Afghanistan (Asia Current Event)

Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south-central asia. It borders Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Archeologists have found traces of human life in Afghanistan dating back as far as 50,000 B.C.E., with urban civilizations appearing around 3,000 to 2,000 B.C.E. The name "Afghanistan" the half "Afghan" originates from the Pashtun people, the founders of the largest ethnic group of the country. The other half of the word "-stan" is a persian suffix for "Place".

An event currently occurring in Afghanistan is the U.S. War on terrorism, which began in October, 2001 after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The war being fought on Afghan soil was originally started as stated by the george w. bush Administration to find high- ranking Al-Qaeda members and bring them to trial, destroy the Al-Qaeda organization, and end the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to the organization. In Afghanistan today towns and communities are being destroyed by the many, many years of conflict in the area.

Street Art

1.) Qualities of the art shown in the documentary "Exit through the gift shop" that i will be able to transfer into my work include:
The passion the artists feel about their artwork. they work extremely hard on their work and a piece of the artist is inside of their art. I want to feel good and work hard on my work so i will create a product that i will be proud to show off and present to the class.
2.) The most amazing aspects of the street artists' art was that they worked so hard on something that they felt so passionate about, and besides the art looking super rad, the fact that they worked so hard to put out their work was amazing to me. i feel like, if i was to apply myself and work as hard as they do on things, i would get a lot of stuff done, and done well.
3.) I think the artists conveyed different messages in each of their pieces of work. My favorite artist showed in the film would have to be Shepard Fairey, who used the power of repetition, by repeating "OBEY" to raise hype and turn a small inside joke of his into an art phenomenon. Shepard Fairey is a huge source of inspiration to me, and continues to be as he creates more and more interesting pieces of work. I am currently saving up to buy a screen print of his.

Harrison Bergeron political cartoon

My Cartoon shows the grim reaper, standing over small man who is curled up. The man is saying "I should have just hidden my individuality" which means the man somehow appeared individual, and stood out, So the government sent in death to ensure the man would not stick out. I found the inspiration while looking at other peoples' cartoons. I noticed a lot of symbols and metaphors for death, so i decided to symbolize death with death.

Political Cartoon

A political Cartoon is a cartoon drawn to make a comical point about a serious political matter.

Metamorphosis 3

1) I think Kafka decided to transform Gregor into a grotesque insect, is that, Franz Kafka had emotional problems, (so i am told) and i think “The metamophosis” is almost like a short story about how he felt as a human, like an insect, and that his issues and emotional problems made him feel insignificant, like a huge cockroach. Kafka wrote the story very well, and as a friend said to me, “Maybe Franz Kafka just wanted to write a story for the sake of writing a story. I don’t think this has any deep meaning, besides an emotionally disturbed guy writing a story about a huge bug”

2) I think that Kafka chose the Cockroach instead of or reptilian friend, the frog, is that frog’s are stereotypes. The cockroach was a very imaginative, twisted, and symbolic approach to the classic story. I think the cockroach, (like i said in question 1) symbolizes how Kafka felt about himself in the real world. Another reason, is that Frogs are much prettier than cockroaches, which are ugly, creepy creatures, when frogs are almost cute.

Metamorphosis chapter 2

I think the samsa family harms itself by becoming dependents on gregor. On page 9, 10, and 11, Gregor talks about supporting his family, even after becoming a bug, because he feels that his family would not be able to afford the nice things they were accustomed to, if the cash-flow stopped. He talks about sending his sister to a conservatory where she could be able to study violin which she was very good at. He talks about his mother, with asthma, who would not be able to work due to her weak lungs. and his father, who had become accustomed to not working after five years, and had gained a lot of weight. His mother, father, and sister benefit greatly from Gregor's hard work, and Gregor only suffers, with hardly a break, and barely a thanks.

Five rules for healthy family life:
1. Understanding. (If members don't understand each other, they won't be able to work together. e.g., If Gregor's Family understood that he wants to be more appreciated, he might not feel so stressed out all the time.)
2. Appreciation. (If a family member works really hard, does all of their chores/ school work/ helping around the house, they probably deserve some compensation, or at least appreciation. e.g., I do all my chores, work hard in school, I am unnecessarily kind and forgiving to my brother, and suck up to my parents and i still don't have Call of duty Black ops.)
3. Kindness. (If a family member shows kindness to other family members, the other members will feel better about themselves, and will naturally be in a better mood. e.i. Gregor's sister feeds gregor when nobody else does, she cleans up after him, and does things for him, which she believes are helpful)
4. Compromise. (If family members have an issue, then need to be able to work it out (hopefully) with a win-win outcome. e.g., if a family member doesn't want to so the dishes that evening, they should be allowed to negotiate with another member and do the dishes another night.)
5. Communication. (Family members need to be able to address, and communicate to each other in order to solve problems, cook dinner, or do basically anything. e.i., Gregor's family seems to have poor communication skills, because Gregor's family seems to not notice that gregor would like some acknowledgement for all the hard work he does, and that the first think his mother says to him when he wakes up late, is "Gregor! It is a quarter- to seven. Don't you wan to be on your way?" rather than asking him if he was alright, because he had never even been late to work one day in the 5 years he had worked there.

Over all, i think the Samsa family has earned, at maximum, a C-. because they have poor communication skills, and they do not appreciate Gregor for all the hard work he does for them.

Metamorphosis chapter 1

Reading about Gregor, i think he may have felt been dehumanized before he was transformed in several ways. (1) i think that the stressful job as a traveling salesman does not sound like a job many people would like to wake up in the morning to do. people naturally tend to not like salespeople and solicitors, only because they are thought of as a nuisance. He says that people naturally think that he makes a lot of money, when he doesn't. he is just trying to make money to pay off his parents' debt. that brings me to the second point. (2) he is working to support his family as the only worker in his family, his mother father and sister are all dependent on him, and he might feel taken advantage of, or that he just needs a break from all the pressure. he feels pressure from his family, and also his boss, who seems like an extreme- micromanager. Gregor has never missed or been late to work in the 5 years he had been working there, and he is an hour or so late, and his boss comes to his house. that does not seem very fair. over all, Gregor needed a break, and looking on the bright side, he might get a break as a giant cockroach.