Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 30, 1975. He is the son of a former black panther member and a school teacher. Growing up in Baltimore, Coates saw firsthand the destruction of his community during the crack epidemic and the racial profiling occurring from police. From the difficult incidents that Coates grew up with, he would lash out at school disobeying the rules placed in school He believed that it was unnecessary to learn when the neighbor he was from was riddled with destruction. When Coates would retaliate, his family would make him write in order to express himself. This form of child-rearing made Coates interested in writing and later pursue a degree in English from Howard University.  As a struggling writer, Coates had to balance multiple jobs as a journalist until he gained a job as a recurring journalist for The Atlantic. In 2015, Coates published his second novel Between the World and Me, which discussed the death of his friend to police brutality and the various forms of institutionalized racism. After publishing the novel dedicated to his son, many reviews praised the novel. According to Washington post, “ [Coates] is firing on all cylinders, and it is something to behold: a mature writer entirely consumed by a momentous subject and working at the extreme of his considerable powers at the very moment national events most conform to his vision."

In Between the World and Me, Coates focuses on the theme of racism and being a black man in America. In a time where black men are being killed by the hands of police, Coates  uses his novel to offer advice to his teenage son. Coates uses the incidents  of police brutality to warn his son of the potential dangers that he may face since police “have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body.” As a black man in America, Coates tells his son the struggle he had to face with the need to survive the inner city and how tireless he had become. This tiredness of defending one’s self from police brutality and crime makes the author fear “not just the violence of this world but the rules designed to protect you from it, the rules that would have you contort your body to address the block, and contort again to be taken seriously by colleagues, and contort again so as not to give police a reason.” With his ongoing struggle with an America not accommodating for black bodies, he warns his son not to give into the  American dream- a dream of privilege- because it does realize the oppression blacks have faced.  With the issue of racism, Coates incorporates police brutality but also the microaggressions and cultural differences. Coates discusses how white privilege has allowed whites to bypass certain issues and how despite the progress blacks make in America, they are always deemed as less than.  

I find this novel to be beautiful because I am able to relate to the issues being discussed by Coates. While he does not give a direct solution to combatting racial problems in America, he does give the readers an eloquent and thoughtful discussion about the racial problem. I believe that Coates did not set out to solve the questions he posed in his book because he wanted the readers to grapple with the idea and formulate their own views. I liked how he did chastise another racial group for the racial problems in the United States but focused on how minorities should not worry heavily on making other racial groups aware of the injustice because “our moment is too brief. Our bodies are too precious. And you are here now, and you must live—and there is so much out there to live for, not just in someone else’s country, but in your own home.” While Coates does worry about the racial problems in the United State and the security of his son, he does realize that there are more things available to his son because he knows “what it means to grow up with a black president, social networks, omnipresent media, and black women everywhere in their natural hair.” Coates in his vagueness shows that people must struggle with the issue of racism in order to move forward.

The Temples of Humankind

The Temples of Humankind are dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by the Italian Government and is nestled in the foothills of the Alps in Northern Italy. The Temples of Humankind were built by Oberto Airaudi in 1978. He believed that the vision to build the temples came to him when he was ten years old. He thought that he was capable of seeing a past life, so he incorporated those visions into his temples.  When became a  successful businessman, Airaudi, and a few friends moved into a home in the hillside and started to dig underneath the home. For sixteen years, Airaudi and other like-minded people began digging and building the temples without formal planning, just from the visions from Airaudi childhood.The temples are 100ft underground and is constructed in a three-dimensional shape with each design narrating the history of mankind.There are nine temples inside the Temples of Humankind and the temples are five levels each linked with hundreds of  decorated meter long tunnels . After completion of the temple, the Italian government started to become suspicious about the frequent activities at the home of Airaudi, that one day the police came into the building demanding to see the temples. With the reveal of the temples, the government seized the building and declared the temples property of the government. The temples are now only seen by a select view and has been the focus of group meditation.

In the seven temples, each temple has a unique theme and design that relates to the issue of mankind. In the Hall of Mirrors, the temple is dedicated to light, air, the sky, and the sun and celebrates humanity. In the temple, light shines from the Tiffany glass and the light that illuminates in the temple gives the impression that there is an open sky above. In the Hall of Mirrors, the temple is surrounded by colored glass mosaic that portrays the flower symbol of Damanhur, the dandelion fluffs. In the Hall of Water, it’s dedicated to females and is the shape of a chalice which symbols welcoming. The Hall of the Earth, thirty meters underground, and has two circular rooms that create an infinity sign and the  temple celebrates the planet and nature. This Halls of Metal has  eight glass windows which represent  eight faces and symbol the Damanhurian Sacred Language.The Hall of Spheres represents the heart of the temples and is meant to relax the mind and meditate one’s soul and stimulate growth. The labyrinth is meant for unity and harmony and to show the divine principle within ourselves.The Blue Temple is the oldest temple and dedicated to the birth of the Temples and was built solely by hammers.

I find the Temple of Humankind to be beautiful because of the uniqueness of the temples and how each temple has its own meaning. It is fascinating to me that each temple was built from the imagination of  Airaudi’s twelve-year-old self and that a group of people worked together to build the temples. I am impressed by how intricate the  designs on the each temple were and how each design reflects the themes of the temples. I like how the temples and its unique art is being used by a small community in Italy to promote the issues that plague mankind. In addition, the temple of humankind is beautiful because it incorporates all cultures and religion into its temples because culture and religion define mankind. Furthermore, for me, I find it intriguing how the inside of the temples are very artsy and beautiful while the exterior of the house is dull. I believe this adds to the beauty of the temples because it shows a transition to the beauty that humankind can be.

Walking Man 1

Alberto Giacometti was born in 1901 in Switzerland. Growing up, his painter father influenced him to pursue a career in art. At first, He started out making portraits of his family members but  when he went to study art at the School of Fine Arts in  Geneva he discovered cubism, Greek statuary,  and African art. These types of art helped influence Giacometti’s artwork and led to him moving to  Paris to join a Surrealist group.  During his time in Paris, Giacometti became interested in sculpting and would use his close friends as models to sculpt his artwork.  He was obsessed with creating sculptures that matched his ideas.  The sculptures would be thinner than a nail and smaller than a box of cigarettes. However, he eventually changed his art style after World War II. After the war, he wanted to make sculptures that were gigantic but small enough to fit a small space.  In the 1950s, Giacometti created the walking man, a collection of large but skinny figures made out of a metal frame and clay.  The particular style of the sculptures distinguished him  from other sculptors because he would highlight the loneliness and fragility of man in his sculptings.  

In Walking Man 1, Giacometti is showing the theme of human aspiration and human existence. With the Walking Man 1, the artist wanted to show how fragile man came be but that it is possible to  have a better life.  In the sculpture, Giacometti uses the 108 cm high statue to  symbolize a man with fragile bones. The sculpture is leaning forward to show that the man is going to walk because of the  posture of the statute and  the position of the legs and arms.  The attempt to walk shows human aspiration because the walking effect shows that the man in the sculpture is ready to leave the conditions that it was stuck in. The need  for the man to leave although he  looks fragile  shows the determination in human aspiration because even though the man in the statute is frail, the lean forward shows that it is capable of continuing on.  The theme of human existence and the struggles associated with it is shown in the statue’s oversized feet being stuck in the clay and glued to the base. The inability  to move  shows human existence because even though the man in the statute attempts to move forward there are difficulties that will prevent  humans from advancement.

I find Giacometti’s sculpture to be beautiful because the sculpture is different from other sculptures since it does not follow the idealistic views of a statue’s body. In Giacometti’s sculptures, the body tends to be frail and it is hard to identify any form of musculature or skin. While it is facile to identify limbs, the closest way to identify the body in the sculptures is to view it  as skeletal bone structure.  The association with skeletal bone structure reminds me of death or illness and causes me to feel uncomfortable when looking at the statue. This discomfort makes me  appreciate the sculpture because even though the statute may look fragile, the lean of the man in the sculpture shows the determination to move forward. Moreover, I believe the structure of the sculpture is relatable because even with fear anything can be accomplished. In addition, I see parallels of sculpture to World War II because of how it relates to the emptiness of World War II and how many people felt emptiness and loneliness  during the war. Moreover, I believe that the parallels between World War II and the sculpture are still felt in modern times because many people still feel  loneliness and emptiness.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn  Hill was born in South Orange, New Jersey and was the child of a teacher and computer consultant. When growing up, Hill was always enamored by the arts and would compete in singing competitions. After the age of 13, she met Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean , and the three formed the band called the Fugees. The band would later go on to sell millions of album copies for the album The Score. However, conflicts between the bandmates eventually led to the dissolution of the band. During a hiatus, Hill took time off to focus on her pregnancy with her first child. During the pregnancy, Hill felt inspired and began to write over thirty songs ranging from love experiences to conflicts in the Fugees.  From her experiences writing R&B, gospel, and hip-hop she drew from prior experiences to write the album the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. With creating the album, Hill wanted it to reflect her emotions and refused to have others contribute to the making of the album. Hill did not want the album to be perfect, she wanted the album to reflect her and only wanted to make “honest music”. The dedication to her craft, led to her publish the album in 1998, two years after giving birth to her first child. The album gained critical acclaim and is still considered one the best R&B albums to ever be produced.

In the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she uses multiple instruments on the album and in each track conveys a different meaning. For the track Doo-Wop ( That Thing), Hill comments on self-respect and how the issue of sex dominates society. For instance with the lyrics, Don't think I haven't been through the same predicament Let it sit inside your head like a million women in Philly, Penn It's silly when girls sell their souls because it's in Look at where you be in, hair weaves like Europeans Fake nails done by Koreans.Come again. Hill uses this line to show that women do not need to conform to Eurocentric standards in order to be deemed beautiful by societal standards. With the line ‘come again’ Hill is trying to challenge women to be more than sexual objects and that women should remove the inorganic  beauty products. In Doo-Wop, Hill tells men and women to avoid societal pressures and become independent.  For the track Doo-Wop, the song starts with a piano, a deep bass, and a simple hip-hop beat. This sound sets the tone for the rest of the song because it intertwines classical, soul, and R&B music together. The intertwining of the different beats meshes well with the acapella style of singing Hill uses in the song causing an earthy feel to the song. The vocals in the song are loud and powerful which helps communicates the theme of self-respect and self-love. 

I find the album beautiful because every track on the album had a different message and Hill used the album to reflect her own pain, however,  the listener is capable of relating to the messages in the album. Furthermore, I am impressed by how the instruments were incorporated into each song because it made the album versatile since the beats in the songs could be upbeat or be full of emotion.  I find the album to be a masterpiece because I am able to relate to her message and felt like Hill was an older wiser sister with sound advice. Prior to listening to Doo-Wop, I felt the need to give in to Western standards of beauty and reject my culture, however, after much internal searching and being introduced to the song Doo-Wop, I realized that Hill wanted women to see that self-respect mattered and viewing one’s self as beautiful is more important than society's views. The dedication that went into the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill even with many obstacles in her way amazed me because she was confident in her craft even though many criticized her for becoming a female rapper in a male-dominated career. Her confidence reflected into the album and made the album a classic masterpiece.

Human The Movie

Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a photographer and environmentalist who has produced numerous documentaries on the beauty of nature. He became an environmentalist and film director after working as a hot-air balloon pilot, where he discovered that he must raise awareness to preserving Earth’s beauty. A few years ago, Bertrand was stuck in a rural town in Mali after his helicopter broke down. During the wait, he started to talk to farmers in the village about their aspirations and their concerns about feeding their children. This discussion with the farmers left a lasting impression on Yann and it influenced him to make a documentary on the human condition. With funding from the United Nations and Google, Yann set out to discover what made us human. Over the course of three years, he filmed 2,000 participants in 60 countries and filmed five hundred hours of aerial footage. Each interview consisted of the forty questions covering on topics of family, religion, ambition, love, homosexuality, poverty, and war.  According to Yann, the purpose of the film is that“hopefully, it will be a film that opens the discussion.”

     Yann is trying to communicate that although we are different we share certain similarities. Human the movie attempts to show the darkness of mankind, but also the positives of the  human’s experience. Each participant is asked the same questions, but the stories told by each person shapes the film since the stories are unique to the individual. To enhance the stories told, the interviews are taken in a black background. The black background is used in order to allow the viewer to focus on the story being told and the emotions that the participant may have during the storytelling. During each scene, personal identifiers such as name or country are removed from the film because Yann wanted to viewers to focus on their similarities since he thought that personal identifiers would separate the audience from the speaker since  the audience would not feel strongly related to the issue being discussed and would instead focus on the differences. The aerial footage of cities and untouched landscape are used as breaks between the interviews and but also an emotional link between mankind and the Earth. Yann uses the aerial footages to show an uneven development in our society since some the images focus on the untouched natural beauty of the earth while some the images show the destruction of nature through the multitude of buildings or through overflowing landfills. Yann uses these images to address the question of our common future. Moreover, there is no narration during the film in order to show that participates are the narrators of their own lives through the stories that they told. The themes in the film are what separate us, unites us and politics. In the film, the stories told may be different from the viewers, but the topics being discussed is relatable. For instance, in the story of Francie, the terror of the holocaust is relatable to those who experience the horrific conditions, however, the topics of family bond  and compassion for others in her story is seen throughout the human existence. Moreover, politics is throughout the film because in certain countries where the interviews took place topics such as homosexuality are considered punishable by law. However, through the film Yann is able to show a difference of opinions and allow individuals the chance to discuss views that differ from society's narrow views.

    Human the movie is beautiful because it captures the human existence. As humans, we all have struggled throughout our life. Each story told reflects those struggles and emotions that we face and allows the viewer to resonate with those issues.For me, I think the film shows that everyone has a story because the film focused on the disenfranchised and untouchable; some who define happiness has having clothes and food. Moreover, the film shows a range of emotion that is felt by everyone despite the different backgrounds. What truly made the movie beautiful was the willingness of the participants to bare their souls and tell their personal stories. After telling their story, whether traumatic or happy the participant stares into the lens showing that they are able to overcome their obstacle and use their personal dilemmas as a reflection of their determination.