Arboretum Adventures

Today was the first time I visited the arboretum, and I was surprised by the collection of plants and trees. Generally I love nature, whether it’s Alaska or Costa Rica, I always love seeing what the different areas have to offer. I just enjoy seeing the plants because not only are they pleasing to look at, but there is also such a distinction between the different plants and trees you can find in different areas. 

I can imagine myself visiting the Arboretum by myself or with friends. If its a really nice day out, that would be a really nice thing to do. Going there reminded me of a tradition I have with my family, which is going to the Botanic Garden in Washington DC every Christmas.

One thing that really surprised me was how many different species of trees and plants they had. Certain plants looked like they weren’t even physically able to grow there. But all in all, I really enjoyed going there as a nice field trip. Don’t get me wrong Ms. Squillante, I would’ve much rather have been in class.

Trip to the Palmer

In my trip to the Palmer Museum of Art, I found one section to be particularly interesting. That was the series, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, my favorite, and the one I’m writing this rhetorical analysis on is, Mt. Fuji from under Mannen Bridge in Fukagawa, the artist who painted this particular painting was named, Katsushika Hokusai.  He made this painting in 1830, using a woodblock print and oban.

The painting shows a river flowing into a larger body of water with four fishing boats headed underneath Mannen Bridge embarking on their fishing expedition. On the bottom right side of the painting, a man is sitting on the rocks fishing as well. The bridge is tan with plants and bushes on top of it. The sky behind the bridge is light blue with a layer of clouds on the right. In the background, behind the lake, you can see the snowcapped Mount Fuji behind fields of green. 

From this painting, it is fairly easy to tell that it took place very long ago, through the lack of motors on the boats, to the simplicity of the fishing rod the man is using, to the simple structure of Mannen Bridge. This painting makes a social statement that one may not pickup through one glimpse, and that is the unequal distribution of wealth shown. As this large, and well-maintained boat heads to sea, a small, most likely subsistence fisherman is left behind in its wake. The artist may be trying to show a common occurrence in which while one mans struggling to put food on the table, he who owns the boat is bathing in the fish the lone fishermen is trying to survive on.

This piece may not portray its message very bluntly, but the message I receive from this is very close to home, and I’m sure it is for a lot of people as well. Being from the city, I see this everyday, walking by homeless men I see the modern version of this very scene. This connects to my values in the way that if I ever found myself in a situation similar to what this lone fisherman was in I would appreciate help of any kind, that’s why I try to do for others as I hope they would do for me.

Hokusai had an obsession with Mt. Fuji, but the Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji were also in a way a tourist attraction. As domestic travel became more popular in the area, Hokusai wanted to show how beautiful the Edo, now Tokyo, area was. He wanted to show possible travellers what made his home so special to him, hopefully luring them in. His signature in the top left corner shows his pride in his work, and that he approves of this piece.

        

Me Philosiphizing a Little

I think my blog represents me fairly well. It’s bare right now but I feel as I upload more and more pieces, you and anyone else who reads my blog will truly get a sense of my personality. I thought it was easy to create the blog, blogger is a surprisingly user friendly website, and it was very easy to customize everything to my liking. One thing i hope to get out of this blog is to share with my new classmates who I am, and they can witness my writing change from what it is now to what it will be at the end of the assignment.

Analysis of My Blog

Template: I chose this template because the interface is very user friendly, what you see is what you get. I liked the idea of the about me page because being the beginning of the year you guys, and you Ms. Squillante, don’t really know what I’m about. Although the couple of sentences i wrote aren’t going to make you completely familiar with who I am, I hoped it would at least break the ice. I chose the picture template because something about the rain lured me in. It makes it look peaceful, that and the combination of the snow capped mountains in the background.

Title: I chose my title because my goal is to get engrossed in the arts through this course. I’ve never really been too into arts, but being in a new environment with a new teacher and new classmates may help me achieve that goal. The reason i put in “15s style” was to reiterate the fact that this is a seminar, and that may provide you the professor with more leeway to take us on field trips and other interesting activities, all being things that may help achieve my goal.

Color: I chose the color grey because thats the mood i was in whilst writing this. Not a bad mood, but it was raining, just glum. But i thought the mountains in the background made up for the depressing grey, because everyone loves snow, right?

Font: The font that i chose for the title is fairly basic, i couldn’t find one that really jumped out at me in my search. So i chose one that i know everyone will be able to read, and i made it big to emphasize the significance I feel my title has. And my font, the bulk of the blog, is also fairly basic, but it looks robotic, and I recently watched Terminator, so i guess that swayed my opinion, even if it was  subconsciously.

Pages: I chose not to use pages just because something about the simplicity of this layout just kept me with it. Once my page starts getting cluttered with posts I may be forced to change it to a layout with pages or tabs but for now this is the look I thought would most attract viewers to want to stay on my page and read the “No posts” bar for longer.