Art, Rockwell's Subtle Way to Show Outrage

            The painting titled The Problem we all Live With is a thrilling piece of artwork painted by Norman Rockwell in 1964. The painting depicts a scene that occurred in New Orleans, on November 14, 1960, when a young colored girl called Ruby Bridges was entering an integrated white school, and so in this scene, Bridges was being rejected and harassed by white people.

            When paying close attention to the painting, one can notice that the men who walk with Ruby Bridges are Federal Government guards who were in charge of protecting her from any physical harm that the crowd might cause her. One can also see tomato splashes on the wall and on the floor, which I think Rockwell painted this to show the contempt of the crowd, yet what I think shows more contempt are the “Nigger” and “KKK” scratched on the call. What impresses me the most on this painting is how harsh racism could be even towards a six-year-old.

            Rockwell’s intention in the painting was very clear for me after analyzing the scene. The focus of this painting is Ruby Bridges, that’s why the guard’s are cropped out, and that’s why there’s no angry mob seen anywhere. There are some scratches on the wall, and signs of tomato being thrown to show the rejection there is for Ruby. One can notice that even though she is being rejected and insulted, she still has a confident posture, and that shows how brave she is, which is part of what Rockwell saw. In my opinion, I think that Rockwell’s intention - being a favorite artist of that time - was to surprise everyone. To show people what he saw, to express how he felt, the painting was his way to show some sort of empathy towards Ruby, and at the same time, it was a subtle outrage towards the people who disrespected Ruby. Nonetheless even though this painting is very thrilling and gives a feeling of sadness and depression, I think it’s rather beautiful because it expresses Rockwell’s feelings and thoughts so well, that people could realize how wrong and cruel this situation really was.

travel Journal: #6

No VIP no Fun

I spent New Year’s Eve at my country house with my family, and like any other year, we launched fireworks. I went to sleep like at six o’clock after the New Year started. I slept the rest of January first!

                I just came back from the movies today, we went to watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, and it was awesome. Yet the seats we had were even better! We had those sofa-like chairs that recline, and have a little table so you can eat whatever you want. I’m never going to normal movie theater ever again, from now on, I’ll always go to VIP, otherwise, it isn’t fun. I also went shopping today, and found this record store that was selling Muse CDs autographed by the band! Lucky me!

                Anyway, Pipe’s birthday is tomorrow unfortunately for him, he has to drive for about three hours to get his driver’s license, and unfortunately for me because I have to be nice to him tomorrow. I’ll manage to do my part; I just hope there are no car crash accidents on the news tomorrow.

Travel Journal: #5

Getting ready to zip line

Zip lining over the river

Road Trip to Rio Claro

Rio Claro was awesome! Even though we only stayed for two days we had so much fun; we went zip lining, water rafting, hiking, and river tubing, but my favorite was water rafting because it was three boats at the same time so we splashed, raced, and knocked each other off the boats.

                The water rafting lasts about two hours, but there’s a place where we stop and swim for about 30 minutes. The place is this huge cave created by the erosion the river made with the passing of years, and it’s where the river is its deepest. Rio Claro, which is the name of the river, goes through a marble canyon, so the sight of the cave is mesmerizing because of its shape and color. At the cave, there’s a tree that lies over the river so you can climb on it and jump into the river, but there’s also a rope so you can swing and jump. Also, there’s a waterfall emerging from the top of the cave and falls on the river so the boats can pass underneath it and the passengers can feel the ice cold water.

                The trip itself was very nice, but going and leaving Rio Claro was a total nightmare! To get there you have to go by car, and the car we were traveling in is a few 76 years old, so every time you went over 50 k/h the car started tumbling from side to side like an earthquake! And as if it wasn’t enough, it was midnight and there where huge trucks on both sides of the road! We almost crashed about five times! Anyway, I had an awesome time regardless of the near-death experience in the car, after all, what’s a road trip without an almost car accident?