Culture Shock

Dear Bingley and Blythe,
  I am bundling this letter together because it will feed into my discussion with both of you, but I assure you I still value both of you. With that in mind it seems as though your perception of Americans may have taken a hit. We also watched the scenes from What Would You Do? and the episode of Wife Swap, and that is what this letter will regard. I believe that there are both adamant fallacies and painful truths weaved into the fabric of those shows. You must understand they have to do what is going to get them a positive reception from viewers. As much as it displeases me there is a heavy bias in media towards entertainment as opposed to education. With that said, I do think that they bring to light important issues here. I hate that there is such a large weight still on the shoulders of women in my country. I am the only boy in the women's rights club at my school. I think that Wife Swap does a good job at showing the importance of the mother and the woman in general when it comes to the functionality of a household. Branching off from that, the What Would You Do? episode that focused on the Muslim woman showed just how scummy people can be. I do like that show because it shows both the good and the bad in everyday people. The woman receiving help when her breasts were partially exposed and then becoming ignored when they weren't infuriates me. I like to think that I am a helper. I sit down with my friends all the time and do what I can to stand as an intermediary for their problems and do what I can to keep them happy. My personal belief is to always put other people before you. It has always helped me fell better about myself. Depression has consumed my life for a long time, side effects of being a writer I suppose, and it helps me want to prevent others from facing that same fate. I truly enjoy seeing people helping one another and do so myself as much as possible. Are there a lot of conflicts in your school or your life? If so do you think I am crazy for wanting so badly to help people? I look forward to hearing back from you both.

Yours truly,

Dakoda English

Artist Profile: Odd Nerdrum

  Odd was born on April 8, 1944 to Johan and Lillemor Nerdrum, although his biological father was David Sandved. He was the result of an affair while his father was at war. He was born in Helsingborg, Sweden. Both of his parents were freedom fighters. He had one younger brother. He began private school at the age of seven and eventually went on to study at the Art Academy of Oslo. He has never been married. He has lived through WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the JFK assassination, Watergate, and many other controversial events. Johan was always supportive of Odd but kept his distance. His parents were also divorced. Odd was actually raised under the practice of anthroposophy. This was a spiritual study that stated that one could enter a spiritual world through inner development and willpower. His paintings are usually on a large canvas and question societal norms. He is part of the contemporary period. Three of his more well known pieces are "Sleeping Prrofit", "Lunatics", and "The Kiss". Two pieces I enjoyed were "One Armed Aviator", which depicted a shirtless man wearing an aviator's cap and looking up, and "Running Bride", which showed a woman in a wedding dress with a bloody mouth.

Lunatics

One Armed Aviator

Theodosia

Standing has grown difficult.

Walking out from behind the counter even more so.

I do a final sweep.

I walk outside.

The sun stands to be my only comfort.

The setting orange and yellow are the brightness to my day.

The cicadas and birds no nothing of what goes on around them.

I suppose this invokes some joy.

I breathe in the smell of fifty years.

Gasoline has plagued my lungs to a point of utter affection.

I lock the doors and sit upon the step.

No customers today either.

Opportunity has been the rise and fall of my wealth.

I built this town only for it to cut me down.

The people I raised have become my Brutus.

My sorrow begins to bleed through my eyes.

Once you hit a certain age you become expendable.

I am no longer a human being to these people.

I am no longer worthy of their breathe.

Now I am but a number.

I leave the keys on the porch.

I stand and take one more glance at my life.

It was all I had left.

I walk.

Top of the Rock

Violets and crimsons at war

Over emerald hills.

The sapphire water links the sky and earth.

Just below lies the chapel.

On my left sits a couple,

The woman in a cocoon of beauty,

The man in a suit of debt,

Feasting on sixty dollar steaks.

I then notice then a small boat.

It seemed to be in flight upon the water's reflection.

A man appeared behind the sail.

His shirt flowed and his hair bloomed in the wind.

I put my hand upon the glass,

These are the times that I beg for an escape.

The sun finally disappears

And so to do my hopes of freedom.

I look up at the stars and imagine

How I could feel such openness.

The lights go off all around me,

And with them my illusions cease.

Little Letters from Across the Way

Bingley/Bings

I am a silent person. I am not very good at interflowing with other people. However, some sincere friends are my most precious fortune and some gifts from them are heavy for me. Such as watches album and evergreen tree and so on. In particular the watch is the most signal to me.

The watch comes from my first love who is a lovely and considerate girl. The watch is made of iron and has a red heart on the surface, which symbolizes our heart will being together forever. But reality won’t be act as you imaged. After we finished The College Entrance Examination, we are apart and our affection having been broken. Now I still remain the watch, it suggested me our enjoyable time in the high school period. At least encounter with you is my most fortunate thing in my long life journey.

Another precious gift is evergreen tree, it was my best friend gave me on my 13th birthday. He told me that whenever our heart will be together. No matter where we are. We are concerned each other. To my moved is once I got a cold and had a high fever, but my parents were out and left me alone. When I felt afraid, he came into and carried me on his back as soon as he found I am in sick. He does things like this, say less but do more no matter how difficult the thing he has promised is he would make it.

Reply:

This is rather touching, Bingley. You seem to be fluid with your emotion and willing to accept the importance of feeling. I have also had relationships, both friendly and romantic, that have been important to me. They always seem to end for me in one way or another. The ability to hold onto those types of relationships is not only a valuable skill, but I see it as a strength. I am glad to here that you have somebody that is important to you. I have a few friends of my own that I could call lifelong. One would be my friend Ethan and the other my friend Alec. The three of us are superbly nerdy. I actually just got back into reading the Naruto manga. What things do you like to do with your friends? Also, if it is quite alright with you, I would like to know what dating is like in your culture. I look forward to hearing from you again.

P.S. Would you be alright if I called you Bings? I enjoy giving people nicknames.

Blythe

Author note: Many memories can not only exist in our brains but also be recorded by
some cards. The reason why I write this essay is that the cards come from my friends
and senior school classmates and they represent our friendship.
In our society, there are all kinds of people. Maybe they are shy, they are
outgoing or other personalities. But in any case, everyone must have many beautiful
memories which were probably related to the past or happened recently in his or her
mind. Of course, I am no exception. As for me, I have a good habit that collecting
meaningful things in a specific box, and just because this habit that I can soundly
store these cards which come from people who I would never forget. These cards bear
the most beautiful memories.
I can say that I almost have all kinds of cards. In terms of their shapes, there are
circular cards, rectangular cards, rhombic cards and cordiform cards, etc. Besides,
every card has a beautiful design on one side, it may be a cartoon type, archaic type,
romantic type, literary type or whatever, and the other side is covered with their
congratulations which they want to tell me. Among all these cards, my bestie’s card
impressed me most. Her card is in a fresh style which gives me an eremitic sense.
What she wrote was the story between us. It began with our encounter and ended with
her congratulations. I remembered when I read it, I almost could not forbear crying.
Every time I saw her card, I always miss her, after all, we are so close in the past, but
now we are in different universities.
Effectively, when I open the box seeing these cards, they remind me of not only
my bestie but also that particular party for me. It was two years ago, at that time, I
was in senior two and our class were preparing for our school’s chorus competition.
On my birthday, the whole class practiced singing as usual and I was also serious in
practices. But suddenly they all stopped, I thought that it might be time to take a
break, to my surprise, they turned their voice and sang Happy Birthday to me. After
singing, our monitor gave me a stack of cards. I instantly realized that these cards
were from every classmate. I could not control my emotions so I was moved to cry. At
that moment, warm and happiness filled with my heart. I felt that the whole world was
saying the congratulations to me and I was a flying bird in the sky because I was too
happy. No word can describe my mood.
These cards gave me a sense of belonging and let me believed that there was real
love between people. To be honest, I really miss that class because it was like another
family for me. Although we can not meet everyone everyday now, I believe that the
feelings between us are as before. Finally, I wish everyone lead a happy life.

Reply:

I truly enjoyed your essay, Blythe. It brings me great pleasure to know that you have known such happiness. There is a beauty in being able to cry in front of one's friends; one that I am all too familiar with. The relationship between a person and their friends is one to be treasured and kept close to the heart. I hope that we can achieve a level of friendship that requires me to send a card. With that in mind I would love to get to know more about you. What are some of your hobbies? What kind of music do you listen to? What types of film do you like? Anything you would like to know or tell me is welcome. I look forward to hearing from you again.

Boy With Twig

Sound. Rhythm. Vibration.
This is all so new.
I spy a hollowed log and I begin to tap it.
The rocks under the water accept this new beat.

I run around tapping my log.
The small waterfall beside me follows along.
Then the birds begin to sing.
The trees sway with my sounds.

The winds whistle through me.
I can feel the vibrations in the ground below me.
Then it all slows into the twig in my hand.
I have fallen for music.

Aerial View

  Destruction, pain, desolation; these are just a few things that pop into mind when I look at this painting. To me it appears as a few different images. I see a barren, desolate land, plagued by warfare and ill times. I see the people roaming this wasteland in search of some sort of salvation or mercy. I also see purity; a white grace that is slowly being consumed by the darkness around it. A final peg of hope that is being ripped apart by the corruption that surrounds it. There is also a hint of fiction here. It looks like an image that somebody is trying to understand. It has this feeling of fogginess, like someone confused by a premonition or slighted by a difficult decision. This painting saddens me.