Reflections of a College Student

Perfect background music to set the tone. :-P

In the spirit of having completed my last day EVER as an undergrad, I began reflecting upon my college experience. Actually, it was a colleague of mine, who also completed her last day as an undergrad today that got me thinking. She said that she found herself tearing up as she left Snell because she was thinking about what mark, if any, she left on Northeastern. Further, she was talking about how she noticed all the people on campus and kept thinking to herself 'Why don't I know any of these people? Why didn't I make friends with more people?' Before seeing her, it didn't hit me (probably because I have 2 finals, 1 paper and 1 presentation left before I'm actually done) that it was my last day. It got me thinking about my college experience and how it seems so recent that I was a freshman. I guess, all the talk about Northeastern and meeting people and leaving an impact got me thinking about how Northeastern is like a mini-city within itself. I mean, it's definitely a different feel being on versus off campus, a quick walk from Columbus, through Ruggles and onto campus, leaves one to feel they've entered another city. Essentially, it is a community within itself, equipped with a diverse population and all the necessities of a society including, eateries, a health center, library, jobs, etc. Further, everything is so fast-paced, very much reminiscent of city life. It is rather hard to remain connected with someone if you don't have class with them/share the same major or live on campus. This got me thinking if the city is does not create a space for relationship building and if that is reproduced in mini-cities like college campuses? It is often said that America fosters individual, fast-paced, superficiality...but how can one resist that and still partake in city-life? 

Taking Sidewalk Chalk to the Next Level!

While sitting at work, I casually told my friend about Kobra (the street artist, I referred to in my last post), and how fabulous I thought he was, and she immediately asks, 'Wait, where's he from?' Forgetting that she's Brazilian, she informed me that she knows of his art from Brazil. The conversation got us talking about different types of art, including photography and 3D, Chalk art, which is what I want to focus on in this post. This subcultural form of artistic expression includes creating large-scale pieces on sidewalks that appear to be 3 dimentional. This video offers a glimpse into the world of 3D sidewalk art. This is a brief video depicting the process...

This form of art, while absolutely stunning, also struck me because I was thinking about the communal aspect of graffiti and street artists, and wonder how the 3D sidewalk chalk artists interact. Is it an up and coming phenomenon? Will it one day be as common as graffiti? I'm not sure, but for now I'll enjoy the imagery.

Here's a link to a blog called 'Street Art Utopia', with some awesome pieces. 

Displays of Street Art

Honestly, I first came across this image while casually scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. I immediately stopped, and clicked on the photo to view it enlarged. I was struck by the beautiful use colors that created a sort of kaleidoscope effect. I'm not sure if I just have revolution on the mind, but if you look at this photo at a distanced view, I see a raised fist, which could symbolizing solidarity and add a whole other layer of political implication to this piece. But, various friends of mine have convinced me that I am 'seeing things', yet art is made to be interpreted in multiple ways! Whatever the case, the image remains striking. The average person sees a whimsical take on the World War II photo of a sailor kissing a nurse. The Brazilian artist, Eduardo Kobra, is a fairly popular graffiti artist and is known for his restoration of historic images.  His art is vibrant and eye-catching!

The Big Waste

 Unlike most of America, I did not partake in any shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Instead, I chose to stay in bed all day, and engage in another popular American pastime, watching hours of reruns on television. As I was flipping through the channels, I came across a special on one of my favorite stations, The Food Network called 'The Big Waste'. Apparently, top chefs like Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Michael Simon and a few others agreed to take part in a challenge to make food for 100 people, all made with found, not purchased food. Throughout the episode, they engaged in dumpster diving, produce salvaging, and gathering 'unusable' ingredients from restaurants, butchers and grocers. I found it a useful way to introduce alternate lifestyles, while simultaneously uncovering the mass amounts of food wasted, due to aesthetic imperfections. If it's not pretty, people won't eat it, so it must be dumped, naturally.

Check out the The Big Waste Episode Online!

The day after indulging in various food dishes, leaves one to think about how much tons of food is wasted yearly and where exactly the ingredients come from...

Krump Culture!

Kingdom Radically Uplifting Mighty Praise, or KRUMP, is a dance form used to both 'praise God and release anger' according to one of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative (DYC) staff members. Krumping is a dance form characterized by high-energy, theatrics, body contortion and improvisation. I became aware of the strong presence of krump in Boston's inner-city, while working at The Center for Teen Empowerment, which seeks to allow youth to use their creative talents to incite peace and promote change in their community. At many of the events, various krump crews would attend and share their talent. Krumping is a way to express anger through dance, rather than violence. Various crews 'battle' each other, but instead of resulting in violent tensions, it is just a channel to share new styles and moves, and express your status as a krumper.

Because krumping functions, in part, as an alternative, or creative response to inner-city violence, ' krumping [can be viewed as] a way to rebel against gang culture.' In this way, it counters the presence of violence in the inner-city, by exhibiting a sense of brother/sisterhood. Structurally, krumping is organized by different crews or 'fams' that create unique dance moves according to a specific style. These 'fams' consist of some more experienced dancers, who take the newer dancers under their wing, as one would in a family. Typically, one member of a crew would dance at a time, while all the other dancers would gather around 'hyping' the performer. This really shows the sense of camaraderie and support, that some of these dancers may not get a chance to experience outside of krump. In this way, I think krumping is a positive way of expression for inner-city youth.  Further, as noted above, there is specific krump terminology, making it exclusive culture, yet the art can be appreciated by a wide audience.

Many of the young people I worked with described krump as a way of life. It wasn't just something you did as a hobby, it defined you. I think krumping is an extremely fascinating art form, that is definitely characterized as an approach to counter the forces of mainstream images of urban violence