Monthly Archives: September 2014

Batman Glitter Bomb

My Batman mask isn’t just any old Batman mask; it’s glitter bomb Batman mask. Sparkles, eyelashes, and hats aren’t things you think of when you think about Batman. These features give my mask a funny and feminine twist.  My appropriation of the Batman mask is a sort of Batman alter ego, and it got me thinking about my own alter ego because like Batman I’m more series than outgoing. Going out to take a photo I wanted my mask to blend in with it’s surroundings like Batman does in the dark city of Gotham, which is why the background is just as colourful as the mask itself.

 

 

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Water Issues

Going on the ferry field trip today I realized that although New York may not be facing the major water shortage issues very present in Jordan, it still has to deal with water issues. We all live in different countries with different amounts of water available, but we all have to deal with making that water clean and safe. Through complex systems each country develops a way to deal with keeping the water clean.

Keeping the water clean isn’t so simple though. With a fight on both sides, between those who are dumping waste into the water and those trying to keep it clean, we are not going to get anywhere. New York is lucky enough to have plenty of available water, which is why it’s so sad that the water can’t even be kept clean.

Climate Change

 

Maybe the government isn’t doing something about climate change, but someone needs to. Climate change is real and gets way less attention than it deserves.  Carbon pollution is destroying our planet. This is serious.  As a consumer I don’t want to feel responsible for climate change, but the truth is we all are. We are all responsible for making life on Earth more difficult for everyone, especially those living in harsher conditions. Weather disasters affect low income people and people of color; this is not fair; this is social injustice.

We’re all people; we all have our own lives and worries to deal with. Climate change isn’t what we would call urgent; it happens over time, and its not something we believe we have to deal with right now. Tipping points are the only thing that seems to move us. When we actually see the destruction we believe we have to take action, and feel a moral obligation to do what is right.  I can start by doing what’s right by taking part in the people’s climate march this September. Throughout time the people have been able to send this message by going outside their homes and spreading the word. It’s in the people’s hands.

As a future designer I want to be innovative, and I want to have a more sustainable vision or way of thinking.  Maybe the video didn’t really send out that message to designer, but as a person I feel that I can take part in fighting climate change through incorporating sustainability with design.Right now all I can do is join the March and do my part in living a sustainable life, but in the future I want sustainability and design to be presented as a package because we are running out of options.

 

Response to:

http://watchdisruption.com

Elevators

Living in NY, and in a building, I’ve noticed how often I use elevators on a daily basis. Back home building don’t go as high up as they do in NY, so I very rarely had to use an elevator to get around, but here stairs are becoming foreign to me; I only use elevators! Even when I’m only going to the 3rd floor, I can’t help but use the elevator!

Elevators consume a lot of energy, which is why it is surprising to me that energy saving elevators still don’t exist! Now I can’t invent an energy saving elevator, but I can do my part and try to use the stairs more often, especially when I’m only going to the third floor. It’s not only a healthier choice for me, but for the environment itself.  Maybe I’ll start with trying to get to the second floor, then third, then fourth, and so on (I’m lazy.)

Triptic thoughts

Venus of Willindorf, a women with a fixed path molded for her is not me. I’ve got my legs, and I’m not following a specific mold. My path isn’t set, and I’ve got only some sort of direction I know I want to go towards, which is why the drawing in the triptic only shows a partly sculpted women, who mostly looks like a lump of clay, or a potato, which may have to be changed. My appropriated venus of willendorf represents the typical women through the passage of time. She remains the image of a fertile women, but also happens to wear an apron, like a typical housewife, but unlike the typical housewife she is wearing a pink wig. Before the critic, I looked at the wig as a representation on how a women must always try and look good, but know I look at the wig as a mass produced item. A mass produced item, the wig, could represent the idea of mass produced women, who fit the mold. Another comment I liked from the critique was the comparison of my venus of willendorf to Nicki Minaj, which I found hilarious. It makes sense to me because like Nicki, Venus is curvy, and is also sending off a sexual message. The stencil typography I chose goes along with what I’m saying in the sense that a stencil drawing is a lot like a mold, but what may have been an issue with this stencil typography is the sense that this message came from a male military authority, which contradicts what I’m trying to say.

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Public Transportation

I’ve never used as much public transport as I have been in my first several weeks in NY. Using the subway and the bus I’ve come to realize how many people can fit in one vehicle! It is not the sort of solution that could save the environment, but it can help.

Standing in the subway, surrounded by so many other people, I could I could not even move my arm. I, and everyone else around me were standing so very closely, that is got me thinking about the amount of cars that would be on the road if all these people weren’t standing in the subway and driving cars instead. The destruction that would of caused the environment definitely would have been a lot worse than it is right now. Public transport makes things better.

Things could get even better if people were more open to use public transport, but in order for people to use more public transport there is a need to improve such facilities by having these facilities in top condition.

Transportation

Coming from Jordan, sustainability is something I don’t know much about. Jordan is still a developing country that is just starting to show care for the environment, and is beginning to learn how to save energy.

I could come up with a list of things Jordan is doing wrong, and NEEDS to change immediately. My mother drives a hybrid car, and I would consider my family the green type, at least in Jordan. Not everyone drives a hybrid, but they are not the kind of people who annoy me. People who still use diesel for their cars annoy me. Not only do they make it hard to breathe, but also they’re surely destroying the environment. This needs to stop.

One way to go about stopping this is by limiting people’s needs to use diesel. Raising the price of diesel could do this. We know money is a huge factor in people’s decision-making process.