Urban Presentations

I felt like the presentations concerning urban life and culture were very informative in mostly more creative ways than we have yet seen.

Kyle and Cody's presentation on urban art made me a lot more aware and curious regarding all of what I would have previously considered "graffiti." I had not heard of a difference between graffiti and street art before. Also, I generally stereotyped all of such illegal "art" as crude and meaningless even if it did look cool. I now have a greater appreciation for what many of these artists do. I plan to follow up that appreciation by watching Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.

I was especially entertained by the music presentation by Erica and Nate. Coming from a more suburban place where the music and dance scenes are not that big of a deal, but boat races, the county fair, and nuclear waste are, the background and examples of music and dance cultures that I had heard mention of was very interesting. I had previously heard of "jerkin'" and the "dougie," but didn't really have a concept of them. The hyphy movement I had not heard of at all. The fact that in an area I would have deemed to be terribly similar (being a Washingtonian and not a Californian myself), has such varying and multicultural music is wonderfully intriguing to me.

The presentation I connected with the most was Emily L. & Caitlin's on the Freedom Writers movie. I have read the book and seen the movie. Both are very powerful and moving representations of Erin Gruwell and her students' stories. Having read Twilight LA 1992 now and realizing that much of what Freedom Writers portrays was a reaction to the Rodney King riots really helped me to truly understand the racial tension and conflict between Gruwell's students.