first article

Bat Uses Pitcher Plant as Toilet; Plant Benefits

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/110202-bats-feces-carnivorous-plants-toilets-animals-science/
I found this article from national geographic sites. It says about the new discovery about a coexistence of bat and plant. Plant gives bat where to rest and plant gains nutrients from bat's feces. I have been always interested into living organisms, especially to animals. I think it is surprising to see how they evolve themselves to survives in harsh situation without damaging others.

First Articles

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/29/mom-charged-in-kids-slayi_n_815769.html

My mom showed this piece to me a few days ago, and I just find it interesting to try and imagine what this woman's reality was like, to be able to do something like this so methodically, especially to your own children. Plus, I just find her reasoning funny in the darkest way possible. If all moms could kill kids for being mouthy, I know I'd be dead x12397298627931.

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-tampa-bay/john-taylor-baxley-case-three-year-old-tampa-boy-dead-father-and-father-s-girlfriend-custody

This is also very interesting to me. A lot of crime happens to children, and I wonder if it's because they are so forgiving towards their parents. This boy was killed by his father and his father's girlfriend. They had bitten his calf, burned his forehead, and broken his arm among other things. Vulnerability is a key factor in choosing victims.



http://www.canadiancrc.com/Zachary_Turner.aspx

I'm going to look for more articles about this particular event, because it's one that really affected me. Zachary Turner was in his mother's full custody, though she was being charged with murdering his father. If he wasn't in her care, he would still be alive and well today. Shirley Turner is a monster, and I really hope I can find more on this case.

You may see a pattern developing, but I've always been very interested in crime. If I wasn't so bad at science, I would have love to study forensics.

Posture?

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2011/01/tough-sit-how-perfect-posture-can-change-your-life.html

This article from the redeye focuses on the effect of posture on one's idea of a person mainly in the workplace but also provides handy hints many people can put to use. Studies show that people who sit up and have their arms spread seem to display more of an air of power and are more likely to get a job when being interviewed, but some can overdo this stance and come off as intimidating. Body language gives many people clues as to what others are like, including posture.

Two articles to make up for lost time

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/asia/02race.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The article is basically about racism in South Korea, how the complications began and how they're ingrained in society today. I think what I like best about this article is how it represents the issue as complicated. It is. As I said before, it's all ingrained in history (as is all racism). We're also talking about a country where you'll see black face on TV being done for laughs (no joke, seen it numerous times) and terrible Native American stereotypes (look up Indian Boy by MC Mong, it's slack jaw worthy--the most face palm worthy to come out of this was when I saw an interview with the guy, the girl who was conducting the interview pointed at her head, where a feather was wrapped around her head, and said cheerfully, "I'm an Indian girl!"). Read the article, do some quick research. I remember something somewhere written where someone had said that the US is liberal, someone retorted that no it's the most conservative in the Western world, and someone else had emphasize that it's quite liberal in a global sense.

This article is pretty representational of the frustrations I have with East Asian society (among a few others to list, one of them below).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/11/japanese-man-broadcasts-h_n_782140.html

This particular article is about an infamous event that occurred when a Japanese man broadcasted his suicide. The story behind this whole ordeal is that the man went online and told his problems and contemplations to an audience. Some egged him on, told him to do it. Others tried to convince him not to go through with it. Suicide is quite...interesting in Japan. It's hard to explain without writing a whole essay about it. It's the country where seppuku was done--better to kill yourself than live in shame and dishonor. Japanese people are known for not outright expressing their inner emotions. Therapy is not exactly promoted (looked down upon, really).

There's another article I read that I couldn't find about an older Japanese man and his wife who were finally sick and tired of having to see so many young people commit suicide by jumping off this cliff (it was a popular spot to commit suicide). They took measures, living near the cliff, for decades by talking the people out of doing it. Distracting them, giving them a meal or drink at their home, installing a wired barrier around the cliff (so if you jumped you'd land on that fence rather than in the sea). They took action, something that many people don't do.

I chose these rather controversial articles since they really do reveal the darker sides of these societies. Racism, suicide, sexism/mysogyny, teen prostitution, hebephilia/ephebophilia--it doesn't come up when you open up a guide book. It doesn't come up when you type Korea or Japan in Google. You'll see creepy teen pop idols (another issue in my opinion, I can explain, really), dramas, anime, manga, weird porn (I firmly believe tentacle porn originated in Japan), etc etc etc.

Knife-Wielding Woman Orders Husband To Perform Cunnilingus

This chica is a bad bitch! I'd like to crawl inside her head one day or ask her for beauty tips. What an inspiration. i could make a whole movie all about her.

Egypt Treasures Looted, But Public Strikes Back

I found this article really interesting because it discusses the protests and riots that are happening in Egypt at the moment as well as art, art history, and art preservation. Its also very inspiring how protective the citizens of Cairo were over their national artifacts.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110131-egypt-egyptian-museum-zahi-hawass-mubarak-science-world-cairo-tombs/

Next Week's Project

Hi all,

Happy snow day! Here's your homework for next week. Please read it through carefully, and contact me if you have any questions:

1.) Starting today, track down at least five different PAPER news clippings or articles of interest to you, which could serve as a spark for your work. These can be found in any Print Newspaper (NY Times, Chicago Tribune, RedEye, etc. etc.) or in Print Magazines like New Scientist, National Geographic, Newsweek, or other such sources, which you can find/photocopy in the library. You'll need to bring in cut out or photocopied paper copies of all of these for next week's class. These can be on any topic and can be any length, but the important thing is that you're interested in the characters or the CONTENT enough that you could make an artwork based on each one.

2.) Post one article per day to our course blog over the course of the week. You can post digital copies, or scan/photograph the article and post that. Post one per day (starting today), not all five at the end (!)

Include your own comment about the news piece, and an image and/or link. Note that you'll need to the litle "link" icon in your blogger window to hyperlink any selected text -- simply typing in the address won't do it.

You should all have passwords (or a way to retrieve them) from last semester, or will have gotten an e-mail invitation through blogger from me on Wednesday. If you have any trouble with this, contact me ASAP so that I can help you out in time.

See you this Friday, and next Wednesday!