ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Week 4:
Lina Attat, “Syrian Children Draw What Used to Be Home”, The New York Times, November 5, 2013
Lina Attar travels back to Syria to hold an educational mentorship program for displaced children called ‘Zeitouna.” There, she and the children draw floorpans of the homes they grew up in, and after every presentation, the children conclude with the statement “I want to go home.” To spin the somber mood into a more positive light, Attar ends the article with an anecdote of hope, trying to inspire the children to stay in school so they can soon be the ones to rebuild the broken city they once called home.
This article was extremely impactful, and did an amazing Jon in pulling me in emotionally. As a work of non-fiction, this story plays with the readers emotions, realizing how much suffering these children have gone through and will continue to endure. Because they are such a young age, it is not only sad, but it creates a sense of anger and motivation to change it.
After reading this article, I really understood the impacts of the Syrian Crisis. Not only did the article factually inform me on what happened, but it created the feeling of empathy for those (especially the children) who went through it.
Tess Vigeland, “When a Budget Motel is ‘Home,’ There’s Little Room for Childhood”, NPR, August 16, 2015
Tess Vigeland describes the desolate town of San Bernadine, California as a “row of cheap, run down motels” and continues to inform the reader about the homeless population that lives there. Vigeland quotes Los Angeles Times wtiter, Joe Mozingo, “Drug addicts and prostitutes, […] a crazy place for a child to grow up in.” By highlighting the inconceivable conditions that these families are living in, Vineland sheds light on a bigger concept of “home” while playing with the readers emotions at the same time.
I found this article heart-wrenching. vinegar executed her impression of the city and townsfolk perfectly. By describing the atmosphere in such a vulgar way, she makes anyone who reads it ask the question, “Why in the hell are these mothers okay with letting their children live here?!”
Before reading this, I was completely unaware of the severity of this issue and homeless youth in general. Now that I understand what is going on, I sympathize for the families that are in this same exact situation. It also makes me think about how this is just ONE place, in ONE state, in ONE country. Homelessness has become a growing issue and is makes me question; Why doesn’t the government do more? Why can’t people help themselves?
Mac McClelland, “How to Build a Perfect Refugee Camp”, The New York Times, February 13, 2014
Mac McClelland describes his trip to Kilis, Turner and discusses the luxuries he found in the organized, and clean refugee camps set up by the Turkish Government. he goes into detail to inform readers about Turkeys inconceivable efforts to help, and how they are creating new ways to house refugees. After focusing on all of the good aspects of these camps, reporting on all of the five-star amenities, McClelland begins to reveal how monotonous and lifeless is is to live in these camps.
This article was very eye-opening for me because I never really understood what life as a refugee was like until now. As the beginning I was almost jealous of them, confused as to why is was so bad, but after reading I understand how these people are somehow treated like animals. Just because they are comfortable physically, doesn’t mean that they are truly happy. A lot of the refugees can’t grasp there emotions, so in turn they are unable to find stability in their day to day lives.
Like I said, before reading this, I was completely unaware of the situations at hand. Why haven’t I heard more about this, and why isn’t American news broadcasts shedding more light on this issue? It makes me so mad how stigmatized “refugees” are in America, and honestly can’t believe that our president, the most powerful man in the world, is as ignorant as he is. It makes me wonder what is going to have to happen to change this mindset.
Andrea Elliot, “Invisible Child”, The New York Times, December 9, 2013
Andrea Elliot opens readers up to a world very few know about… Introducing Dasani, an eleven year old girl, living with her mom and dad and 7 other siblings in a one-bedroom apartment thanks to her parent’s drug addiction and inability to manage money. Taking on the responsibilities of an adult, Dasani takes care of her siblings while trying to come to terms with her horrible living conditions. Angry, she starts school and is recognized for her “possibility”. Elliot chronicles Dasani’s life for several months, documenting everything from her hardships at home and school, to her successes in dance class and relationship with the pricipal.
I believe this article is 100% reliable, and because it was told as a story, Elliot did an effective job in connecting the reader to Dasani in an intimate and personal way. I believe the goal was to articulate a life unknown to many, thus creating a sense of sympathy within the reader. By shedding light on how horrible the life of a homeless child actually is, Elliot executed this flawlessly.
This article made me sad, and gave me a sense of activism. This isn’t okay, and children should not have to go through such awful circumstances at such a young age. Why isn’t there more being done to HELP?!
Week 5:
Susan Sontag, “Susan Sontag On Photography”, Pigador
Susan Sontag describes how photography has changed the way humans experience life. Explaining how family life has evolved into a photo-based lifestyle really pushed the fact that today, you aren’t really “experiencing” it unless you’re photographing it. Sontag also discusses how documentation of day-to-day life has become such a prominent part of our culture, and has almost become a cultural norm that, when broken, can be looked down upon. This argument begs for questions like, “Are we really experiencing life?” and “when does one cross the line of experiencing and living through documentation?” to be asked.
I’m pretty sure that this article is reliable, Sontag does a good job and pulling the reader in and addressing the arguments she wants to make immediately. Sontag writes in a way that allows her to reveal her case(s) I the underlying way, almost planting the seeds of though in the readers mind.
While I enjoyed reading this article, I couldn’t help but disagree with most of it. The idea of “experience through documentation” doesn’t make much sense to me, because I actually think the opposite way – I think that people need to stop taking pictures of everything they see and simply observe whats around them.
Milan Kundera, “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”, Penguin Books
Kunders reflects on how memories are permanent, but capturing a moment through photography allows one the ability to change the image however they may please – changing the image forever, somehow erasing history itself. Only those who saw this image, or know the history of it will really know it’s truth. I believe that Kundera is exploring the idea, and trying to emphasis how one can manipulate time [constructs] through tangible photographs to either change history, or create bias.
Because this is a book, I believe it to be factual. I had no idea that this instance happened, and makes me wonder when/where this manipulation has been done before…
Teju Cole, “Memories of Thinks Unseen”, The New York Times, October 14, 2015
Teju Cole starts by explaining an exhibit he visited and inflicts the idea that there is always something more than meets the eye. Cole continues to say that photography reflects a moment to be preserved – allowing others to re-live that insane vicariously, on their own. After exploring this idea of retention, Cole begins to repot the current efforts that are occurring to “save” important works, place, etc. through photography. He finishes my opening the reader up to the negative sides of photography, and how todays technological culture is changing the game.
Week 6:
Verlyn Klinkenborg, “Remembered Spaces”, The New York Times, July 17, 2007
Klinkenborg begins with the description of a Korean market that he once knew. She goes into detail about how even though the store is forever gone, and remembers exactly where everything is. Klinkenborg begins to further discuss the area the market was in and how everything is changing; this is when she introduces the idea of “remembering what once was”. This idea encompasses the entire article and is put into a larger frame when she starts talking about New York City as a whole. Over time, people who have lived in the city have watched it change and grow into something completely different from what they know. While this growth is positive, and completely natural, Klinkenborg reveals how the gentrification of New York has effected her, and everyone else who has watched this change take place for themselves.
This article does a great job at revealing the gentrification of New York, and encapsulates the feelings and emotions citizens have about the issue. Personally, I completely agree with Klinkenborg because I have experienced this demolition for myself, multiple times over my life. From moving houses, to watching some of my favorite spaces be torn down and turned into something completely different, I can relate to the author with ease. I also think that Klinkenborg’s immersive detail provides an effortless transition from just describing a storefront, to coping with change.
Katie Davis, “Memory Map”, At Home in the World – Katherine Harmon, You are Here, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, c2004
- Davis reflects on her time she spent in Nicaragua a few years later after the revolution. Every time she asks for directions, people guide her in a way that is so vague and loose-ended that for the first few months there, she can help but get lost. After a while, she beings to pick up on the notion of “memory mapping” and begins giving directions in that way herself. This idea of memory mapping is very prominent in Davis’ writing, but after discussing how she took that notion with her back to the States, she concludes with a statement of change. A physical shift doesn’t necessarily enact a shift in memory. A sense of “missing the firmiliar” provides context as to why people refer to spies that once existed while giving directions.
- Davis provides clear context as to why people refer to things, landmarks, or places that once where, giving the reader a chance to connect to the reading. Because she is recalling her own experience, I believe this passage to be completely factual. Growing up, I have watched many of my childhood spaces, and favorite places be either torn down, replaced, or completely altered. Especially going back to my hometown, Denver, I can see how much the city has actually changed and how it will continue to change while I am not present. I can strongly relate to the statement that Davis makes at the end of the passage, “I realize…it was missed”. This made me realize that we refer to the places/landmarks we miss to somehow bring them back from the dead. Resurrecting them for a moment – remembering what once was, allowing us to somehow relive the past.
Micheal Kimmelman, “In Protest, the Power of Place”, The New York Times, October 15, 2011
Kimmelman opens by introducing the theme of protest by discussing the events that took place during the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Informing the reader on how a community was formed thanks to this protest, he begins to broaden it from just Zuccotti Park to all other major protests that have occurred in the last century (Kent State, Tiananmen Square, and the Berlin Wall). We use these places to house the memories that go with the protest. Kimmelman then starts talking about how in todays culture, we are obsessed with being connected to “it all” and brings of a philosophical idea of communication. This community seemingly came together and expressed one voice as a whole, explaining the ‘mic check’ process that occurred at Zuccotti park and how that was a perfect example of on “architecture of consciousness”. He then begins questioning what is, and what isn’t, public space? America has made politics entertainment, and just coming together and forming such a large, like-minded community is POWER. After further discussing community, Kimmelman concludes with the issue of “fake news” when he talked about how these protestors are portrayed in the media.
Kimmelman really opened my eyes with his article. I literally had to read it about four times to fully understand it, but after fully grasping what he was trying to convey, I really felt a sense of guilt for never being in a protest myself. With his research, Kimmelman provided factual ideas that came together in an absolutely effortless way. I think that more people need to realize that its not just the people that hold the power, but its the actual coming together can creates that power, and the places that I do that in hold that power, long after the demonstration is over. Even though some places don’t really look like they have power, they do – just because these incidents have happened.
Andre Aciman, “Shadow Cities”, Letters of Transit: Reflections on Exile, Identity, Language, and Loss, c1999
In this passage, Aciman focuses on Stratus park in New York City. It starts with where it is, and how it is being demolished. After this brief introduction, he reflects on the past he has had in the park and what it used to be. As an exile, Aciman talks about how he has had a home in the past, but can’t seem to find one now that he is in NYC. He continues with his immersive reflection on Stratus Park, and the places around it – times are changing and his now-comfortable “home” is being ripped to shreds. Aicman goes back to how he had to adapt into a new culture, referring to how he was transplanted into a new country like a skin graft. One of the main themes in Aicmans passage is making the new the firmiliar. He does this by connecting the surrounding streets of Stratus park to different places he has spent throughout his life and refers to these places as “shadow cities” .
Even though this article was dense and word-heavy, I think I connected to it the most out of all these weeks readings because I have felt this the most since I moved to New York City. Being such a huge and fast-paced city, its hard to find your feet on solid ground, and I can really connect to Aciman because even though I’m from the US, I somehow feel like an exile in New York City. Since reading this, I have tried to create these shadow cities myself and it has surprisingly put me in a much better place.
