Molly Behan - W/W/H Blog Post

Molly Behan - What/Why/How

            The identity that I am choosing to delve into for this project is my Jewish identity. I chose this identity because it is something that has been a part of my life literally since the day I was born and given my Hebrew name. There have been so many events in my life that have resulted from my identification with this religion and community, for example, my completion of Hebrew school, my Bat Mitzvah, and countless holiday celebrations with my family. All of these events are special ones, ones that do not happen every day, but Judaism is also important to me for the daily and weekly reminders that it offers me, for example, the hand of god necklace that I make sure to put on every morning and the weekly Shabbat services and dinners that I attend at the campus Hillel. My Jewish identity is so important to me because of the ways in which it rewards me in both special and every day occurrences.   

            Another interesting aspect to the story that I want to tell is how my appreciation for my Jewish identity grew as I got older. When I was a child, even though I was very aware of my Jewishness, I did not necessarily appreciate it; I never looked forward to going to Hebrew school or going to services on Saturday mornings. As I got older and became more integrated into the Jewish community (through things such as the completion of my Bat Mitzvah and my involvement in synagogue youth groups) I began to realize the importance of my Jewish identity. It was definitely my collaboration with my peers and also religious advisors that made me become more appreciative of my religion.

            As the factors that contributed to my growing appreciation of my religion indicate, Judaism is important to me primarily to me because of the community that it provides me, both physically and spiritually. Physically, I know that I always have a home in my synagogue or Hillel; I know that I can always go and find a place to sit and study, or find people whom I can talk with and feel comfortable with. Spiritually, I know that I have a community to go to if I ever need guidance in my spiritual endeavors, whether that is in prayer or just in my every day ruminations. 

            It is this community aspect of my Jewish identity and growth that I think relates most to Arendt; especially because of her ideas on natality and plurality. Arendt sees plurality as when humans come together and face each other as equals, and she also comments on how our differences give us something to talk about. I see this happening both within my Jewish community and between my Jewish community and other religious groups. Within the community, there are many different levels of belief and involvement, some of my closest friends are much more observant and involved than I am. But when we come together in the Jewish community, for example at Hillel on Friday nights, we can talk about these differences and learn about them. Outside of the community, we face disputes with other religious communities, but it is the conversations that we have that bring us closer together as humans.

            

Vivian Ong: W/W/H Identity Discussion Post

Vivian Ong: W/W/H of my Identity

I will discuss my identity of a traveler, and how that identity opens up many opportunities in life.

Traveling is a huge part of who I am. For example, a semester studying and living abroad fits almost perfectly into my overall educational goals. I am a firm believer that traveling and experiencing new cultures is one of the best ways to educate myself with new perspectives, expose myself to future potential business partners, and help myself grow as a person. I was brought up in the United States, and because I’ve been raised in one consistent culture throughout my life, I have been taught to think and see the world in a certain way. I believe living abroad would open my eyes to how other cultures view the world, and would allow me to consider possibilities outside my own opinions and viewpoints. Opening my mind to various perspectives will be useful in the business world, especially when solving problems creatively.

Traveling also exposes me to a network of business partners I likely would not connect with if I do not live in the country. I am a business school student, and as I have learned, the business world is based upon how solid one’s connections are, and the economy is based on how successful the business culture is. If I were the CEO of a company and wanted to extend my company overseas, it would be very helpful to have strong connections that understood the local area to help aid my company become successful in other nations. Living abroad a semester will expose me to a plethora of business partners who could potentially benefit my company or me in the future both locally or internationally.

Finally, I know that my identity as a traveler will help me grow as a person. Living in a new country and its culture is an entirely different story. I realize I will face challenging situations, whether academic or personal, and will not always have the comfort of being able to reach out and ask my parents for help. However, this is something I look forward to, as these challenges will strengthen me to become a more independent individual, and force me to rely on my abilities and myself.

As a traveler, I want to achieve my goal of becoming an individual who is able to adapt to any given situation. I also seek to gain new business perspectives from a thriving market, and apply these practices when I return to the US. Studying abroad is an experience that is both exciting and challenging. I hope to encounter challenges that will push me out of my comfort zone and teach me how to adapt my abilities and way of thinking to any situation I may encounter. I also hope that from these obstacles, I will learn how to come up with creative solutions from lessons I have learned from my experiences traveling. I expect to pick up cultural viewpoints that I can apply to my every day life, and hope my experience abroad will help me discover and learn more about myself through another culture’s eyes.

Vivian Ong: "The Forgotten Plague, Chapter 1" Blog Post

I really enjoyed watching this video; I actually might go back and watch some more of it when I have some free time. The subject itself was interesting(obviously, it was what caught my eye first) and when I started watching the video I found myself more and more engrossed in the information that was being conveyed to me.

The clip began with a video of a cold, dreary window, perfectly accompanied by calm, melancholy music to complement the context of the video. After the viewer gets a sense that the subject discussed will not be a pleasant one, you start to hear the beginning of a narrative, of a survivor of the disease known as tuberculosis. The tone of his voice sounds like he has gone through a lot in life; he continues to voice over pictures shown of his family, who all have had and died from tuberculosis. The raspy, first person narrator voice then transitions to a regular narrator over another winter video who speaks statistics and information about the disease itself. There is constant soft music in the background behind the voice overs with the accompaniment of the pictures; the narrator perfectly times it so that when he says phrases such as "wasting away" and "coughing yourself to death" images of bed ridden victims are shown. It was a very emotional experience, and I found myself feeling strong sympathy towards those who had to go through this traumatic experience. There were videos of historians talking about the impact of the plague that switched off with the voice over.

Finally, they went on in detail to describe someone's story of how he seemed to get better from tuberculosis. Edward had taken care of his brother with tuberculosis, and was horrified to discover he had the same disease that killed his brother. However, this particular story didn't touch on tragedy; in fact it spun tragedy around to make it better. With a combination of voice overs, pictures, videos of scenery, and videos of historians commenting on the story, I found myself very interested in what would happen with Mr. Edward. He started spending more time outdoors, as his passion was hunting, and found that fresh air and outdoor living could change the course of the disease. When he went back to living in the city, the disease came back with full force. He moved his family out to the wilderness, as the clean mountain air was something like medicine for this lungs. Although the majority of Edward's story was a voice over combined with pictures, it captured my attention, as the pictures were bright and were in context with the story. All in all I thought the professionalism yet strategically placed personal touches were what made this video very successful.

The FBI and the Klan analysis

Ed Park

2/2/15

            In the American Experience series “The FBI and the Klan,” there are various techniques used to enhance the digital story telling process.  The filmmaker effectively utilizes the old pictures, suspenseful audio tracks, change in the narrator’s tone, and an interview to build suspense to the narrative of the FBI and the Ku Klux Klan.

            The film presents the history of the Ku Klux Klan with old pictures. When the narrator talks about how Ku Klux Klan is consisted of patriots who are against Communism, the film shows pictures of Ku Klux Klan marching, giving visual aid to viewers who do not know much about the KKK and the history of the United States. Furthermore, the picture with an old car and the sign on its trunk goes well with the views against communism and how they thought they had to save the FBI from communism.

            As the story progresses, Dargan Frierson, an FBI agent who kept watch on the local KKK in North Carolina, is introduced with an old picture of him and a suspenseful audio track in the background. The audio track, with a loud base and consistent rhythm, builds just enough fear and curiosity of how the FBI agent risked his life and persuaded powerful members of KKK to become informants.

            The film later introduces George Dorsett, a powerful Klan member whom Frierson convinced to become an informant, with a slower and a lower tone. This change in the tone of narration shows how Dorsett was one of the most popular members of KKK and how dangerous it was for Frierson to make him an informant.

Moreover, the film presents an interview by Frierson’s son. The interviews are in colors, which enhances the history telling part of the narrative where the rest of the pictures are in black and white. The interview supports the flow of the narrative and improves the validity in backing up the success of his father. The overall use of the interviews in between pictures is effective and supports the story well.        

Molly Behan - response to Electrifying Manhattan

I watched an American Experience video clip about Thomas Edison’s quest to bring lights to Manhattan. I thought that the video did an especially good job of relating the relevant historical aspects of this story through its use of documents such as video, photo, quotes, and other primary documents.

One part of the clip that especially caught my attention was the video in the beginning. The video was one that was taken in Manhattan around the time that Edison was attempting to introduce light, during the 1880s. This video clip did an excellent job of capturing the hustle and bustle of the city, a feature of Manhattan that made introducing electricity so difficult. I thought that the video was especially important because it had sound, which made me realize just how busy and hectic the city was. 

Another part of the clip that furthered the telling of Edison’s story was the use of photographs, both of the city and of Edison himself. I thought that the original photographs of the city served the same purpose as the aforementioned videos did; they showed what Manhattan was really like at this time, and they showed what kind of city Edison was really dealing with. Another photograph that the clip returned to multiple times was one of Edison himself. I thought that this photograph, and the fact that it appeared multiple times, showed that the feat of electrifying the city was not just a great step for the nation, but also a great step for an individual inventor, Thomas Edison. The fact that the director of this clip emphasized his portrait demonstrates the personal significance that the project held for Edison.  

I also really liked the fact that this clip included primary documents such as pages from Edison’s personal plans and journals. Even though the camera panned over them too quickly for me to read what they said, they still gave me the idea about how exhausting this project truly was; the pages that the clip showed were filled with scribbles and notes, and they looked very confusing and complicated. I think that this also demonstrated to me how amazing of a feat the electrification of Manhattan was; out of all of those incoherent scribbles and thoughts came the lighting of one of the biggest cities in the world. The notebooks helped to demonstrate this point very well. 

Finally, I really liked the music in the story. It was very upbeat, and it gave me the feeling that, in the end, Edison’s journey ended up being successful. I think that this choice of music was particularly important because the words that the narrator was saying were not always that encouraging. He often talked about the trials that Edison had to go through to install the world’s first electrical grid. The narrator mentioned how long the project took, and how many technical difficulties Edison and his team ran into. But, because the music was so positive and upbeat, I felt optimistic that they would succeed in the end, which they did.

"I Had Lost Everything" Analysis
By Kaelan Saley

In the short digital story clip “I Had Lost Everything” from the American Experience Series, there are various techniques used to present the digital story. First, the story makes use of older videos, modern interview videos, and audio in order to present the digital story. Through these mediums, the digital story conveys a mood of drastic change that came from the fall of Saigon. The topic discussed, which was the lowering of the South Vietnamese flag and the raising of the US flag, was further emphasized by this tone.

            Furthermore, the use of the audio in the clip helped to emphasize the saddened message of defeat. This message is conveyed through two different techniques. First, the use of sad music in the background of the beginning of the clip helped to convey a message of defeat and bad change. This classical music has the tone of negativity, and as a result, helps to change the mindset of the viewer to one that is congruent with the message that the story is trying to convey. The second use of audio comes from the former South Vietnamese naval officer singing his old national anthem. This piece of audio is particularly moving, as it is a former countryman singing his old national anthem in the wake of a major military defeat. Combined, these two pieces of audio help to make a large impact on the viewer.

            Among the visual elements used in this digital story are old pieces of film that were taken from the days following the Fall of Saigon. The images of the large amount of South Vietnamese people on the deck of a battleship initially convey a message of loss and displacement, one that is consistent with the Fall of Saigon and the loss of the homes of those people. The image of children walking aboard the ship are also particularly moving, as a battleship is not a place were children are typically seen. Later in the clip, the use of footage of the South Vietnamese flag being lowered help to contribute to the sense of loss that the viewer feels, as the lowering of a flag is typically associated with a major loss. Coupled with the singing of the South Vietnamese anthem, this image holds a particularly powerful message. Lastly, the raising of the United States flag, shown late in the clip, helps to fully emphasize this feeling of loss that the South Vietnamese had after the Fall of Saigon. The visual practice of replacing one flag with another makes an extremely effective impact by implying that a large group of people had lost their identity and were being relabeled as part of a completely different nation. This is confirmed and reaffirmed when the former South Vietnamese officer says, “I felt like I had lost everything.”

            The last piece of media that is used is the modern-day interviews with the US naval officer and the South Vietnamese officer. This media is used to set a historic tone to the piece by showing these interviews in between old footage from the Fall of Saigon. Additionally, the interview with the former South Vietnamese naval officer helps to show how long ago the events being discussed took place through the differences between the film and his appearance and age in the modern day. Overall, the combined use of these three types of media help to effectively contribute to telling the story of the Fall of Saigon from the perspective of the South Vietnamese, and specifically emphasize how the South Vietnamese felt like they lost who they were.