Flowers on Flowers on Flowers

This past Monday, my English class took a field trip to the Botanical Gardens at the Penn State Arboretum.  It was a hike and a half from my dorm in the freezing cold at 9 am Monday morning, not exactly ideal.  To say the least, I wasn’t looking forward to wandering around outside so early, but when I arrived my opinion changed.  The gardens were extravagant and full of beautiful life and color.  Being so early in the morning, the sun was hitting everything just right and beams of light danced off the droplets of dew resting on every petal.  It was breathtaking.  I love nature; in high school I was part of the environmental club and I’ve always enjoyed just sitting outside and watching the world, sometimes even painting it.  The gardens at Penn State reminded me of a place back home called Busch Gardens.  It’s another GORGEOUS place, much bigger than that of Penn State, that has display after display of flowers, fountains, and simply, beauty.  My family used to go there on special occasions like the Fourth of July or Christmas to see the fireworks and light shows.  Although the Arboretum wasn’t quite as extravagant, it gave me some comforting thoughts of home at a time when I needed them most. 

The best part of the gardens is all of the colors.  Being an artist, I always notice the different colors and shades.  The architect for this place did a wonderful job because there are bursts of light and color everywhere you look.  I hope someday I will be able to bring a palette of paints and an easel down to capture a little bit of it. 

The gardens have lots of little seating areas near the flowers with benches and chairs.  I couldn’t help thinking that this would be an amazing place to take your notes and study.  So peaceful, so enchanting, it would be the perfect place to get some quiet and focus.

There is also a fountain at the back surrounded by a field of grass and flowers.  When the sun hits it just right it looks like the water is dancing.  I could stand staring at it for hours. 

There is a pond with lots of gently floating lily pads and flowers. 

Lots of funky plants as well. These aren’t your typical gardens.

Lastly, there is a special occasions area for weddings and proms.  It’s really beautiful and covered in a nice white tarp.  When you look out into the fields from under the tarp you see all of the flowers and the fountain in the distance.  If the weather is nice, it would be a wonderful place to make memories.  I’m sure it gets very popular here, especially since Penn State has such adoring alumni; I’m sure a lot of people would love to be able to say they got married on such sacred ground.  What about you? Do you think you would ever get married at the Penn State Arboretum?

"Affirmative Action"

I love museums.  I often equate a trip to the museum with memories of my childhood, when on a boring summer day my mom, grandmother, camp counselor, or whoever had the task of looking after me would bring me down to the city for an educational adventure.  That’s why when my college English teacher announced the assignment to attend the campus art museum and write a blog post about it, I was extremely excited.   When I visited the Palmer Museum of Art this past weekend there were lots of beautiful pieces that I was inclined to write about, but one in particular caught my eye.  Its name was “Affirmative Action” by Jerry Kearns, painted in 1943.  It depicts a woman at work, slamming a hammer down on what looks to be some form of rock.  Her facial expression is aggressive and strong, as is her stance.  The noteworthy aspect of this piece is that she isn’t in clothes that you would expect for such a task, she’s wearing a dress and high heels.  Why, you ask?  Well that’s what I was wondering too.  First I stepped back and tried to analyze what the message of the piece was, paying special attention to the time period it was painted in.  During the 1940’s, America was at war.  WWII had just begun, and men all over the country abandoned their lives to join the armed forces. This meant that there were a lot of jobs, and not enough men to do them.  At this time there were also a lot of factories being created for weaponry and support of the war, and there were even fewer men to work there.  This was when America turned to the women.  Although for centuries women were looked at as nothing more than child-bearers and keepers of the household, there was a growing need for workers and women were our only hope.  No one expected that this would be a permanent change; everyone just assumed that after the war men would come back and take their old posts.  As you may have realized, that was not the case.  This struck a revolution for women, eventually leading to a fair society in which we have just as many rights to work as men do.  The most important icon for the “working woman” at this time was “Rosie the Riveter”; she appeared on countless ads and propaganda prompting women to support the war by going to work.  She was “the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty”(Women at Work).  This painting makes me think of her.  The woman in the painting could be fighting society, using her hammer to break away the foundation of societal views that were holding her and her gender back.  It could also simply be reminiscent of the working woman of the age: working hard to support her country, but also holding true to her femininity by dressing as she was expected to.  Now,  I don’t know how many people reading this have actually worn heels, but let me tell you that it is no easy task, and for a woman to be doing manual labor in shoes like this is extremely impressive and out of the ordinary.  This piece obviously is very powerful, no matter which way you choose to interpret it.  Personally, it reminds me of my mom, my strongest role model.  A single mother supporting three kids, working non-stop to provide for her family, make sure there’s enough food on the table, and put me through college.  She is driven, hard-working, and does all of these incredible things in her classic 4 inch heels.  Although I doubt it was the author’s intention to make me think of my mother, especially since she was born 20 years after the making of this painting, I do think he successfully commented on our gender as a whole, showing the strength and courage of women of his time, and ours.  I did some research on Mr. Kearns and found that he has done a lot of “modernist” paintings that comment on society and represent a political view.  Although before my trip to the Palmer I was unfamiliar with his work, I can now say that I am a fan and will be looking for more.  What do you think about his work?

 

Works Cited

"Women At Work." 1940's.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012. <http://1940s.org/history/on-thehomefront/women-at-work/>.

Blog Analysis

Template: For my blog I wanted to choose a style that represented my personality and the things that interest me.  Although this mostly functions as a class assignment, I still wanted to put my best efforts in to make it something I was proud of.  I chose an irregular sea-foam green background because out of all the sample templates I looked through, this was the color I liked the best.  But I didn't just want to take the easy way out and use a sample template, so for the title I added a little of my own pizazz.  I uploaded a picture from one of the concerts I attended over the summer.  I cropped it so all that's really visible is a piece of the funky light show that went on in the background, and I think the result was very cool.  I wanted the font to reflect my personality as well: fun, but serious when necessary.  I think the font I chose shows the light, happy side to my blog, but won't be out of place if I choose to write a more serious post.

Title: The title of my blog, Quirky Confessional, shows the goofy side to my personality.  I think of myself as a quirky, fun loving teenager who is always joking around, being sarcastic, and tries to have a good time any chance she gets. The confessional aspect shows that I plan to be completely honest on this blog.  I hope that I will get the opportunity to write my own opinions and share my own ideas with the blogosphere. If you didn't know, a confessional is the little office-y box inside a church that you go in to confess your sins to the priest.  In many ways, I look at this blog as a way for me to confess my innermost thoughts to the public, whether that only be the students in my class required to read my posts, or other curious internet dwellers that happen to stop by.

Pages: For efficiency when navigating my blog, I created pages.  So far I have an "About Me" page, that I created to give my readers a brief introduction to the author, and a "Home" page where all of my future posts will reside. In my "About Me" page, I made my age and school clear, but didn't give many other details about myself.  This blog is not meant to be about me, but about the things I find interesting (and of course the things my teacher asks me to write about).  I don't want my readers to focus on the author.  I want my posts to get them thinking about the subjects, and help them to reach their own conclusions about the topic.


So far, I really like my blog.  It's simple, not too flashy, but still fun and interesting.  I think that it reflects my personality well, and will continue to do so as I add more posts and pictures to the home page.  I wasn't expecting it to be very difficult to create a blog, but I didn't realize just how many components are necessary to make one that reflects the author and the meaning he/she is trying to convey. I hope the experience of forming this blog will help me to grow as a writer, help me come out of my shell, and help me share my insights with the world.