Romanticism

    I am more of a romantic person.  I enjoy being in nature and I appreciate the beauty it offers.  Growing up my family never had a lot of money.  We didn't get nice things so we had to learn to be grateful for what we had.  We took a lot of camping trips as opposed to going on lavish vacations to theme parks so I learned to find enjoyment and beauty in natural things that don't cost money instead of relying on theme parks and expensive things for happiness.
     I've always been very emotional person.  I have played volleyball for close to 8 years and I've always had a hard time controlling my emotions because sports are very emotional.  I am extremely competitive and I love to win.  I love playing volleyball because I'm able to unleash my emotion and competitiveness in a positive healthy way.  I've gotten a lot better at controlling my emotions during losses but when I was younger I would always choke back tears when my team would love because I hated it so much.
     I want passionate love.  I want the kind of relationships that I see in the movies and Nicholas Sparks books like The Notebook, Safe Haven, and The Lucky One.  I know its not very realistic but its fun to dream.  I want spontaneity, drama, passion, and most importantly happiness.  I want a relationship where both me and my significant other compliment each other.  I want the same amount of differences as similarities to keep things interesting.  I have very high standards when it comes to my future husband and I want him to have all the qualities that I have listed and then some!  Someone that is more Enlightenment based would know that that isn't very logical or possible but me, being a product of Romanticism, would like to keep dreaming.
     Romantic music appeals to emotion.  This is my favorite kind of music.  I like songs with lyrics that you are able to relate to your own life.  These songs make you think about your life and the drama within it and it makes me appreciate it.  If there was no drama or zest in my life it would be boring and not worth living.  I like to feel emotion when listening to music, it makes the music so much more enjoyable and relatable instead of just listening to music because the beat is nice.

Enlightenment

     I think the public sphere is needed in our society.  People need places they can go to have conversations with people who have opinions that are similar to theirs.  The public sphere is unavoidable.  The saying "birds of a feather flock together" will always be true.  People with similar interests will find time to meet together and discuss among themselves what they please whether it be a book (book clubs), politics, the government, art, and so on.  A book club is a perfect example of the public sphere.  A group of people meet together every so often and discuss a book they are all reading and talk about their feelings toward it and then gossip and so forth. 

    Without the public sphere our society would become disconnected.  The public sphere offers people support for their opinions.  People seek groups for reassurance that they aren't the only one that thinks what they think or feels how they feel or believes what they believe.  In the absence of the public sphere, our society would be less creative and more critical.  People would be less likely to put their ideas out there not knowing how the public will react and having no one to back them up.  We need assurance.

     The public sphere present in our world says that we are all dependent in some way.  We will always care what others think regardless of how laid back we think we are.  We need support and confidence to know that our ideas are like and that others agree with them.  No one wants to feel alone in the world and the public sphere is like the clique you put yourself into in high school.  That clique gives you a sense of belonging and companionship that everyone needs, no matter what age.

     

Baroque Blog Post

     Bernini's sculpture of David is unlike Michelangelo's and Donatello's.  Both Michelangelo and Donatello's versions of David have pretty obvious similarities; they are both solitary sculptures, they are standing in similar positions, and both of them are fully...exposed.  Bernini's sculpture is extremely different.  David's manhood is mostly covered and this sculpture includes more than just David, and it has movement unlike the other two.  Michelangelo's David was David prior to slaying Goliath, Donatello's was David after he had slayed Goliath, but Bernini's sculpture of David shows him in the act of slaying Goliath bringing more drama, movement, and life to his sculpture.  When looking at the sculpture you can envision David slaying the ginormous beast.  Bernini's sculpture is more complex and elaborate than Michelangelo and Donatello's because of David's twisting body, the intensity of his facial expression, and the props with him in the sculpture.  Complexity is exactly what Baroque style is all about. All the pieces of the sculpture flow together and compliment David in his effort to kill Goliath.   Bernini's sculpture of David is arguably his masterpiece.  Although there had been numerous David sculptures done before his, the complexity of the Baroque style perfected his effort and his sculpture of the hero highlighted his career.

Renaissance Blog Post

     Platonic love is love, but it's love that is non-sexual. So that, to me, is the kind of love you have towards family members and friends.  In Botticelli's Primavera, none of the characters seem to have any sexual desires toward one another.  Zephyrus is trying to kidnap Chloris and Chloris is holding on to Flora, Venus is standing in the middle completely neutral, the Graces are dancing amongst themselves, and Mercury is minding his own business to the far left.  When I looked at this painting I could tell that there was love and friendship in certain aspects but none whatsoever were sexual.  Although there are many attractive women in the painting and Mercury is an attractive and powerful god himself, he isn't interested in any of them and his attention is in the complete opposite direction.
     Generalizations about 2D art in the renaissance were: concern with humanist themes, blended science and math with art and creativity, it was highly symbolic, geometric equaled symmetry, and it had precise, ordered presentations.  The Primavera's characters were all very life like and has amazing detail that made them look as human as possible as far as their features and proportions.  Venus is in the middle of the painting and the brightness of the background around your head and the way the trees arch cause your eyes to focus on her.  The graces to Venus' right and Flora, Chloris, and Zephyrus to her left, form triangles with their body shapes making the painting geometric and symmetrical.

Our Societies View on Happiness

     Our society loves to indulge in the Hedonistic approach to happiness.  Today's society believes that happiness is the sum total of pleasure experienced during one's lifetime.  We use phrases such as YOLO, meaning 'you only live once.'  We hear these phrases on the radio.  Bon Jovi sings "it's my life, it's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever."  The rappers Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg, in their song "Young, Wild, and Free," sing 'So what we get drunk, so what we smoke weed, we're just having fun, and we don't care who sees.'  And there are numerous other examples.  Almost every other song on the radio has some sort of phrase that essentially promotes the point that we need to live our lives to the fullest because we only live once.  None of the songs or saying worry about the consequences that might come from partying all the time or never taking anything in life seriously.  Celebrities in the magazines are shown partying, binge drinking, snorting crack, and I can guarantee that they aren't worried about getting arrested or going to jail.  All they care about is all the money they have and that they can pretty much do whatever they want with it.  These celebrities are who we are watching and looking up to.  Whether we realize it or not, they are our examples and this Hedonistic approach that seems so appealing now is going to be what our children believe and will determine how they grow up.
     I do not agree with the approach to life when it's taken too literally.  I enjoy having a good time just like everyone else but at the end of the day I still know my responsibilities and I have my goals in mind.  Another reason I don't buy in to our societies gimmicks is because of my religion.  I am LDS and we believe that our time here on Earth is so insignificant and is just a small portion of who we are.  We believe that when we die, we go to heaven, so the term YOLO isn't exactly correct because we don't 'only live once,' we continue to live for eternity.  Believing what I believe has made a significant difference in my life.  My little brother passed away only a few months ago and I'm comforted in the fact that I will be able to see him again, knowing that he did 'only live once' but that he is alive somewhere else, watching and waiting for me and the rest of my family to join him. I would have to say my outlook on happiness is a cross between Stoicism and Epicureanism.  I am able to enjoy myself and experience in please but I do so in a way that I know isn't harmful or unsafe and that bad things are going to happen and there is going to be sadness but we will always be able to overcome it if we are prepared.
   

Into the Woods Blog Post 2

One of the characters sings "Wishes may bring problems such that you regret them.  Better that, though, than to never get them."  Almost all of the characters, at the beginning of Act II are complaining about something, the Baker and his wife, for example, are complaining that now, with the new baby, they need more room; their bakery is no longer big enough.
When you wish for something, or want something very bad, you only think of the positives.  When you actually get what you've been hoping for you may realize that it is harder or comes with more responsibilities than you initially thought.  After Cinderella and the Prince got married, they both realized that being married required a lot more effort and you can't be as selfish.
Going along with the lyrics "Better that, though, than to never get them," it's good to experience life with your wishes and learn from them.  If you don't have those experiences you may spend your whole life wondering what it would have been like if your wish had come true and you'll never find satisfaction in what you already have.

Into The Woods Blog Post

The woods in the play Into the Woods represent our dreams.  When someone in the play wished for something, they went into the woods and their wish came true.  Cinderella, for example, wanted to go to the ball more than anything but had nothing to wear.  She went in to the woods and sang to a magic tree and the tree gave her a beautiful dress to wear to the ball so she was able to go.
The woods represent our dreams because in our dreams we can do anything we want and get anything we want.  We know that in life we can't always get everything we want, it's not realistic.  We can always have goals to strive for but that doesn't necessarily mean we will reach them.  That's not always a bad thing; when you set your goals really high and strive for them, you end up getting further than you ever thought you would regardless of whether you reach the ultimate goal or not.
In our dreams we can do whatever we want and anything is possible.  In Into the Woods, the characters are able to achieve things that aren't possible but because of magic they are able to.  The baker and his wife are unable to conceive a child but because of the magic from the witch they are given hope.  None of this is possible in real life.  We don't have magic unfortunately, but we do have our dreams and in our dreams anything is possible and our dreams give us hope that we can always become a better version of ourselves.