday, more and more people turn up at Zuccotti Park in full support of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters. Even with the vast amount of support for the protesters pouring in from all over the country and all around the world, there are still many (particularly members of academic institutions) who either have no comprehension of what is going on, or those who do and simply do not support it. In understanding the genuine causes for the “occupy Wall Street” movement (not the young crowd looking for a place to hang out, or political rhetoricians peddling their own brands of jaded theory) it becomes difficult to come to grips with the fact that a large part of the 99% do not support the “99%” movement. Attempting to grapple with this idea, The Assailed Teacher, on his blog (entitled the same) explains these baffling statistics through the notion of 'group think' and our unquestioning acceptance of it.

The Assailed Teacher begins by asking in a straight-forward manner, “why do so many members of the 99% oppose the 99% movement? He believes that the answer lies in how American history is taught to students. Of this, the Assailed Teacher notes that American history textbooks are fact-heavy “throughout most their march through time” but fail to do the same for relative history. Topics on things such as the internet get “vaporous descriptions” and are accompanied by glossy pictures. What you will not read about, laments the Assailed Teacher, is how “corporations control our political system, how the media has fallen into the grasp of 4 or 5 large corporations, how globalization is built on union building and slave labor, or how Wall Street has managed to take control of 35% of our total economy” (just to list a few). It seems that textbooks on American history promote our current state of affairs as being natural--- there is no question being asked on how we got here or why; no connection being made between the internet and the domination of Wall Street. Textbooks, purports the Assailed Teacher, portray our modern age in dry language. It is a progressive age that “cares not for your admiration or derision. It will march on, indifferent o your desires.” It is not only a problem of what is being taught but also how it is being taught.


Group work in the classroom and the resulting group think become scripture for an academic environment that deludes its students into thinking about a future in the corporate world. Group think, asserts the Assailed Teacher, is the real impact of group work. “Individuals question too much and too many extraordinary individuals have change the course of history. Group think puts a stop to all of that.” Group think is training the next set of consumers, not the next set of executives. The Assailed Teacher concludes by asking, “Is it any wonder that so many members of the 99% still do mot support the 99% movement? Our textbooks train us to think of our corporate age as natural. So when.. Occupy Wall Street call for a reduction of corporate power, it is like calling for the sky to be less blue... [and] While the media, politicians, and Republican sympathizers have all done their parts to bamboozle people about what is really going on around Occupy Wall Street... our education system has also ahd a part in getting the 99% to oppose their own movement.


The Assailed teacher highlights three key things: the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, the lax education system, and the role the latter has played (or has not played) in the former. The notion of group think and its effects are important to comprehend and becomes extremely relevant when dealing with consumerism, corporation, and “Occupy Wall Street”. In the end, I think that the Assailed Teacher's inclinations towards the education system playing its role in having many of 99% oppose their own movement, is accurate. But you, the reader, don't have to take my word (nor the word of the Assailed Teacher) for it, all you have to do is become observant. Something as grand and with such vast implications as Occupy Wall Street is occurring, yet here we sit, in history and political science classes, discussing our assigned readings in groups.



---Sarah G.



Article Sources: http://theassailedteacher.com/2011/10/12/why-do-so-many-members-of-the-99-oppose-the-99-movement-teacher’s-edition/
Image Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bnUjf7pc7G4/TprhNIL0_fI/AAAAAAAAAFE/CGfQTYwjyuI/s1600/Occupy-wall-street-story-_99_%255B1%255D.jpg

This is what democracy looks like

Rome. Tokyo. Australia. London. New York. Chicago. Cincinnati- Just some of the places where the Occupy protests have spread like forest fire. Protesters have been met with criticism largely because of their apparent lack of a unified message, but their message couldn’t be clearer: the government is not working.

In Chicago, 130 arrests were made after protesters remained in Grant Park after its closing time. Talks between the police and the demonstrator camp had been reportedly going on since ten o’clock Saturday and ended around one am Sunday. With the mandatory closing at eleven pm, Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided he was done talking. CPD carted off whoever had remained in the park, but managed to do so in a peaceful manner. No violence was reported.

In Cincinnati, 11 arrests were made after protesters remained in the city’s Fountain Square after Sunday’s three pm closing time. They were charged with criminal trespass, but again without violence. Participants described several ‘paddy wagons’ and jail buses on standby, but the atmosphere was calm and up-beat. The spirit of rebellion echoed as people shouted, “This is what democracy looks like.”

Is this what our country has become? Politicians don’t like what the Protesters are saying, so they sick the Police on them? Criminal Trespass on city property? Really? Who ‘owns’ the city? The Mayor? The Governor? I thought we left feudalism behind in the Dark Ages.



-Kate

Article Source: www.washingtonpost.com/national

Image Source: http://wewantinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/OccupyChicago.jpg

Culture Corner

Battle of the Beards




There are many forms of competition: basketball, rugby, football, swimming, poetry, and much more. But one that causes a hairy eyebrow to rise is the world of competitive bearding. That’s right. Men go hair to hair in the hopes of being crowned as king of whiskers.

There is a large community of men that come together to flaunt their hair. There is even a World Beard Championship. In 1990, it is said that the first serious beard competition was hosted by the First Hofener Beard Club in Hofen/Enz, Germany. Five years later, they also held the second World Beard and Moustache Championship in Pforzhiem. The Superbowl of bearding happens every three years or four years. The competition is broken up into five main categories: Moustache, Partial Beard, Full Beard Groomed, Freestyle, and Full Beard Natural.

The United States didn’t partake in the World Beard Championship until recently. Now there is a Beard Team USA. Whisker Wars, a show scheduled on IFC, follows the US team along their journey to make a name for the US in the World Beard Championship in Norway. Like any other “reality” show (as if television ever accurately depicts reality), tension flares as self-proclaimed team captain Phil Olsen's motives are questioned. I’ve never watched the show; it just seems like one of those shows that I’d really enjoy watching, but know a part of me will die if I do.

You’re probably asking yourself, “Why?” Well, why not. This is just another friendly form of competition. This gives people something to do and brag about. If you have the ability to grow a really awesome beard, then you need an venue that supports it. A community. A family. A large group of hairy grizzly beastly men...Yeah.



-Joel Cruz

Sources: http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

http://do512blog.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/whisker-wars-enter-the-world-of-competitive-beard-growing/

http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/blog/2011/07/ifc-provdes-facial-hair-community-with-whisker-wars/

http://www.ifc.com/whisker-wars/about/

Poem of the Week

Poetry as Outsider Song: Claude McKay



The Tropics of New York

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing trills,
And dewy. And mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills.

My eyes drew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.


McKay’s ability to use verse as a soapbox for his political woes is well documented in his corpus of dissident poems. However, there are parts in his work that are stripped of any severe agendas, moments of tender honesty and nostalgia. In “The Tropics of New York,” we are invited to glimpse at the man, utterly and totally submerged, in his loneliness. It almost reads more like journal entry, as if McKay is talking only to himself:

Banana ripe and green, and ginger-root
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
…………………………
Set in the windows, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing hills,
And dewy, and mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills

The naming of the fruits suddenly transcends into the naming of landscapes. The alligator pears bring
forth the low-singing hills and dewy blue skies. The fruit is a symbol of their origins and seeing them
swell a deep sense of nostalgia and wistfulness in the speaker. This is another reminder of the painful paradoxes of America; in its wealth it can offer almost anything and, in this case, fruits of the tropics. Yet, it can never recreate the authenticity of the speaker’s native land. The poem ends with the poet surrendering to his flood of emotions. It is a heartfelt scene of compromise: the heroic verse that rallied the masses to passionate revolution is now the weary and disheartened lament for something as simple as a brief memory of home:

My eyes drew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.


The work is necessary for understanding the plight of the immigrant in America. It humanizes the outsider and makes him more legitimate in his suffering. This poem is McKay at his most sincere; it a poem of pure cathartic means and gives us the clearest glimpse of his despair. It is the rabble rouser taking off his mask only to bow his head and question his efforts, his purpose in a strange and relentless land of racism, unrest, and massive economic differences. It is too often that even the fiercest poet will soon dismiss his agenda and succumb to his vulnerable heart, as evidenced through McKay's lament for his home.

-Ocean Vuong

Image Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2637413710_ffe4e3bca5.jpg

Currently Reading

William Saroyan

Four years ago, in the middle of a snowstorm in upstate New York, I sought refuge in a little used bookstore off a small town’s main highway. As I tried to figure out what I could possibly add to my extensive “To Read” bookshelf, the title on a worn, slightly familiar looking book caught my eye. On the slim spine were the words "The Human Comedy by William Saroyan." How many times, I thought, with a homesick wave, had I seen this little book on my father’s overstuffed shelves? I paid $2.50 for the volume and slipped back out into the big storm, the world suddenly feeling a lot warmer and smaller.

And thus began what has been a deeply personal relationship with the 20th century Armenian American writer William Saroyan. Shocked as I was to discover that Saroyan has been largely underappreciated in the history of American letters, there was one benefit to his relative obscurity: I didn’t know him well enough to know everything he had written. And I decided to keep it that way. I didn’t want to know if Saroyan, like Jane Austen, had finished exactly six novels. I didn’t want to know, as I did with Jack Kerouac, that I had bought and read virtually every word he had ever written. Instead I just looked for Saroyan’s name every time I found myself in a used bookstore, and he became a source of exciting surprise. One time it was The Adventures of Wesley Jackson. Another time it was the first edition of an anthology of plays. Another time it was My Name is Saroyan. None of them had existed in my mind before I found them. None of them have left my heart since.

I fell into Saroyan’s tragic but hopeful universe with The Human Comedy, but it was My Name is Saroyan, the posthumous collection of short pieces that had been printed in the publications of the Armenian Hairenik Association of Boston, that made me feel like I had found a father or a brother in this man I’d never met. The beauty of a collection like My Name is Saroyan is that in the busy insanity of everyday life (particularly at the heart of a college semester), you can take five minutes to ground yourself in the earthy beauty of one brief story and then return to the grind feeling a little less hopeless. Try out one of the often-humorous retellings of an Armenian folktale. Or if you’re a writer, go for “The Poet,” a reflection on trying to teach an earnest young man to write poetry (synonymous, to Saroyan, with teaching someone how to live). But if you only have a few minutes to devote to Saroyan, my suggestion is to read “Hate,” a short story about two brothers, Sirak and Krikor, who during World War II witness the horrific bullying of a young German boy by the war-maddened boys in their town because he extends his refusal of hatred to the Kaiser. Later that night, lying in bed, Sirak asks Krikor if he hates the Germans. “They are the same as all of us,” Krikor replies. And suddenly you feel that if the problems of the world are going to be solved, it’s not going to be by men in suits but by two boys talking to each other in the middle of the night when they should be going to sleep.

Maybe William Saroyan is not your cup of tea. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own Saroyan—that thing you love but refuse to know everything about, so that when your routines feel monotonous and everything feels like it’s been said, done, heard, and felt a few too many times, you can wander into a bookstore and find a worn down gem that is at once new and familiar. And this is the kind of world I imagine Saroyan would have wanted to live in: one in which we have lived ourselves into histories stuffed with the detail of heritages and everyday experiences but are still able to find delights in unexpected places.

- Nora Curry

Image Source: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/3f/34/2036225b9da08016a5a7f010.L.jpg

Currently Listening

Califone – Quicksand / Cradlesnakes

Much to the behest (or relief) of a couple of interns, this edition of Currently Listening isn’t about Fleetwood Mac. I’d like to extend a public apology to Nora Curry and Joel Cruz for playing countless videos of “Rhiannon” and “Gypsy” the past couple of days in the office. I have to play a song to get it out of my head. The vicious cycle continues. I know, and I am sorry.

So.

Califone is an experimental folk rock band from Chicago, founded after the breakup of frontman Tim Rutili’s previous band, Red Red Meat. Their sound is a marriage of the simple and the delicate, and brined in utter weirdness. Quicksand / Cradlesnakes, their 2003 record, is a mesmerizing album that encapsulates autumn to me. Acoustic guitars sweep like dead leaves across fuzzed-out, overdriven soundscapes. Violins swell and swirl about. Rutili and his band smack spoons, bang wastebaskets, and knock wine glasses. His vocals are warming and familiar; traditional harmonies soothe and round out the sonic experimentation.

Likewise, Rutili’s folktale lyrics tell incredibly sharp, beautiful stories of loss, desperation, and life in a small flyover-country town, among others. “Michigan Girls,” an especially hymn-like song, features Rutili whispering about an estranged relationship over minimalist acoustic accompaniment: “Straw bones nails of November clay / The way you kiss your uncle on the mouth.” I grow nostalgic for a time in my life that I have never actually lived through. This music is soft and powerful.

Califone have released 11 albums and one independent film, and play at the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Concert Hall on January 19th.

- Ryan Skrabalak



http://www.califonemusic.com/
Video Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEBULerKO6A, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51rfl6cc1FA

Currently Watching

Are You Being Served?


Considered to be the definitive British sitcom, with it's innuendo-laden, penchant for slap-stick comedy, and panto-type characters, Are You Being Served surely has something for everyone. Broadcasted from 1972-1985, Are You Being Served was written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. The idea for the show came from the brief period Lloyd spent working in a department store in the early 1950's. Set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing department of Grace Brothers' Department Store, the ensemble cast often permeated their conversations with sexual innuendo, and acted out misunderstandings and mistaken identity with occasional slap-stick humor. In addition to this, the cast's comedic performances were enhanced by outrageous costumes and frequently malfunctioning displays. Within all the humor, wonderful comedic situations, and brilliant acting, lies a severe critique of the british class system, the defined roles of gender, and the exploration of sexuality.

There is the portrayal of the floorwalker- Captain Peacock (played by Frank Thornton)-- who may only be addressed by the title of 'Captain' , and wears a red carnation to symbolize his position as an executive. There are the sales men and women who constantly make light of their lousy pay- one that sees them often hitch-hiking because they can't afford a ride on the bus. There are the maintenance staff who are not allowed and always leave extra early in his Rolls Royce. The show explores gender roles in a humorous manner as it pits the new world Mrs. Slocombe, head of the ladies' department, against the bitter Mr. Grainger, head of the gents' department, in an eternal battle of the sexes. The character of Mr. Humphries, as played by the flamboyant John Inman, is often seen prancing around the department in sequins and high-heels, leaving both his colleagues and the audience to question his sexuality. The quickness of the wit, the genius of the situations, and the cleverness of the social commentary are all wonderful reasons to watch this remarkable sitcom. But putting all of this aside for one moment, the show is genuinely funny, and it will have you roaring with laughter from start to finish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YW3ixaswQ&feature=related


-Sarah G.

Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/JohnInman.jpg
Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YW3ixaswQ&feature=related

Illuminations

Rediscovering William Steig


Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about illustrations and childhood.
My heart sank in Astoria upon seeing The Museum of Moving Image closes at 7PM. I had been looking forward to reconnecting with Jim Henson’s Muppets all week! And I had failed my colleagues in the office! After all, I volunteered to write this week’s Illuminations. Walking back to the N at 36th Street, I remembered I had two books with me I’d ordered earlier that week and hadn’t yet read: William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and CDB! The ride back to Brooklyn wasn’t as long as it sounds.
Steig’s whimsical, subtle illustrations immediately bring me back to the carpeted corner nook of my 2nd grade classroom with beanbags strewn along its wall and a bookshelf stuffed with Caldecott Winners. In addition to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, which won the 1970 Caldecott Award and was banned in many libraries around the United States because of Steig’s anthropomorphized pigs as police, Steig wrote the Newberry Award winning Doctor De Soto and Shrek! (the latter being the inspiration for the motion picture). CDB! is a rather experimental picture book where the text is simply letters. One reads the letters aloud—each page is a story of letters, accompanied by a picture. The slight changes in facial expressions and wide range of characters show Steig’s mastery of illustration.
I beg you to revisit the picture books of your youth. I can guarantee you’ll find something you didn’t pick up on as kid—or, if you’ve forgotten that special message in the throes of adolescence and burgeoning adulthood—you’ll be able to relearn it.




---Ryan Skrabalak

Image Sources: http://onthebutton.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/untitled.jpg?w=333&h=512
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Sbj4LAiH1_s/S_rZK11E6oI/AAAAAAAAExs/20J9-MjZ4ac/s1600/CDB_crop4.jpg

Greetings

Welcome to a new week of the Boylan Blog. We know you're probably busy studying for mid-terms or finishing up your first papers of the term, but do take a break and cozy up with our rich articles, including the newly instated "Illuminations", a space where we feature a small gallery of important and provocative artwork each week. In the spirt of fall, we'd hope this would add a nice splash of color for your reading pleasure. So stay gold....or red, or orange, and remember, feel free to comment on the posts! We'd love to hear from you.

News Briefs

A Promising Diagnosis

Reading the news these days feels a little bit like going to the doctor and getting diagnosed with bronchitis, pneumonia, and cancer in one fell swoop. So if you feel like you’re being inundated with horrifying news in this grand old nation that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep*, I come bearing a little ray of light in the damning diagnosis of the global climate. The World Health Organization announced on October 11 that there has been a global decrease in new tuberculosis (TB) cases for the first time in more than twenty years, thanks in part to aid from nations like the United States. That’s right: our asthmatic nation reached out and did some good.

TB is the cause of more than a million deaths each year, second only to AIDS among infectious diseases. The 1980s saw a huge rise in TB cases in conjunction with the spread of HIV, but at the time the U.S. did little to help with the spread of either disease. The current decline in TB cases, which has been going on for five years but was just detected, is the first significant decline since the rise of the AIDS crisis. WHO chose to share this announcement in Washington instead of their Geneva headquarters in the hopes of gaining the attention and support of U.S. lawmakers who could potentially cut the funding for global TB control during the current round of budget cuts. The U.S. currently spends approximately $375 million a year to help with tuberculosis treatment and control in developing countries, but disagreements within the budget “supercommittee” could result in significant cuts to Obama’s “Global Health Initiative,” and thus to TB-related funding.

Researchers are currently working on ten potential TB vaccines that could be available as early as 2013, but much research still needs to be done and the U.S. has a responsibility to do its part. Here’s hoping that somewhere in the midst of trying to one-up each other, our politicians can think about the millions of people they have the power to help or kill with their budget decisions. The decline in TB cases is a reminder that we’re perfectly capable of facilitating progress when we put our thoughts (and dollars) in the right place. And if we all do our best to exert whatever influence we have for good, maybe in the not too distant future we’ll be able to read the headlines with (dare I say it?) smiles on our faces.

- Nora Curry

*credit to the one and only Allen Ginsberg

Image Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/tuberculosis-rates-decline/2011/10/11/gIQAmtDgdL_graphic.html

Article Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/number-of-new-tb-cases-worldwide-fall-for-the-first-time-in-decades/2011/10/11/gIQAXoLidL_story.html

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Did Someone Crap On My Phone?

A new study, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London, concluded that one in six phones in Britain may contain fecal matter that can spread E. coli. I wonder what the numbers would look like if they conducted the same experiment in the United States.

The researchers attribute this statistic to the fact that people fail to wash their hands after leaving the pooper. It appears, to me, people are also failing to use toilet tissue or maybe not enough of it. Based on their data, researchers have reason to believe that people are lying about their cleanliness.

After going to 12 cities and acquiring 390 samples from cell phones and hands of their owners, interesting percentages were collected:

95% of the volunteers told researchers they, whenever possible, wash their hands with soap.
92% of the phones contained bacteria
82% of the hands also contained bacteria.
16% percent of the phones and hands contain E. coli bacteria.

Based on high percentage of volunteers who claimed to wash their hands with soap versus the high percentage, researchers deduced that most people lie about their hygiene habit. In regards to 82%, maybe some participants didn’t wash their hands before being surveyed, but actually wash their hands frequently. I think it’s always good to question the methods of retrieving data. Just a thought.

-Joel Cruz

Image Source: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2623/3875218091_cb9c338148.jpg

Article Source: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-10-14/1-in-6-cellphones-have-traces-of-fecal-E-coli/50774456/1

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Getting Some Fresh Air In New York City, So To Speak







Okay, so.

This article isn't about air quality, pollution, or toxin levels in the atmosphere. Stand on the corner of Bowery and Houston and you'll soon find out via a wallop of exhaust fumes that our city is indeed pretty heavily polluted. But, like I said. This is about a different yet still prominent atmosphere of New York life: the atmosphere of art.

Over the summer, artist Andy Golub was arrested in Times Square for dressing a nude model in body paint. NYPD claimed Golub violated "public exposure and lewdness laws" with his actions. Golub's arrest led to a court case, where a unique "compromise" (if you will) was reached: exposed breasts are okay in the daytime, but any model's nether-regions must be covered until dark. Interestingly enough, New York state laws exempt "any person entertaining or performing in a play, exhibition, show or entertainment" from lewdness and indecent exposure violations. Separate cities typically interpret the exceptions with varying degrees of leniency, supposedly. If Golub complies with the new specifics of the law, and is not arrested in the next six months, his charges will be dropped (along with his model's charges).

Is New York not an art town anymore? James Schuyler, an important longtime figure of the New York school of poetry, once wrote of New Yorkers "[they are] affected by the floods of paint in whose crashing surf we all scramble...in the place where they live; in New York it is painting." The Met! MOMA! The Whitney! The Guggenheim! The list goes on and on, New Yorkers. So you're walking around Midtown (God bless you, brave soul, God bless) and you happen to see--a Human! The Human Form, naked! O, Lord! Perhaps the urgent honesty of the naked body is too much for some people to process. What a shame.

Isn't it hard to paint in the dark, anyway?

Be excellent to one another, and do good work--

Ryan Skrabalak

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/us-artist-nude-idUSTRE79D2EN20111014
Image source : http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/banana1015.com/files/2011/04/censored_nudity.jpg

Culture Corner

Glamorizing Obesity

Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest has twenty people battling it out to scarf down as many hot dogs (buns included) as they can in ten minutes. The participants stand behind a thirty foot table at Coney Island’s hotspot, Nathan’s. Whether you are seeing the event directly from Coney Island or watching it on your TV set, the event seems exciting because it’s as if you are taking part in the making of history. However, on closer inspection, this New York tradition can be seen as symbolizing one of America’s biggest social problems—obesity.
For the contest, participants train themselves to eat unhealthy amounts of food. This quasi-Olympic sport suggests behavior that will lead people in the direction of heart problems and diabetes. Although it is recommended to average 2,000 calories a day, Joey Chestnut, a fellow hot dog contender, eats around 20,000 calories during each contest. The audience watching the hot dog eating contest may not realize that the competitors undergo unique eating habits in order to participate in the matches. Chesnut reveals that “his training consist[s] of fasting and stretching his stomach with water and milk.” During the challenge, he uses the method of “shaking and clinching the muscles in [his] abdomen and pushing everything down."
The United States is the ninth most obese country in the world, with 74.1% of its population being overweight or obese. As a result, a drastic change needs to be made to improve these statistics. One baby step may be to bring about educational awareness.

~Kerry Gertner

Article Sources: http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/obesity.html
http://nathansfamous.com/PageFetch/getpage.php?pgid=26
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/07/04/thousands-expected-as-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest-adds-womens-division/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11737363
Image Source: http://southerngaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest.bmp

Poem of the Week

Mother’s Labor
Late August 1927, still

You said, Sister, come rub my back, and I
could feel it come upon you the way fog
came, froze on the field, the way the womb
abstracted. You recalled the time we had
to help deliver the fall calf, and Father
was shoulder-deep in birth-gore, naming for us
the long spine, the fine rib, the breathless blade
of a shoulder—and what he said, Ah, yes, this one
will be to keep.
You sank into the bed
where I was gotten, into the story
I had again begged you of my own
quickening—of the time you sang and sang
to make the butter come, and I turned in you
instead—into water long broken, into
yourself. There was no cord to cut, only
my hand to cease making its sense of you.

- Claudia Emerson, from Pinion: an elegy


Claudia Emerson’s 2002 book of poetry entitled Pinion: an elegy is presented as the narrative of the fictional Rose, who grew up as the youngest sister in a Southern family in the 1920s and was the only member of her family to break free of the farm on which she was raised. Rose has returned through a dream state to her family’s dilapidated home in order to tell their story, weaving together a polyvocal narrative not unlike a poetic rendering of William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. She is completing a self-imposed task compelled by the burden of love: to write for a house, and the family that lived and died within its walls, so that they should never cease to exist.

“Mother’s Labor” is from the section of the book spoken through Rose’s sister, who is known to all only as Sister. The language of the poem forges a comparative relationship between the mother’s womb and the land, foreshadowing that the offspring of this tragic maternal figure will ultimately share a fate with the barren fields. The poem demonstrates internal recognition of the family’s reliance on storytelling for its existence as the mother sinks “into the story / I had again begged you of my own / quickening” (11-13), a story whose continuance now depends on Rose and thus on Pinion itself. But perhaps most moving about the poem is the incredible intimacy between mother and daughter, the devastating beauty of a daughter recalling her fetal self turning within her mother’s body, of the baby’s hand making sense of its protector, only to one day inherit the grief of preparing that mother’s body for burial, as she does in the poem immediately following.

In some ways, the structure of Pinion is complex, in that we are being asked to see Emerson as writing for Rose as writing for her siblings. But if it seems in theory that Emerson is trying to dazzle and confuse us with such a narrative structure, these efforts in fact become highly organic and compelling on the page. There’s something incredibly beautiful and logical about writing poetry about or on behalf of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters—about the people from whom we learn language but from whom our speech ultimately comes to differ. It gets at what poetry is: taking the language that we know, that we are raised with, and that we all can relate to, and then turning it with weathered hands into words that no one else could have preconceived, but that, once heard, create a world in which the listener cannot imagine such images failing to exist.

- Nora Curry

Image Source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/975513.Pinion
Poem Source: Emerson, Claudia. “Mother’s Labor.” Pinion: an elegy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002. 32.

Currently Reading

What’s an Hour, Then Another?

Michael Cunningham recounts the intersecting lives of three women: Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa Vaughn. Virginia Woolf is in the process of writing Mrs. Dalloway while suffering from mental illness in the suburbs of London. Laura Brown, an avid reader of Mrs. Dalloway, is a conventional housewife in the 1950's who is typecast, plays a perfect role, but is nevertheless stifled by space and time. Clarissa Vaughn, also known as Mrs. Dalloway, is the ex-lover and best friend of Richard Brown, the son of Laura Brown. Her purpose in life is askew, and she only has the hours a billow to keep her afloat.

Yet, despite the simple practicality of time, the hours play an overtly significant role in each woman’s life. One woman is constrained by time, another is restrained by it, another is upheld by it. In the end, each woman’s story collectively entangles with plot and time while Cunningham leaves us readers with the following quote: “We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep--it’s as simple and ordinary as that…There’s just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we’ve ever imagined…we hope, more than anything, for more.”

We all have different destinations, goals, dreams. Yet, if we can count on anything, we cannot deny the fact that the second turns into the minute, and the minute into the hour. Time is ubiquitous; it is everywhere. We cannot bend or conform to it like a malleable spoon or a rubber-band. Time can be a novelty, a scapegoat, a medium for action or even lethargy. Still, as sure as the coming of the next second, another thing is also sure: time is neither our friend nor is it our foe.

- Kerri Byam

Image Source: http://www.michaelcunninghamwriter.com/files/the_hours.jpg

Currently Listening

True Underdogs

Let’s try something. Play the video located below this paragraph, but do not look at what is being displayed. Just listen to the song first and try to imagine what’s taking place in the music video. Afterwards, play the video again, but watch it the second time around.



Yeah, I didn’t expect that either. When I hear of “saving the world,” it usually involves a damsel in need of her world being saved. When my friend sent me the link to this video, I didn’t think this song would be the exception, considering the title.

My mind was all over the place as I watched Swedish House Mafia’s music video: “Okay, this is just another club song…Damn, this world really does need some saving…Aw, someone left their dog on the street corner…Oh, he’s calling for back up and they’re ’bout the business.” The lyrics of the song are ambiguous; we aren’t told who’s saving the world. I was inclined to believe it dealt with a man and woman saving each other from the callous hands of evildoers.

So when I found a stampede of dogs coming to the rescue, naturally I was taken aback. If you simply listen to the song, as opposed to watching the music video, it takes on a different shape; personally, I prefer the silhouette of a cuddly four-legged creature.

- Joel Cruz

Currently Watching

Communitychannel



Ever notice how many keys there are on the keyboard that never get used? What does ~ even mean?

How awkward is it when you accidentally graze someone’s hand while trying to press the same elevator button?

Do Infomercial models for tanning products really walk around with one leg tanned and the other leg untanned?

These are all the comical nuances of daily life that 25-year-old Australian vlogger Natalie Tran, better known as communitychannel, talks about on YouTube. She uses the “Dear Diary” format to comment on a wide spectrum of social issues, ranging from gift-giving customs to racism against immigrants. Her satirical skits, where she herself plays most of the characters, narrows in on the passing moments of life and places them in the foreground.

In one of my personal favorites, she talks about how a salesclerk will always put a price tag on your friendship when you go to purchase a gift for someone. The $50 sweater means you’re an “alright buddy,” but the $250 sweater definitely gives you the “best-friend status.” And oddly enough, clever marketing like this does subconsciously persuade us, but how often do we actually sit down and notice it?

She draws a great deal of inspiration from her parents and their observations on the differences in lifestyle in Australia versus Vietnam. The strange details her parents point out to her are not that different from what my parents tell me. As I pay more attention to my parents and their rants about life here in America, it’s beginning to strike me just how darn hilarious they are.

Natalie’s videos always leave me with a smile and make me remember that there’s a whole lot of funny around us, we just need to change our perspectives a little to find it.

If you have a couple of minutes during your next lunch break and are in need of a quick laugh, I highly recommend you give her a visit by going to www.youtube.com/communitychannel.


-Mira


Photo Source: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnwcuwSihk1qi05ik.png
Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/user/communitychannel#p/search/0/E2RzKNCahRg

Illuminations

At Least One Good Reason to Go to Long Island City


As a college student in the borough next to the greatest city in the world, you might feel that it behooves you to check out New York’s great art museums. And by all means, you should check out the Met or the Guggenheim. But, if and when you get tired of the bourgeois atmosphere and stuffy white walls, take a 7, G, or M train to Court Square to check out one of Queens’ hidden gems: MoMa’s P.S. 1. P.S. 1 is worth the trip for the architecture alone: set up in a renovated public school, the crumbling brick stairways, creaking wooden floors, and maze-like rows of white doors that either lead you to an exhibit or a janitor’s closet are works of art in and of themselves. But P.S. 1 is also a safe haven for contemporary and experimental art.


As you walk through the galleries (without much sense of direction, because they don’t seem big on maps here), you are followed by the echoes of music from one exhibit and the voices from a film in another. The current exhibit, 9 11, explores pre- and post- 9/11 art and thought in America. Walk into one room and immerse yourself in part of America’s violent history in Bruce Connor’s Film “Report”, which juxtaposes segments of film and audio from the Kennedy assassination with flashes of violent and neutral images; walk up a flight of cathedral-esque stairs, and find yourself in James Turell’s space-and-light focused exhibit, “Meeting”, where you can sit on a long wooden bench and bask in artificial sunlight. Just down the hall you’ll find Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty Part Motet”, forty speakers set up in a circle, each projecting a single voice in a choir. Take a seat in the middle and let the harmonies wash over you. Or, walk down to the boiler room and listen to Stephen Vitiello’s recordings made from the top of the World Trade Center after Hurricane Floyd. The sound of creaking steel and whining wind, coupled with the dank, unfinished, you-just-got-kidnapped feel of the basement will creep you out in a beautiful way. For the more traditional art enthusiast, John Pilson’s photographs, taken at the World Financial Center in the late evening and early morning, of objects left behind by employees who have left for the day, are beautiful in craft and haunting in potential meaning. Explore the work of lesser-known artists next to big names like Christo, Barbara Kruger, John Lennon, and John Williams. 9 11 will be on exhibit until January 9th, but if you don’t make it before it ends, don’t sweat it. There is always something fascinating going on at P.S. 1, and with free admission for Brooklyn College students (oh yeah!) you’ve got nothing to lose (except your preconceptions about art.)


---Margie Sarsfield

Image Source: http://www.urban75.org/photos/newyork/images/ps1-art-long-island-14.jpg

Greetings

Shake off that sticky summer sweat! Autumn is the perfect season for an urban safari. Have a picnic in Prospect Park, then check out what all the cute, fuzzy, scaly, feathery animals at the zoo are up to. Or, hop across the street and stroll through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (free for BC students!) and see what fall has in store for nature's finest. Go jogging through Cobble Hill, or don your skinniest skinny jeans and check out the Williamsburg Waterfront. They might have pumpkins at your local Key Food or Met Supermarket, so pick out the ugliest one and give it a make-over. Once you've had all the outdoorsy fun you can handle, grab a burrito and explore this week's Boylan Blog, loaded as usual with food for thought from Brooklyn College's most interesting interns. First and foremost, some stimulating announcements:

1) Making Work Visible writing contest. Open to all CUNY undergrads. The deadline isn't until January 2012, but be sure to visit http://www.lehman.edu/academics/arts-humanities/AHlaboressay.php for more details.

2) The Poetry Club. The Poetry Club will have its first meeting on October 11th during common hours in 2307 Boylan.

Now, go get 'em, tiger!

- Margie Sarsfield

Image source: http://www.prospectparkzoo.com/plan-your-trip/events-calendar/~/media/Images/prospectparkzoo/events/headline/_julie%20larsen%20maher%205776%20%20Hamadryas%20Baboons%20PPZ%2010%2014%2010.jpg