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Languages

2006-04-03T16:45:00.000-03:00

Language and other factors such as gender, ethnicities, and social status have an important influence in the formation of someone’s identity.
Nowadays, however, especially, with the influence of globalization, we are able to observe human exchange in many countries throughout the world. People who are looking for better life conditions and/or jobs and they travel abroad much more often. As a consequence, they find themselves interacting with cultures which are very different from their own and to which they have to adjust.

Now, at a more personal level, I interact with different languages in my “day to day” life. First, Portuguese, which is the Brazilian official language (inherited through the Portuguese colonization) and also my mother tongue as I was born here. It is the language I speak most of the time with my colleagues at school or with my family at home. Besides, I’m sometimes faced with some Arabic in my grandparents’ house, since they come from Lebanon. Therefore, I can pronounce some words but they are essentially food names or swear words (which mean a lot). Finally, by studying the Torah, which is the Jewish bible, I have learned some prophetical, profound and inspiring expressions which are very good to be aggregated to my general knowledge.
Although there are some languages with which I feel more empathy (like the ones I have just exposed), I am particularly averse to German as it sounds very harsh and I have the impression people are always insulting us saying those words that are difficut to pronounce.

Language learning is essential to all societies. Besides being a cultural instrument, language learning helps a lot in communication. Therefore, all governments around the world should invest in education with the intention of promoting the diffusion of languages to the population, so as to enable them to be regarded as more brilliant, and “high level” citizens.

At secondary school, we have this opportunity of learning other languages, which I’m sure will be very useful for us in the future, especially, when looking for a job or even doing tourism around the world. These languages are French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. I feel really thankful to this high school for providing us with so many different languages to learn, thus making us smarter students.

In Brazil, people feel the importance of learning other languages besides Portuguese. That’s why we can find so many extra- curricular courses for learning English, which is seen as the key for success in the work market. In fact, learning other languages is essential in order to find a job and get a better social-economic status. The more educated the person is, the more he or she will succeed. It is an added value to your diploma.

As for challenges and discoveries when trying to adapt to a new language, I guess that the most difficult part is to understand what the natives are saying as they talk too fast and also use national slang and expressions. Therefore, it’s essential to be patient and hope that time will help you to adapt to this new language more easily. However, I guess that my studies have prepared me very well to be ready to face a new culture.

The idea of creating an identity in a foreign language is complex. From my point of view, there will always be some extroverted people that will react the same way no matter where they are living or what language they are speaking. On the other hand, there are those who take more time to adjust to a new culture and language and therefore would take some time to show who they really are.

43places.com

2005-11-07T15:55:00.000-02:00

On the last English classes, we have been working in a really interesting site where we can visit any place in the world in a few 'clicks'.

First of all, I went to Guaruja, a place where I go whenever it's possible on vacations but just to give an advice to the visitants about the violence which is omnipresent on this city. For more information go to http://www.43places.com/places/view/106999.

Then I went to Australia, the country of my dreams. In fact, I have always been crazy about this place, and intend to go there soon and take a look in the amazing things we can find there (as we can see in the photos). I have made a question which is my biggest fear about the 'Kangaroo Land", go to http://www.43places.com/entries/view/322394#comments and take a look.

I really enjoyed the site 43places.com as we can know a bit more of any place in the world without taking any airplane, but just traveling on the computer and imagination (if you have not understood this sentence, is just because that's pure philosophy) which is much cheaper.

A little poem by Berti Cohen

2005-10-30T02:58:00.000-02:00

When I see your face
I feel like flying on the surface
But when i'm not with you
I sit down and eat a babaloo

Referendum

2005-10-17T15:56:00.000-02:00

Today, six days before the referendum to ban guns' trade, Elie and I will analyze three articles about this controversial topic. Thanks.
First, we read the objective article "Tough clash ahead in Brazil referendum to ban guns" by Andrei Khalip from washingtonpost.com.
Than we examined "Historic Decision: Disarmament Statute Passed In Congress" from iansa.org, a biased article for the prohibition of guns' trade.
And finally, "Rare drop in gun deaths in Brazil" by Steve Kingstone, which is an objective article from bbc.co.uk, showing both sides of the corner.

Here are the arguments exposed by the articles and their authors:

Arguments in favor the prohibition:

Brazil has the highest number of gun deaths in the world, with 36,091 people shot and killed last year, according to government figures.
Human rights groups endorse the government-proposed ban.
It will spark a national debate, promoting awareness that will help implement and enforce the new law.
The minimum age to purchase firearms will go up from 21 to 25, in a country where young males are killed by firearms at a rate four times higher than that of the general population.
In Rio de Janeiro, the gun death rate among young people reaches 239 per 100,000 residents, twenty times higher than the rate in the United States or 2,000 times higher than in Japan.
The combination of popular demonstrations, an intense and spontaneous campaign against armed violence by the main media outlets, and the shocking 40,000 people were killed by guns last year alone – led 82% of Brazilians, to support the Disarmament Statute according to a recent poll by Instituto Sensus
Last year 36,000 people were killed by guns.
There are more gun deaths in Brazil than in any other country, and since the early 1990s the annual number of fatalities has risen grimly.
That is until last year when 36,000 people were killed with firearms. That is still a shocking 99 deaths per day.

Arguments against the prohibition:

Brazil could be made defenseless against any Nazi-like tyranny.
This event really reminds us the Nazi Germany's decision to ban guns for civilians in 1938.
The vice president and defense minister, Jose Alencar, says the ban would encourage criminals and he claims it would be a threat to democracy if the "SIM" wins.
Some groups acknowledge the prohibition of legal gun sales would not reduce the arsenals held by dreaded drug gangs and other criminals.
Almost 60 percent of an estimated 17 million guns in Brazil were obtained illegally, said human and social rights group Viva Rio.
Police, judges, firefighters and security firms will be able to buy guns for private and official use.
Brazil's gun control laws, which were tightened in December 2003, are already very strict. They require psychological and gun-handling tests, a clean criminal record and high registration fees that are too costly for many Brazilians.
Last year 36,000 people were killed by guns - a drop of 8% from 2003, according to the health ministry.

To conclude, we may say that these articles show the two sides of this interesting question of ban gun's trade. As well as the mobilization of the Brazilian citizens to defend their opinion, which they think would be the better choice for the future of the country.

Reflective post

2005-10-03T15:54:00.000-03:00

This will be a really different post from all others I have done till now. In fact, this won't be any document description or a text resume. This will be a reflective post about all the work we have done using computer machines and Internet, or social instruments. I will try to explain myself about it.

In the beginning of the year we have started doing a pattern work based on blogging document descriptions such as the painting named "George and The Dragon", making people's biography (Duane Hanson, Nelson Mandela), or giving our point of view about social questions like Stereotypes. This work even being made with a blog, was still with a direct contact to school environment.

However, as time went by, we have progressively runned away of this method of working. In fact, using sites and organizations like dekita.org, or Flickr we have kept a contact more intensive with people of all over the world. Asking questions about their culture or personal information we have augment, and increase our general knowledge.
For instance, we have known a high-quality photographer named Joseph, who answered us some questions about him and his hobby which gave me another vision of this world making me feel keener on admiring landscapes or nature.

Based on all this information, I may say that what our teacher is doing with us nowadays is a way of working that will be more and more used from now on thanks to the development of technology and cybernetic world. In fact, it's a really efficient method in the way that we really practice our English using it for communications with others. Internet helped us to work in a fine way since the beginning of the year as it is a tool of entertainment, but most of all sociality.

" The way we work"

2005-08-29T15:33:00.000-03:00

In an article, Sue Bowness shows us that her generation expects their work to be a big part of their lives but are also concerned about having a fuller life, doing what they like, taking time to travel and becoming more integrated people.

In the part intituled “Disappearing jobs”, Logger Clint Fiske exposes that he hardest part of the deal is to keep his sanity and not worry hiself to death.

And that's it folks!

Work - Answering Comments

2005-08-22T15:32:00.000-03:00

Hello people of 1e L, I really appreciated your attention and will try to answer your comments one by one.

First of all, Kate, I saw that you didn’t really agree with the word “pens”. But I just wrote it because in school, these are the objects or instruments that may reflect our work in a paper.

Dahlia, I see that you deeply hate school and I see that you are a real polyglot, congartulations. Concerning torture, I agree with you when you say that Physics or chemestry are extremely boring and used to torture us everytime we enterred in those classes. However, I tend to say that Philosophy (even not having many courses yet) may torment us even more.

Karo, I really appreciate that you concur with me in 100% of my words and opinions.

Maiteta, I think I associate work to suitcase because of the Avenida Paulista where we can see plenty of men going to the enterprises holding their “bags”.

I guess that’s it people, I hope I’ve answered your doubts and complaints.

See u girls…

Work

2005-08-15T15:33:00.000-03:00

Here are some words and concepts related to work:

office, businessman, salary, employ, money, remuneration, school, university, exams, tests, results, marks, evaluation, teachers, work partners, suitcase, pens, computer, calculator, numbers, certificate, activity, contract, employment, industry, job, manufacture, profession, responsibility, specialization, vocation, effort, obligation, performance, production, trouble, undertaking.

An amazing experience during my holidays.

2005-08-07T10:23:00.000-03:00

DSC00072, originally uploaded by Berti01.

During these holidays I went to Israel with a group of about 40 people. In that amazing and wonderful country I passed through many emotions, adventure, and adrenaline. Many events are still in my mind and in my photos.
One of the most significant moments was in the 'Gadná' when we went to a military base to feel and live like an Israeli soldier for a whole week. It was an unforgettable experience where we were taught the discipline and general culture about the Israeli army.
One day, our "mefaquedet" or responsible soldier taught us everything about guns and in the end we shot, I don't want to seem like a psychopath but it was one of the most pleasures feeling I had ever had.
It's really interesting to see in the streets many people carrying their guns as if it were their purses or suitcases. It shows how their culture is different from the Brazilian's and that it’s really important to travel abroad as we can always find out more about other people’s habits and lifestyle.

Punks

2005-06-14T19:08:00.000-03:00

We can say that punk first emerged in the mid 1970s in London as an anarchic and aggressive movement. About 200 young people defined themselves as an anti-fashion urban youth street culture. Closely aligned was a music movement that took the name punk.
Concerning fashion, the clothes suited the lifestyle of those with limited cash due to unemployment and the general low income school leavers or students often experience.
Besides, body piercing was done in parts other than the usual accepted placement in the ear lobe. The placement of studs and pins in facial body parts such as eyebrows and cheeks, noses or lips for the masses was then quite unusual even after the freedom of the 1960s.
Black leather, studs, chains, mufti fabrics, greyed sweated out black T shirts, bondage animal print bum flaps and leg straps epitomise some of the looks that immediately spring to mind when thinking of the early punks.
Punk hair is worthy of mention - A focal point of the punk look was the hair which was spiked as high as possible into a Mohican hairstyle. In fact, we can see nowadays plenty of young people with this style which I personally hate and think it’s ridiculous.

In relation to issues, we can say that Punk remained an underground scene until 1976, when two bands - The Ramones and The Sex Pistols - made the outside world take notice. Not only did they become hugely successful in their own right, but they also provided an inspiration to people who realized you did not need to be able to play an instrument to be in a band - you just had to have something to say.

Nowadays, there are many bands of “punk rock” which are pretty famous and making a lot of money all over the world. However, we can see that they expose a paradox as it really conflicts with their “anti-capitalist” idea.

Source: http://www.lyricsvault.net/history/punk.html

Punks

2005-06-14T19:06:00.000-03:00

Rebels

2005-06-06T15:55:00.000-03:00

I guess a rebel is someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action. It may be a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority. Actually the best example that came to my mind when I hear this word is Nelson Mandela (character that I also used in my oral presentation on heroes). In fact, instead of bowing down to this unjust system of government, Mandela became a lifelong warrior in the battle to free South Africa.Starting out as a leader of an underground political movement called the African National Congress (ANC), Mandela played a part in many dramatic demonstrations against the white-ruled government.

In my opinion, everyone, even the most serene person has probably already felt like rebelling. In my case, when my parents prohibit me of doing something I really wanted to do I rise up. Or when I'm judged by somebody unfairly, it really gets on my nerves.

We can topic some synonyms of the noun "rebel" as: insurgent, insurrectionist, freedom fighter and maverick. In the other hand there are many synonyms for a hero: ace, adventurer, celebrity, champion, combatant, conqueror, daredevil, demigod, diva, exemplar, gallant, god, goddess, great person, heavy, ideal, idol, lead, leading lady, leading man, lion, martyr, master, model, paladin, popular figure, principal, protagonist, saint, star, superstar, tin god, victor, worthy.

Besides, a rebel is a not obeying whereas a hero is a brave one. A rebel has a pejorative meaning and a hero is completely the opposite.
However, I think a rebel may be transformed into a hero. We can use the example above of Nelson Mandela. In fact, in his period he was seen as a rebel for fighting against the system. However, we can see that he was fighting for a good cause, therefore he is seen nowadays and will be seen in the future as one of the most celebrate heroes in the history line.

Source: http://thesaurus.reference.com/

"Native or Non-Native Teachers"

2005-05-30T16:05:00.000-03:00

This week our teacher told us to go to http://www.dekita.org/ and find an interesting topic which we would consequently comment. I have chosen Aaron Cambell’s one which concerns the question of “Native Teachers or non-native Teachers”. There were many comments which I agree and others that I disagree.

First of all, I may say that I’m really disappointed with Diana’s comment when she says that “prefer the non-native teachers because we know our Spanish children and we can motivate them better than native teacher.” Actually, it doesn’t matter where the person is from to be able to motivate a student, what is important is the way the teacher use to involve his pupils.
In the other hand, I agree with Aaron when he says that “teacher exchanges are a really good idea”. In fact, just like student international exchanges, it would give teachers an opportunity to be in a new cultural and professional environment, which is always helpful to gain insight into both their practice of teaching and their knowledge of self.

Besides, I also agree with Rosa when she says that what is important is that the teacher is competent and skillful at his craft. Whether the teacher is native or not really isn’t the most important issue.

To conclude, I may say that it’s not so important whether the teacher is native or not. Sometimes it’s even a good opportunity for the students to hear other and different accents. The important thing is for the teacher to be a good competent inspiring teacher.

"Pinacoteca with Henry Moore" (Berti Cohen)

2005-05-22T10:48:00.000-03:00

Last Friday, we were really happy and motivated to go and visit the Henry Moore exhibition which was taking place here in São Paulo at the Pinacoteca.
We arrived there a bit sooner, so we had time to have an excellent lunch porvided by the cantine, which was for free, imagine!!!

Eventually, we enterred in the exposition divided in two groups since we are very numerous. We began by the three main sculptures. First, I really admired his work but then I realized that it was always the same standard of art. Therefore, I got bored and the more the lady spoke the more I was with "the mind in the moon." In the other hand, it was nice to see how we can think so many diferent things about a same object, a sculpture for instance.

To conclude, I may say that even if I didnt't get so fascinated as I was expecting, it was a good experience as I could find out what is the subjective art and this way I could add up new elements for my general knowledge. Besides this, we could run away from the boring and pressure environment of school.

I would love to know who agrees with my opinion or not.
See u sooooon....Big and wet kisses...

Henry Moore

2005-05-10T15:56:00.000-03:00

Henry Moore was the most celebrated sculptor of his time, and the second part of his career, in particular, demonstrated that Modernist sculpture was, after all, surprisingly adaptable to official needs. Moore was born in July 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, the seventh child of a mine manager who had worked at the pit face. Both parents were strong and supportive personalities, and Moore's childhood was pretty happy we can say. He became a student teacher in 1915, and by 1916 was teaching in the local elementary school which he had attended in his boyhood. At seventeen he joined the army, as the youngest member of his regiment, the Civil Service Rifles. For him the First World War was not the traumatic experience it was for so many others.

In 1921 he moved to London where he studied at the Royal College of Art with a scholarship, graduating in 1925. In this same year he became a sculpture professor at the same institution, where he taught until 1932. In 1945 the University of Leeds granted Moore the title of “Honorary Doctor”. Eventually, International recognition came when he was awarded the prize at the XXIV Venice Biennial. In 1949 retrospective expositions were organized for his work in Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Yugoslavia and Japan. In 1954 he participated in the San Paulo’s Second Biennial, presenting nearly 70 of his works.

Currently, we can see that even being dead, Monroe has still an influence on the "art World". The exposition in Pinacoteca illustrates pretty well what we have just said but just in the next post you will find out in more details how this exibition was.

See u "Muchachos"

Source: http://www.britishcouncil.org/brasil-arts-visual-electronic-arts-henry-moore-biography.htm

Oral on heroes - Nelson Mandela

2005-05-04T22:35:00.000-03:00

First of all, I may say that I consider heroes as being people who have great skill, strength, and are admired for their achievements. They may risk their lives for others.

In my opinion, heroes may be found everywhere, in our everyday life. Especially nowadays, as the conception of “hero” has deeply changed in the history line. Today, modern heroes are said to be the doctors, fireman, or police who are always helping the man-kind saving lives. In the other hand, the classical heroes used to be strong and romantic, like Hercules for instance.

I have chosen a special person who seems to illustrate pretty well the idea of heroism. Nelson Mandela fought bravely against the Apartheid in South Africa, a country where drinking out of the wrong water fountain might get someone thrown into jail; where a man might have the very same job as his neighbor, but because of the color of his skin, get paid less in a year than the other man made in a week.

In fact, instead of bowing down to this unjust system of government, Mandela became a lifelong warrior in the battle to free South Africa.
Starting out as a leader of an underground political movement called the African National Congress (ANC), Mandela played a part in many dramatic demonstrations against the white-ruled government.

His career in the ANC was cut short in 1964 when he was sentenced to life in prison. But even there, Mandela continued to be a hope for his people who carried on the struggle against Apartheid in his absence. In 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment, Mandela was freed. His release marked the beginning of the end for apartheid. In less than five years after his release, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and elected president of South Africa.

As a conclusion I may say that I consider Mandela as being a hero because he has shown determination, bravery and courage and therefore may be considered a true freedom fighter. I’m sure his life and personal triumphs will be remembered long after the world has forgotten the evils of Apartheid.

source: http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=nelsonMandela

"Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth"

2005-04-13T17:43:00.000-03:00

This document is a painting made by Dennis Malone Carter in 1854 called "Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth".

First of all, in the foreground we can see Molly Pitcher. She was a heroine of the American War of Independence. She is wearing a red suit matching the national flag which is right behind her. She is an exception in this painting as she is the only woman in the scene and the only one who is showing the will to combat, differently from the soldiers around her who seem to be exhausted.
Tthe dead man on the growns, as well as the canon show the brutality and violence of this war.

In the middle ground, there is a man holding his hat, wearing a white shirt, perhaps representing peace. The particularity is that even though he is in the middle of this terrible conflict he seems to be extremely serene and peaceful.

In the background, we may see all the atmosphere of a combat. Firstly, the colors used are very appropriate: the black is almost everywhere symbolizing death and sadness. In addition to this, we can see all the soldiers and their horses, in the middle of loads of smoke, ready to fight for their independence against the British (who must be in the left hand side of the painting as all soldiers are looking towards that side).

To sum up, I may say that I got really admired by this painting as it shows the bravery and determination of a woman, Molly Pitcher,who in spite of being in the middle of difficulty and cruelty, she encourages a whole army to fight for one purpose: the whish to be independent.

George and the Dragon

2005-04-10T11:58:00.000-03:00

A pupil of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and a protégé of John Ruskin , Edward Burne-Jones belonged to the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, creating a narrative style of romantic symbolism steeped in medieval legend and fused with the influence of the Italian Rennaissance. He became one of the most sought-after painters in Europe.
He completed some 200 oil paintings during his lifetime. One of his main works was the representation of George and the Dragon.

Actually, there are many versions of story of St George slaying the dragon, but most agree on the following. A town was terrorized by a dragon who demanded the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden. However as all the young girls had been killed, the young princess was offered to the dragon. When George heard about this he rode into the village, slayed the dragon and rescued the princess.

The document on page 26 in our book is Jones’ oil painting which illustrates the legend above mentioned.

In the foreground, we can see George, the patron-saint of England wearing a shining armor and using his weapons a spear, a shield and his sword “Ascalon” which was used to trespass the scaled Dragon (symbol of evil). The beast is wriggling in agony. The colors used are extremely emblematic as black represents death and the red passion.
In the middle ground we can see the princess tied. She looks fragile, wearing a white wedding gown symbolizing her purity.
Finally, in the foreground we may observe a melancholic and sad village represented in blue which is also used in the mountains.

As a conclusion, I may say that since I was a kid I have always been crazy about the conflict between good and evil forces. Therefore I was very impressed by the legend of George and the Dragon and consequently by this painting.

Concluding the unit

2005-03-22T16:01:00.000-03:00

We are arriving at the end of this unit, and I would like to post one last time to conclude this subject.

Actually, during this first month of classes we have seen different kind of stereotypes and we reflected on how they can influence some people's views.

What called my attention was the variety of stereotypes that exist. We have studied some of them, for instance of:

- age (all teenagers love rock and roll and have no respect for their elders),
- gender (women can’t drive and men can’t cook),
- race (black people have music “in their blood ),
- religion (Muslim just pray the whole day),
- jobs ( sportsmen aren’t cultvated)
- Nationality (Americans are always in search of innovations and French are the best cooks in the world).
- Physical appearance ( blond women are all “brainless”)

To sum up, I can say that this unit was really useful for us, students, as we could study a really important topic and consequently reflect a little bit more about our thoughts concerning other people from different cultures and way of life.

In addition to this, it’s extremely important to know how to deal with the media which is always stereotyping people and situation and consequently manipulating us through movies, television, books, and magazines. Therefore, we must be open-minded and not let ourselves be influenced otherwise our “fixed images” may, unfortunately, be transformed into prejudice.

"Tests overdose"

2005-03-14T19:49:00.000-03:00

When I was going to the English class this Friday, I was relaxed since I had in mind that I would have a dynamic and interesting course as always.

However, when we entered, the teacher started moving the tables for test. I thought that, maybe she was just playing atrick on us. Unfortunately I realized I was wrong when she said “Listening test, Guys!!”
I guess I did well in this test which exposed, in a comic way, stereotypes between Turkey and Britain.

In the afternoon we had another English class, and I had the same thought in the morning. When I saw the tables, I joked with the teacher ironically saying “Are we going to have another test?” and she said “Yes sir”, I considered it was just another joke as the teacher is always in a good mood. Nevertheless, I realized that I was wrong again: “reading comprehension test”.
The text was about an American guy who detested being treated and educated to be a stereotype.
Personally, I didn’t like the passage as he is extremely narrow-minded, showing just bad aspects of men’s and women’s personality.

We can’t have the same attitude as this writer. We must be open-minded, and be always trying to find out more about a group of people that we don’t know really well; otherwise we will be easily influenced by the media. This can show us sometimes wrong information about someone or something. For instance, the blond women who are always shown as stupid people.

I think that’s all for the moment,
"Hasta la vista babe"

Ameri-think VS. Brit-think

2005-03-07T20:45:00.000-03:00

Continuing on the subject of stereotypes, we did in class a very attractive text based on national stereotypes, more precisely between American and British. In this text, we find out the British judgment of an American as well as the opposite. We can topic some examples on the text such as the fact that American are always thinking in progress and innovation , while the British are extremely conservative and preserve the tradition of things.

In fact, I may say that the stereotypes shown in this text reflect exactly my point of view about these two powerful countries. Actually, when I hear “United States”, I immediately think about modernity, improvement and advance. It’s a country which is always a step before the others in all domains (medicine, technology, infrastructure, etc).

On the other hand, when I take notice about Britain I instantaneously associate it to conservation; they keep a tradition on their way of life, without making many changes (the fact of drinking tea everyday for instance). I believe I have this impression of British people because of their behavior: always punctual, and extremely polite. However, it’s important to say that even being so “conventional”, Britain kept on progressing (economically for example) just as the United States.

As a conclusion, we can say that it’s interesting to see how two countries that have some similitude like their language, may have on the other hand “deep” differences, especially concerning the behave and their citizens' way of life.

Duane Hanson

2005-02-27T15:15:00.000-03:00

Duane Hanson was born in Alexandria, Minnesota January 17, 1925. He was a noted American sculptor, and a former art professor at Oglethorpe University. Hanson's super-realist sculptures are cast from human models and rendered in polyvinyl, auto body filler (bondo), or bronze. The "skin" of the sculptures is painted in such detail as to resemble human flesh. The sculptures are then finished with clothing, hair, jewelry and other accessories. The exhibition also features a maquette, or a proposed commission never completed, as well as items from the artist's workshop including casts, chisels, brushes and items unique to his medium, such as eyeballs and teeth.
The realism of his sculptures draws the viewer in for a closer look and links Hanson with the Photorealist painters who also explored methods of copying as a form of image-making. Hanson’s intent, however, was not merely to reproduce reality but also to comment on the human condition. His subjects are ordinary people leading unremarkable lives—a cleaning lady, a woman shopping, a museum guard.
When I saw, on page 11 of our book his sculpture called “Tourist II” I got fascinated. Actually, what first struck my attention was how Hanson managed to stereotype the tourists just by sculpting them. Besides this, I was shocked and amazed by the hyper–realistic figuration of the sculpture.

Stereotypes

2005-02-27T14:40:00.000-03:00

In our first English class, the teacher introduced us to our first unit which concerns Stereotypes. It pleased me a lot since I believe it’s a really interesting and contraversial subject.

Actually, I had very few ideas about this theme, but in class we have been developing many ideas about that.
We brainstormed “What is exactly a stereotype?”, and by asking people or looking for information I deduted that a stereotype is a generalization about a person or group of people. We develop stereotypes when we are unable to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations.
We can classify different kinds of stereotypes into categories like: national, appearance, jobs, religion, politics, gender, etc.
Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes; however they often lead to unfair discrimination when the stereotype is unfavorable. I can illustrate what I am saying by giving examples: we often say that French people are stinky or, Swiss are cold. Just like women can’t drive and men aren’t able to do the housekeeping.

Personally, I suppose television, books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of stereotyped characters therefore we can’t let them influence us and we must prove them wrong.