White Day?

            I met with Eiko for a third time on March 10^th.  It was a busy day for me, so we only met for a quick lunch.

            I was really looking forward to meeting with Eiko, but I found it difficult to hold a conversation with her.  I was surprised because we had never had a problem conversing before.  We went back and forth with small talk explaining our past week’s events.  This was prior to Spring Break, so I also told her about my upcoming plans for the week.

            As we finished our food, I wanted to continue talking, but I had no idea what to say.  I realized at one point we were just sitting there, both looking at our plates in silence.  It was a little awkward to say the least.

            I’m not sure how we landed on this particular subject, but we finally found something to talk about.  She explained to me the Japanese tradition of White Day.  In Japan, only the women give gifts to the men on Valentine’s Day.  It’s only a small gift of chocolates or food, but it usually it is homemade.  A month later, on March 14^th, the men return the favor.  This day is called “White Day.” I am still not sure why it is called this.  On this day, the men give the woman who gave them a gift the month before, a gift back to show their love for them.  These gifts are usually a bit more expensive.

            I really enjoyed learning about this tradition.  To me, that’s the point of this assignment. Not just for me to be an example of English speech, but also for the both of us to learn the traditions and cultures of each other’s lives. 

            The next day, I went to class and then I headed out of town for my Spring Break adventures.  As usual, I called my mom while walking to class and she told me about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the effects it had in Hawaii.  She was concerned because my uncle lives on the coast of Maui in Hawaii.  She was explaining that he had fled to higher ground, but did not yet know if his house was flooded. Obviously I was concerned, but I soon realized Eiko’s family is still in Japan.

            I immediately emailed her to check on her family.  I was relieved to hear that they had not been effect much by the disaster and had already contacted Eiko.  I am looking forward to our next meeting to see what she has to say about the events in her home country.

Poems I Didn't Absolutely Hate!

Billy Collins Poem Responses

I’m not usually a fan of poetry, but I really enjoyed reading these works by Billy Collins. I found them easy to relate to and entertaining.  The following are the six poems I decided to analyze.  My comments range from themes to thoughts to defining the meanings.  I look forward to reading more works by Collins.

1.     The History Teacher, Pg. 38

a.     Naivety of students today.

b.     Teachers shying away from the difficulties of teaching the harder subjects.

c.      The importance of understanding history.

2.     Vade Mecum, Pg. 36

a.     I am completely lost with this poem.

b.     (guess) The narrator wants to be remembered exactly how he/she really is.

c.      Wants to be remembered in that way forever.

3.     Dancing Toward Bethlehem, Pg. 70

a.     Describes what makes him happy.

b.     His final wish is to be with his one love.

c.      Living a life full of happiness.

4.     Some Days, Pg. 97

a.     Different roles in daily life.

b.     Being controlled by others or controlling others.

c.      The uncertainty of what the next day could bring.

5.     Morning, Pg. 100

a.     The trials and tribulations of a day.

b.     The bliss of the morning and your individual morning routine.

c.      The uncertainty of what the day will be like.

6.     Sonnet, Pg. 146

a.     Making fun of the structure of a sonnet.

b.     I like this because I don’t particularly like sonnets to begin with.

c.      It’s kind of ironic to see a poet making fun of a form of poetry.

My BlogLog!

So if you haven't noticed, I've been extremely active in my blogging today! There's a reason for that. In my attempt to be organized and diligent with my blogging for this class, I made a checklist of the blogs I've done and need to do. Needless to say, I felt way behind and the need to start blogging more! So to Professor Williams: Get ready to read some blogs and comments! To my classmates: Please feel free to copy and paste this BlogLog for yourself! It's quite helpful! 

Here it is:

BlogLog

Conversation Partner Meetings:

Meeting 1

Meeting 2

Meeting 3

Meeting 4

Meeting 5

Meeting 6

Meeting 7

Meeting 8

Reading Response:

Response 1

Response 2

Response 3

Response 4

Blog comments:

Comment 1

Comment 2

Comment 3

Comment 4

Comment 5

Comment 6

Comment 7

Comment 8

Research Blog

Museum Blog

Happy Blogging!... Too bad this one doesn't count for anything! Bonus? :)

Gettin' My Vogue On!

So I came to the Mary Couts Burnett Library to get my Vogue on! I usually study in the periodicals section of the library so I set my books down at a table with a friend and decided to start roaming the stacks.  I quickly realized I had no idea where the magazines were.  As every intuitive honors student should do, I asked for help!

The librarian who helped me was so sweet and patient.  She even showed me where to find them instead of just giving me the reference number.  We walked down the stairs, turned left, and kept walking and walking and walking.  I honestly would have NEVER found this spot on my own.  I was so thankful for her assistance.  I grabbed two books and returned to the table with my hefty load. I decided to grab both Vogue and Good Housekeeping, but for this response I’ll only reflect on Vogue.

The edition I am focusing on is the February 15, 1924 publication of Vogue.  Seeing as my birthday is February 20^th, I felt this was as close as I was going to get.  I’m not sure why I chose 1924, but I did. I’m pretty sure the mass publication of these magazines excluded the cover because I could not find them for any edition in the book.  It was interesting, however, to notice that Tiffany & Co. had the first full-page ad.  I realized that most of the ads were crammed onto the pages to fit as many as possible, not unlike ads today for magazines to make as much money as possible off of advertising.

Another discovery was that many of the illustrations were drawings.  Nowadays, everything is photographed.  I can’t imagine how long it took for artists to draw each picture! Now we can click a button on a camera a million times in a matter of minutes. That may be an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Some similarities include:

1.     Featuring a new fashion style

2.     Predicting new trends of the season

3.     Designing discrete maternity clothes

4.     Focusing on individuality

5.     And lastly, a few classic designers.

In conclusion, it was really interesting to see the similarities and differences between a 1924 edition of Vogue and one published now. It’s funny to see what was in style then compared to now.  Needless to say, I am glad I live now!

Mating Season at the Zoo!

My second meeting with Eiko was a blast! My goal throughout this assignment is to truly get to know her, not just talk to her because I have to.  We realized that if we met on Wednesdays, she would have to bring her daughter along and I was perfectly okay with that! Actually better than okay, if you know me at all, I was beyond excited to get to spend time with her daughter! I love children!

Come Wednesday, I couldn’t keep quiet.  All my friends knew what I was doing! At 1:15, Eiko picked me up from my dorm and we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, all three of us.  Her daughter, Haruka, is absolutely precious.  She is full of life and such a joy to spend time with.

Once we got there, I realized that Eiko and Haruka had memberships at the zoo.  I thought that was interesting because I know plenty of Fort Worth natives that don’t and I didn’t think it was common to have one.  She told me that she used to walk around the zoo with Haruka for exercise and fresh air before Haruka started pre-school.  It makes sense because the zoo is definitely more interesting than the park. It was obvious that Eiko knows the zoo well.  She explained to me that it is mating season.  For this reason, the male and female lions were in the same pin and many of the animals were not on display.  It was interesting how oblivious I was to this had she not pointed it out.

It was an absolutely beautiful day at the Zoo.  Eiko and I followed Haruka everywhere.  She constantly stayed a step ahead of us running from animal to animal. We were able to chat while doing so, though.  I asked her how her week had been in which she replied, “okay,” and motioned to her daughter.  I’m guessing she spends most of her time taking care of Haruka and being a mom.  I can’t imagine that on top of taking classes.  She asked me how mine was and I replied the same, “okay.” I told her I had a test and a paper the day before and she seemed to be amazed!  I think she thinks my schedule is more demanding than it actually is.

She also asked me how my sorority was going.  She had a hard time saying “sorority” so I sounded it out for her.  She still couldn’t get it so she pulled out her pocket dictionary.  It was one of the most interesting pieces of technology I had ever seen.  It had an English QWERTY keyboard, but gave the definition in Japanese.  I typed in “sorority” and she was able to read the definition and understand. Or at least I hope she did, I can’t read Japanese to know that it was correct.

After a while, Haruka decided she was hungry.  I seemed to forget how children are when they’re hungry.   She definitely kept reminding us until we headed toward the Burger King at the Zoo.  Once it came time to pay, Eiko pulled out her wallet and paid using her Japanese credit card.  Even the cashier noticed.  It was interesting to see it and to watch her sign her name in Japanese.  I was surprised that it worked here in the states, but I guess Visa is international!  Good to know for myself in the future!

All in all, it was a successful day.  I was able to relive some childhood fun and go to the zoo while conversing with my new friend and meeting her daughter.  I can’t wait for our next meeting.  We’ve decided to meet weekly and I am definitely going to stick to that!

My Trip to the Modern

            Thursday, February 24 I went to the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum.  I had been before and I was thrilled to go back! I love art! I had last been there about a year and a half ago for my art history class my senior year of high school so it was relatively fresh in my memory.  While most all of the works amazed me, I’m only going to reflect on a few so bear with me.  I tend to get carried away with art. My favorite part is probably just the out the box designs and bright colors of the art.

            As I began to walk around the first floor, I remembered my favorite piece from my last visit.  I looked around to find a curator (which wasn’t hard because there was always at least one watching my every move) and asked him how long he’d been working at the museum.  At first he was startled.  My guess is he probably doesn’t have many people asking him personal questions. He answered and I knew that he was there last time I was.  I asked him about that particular piece and he said it was no longer on display.  I was disappointed, but that went away quickly.

            As I walked around, I began recalling tidbits of information my art history teacher had taught me.  Immediately I saw the three works by Anselm Kiefer that are on display.  I’ve always loved how he uses strange material to make such amazing works of art and his Book with Wings sculpture is absolutely breath taking.

            I continued to walk around in awe of the art that is constantly at the tip of my fingers wondering why I hadn’t visited the museum sooner.  Of course, there are those “works of art” that I KNOW I could do myself.  It’s not hard to paint a canvas tan on one half and gray on the other. Instead of clouding my brain with thoughts of “This is art?” I just focused on enjoying the rest of the real art.

            The next exhibit I came to was the Robert Lazzarini exhibit.  My friend that came with me (who is not too thrilled by art) couldn’t get enough of his work, and neither could I!  The way he morphed the objects was incredible.  It was fun to walk back and forth, getting closer and farther away from the art, and seeing what eye tricks it would play on you.  It was smart to put these dark objects on a stark white background because it definitely added to the effect.

            I also spent some time in the Ed Ruscha exhibit.  It was interesting, but not my favorite.  I’ve never been the type to like wording in artwork.  I feel like it takes away from the art.  To me, art should speak for itself, not have words in it to do the explaining.  That may be a novice opinion, but I’m a novice art critique.

            I enjoyed the temporary exhibits, but what amazes me is the caliber of the permanent collection at the Modern Art Museum.  I’ve always seen Andy Warhol works of art in textbooks and on the Internet, but I would never have guessed there would be two permanently on display down the street from my school.  His Self-Portrait and Twenty-Five Colored Marilyns are two of his most famous works and two of my favorites.

            The next piece that struck my fancy was Dennis Blagg’s Passover.  Dennis who? That’s exactly what I was thinking.  But if you were just passing by this piece you would think it was a photograph. But reading the information, I realized it was actually oil on canvas and I was immediately dumbfounded! I fell in love right then and there, with the artwork of course.  His attention to detail was incredible. Maybe it’s titled Passover because most people would pass over it because it looks like a photograph.  That’s just my assumption!

            As I was leaving the museum, I remembered that I had seen works by Josef Albers during my previous visit to the museum.  Even though I feel as if I could paint his Homage to the Square paintings, I still admire his work.  At the time, I couldn’t think of his name or the titles of his most famous works, but I asked a curator if there was anymore museum to explore.  I probably asked the wrong one.  She was from a foreign country and did not understand me all too well.  As soon as I got back, I looked up the list of permanent works in the museum on the Internet and sure enough there are three Homage to the Square paintings by Albers.  I guess I’ll just have to see them next time I go.