Group Poem

four leaf clovers

she is lucky finding love
and tomorrow is here again
morning meadows

they walk with animals
wild broccoli pieces fell apart
and the children
laugh at green leaves

it was funny
cause she stole money
running after the bunny
a big bad bear dancing
and then he giggled

and the world molded
we jumped farther still
however could not reach
the dreams we dreamed

-team cloonan

Strawberry Fields Forever

Video is here

With little background information, the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles seems to have little to do with war. In fact, the song's title simply comes from the Strawberry Field Salvation Army Children's Home, which was just around the corner from where John Lennon grew up in Liverpool. This song was first released on the album Magical Mystery Tour, and is seen one of The Beatles greatest hits. This song is filled with nonsensical lyrics that are organized in a stream of consciousness style. The listener is presented with lines such as, "No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low that is you can't, you know, tune in…" Not surprisingly, this song is associated with The Beatles' heavy LSD use. Drugs influenced many of their songs and melodies as the band sought to create beautiful music out of the fear and hostility of the Vietnam War.

Much analysis of this song is often centered around the Strawberry Field Salvation Army Children's Home. This orphanage obviously played a huge role in John Lennon's childhood as he grew up in Liverpool. During his youth, Liverpool was very much home to the working class. Industrialization was taking hold in the old slave port city and the difficulties of life were very much a reality for its workers. Through lyrics such as "living is easy" and "nothing is real and nothing to get hung about," Lennon references the hardships of this city in this particular song.

Additionally, this scene from "Across the Universe" depicts dripping strawberry juice, an extremely significant symbol in terms of conveying this song's meaning. While strawberries are normally associated with springtime, sweetness, and life, this scene uses the sugary fruit for a much different purpose. In complete contrast, the strawberry juice arguably symbolizes blood. Symbolically, the video depicts fields filled not with delicious fruit, but instead with the blood of thousands of soldiers in Vietnam. Another striking image from this scene occurs as the film's main character, Jude, nails multiple rows of strawberries on a board. After clips of soldiers in Vietnam are flashed on the screen, the camera pans down the rows of strawberries, revealing that they have begun to excrete red juice. As each strawberry begins to give off its juice, a new solider has been killed in war. Then, in perhaps an even more direct approach to this symbolism, the strawberries are depicted as bombs falling towards earth, ready to indiscriminately cause mayhem and destruction.
Without the context provided by the images in "Across the Universe," this song may lack meaning in terms of protesting war. However, when coupled with the striking images of smashed strawberries, dying soldiers, and combat zones, "Strawberry Fields Forever" develops into a much more significant piece of musical art.

Anything to Escape

At first glance, this picture might seem like a normal office with people sitting down. Upon closer inspection however, it is clear this picture is far from normal. Taken during World War II, this picture shows a couple of Nazi officials who have taken poison so that they would not have to be captured by American soldiers. This picture was taken from a sort of "birds-eye view" angle that overlooks the entire room. This allows the viewer to see the entire setting without anything blocking its view. What this does is it shifts some attention away from the subject of the picture (the three dead people) and allows the viewer to take in the whole setting. This further emphasizes the shocking difference in the picture. Part of it seems like a normal scene –an office with a desk, chairs, and other office supplies. This contrasts sharply with the three Nazi officials who are lying dead in the office. This sharp contrast has a large emotional and shocking impact on the viewer, as it takes them by surprise and really makes them question what is normal and what is not.

Further, the photograph's color and use of lighting acts to guide the viewer's interpretation of this photo as one that is not necessarily attempting to magnify the horrific nature of this scene. First, the brightest area of the photograph draws the viewer's attention away from the main subject, as if attempting to soften the shock that one might experience upon viewing the death of these three officers. Equally noticeable is the fact that the officers' clothing seems to blend perfectly with the furniture in which they are sprawled. Indeed, the photograph seems intent on portraying the three Germans as nothing more than extensions of the furniture rather than emphasizing their death. Due to the camera's unique angle, none of the three figures cast any sort of shadow on their surroundings. In fact, only the chairs and drapes provide any sort of dark lighting, again stressing the photographer's intent to provide normalcy to an otherwise bizarre scene.

Our Personal Wars

After reading Trey's post where he analyzed a song regarding a person's personal wars, I was immediately reminded of the song "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace. Here are the lyrics for reference:

This world will never be
What I expected
And if I don't belong
Who would have guessed it
I will not leave alone
Everything that I own
To make you feel like it's not too late
It's never too late

Even if I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late

No one will ever see
This side reflected
And if there's something wrong
Who would have guessed it
And I have left alone
Everything that I own
To make you feel like
It's not too late
It's never too late

Even if I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late

The world we knew
Won't come back
The time we've lost
Can't get back
The life we had
Won't be ours again

This world will never be
What I expected
And if I don't belong

Even if I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
Maybe we'll turn it around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late (It's never too late)
It's not too late
It's never too late

The music video is here and I would recommend watching it because it kind of shows what the song is trying to say.

Throughout the song, the artist is trying to convince someone else not to kill themselves just because their life changed. He tries to reassure this person by saying things will get better and it's never too late to change things.

Basically, the song is talking about how our lives change and will always change. They might change for the worse or they might just not be how we wanted them to be. But no matter what happens, things have a way of working themselves out, so don't focus on the negatives and let them affect you. It's also saying it's never too late to change. It's never too late to change the direction in your life, to change your attitude about different things, and to change your mind about harming yourself.

The artist goes in depth about our own personal wars deep inside. In this instance the artist is talking about the effects of having a life you did not want. The war inside this person is trying to decide if the life they are living is worth it anymore, or if they should just end it. The artist tries to convince them that it's not too late to change and things will be alright. He strikes a hopeful tone with the person saying their lives will turn around and things will get better because it's not too late.

I agree with the message of this song-you can always change a negative aspect of your life. Whether that means adopting a new attitude towards a subject, picking a different direction to head into, or trying to find the positives in a situation, things CAN get better and it is never too late to change them. This song reminds me of Junior year in high school. My friends and I were having trouble adjusting to our insane workload (thanks to AP classes) and balancing that with clubs and our social lives. There were times where we just wanted to give up and just quit our clubs or take a day off school. But instead we just knuckled down, decided life could be worse, and just focused on the positive and fun aspects of that year. Because we changed our attitude, our Junior year turned out to be one of the most fun and challenging years ever, and we all became closer as friends because we stuck together and got through the year.

How?

This picture inspired me to write a poem from the perspective of the woman on the left hand side of the picture.










How could this have happened?
What atrocious sights
The fact that man could do this
Without the slightest fright

Halls and rooms are filled with stories
Of sickness and of pain
It's a wonder no one died
From simply going insane

All around me soldiers bustle
With urgency and regret
I guess they weren't expecting
Something the world will never forget

But up ahead, on the left, what is that pile of stuff?
Oh no.
Oh God.
Are those human bodies?

I can't even look
How amazingly upsetting
I can only put my head in my hand
As a long day starts setting

All those poor people
Is this the cost of war?
Can people really be this brutal?
How can they be so sore?

So many questions
Not enough answers
But one question remains in my head that will never go away
How could this have happened?

Team A

Caption:

What the f*ck am I doing here?!

Olde Time Store

"Slavery in the Civil War Era"

http://www.civilwarhome.com/slavery.htm

This documentary photo was taken in Georgia in 1864, just when the Civil War in America was slowly coming to an end. This picture is representational of a small town shopping area, but what sticks out is the store that says "Auction & Negro Sales." The entire picture captures a historic moment in U.S. history when the south was still engaged in the buying and selling of slaves. This practice was most common in the south (like Georgia) and was a main factor in the start of the civil war between the free-states of the north and the slave-states of the south. The Civil War did not end until 1865 and even then it took years for slavery to finally end in the south, so it is possible that this store for auctioning/selling slaves to white plantation owners was still in use.

What makes this photo so striking is the photographers use of direct approach and setting. The picture is taken in a straight-forward manner so that it looks like a normal street of stores. The setting is also that of a little street shopping area that has multiple town stores. The normalcy of all that provides a striking contrast to the store in the middle that auctions off slaves. In this day and age, seeing a setting like this is quite shocking. One would not expect to see a slavery store in the middle of a little shopping area. But that is what makes this photo so striking; it seems so normal yet it portrays a dark scar in U.S. history. At the same time, there seems to be a glimmer of hope in this picture. It looks as though there is barely anyone there, which could possibly mean that the sale of slaves has slowed down and possibly stopped all together. The fact that the foreground is so empty leads the viewer to believe this. Another characteristic of this photo that could lead a viewer to believe the slave auctions have ended at this location is the man that is sitting in front of the store. He is centered in the picture, but is small so he is hard to see at first, but once he is seen it appears as though he is a black man. If this is true, it shows the change that the Civil War caused by contrasting a free black man sitting in front of a store that use to sell blacks.

Overall, this representational/documentary photograph of a slave auction store in Georgia in 1864 represents a dark scar in America's past and provides a striking contrast between the normalcy of a shopping area to the atrocity of slave auctions.