Art and Solitude

Solitude

by Marc Chagall

A rabbi cloaked in a veil of light

as darkness has enveloped the surroundings.

An angel in the horizon taking flight,

a worrisome face as the journey arises.

Praying, praying. Giving all to all.

The torah, a violin, a goat, a man.

Praying,

resting,

solitude.                              -by jake lester

Marc Chagall was born on july 7th 1887. He was born in Russia, and was the eldest of 9 children [http://www.biography.com/people/marc-chagall-9243488]. He studied art from a very young age and when he was 23 (in 1910) he moved to france. When in France, He started painting the pieces that made him famous, such as Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers (1912), I and the Village (1911),Hommage Apollinaire (1911–12), Calvary (1912), The Fiddler(1912), and Paris Through the Window (1913) [http://www.biography.com/people/marc-chagall-9243488]. He often incorporated his religion and home village in his art pieces. In 1914, he had his first personal art gallery (a gallery entirely dedicated to his art) In 1915 he married Bella Rosenfeld, the daughter of a wealthy Vitebsk merchant. She was also in many of his pieces. In 1916 they had a daughter and named he Ida. When world war 2 broke out, Marc and his family went to seek refugee in New York (for MOMA invited them). Bella (Marc's wife) died 4 years after arriving dying in a hospital. He continued making art pieces of his home and his first wife, painting sets, and other related things till the day he died, which was on March 28, 1985.

I chose this piece because it just looked so sad, yet it also reminded me of hope. I was interested on why it may have done that to me, so i looked at it closer. I noticed that in the piece there is a rabbi sitting on the ground in maybe the nighttime. The rabbi looks as if he has an expression of concern on his face, similar in my opinion to the angels. Maybe the rabbi is praying for the angel, who has a tough journey ahead. If you look closely enough at the man's face (and you must include the mouth in the picture), you can see that he is hoping, and possibly praying.

 Also, there is not only black in the background. Nice shades of blue are starting to sprout, most likely giving to a new day. A new day, a sunrise very much symbolizes hope. When looking at the center of the painting, and looking at the buildings covered in darkness, you notice how sad it looks. However, directly to its right are some buildings covered in brightness, making it look a lot more joyous and less sorrowful. I believe that this means that there is hope for a "brighter tomorrow" by definition of how the sun is rising.

Concluding this, Marc Chagall incorporates almost all that is dear to him. He puts his village in the background, puts the torah in it (the red scroll that the rabbi is holding) (Definition: A scroll containing the law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures) [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Torah], which is a major part of his faith, Judaism. He also places a goat in it, which has a very deep significance to Marc because almost all of his works have a goat in it. These three things might be his definition of hope, or of what reminds him of it.

Would be hilarious if it wasn't so dreadful

Wow, I stop at page 260 in Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. The characters are about to watch an air show and nothing important looks like it is going to happen. I write a blog about how my suspicions of ice-nine are true and i take a break from the book. When I come back to page 261 one of the planes have crashed, "Papa's" dead crystalized body has fallen into the sea, and pretty much an apocalypse happens. The whole sea freezes, all the locals have committed suicide because of their playful "Priest," and tornadoes are raging 24/7. The person the main character loves commits suicide 1 week after the tornados start, and meets the mysterious Bokonon. This book has 287 pages and the first 260 pages are an introduction to an exciting story. This book only takes place within a certain amount of months and then it just ends in twenty pages.

Just twenty minutes before writing this i was talking to someone about  how there were some good books with non conclusive endings. I can't believe how true that was. This blog post will be short, because there is just too much for me to summarize within a single post. anyone who wants to question humanity, or why they exist, or about God and religion just read this book. I don't even know what to tell myself in my mind about this book. I give the book a 8/5. in comparison i give the first book of the hunger game series a 4.5/5.

Cats Cradle Suspicions Comfirmed

                                            READ PREVIOUS BLOG BEFORE READING THIS

To start this off, I knew it. Ice-nine has made its appearance, and none too shabby either. In Cats Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, Ice-nine has successfully killed two human beings, on pages 235-239. "Papa" was the president/dictator of san Lorenzo, a poor, sad, third world country, and he was dying. He was about to die of cancer, when he decided to commit suicide. He committed suicide by putting a chip of ice-nine in his mouth. This froze all the moisture in his body, causing almost everything in his body crystalize with ice-nine. Then, the doctor who was treating him went to wash off his hands, which had ice-nine crystals on them. The doctor was bewildered when the water he was washing his hands with froze and he touched it with the tip of his tounge. He died the same way "Papa" did.

The main character witnesses the doctor die, and you hear hints of what the three children did with their crystals. the book is nearly over, and on ice-nine matters, nothing else has happened besides 3 countries having control of it. San Lorenzo, USA, and soviet russia.

Cats Cradle and Ice-nine

Ice-nine. An object that is frequently mentioned in the main character's past with an unrelenting distaste. I believe that this crystal will be very important to the story itself, and the whole world (in the book) quite possibly. Ice-nine is a crystal developed by a deceased father of the secondary characters and to the first nuclear bomb. It freezes any liquid it touches and turns the liquid into more ice-nine. The drastic feature of this crystal is that it never stops, and if unleashed onto a body of water that in someway connects to the ocean, all rivers, the entire sea, and even "rain that drops to the ground" would become ice-nine. It has the capability to become the most malicious weapon of mass destruction. The father, before he died, split up the ice-nine between his three children. The same children whose path intertwines with the mainn charactor's so much, that it leads me to have a faint suspicion that he himself might come to be in possession of some of this dreadful mineral.

The first time ice-nine is mentioned is on pages 42-43, when the main character talks to an associate of "Father" about "Father." The main character is at this time trying to write a documentry on "the human aspect" of creating the nuclear bomb. The associate tell's a story of when a marine general interupted "Father's" lunch break to ask him if there was a way to solidify mud so that the marines could trek across it with more ease and efficiency then wadding through it. This is where "Father" makes up the idea of ice-nine to get the general to go away. After that, "Father" decides to make ice-nine. The associate does not know that "Father" made it. The only people who do know at that current time are his three children who become very important as the story progresses. The main character of the future (the one who is supposedly writing the book, aka the fake author) dedicates two pages talking about how ice-nine is real.

The next time it is mentioned is when the fake author is on a plane to San Lorenzo, and he meets Newton and Angela, the youngest son and eldest daughter of "Father." They talk and chat of thing irreverent to ice-nine, but at the end the author mentions "that the son of a bitch had a piece of ice-nine in his thermos bottle in his luggage, and so did his miserable sister, while under us was God's own amount of water, the Caribbean Sea [pg. 111]." The main charecter does not hate Newton at all. Newton is a friendly 20-something year old midget. He said the words "son of a bitch" most likely in either a playful, or scoldful way (scoldful being because he was so careless with it, the thermos was all that was protecting humanity, and all living things on earth).

The main character would not speak of ice-nine with such anger and passion if it was of no significance. I expect ice-nine to make its grand appearance, threatening all of humanity soon.

Reading response Cat's Cradle

I haven't gotten very far in the book, but already I have noticed some unique characteristics. The chapters are very short, only consisting of about 2-8 pages each, and the story is told in past tense, from a person writing about his life. This guy didn't actually exist, just to clarify.

In the story, there is a man who is a man who is writing a book about his adventure of writing a book. In his adventure, he is trying to write a book about the life of the leading scientist (Felix) who created the atomic bomb that blew up Hiroshima. Nothing really of importance has been mentioned in the book besides a hint of a very important object. This object would be ice-nine.

Ice-nine is first introduced when the main character visits a scientist who worked with Felix for an interview. The man being interviewed talked of Felix telling a marine general about a substance the general would have found useful. The substance didn't exist. Felix was just telling the general that to get him to go away.

Are You Sure You Exist? 1st draft

Are You Sure You Exist?

By Jake Lester 813

A book called The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury has such ideas that are so preposterous yet fantastic that they made me question my very existence. This book has a writing style that is unique from others, where it gives the reader a collection of stories/events over a course of around 30 years, containing some of the same characters lot of characters and the same overall setting: mars. Anyways, a specific event that made me question my own existence, happened when mars has been partially inhabited by humans and the Martians have all died off. A man driving a truck towards a city see's a strange vehicle and steps out. A Martian comes out of the vehicle sharing the same feelings. The Martian is confused as to why that human is there and the man is confused as to why the Martian is alive. They converse, and after a while they go in to shake hands. That is where it becomes strange.

     Their hands go right through each other’s and they are bewildered. The Martian takes a knife from his pocket and tosses it to the man. The man tries to catch it, but it goes right through him. The Martian and the man then simultaneously accuses the other of not being real. They both are so convinced that each other is right, giving examples of how their objects exist when the other sees those objects differently. It is not possible for them both to exist (physically) so they decide that one of them is right (that being themselves of course), and quickly leave the other to go somewhere else.

     This makes me question myself if I really exist or if everything is just an illusion. My mind being a recording of what has happened, and the world as a late relay from the previous past (relating to a theory of what the event in the story really is). I could merely be an illusion that is invisible to all who are not part of it (for it is only an illusion to ourselves) and where I am, the future could be taking place, or more accurately, the present. It would be understandable that the two characters in the event dismiss the idea and the other, being that it is just too emotional and confusing to think about.

     Think about it. If someone living another life came to you and what happened in the event happened to you, what would you do? How would you feel? You can't really prove you exist because the other creature could use the same reasons against you, for you are both in the exact same position. It would be frustrating, now wouldn't it? Here, right now picture yourself as the man who meets the Martian. Try to prove you exist to this creature. Is it because you see things, feel things (being mental or physical), hear things, or it wouldn't make sense for you not to exist? Well this creature can use all of the same examples as evidence. This book brought up these feelings of uncertainty that I now harbor because of it. I would suggest this book to anyone who knows they can handle it, for this book has many intense, confusing and philosophical moments that the weak mind could not comprehend.

So The Problem Is, You Just Want To Be Mean?

The problem with my school is a strange one. People just enjoy being mean to others, yet they also respect boundaries. When someone says something off-topic or stupid (being stupid, not mean) they might get put down with a mean remark. Some kid could be totally unpopular and be insulted left and right, while another doesn't get insulted at all. And then... one day that kid isn't feeling well, and the insulters just back off and give the person some room. However, they start insulting someone else. This may be because they don't insult to hurt feelings of a person. They do it because it's fun and it makes you seem cool.

Friends insult other friends all the time. It's normal, right? The answer is no. Definition of friend according to webster dictionary: Friend: one attached to another by affection or esteem. Do you insult someone who you are affectionate too? I'll be a little more specific with specific events. (fake names, real people) Usually Jack is told to shut up because what Jack says is weird or dumb or too loud. Today Jack wasn't feeling so well so Tristan picked on Martina instead of Jack. Martina is usually a pretty tough girl, and she isn't usually picked on at all (as a side note that's mainly because she can beat up anyone else in the class besides Tyson). That shows that people don't insult personally, but just as a hobby, or to pass time. It doesn't matter who you are insulting, just as long as you show that you are cool, and in authority. An example of insulting to prove authority is when Jack told Jenti that he had a "fat-pack" when the class was talking about a frog's abdomen. Jack is friends with Jenti but has fun insulting others so he insulted Jenti. This is wrong, and he shouldn't do that.


People shouldn't pick on other people just because they enjoy it or the world's future will become pretty screwed up.