Blog Post #10: Link between Rivera's Mural & the Occupy Movement

The in-depth message that Diego Rivera's Frozen Assets mural shows is how capitalism reigns over cities, while poor laborers don't get benefits and the wealthy does. The Occupy Movement that's going on today has to do with protesting for economic and social equality that many people in America feel is lacking. Rivera's mural and the movement are connected because the artwork brings up things that are lacking in America.

The connection between the two aren't very clear because they're set in different times. However, they point out the same issues. Rivera's artwork was created around 1931-1932, and the problems seem to closely tie into today's events. The Occupy Movement goes more in depth to say that most of America is represented in 99 %tile, and they are paying the wealth's taxes (the 1%). That 1% also collects more money than any class below it, as the government undermines the 99%'s labor output.

An incident very similar to today's protest happened during the Great Depression, and that's what Rivera tried to showcase in his piece. The top half of the picture shows corporate banking business being built, while the second half shows homeless laborers sleeping in sheds and not reaping benefits. The bottom half shows a secret trade between the bank and a few wealthy people.

After getting insightful information about the mural, I can see where the "We are the 99%" motto that is used in the movement comes from. The wealthy are getting paid money under the table, which should be shared with the laborers. While all of this is going on, the only concern the government has is building corporate America, instead of building homes for workers. I feel that it takes a lot of reading between the lines to see the connection between Rivera's artwork message, and the Occupy Movement today.

Info:
Diego Rivera's Frozen Assets Mural
The Occupy Movement
The Great Depression

Blog Post #9: Patience is A Virtue...And an Inspiration?

This may sound weird, but I feel that patience inspires me. The time it takes for things to flourish is a beautiful things to me. I’m known to be a late bloomer, and a time consumer when it comes to my own life path. However, I feel that in order for things to come out the way you truly want it, you have to take the time, and wait for things to come about the correct way.

I think patience and time also gives you room to make mistakes, and be able to correct them. If you make mistakes early on, you’ll have time correct them for the future. The reason I feel that patience is an inspiration to me is because I like to take my time with things so that it comes out the way I planned it to be. I also feel that patience is inspiring to me because I don’t like rushed work. If I can manage to do something on the fly, then it was probably sheer luck. Though in normal situations, my products come out like “chicken scratch”.

I’ll admit that there were times where patience has pushed me, and I wasn’t inspired at the moment. Times where I am not inspired by patience is when I am driving or during confrontational times. When there are stressed times, patience isn’t really running in my head, even though I think it should be.

I am not sure if I share this inspiration with anyone else, but I think that this type of inspiration is something that people should think about. It may not be a person, art form, or behavior, but it’s something that people normally don’t take notice to, let alone as an inspiration.

Although people inspire me, it doesn’t last because I’m a detached person. If I had to choose someone that inspires me, it would be my mother. She exemplified patience my whole life, and put aside her dreams to raise me. I think that is great human interaction with patience.

Blog Post #8: The Babysitter's Club...Community

The community I am a part of is a babysitting community. The members of my community are family-based and tied to friends of my family members. This community initially started as just a family operation, but it became more of a task for me as more members were added on. The interaction in my community is friendly and very open. The kinds of things that go on in the community are homework studies, interactive activities, and transportation to their homes.

The thing that connects the community is the friendship that they have between each other. I am connected to the community because I get the opportunity to witness it. The members of the community sometimes choose to be a part of the community, but sometimes are obligated to be a part of the community because of transportation or homework issues. My community's benefits are that all of the members interact like family. My community's disadvantages are that we may get too involved with each other and get dristracted from doing our work.

I really enjoy my community because I get to see the community members grow. I am the eldest member of my community and because of this, I get to see everything evolve. Most of my community consists of girls, and that makes everything more sentimental.

Blog Post #7: My 1st Module Experience

At the beginning of my first module, I had high expectations for myself. However after getting through Module I, I realize that my goals weren't met and I constantly dropped the ball. I had some good and educational times during those moments, but I wish that I had lived up to what I set myself with in the beginning.

I am proud of the fact that I figured out ways to dress business appropriate, incorporated with my own style. At the beginning of the program, I thought that it was going to be the hardest part because I was so used to wearing tank tops and flip flops, and I hated the thought of having to conform to business attire. Although finding an outfit for the next day is hard, I have found myself liking the close that I have been forced to wear, and now find it hard to wear casual clothes.

I am also proud of the fact that I did so well in my Business Communications class. I thought it would be like trying to stand still on slippery ice. The class had turned out to be very easy, and I really loved the interaction in class. Although I don't like to talk about things that I'm rewarded for, I got the opportunity to do my Elevator Pitch in front of a panel of judges (one of whom intimidated me), and was tied for 2nd place.

I am also proud of the fact that I have been interacting with my peers. I also feel that this is a delta because even though I interacted, I did not get a full opportunity to have real, in-depth conversations with some of my colleagues like I wished.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Blog Post #6: Who's My Neighborhood Shape Shifter?

I was born and raised in San Francisco, and lived there for the first eleven years of my life. If you know about San Francisco, then you probably know that there are sections of San Francisco that people "claim", and I place my "claim" in the Bayview Hunters Point region. It is know to be very urban, and a violent. However, these are all things that people I've encountered have "claimed". I never really paid attention to neighborhood influences, but more so to how my environment at school and home influenced me.

I can't say that my neighborhood, didn't influence me, but it did give me a new pair of eyes to things I did not experience. Growing up in my area with most people the same race as me, and going to a very diverse school could seem like a push & pull situation. However, I seemed to be more involved with the environment that I was not used to: school. I seemed to enjoy putting myself in situations that I wasn't used to, but I still remembered where I came from & the people who were like me, in color. The people I hung out with usually seemed to be a different race than me, and I had no problem with it, but "my people" thought that I was betraying them.

Even though they felt this way towards me, I did not hold any grudges, and change who I was. Instead, I explained to them that I wasn't a different person, but just putting myself in a different situation to see the difference. People who are the same race as me now seem to be coming around with other races and environments. This would not be so much gentrification, but more like a race settings or racism, in general. It does feel like gentrification plays a small part, though. The different ethnicity of students, and my race of people not coping with the fact that I was willing to branch out is an example of gentrification, just without the housing changes.

Blog Post #5: Reflection on "The Poverty Business"

The companies who prey on people, or families who are living in dilapidated homes make situations worse by cheating them with the sneaky deals that they sell. There were times where salesmen wouldn't even give someone in a bad living/income position, the time to ask a simple question. However, with the annual debt rising, they realize that selling to them can benefit them because they know that families need these necessary luxuries to get ahead and get by. Families or individuals who have dreams and hopes to get out of the environment that they are in, or even getting out of the class system they're placed in, won't be able to get to that point because of lucrative salesmen, who are now aware of their situation.

I honestly feel that the more that these salesmen keep selling and succeeding in it, they will reap what they sow. I learned in my Economics class years ago that if a teen walks into a store, and then walks out with something that they did not pay for, every single person in the world eventually is paying for it. It would be due to the price of the item sold, the cost of the wrapping of the item, the cost of the shipping, the labor done in the factories, the investment in that company from various sponsors/people, the creator's pocket money from trials and errors, and the profit that they potentially lost because that item was stolen.

I also feel that the person or people responsible for fixing this sale/debt problem would be the run-down companies who prey on helpless families. They feel that their only profits would come from people who need it, but cannot afford it. However, I am pretty sure that they get bigger profits, and recurring customers based from their wealthy clients. It is not fair to the lower class system, and does not help the economy, as a whole, move forward. I also feel that individuals are a fault, sometimes, because they should read the fine print before signing anything.

Blog Post #4: My Bio Blog

My name is Dominique Anderson, and I am 21 years old. I have a big interest in jewelry making, interior/commercial design, traveling, many forms of art, and learning new things about life and the people who exist in it. I am also very family oriented, and consider them to be a big motivation in my life, especially while I am attending the Year Up program. I have seven younger siblings who look up to me, so I feel that it is mandated that I do something that would at least make a positive impact in their lives. I have future plans to go to a four-year college, preferably Sacramento State or out of state, that would apply to Commercial Design, and get a Associate of Arts Degree in Fine Arts.

After I feel that I have accomplished my school studies, I will work at trying to create my own design firm that would aid businesses or companies who needs functional and creative environment to work in. My reason for choosing commercial design as a career is because I am a very artistic person, and would love to be able to meld that into a business career, where I can effectively help someone. I would want the work that I do in the world to last for a prominent number of years and be useful.