Friday, May 14, 2010
Final Project: Artist's Statement
Working at Escuela-Vieau school has provided a wonderful opportunity to gain a great deal of insight into the Walker’s Point neighborhood on Milwaukee’s south side. More importantly, becoming active in this area of Milwaukee has provided answers to questions that would have otherwise remained completely unknown and thus giving rise to assumptions or giving in to stereotypes. It was made clear from the beginning that many of the families at the school were not of ‘legal’ immigration status, so precautions were necessary in order to protect their privacy. With the advent of the recent ‘show me your papers’ fiasco in Arizona, it’s clear now more than ever that regardless of immigration status, an education is still an essential requirement in the upbringing of individuals who will become successful, responsible adults.
Perhaps more importantly, are the facts that all of our ancestors immigrated here, albeit at different points in time, yet we’re considered to be here legally. With declining fertility rates and a large population of baby-boomers approaching retirement age, it becomes increasingly imperative that we have enough working citizens in the United States to provide a tax base. Additionally, immigrants from Mexico are making the decision to move back; why would anybody want to be in a place where they feel unwelcome, can’t find a job as unemployment rates are ~10%, and be away from their family? While the notions of race persist, they are largely outdated as a former explanation skin color and morphological differences in parallel evolution (by G. L. Comte de Buffon), yet we know that modern humans originated in Africa and migrated from there. We also know that differences in skin color exist because people living above the Tropic of Cancer receive much less U.V. radiation due to less solar exposure and because we cover ourselves in the winter. Lighter skin tones mean more vitamin-D production.
This project was prepared to illustrate that although the notion of ‘race’ exists, it is based solely on skin color and is biologically unfounded. Racism has existed since the beginning of what we call history, and different cultures have been entrenched by this concept of ‘race.’ Unfortunately, this precedent continues to affect the neighborhood in which Escuela-Vieau is situated to this day. Many Milwaukeeans have continued to accept the stereotype of the area as being violent and ridden with crime. My personal experiences over the previous 10 weeks have served to dispel that notion, and my documentation of personal interaction with local inhabitants serves as proof.
I chose to incorporate images in this presentation that reflected on our activities and accomplishments working together to convey the acceptance I received from those that had every right to perceive me as an outsider. Although there were some technical difficulties, namely the loaned audio recording device from the library, crisis was averted with audio-editing software. This has been a terrific learning and sharing experience, and I plan to continue with my service learning at Vieau school.
Perhaps more importantly, are the facts that all of our ancestors immigrated here, albeit at different points in time, yet we’re considered to be here legally. With declining fertility rates and a large population of baby-boomers approaching retirement age, it becomes increasingly imperative that we have enough working citizens in the United States to provide a tax base. Additionally, immigrants from Mexico are making the decision to move back; why would anybody want to be in a place where they feel unwelcome, can’t find a job as unemployment rates are ~10%, and be away from their family? While the notions of race persist, they are largely outdated as a former explanation skin color and morphological differences in parallel evolution (by G. L. Comte de Buffon), yet we know that modern humans originated in Africa and migrated from there. We also know that differences in skin color exist because people living above the Tropic of Cancer receive much less U.V. radiation due to less solar exposure and because we cover ourselves in the winter. Lighter skin tones mean more vitamin-D production.
This project was prepared to illustrate that although the notion of ‘race’ exists, it is based solely on skin color and is biologically unfounded. Racism has existed since the beginning of what we call history, and different cultures have been entrenched by this concept of ‘race.’ Unfortunately, this precedent continues to affect the neighborhood in which Escuela-Vieau is situated to this day. Many Milwaukeeans have continued to accept the stereotype of the area as being violent and ridden with crime. My personal experiences over the previous 10 weeks have served to dispel that notion, and my documentation of personal interaction with local inhabitants serves as proof.
I chose to incorporate images in this presentation that reflected on our activities and accomplishments working together to convey the acceptance I received from those that had every right to perceive me as an outsider. Although there were some technical difficulties, namely the loaned audio recording device from the library, crisis was averted with audio-editing software. This has been a terrific learning and sharing experience, and I plan to continue with my service learning at Vieau school.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Journal #3
After having spent the past ten weeks or so helping at Escuela-Vieau, many facts have become apparent and transparent. We are who we are and our physical characteristics don't define us as individuals, but our dispositions do. From working with the kids at Vieau school, it's clear that they are comfortable with who they are, at this point in their lives. They were as readily able to look past the color of my skin as I was of theirs'. Hopefully, this experience has enabled them to let go of some of their own preconceived notions of white people, too. While we don't share the same ethnicity, having a common goal of working on a project either caused us to look past races or ignore them for the time being. Ultimately, working in a bilingual school has proven to be less 'ethnic' than I had anticipated, and in an area of town that is predominantly Hispanic, there was also more diversity within the school than expected. Odds are, that I will continue to help out at the school on a weekly basis in light of the fact that my presence has been welcomed. I do believe that the experience has been beneficial and educational for both the students and teachers that I’ve been working with, as well as myself. Yesenia and Ms. Her have been so nice to me, and nobody has seemed to mind me hanging around with surveillance equipment once per week.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Artist’s Statement: Working with Escuela-Vieau
Having the opportunity to work with the staff and students at the Vieau school through the Boy’s & Girl’s Club has been an infinitely rewarding experience for me. Being able to capture some footage of the facility and its staff will always serve as good memento for the events that have transpired over the past several weeks. Also, learning how to use photography to portray real-life scenarios proved to be more challenging than expected, especially not being able to photograph students due to legal restrictions.
Armed with a Sony DSC-N2 Cybershot camera and an iPhone for audio recording, I took photographs and collected sound bytes over the course of two weeks for this project. It was tricky, but I managed to keep the students out of any of the shots that I took. In all, I collected about twenty images at the site and took them home for editing and review. Sound bytes were obtained using the “voice recorder” feature of my iPhone in two single hour-and-a-half recordings.
After downloading the bytes into iTunes, I listened to the files and decided which parts were both usable and relevant to my presentation photos. Cutting the usable portions of the audio track into smaller sound bytes proved to be quite challenging, as I don’t have any sort of professional audio editing software. Ultimately, I ran the headphone line in to the microphone line on the computer and recorded using GarageBand while simultaneously playing the part of the clip in iTunes. It worked.
Next, after having selected the images to be used, I tried to construct a way to organize them. I settled on starting with the photos taken outside and then moving inside the building, and finally into the classroom (although the photos were not captured in this order). This worked well for the presentation because outside the school is a fenced-in play area and one of the two usable sound clips that I had was of children playing.
My intention was also to convey my personal experience volunteering at Escuela Vieau school; at first feeling like an outsider, and later becoming more comfortable with my surroundings. School staff and students have been a pleasure to work with and have always been friendly to me, making me feel welcomed. I included some text in the presentation that would explain some real-life experiences and observations at the school and correlate with the audio, too.
From this experience, I have taken away two major lessons thus far. First, capturing real-time events on camera is hard, especially in trying to present a bigger picture. Second, is that in general people are nice, even if they are unfamiliar and you’re willing to lend a hand.
Armed with a Sony DSC-N2 Cybershot camera and an iPhone for audio recording, I took photographs and collected sound bytes over the course of two weeks for this project. It was tricky, but I managed to keep the students out of any of the shots that I took. In all, I collected about twenty images at the site and took them home for editing and review. Sound bytes were obtained using the “voice recorder” feature of my iPhone in two single hour-and-a-half recordings.
After downloading the bytes into iTunes, I listened to the files and decided which parts were both usable and relevant to my presentation photos. Cutting the usable portions of the audio track into smaller sound bytes proved to be quite challenging, as I don’t have any sort of professional audio editing software. Ultimately, I ran the headphone line in to the microphone line on the computer and recorded using GarageBand while simultaneously playing the part of the clip in iTunes. It worked.
Next, after having selected the images to be used, I tried to construct a way to organize them. I settled on starting with the photos taken outside and then moving inside the building, and finally into the classroom (although the photos were not captured in this order). This worked well for the presentation because outside the school is a fenced-in play area and one of the two usable sound clips that I had was of children playing.
My intention was also to convey my personal experience volunteering at Escuela Vieau school; at first feeling like an outsider, and later becoming more comfortable with my surroundings. School staff and students have been a pleasure to work with and have always been friendly to me, making me feel welcomed. I included some text in the presentation that would explain some real-life experiences and observations at the school and correlate with the audio, too.
From this experience, I have taken away two major lessons thus far. First, capturing real-time events on camera is hard, especially in trying to present a bigger picture. Second, is that in general people are nice, even if they are unfamiliar and you’re willing to lend a hand.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Second Journal Entry
During the past several weeks, I have been working with Ms. Seng Her helping to instruct K5 and 8th grade students in their studies of life sciences. I feel that I'm suited particularly well for the material that we cover as my major at UW-M has been biological sciences and that correlates well with life sciences (Biology = study of life). The 8th graders have been working on Rube-Goldberg machines that must have 15 steps to create a particular reaction. My involvement has been demonstrating the physical concepts of momentum and potential energy. Working with these students has not only been rewarding, but good for me, too, while the topics that come up reinforce what I have learned in physics I&II at UW-M. Of course, teaching these concepts doesn't involve deriving many complex formulas, but it doesn't have to. Working with the K5 group (kindergarteners) has also been a pleasure. I'm not really sure if it was them or myself who had the most fun making play-dough or mixing baking soda and vinegar (acetic acid) together to produce carbon dioxide gas and sodium acetate salt. The K5s are a fun bunch to work with, and are so inquisitive -- questions such as, "Mr. John, why do you wear glasses?" put a smile on my face because it means that they are willing and eager to learn about the world around them. Also, it was pretty awesome that I was offered a summer job teaching!
Friday, February 26, 2010
First Impressions at Escuela Vieau
Before attending the orientation for volunteers at Escuela Vieau school on Milwaukee's south side, I must admit that I was nervous about how we would be received. Maybe more significantly, I was worried about just how welcome I would be as the minority in an educational institution that serves a predominantly Hispanic student body. Those feelings quickly subsided, though, because the people there were absolutely wonderful! Yesenia and Maria, our contacts, explained that the culture is embodied by a strong commitment to familism, and that we would become a part of that family. After the introductions, it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a rewarding experience for both the students there, and for myself as well. One of the reasons I was so excited about volunteering was that it gives me a purpose - that just existing to lend a hand was enough to empower me to help out. No credentials or certifications (other than a clean criminal history - CHECK!) are obstructing me from sharing what I know with other individuals willing and eager to learn. I am somebody, and I am useful. The feeling that I left with was indescribably good and I can't wait to start on Monday!
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