Day 85 - August 7, 2010 - Graffiti as Art?

"In the dime stores and bus stations, people talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall." -Bob Dylan

Living near Los Angeles, I've seen a lot of graffiti over the years. Some of it is pretty trashy; a bunch of bright yellow lines intended to be a name or obscene word/gesture that, frankly, looks like nothing but a bunch of tangled lines. Other graffiti can look rather intriguing. I've often though to myself that if some taggers would look in to graphic design as a career, they might be relatively successful.

An artist that I was recently introduced to has made it his/her mission to make statements on walls. The artist is known by the name of Banksy and is supposedly from Great Britain. The artist maintains anonymity, but has left hundreds of marks around the world. Some of them are beautiful, others make a statement, and many are just plain bizarre.

I know this isn't particularly amazing artwork. It looks like stencil painting to me. I stumbled across it while walking around Young Hall around 7:30 AM today. I never knew it was there. It struck me as random. I wonder who did it? Certainly not Banksy... but it sure would be cool if Banksy DID tag one of our school walls!

Day 84 - August 6, 2010 - Becoming Real

"The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled." - Velveteen Rabbit

Congratulations Rose and Douglas! I hope you have a long and happy life together.

I used to love the story of the Velveteen Rabbit when I was a child. I always felt so badly for the poor rabbit, but when he became real, I was over-joyed. I think I'm beginning to understand that story in a lot of new ways as I get older. It is funny how fairy tales teach us just as much in our maturity as when we are young. Perhaps they teach us more.

Day 83 - August 5, 2010 - Photography Runs in the Family

“I am the family face; / Flesh perishes, I live on, / Projecting trait and trace / Through time to times anon, / And leaping from place to place / Over oblivion.” -Thomas Hardy

Yes, I know I didn't "take" this picture, but I have a reason! I promise that every other picture on this blog (besides the ones that were OBVIOUSLY taken of me from afar... and i think there's only a few of those) were taken by me. Well, in this particular case, I wanted to write about the past few days with my cousin. Today, we went to the mall and tried on some dresses and clothes... just for fun. We really enjoyed ourselves. =)

Ok, the point about the picture. My cousin decided that she wanted to invest in a nice camera. I decided to do the same thing during my freshman year. I didn't realize that I would enjoy taking pictures so much. I am by no means a photographer... but I love photography! It would appear that she feels the same way. I'm very glad to see/hear that.

Something else that I learned while we were at the camera store: my aunt used to be in to photography. While she was in college, she took photos for the yearbook and was pretty good with a camera. I never knew that. I suppose interests and talents really do run in the family.

Hopefully my raw love of photography will continue to improve my skill!