Thxa Soe: Music Can Change the World
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQE5O3iSqwzIAHFou-QhuAQpSsRI5MfJIBARhnE3VnZxz4NMYIawp_IhwE29N2X9_EgAkNMwxdRMS6eSv8u96jnU5LFU8Vj0xDWGWs7CIepXQCFyeVooMmWaUvxcl9Anc6PKNYcY70di4/s1600/1289981896_0.jpg
I chose this picture because it shows how Thxa Soe combines new hip-hop with old Burmese dance.
Thxa Soe: the most popular and outspoken singer in Burma. His fast rhythms and beats convey more than just a curious urge to get up and dance, like in the Matt Harding video; they convey a message to the Burmese people: stand up against the junta that rules our country, and fight for their freedom. His songs include Hey, We Have No Money, a shout out to the people to make them see they are not being treated fairly, and the recently banned: Water And Electricity, Please Come Back, which the ruling military junta took as criticism of their poor water and electricity supply. For me, it seems impossible not to have basic things like water and electricity, things we take for granted. This song was written with the help of his brother, who was very sad when it was banned. He was also scared that the government would retaliate, so he fled to the U.SA. In the West, music is just a form of entertainment; in Burma, it could be a revolution packed into an album.
Thxa Soe is more than just a rap artist. He is a revolutionary of a new kind.
Nov 11: Fatmere Feka: Can I Forgive?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ESC4bygtp2M/TNy9BAJ7m-IAAAAAAAAIfw/dHLE9Ut_qE0/s1600/Caravaggio_Narcissus.jpg
I chose the painting The Moment Of Caravaggio by Michael Fried because Fatmire Feka is faced with a choice to be one person: a person who hates the Serbs and everything about them, or someone who forgives what they have done, but not forget it. To do this she must look deep inside herself and make a choice between a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQE5O3iSqwzIAHFou-QhuAQpSsRI5MfJIBARhnE3VnZxz4NMYIawp_IhwE29N2X9_EgAkNMwxdRMS6eSv8u96jnU5LFU8Vj0xDWGWs7CIepXQCFyeVooMmWaUvxcl9Anc6PKNYcY70di4/s1600/1289981896_0.jpg
I chose this picture because it shows how Thxa Soe combines new hip-hop with old Burmese dance.
Thxa Soe: the most popular and outspoken singer in Burma. His fast rhythms and beats convey more than just a curious urge to get up and dance, like in the Matt Harding video; they convey a message to the Burmese people: stand up against the junta that rules our country, and fight for their freedom. His songs include Hey, We Have No Money, a shout out to the people to make them see they are not being treated fairly, and the recently banned: Water And Electricity, Please Come Back, which the ruling military junta took as criticism of their poor water and electricity supply. For me, it seems impossible not to have basic things like water and electricity, things we take for granted. This song was written with the help of his brother, who was very sad when it was banned. He was also scared that the government would retaliate, so he fled to the U.SA. In the West, music is just a form of entertainment; in Burma, it could be a revolution packed into an album.
Thxa Soe is more than just a rap artist. He is a revolutionary of a new kind.
Nov 11: Fatmere Feka: Can I Forgive?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ESC4bygtp2M/TNy9BAJ7m-IAAAAAAAAIfw/dHLE9Ut_qE0/s1600/Caravaggio_Narcissus.jpg
I chose the painting The Moment Of Caravaggio by Michael Fried because Fatmire Feka is faced with a choice to be one person: a person who hates the Serbs and everything about them, or someone who forgives what they have done, but not forget it. To do this she must look deep inside herself and make a choice between a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde.
11 years ago in Kosovo, a girl's family was ripped apart. She then went on to try to make peace with the people that did it. Fatmire Feka is one of the 1000 Women of Peace Across the Globe, and is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Her brother and sister were taken by Serb forces, and she still does not know what happened to them. But when she was 12, she established the Kids Club for Peace, helping teach young children about peace and why it's important. Now, Fatmire is faced with the question: can you forgive them? My answer: I would not be able to. Her answer: She can forgive, but not forget.
Instead of letting her hatred overcome her, she cast aside all their differences, and tried to make peace with the people she has been brought up to hate. This, going against what you were taught to believe, and starting anew with the people that destroyed your life, is a mark of a true heroin.
Pablo Picasso's Guernicahttps://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYYZcjXiI3YwEHzAHfREgE-oBOjIiv-AuTJ3gFAph0E5MfmuhZ8_EOmfWdA7TScpIyaqZeiHA5_95WovXa-lEC3eBQasEb2PVo_Q8PQdTikhMSxf-t4IbXe1T9oR1_9nu-_ofqptUeMG3/s1600/PicassoGuernica.jpg
Pablo Picasso: one of the world greatest artists, a visionary, and has painted many different pictures. But the painting Guernica, a painting accredited to him, he says he did not paint. In 1937, the Nazi Luftwaffe bombed the town of Guernica. This gruesome painting was Picasso's reaction to the event. One day, a Nazi soldier came up to him and said "Did you paint this?" The painting was next to Picasso. "No," Picasso replied,"you did".
Artists can speak out to the world without a single word leaving their mouths. In some ways, this is more effective because the artist can show their feelings, rather than telling them. People say that a picture tells a thousand words.
The strongest image for me in this painting is the disembodied arm with a flower and a broken sword. I think it means that they tried fighting with love, and compassion, but in the end, they had to resort to violence, and that is what broke them.
Eboo Patel: Pluralism is the Way
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https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2roDOytE_I2hVDidG5gnTh2QPcUw3-XgCIqY6CfcaSBetZApSHojUu8wdsDohv5a0pkwJxKikkfr7CdvK1v5Hf6YIdukcFQvd8fc-Q8meLRVvf1288OhidLwtQzEIOzuMerh-8JBRPM/s1600/800px-Primavera_01.jpg I chose the painting Primavera by Sandro Bottecelli because it reminded me of pluralism(in the middle), being invaded by totalitarianism which completely surrounds it. Also, the picture of the girl being snatched away also struck me, because everyone is standing by and ignoring what is happening. |
Eboo Patel. The young visionary who believes that diversity is most conflicted in religion. He has founded the Interfaith Youth Corps to help promote collaboration between religions. He believes instead of Muslim vs. Christian, and Hindu vs. Jaime, which he says would be an everlasting war between 2,000,000,000 Christians and 1.3 billion Muslims, it should be Pluralism vs. Totalitarianism.
I think what this means is instead of religion vs. religion, it should be collaboration vs. singularity, or dictatorship. Although, I think that we should avoid any kind of conflict whatsoever, so I am forced to slightly disagree with Mr. Patel. But in reality, it is in our nature to fight and argue, for example, my brother and I fight all the time, it just varies in intensity. So if we must fight, I say we control the frequency and intensity of it.
So, Mr. Patel wants us to oppose totalitarianism, and I agree. But I don't want to turn it into a conflict to see who's right. I think it would be better if the pluralists and the totalitarians should meet together, and make a deal. Anyone who wants to live in a pluralist society can move to somewhere with a generally pluralist government, and the same for totalitarians. This way, everyone's happy.
There is a band called"Playing For Change, composed of musicians from all over the world: from the Congo to Italy, and they try to unite the world by singing. The leader of this group, Grandpa Elliot, is blind, but really, it has nothing to do with it. His situation is similar to the man who came to our school with the Beautiful Minds group. He had cerebral palsy, and was able to play a very complicated Beethoven piece, perfectly. They have both overcome their disabilities to set an example for people across the world. They send a message that anyone can play music, so long as they are persistent.
Music is a common language which can transcend barriers and bring people from different countries and cultures together. Sometimes politics and culture get in the way of us communicating, but the arts brings us together, because No Man Is An Island as John Donne tells us. We can get past these barriers with art (Picasso's Guernica), music (Thxa Soe and Playing for Change), and poetry (No Man Is An Island).
To me, being part of the younger generation, music is a much more effective way of communicating than politics, because I find music interesting, and fun to listen to. To most of my generation, politicians are just a bunch of boring people debating pointlessly. The arts appeal to our senses, and that makes us listen, see, and understand. By definition, the arts is an expression of our feelings, but more importantly, sharing them. Instead of using a gun, we want to use our intellect to solve problems, and we want to do it in a way so people will listen. But instead of forcing them to listen, we invite them to, and present our argument in an appealing way.
