Year: 2019

Britney Lilly
Dr. Hall
1101
4.13.19
Scholastic Art Magazine

A Starry Night and its Tortured Soul

Vincent van Gogh wasn’t just the man who decided to chop his left ear off because he wanted to give it to someone he loved (or so they say). Vincent van Gogh was a man of many faces, all of which turned into a life of unexpected twists, turns, and emotional turmoil.
Though Vincent van Gogh was thought of as a tortured soul, the life he lived and the roles he played created the artist we revere today. Just like many of people nowadays, Vincent van Gogh clearly struggled with mental disabilities along with some physical ones throughout his life. He has been commonly believed to eat his yellow paint in the hopes that its color would brighten his demeanor. Though in reality while he did eat his paints it was found by Dr. Peyron to have been in attempts of suicide through poisoning “The medical notes of Dr Peyron, Vincent’s physician, revealed that Vincent wanted to poison himself by eating paint and drinking turpentine. That’s probably why he wasn’t allowed into his studio while he was suffering from his attacks”(VanGoghmuseum).Vincent van Gogh also had the habit of consuming absinthe while falling into a fit of emotions that lasted for the remainder of his life.
He later admitted himself to an asylum after one of his fits caused him to chase his roommate painter Paul Gauguin around with a razor in hand. That evening ended in the severing of Vincent van Gogh’s left ear (which he handed to the brothel owner in which he frequented) though no one really knows if it was by him or Gauguins’. When Vincent van Gogh arrived back home, this is when he shot himself in the stomach in a wheat field where later his brother Theo had found him bleeding. Vincent van Gogh died a few days later from internal damage and inability to remove the bullet, and his brother Theo followed after six months, leaving many to think Theo unable to live his life without his brother when in fact he really died from syphilis.
In his death, Van Goghs’ fame rose quickly, causing many doctors to attempt in diagnosing this plagued artist. He is commonly thought to have suffered from psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, borderline personality disorder, severe depression, and paralyzing anxiety. No matter what they tried to diagnose him with, Van Gogh was a man with much sorrow, who tried to work through his pain with his paintbrushes. And because of this he created beautiful and emotionally driven paintings that can be seen and felt throughout the art world.
It was 1889 when Vincent Van Gogh admitted himself into Saint-Rémy asylum after having a nervous breakdown, there he found he could “paint en plein air” (French for outdoors), it is here that he pained one of his most famous masterpieces. The scene of “The Starry Night” came entirely from Van Gogh’s imagination, none of the scenery actually matches the area that surrounds Saint-Paul or the view seen from his window. As a man who religiously paints what he sees, it’s a remarkable break from Van Gogh’s normal work.
Really look at his brush strokes. From the sky and how they swirl, to each dab of color moving with the clouds around the stars and the moon. The cypress tree that bends with each curve of the branches. The whole effect is graceful and dreamlike it’s like each stroke is creating a dance only his mind understands. The hills lazily spiral down into the village below. In a striking difference, the town is painted with rigid lines that break up the fluid like the flow of the brush strokes. There are fewer trees through out that soften the harshness of the town merging nature into the roughness of buildings. The contrast in styles plays on the dreams versus reality or natural and unnatural. Nature could even be attributed to the divine in this work. While in the asylum Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother, “I feel a tremendous need for religion, so I go outside at night to paint that stars.” (Theartpostblog). In his search for self discovery and healing, he found that the sky, the nature, the starry nights satisfied his desire for infinity. (Theartpostblog).
It reminded me when I placed myself into an institution, like Vincent van Gogh I placed myself in willingly after a mental breakdown. There I met a nurse who would paint replications of many famous artists’ paintings, with Vincent van Gogh painting being one of them. This was where I found my love for his artwork. Watching her as she would paint with practiced strokes and concentrated face of what she saw Vincent van Goghs’ painting to be through her mind’s interpretation. That along with the telling of his life’s tale I soon saw how I could relate to such a beautifully broken mind. Through my own turmoil just as he had his, he inspired me. I believe everything can be beautiful if you just try to see it through another’s eyes.
Many people have seen a picture of “The Starry Night” either in a museum or on the internet and felt the power of his brush strokes created in their soul. I myself have gotten lost in this painting many times. The connection that is felt inside myself when I view “The Starry Night” is indescribable, I become at ease. It is as though the world around me has melted away where the colors start becoming one. In my personal episodes of depression, anxiety, mental breakdowns, this painting has brought me to places of solace. The calming blues, swirling whites mixed with yellow, the speckles of stars, and the sleepy town below is a place I wish I could be. A constant place of steadiness created from a mind that was in wild disarray .
Life is moving so quickly that people forget to stop and appreciate the small things yet people always seem to ask, but why? Why should I care? For me people like that have a tendency to close themselves off when a new world is offered to them. It’s as if those types of people are afraid to step out of the confinement of their personal bubble. “The Starry Night” shows that even in the darkness there’s an underlying beauty in the things that are around us if we know how to look. Everything that is created is made with emotion and care. You don’t have to necessarily like something to understand the emotion behind it. That is what art is, the emotion that brought that image, sound or story to life.
When people have their mindset in the place of pain and misery, there is not much that we can do for that person in terms of reliving their sorrow. When dealing with manic depression, if it is not handled properly, what that person has been through to that point is normal to them, even though their judgment is seen as askew. If someone is going to commit suicide such as Vincent van Gogh, then they have readily convinced themselves that they are no longer needed in this world. Letting go is the easy part, it’s finding subnational reason to hold on that is hard.

Works Cited
o www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/125-questions/questions-and-answers/question-63-of-125?fbclid=IwAR2oZa0GI0vXi0T3BtyocuqvgZ9bDKHFYQyLCRxlm_MvV4VHQziDK6slPUk&v=1.
o “The Starry Night by Van Gogh: What It Represents.” The Art Post Blog | Art and Artists Italian Blog, 14 Mar. 2019, www.theartpostblog.com/en/the-starry-night-by-van-gogh-what-it-represents/.

“Sucker For Pain” Video

Nina Darbonne

Dr. Carrie Hall

English Comp 1 1101-D355

2 May 2019

“Sucker For Pain” and EMS Work

Many have heard of New York City’s bravest, strongest, finest, and boldest as monikers for New York’s public service departments of Fire Department, Sanitation, Police Department, and Corrections respectively. But few people know there is a department missing from the list. New York City’s Best is reserved for Emergency Medical Services. In Emergency Medical Service, EMS for short, Emergency Medical Technicians, EMTs and Paramedics work with passion for the profession. A wide array of reasons reel EMS workers into the job; whether it’s the excitement of the job, morbid fascination, riding the high from helping those in need, or being one of the last lines of defense against death. Despite the undeniable love of the job, sadly many EMS workers are overworked and underpaid. More often than not, EMS workers have three or more jobs just to make ends meet. Being exhausted from working long hours and running from one job to yet another job for another long grueling shift, leads to bitter, burnt out workers. Unfortunately, EMS workers tend to leave the job either hurt from physical strain or fed up with the field of work due to years of fatigue draining the love and passion out of the job.

First responders: Police officers, Firefighters, and EMS are legally not able to strike because they provide essential services to the city. A strike would cause a detrimental gap in those services and possibly endanger lives. This can be compared to other city jobs, like Mass Transit Association, MTA which has had several strikes to give stock to their union’s pay and benefit demands. There is a significant pay gap even amongst first responders. “EMTs are paid $47,685 a year after being on the job for five years. Firefighters with five years on the job are paid $110,293, while police officers make $85,292 after five and a half years, but ‘officers may potentially earn over $100,000 per year’ with benefits, according to NYC.gov” (EMS1). Taking a look at other first responders, it is far less common to find a police officer or firefighter moonlighting as officers or firefighters (respectively) in another city or county. However, for EMS members it is essential to precariously balance several jobs just to afford to live in the city we serve.

New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio promotes ideals of “fairness and equality.” However, when questioned regarding the first responder pay gap during a press conference, de Blasio defended the unfair disparity in wages. “‘I have deep, deep respect for our EMTs and everyone who works at EMS,’ de Blasio said. ‘I think the work is different. We are trying to make sure people are treated fairly and paid fairly but I do think the work is different’” (EMS1). Contrary to de Blasio’s misconception, EMS workers arrive to the scene of calls along side both police officers and firefighters and encounter their own share of dangers. Moreover, the EMS department responds to the largest number of jobs of all the first responders.

EMS workers face traumatic scenes, dangerous and high stress situations on a regular basis. A survey was conducted with EMS workers and was compared to national statistical data compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC. “3,447 (86%) of the 4,022 respondents experienced CS but the shocking discovery was that 1,383 (37%) of the respondents had contemplated suicide and 225 (6.6%) had actually tried to take their own life… These statistics are roughly 10 times greater than the national average for adults in America, according to a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012” (Newland). CS stands for critical stress, which is “the stress we undergo either as a result of a single critical incident that had a significant impact upon you, or the accumulation of stress over a period of time. This stress has a strong emotional impact on providers, regardless of their years of service” (Newland). EMS workers do not voluntarily run into burning buildings or knowingly stand in the line of fire. Nevertheless, that does not mitigate the dangers EMS workers face on a regular basis and the difficulties inherent to the line of work.

The song “Sucker For Pain” was released in June 2016 as part of the soundtrack of the movie Suicide Squad. The song features artists: Dan Reynold of Imagine Dragons, Sam Harris of X Ambassadors, Ty Dolla $ign, Logic, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa. The song closely relates to the plot and themes prevalent throughout the movie. The official movie website describes the movie as, “Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?” (SuicideSquad). In the movie, the group of criminals transforms into unlikely heroes and band together to save the world. The group fights to save society, despite always being viewed as criminals and returning to their prison sentences after the successful mission.

The lyrics of the song have a clear correlation with the movie. Some of the lyrics can also be applied to EMS work and serve as an anthem of sorts. The song opens with the chorus performed by Dan Reynold and Sam Harris. The line “Take my hand through the flames” can be related to the year long wringer of paramedic school. Typically when EMTs are going to medic school, a delicate and draining balance must be maintained between attending class, scheduling ambulance and hospital rotations, studying, and working enough to keep their bills paid. Another line from the chorus that ties in with this analogy is, “I’m a slave to your games (I’m just a sucker for pain).” For many perspective paramedics, medic school encompasses a majority of their time. It requires the student to read textbooks, prepare for exams, excel in clinical rotations, and learn new skills such as: interpreting EKGs, intubation, iv placement, and drug administration. Medic school tends to eclipse work and more often than not, personal life as well.

Ty Dolla $ign’s verse can be used in context of EMS unity and pride, the community’s discontent with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the tragedy that devastated many when a fellow EMT was run over and murdered by her own ambulance on March 16 2017. Ty Dolla $ign raps, “I got the squad  tatted on me from my neck to my ankles.”  The first line referring to having tattoos identifying with one’s “squad” can easily be applied to EMS as it is common place to see EMS workers adorned with the Star of Life, a stylized EKG, or emergency medicine paraphernalia tattoo. The following lines, “Pressure from the man got us all in rebellion. We gon’ go to war, yeah, without failure… Love and the loyalty that’s what we stand for. Alienated by society. All this pressure give me anxiety… Feeling the world go against us. So we put the world on our shoulders.” These verses can be related to the loss the community experienced losing one of its members, along with the added insult to injury with de Blasio mitigating the work EMS providers perform claiming “the work is different.” EMT Yadira Arroyo died while working an overtime shift from injuries sustained when Jose Gonzalez stole her ambulance, struck her and ran over her body. “Pressure from the man” can represent the pay disparity EMS workers face or Mayor de Blasio himself and the ignorance and misconceptions he and others hold regarding the field of work. “All this pressure give me anxiety…Feeling the world go against us. So we put the world on our shoulders” speaks to how regardless of the issues faced: PTSD, anxiety, depression, lack of respect, and poor pay; EMS providers continue to service the communities we work in and help our patients to the best of our abilities.

The second verse is performed by Logic. He raps, “I been rollin’ with my team, we the illest on the scene. I been riding ’round the city with my squad… We just posted, getting crazy, living like this is so amazing… We been loyal, we been fam, we the ones you trust in.” These lines relate to how EMS workers view themselves and the positive morale felt on the job. This encompasses the crew arriving on scene to an emergency, the nature of the job involves driving around the city in the ambulance, the love of the job, and how our patients and their family members rely on the services we provide. This verse celebrated the highs experienced working EMS.

Most of Lil Wayne’s lyrics are esoteric describing far-fetched, painful, creative ways to die; however one relatable line is, “Uhh, devoted to destruction.” This ties into how first responders are called upon during disasters and in general when things go wrong on both the small, personal and grand scale.  Wiz Khalifa’s contribution to the song is in the bridge. He raps, “Never going slow, we pick up the pace. This is what we wanted from a young age.” These lines tie into the nature of the job and emergencies call for expedient measures to be taken in both arriving on scene, care of patients, and arriving at the hospital. As for the second line, many people in EMS had aspirations from childhood to work on an ambulance and help people.

Every career choice has its share of positives and negatives. EMS work is definitely not an exception to this rule. However, myself and many other EMTs and Paramedics would proudly attest the positives far outweigh the negatives. We love what we do and proudly serve day in and day out. “Sucker For Pain” is a dark anthem that celebrates doing the right thing; despite lack of recognition and injustices that must be overcome.

Works Cited

Newland, Chad, et al. “Survey Reveals Alarming Rates of EMS Provider Stress and Thoughts of Suicide.” Journal of Emergency Medical Services, 28 Sept. 2015, www.jems.com/articles/print/volume-40/issue-10/features/survey-reveals-alarming-rates-of-ems-provider-stress-and-thoughts-of-suicide.html.

“NYC Mayor on FDNY EMS Pay Gap: ‘The Work Is Different’.” EMS1, 29 Jan. 2019, www.ems1.com/fdny-ems/articles/393319048-NYC-mayor-on-FDNY-EMS-pay-gap-The-work-is-different/.

“See #SuicideSquad, Available on Digital HD 11/15 and Blu-Ray™ 12/13.” SuicideSquad, www.suicidesquad.com/.

“Sucker For Pain.” Suicide Squad: The Album Soundtrack, Atlantic.

A Lot of games have come a long way from the 8-bit limitations of old consoles. Games like skyrim, **, and many other triple A games go as far as possible to reach as realistic as beautiful, creating scenic beauties that borderline too realistic. There’s no arguing that games have become much more beautiful over time, but a lot would argue if these are considered art pieces. Every game has some kind of an objective: defeat the enemy team, get to the end of a puzzle, save someone, or just get the most points out of anyone. Art though, dosnt have such a clear cut objective, more or less its purpose is to provoke some kind of emotion or reaction from an observer. With that, it’s easy to see the argument that most games themselves aren’t art, but just contain art. But does that mean that a game itself can be an art piece? Can a game provoke imagination and curiosity without holding the players hand and showing them how they should feel? Of course, there’s countless games that are meant to provoke emotions, but there’s few that can be considered works of art all by themselves.

Journey was created back in 2012 by ThatGameCompany, with the intent to create a game that not only made the player feel insignificant to their surrounding in order to have them explore the vibrant landscapes, but to go beyond the defeat/kill/win mentality of most other games. Outside of the name of the game and the ending credits, the entire game is void of dialog or writing, telling the story through map design, hieroglyphics, and paintings given to you by the echoes of those long lost. You start as a nameless hooded figure in a vast desert, surrounded by the ruins of a lost city. Through the ruins, echoed stories, and scattered pictures, you learn that the mountain that you’ve been drawn to walk towards since the beginning once gave the lands magic, the same magic that you use on your way through the game. The magic was used to nourish the land, the plants that grew, and the people that flourished from it. Over time, the people learned to harness this power, and created large and beautiful cities from this new power. Eventually though, as the city grew larger, and the land once used for food and life was now used for towers, the magic began to die out and fade. With the magic dwindling, a divide was created between the people over a hold of what’s left, and thus lead to war. Giant robotic monsters were created to fight and take what magic the other side held. In the end however, no one on either side survived, and the monsters still run free clearing the land of the life that once thrived. Over time the land was taken back by the sands of time, and what was left of the magic was used to to make you, the player. Further on you see your journey through the ruins, as if predestined, and at the end shows your defeat at the base of the mountain. Knowing this, you continue on through the frigid cold and pass the graves of those before you. As predicted, you reach the base of the mountain, and as much as you struggle through the roaring winds, the player collapses into the silent snow. As the screen fades from the white of the unforgiving blizzard, the echoes of the people who guided you come, and grants you your second wind, as you launch through the eye of the storm, past the robotic monsters, and through the fence clouds. As you break the clouds, you reach the peak, surrounded by the energy that once flooded the lands, and as you reach the end, your covered in light, as the game fades back into darkness.

Topic: Kendrick Lamar_HUMBLE

Kendrick Lamar (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most skillful and successful hip-hop artists of his generation. Raised in Compton, California, Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K-Dot, releasing a mixtape that garnered local attention and led to his signing with indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). He began to gain recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated.

One of his music video is particularly interesting to me as it includes many captivating scenes and words. That particular video was released in 2017 and got a lot of attention. In addition of being a very well-sounding song, it also includes messages depicted with scenes. Through this song, the singer addresses Americans, but more precisely Black people, women, corrupt people and more directly to those taking part to that racial segregation and or profiling. The purpose of this song was to highlight what black people are still going through and how it affects the way they live and the way they act. The content was expressed in a lyrical and explicit way to the audience and the original oeuvre may be somewhat inappropriate for under aged people.

From the music video, it is clear that the artist put a lot of work to make things look exactly the way he wanted it to look. Scenes throughout the video have meanings and are meant to send messages to the audience. In introduction, we can see Kendrick standing still dressed like a pope portraying “HUMBLE” manners till he starts singing with somewhat a though character.  This scene represent the “awakening”, stating that none can consider one ethnicity to be superior to another, and still expect the oppressed people to stay nice. As a side note to that scene, oppression is not “Christian”. Suddenly, from a pope driving the word of God, Kendrick turned into a different personality where many girls are sitting next to him counting money. This scene represents how media takes advantage of the hard work of other. The women counting his money also have masks on their faces which means that they are under cover.

Next, a scene shows him in the middle of a diner table covered in red with wine and bread on it, and others people sitting along. This scene depicts the famous diner Jesus had before being crucified. This scene has been interpreted in many music videos by other artists such as A$AP Ferg, Nas and Stormzi. That scene more particularly show that the people you just broke bread with, can betray you.

Another scene shows Kendrick in front of a group of men with their heads on fire, and other streets guys in the background. He then mentioned “Dreamers”, to illustrate how racist people think, their selfish manners when they feel like someone is taking over. Their head are on fire due to their dreams that they can’t reach and are forced the live like the guys in the far background. On another scene with a little bit of controversy, he says that he is “tired of Photoshop” and displays a girl in two screens (natural  and “photoshopped”), where the girl seems to look better natural! That scene cause a bit of controversy from the feminists. Some seemed offended for being portrayed as “photoshopped” because they use makeup. But on the other hand, some people say that he just stated his preference and that nobody should feel concerned. The meaning of the scene was tricky as he mentioned Richard Pryor who actively fought against racism and the fact that some people change their appearance just to fit in the society.

A well known scene form an old commercial was also illustrated, where he exchanges a jar from the back of a car to another man inside an other car. The original commercial scene was made by two white men and he shows that the same scene among black Americans can be interpreted as a criminal activity.

The same action is judged different when done by someone of a different race. Next, he then appears in a house with gun lasers pointing at him. That scene shows media attack towards African-Americans and says it’s even worse than alcohol abuse. By “Be humble! Sit down”, Kendrick illustrate what African- American have been told. He then appears in the middle of bold head black men face down (oppressed), saying “be humble, sit down”, with him in the middle signifies that he is the voice with his face facing up no matter what he is being told. The following scene shows him between a group of black people in high status with their faces up and him wearing white to tell the difference and show that he will keep the battle going.

This music video is very entertaining, but the main idea behind this video was mostly about showing the audience facts about what is going on, that racist people are brainwashing the masses so they can think negative about African American. Considering the actual situation, such oppression does not help at all, it makes some people stop caring and just do what they are mostly considered to be doing. Bad things. It was an overall very interesting song with a lot of messages that the audience need to understand.

• Link to discussed video: https://youtu.be/tvTRZJ-4EyI
• Other sources of research https://youtu.be/yzoenMAFHns
• https://youtu.be/G6zWJFCTmZM
• https://youtu.be/Ne4YRL2Gpk4