Seeing how I am writing this blog shortly after my art show opening. I found it fit to write about art and the influence it can have on people’s lives. As an artist I truly believe that art is a form of expression, a way for someone to convey a message, a feeling, or a thought. To me art is more then just a painting, a sculpture, or a drawing. Art is a feeling, an emotion, and a way for an individual to bring their thoughts to life.

As an artist I have the opportunity to meet all kinds of artist in various fields, and have noticed that art comes in many forms. While having the privilege to see different forms of art, I have learned to appreciate the process involved in each creation. I have come to the realization that art is very much like an opinion. While someone may or may not consider something to be a form of art, it is simply their opinion. There is no right or wrong answer.

As we enter into the last week of senior art exhibitions at Manhattanville, I urge to go see the art up in the student center. There will be the opening reception this Thursday April 24th from 6-9pm.

Walk around and really take in what you are seeing. Ask yourself what is this artist trying to convey? Are they trying to convey anything? What emotions were they feeling? Simply take what you can from the experience.

If you end up not enjoying the art, at least you can enjoy some delicious appetizers, with a nice cup of wine!

Check out some art work by some of my favorite artist!

Keith Haring

Jackson Pollack

AIDS Awareness

As May approaches I am getting ready to participate in the 2008 AIDS Walk New York. For the last two years I have been a volunteer as an employee of Starbuck’s. This year I decided to make a bigger commitment by taking part in the walk, and helping to raise as much money as possible.

While many people are more aware of AIDS today, and know of ways to help prevent it. AIDS still seems to affect thousands and even millions of people. Many people do not seem to realize the impact AIDS is having on both a global scale, and right here in the United States. AIDS also known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, continues to affect millions of people.

A lot of people seem to have the misconception that AIDS is something they don’t have to worry about. I hope that by giving you some facts, you will keep yourself safe, as well as your partner. Help make people more aware!

There are many ways in which you can help raise money for those fighting AIDS. Some easy ways to help are by buying clothing that has been designed to help fight against AIDS. Just recently H&M and Designers Against AIDS have launched the "Fashion Against AIDS" collection. The clothing has been designed by well-known musicians, in attempts to help raise money and awareness. So next time you are out shopping, buy a piece a piece of clothing that will make a difference.

Here are some statistics about AIDS

Global

33.2 million people now live with HIV or AIDS.

In 2007, approximately 2.5 million people were infected with HIV.

Every day, over 6800 people become infected with HIV - almost five people per minute.

5700 people die from AIDS every day.

One child dies every minute.

15 million children around the world have been orphaned by AIDS, losing one or both parents to the disease.

Every fifteen seconds, another person age 15-24 becomes infected with HIV/AIDS.

US

Roughly one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.

Since the start of the AIDS epidemic, 1.5 million Americans have been infected with HIV and more than 524,000 have died of AIDS.

At least 40,000 people are infected each year.

African Americans account for 48% of new HIV infections.

AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25 to 34 and HIV rates among Hispanic women are increasing.

The number of women living with HIV has tripled in the last two decades.

At least half of all new infections are among people under the age of 25.

Washington, DC has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the United States - one in 20 people are living with HIV or AIDS.

The New Building

Lets talk about something that seems to be in almost everyone’s conversation; that’s right the new building. For most of us we don’t even bother to call it the Student center; but instead prefer to call it the new building.

When I first heard about the new building I was excited, this of course was a long time ago and I thought that it would be done a lot sooner then it was. As a senior I have little excitement as I realize that it will be of little use to me. However when I finally got a chance to get inside, I was amazed by the architecture. As I began to look around I noticed that while there seems to be many disappointments, there are some great additions s well.

For me as an art major the biggest disappointment was the art space that was made available for students. The room is about the size of a single in founders. What upset even more, was that the beautiful new art gallery is not allowed to be used by students. The new art gallery is only to be used by professors and outside artist.

As upset as I am about the gallery, I realized that there were some good additions to the new building. The new Mac labs are absolutely amazing. The computers are fast, and the room is open 24 hours and seven days a week. The new gym seems to be a great hit, the new dance studio also seems to be getting a lot of use.

At the end of the day there are those who will be disappointed and others who are glad to have a new place to work, dance, chill, and burn some calories.

It's all laughs here!

This past weekend I got the chance to see Owen Wilson’s new movie Drillbit Taylor. For those of you who are fans of the movie Superbad and Knocked Up, you absolutely must see this movie.

The movie is about three high school kids who are beaten and constantly abused by bullies. The three kids are played by Wade (Nate Hartley) who is extremely skinny, Ryan (Troy Gentile) is a fat and kid, with a big mouth, and finally we have Emmit (Alex Frost) who they refer to as the hobbit.

When the three boys finally get fed up with being bullied by asshole upperclassmen, they decide to put their money together to hire a bodyguard. After posting an ad on the Internet, and interviewing numerous candidates, they hire the only person they can afford, Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). Owen Wilson plays a homeless guy living on the beach, who is just looking to make enough money to fly to Canada. The kids buy into his con, as he they start realize that he is unqualified for the job.

It won’t come as a surprise that the three boys will have to learn how to defend themselves, however the movie is filled with plenty of surprises.

While many people will go to see the movie because it stars Owen Wilson, the true stars of the movie are Wade and Ryan played by Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile. The two are just as funny, if not funnier then Seth and Ryan of Superbad. So if your looking for a great comedy go grab some tickets to see Drillbit Taylor and you will surely get your moneys worth.

Other Review

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drillbit_taylor/

Movie Trailer

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/drillbittaylor/

Not just another story on Global Warming

When it comes to the topic of global warming there is no way that one can truly explain all the causes and affects. Overtime the issue has received plenty of attention; but yet has made little progress. I’m not going to write about how I feel about global warming; but rather give you some facts and let you decide how to feel.

Recently I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel called six degrees; the episode explains how our climate will change dramatically in the next fifty years due to our extravagant lifestyles. This change has been the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities. Some of these activities include fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, and changes in land use, such as deforestation.

As a result we face some extreme changes in our climate; these changes will not only affect the way we live, but can be severely dangerous to our existence. With the increase in temperature the sea level will rise and gradually flood coastal areas and increase beach erosion. There will be changes in precipitation patterns, as well as increased risk of droughts and floods. There will be threats to our biodiversity, and more importantly changes to our health.

For many people global warming is just something they hear so much about that they just ignore the subject all together. However we must face the issue now in order to help better our lives as well as generations to come.

There are many different ways in which we can do this, click here to see you can help prevent further global warming.

What Now?

While thinking about a topic to write about, I started to space off and think about how much time I have until graduation. I then realized that there are probably hundreds of other seniors who are worried about the same thing. It’s hard to concentrate on school work, when you have hundreds of other things on your mind. What happens when I graduate? Will I be able to find a good job? Will I live with my parents for the rest of my life?

Unlike most students I have already been on my own for the last year and a half. I have my own apartment and already pay my own bills. But yet I still feel as if I haven’t fully been thrown into the real world. This is probably because I still feel like I have so much to learn. The thought of messing up in life scares me, but I am sure that its normal to be scared.

I started to freak out when I realized that I have two months to find a job that will start my career. I know a lot of people talk about finding a job that pays well; however in today’s generation money has become the determining factor in deciding what job to take.

Ideally I would like to be a graphic designer for an art magazine. One magazine that has inspired me is Beautiful Decay. It has a very unique raw style to it; as it keeps its readers up to date on new artist.

Give me some feedback! Let me know what you are thinking about.

T.V. has Changed

      

Television sure has changed! I remember as a child growing up there was no such thing as sex scenes, there was rarely even foul language. The coolest show I watched was Saved by the bell, where being bad was saying the dog ate your homework. A time when things seemed to be more simple in terms of what parents had to worry about their kids watching. Today parents have to worry about setting parental controls.

As an adult now, I can honestly say that there has been such a dramatic change. All you see today on television is reality shows. Not to be honest I would be lying if I said I didn't find some of these shows quite entertaining. But I can't help but wonder how over a decade we have turned into a society that would rather watch people eat bugs, then sit and watch America's funniest home videos.

It seems to me that the role of the media has changed dramatically. What was once not appropriate for television, is no longer offensive to people today. And while I will agree that everything changes with time, and it is great to see that people are more open minded. I can't help but wonder how we have become so easily amused by shows, that we no longer care how degrading some of them are.

Check out some more blogs on this topic!

Today I had a debate in my Media Ethics class about whether or not there are more or less ethics when it comes to the internet. The professor was a little skeptical as to whether the internet was less reliable. For me there is a big difference when it comes to the ethics that are faced within different environments.

The way I see it is that when it comes to the internet, there are no gatekeepers. People are allowed to write about whatever they want. For example take one of the internet’s most popular encyclopedias, Wickipedia. There has been much controversy as to how accurate the information on Wickipedia is. For those of you who are unaware of Wickipedia, it is a free encyclopedia that is available on the web. It covers almost anything and everything, and most cases are accurate. However it has come to the attention of many people that people were starting to write false information.

Like many of you I am sure that you have had you fare share of professors warning you of using the internet to do research. The reality is that no matter how useful the internet is, it will never be viewed as reliable as The New York Times. Don't get me wrong, there is no doubt that newspapers have their fare share of mistakes. However at the end of the day there is a system in place that helps to reduce the amount of false information that gets printed.



While I feel that the internet leaves more room for people to be less ethical, I feel that over time it will develop into a reliable source.

The internet allows people to have access to information at all times, and is extremely useful; however it can be very misleading at times. If used properly, it is one of the best sources available.

When it comes to writing for the mass media, there is no doubt that it is a very important job in our society, as for being the most important, that is debatable. We live in a society that tends to have an obsession with celebrities. There has been many times when the mass media has focused on what is going on in the lives of celebrities, rather then more important news.

One recent example of this is the death of actor Heath Ledger. While many people will agree that his death at such a young age is very tragic, they will also agree that the amount of news coverage it has received is a bit extreme.

The news, in which we receive first, is not always the most important. However there are plenty of stories within the mass media that are essential to the way we live. The coverage on the presidential campaign is one of the most important things for many Americans. For journalists who have to focus on stories such as these, there is a great deal of importance to their job.

When looking at a major mass media newspaper such as the New York Times, there are always very important stories, however these stories are always in a section that is easily accessible. In some cases there is very little coverage on issues that may not affect us directly, but that are still very important to know about it. Right now there are a lot of things going on in Kenya; however there is very little news coverage of it.

It is the failure of the mass media to prioritize their coverage correctly, that makes me skeptical on their importance in our society.

Class Discussion on Style

Today in class I realized that there is a lot more to style then I thought. To me style is a particular way of doing something, whether it is a standard way of writing, or your own unique way of writing. What I failed to notice is exactly how many styles are available in writing. As a college student you learn the standard ways in which most professors require you to write, and as a result you are not as conscious of other styles of writing.

When we were asked to define our writing, I found it particularly hard to do. This is because I never really took the time to analyze my writing style. The truth is I didn’t realize that I had a writing style until today in class. It was a good thing that I had the pleasure of going last, because it gave me the opportunity to thing about what it is that makes my writing unique. By the time the class got around to me, I became aware that my writing is very subjective. In fact I don’t really like when I’m restricted to a certain style of writing. One of the reasons it was so difficult for me to see my own style of writing, is because as an art major I haven’t had the opportunity to write as much as I would like.

Overall the class discussion made me think more about what style is, how many different styles there are, and what style I actually follow. I also learned that while writing for the media can be creative, it is also very restricted in terms of style, especially when using styles such as the inverted pyramid.

What is writing?

Writing can be many things, and it can be used in many different forms. There are some people who write for themselves as a way of expression, as well as those who write to inform as a way of passing on knowledge. Then of course you have people who write in order to escape. They use writing as a way for them to indulge in the lives of others, whether they be fictional or nonfictional.

What ever the case may be, most people would agree that writing is essential in life. No matter what someone is writing about, they are taking the time to think about what they are producing. It is the process of thought in writing that makes it so powerful. Writing is skill, a skill that can be perfected with practice.

The ability to be a strong writer is something that not all people are fortunate to have. However, in order to be a good writer you must read a lot. As children, people are taught that the two most important things in education is reading and writing. It is these two components that give people the skills they need in life to advance in life.

Because reading and writing have such a strong connection, it is sad to say that we live in a age where reading seems to have lost its importance. It is because of this, that writers may fear writing will lose its importance as well.

Blog #1

I am currently a senior with a major in art and minor in communications. My concentration is graphic design. For as long as I can remember, I have a passion for design. Over the last couple of years, I have taken various computer classes. Some of the classes include graphic design, web design, computer animation, and digital photography.

While I have always had the pleasure of knowing what I wanted my major to be, I was not as lucky when it came to my minor. It wasn't until my sophomore year that I realized that I wanted to minor in communications. This realization occurred while taking Introduction to communications. It was the direct link between advertising and communications that sparked my interest. As a graphic designer I have a great deal of interest in advertising. I have future goals of working for an advertising company within the design department. After taking introduction to communications, I realized that being a communications minor would not only help with advertising, but also with my ability to communicate in the business world.

I am taking this class as part of my minor, but also because I am interested in learning the different styles of writing for the media. I have not always been the strongest writer; however I hope to improve my writing skills dramatically. I look forward to learning more about the current industry codes, as well as the role of copywriting in the communications industry today. I have no doubt that the skills I will obtain in this class will have a direct correlation to my future.