The Significant Arts A Social and Political Art Project By Raquel Douglas
Dedication This book is dedicated to S.N.: Thank you for all of the time you have spent entertaining, helping, and comforting me throughout this long process. I can never thank you enough.
Please view only in full screen mode for the best viewing experience. 2
Table of Contents How The Project Started About The Product The Early 20st Century American Labor Movement The World Wars and/or the Red Scare The 20th Century U.S. Civil Rights Movement (Race) The Education Reform Movement The Gulf Wars - 9/11 The 21st Century Civil Rights Movement - LGBTQ and Women DIY Index of Artwork By:
Author
Title
Medium
Acknowledgements Answers to Trivia Questions Image Credits About the Author
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How It All Started At my school, Carnegie Vanguard High, every student must take a class called Texas Performance State Project (TPSP), which consists of a semester researching a topic and writing a scholarly paper, followed by a semester developing a product. The product stems from the problems we find during our research, as we try to fix or repair various aspects of society. My research was over how music played an integral role in the development and outcome of the 20th-century American Labor Movement (ALM) through its influence on and access to a diverse audience of listeners. The problem I found was that today, not enough people create art with political and social significance as the artistic world has become too commercialized. I created The Significant Arts project to combat this recent phenomenon by encouraging people to create artwork, of all forms, of this type. This book is a collection of the political and social artwork I received, occasionally featuring more famous examples of artwork for some of the subjects. 4
About The Significant Arts The Significant Arts project spanned 6 weeks with each week having its own pre-chosen topic. This project sought to reverse the recent trend of people neglecting to express their political and social opinions in their artwork by encouraging them to create artwork of this type, and then describe how it ties back to an aspect of politics or society. It worked: more than 20 people have taken the initiative to make significant art again through almost 100 pieces. The most important portion of this project is not how great everyone’s work is. Rather, it is the social relevance and capability of each piece to teach us about concepts we never knew about, and the way it encourages us to being engaged in ever changing society we live in are the most important things this book seeks to do. If one could identify any central theme about all of these movements in the book, it would probably be that one can not simply take any of these movements for face value; they are more than what they appear in the media or on the surface, as each piece in this book will show you. With the exception of a select few, they advocate for equality, in all of its beauty. 5
The American Labor Movement (~1870-1920)
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The Sounds of the Labor Movement Clink Clink Clink Go the children at the mill Who instead of going to school Learning, Dreaming to their full
What caused this to happen and what can be done? The child, whose life is always at risk The mother, whose work brings little profit
Work away all day for funds to help The father, whose wages cannot their families who were poor sustain Wrr Wrr Wrr
Can someone bring this family back together again?
Go the women, working hard At the textile mills they labor
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For more income in their favor
The Labor Unions have come here
But earn wages so much smaller that their husbands, to their displeasure
Molly Maguires to fight the fear
Chink Chink Chink
They gather members, hold the strikes Rising in arms for laborer's rights
Fatimah Ali
Go the men at work all day Who toil for fifteen hour shifts To come back with bread from their trips But when finished, their wages are much too small to support their families’ wishes
Trivia Question! Which group of people didn’t play a major role in the ALM: Women, Miners, Railroad works, Children, or Factory Workers?
Answer on page 164
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The Mine Sixteen tons of pain The dark mine beckons me forth My family starved There are things you learn Hell is an empty stomach I swing my pickaxe The coal stains my lungs I earn enough to survive Not to beat cancer
JD
The Mine, in form of triku (triple haiku), is about the hardships of mine workers. The incipit, “Sixteen tons”, alludes to a famous ALM song of the same name, which deals with paralleling themes as the poems. Both the poem and song seek to communicate the plight of mine laborers. Focusing on a more broad subject matter, Ali’s poem depicts the everyday industrial worker in their typical working environment and the troubles that they faced. The ALM sought to reform labor conditions, such as the poor working conditions for children, the disparity of men and women’s wages (although this was not a central issue), the unregulated nature of working hours, the degradingly low wages that workers were expected to live off of, and the lack of unions., all of which are portrayed in the poem. The poem additionally describes the worries that some workers may have had. These descriptions provide context to the end of the movement, and the continuing struggle for greater labor rights continues far into the modern day. 9
A Day of Labor
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A Day of Labor is symbolic of the strenuous work day of most lower wage workers. The average miner, railroad laborer, or factory worker (depending on their location and company) would only earn them enough to afford a dozen eggs and a cheap cup of coffee, if they were fortunate, after a day of work. This was not enough money to provide for a family, and so typically everyone in the family would work as soon as they could, including children. These depriving wages, among other things, are key examples of why the ALM had to occur, and why it had to be successful for common human decency to exist.
11 Raquel Douglas
El Movimiento Americano de Trabajo Queremos que días de trabajo sean diez horas largas Pero las empresas no son comprensivas Trabajamos día despues día por nuestras familias Pero las empresas no son consideradas
We want work days to be ten hours long But the companies aren't understanding We work day after day for our families But the companies aren't considerate
Hoy vamos a ser entrometidos Nuestros jefes deben estar asustado Hoy vamos a corregir nuestro situacion Nuestros jefes deben ponerse de acuerdo con nosotros
Today we're going to be meddlesome Our bosses should be scared Today we're going to correct our situation Our bosses should agree with us
Ay me, este revolucion no nos da la correcto resultado El cielo es deviene oscuro Necesitamos a dejar la violencía y nos calmamos El futuro no mirada amable
Uh oh, this revolution isn't giving us the correct result The sky is becoming dark We need to stop the violence and calm ourselves down The future doesn't look friendly
El gobierno tiene que hacer The government has to obey caso The government has to support El gobierno tiene que nos apo- us Karl Ehlers ya 12
Oh, the Sweet Smell of Money! Oh, the sweet smell of money, And the aroma of smelted iron, With a whiff or two of processed coal.
So much better than green grass, That comes with an odious clean air, And the nauseating tastes of nature.
Trivia Question! Which of the following was the largest sector of the ALM:
Increasing the Minimum Wage, Union Acceptance, Equal Pay Equal for Equal Work Among Genders, Creating Child Labor Laws, or Standardizing the 8 hour work day?
Because only one smells like money, While the other smells like love!
Answer on page 164
Zaakir Tameez The American Labor Movement was a fight for increased wages, standardized working hours, safer working conditions, and many other things, though the benefits of this movement were commonly only available for whites. Minorities, namely Hispanic immigrants, who made up a hefty chunk of the working population, believed (and rightly so) that they had little voice in the movement. El Movimiento Americano is told from the view of Latinos, telling how they saw the labor movement happen to no benefit of theirs. The speaker in the poem sees the movement happening for whites, and demands to be a part of it. Oh, The Sweet Smell of Money, reflects the indifferent attitude to pollution and the environment among labor tycoons. Likewise, tycoons had no sympathy or love for the environment of their workers – everything was about money. They did not care for the environment, or their workers, like those in Ehlers’ poem. 13
To Work
This photo portrays a silhouette of a worker in a bright background, locked away from the beauty of the outside. He is evidently determined and independent, but also in-
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distinguishable and generic. Perhaps Mondkar is reflecting that the man inside the walls is no different and no less capable than those on the outside, except by the environment of his upbringing.
Jay Mondkar
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Comedy Hour Today, I will sweat before the sun awakens, and this evening I will rejoice in its setting. Hours upon days upon months upon years, I have burned in its embrace, and it evaporated my tears before I could show my boss that I, too, am a human. Tonight, my wife and children will try and welcome me with warm hugs and kisses, but I’ll be forced tell them that Daddy’s already had enough heat today, and over time they will become cold to me. Cold. I’d kill for a tall cold one in the midday, but boss refuses to let us stop working. Boss says giving us water, letting us take breaks, shortening our hours or even paying us a bit more would diminish his immense pile of wealth and that eventually, after decades, he’ll be forced to live like us peons. And why did we deserve breaks anyway? He was the one who did all the hard work. We were lazy enough as is. He always laughs at the end of his spiel before retiring back to air conditioning and luxury as we finish our hard labor....
We’ve never found him humorous. Raquel Douglas 16
La Mariposa
Sarah Levinson
La Mariposa depicts the struggle that Hispanic workers went through during the American Labor Movement. They fought for more jobs and better working conditions. In order to do this, they often formed unions, such as La Mariposa, and went on strike to try and gain the same rights that white workers were already gaining during this time. Even though their attempts weren’t always successful, they continued to hope, as the butterfly signifies. Comedy Hour is less about how the ALM was carried out than it is about the struggles and motivations that lead workers to begin striking. In this piece, problems such as strenuous labor, long work hours and the inhumane treatment at work are put to a personality that allows readers to see the movement as a humanitarian cause. This piece causes empathy between the reader and the narrator, with a personal narrative that archetypes workers of the time.17
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World War I (1914-1918) World War II (1939-1945) The Red Scare (Late 1940’s—Late 1950’s)
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Telegrama
La violencia vino de la nada Luego todos las naciones grandes están peleando Nosotros no hacemos nada Nosotros tenemos un revolucion en nos manos Mientras el mundo está en llamas Nosotros no podemos hacer nada La guerra crea la demanda de nuestro aceite Ganemos muchos beneficios de la guerra Nosotros no queremos atender Un día recibimos una telegrama de Alemania Solicitando para ayuda, solicitando para un alianza Nosotros no queremos enojamos nadie Sabemos que las Estados Unidos están nos miraban Sabemos que somos involucrado no es beneficiar Sabemos que no debemos acceptar la proposición Telegrama is written from the viewpoint of a wary Mexico that is aware of tensions caused by the ongoing war world war (WWI), while having to deal with its own revolution. Mexico profited from the war as demand for their product increased exponentially. Simultaneously though, it tried its best to shy away from the main conflict. While struggling with its own internal war, Germany asked them to join another war which 20
The violence came out of nowhere Then all of the big nations were fighting We aren't doing anything We have a revolution on our hands While the world is in flames We can't do anything The war creates demand for our oil We're gaining many benefits from the war We don't want to help One day we receive a telegram from Germany Asking for help, asking for an alliance We don't want to anger anyone We know that the U.S. is watching us We know that being involved isn't beneficial We know that we can't accept the proposition. Trivia Question!
Karl Ehlers
An assassination, an invasion, a genocide, an argument, economic interests
would endanger their profits and make their situation even worse, not to name the severe damage the US would have inflicted onto Mexico had they joined Germany.
Answer on page 164
They had no choice. They could not fight the United States again.
What started WWI?
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Squad Leader Down
Peyton Gibner Squad Leader Down represents one of the consequences of war: the decline of the world in general, economically, politically, and socially. In context of the World Wars, before countries were relatively stable, flying high, enjoying a nice breeze, similar to a plane just as it touches off the ground. However, during and after the wars/flight, the world seemed to crash and transformed into a position of decay, just like the mulch beneath the plane. War Hero also deals with one of the uglier sides of war: the mental ailments that follow, such as PTSD. PTSD is a major problem for veterans, as they constantly relive the events of the war. This has been known to cause insomnia, flashbacks, and remorse. 22
War Hero Shots fired. Bang, Bang! Death is a cruel liar But I love the melody my gun sang
To that learn this freedom is a lie But it's too late to cry Can't tell mama goodbye
For freedom I must fight For nothing I have died. My people are safe But we must stop the red light For freedom I will fight My country is safe But killing will stop the strife Commanders tell me the like But PTSD consumes the night As all their graves seem to fill my sight Innocent souls sailing up like kites With cold hands filled with torn flags of white. 'Till the day my eyes turn to the sky
Raquel Douglas
Trivia Question! What year did WWI end? 1917, 1918, 1919,1920,1921 Answer on page 164
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The Spiritually Stalwart yet Physically Faltering Jew
Adolf Hitler is killing my familial members yet is unable to dismember their spirituality. Break off the physical chains that grow longer and longer thanks to the propaganda, which to me does not heighten the economic structure by neglecting the definition of frugality. Longer and loftier are the streets on which my fellow believers trod, akin to the horses the SS mounts. Holier is the man who would aid us in our endeavor for a life of symphonic attributes, aid us in our attempt to mount our vehicles of desire, mount I say! Day after day the cobblestone seems to have the blood of my fellow follower of Abraham. I may ponder, painfully, of the Christmas celebration the members of the Nationalsoziallstische Deutsche Arbeiterpartel of their “German” ham. Why is it that I think these thoughts of liberty and death and seem to have an insurmountable joy within, yet outside myself the world seems to be crippling at the base of humanity? Bay is the place where I feel lays the German manatee. That is the bay that Noah may have built his arc for. It is the bay that I feel will bring the trinity the Christians hold dearly to gain an evil extra number thus becoming the cynically evil number four. I am not a partaker in the superficial beliefs that many hold towards numbers, yet I may understand how the breaking of religion may be occurring at the doorsteps of all. Yea or nay is what I struggle deciding before the apparent fall. This fall is what Adolf Hitler promised to cease. However, my synagogue has gained the horror of not being able to please. Not only are my fellow Jews not being pleased but a possibly behemoth amount of Germans are also reaching a mental state where they are physically faltering. Plummeting into the depths of despair the people of the “Reich land” are doing.
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Those who are suffering shattered the prosperity of the Jewry, the prosperity that the Jewry held close so that their physical health may be guarded. Security, wealth and protection they promised yet the only action they seem to have done is to have increased the definition of the term diminished. I rub my coins together, thus awakening my stalwart spirit within. I speak to the world around me to come in. Come in to my inner sanctuary. Hold your positivity and expel the negativity. Goebbels, Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and all others who are a part of the raid against the disadvantaged have not believed strongly in the virtue of being caringly weary. Try not to misunderstand me. I am not saying the United States of America accepts me. It is possibly the opposite. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt seemed to have created a law that expels my people from reaching the United States, which is supposed to be, in the ponderings of the Axis Powers, the opposite. I will glide on through this world that seems to be physically faltering to those around me. Though I will keep my fellow man spiritually stalwart so that I strengthen the health of we the Jewry. To be or not to be? We will most definitely be both physically and spiritually stalwart. Nothing more, and nothing less impacting to the house of Hitler the Aryan fort. Andrew Sokulski This creative description, written from the perspective of a person of Jewish nationality, reflects on the long term effects of WWII on his people and tries to give said people a sense of direction in the modern day as a result. So often we forget that war should not be a glorified event, yet a continuously detrimental tragedy that can affect a people for decades. 25
Apprehension
This piece represents the World Wars. The look on the soldier's face is that of uncertainty, representing the fates of the many soldiers that fought in WWI and WWII. He looks unsure as to whether he will ever return home, which was a harsh reality soldiers faced every second of every day in battle. 26
e
l
Jay Mondkar
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Dying Thoughts I look around at the battle- and there was no way out field around me, of la discriminaci贸n. We were not so different, the l铆o was astounding, portraying how hectic war us and them. I had mi novia at home, was. and they had their lovers too. On either side of me were We all had something waitsoldiers. ing for us, some white, some black, cheering for us to survive. and some Hispanic like me. Bullets flew for days on end, The others did not like us stopping para nada. Hispanics. I feared for my life they called us fake idiotas and I prayed for the war to for joining their war. be over. We were all stuck together Today was like any other. in trenches, the fighting continued on with mustard gas piling up both sides, to our ankles. trying en vano to gain the upper hand. There was no way out of the war, 28
I stood to get a better aim, but that was when todo changed. I saw it before I felt it, the fiery pain spreading through my body. As the bullet stole my last breath, all of us here, Hispanics, whites, black, I thought to myself,
We all die the same.
Sarah Levinson
Dying Thoughts depicts a situation in the middle of a fight during the World Wars, not unlike the situations that many soldiers had to endure during this time. This fight demonstrates the diversity of the fighting, but also shows the amount of discrimination that was present on the battlefield. Earlier in the poem, Levinson demonstrates the diversity of fighting and the amount of discrimination present. She walks us through the life of a Hispanic soldier, who tragically dies at the end. What do soldiers think in their last moments before death? In this poem, the soldier reflects not on his family or his life, but on death itself. 29
O captain, my captain
O Captain
O captain, my captain
We ride upon our steel warhorse
They cry “tora, tora, tora,�
Out to meet the yellow menace
Our steed is bleeding
And win glory for home O captain, my captain You can hear them on wing The buzz of impotent insects Against us will be silenced
As they slam into our decks
O captain, my captain We are sinking into the blue The waves are taking us And the fire is spreading O captain JD
O Captain captures the transiTrivia Question! tion of the narrator's attitude toWhich of the following events is wards war. It begins with aspiraassociated with WWII? tions for glory, but by the end represents the petty sinking of ships. JD Spring Offensive, Second Battle alludes to "Tora Tora Tora!," a WWII of Marne, Nuremberg Laws, film that discusses kamikaze pilots Battle of Verdun during the period. These pilots were known for diving directly into eneAnswer on page 164 my ships, killing themselves and their enemies. This poem is written form the viewpoint of a sailor on a ship when the kamikaze pilots attacked. Oracle Bones challenges the reader with the visual on the gory reality of death in war. It calls on the reader to respect those who die in wars, but without any sense of patriotism: rather with a chilling sense of remorse. 30
Oracle Bones
Waites photo about WW
31 Sarah Waites
The Red Betrayal
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During the Red Scare, many were afraid of American traitors and as a result accused innocent people of communist activity, if they even knew what “communist activity� truly meant. The Red Betrayal represents how a helpless man is accused by another with an obvious advantage and greater power, just as the post World War II society enacted the mostly falsified investigations of suspected communists. Here, however, it is not the accusers who were in fear but the victim: the alleged communist. Megan Yen
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The Scare Beware! Beware! Here comes the Red Scare! The Russians who rebelled did win, The Bolsheviks are coming in! How long until America is caught within the snare!
What can we do to catch those odious culprits from slithering everywhere? Declare! Declare! Don’t You Dare Despair! Find those sneaky treacherous men Once you find them, Report Them!
The Scare! The Scare! The Communists are Here! They sneak into our neighborhoods To spread their evil, take the good. Who’s helping them to creep inside, we feel them in the air. Prepare! Prepare! They could be anywhere! The neighbor with his left-wing views, The store clerk with the bright red shoes,
Anyone who gives you doubt might be one of...them. Now the threat has whittled down We’ve reported all in town Who looked sneaky, shady, secretive, those “friends” who could be spies. But, although we seem secure, There will never be a cure From those demons in the shadows, holding danger in their eyes.
Fatimah Ali
The Scare portrays the mass hysteria that the American people felt during the Red Scare as a result of propaganda spread by Senator McCarthy. Mr. Bones represents how the media portrayed the condition of the U.S. to be if communism took over. The slight hints in the background, such as the red (Communism) and the words “United States” across the forehead of the skeleton represent the almost constant fear the American people had of communism during the Red Scare. And depicts the predicted state of the 34 U.S.
Mr. Bones
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Sarah Waites
Underworld
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Zoe Herring
Underworld ties back to McCarthyism by attempting to depict how Americans may have felt during the Red Scare. They were so terrified of the possibility that Communism would take over that they created elaborate images in their heads of the differences between the East and the West that simply didn’t exist to the extent to which they were portrayed, if they were real at all. These feelings are expressed in this artwork within the contrasting red and blue areas that seem to be completely different on the surface (different Trivia Question! shapes, colors, Which two areas of the world were most subject matdirectly involved in the Red Scare? ters, etc.), but in the end, they Eastern and Western Asia, Oceana and are the exact Central America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and North same: works of America, Western Europe and North art that are America, beautiful and majestic in their Answer on page 164 own right. 37
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The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement [Racial Equality] (Late 19th Century– 1960’s)
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Those of Color Those of Color Stand Those whose heritage has gone through many trials Whose families went through struggles and hardships Their trials interwoven through the past, Sewn through the fabric of America Those of Color Stand Here Those who despite their long hardships Still face segregation every day Those mistreated, undervalued Prohibited from progressing in their lives Those of Color Stand Here Together
Trivia Question!
Gathered to have their voices heard
What day was MLK assassinated?
In the hope of a better future In the want of something new
April 4, March 13, February 22, April 6, October 4
In the dream of equality Answer on page 164
Those of Color Stand Here Together as One For Hope, Justice, Possibilities For Aspirations and Dreams For Equality They Stand as One
Fatimah Ali 40
Love and Humanity
Tyler Pugh Those of Color is meant to reflect the history of the Blacks in the United States and allude to the hardships that they lived through as a people (slavery, segregation, etc.). By the end of the poem, the narrators stood up together for the cause to gain equal rights and eliminate segregation in the country. Love and Humanity is meant to represent the more modern relationship among the races, one of integration and color blind love. The relationship among the races is not perfect, but its moving toward equality every day. 41
Untainted
Untainted illustrates that racism is not human nature, but is a result of society's long history of discrimination by race. Children are able to get along and play with one another with no regards to each other's race or skin color. Children are unaffected and untainted by society's racist ideas, until they become exposed to the horrors of discrimination. They are the innocent and open minded generation that we need to preserve and protect from the corruption of racism. 42
Megan Yen
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I’m sorry.
A Minority’s Apology to Society
I’m sorry that I grew up 500 years behind you in this country. That from 1492 when our perpetually perfect patriot Christopher Columbus began his heroic colonization to the end of the cricklin’ and cracklin’ screams of Jim Crow, my chances of success where little, if any. And while you were building railroads, establishing monochromatic monopolies, and sitting on a pile of dirty money, I was shoved into ghettos and my rights were whipped from my back like the freedom of my ancestors and I was told I was worth nothing. The history books seem to skip over that part, but I’ll be a damn fool to think I was the only one with problems with the system. While most of us where a different shade of color, some of us were just fortunate enough to be born poor in this corrupt, corporate government and some of us were inhumane enough to be born without a penis or an attraction to the opposite sex. I’ve realized long ago that the land of milk and honey has spoiled for those different than you. I’m sorry if we grew up 500 years behind you and that the gap in between us can not be fixed in the span of 60 years and a darker president. I’m sorry society has this theory that inequality is a speck of dust in the large pile of trash that is America’s greatest failures, on par with Todd Akin’s “clever” contraception comments that a woman’s body shuts down during legitimate rape. I’m sorry that I come from a society that contrasts the differences between a loving act 44
and a horrid crime as if it were not a human soul they were gambling about, but what right does the government have to teach us morals? How dare they tell us what to do with our fucking bodies. How dare they tell us who and how to love. How dare they tell us that being poor is our fault when economic mobility is so unlikely in today's society, it’s seen as a miracle. How dare they tell us that the problems with inequality no longer exist because a few laws were passed. Maybe these shackles on the bottom of our feet will finally show them how we’ve been forced down for so long. Times has passed, yet oppression still burdens our backs like chains, squeezing our ovaries, separating our love, binding us to our master as if we all wouldn’t be better off without supremacy. I’m sorry that the past, unwillingly intrinsic to us by history, has dampened our relationship thus far. Forgive me.
Anonymous A Minority’s Apology To Society is a exactly what the title suggested. Many people after the Civil Rights Movement realized that it was unfair to judge the major race because of the terrible actions that their ancestors did. They also began to realize that race was not the only factor by which people discriminated against others over. This apology, although it does list all of the atrocities, attempts to mend the broken relationship among all peoples that still seems to persist into modern day. 45
The black panther yelled
Pride
But I was always told to never be arrogant Instead to fall on my face humbly And just as I scrubbed the last bit of dirt off of my filthy nose The deep dark abyss that was my skin cracked open A fierce lion of heritage burst from my chest cavity Virgin blood had been spilled and a war of peace and protest began The white flag cowered in the background And somehow I ended up with black Streaks under my eyes, to see the world they said Add a bit of color And a revolutionizing weapon of my unknown origin appeared in my bloody hands Hands that can see Sight that knows what death smells like first and second hand Before I knew it my fist was raised And I was willing to die for this cause. Raquel Douglas Pride focuses how during the Civil Rights movement, many people of color began to feel proud of their heritage, and began the generally non-violent social war for equal rights for all races that laid the groundwork for the modern fight for universal equality. Many became extremely passionate in the cause, and in 46 fact, untold numbers died for it.
Reflections
Mai Pham Reflections shows a more mild sector of the movement: the fight for equality. Both people are the same human being. The color of their skin may be different, but they are still the same person. Color of skin does not matter in life. If one is human, one is human and should be treated like one. 47
A Touch of Color is a depiction of the nationalistic portion of the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality. At this time, people of color became proud of their heritage, displaying this through wearing their hair in its natural state, developing their own musical genres, teaching their children of their history and through many more ways. They crystalized their own culture that they had been crafting for centuries, truly becoming their own people. This newfound sense of community surely made unified protest simpler.
A Touch of Color
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Raquel Douglas *
Freedom It’s been a century It’s time for you to set us free We’ve been yours for eternity It’s time that we be Ebony And Ivory Side by side In misery JD
Alternatively, Freedom is inspired by Ebony and Ivory, a song by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder about the effects of end of slavery as both dominant races have to adjust to the new system.
Trivia Question! What ended the Civil Right Movement? MLK Assassination, The Passing of New Laws, A Series Court Cases, It Never Ended, Dwindled Public Interest Answer on page 164
* This original photo was a black and white sketch by Rafael Navarro. Raquel Douglas colorized this photo, added a background and changed minor details. This photo is still the property of Ra49 fael Navarro.
I was born a Little
Give Me My Name!
I am not Little
My wife is a Lee
I am an X
My dog is a Malcolm
I am not Malcolm
My owner a McGee
I am Malik
I was born with no name
I am my own
And without identity
And no one else's
I have nothing to shame
I am free
And have no heredity
With no oppressors
I am an Afro My wife is a black
Zaakir Tameez
My dog is a negro My owner a crack
During the Civil Rights Movement for Racial Equality, the various races and ethnicities in U.S. were fighting for rights. For a long time, although they were a part of the country, they were not seen as equal. The photo shows the idea of separate but equal in that all stripes are colored different, but contribute equally to the photo. The sentiment of Tameez’s poem reflects on Black Consciousness and nationalism with little regard for the racial utopia envisioned by many works that reflected the Civil Rights Movement. It centers around Malcolm X, a Black Power figure of the 1950’s and 60s. Here, Malcolm (or Malik) feels a lack of self and identity with his past African heritage, robbed of it over time in the United States. As the poem progresses, Malcolm revisions himself as a human of digni50 ty with a name and life of his choosing, and “no one else’s”.
Coming Together Hand in Hand
51 Sarah Levinson
Fractured Faces
Waites fractured faces
52 Sarah Waites
All civil rights movements to date have had one end goal: equality, and that is true whether or not the movement focuses on the various genders, races, or sexualities. Too often we forget that these movements are only asking for all people to be treated simply as the human beings that they are, to be recognized as an important piece in the human collage of Fractured Faces. Civil rights in itself is an amazing concept; the idea of blind equality is truly a beautiful thing that should always remain a relevant goal that we strive towards as a society. However, I hope that we have no more civil rights movements, that some day people won’t have to picket, boycott and protest to be treated as a human being. That we will not have a dream about one day, that we will live it. Someday we will advance enough as a society to learn that the only differences between us are the ones that we create for ourselves. 53
The Education Reform Movement
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Red.
I am the red tinted eyes of a student, trying his hardest. I am the red tinted eyes of a man struggling to escape his vice. No one believes you when you look up at them with red tinted eyes and say, “I tried.” They won’t believe you when you’ve choked on your own words, unable to breathe. Maybe you’ll drip words out under your own disbelief and false reasoning. Maybe, when I stop seeing colors, you’ll understand that your son’s vision has become blurred by red and tinted with the memory of people who used to be there for me. Maybe then someone on this planet will finally understand that colors seen through the same filter as blood are easier to comprehend than the small “manageable” bit of chemistry, but everyone expects me to achieve. I’m sorry I can’t comprehend formulas through a single color of the rainbow. Red. “I’m sorry.” Let’s repeat that and break it down. “I’m sorry:” words people seem to hear but are clearly unable to comprehend because I can’t comprehend how someone can say, “you’re not trying hard enough” when they’re clutching their phone with grades illuminated dimly in the color of red. For failure. Bleeding through the filter of failure vaguely resembling the same colors you slipped on your feigned memories on Instagram back when things had a meaning that you could see far easier than the eastwood filter you see in now illuminated in red. I am the only one who feels an emotional red brick wall smash against my face like a hurricane
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stinging and biting at me like a ravenous psychopath. It’s a shame, really. It’s a shame that the words, “I know you can do it” are no longer encouraging but are now words that have lost their meaning to me because in some way success can’t be seen through this red foggy haze I’ve surrounded myself in. It’s a shame that the only reason I can’t see is because I don’t want to succeed. Maybe instead of success I just want to be understood. It’s a shame that at school I slave for hours only to be treated like I go on a luxury vacation until I go home, because apparently being only a number in a crowd of children my age stuck behind a fossilized desk that we wish could be seen in different colors. Maybe the student to my left in chemistry’s desk should be green, the color of success, yet I am in red. Dead in the brain with nothing to lose. I present to you an opportunity to take away all the shades of color you see in someone’s eyes and face and soul and have it exterminated, become the student who doesn’t understand who falters with their pen and can only see in a single shade because their nightmare is seeing ink on their paper, the color of red. Red...
Connor Gryder The pressure that students are being faced with today has become less a result of bullying and more about a dehumanized education system. All students, those succeeding and not, are denigrated by this insular system. The narrator of this work expresses his utmost sincerity in his efforts to comply with the harsh educational 57 system, only to be rejected by it.
Your Possible Future
In today’s society, high school does not always teach the necessary skill for students to succeed in society. Here, a high school graduate, who should be prepared for the future after twelve years in school, is immedi-
58
ately going to work at a fast food restaurant: evident that little success maybe be in store. Today, a high school career is seemingly useless without a college education that not everyone can afford or is prepared for. The system must change if students are to be successful.
59 Ashlie Lunna
How I Feel About Today's Education
Even though I’m extremely blessed I happen to be very stressed
Compared to other countries, my education is great But it is also a heavy weight You need to go to school in order to have a job, they say But yet school seems like a job, in a way My salary is my grades A good grade makes me feel well paid I study for hours and hours, year after year In order to get the good grades for my hopeful “career” However, learning slowly turns into a drag I end up hating it so much; it’s like a continuously growing bag What happened to learning is fun? Learning, for me, will only be fun when I am able to say “I am finally done.” Mai Pham When a student complains about how stressful school can be, they are told to be grateful that their education is free. The problem is that it is not free. Students have to pay everyday with lost hours of sleep, meals skipped, social opportunities avoided, increased stress levels, the loss of their youth. Simply because students are too young to live on their own does not mean they are incapable of feeling stress just as much as everyone else. 60
I am a Curious Child,
Quench My Curiosity
Always looking for the Answers
The Bell, Go Now or you’ll be Late to the Next class for you to Sit In
To the World that’s All Around How do Stalactites come to Be?
And Listen to Dull Droning Dialogue
Why do the Leaves change on the Trees?
Of Determining the Directrix
How does that Mix of Batter change to a Cake for Me?
The Rising Stacks of Grammar Sheets, or of Homework without the Lesson
My family all shook their heads
What does it Mean? How does it Fit?
Gave me my lunch and a book bag
How will it Help me later?
“That School out there will Help You See and Quench Your Curiosity.”
When Will it tie into my life, or is the answer Never?
But School was Nothing like she said, Some teachers...are only villains Who plot and scheme in their official (lairs)
If only Classes could Be Fun! If they could be Engaging!! If teachers would connect the dots - between chemistry and physics,
Show how math explains the stars, How To Find a Way to do The Worst - To Never EvPhysics takes you straight to Mars, er Quench My Thirst Throughout Extensive Endless Days I Sit and Sit at Stubborn Desks And try to drain my Curiosity Away through the Hours of Every Class: The Bell, Hurry, go Dash to Class The Bell, Now Sit and Listen
Someone come and help, Show me! But Don’t Quench my Curiosity! Or Stifle, Stiffen, Stuff it, No, Stimulate Mental Activity! Come Build My Curiosity, Come help make Me a Better Me!
Anonymous
Quench My Curiosity is written from the perspective of a student who is very eager to learn but finds themselves unsatisfied with the way schools try to teach the material. Too often schools teach to achieve high test scores that don’t really depict a student’s intelligence, instead of trying to actively engage children and to teach them knowledge that will help them in the future.
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Reconstruction was taken at Sam Houston State University where, after half a decade of complaints, they are finally tearing down the old dorms and classrooms that were still being in use. They are doing this all over the campus, making small changes to things like the facilities to help with the student body and learning. Educaci贸n was written from the point of view of the teachers in Mexico, struggling for education reform and the eradication of corruption in the teacher selection and promotion process. The national government passed a law a few years ago that did a little to improve the situation, almost like throwing a cup of water at a burning house. The teachers want more laws
Reconstruction
62 Zachary Freeman
"Educación"
Somos los profesores Los senadores dicen que trabajar a favor de nosotros y nuestros estudiantes Pero son ellos en realidad? Nos pobre amigos han sufrido discriminación Los senadores han debatido por muchos años Y ellos han mejorado un poquito Ahora los profesores que tienen mucho mérito pueden avanzar La ley trabajar por nosotros Pero los sindicatos siguen protestar y hacer marchas Esta nueva ley es el primer paso Necesitamos mas beneficios para los estudiantes y nosotros Nuestro puesto no es perfecto aún
We are the teachers The senators say that they're working in the favor of us and our students But are they really? Our poor friends have suffered discrimination The senators have debated for many years And they have made it a little better Now the teachers that have a lot of merit can advance The law works for us But the unions continue to protest and hold marches This new law is the first step We need more benefits for our students and ourselves Our position is not perfect yet Karl Ehlers
and more rules to improve schools and the people that control them. For many teachers, it seems that the government is not putting children first when education is in mind. 63
Just Below the Surface Anxiety rushes through my blood Breathe, just breathe in and out, I and I am left shaking. tell myself. The pressure is too much. I am sinking, drowning.
A momentary sense of calm,
I can’t break the surface,
A hiatus just long enough to catch my breath before being pulled back under.
Yet it is so near.
A reminder that I am still alive,
But my efforts are for nothing
But only alive enough to know that I am suffocating. I am sinking, drowning.
Close your eyes and push on, I tell myself. And I am so close. Anger blocks my vision,
Breathe.
A rush of adrenaline that only leaves me frustrated.
Wrong time.
No one can save me.
Doubt stings my throat, burning away every last thread of confidence.
I am stuck here, Just below the surface,
Able to see my relief, Stress fills my lungs, but I let out no But unable to take another protest. breath. Megan Yen Yen’s poem illustrates the stress students experience due to today's education system's emphasis on grades. The American education system has pressured students so much to make high grades that it has essentially taken away from the importance of receiving an education. Education is now a matter of making high grades and no longer seems to strive to create a more educated and moral society. This has caused a lack of confidence in students' own intelligence as they began to 64 believe that they are simply a number and one of the reasons
Free Time I remember playing with blocks in kindergarten during free time. I considered myself wise and I always tried to devise ways to stick the circle block in the triangular hole, but my teacher always told me it was impossible. Frustrated, overtime, I learned she was correct, but I could not seem to figure out why she kept trying to do the same thing with her students. One by one, she’d pick us up and force us down into this monotonous standardized hole, shaving off whatever didn’t fit inside, hitting us atop the head when she felt we needed it. She cut off the wrong parts of some of us and we never made it to the next stage. You see, there’s this misconception that education is beautiful. That education leads to an advancement of knowledge and keeps delinquents off the streets and somehow makes society a better place to live in. While this may be true for some, majority of students don’t fit into the box education forces them in. Some of us are triangles. Some of us are squares. Some of us haven’t found our shape yet. You can not claim that no child is left behind when society has to clean up the pieces you scraped off. Raquel Douglas for their anxiety. This has also caused the ambivalence and even indifference of many students towards school. As Free time shows, with greater frequency in the past few years, the education of U.S. students has become dehumanized, trying to force every student to adapt to one certain niche that most will never fit into. Most students learn better in ways teachers simply do not teach. The cost of dehumanized education is seen beyond just the school 65 walls: all of society suffers.
The Normal True education
A quality education.
Can not be placed into a formula. It can not be standardized
The only things I’ve learned
It can not be measured in one grade
In my years in this broken system Is how to pass a test
My intellect can not be quantified
Without sleeping the night before
Based on how many nights I sat restless And how to remember Finishing lists of standardized assignments
That my formatting is
That teach me nothing
An education, so far, has left me with only
But how to pass standardized requirements
More important than my content.
Headaches, bouts of depression
But see, I don’t fit into this neat little box
Insomnia, stress.
Most students don’t
See the thing about education,
Our education may be “free”
Is that’s it’s supposed to teach
But we are worth more than this
How to succeed in the real world
Cheap, standard shipping.
It has FAILED to do so.
Skipping meals to study for a test With no real world application Isolating myself from my social life To finish a ‘creative’ English project Constantly checking my GPA To see if I’m good enough
The most successful people Of our time never graduated From high school Most of the poor did This reversal tells me That “we don’t need no education”
Writing, writing, editing, Writing, writing, crying Yes, this is what they call
Or at least not this one.
Raquel Douglas 66
Antithesis
photo
Raquel Douglas An important aspect of the Education Reform Movement is the greater inclusion of art into the education system. Art, in all its forms, has been shown to inspire students in ways that the mechanized system of standardized testing can’t do, show in Antithesis by the contrast between the electrifying nature of music and the dulled mechanical sysTrivia Question! tem that mirrors standardization. These ideas are highlighted in The Normal, which speaks of how the stress that comes with learning in a standardized environment affects a student. A high school diploma no longer guarantees success at all, since it does not teach the necessary skills needed to equip students for the real world.
Which is closest to the graduation rate for America?
50%, 62%, 75%, 85%, 91%
Answer on page 165
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Trivia
Teach me knowledge that will help me get a job in a field I’m interested in.
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Too often student’s ask their teachers whether or not the things they learn in school will ever be relevant to them. More often than not, the lessons won’t be, and most of the things one learns in school won’t be helpful to them in later life. They’ll probably never need to find the slope of the tangent line to a parabolic graph. Education reform seeks to try and teach students relevant knowledge rather than trivia, unneeded knowledge.
Raquel Douglas
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Those Darn Kids They say American kids are dumb I say American kids are numb They list in class, drooling Afraid to get any schooling They wait, counting the few minutes Until they can let loose the bullets All the funding in creation Cannot fix the broken nation JD
Those Darn Kids talks briefly about the ineffective use of funding in schools and the prevalence of public shootings in the past few years, which serve as evidence of both the need for greater reform and the inefficacy of reforms thus far. Does this, a generic scene of students testing, look familiar? If you’ve gone through our current education system, this setup must be all too recognizable. Testing can be stressful for a lot of students, as it sometime may seem that their only worth is in a test score, that they are somehow unintelligent because they are a bad tester, they didn’t study hard enough, or they just 70
Generic photo of a bunch of students taking a test
happened to have a bad day Trivia Question! just before a major test. This is How much does the U.S. not fair. Standardized testing spend on education each year? are not a reflection of a person’s intelligence, rather a rep- 17 M, 700 M, 400 B, 800 B, 900 B resentation of how well one is at one method of learning that Answer on page 164 most people simply aren’t comfortable with. They are a result of how well you can take a test on one day, in a particular mood. They, in no way or form, define a student. 71
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9/11 (2001) The Gulf Wars (2003——)
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It hit.
Jumper
they all conglomerate,
I was so shocked I couldn’t remember
Weighing on my chest with weight too strong for me to bear
What I was about to do
Much like the air.
I dived under the desk and the plane ripped through,
I knew the end was near
taking my colleagues with it.
Burning in my lungs and streaming through my eyes
The plane hit the World Trade Center.
Black smoke smothered the room like a blanket, Choking, Suffocating, Exterminating.
And I could feel my intensifying fear
As I looked for any way to escape from here. But the only to escape from here
I couldn’t breath I couldn’t see, I couldn’t think And those next to me couldn’t blink
was the window, and I knew for certain it was a one way ticket. But it was the only ticket.
Because their clothes were lit on fire, eating away at them.
I stumbled over to the window,
There was no way to escape
Looked out at the dizzying site below, And though, Oh God, let my family know
And it was now I realized it was too late
That I love them.
To apologize to my dear mate For how horrible I had been of late. This morning when I woke, I thought to do it at a later date,
And I Jumped.
Anonymous
Jumper is thoughts of an exasperated person who has no idea if he will live or die after reBut now I see my inescapable fate. alizing the towers were hit. We recall Levinson’s It is too late. work on page 26-27, where the thoughts of those on the verge of death were pondered. What do My lungs burn with the ashes and the people think before they die? Had the character smoke in Jumper survived, perhaps we would know. What is curious is how aware the jumper was of That surround me like the memories Of my past, of my joys and my mistakes his surroundings and of the situation. While clearly displaying a fantastic sense of courage and Of the present times to date ability to think rationally under crisis, the jumper And of the future, of the hopes that I had, died - just as almost everyone else. 74
“A 9/11 Poem”
A 9/11 Poem
As I look around
I want my soul to go clean to heaven.
I can see on the ground
When I get there in a while, I’ll ask God to forgive my murderers.
My body…
And only one thing more
Lots of them
That my children may be happy
Women, men, and children
That my mother shall find calm and
Can’t believe my eyes!
That my husband finds a woman that will cure his aching heart.
Can’t believe my ears! What about my mother? What about my dear? What about the children? My body will be buried,
Claudia Navarro Trivia Question! How many people were killed in 9/11?
But who takes care of them? The voices of confusion, desperation and fear…
1043, 4255, 463, 3972, 2996
Oh dear!
Answer on page 165
Many mothers, many orphans I hear it was for a religious purpose
Navarro’s character invokes utmost sympathy from the reader, fitting the caring, loving, and naive female archetype. I wonder if God accepts that type of The narrator’s strength is impressive: that sacrifices Would God advise that we kill ourselves in her last moments, she calls for forgiveness of her murderers. Likewise, she to satisfy him? thinks about her family and wishes the Poor men who have a false idea of the best for her husband, and that she be relove of God! placed. Her humility and courage calls on But I forgive them. the reader to speculate over the 2996 I will save nor resentment nor hate. that died in the tragedy; each with their own story and last thoughts. But I wonder if God forgives the murder of his children…
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This is a photo of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Mumbai, India. It was the site of one of the terrorist attacks that was a part of the 2008 Mumbai attacks—twelve coordinated shootings/bombings around Mumbai by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest and most active terrorist groups in South Asia. Based in Pakistan, members of that terrorist group attacked the Taj hotel, which resulted in the death of 31 civilians and 1 commando. This event is an example of one of the many terrorist attacks that has shaken the world in the past decades. While not related to the events of 911, the hotel is a symbol, as president Barack Obama said while visiting the site in 2012, “of the strength and the resilience of the Indian people.� This is much like how the 9/11 memorial and the One World Trade Center in New York City are symbols of both American strength and the recovery that America has had to undergo.
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Taj Mahal
77
Jay Mondkar
Una Fina Línea Ayer mi pueblo pudieron cruzar la frontera El cielo no tuvo nubes El sol fue alegre Luego el avión alcancé con la torre Y la puerta cerré El polvo oculté el sol Ahora la frontera es una guillotina Solamente un poquito pueden cruzar La mayoría sienten la cortada Quizás algún día podremos ver el sol Y nos mudaremos al Estados Unidos Para desempeñaremos un cargo allí
Yesterday my people could cross the border The sky was clear The sun was cheerful Then the plane hit the tower And the door closed The dust hid the sun Now the border is a guillotine Only a few can cross The majority feel the cut Perhaps someday we'll be able to see the sun And move to the U.S. To hold a position there Karl Ehlers
Una Fina Línea tells about the effects of 9/11 on a Mexican person who seeks to work in the U.S.. The fall of the towers had different effects in different places, but, for immigrants in particular, it meant the borders were watched more carefully for "terrorists" and this significantly diminished their ability to move to the US to try and find jobs there. The question is begged: 78 what did Mexico do to deserve its borders guillotined?
Panic
Sarah Levinson The picture above shows a hand reaching out for help during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. In times of desperation, people tend to look toward the sky, whether that is an expression of itself, a plea to a Higher Power, or an instinctive reaction ingrained in the human will to survive. 79
Untitled 1
This photo is not a literal representation of the post-9/11 world; it is an emotional representation. After the deaths of thousands of innocent people on September 11, 2001, America--and the world--was changed forever. The photo is untitled in the same way that our emotions for this event sometimes are. Sometimes we can not identify or quantify these feelings, but they still exist. This photo represents the despair that many people felt following the heinous attacks of 9/11, but it also represents even more so the optimism and hope that united the recovering world. This unity and unwillingness to allow the enemy to win was what allowed America to rise up from the ashes and become a stronger nation.
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81 Jay Mondkar
Tearful Moments
Ashlie Lunna The three bodies in the drawing make the numbers 9-1-1. In the first scenario, there is a man who did not manage to make it out of the towers in time. In the second, there is the reaction of a woman trying to finding out if her loved one is alive. In the third , there is a man who managed to get out on time, only to have the luck of slipping and having rubble fall on him. These are supposed to represent very different paths of sorrow for the people who died or had a loved one die on 9/11, each just as tragic as the next. The Towers captures the sentiments of the American people after the 9/11 attacks. They were shocked, almost speechless, as the short poem mirrors. Dubya discusses 9/11 explicitly, as well as the Dixie Chicks issue wherein the popular music group fell from grace in the public eye 82 for openly opposing the war in Iraq and Iran.
The Towers Towers Crashing Down Thousands of Lives Gone Shock and Grief Remains Fatimah Ali
Dubya
Trivia Question! Why were the towers attacked?
They were symbols for globalization and America’s economic power, they were the tallest buildings, the owner of the towers had hostile opinions of Muslims, they held important documents to the U.S. military
Answer on page 165
One day in mid-September All the children do remember One plane, two plane Red plane, boom Two fat birds hit a window Crumple, burn, blow The war drums beat anew “Peace,” chant the few The Dixie Chicks Are now Dixie Sh*ts The first in a hundred thousand deaths
JD
83
This photograph Never Forget was taken at an airshow in 2006, five years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The photo depicts the flight crew taking a moment of silence to remember the great sacrifices of the brave pilots and passengers who lost their lives in the attack. Every year on the 11th of September, we remember the loss of thousands of family and friends and we will never forget it and how it has changed the United States forever. Megan Yen
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85
What I Want and How I Want It I want freedom
I don’t want you to bomb me
I want liberty
I don’t want you to talk to me
I want peace
I don’t want your freedom
I want safety
I don’t want your liberty
I want choice
I don’t want your culture
I want happiness
I don’t want your values
So bomb me.
So overthrow my government.
Zaakir Tameez I want your culture I want your values I want your clothes
Trivia Question! How many U.S. soldier were in Afghanastan/Iraq in 2009?
I want your faith I want to consume
187,900, 2,394, 243,342, 43,431, 432,433
I want to indulge So talk to me.
Answer on page 165
Tameez’s poem deals with, mocks, and praises the various viewpoints and American perceptions of viewpoints from natives of countries subject to the Gulf War. In general, the people of these countries did not actively want a U.S. invasion in their country; they only wanted a chance for a better future. It is not evident whether our interference actually helped them in this way. 86
The rifling inside this cannon is similar to the rifling used in all of the guns and other arms used during the Gulf Wars up until present day. When the U.S. first invaded these countries, supportive propaganda showed it as a protest for freedom, when in actuality it was a violent war. Innocent people were killed, families were torn apart and the sounds of gunfire terrorized the dreams of young children. Imagine looking through the barrel and seeing the soldier, civilian, or child it will kill. It’s a war, and a gruesome one at that.
Cannon
87 Zachary Freeman
LBGTQ Rights and Gender Equality
88
89
Let’s Make A Love Story Love is not like the movies. But I've got your hand and you've got a camera slipping from the bone of your wrist and we've gotta try. Let's make a love story. Let's create a no-budget, homemade movie with shaky camera angles and an ending with two girls still smiling. Let's set it to the music we found online with just each other's company in a single-dorm sleepover let's snip the loose ends in the classroom where we first met, first let go of our denial at the sight of each other's eyes c'mon, grab your hairband, your smile, the necklace I gave you after six months-Let's make a love story, sweetheart. Let's tell it how it is. Let's get our fights on camera. Let's pour salt into the chocolate sauce Let’s show them how we left the lights on to lure compromise to our doorstep 90
after taking vows we wouldn't see each other's faces again Let’s give them the proof that our heartbreak is no different that our words crack just as easily and our promises are the same Let's make a love story, girl. Let’s show the world how pretty our hands look clasped together like a locket Let's show them that sharing dresses isn't just for sisters Let's show them the blushing is the same, the kissing just as good Let's show them love as shiny as anything, as exciting as first bites, as traditional as sunsets Let's make a love story, princess. Let's make it the kind that redefines what it means to be lucky let's make it the kind that doesn't need to stay in closets C'mon, baby. We've got a love story to tell.
Jessica Marino
Jessica’s poem portrays LGBTQ love and relationships as the same as their heterosexual counterparts, which is something peo91 ple often forget in their crusade to earn equal rights.
Amor
LGB……….T Sometimes it’s easy To forget the last letter In bigotry isn’t just
JD Amor shows the love between two people. The gender, sexuality, race, and religion of the two people do not matter. Their blind love is all that is important. Recognizing and respecting this love is an international movement that must look past their similarities or differences and only see them for what a truly are: two human beings in love. The haiku alludes to the fact that transgender people are generally the most forgotten and misunderstood part of the LGBT acronym. See page —-.
Sarah Levinson
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LGBTQ Support
93 Claudia Navarro
Todos Los Colores
En México la ley sobre LGBTQ es bastante bueno Pero algunos oficiales no siguen la ley En los cortes necesitamos resolver la problema
In Mexico the law concerning LGBTQ is almost okay But some officials don't care about the law In the courts we have to resolve this problem
En los calles marchamos para nuestros amigos Veremos una futura con completo libertad de matrimonio En público los parejas LGBTQ seré normal
In the streets we march for our friends We see a future with complete freedom in marriage In public the LGBTQ couples will be normal
La águila en la bandera llegaré a contener un arco iris Y si su jefe, su jueza, o su peluquero seré LGBTQ Nadie teneré un problema con esto
The eagle in the flag will contain a rainbow And if your boss, your judge, or your hairstylist is LGBTQ Nobody will have a problem with that Karl Ehlers
94
Love Can’t Tell the Difference
Ashlie Lunna The picture shows colors which represent a rainbow, and therefore also the recent symbol of LGBTQ rights. The shapes of the people are very simple so they can be easily told apart from being a stereotypical boy or girl archetype. The first three shapes of the left are all male and the last three shapes are all female. This is meant to question: What is the difference? They all love each other why would anyone prevent that? Also about the acceptance of different sexualities, Todos Los Colores talks about the decent but disappointing and slow changing laws concerning gay marriage in Mexico. Some officials are resistant to letting marriages pass through, even if such injunctions are busted down in court. However, citizens remain hopeful of future reform. 95
Tied Down
96
When I starting liking people for themselves, no matter the gender, I realized that the people around me expected me to change. This became a struggle between my own personality and the personality people wanted me to have. I felt tied down, trapped between who I actually was and who everyone seemed to want me to be. Then people began to place me in a box, and try and define me based who they thought I was and how they thought I dressed. Stereotypes swarm our society with false expectations. We have become so used to these guidelines that when we face those who break it, we aren't sure what to do. —Hailey Strader (Photo subject)
97 Zoe Herring
I’m Lexi Carlson and this is my LGBTQ story. Well, I guess I’ll start off with the basics: I’m a lesbian, I realized that at 15 years old, my sophomore year, (around January 2013), and started coming out to people about four months later. I also happen to be cisgender. Throughout the majority of my life, I refused to even acknowledge the possibility that I could be anything but straight. Fitting into expectations was everything to me, and to be honest, it sometimes still is, but it was so important I never even stopped to consider the possibility. I had crushes on girls, but in my mind it we could never be more than best friends. If there was a guy that I was good friends with, I tried to convince myself I had a crush on him. By not being true to myself, I had a rather warped perspective of the world. I had friends and almost family members (super close family friends) who were part of the LGBT community, but expectations ruled my life. I always said, “I’m totally fine with gay people, but I’m definitely not gay.” In this case, the harder I tried to deny it, the more accurate it was. The signs were there. I simply never thought a guy was cute. My friends would be squealing over a guy about how cute he was, but in my I wondered how you could even tell if a guy was attractive. I eventually learned the telltale signs of attractive guys, but simply never felt that way towards one. One friend asked me, “Don’t you ever see a guy and just want to make out with him?” My honest anContinued on page —-
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Lexi
Lexi Carlson swer: “No. Never. Why? Is that weird?” I don’t recall the rest of the conversation, and you may think this would have helped alert me to my gayness, but no. I remained oblivious and determined to fit into society’s expectations. It wasn’t until about a month or two later when good friend actually said something along the lines of, “I bet you’d make a good lesbian.” Later, thinking back on that conversa99
tion, I stopped to consider it for the first time. In the month that followed, I noticed my attraction to girls, and remembered crushes I’d had, and acknowledged the fact that I did not simply like them platonically, but romantically. After coming out to myself, so to speak, I waited a few months to confirm what I already knew to be the truth, and told my mom. She said, “Oh, okay. I suspected it for a while anyway.” Coming out to my dad was a little different, as I just did it on impulse. There was something on the TV about teen pregnancy, and my dad jokingly said, “Don’t get pregnant!” I replied, “Well, you don’t have to worry about me sleeping with any guys!” In retrospect, I probably could have timed it a little better, but we all act on our impulses sometimes. The news managed to spread to four other people I was not planning on informing yet, but they all took it well. I also came out to my two best friends, one of whom became increasingly distant after I told her, and our friendship simply faded away. This occurred over the summer, and in September I started going to a wonderful LGBTQ youth group called Hatch (held at the Montrose Center). It was amazing to find a young LGBTQ community so kind and welcoming. I would recommend it to anyone. I am still going once to twice a week, and it brings me great joy. I completely forgot to come out to my brother in college, and he found about it when we were talking about Hatch. I came out to people at school and on social media on Halloween by wearing a shirt I made that spelled out in rainbow 100
letters: “This is my coming out costume!” The reaction was very positive, especially since I hid the post from my extremely religious cousins. Throughout this, I started dating, but I won’t delve into the details of that here. But it was wonderful to actually be around someone and be able to express feelings for them without fear. At school, I was surprised by the ignorance I encountered. (I used to go to Carnegie, but had to leave for inpatient treatment for anorexia in the middle of the second semester of my sophomore year, forcing me to restart that semester. I currently attend a small, self-paced, private school with about 50 people.) These people didn’t know what LGBTQ stood for, they didn’t know what coming out meant, and they didn’t know that gender queer people actually exist. I’m working on the ignorance, but it’s a slow process. I was asked out to prom by a guy, having to explain that yes I am a lesbian, yes it’s how I was born, and no I don’t have to have two moms to be gay. Recently, I sent letters to the three cousins my age who I closest with. The first reply was, “I will always love you and support you.” The second was, “I still love you, but don’t agree with your decision. You’re worthy of God’s love and forgiveness.” The third, nothing yet, which hurts as she was the one I was closest with. I recently called her, and she simply said she would write back. Thanks for reading. 101
In honor of The Significant Art's LGBTQ week, I've decided to come out as a pansexual and a sapiosexual. Many people have no idea of what either of these are. In fact, many people are unaware that there are over 20 sexualities that exist, each just as valid as the previous. Because of this, I've decided to clear up some confusion and define some of the lesser known sexualities. Pansexual– used to describe people who are attracted to all people, even those outside the gender binary, or those who like a person without regard for gender at all. Sapiosexual– used to describe people who have a physical/sexual attraction to intelligence. Asexual– used to describe people who does not have sexual feelings or desires Pomosexual- someone who doesn't identify with conventional sexualities. Androsexuality- a person attracted to masculinity, not necessarily males. Gynesexuality- a person attracted to femininity, not necessarily females. ….and many many more I also identify as gender neutrois. Again, most people are likely to be unaware of what this means, more than likely only knowing of two or three genders. This is because people commonly confuse sex and gender. A sex is the biological make-up of an individual’s reproductive anatomy. A gender is an individual's lifestyle (often culturally learned) or personal identification of one's own gender and does not always match with their sex. The sexes are typically identified as male, female, and transsexual. The genders are more complex: Bigender- a person who fluctuates between traditionally “woman” and “man” gender-based behavior and identities, identifying with both genders Cis-man- a person who identifies as a man, presents himself masculinely, and has male biological sex, often referred to as simply “man” Cis-woman- a person who identifies as a woman, presents herself femininely, and has female biological sex, often referred to as simply “woman” Genderless/Neutrois- a person who does not identify with any gender 102
Rocky
Raquel Douglas Genderqueer- a blanket term used to describe people whose gender falls outside of the gender binary Transgender- a blanket term used to describe all people who are not cisgender ‌.and many many more.
Thanks to itspronouncedmetrosexual.com for their amazing list! 103
Human Equality
What is human equality?
Human equality in my opinion, Is not equality in wealth Is not equality in appearance Is not equality in success It is equality in opportunity
Trivia Question!
It is equality in treatment
What percentage of the U.S. population does not identify as heterosexual?
Whether you're Black
5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%
Whether you're Hispanic
Answer on page 165
Whether you're Asian Whether you're White Whether you're a woman or a man Whether you're gay or straight You should be given the same opportunity and treatment. Humans are humans.
Mai Pham
Aren’t we all the same on the inside? Just as our DNA is made up of the same parts but each has its own unique sequence, all humans are essentially different versions of the same template, and they should be treated as such regardless of their race, gender, sex or etc.. The thing about equality is that it is blind to differences, as we should be. 104
Friends
Zachary Freeman In the above picture, you see two females meeting each other in a warm embrace. We do not know whether they are in a relationship together or simply comforting each other, and honestly, it does not matter. They should have the right to love who they want, speaking both in legal terms and social contracts. We should not try and judge things we can’t define 105
This flag is more than just an array of pretty colors. It’s a universal symbol for equality for the things we can not change about ourselves. It’s an homage to all of the lives spent fighting for a cause that’s finally getting the recognition and progress. it deserves. It’s a counter monument that helps us to remember all of the discrimination a people faced because others didn’t believe in who they truly were. It’s an omen to the future state of how will we treat one another.
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Gaze
The photo is of a young girl looking out of a taxi window. Her expression is somewhat scared. The cab represents the oppression faced by women in the past, and the window with her peering out represents the change in expression and freedom that women experienced throughout the various women's rights movements of 108 the 20th century. The photo was taken in Mumbai, India.
109 Jay Mondkar
The Domestic Woman
It was often believed that a woman's role was to remain in the home and care for their children. This picture depicts the talent for women to stay strong and support their families even in the worst of times. It also shows how there’s nothing wrong with stay at home mothers, as some people seem to believe the recent gender equality movement advocates. In actuality the movement only seeks to give women the chance 110 to explore all opportunities, rather in or outside of their home.
Megan Yen
Free
Zoe Herring The woman in Free is flying away from the monotone, one track societal pressures forced upon her and doing what she wants to do, being her own unique being. This is not to say that she won’t decide to do some of the things that society says a woman should do, but that she has other options. She can do her own things, add her own colors. She can fly away and be free. 111
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This is probably the most famous and easily identifiable feminist artwork to date. Rosy the Riveter is more than just a photo of a strong woman; it’s a symbol that women can be whoever they want to be. Remember that the most important thing about civil rights movements, no matter who’s fighting, are that they advocate for equality. The recent feminist movement has gotten bad press because of the more radical sectors of it, who are seen as advocating for supremacy and discrimination against males, but this is not what feminism is truly about. It is a civil rights movement; it only asks for equal rights, equal opportunity, equal punishment, equal standing in society, equal treatment. It should not be seen on a war on men, rather, a war on centuries old morals that have denied half of the population the full chance to live up to their potentials. It should not be viewed as a way to shame women who chose to have children, rather, a way to allow women to chose their own life paths and goals, whether or not those goals include being a stay-athome mother or a full time worker. 113
Rider Valkoinen
114 Sarah Waites
When was the last time that you saw a strong male protagonist in a movie or advertisement? Probably within the last few weeks. Now, when was the last time you saw a strong female protagonist (physically or mentally) in any published work? Chances are you haven’t, and if you have, it was not a particularly common event.
Isen Ansik
One of major sectors of feminism hopes to change Sarah Waites the perceptions of women in the media. Women are not simply weak little sex symbols that need men for protection and happiness. Females are human, and just as with the entire human population, some are strong, some are smart, some are beautiful, and some are more than words can define. We can not change the way society perceive women until we change the way we display women to it. 115
Female Strive Female independence is q growing part of society. No longer are women locking themselves into one life path. They are exploring their options and doing what they please. The woman in the picture is confident and is heading in towards her own path. Changing societal values to accept this newfound value has not been easy, and won’t be for a while. However, the women in the picture is prepared for the battle that awaits her. She has her war clothing. She is determined. She will not fail.
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Mai Pham
The Evolution of the “Domestic” Woman I am a woman I am domestic and motherly Caring and kind A wife and caretaker But that is not all
I am a woman I am Strong and Independent Outgoing and Headstrong Passionate and Powerful I am even Industrious
I am a woman I am insightful and intuitive Inquisitive and curious Thoughtful and Contemplative But there is still more
Stop trying to make me simply domestic Because I will never be only “domestic” again. Anonymous Trivia Question!
Yes, I am a woman I am Deliberate and Persistent Literate and Studious Dedicated and Hardworking And Finally
What percentage of U.S. married fathers are stay at home dads?
17%, 6%, 21%, 4%, 12%
Answer on page 165
Both of these pieces depict the same aspect of the gender quality movement, if in different ways. The Evolution of the “Domestic” Woman directly speaks of how a woman should not be confined to a single life path, that she should have the choice, just as males do, to pursue whatever career she feels suits her best. No longer is she confined to the four walls of a home. She can step out of the box if she feels necessary. She can recolor it, amend it if she pleases. She is not simply “domestic.” 118
Reflective Skies
What percentage of men are stay at home dads in the U.S. now?
Zoe Herring In Reflective Skies, the young girl is looking towards her future, the hazy mass that it is. She is unsure of what she will be, but she is certain that she will not allow societal barriers to infringe upon her success. She will not mare her happiness by choosing to do something that makes her uncomfortable. However, she is sure that she will do her best at whatever she choses. 119
Alone
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Zoe Herring
The piece of work ties back to the recent feminist movement by showing the constraints places upon the modern woman. She is pressured into girdles and pretty clothing as a result of societal pressures, even if she feels uncomfortable with them. The girl in the picture is turning away from these pressures. Alone is also a depiction of how many females may feel. Alone. Insecure. Depressed. Although not every girl feels this way, a large portion of them do at some point in their lives, for many reasons. One of the most profound is the unreachable standards that are almost forced upon them from a young age, stemming from photoshopped women in the media, the sexualization of women in ads and movies, and even the comparisons one might have with other people in society. It is because of this that we need the feminist movement to be successful. More than simply asking for gender equality, a sector of the movement is also demanding the desexualization of women, natural, unaltered photos of women in the media, and more teaching about self-esteem issues at a young age, for both boys and girls alike. We, as a human race, need not feel alone. We need not feel insecure. We are the best ‘us.’
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Letting Go
122 Zoe Herring
The woman in Letting Go is doing just that. She is letting go of the old saying about where her place is. She is letting go of the idea that she needs a male mate to be happy. She is letting go of the belief that her life is going to be wasted if she doesn’t have kids. She is letting go of self esteem issues. So many professional photographs of women are photoshopped, leading young girls to compare themselves to inhumane standards. Her skin is uneven. She has smile lines. Her hair isn’t perfect. Et cetera, ad nauseum, ad infinitum, but those little imperfections don’t mare her beauty; they make her human. She’s letting go of society’s definition of what makes a woman beautiful. She doesn’t need short clothing or long legs. She doesn’t have to display her breasts, yet she is still beautiful. Every woman is beautiful. Every person is beautiful. Equality is beautiful.
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Closing Comments The American Labor Movement was not simply a fight for high wages; it was a combined force for human integrity. The World Wars can not be called a fight for democracy; they were Great Wars with unimaginable losses and long term damage. The Civil Rights Movements, whether for racial, gender, or sexual equality, are more than requests for equal protection under law; they demand for the recognition of equality for all. The Education Reform Movement is not only about improving students’ educations; it’s also about reversing the dehumanization of education system and better preparing students for success later in life. 9/11 was a clash of different values and ways of life, but we should not push upon that clash and aggravate matters worse. Instead, the trauma and horror should unite us as a nation to work with those who act differently in the endless strive for equality. 124
In the same way, none of the issues that we see in today’s society can be simply taken for face value. Morals, political alliances, class differences, and media portrayal all affect our perception of each ‘movement’ that we experience. All of the movements depicted in this book dealt with equality. The sheer fact that we’ve had so many varieties of equality movements in the past century shows the innate human strive to be treated as equals. We want our students to all have equal opportunities for success. We want our workers to be treated as the necessary part of our lives that they are. We want all people, regardless of who they are, to simply be treated as equal members of society. Maybe we’ll have more movements like these in the next century. Either way, we are becoming more and more tolerant to the differences among us, and therefore becoming more intelligent to the lack of differences inside of us. We are finally seeing ourselves for who we truly are, and that’s what’s important. 125
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DIY artwork is work the program allowed participants to submit over any aspect of politics/society that they chose themselves. The works vary, in forms, in radically different topics, and in levels of passion. However, pay attention to the order of the work. Nothing was placed on accident. Enjoy.
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iFriends
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This photograph is of 3 friends, two boys and one robot. Everyday in society, all we have to do is turn around to see someone using a smart device. This mass introduction of robots has completely transformed our society and has created a large degree of dependence on these robots. Our dependence on phones reaches many different levels, from searching the web to making friends. It is more often that friends will text than meet face to face. This picture represents the issue of mass introduction of robots into society and how it affects even the youngest of our generation. Children as young as three know how to use a phone before they can count to 100. It used to be that little kids would have play dates in the park, and this photo illustrates how technology has eradicated 129 Megan Yen this tradition, among others.
The Private Pledge
I pledge allegiance (too much commitment) to the Flag (idolatry is heresy) of the United States (I’m being flippant) of America, (screw Vespucci) and to the Republic (except the military) for which it stands, (it or she?) one Nation (actually a state) under God (so is Tom, Dick, and Harry), indivisible (what about Rick Perry), with liberty (Geronimo) and justice (Guantanamo) for all (Hallelujah!). Zaakir Tameez The Private Pledge is an ekphrastic poem that reflects the mentality of those who are not patriotic towards the "Pledge of Allegiance" as it points out the inconsistencies in each line of the pledge. As children are forced to recite the pledge, more people are becoming increasingly opposed to it. The pledge should not be a mandatory statement of patriotism. It should be a voluntary allegiance that can be given by citizens when earned and taken away when undeserved. 130
Two Views of Society
The best practices in life are free
UNLESS YOU’RE POOR Poverty is the greatest motivator UNTIL YOU DIE OF STARVATION Our nation is moving towards equality FOR ALL WHITE STRAIGHT CHRISTIAN MALES WITH LOTS OF MONEY Corruption is only what the media tells you I BET YOU LEARNED THAT FROM THE NEWS We alone have that capability of intelligent thought UNLESS YOU’RE BRAIN DEAD The cure for cancer is coming IT PROBABLY DIED IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE TOO POOR TO AFFORD AN EDUCATION. The best things in life are free. FALSE; THE INTERNET IS NOT FREE Optimism. IGNORANCE iS thE KeY To HapPINesS
Raquel Douglas Two Views on Society is also an ekphrastic poem. Instead of focusing on one particular subject, this poem follows a conversation, with each topic leading into the next. One person points out a positive aspect of society, and the other provides a more realistic, if pessimistic, approach. This represents how radically different people’s views on the same subject can be at times and how difficult they can be to sway. 131
Harmony
Zoe Herring
Harmony represents the relationship between the two opposing parties in the U.S. political system. They are seen as complete opposites at times, whom have no hope of working together through compromise, yet their reunion is possible. It’s called bipartisanship. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the results are absolutely beautiful. 132
In Stable Government v. Instable Government, there are two governmental structures. The eraser represents a stable government, such as that of the United States. The eraser crumbs represents a government that is constantly falling apart, such as that of Egypt at the time of this writing. Governments need to stabilize for there to be peace in society, but at the same time, the stable governments need to be peaceful with its people. That difficult balance has rocked nations for thousands of years.
Stable Government v. Instable Government
Mai 133 Pham
The Importance Of Being Me
A lot of baggage comes with being Silvia Pera, most of it bad, with the good only coming recently. One of the first lectures my mom ever gave me was in Italy. She sat me down and told me that the worst thing I could ever be was normal. I looked confused and acted confused but I already knew there was something in what she was saying. I have never really been normal. And it has caused me a lot of problems. When I was younger, I was often bullied and called "Saliva." I was also much more well read than my peers (I started reading the newspaper when I turned 9) and flaunted it. People never like a know-it-all and I was one for way too long. However, my difference stretch further. I am a bilingual who happens to travel back to her second country, Italy, quite often. Beyond that, I have traveled to almost thirty other countries and I have trouble picking up on societal cues. And sincerely, when I do, I tend to brush past them. I have always been abnormal, but only now have I come to appreciate my difference. When I walk into a room (generally humming off tune) I grab attention within a couple of minutes (most of the time without trying), but for years I tried to stop that. From first grade up until almost the middle of seventh grade, I felt uncomfortable with myself and admired the timid, quiet, but beautiful girls in my school. Most of that self loathing was caused by a string of bullies. And although my mom picked apart their flaws (most of them were in their right abnormal and almost always ugly guys) I half-revered them for their ability to come up Continued on page —-
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Rise Above
Zoe Herring Rise Above, just like Pera’s short story, shows how difficult it can be to different from the social norms, to do things your own way. At times it can feel as if you are doing everything wrong, as if you’re somehow walking in the wrong direction no matter where you go. The only way to get over the stress of being different is to accept yourself as you are and learn to walk comfortably in your own direction. 135
Decisions
Zoe Herring As both Decisions and The Importance of Being Me exemplify, sometimes it’s difficult to express yourself as a youth, feeling as if you have to live a double life just to fit in to society. Well, no longer shall we hide who we really are; no longer shall we have to live in fear of how others will judge us. We will make our own decisions. We will find our own meaning. We will one day truly learn we are beautiful in our own right. 136
with snarky nicknames and biting criticisms, I also quaked in actual fear. No child should be put in that position. From school to school, little was done to help those different people among us feel comfortable. Differences make people for better or worse unique individuals. These differences should never be criticized or pointed out. Although I went to a variety of schools, it was only through my determination to shut everyone out that I was able to become the person I am now- very confident with most of myself. No one should be made to feel inferior and schools should be held accountable for a failure in curtailing bullying. In fact, at a couple of schools, bullying is almost encouraged by teachers who pick out students in classrooms and openly criticize them. Schools should work to not only instill upon their students a sense that bullying is wrong and demeaning but also instruct teachers to criticize students individually and focus less on student flaws. Most importantly, a societal framework should be created to encourage children to express themselves freely and not hide their differences because those are what make them special.
Silvia Pera
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Conformity
Conformity is aimed at representing the conformity and cultural colonization that occurs in certain societies. For example, conformity is reflected in the tendency of women to adhere to "traditional" gender roles. This photo represents how some people decided to actively go against the norm to better their social standing. This is demonstrated by the small stream of people walking toward the camera in contrast to the large number of people walking away, with their backs to the camera. The photo relates back to cultural colonization, or in this case, Westernization. Here, almost everyone is wearing what are thought to be Western clothes. This demonstrates the impact of first-world countries on developing nations and the globalization of fashion. 138
139 Jay Mondkar
On the matter of conformity, this the same girl that was on page —-. Her name is Hailey Strader. For years she has been the victim of people stereotyping her before getting to know her simply based on how she looks. This is who she really is, yet so is the photo on page ——. People are ever changing, multifaceted creatures, which is why it’s difficult to judge someone based off of one short glance of casual interaction and create an accurate depiction of who they are. One shouldn’t take things for face value. One shouldn't judge someone off of one interaction. One shouldn’t expect people to conform to one persona, because people are complex and dynamic. How we dress and how we look are not accurate representations of who we are, nor should people be forced to change because of how others might view them. In fact, we won’t change, and neither should you. We shall continue to express every side of our being no matter how others feel. We all will be comfortable in our own skin. 140
Strader
Zoe Herring
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The Other Side
They're taking jobs from us.
They're creating a huge fuss.
Today, my ten year old son does not even know
They don't deserve to be here.
Who I am or where I am
All they cause is crime and fear. But it does not matter to me Because on that side, he will These are the words that many have an education say.
On that side, he will have proHowever, they don't understand tection what it's like to be in our shoes On that side, he will have an for a day opportunity My name is Rosa Martinez. On that side, he will have poBut to them, I'm just another "Maria." I was deported ten years ago.
tential. On that side, he will have a better chance at life. Mai Pham
Travel and Flight represents a more abstract view on immigration than The Other Side, which is about a mother who was separated from her child after she was deported from the United States. The photo depicts how some African immigrants, both from North and Sub-Saharan African, immigrate to countries like the U.S. or the U.K. with hopes of better employment, education, and socioeconomic mobility. More often than not, the images they have created are not based in much truth. Like the fake gold necklace in the photo, their dreams are initially optimistic and bright, until they realize the dishonesty that plagues these country’s images. Sadly, all eventually learn this image is pretty only on the surface. 142
Travel and Flight
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Raquel Douglas
Bound from Trees
Sarah Waites We so often forget where the items we use come from. That plastic water bottle? Refined oils. That book? A tree. Being aware of the origins of our possessions will help us conserve more and create a better future. Sarah’s carved book is an excellent example of how we can reuse old items and give them new value. We are a society that is Bound from Trees. We must remember that.
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Greece
Zoe Herring In a similar way, Greece is a representation of the destruction that’s slowly happening to the modern world, except this shows the destruction of history. In Waites’ photo, the human race was fighting nature, polluting the air and destroying the environment. Here, nature is fighting us and our history, as weathering, overgrowth and decay destroys buildings, causes monuments to 145 fall and erases the wonders of our time.
The Destruction of the Environment
This artwork shows that we are destroying our environment, but we as a society are responsible for stopping this destruction. We only get one Earth, so we need to protect it. Notice the contrast between the alive grass and the bare leaves. Notice how no one is there to protect the trees from the destruction man kind has caused them.
Sarah’ environmentalist photo here
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Sarah Levinson
Into The Void shows a mini astronaut looking out to the Houston skyline. It represents how NASA is now no longer in touch with the City of Houston, as public support of the program has decreased over the years. Also, it represents how that bond has gotten more distanced since the funding cuts. NASA seems like it’s on the outside of the city, peering desperately at any opportunity to reenter the public’s concerns.
Into The Void
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Peyton Gibner
This short story may not immediately seem to comment on society, but it does provide a representation of how people with mental illnesses, and to some degree, even people who are just different, are treated and viewed in society. Stiches is a social commentary that additionally shows the negative effects of bullying and tries to throw some perspective onto why some people behave as they do. One can never truly understand every aspect of a person, why they do certain things, or how they will react. This is one of many reasons why everyone should avoid ostracizing people simply because they are different.
Stitches Mark was a weirdo and a creepy weirdo at that. He was the kid who always sits in the back of the classroom, scribbling into his little notebook, not even giving an ounce of his attention to the teachers droning. He ignored the world around him and the world around him ignored him. He wanted it that way. He learned long ago that taking an interest in the real world just gave the world power to destroy him and rebuild him with too many pieces. Pieces that he never wanted. Just like the Voice, the thing that liked to whisper and claw away in his psyche, trying to get poor pathetic Mark to give up. But Mark didn’t want to give up, not yet anyway, especially to a figment of a shattered imagination. So Mark keeps the Voice quiet, or as quiet as he can. 148
Now as much as Mark tries to ignore the world, the world never stops ignoring poor little Marky. Mark was a target to all sorts of bullies. He was always plagued these creatures, who seemed to never have anything else better to do then to make his life a living hell. One of these sub-humans went by the name of Steve Crikmen, Grade A jock and the intelligence that ranked slightly lower than a bag of broken bricks. Steve thought Mark made a great target and would spend his time doing typical bully things. Shoving him into lockers, emptying his book bag on the floor, yelling “Freaky Marky” at him, and when he was in a really bad mood (or just really bored) he would beat the crap out of him. Oh how he loved to beat him, oh but never in front of anyone, no sir! Dumber than a rock Steve was, but even he knew that if anybody caught him using his favorite punching bag, his football scholarship would go bye-bye. So he did it in secret and always far enough apart so the bruises won’t show. Much anyway. However, bruises weren’t the only things that he gave to little Mark, far from it. He was fueling the Voice. Each time Steve landed a ham sized fist into his gut, Mark could see, in his mind’s eye, a rift being torn wide open. A rift that, as the wider it got, 149
the more powerful the Voice became and more appealing it would become. Sometimes, if the beating was particularly brutal, Mark would start to catch glimpses of something lurking in the Darkness. No sign of a body or form, just a pair of eyes. Bright sulfur yellow eyes that glowed with malice and hate that just glared at him from the darkness of his mind, watching and waiting. After each beat down, Mark would imagine those rips being stitched tight with long thick cords of thread, thread that could never be torn apart. This was his entire routine. School, ambush, beat-down, stitching up the rips, then the crawl back home to lick his wounds. Most parents would have noticed their own child’s abnormal behavior. Either that or notice how Mark sometimes came home with a limp, sometimes clutching his chest. However, Marks mom spent most of her time passed out on the dens recliner, wine and happy pills filling up the side table. His dad might have noticed something, if he was still around. After passing his shell of a mother, he would proceed up the stairs to his empty gaping room, where he would lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling until sleep would over take him. He never cried, crying would mean accepting the real world. 150
Every morning, Mark would wake and follow his routine like a robot. Shower, dress, and fix a meager lunch. He would go downstairs and pass his mom, who was still in the exact same spot as yesterday, except now her eyes were closed, and would remain that way for several more hours till the pills wore off. He would exit the house and walk straight to school. He would never take the bus. Buses were filled with noisy, greasy distractions trying to make him pay attention. He hated noisy places. His head was already filled with unwanted noise, so why make that worse? That drew a dark chuckle from the Voice. That wasn’t a good sign. The Voice this early in the morning? That was a bad sign complete with red blinking lights and small warning buzzers. It didn’t usually rear its ugly head until later in the day. If It was active this early then that could only mean that today was going to be a very, very bad day. Mark’s sense of dread was dead on that day. School was worse than usual due to some annoying educational instructor was pestering him about being so withdrawn. He even had to stay after class for a little “chat”. “Now Mark” he began, “I know that you’ve been having some issues lately due to your father’s…” Mark saw him struggle for words “Accident. I know that must have been terrible for you to deal with” Oh you have no 151
Nearly 6% of the world population is affected by severe mental health problems, and 25% experience minor mental health problems within their lifetime. You may not think that mental illness affects you, but in reality everyone is affected. Individuals, friends, and family alike are affected by the societal outlook on mental illness and the stigmatization of mental health problems.
Scan the QR code to sign the online pledge! 152
Advocate for change by signing the online pledge against the stigmatization of mental illness here: http://goo.gl/yI0QVN
Everyone is affected by the stigmatization of mental illness.
Today’s society is riddled with prejudice, stigma, and ignorance toward mental illness as well as psychiatric professions. The upward momentum of society is being hindered by a lack of education, as well as the demeaning, shaming, and slandering of oth-
From: The Six Percent Blythe Baldwin
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idea how bad it was you stupid little man thought Mark. “But you can’t let it affect your future. I mean, if you don’t get your grades up, then you won’t get into college, and if you don’t get into college then you’ll spend the rest of your days flipping burgers at the local fry shack.” Mark must have been irritated, for the Voice started to perk up. Oh no it won’t be the fry shack for you. The Voice chuckled. I have plans for you. Mark shuddered slightly and proceeded to imagine the thread and stitching the small rip that had emerged due to the teachers prattling. The teacher, seeing the shudder, thought that he had finally gotten through to the youth. “Well now that you see my point, promise me that you’ll try harder in your class. Please?” “Fine” Mark mumbled “Can I go now?” he asked. The teacher smiled “Sure thing kid. Go off and enjoy the rest of this wonderful day.” Mark gave a mental snort as he walked off. He hadn’t had a good day in years, why start now? After such an uplifting speech, Mark decided that the rest of the day was shot. So he skipped his last few classes and headed out to the one spot of earth that he could almost delude himself into thinking that all was right with the world, the huge oak tree that lied at the back of the school; just off of school grounds. This was his place of solitude, his refugee from the cruel, cruel world.
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Here annoying teachers couldn’t bother him, Steve couldn’t find him, and the best part? The Voice never spoke to him here. Not once, not ever. But as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and Marks secret place was no exception. Mark had only been sitting at his tree for a half an hour when something snapped his eyes open. Something was wrong; something was off, but what? Then he heard it. Footsteps. No, no, no! This was wrong, all wrong! This was his spot, nobody else’s! Who was it? Who dared intrude on his holy ground? Another giggle emerged from the Voice. Not so secure now are you, hhhmmmm? Maybe you should just give up now. Your last safe place on earth is now violated. The footsteps got closer and now Mark could see who it was. Well look who it is! It’s our special friend Steve! Maybe he wants to play another round of punching bag. I know how much you love playing that game with him. Mark barley heard the words for a change; he was still trying to comprehend Steve’s approaching presents. Then again, you know that you have another option. Just break the stitches and this will all end. No more abuse, no more hardship, just oblivion. Just let me out. The deal sounded sweet, but he knew better. As much as he hated the world he would not let this monster out. Something deep down told him that the Voice would do terrible things and that last shred of a caring he had left in him warned him against it.
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Reflection Pool
Zoe Herring Think about how this photo relates back to Stitches. Like Mark, this person is living façade that society created for them and forced them to live in. They can not truly be themselves for fear of themselves. Most people deal with this problem sometime in their lifetime, if not as strong as Mark’s situation. We all feel the need to hide parts of our self. We all could use help, and we shouldn’t judge people for needing more help 156 than us. We are all human.
“Hello Marky” Steve said with a sneer on his face. “So this is where you’ve been hiding from me. Good thing I glimpsed you leaving the building! Snazzy little place ya' got here. And it’s so secluded too! I bet that you could pound the snot out of some little weirdo here and nobody would hear it!” Steve flashed a wicked grin, sending Marks stomach to his throat. No not here anywhere, but here! Thought Mark. If he was beaten here he just might lose it. And wouldn’t that be fun? The Voice whispered softly to him. Steve harshly grabbed Marks collar, roughly pulling him to his feet. “Well now” he gloated. “I think it’s time to begin. Don’t you?” At the end of that sentence, Steve hauled off and slugged him in the gut, sending a wave of pain crashing through Mark. A small gasp escaped him as the air was forced out of his lungs and out of his body. Mark had dealt with this before, so he knew how to deal with it. He just had to block it out; it wasn’t a part of his world, just an intrusion by the outside. When Mark was able to catch his breath, Steve grabbed him with his other hand and slammed his victim into the old oak tree, with enough force to make Mark’s vision go white. “Oh don’t pass out now.” Steve mocked. “The funs just beginning.” He then proceeded to drop Mark on the ground letting his kidney strike a root. Then Steve’s favorite part of the game began a thing he liked to call “Kick till Ya' Cry”. He had never
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actually made Mark cry, but today he was determined. True to the game, Steve rained down a series of kicks and stomps trying to break Mark’s will. Little did he know that Mark could barley feel the blows as he was fighting a much more dangerous battle in his head. The Voice had been pushing hard now, yelling at him to let him out. The Voice hated Steve, hated the fact that it couldn’t play with him as well. Mark would have none of it. This was his body, not its, and he was content to lie down and take the beating while stitching the Voice back into place. Then Steve proceeded to do something extremely stupid. He talked about Mark’s dad. “Come on Mark! You know how to end this game.” He said with another devastating blow. “Let me see some of those tears.” Another stomp to the mid section. “Cry and I’ll stop. Cry like the time you found out about your poor daddy’s little accident!” Snap, went something in Marks mind. “Yeah I remember when you heard the news. Poor old dad got splattered by a car, probably too dumb to look to merge.” Another Snap. “Man I would have paid to see that show!” One final Snap and all the stitches were gone. Mark was gone, Blackness gushed out.
Jacob Caplan 158
Trivia Question! In 2010, how many million U.S. children suffered from some form of bullying?
2.7, 3,5, 2.8, 8.2, 5.8
Answer on page 165
159
ntemplation
160
When you look at televisions shows about teenagers, you see these happy, confident people without a care in the world. Real teenagers don’t always have these luxuries. We suffer from anxiety, pressure to succeed, stress, sharp changes in hormones, suicidal thoughts, depression, the works. We spend time thinking about our future. We aren't always happy with the difference between what our parents want for us, what our grades say we’ll have, and what we want for ourselves. It is not easy. It gets difficult.
161 Zoe Herring
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Acknowledgements I would like to thank the many people who helped me throughout the duration of this project. I would like to primarily thank my teacher, Heather Bullis, and my mentor, Jeremy Grimshaw, for all of the guidance and patience they gave to me. Without the joint contribution of these two, this project would have never garnered the success that it did. I would also like to acknowledge every person who submitted work to my program. Your dedication and creativity exceed anything I could have done. This program is as successful because of all of the hard work you all have done. I would also like to give appreciation to the ArtProject-Houston for inviting me as a guest to their “Get Creative� program in February. As the pictures to the left show, I had an amazing time there and made beautiful artwork. I would like to thank the teachers at my school who provided incentives for students to participate. I also thank the many Carnegie Vanguard students who submitted artwork for my project. Two students in particular went out of their way to swell the success of my project. Veronica Ciotti volunteered her time and resources to help me promote my project. Zaakir Tameez gave me weeks of help, support, editing, and ideas. He is one of the most important factors to the completion of this book in all of its beauty. To both of them, I am forever grateful. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to find out about my project and read this book. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me to create.
Raquel Douglas
May 2014, Houston
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Answers To Trivia Questions: 1. Page 8 Women. At this time, women didn’t have as much social standing as they do today. Women did play a minor role in the movement, however. 2. Page 13 Union Acceptance. All other answers were a part of the movement, but union acceptance had the power to achieve all the other goals. 3. Page 21 An assassination. Although historians do disagree, most consider the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand to be the start. 4. Page 231919. World War I ended in 1919. All other answers are incorrect. 5. Page 30 Nuremberg Laws. All other answers were from WW1. 6. Page 37 Eastern Europe and North America. The U.S. and Russia were the two major parties in the Red Scare. 7. Page 40 April 4. MLK was assassinated on April 4, 1968. 8. Page 49 It never ended. It still continues today, except it simply is focused on gaining rights for different groups.
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9. Page 67 75%. The high school graduation rate for the U.S. is around 72%. 10. Page 71 800B. The U.S. spends 806 billion on education each year. 11. Page 75 2996. Counting bystanders, firefighters, flight crew, airplane passengers, attackers, and everyone else, the total death count for the 9/11 attacks are 2,996. 12. Page 83 They were symbols of globalization and America’s economic power. The attackers sought to attack these ideals and the World Trade Center dealt with both rapid globalization and economic domination. 13. Page 86 187,900. This is the combined number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009. This number has since decreased. 14. Page 104: 10%. This number might actually be higher since it only measures how many identify as LGBTQ. Lots of non-heterosexuals identify with other sexualities. 15. Page 118 4%. Only four percent of married fathers are stay at home dads. This number has been increasing steadily for years. 16. Page 159 2.7. Two million and seven hundred thousand children are bullied each year in the U.S..
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Index By Author
Anonymous
16
23
44-45
46
61
48
74
65
118
66
67
Ali, Fatimah
8
68-69
34
103
40
131
83
143
Baldwin, Blythe 152-153 Caplan, Jacob
Ehlers, Karl
12
20-21
148-151
63
154-155
78
157-158
94
Carlson, Lexi
Freeman, Zachary
98-101
62
99
87
105
Douglas, Raquel 10-11
Gibner, Peyton
166
22
70
147
83
92
Gryder, Conner 56-57 Herring, Zoe
Levinson, Sarah
17
36
28-29
96-97
51
111
79
119
92
120
146
122
132
58-59
135
82
136
95
141
156
160-161
JD
Lunna, Ashlie
Marino, Jessica 90-91 Mondkar, Jay
14-15
9
26-27
30
76-77
49
80-81
167
Index
108-109
138-139
Navarro, Claudia
130 Waites, Sarah
31
75
35
93
52
Pera, Silvia
114
134; 137
115
Pham, Mai
144
47
60
32-33
104
42-43
116-117
64
133
84-85
142
110
128-129
Pugh, Tyler 41 Sokulski, Andrew 24-25 Tameez, Zaakir
Yen, Megan
By Medium Of Work
Digital Photography
10-11
13
14-15
50
22
86
32-34
168
41
136
42-43
138-139
47
141
62
143
68-69
146
76-77
147
80-81
156
84-85
160-161
87
96-97
17
99
31
103
35
105
36
108-109
51
110
52
116-117
58-59
119
79
121
82
128-129
92
133
93
135
95
Photography of 3D work
169
Index
111
49
113
50
115
60
132
61
144
63
145
64
66
Digitally Created Image
48
70
67
74
75
Written
Poem
78
8
82
9
83
12
83
13
86
20-21
90-91
23
92
28-29
94
30
104
34
118
40
119
46
130
170
131
Alone
142
Amor
Antithesis
Creative Description
26-27
Bound From Trees
44-45
Cannon
57-57
Comedy Hour
Short Story
Coming Together Hand in Hand
16
65
Conformity
98-101
Contemplation
134; 137
Decisions
148-151
154-155
The Destruction of the Environment
157-158
The Domestic Woman
Dubya
Dying Thoughts
Educación
El Movimiento Americano de Trabajo
The Evolution of the Domestic Woman
Female Strive
Program 152-153
By Title Of Work
A 9/11 Poem
A Day of Labor
A Minority’s Apology to Society
A Touch of Color
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Index
Fractured Faces
Lexi
Free time
Lexi’s Story
Free
LGB……….T
Freedom
LGBTQ Support
Friends
Love and Humanity
Gaze
Give Me My Name!
Love Can’t Tell the Difference
Greece
The Mine
Harmony
Mr. Bones
How I Feel About Today’s Education
Never Forget
The Normal
Human Equality
O Captain
The Importance of Being Me
Oh, the Sweet Smell of Money!
iFriends
Oracle Bones
Into The Void
The Other Side
Isen Ansik
Panic
Jumper
Pride
Just Below the Surface
The Private Pledge
La Mariposa
Quench My Curiosity
Letting Go
Reconstruction
Let’s Make a Love Story
Red
172
The Red Betrayal
Tied Down
Reflection Pool
To work
Reflections
Todos Los Colores
Reflective Skies
The Towers
Rider Valkoinen
Travel and Flight
Rise Above
Trivia
Rocky
Two Views on Society
The Scare
Una Fina Línea
The Six Percent
Underworld
The Sounds of the Labor Movement
Untainted
Untitled 1
War Hero
The Spiritually Stalwart yet Physically Faltering Jew
Squad Leader Down
Stable Gov...
Stiches
Strader
Taj Mahal
Tearful Moments
Telegrama
Those Darn Kids
Those of Color
What I Want and How I Want It Your Possible Future
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Image Credits 1. Page 4-5 Image Source : http://spacefem.blogspot.com Artist: Olga Year: 2012 2. Page 6-7 Image Source: http://uofllibraries.wordpress.com Artist: L&N Magazine Year: ~1915 3. Page 9 Image Source: http://hhsapush.wikispaces.com Artist: Lewis Wikes Hine Year: 1908 4. Page 18-19 Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org Artist: Staff Sergent Walter F. Kleine Year: 1945 5. Page 38-39 Image Source: http://jrcreativeink.wordpress.com/ Year: 1968 6. Page 48-49 Image Source: https://www.flickr.com Artist: Rafael Navarro Year: 2011 7. Page 54-55 Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org Artist: ScaredPoet Year: 2010 8. Page 71 Image Source: http://i.huffpost.com Artist: Getty
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9. Page 72-73 Image Source: http://www.politicalgarbagechute.com/ Artist: James Schlarmann Year: 2013 10.Page 83 Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia. Artist: Dennis Leung Year: 2010 11. Page 88-89 Image Source: http://www.oregonherald.com Artist: HRC Year: 2013 12. Page 106-107 Image Source: http://www.flickr.com Artist: Ludovic Bertron Year: 2008 13. Page 112-113 Image Source: http://www.history.com Artist: Norman Rockwell Year: 1943 14. Page 159 Image Source: http://www.kutroc.com/ 15. Page 166-173 Image Source: http://www.colourlovers.com Artist: Isaidpudding Year: 2011 16. Front and Back Cover: Image Source: http://vector4free.com/ Artist: Vector Beast
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About the Author Raquel Douglas is currently an 11th grade student at Carnegie Vanguard High School in Houston, TX. She has plans to go to college in California after graduating in 2015 and hopes to double major in economics and psychology. In her free time, she enjoys reading satire, writing poems and short stories, exercising and being on the internet. In general, she loves people and hanging out with friends, but she hates chocolate.
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