mmanzone's blog

How We Learn

In my elementary school, we had a day devoted to diagnostic testing.  They had tests to determine what level of different classes we should be in.  Tests that could show whether we were left-brained or right-brained.  And they had tests that would determine what type of learner we are.  I was determined to be a visual-kinesthetic learner with a strong preference toward logic and mathematics; I needed to be shown something and to do something with my hands and could solve problems more easily than many of my classmates.

This classification has lasted my entire life.  I still learn best when I can see or touch what it is I am learning about and numbers and science still make much more sense to me than symbols and metaphors.  This does not mean that I cannot learn through sounds or that I cannot understand the deeper meanings of certain things, it just means that I must work harder at it.  

Different assignments in Play in the City allowed me to see these differences and recognize why some did not work for me.  

AnotherAbby and mmanzone proudly present: The Price of Forgery

Bold sections were written by AnotherAbby.

Italicized sections were written by mmanzone.

The sections were meant to be able to be read together as one or separately. Enjoy.

Having grown up in the area I knew a little about the Barnes Foundation going into this assignment.  I knew, for example, that it was not just paintings but rather paintings and sculptures and furniture and other odds and ends that Dr. Barnes thought to be significant.  It was only after watching The Art of the Steal and reading the articles that I realized that he was also a grumpy and picky old man.  But I feel that if he was alive right now he would be extremely upset.  Upset not only with the move of his foundation but upset with the assignment set before us now.  

We talked about Barnes with sympathy; after his death many of his wishes (including his will) were totally ignored.  We talked about how this was a mean thing to do.  But aren’t we doing the same thing?  Would Barnes want us (Bryn Mawr students) 1) being at his foundation in the first place and 2) spending time with one single piece of art?  His entire dream for the foundation was for it to be a place of learning, not just of art but of the connections in art.  By having us spend more and more time with this particular topic, I feel that we also are the mean bad guys who disregarded a dead man’s wishes for their own benefit.

Sign for a Locksmith

To say I am not an artistic person is not completely accurate; I am not a two dimensionally artistic person.  I can appreciate art and the talent that it takes to create beautiful paintings, but I rarely have intense emotional connections to images of things and people I do not know.  Three-dimensional art, however, makes sense to me.  It has a purpose, functional or not, and, having taken 3D art all four years of high school and worked with a variety of mediums, I can see how much work went into each individual element of an object.  Because of this distinction I generally find art galleries and museums to be painful.  I have to force myself to think about the paintings.  I do not see a painting and just know this is the emotion I am meant to be feeling right now or the artist’s use of light is to symbolize the dreariness in the subject’s heart.  But I can see a sculpture and know the artist must have spent ages getting those angles right or these elements were a bitch to assemble.  This is what made the Barnes Foundation so refreshing: it was not a typical art museum.  I could look at the Renoirs and Cézannes and then look up and see hinges and ladles and one giant key.

I have been to many of the traveling Titanic exhibits.  Different museums, different cities, even in different states.  Never before had I had this type of experience.

It was at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and my family had a membership there so we had the opportunity to go to a special showing of the exhibit before it officially opened the next day.  We got there Friday night to a special reception in the Institute’s atrium, complete with actors and food that would have been served on the boat.  We mingled for a bit and talked to the actors and then it was our time to enter the exhibit.

The Quaker Vision

Eastern State Penitentiary will be a place of silent reflection.  It will be a place where criminals can think about their crimes and truly be penitent.  A prison unlike all others in operation; instead of storing criminals just to remove them from society (Bowditch 3) or abusing them into reformation, Eastern State Penitentiary will be a place that encourages penitence and a reconnection to God and goodness.  

The exterior of the building, with its medieval appearance, tall walls, gargoyles and turrets, should instill fear of the world behind it (“General Overview”).  The interior, however, is reminiscent of churches or cathedrals: tall vaulted hallways; arched windows and skylights.

There are strict rules for the running of Eastern State that will allow prisoners to realize the ugliness of their ways and rediscover the good within themselves most effectively.   Prisoners will have only themselves, guards, and God to communicate with; the entire prison will be silent.  They will not be abused in any physical manner, as the goal is not to harm them but rather to bring them back to goodness and into society.  

Eastern State Penitentiary is the humane and right way to reform criminals.  To give inmates a chance to do contemplation, to think, to reform themselves.  A place of aesthetic beauty from outside.  A place of silence and regret from inside.  No cruel punishment so as not to make them feel hated or unaccepted by the society, so that they could return to the society and be decent citizens.   A dream that one point lived on but now has closed to face a new era. Disappointment.  The original idea of build such prison is good. But the truth is, it overlook the prisoners' crazy behavior.  Today, it stands as a symbol of our dashed hopes.  It was corrupted over the years not by loose morals and flagging ideals but by the sheer pressure of numbers.   I see the overcrowding, the understaffing as a complete disregard for the ideals of this place. 

The Representations of NW

While reading NW something didn’t ring true.  The story did not feel real; it was too exaggerated.  Having never been to the area, however, I accepted the descriptions of the people and places to be realistic depictions.  I accepted Willesden as an area where whites are the minority, everyone smokes and most people are from modest backgrounds.  But I realized that these characteristics are representational.  According to a report on the public health of Brent County in London, more than half of Willesden residents are white and about 70% of all people in London are as well (Willesden).  This report goes on to show that “at least a fifth of the population… smokes” and in all of the separate sections of Willesden, for men and women, unemployment ranges from 3.4% to 7.4% which is about 50% higher than that of all of England; the report does not, however, indicate the actual socioeconomic statuses common in Willesden.  Though just numbers, these statistics paint a much different picture of the citizens of Willesden.

I haven't really looked into how realistic this might be but I was thinking of maybe focusing solely on WIllesden.  I I could look at statistics, geography and businesses in Willesden.  In my first paper I focused on the accuracy of different aspects in the novel but I still feel like we arent given a very good description of Willesden.  I think understanding Willesden and where the characters are supposed to have grown up would give a better understanding of their motivations and beliefs.