Response to "Tokens" by Christopher Turner

          "Tokens", is about the London Foundling Hospital which was established in 1741 for illegitimate and unwanted children. Within in this documentation it talks about the "tokens" that were left with the children in the event that the mothers ever wanted to reclaim the children. Many of these tokens were halves of actual tokens that could be matched up in the future. Most mothers never came back for the children.

          I found this reading very emotional and melancholy. These children purposely left and abandoned by their mothers, mot never to return or even see if the child survived. I felt grief and anger for these children having to grow up without parents and knowing that they were purposely given up, unwanted, how horrible would that be? How dreadful would that feel? It seems inhuman, unfathomable, especially when they had a lottery system introduced where those bringing children picked a colored ball to see if they won the prize of being able to give their child away to the hospital, and all the while the wealthy society ladies and their husbands, who funded the institution, watched. How could you watch people gamble away their children, especially when the winners were those who gave the children away and the losers were those who had to keep them? I found this disturbing and sad. 

          The tokens that the mothers left were, while sad, also intriguing. The items were sometimes strange like the ivory gambling token in the shape of a fish or the crushed thimble, others had more obvious meaning such as the tiny ring with the heart-shaped stone with the inscription that translates to: "He who neglects me loses me." Many of the items I was wanted to know why that item was chosen, what did it mean to the mother? What was its significance? I wanted to know the story of the tokens that now seem just as abandoned and forgotten as the children that once went with them. These small mementos once had meaning and significance, they once were important in some way. It makes you want to know about them, about the significance tied to them and the story that they obviously once had. I want to know about them, I want to know so badly, its difficult holding or seeing something that was once important to someone and not being able to know that importance, the curiosity eats at me, like a hunger that can never be sated.

Mementos; Response to "On Longing" quotes

          Mementos are physical representations of a memory. They are souvenirs of the past and our travels, places we've been and things we have done. It is said that smell is the strongest memory trigger but it is difficult to keep or collect smells, so most collect trinkets or objects. I keep drawers of mementos, little do-dads and thing-a-ma-bobs that remind me of things such as times or places from my childhood. Some of these things still hold a scent that makes the link to the memory even stronger and works as a trigger for that specific memory. Most of these objects look like junk and random pieces of things that should be thrown out and have no use, which is true to people who do not have a connection to them but untrue to the person who collected them for which they are useful objects for traveling back in time to a memory you may have forgot or will eventually forget otherwise. Even for a memory that cannot be forgotten the memento is a physical piece of that memory, a stronger connection, that keeps it from simply being a memory, an intangible thing that we are afraid can dissipate without any anchor to hold us to it or allow us to physically keep it, which is the purpose or use of the memento, an anchor, so that the metaphorical boat cannot drift away on an unseen current before we can grab a hold of it and pull it back. It is a stabilizing method to keep the memory in the physical world and not just the invisible and intangible one of our memory.

Memento Assignment notes and guidelines

Guidelines

• Non-representational sculpture of a memory; person, place, event
• Must use 3 materials,Three shall be the number thou shalt use, and the number of the using shall be three. Four shalt thou not use, neither use thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, thou shall hath completed thy sculpture. 
• Must fit in one or two hands
• Use elements and principles of design to communicate and symbolize the memory

"On Longing" Quotes

• "The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale."
• "Capacity of objects serve as traces of authentic experience."
• "The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional into the miniature... that which can be enveloped by the body." 
• "Nostalgia cannot be sustained without loss."
• "To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy."

Gregor's Room; Paper Sculpture

For Gregor's room I envisioned a small narrow bed with messy stained sheets. Since Gregor was a giant cockroach that climbed on everything I envisioned the bed and furniture covered in sticky footprints and grimey overall.

Box Spring
Rolled and folded paper with black and white ink

Blanket
crumpled paper with blue and white ink
Brown ink marks to create footprint effect

Pillow
Black mixed with white ink
Brown ink marks for footprint effect

Mattress
Black mixed with white ink
Brown ink for stained effect

Headboard
Brown and yellow ink
Brown ink for color and footprint effect
Yellow ink for color and stained effect

Bed set put together

Gregor
Brown mixed with white and yellow ink
Brown ink for dirty and stained effect

Underside of Gregor

Small Dresser
Brown and yellow ink
Brown for color and footprint effect

Window
Brown and white mixed ink for window pane color
Black mixed with white ink used to make dreary city scene

Final product, everything put together

Representations of the Elements and Principles of Art using Minimal Resources

Figure 1: Focus Point

Focus Point in Progress

Focal Point Finished
Angle 1

Focal Point Angle 2

Figure 2: Texture
In Progress

Focal Point Finished
Angle 1

Angle 2

Angle 3

Angle 4

Figure 3: Rhythm (?)
In Progress 

Rhythm Finished

Figure 4: Color
In Progress (Drying)

Color Finished
Angle 1

Angle 2

Angle 3

Angle 4

My Music, Just a Taste

The Voice by Celtic Woman

Madness by Muse

Feeling Good by Muse

New Born by Muse

The Wolf by Fever Ray 

If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray 

Glaciers by Her Majesty and the Wolves (Roksonix remix)

Sleepless by Excision

I Dreamed a Dream by Anne Hathaway

Bad Machine by Nostalgia & Aami

Guilt by Nero

Innocence by Nero

Too Close by Alex Clare

Lightning Crashes by Live

                                                            Glycerine by Bush

Books: Just a few favorites of mine

Kafka Reading Response

The novella "Metamorphosis" by Kafka is a strange and unique work of fiction. I found myself feeling disturbed, confused, and a bit unsettled by the reading. Throughout the reading I had many questions, How did Gregor Smasa turn into a giant cockroach? Why wasn't he questioning this metamorphosis? How could he possibly be worried about work in such a situation and how did he think he would still be able to work? Why didn't he try to communicate with his family or try to show some sign that he understood them? Gregor's family and manager are the only ones reacting logically to the situation, at first, showing fear, disgust, shock, and dismay. His sister Grete is the only family member that seems inclines to help Gregor after his metamorphosis by feeding him and cleaning his room. However, later Grete becomes angry with Gregory and he gets less and less care. I felt bad for Gregor and his longing to rejoin his family as he watches them fall apart, slowing having to sell their belongings and work. Although, even though I felt bad for Gregor I also was frustrated with the fact that he did not try to improve his situation, or in some way try to indicate that he understands his family. I also found it disconcerting that Gregor's family never tries to help Gregor, or find someone who might have had a similar situation or might be able to fix. The situation is completely absurd but the family treats it as an unfortunate event, an illness, rather than an unexplainable situation that should be looked into further.  The characters are unusually calm and unquestioning, and mostly don't act particularly surprised by the event. I found these reactions by Gregor and his family to the situation unsettling and abnormal. I found the reading overall depressing, especially as Gregor dies from starvation and neglect feeling unhappy and abandoned, only ever wanting to enjoy his family's company. While the novella seems to end on a happy note, with the family realizing how good they have it and thinking about the future, I find it disturbing that they are so unaffected by Gregor's passing, their son and brother has just died, yet instead of grieving they are happy that they can finally move ahead with their lives. I will admit, it was not a reading I enjoyed much.