Category: Uncategorized

Art is recognized for its many benefits to society– culturally, politically, educationally.  Yet, little is discussed about art’s potential for healing, or for its potential to be used in the process of healing.  More and more, people and institutions are coming to realize that art holds powers that are more related to more than just aesthetics and the freedom of expression: it also holds the gift of healing, as well.

Art is also a great healer because of the interaction that results from the creation and viewing process.  The individual is able to talk through the art and the viewer is able to receive that communication and interpret it in their own manner.  Art also provides an avenue for encouragement; others are able to see the kind of creativity each individual holds and the artist feels a sense of pride in creating something that they did not see themselves as being capable enough to even imagine.

Often times, physical and mental health patients who are undergoing intensive treatment or suffering from depression are encouraged to use art as a means to explore their pain and their fears, and consequently learn about what they consider to be happiness and joy. In this way, art is seen as a means of facing one’s fears and tackling one’s obstacles that they may not be able to understand on a purely intellectual or verbal level.

One of the best and encouraging examples I’ve found of art as therapy is the series “Mamika” series by photographer Sacha Goldberger.  Seeing her grandmother, Frederika, depressed and lonely, Sacha decided to ask her to pose as the main personage in a photo shoot that portrayed the elderly woman as a superhero.  Frederika instantly lit up all throughout the shoot and once finished, Sacha created a Myspace page for her.  With thousands of friends who leave her encouraging messages, Frederika has found an outlet to reach out to a community outside of her normal circle and to end her sense of loneliness.  With more photo shoots and more photos, Frederika and Sacha have found a common activity that unites them and also serves each her own purposes: one to live her life as a photographer, and the other to live her life as a grandmother worthy of recognition.

Art does have the capacity to heal.  Like all things, it may be in the smallest of ways and the most imperceptible, but art truly possesses the power to make a difference in people’s lives.  The deeply intimate process of both creation and viewing make it an intrinsically interactive experience that touches the lives of everyone involved.

Welcome back to a new semester. Just four months stand between us and summer, and hopefully that time will be full of learning, creativity, and growth for all of us. To help jump-start the creative part, I would like to propose a small project to anyone interested.

When I walk around campus, it seems like most of the people I pass have put up barriers against the outside world – walking around with headphones constantly in or a phone glued to their ear. I am frequently guilty of these same practices myself, and the result is that I pay much less attention to my surroundings. Everyday sights blur into a single image that never seems to change, even though it must be different in some way every day. Therefore, the project I am suggesting is an observation log. Force yourself to actively search and engage your environment to find those small and strange details that can provide inspiration in your life and which remain completely hidden to a passive observer. Maybe you’ll hear a snippet of conversation you find interesting, recognize a pattern you never realized existed before, read a strange fact, or something else you consider worth remembering.

I found my old Observation Log today and some of my favorite entries include:

1)  “I don’t need boyfriends or girlfriends; I’ve got squirrelfriends!”

2)  Every human spent about 30 minutes as a single cell.

3)  “I don’t want to be buried in a cactus!”

“I think you mean casket.”

4)  According to some sources, the paper sticking out of the top of a Hershey’s Kiss is called a niggly-wiggly.

5)  I saw a girl step on worm.  She then did a little hop, looked down, and apologized to it.

A couple of my observations have stuck around in my memory, but I had completely forgotten several of them, and it was fun to reread them. I ended up using some of my entries for creative writing projects last year, while others remain simply as oddities I’ve collected and are still waiting to be used. When I did this project before, the goal was to write down at least three things a day. The great thing about having an observation log is the next time you’re stuck in an uninspired state, you’ll have a file of interesting notes, thoughts, and extemporanea to feed your mind and promote your creativity.

Good luck this semester!

The recent 2010 movie, The Fighter, is not one to be passed up.  Nominated for six Golden Globes and nine nominations is not false advertising; this movie is that good.  Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg), is kid brother to Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) the once acclaimed boxer turned coke addict.

Mickey, following in his brother’s boxing footprints takes the ring with Dicky as his primary coach claiming, “Dicky has taught me everything I know.” Only after a fight that leaves Micky badly bruised does he begin to consider changing management.  This is not an easy task because his mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo) is his current manager.

Based on a true story, the actor’s characters are based off of real people in life, and this realism makes the audience feel at ease and comfortable interacting with these characters on screen.  This parallelism between the viewer and the characters allows the audience to be emotionally vulnerable with the characters.  Humor, suspense, love, hatred, betrayal and suspense are all conveyed to the viewer through this parallelism.

The acting is powerful because it feels so real and connected to the actual characters themselves.  Each character is respected in his or her own right, therefore a movie with many protagonists instead of one.  The honesty felt within each character is what makes The Fighter a must see.

What gets you most into the holiday spirit?  Do you enjoy decorating your home with lights and small ornaments or are you more of the person who simply enjoys the company of friends and family for dinners and festive evenings?  I enjoy both of these holiday events, but what really gets me into the holiday season is nothing other than Christmas music!

There is something about Christmas music’s cheery tone that I can’t escape.  No matter how wishful or cliché they may be, I merrily sing along to all.  In high school, my sister and I would blare Maria Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, every morning and evening on our way to and from school and any other time we got in the car and felt the impulse to listen to it, which happened frequently during the month of December.  Maybe it is those fond memories that leave a weak spot in my heart for Christmas music.

I was in one of my classes recently and I heard someone say they absolutely hated Christmas music.  I was appalled!  It was similar to the way Tinkerbelle felt whenever she heard someone say they didn’t believe in fairies.  Ok, maybe that’s an extreme comparison, but that is what it felt like.

You can bet that I get through finals with the help of my trusted musically talented professionals serenading me in the background.  I don’t know where I would be without them.  I could listen to the entire album of the Nutcracker on repeat for hours.  I even listen to it when it is not the holiday season.  This is telling of how obsessed I am.

My favorites beside All I Want for Christmas is You and the Nutcracker are Dean Martin’s White Christmas, Linus and Lucy, Charlie Brown, and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.

I get awfully sad when December 26^th roles around and radio stations stop playing my beloved music.  However, it is only December 8^th, so I am in the prime of my Christmas music marathon!

(Or, “In Which TChen Offers Excerpts/Thoughts From a Previous Paper In Lieu of the Rubbish Spawned by Late-night Attempts to Write.”)

Street photography is, I believe, integral as both a form of art and as a mode of documentary. It is not set up, premeditated, or manipulated in any fashion; what one sees at any particular moment is what is recorded. Simple, yes?

Unlike many types of photography, street photography is surprisingly personal in a way that other styles are not. Street photography is intended to be documentary, and is precisely what its name suggests: The subjects are captured in public, going about their everyday lives or whatever they happened to be doing at the moment someone hit the shutter button. It is candid in a way that makes an increasingly great number of people uncomfortable. When one takes into consideration more of the restraints on photography in public spaces is social rather than legal, it becomes evident that laws protecting security are not the sole or perhaps even greatest threat to street photography.

Unfortunately, it has become increasingly fraught with concerns from the general public, over reasons from personal privacy to matters of security. These are valid concerns, of course, public spaces, it seems, have grown to be less accepting environments for photography.

When everything is factored in, the greatest restrictions on public photography do not come from [laws and national security concerns], but from oppression through public perception. There is no use in an activity being legal, if societal pressures suggest otherwise. Were street photography to be viewed in a favorable light, public misconceptions must go.

It was an opinionated piece. I feel it comes off a tad strong now, as the atmosphere and the context in which I was addressing the issue have quietened down somewhat. But who am I to judge?

Hopefully, I shall have returned to full brain functionality and writing capacity by next week. Until then, this (relevant link) is fantastic.

We’re on a strict diet of finals and caffeine from here on out, and what better tribute to Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, Pierre Jean Robiquet, Pierre Joseph Pelletier, and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou, the chemists hailing from Germany, France, France, and France, respectively – a group of fellows who had each independently isolated the popular stimulant – than to raise a mug of steaming of joe in the name of academia. As we flood to the libraries, coffee shops, or any spread of table contained within the negligible hum of white noise, we do it with dour expressions etched on our faces. It’s common knowledge that we hold that dichotomous sensations of devotion and weariness; the eternal student condition. So we choose Starbucks, Espresso Royale, Café Ambrosia, Sweetwaters to get that kick of alertness from the warm roast of the coffee bean or from aromatic tea leaves, all the while we say our hurried hellos and goodbyes.

Soy chai lattes have always been my personal weakness, although brewed from these cafes they quickly burn a hole through the wallet. In lieu of handing half my paychecks to often, many of these larger corporations, I’ve tried my hand of constructing this drink from my own kitchen. All of the ingredients can be purchased at the People’s Food Co-op for under fifteen dollars, and of course, this method often pays for itself. At the risk of adding to the mass addiction, I have provided the recipe that I use here. Here’s to a week of productivity! Or rather, let’s just try and minimize the collateral damage.

You will need:
2 cups water
2 tea bags (I use earl grey, but you can experiment with different sorts)
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cardamom
a couple whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp sugar (or to your liking)
1½-2 cups milk of choice (or to your liking)

Pour water in a reasonably sized pot or saucepan and place in tea bags and combination of ginger, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon stick and let boil. Once the water boils, allow tea bags to steep for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes have passed, add in sugar, stir, then add in milk or milk substitute. Boiling will cease after this step, but keep the heat on so the tea can reach a boiling state again. However, it is important to keep a diligent eye on the concoction at this point as milk is keen on boiling over and creating a volcanic mess. Once boiling begins once more, turn off and remove from heat. Using a spoon, carefully take out the tea bags, cinnamon stick and cloves. Often, the cinnamon stick can be dried and reused later. If you take a whiff of it and if it is still perceptibly cinnamon-y, it’d be good for another round.

Sue majors in Neuroscience & English and tends to lurk in bookstores.