Badge of Honor

When observing Pepon Osorio's Badge of Honor, there are two things that immediately stand out to me. I immediately notice the cluster of objects, as a whole, rather than any one separate thing. The baseball cards coating the wall, the basketballs scattered around the floor, and the neatened sneakers in the corner. It's obvious that he's interested in sports. I can discern from the Bruce Lee posters that he's int martial arts flicks. He would seem to be a physically active teenager. I then noticed that the room looked exceptionally expensive. This seems like an average teenage kid, but one that comes from a wealthy family. I then decided that the objects in the room probably didn't come out f his own wallet. You might be hard pressed to find something in that room that he earned himself. Osorio's construction is more than just a meaningless recreation. The story being revealed becomes all the more apparent when you see his father's prison room next to it. It looks like a tale of a loving father, who has nothing, spoiling his child to make up for his own misfortunate lifestyle.

I don't think there's any part of the room Osorio has steeped in fantasy. Who am I to say that there isn't a teenager out there with a room like this? There's nothing placed in the room that couldn't possibly exist there. However, I can speak for the attention to detail Osorio has included. I especially love the cluttered feeling that so accurately represents the archetypical teenage room. Basketballs have been dropped in random places, the bed is unkept, a pillow lies on the floor, and a bike takes up an awkward amount of space.

Pictured: Teenager in her natural habitat

Magazine Exercise

What stands out the most to me from this exercise is how much info I was able to gather about classmates I had never spoken to before. It's a little remarkable just how much personal information flourished during this assignment. Facts that may have not been readily apparent through straightforward introductions were shared. One student brought in Vogue, a magazine with a heavy focus on fashion, but picked out an article about a girl's crippling neurological condition. This particular choice of presentation is not just a reflection of interests, but also of his priorities. Seeing that he's a fashion aficionado, it's apparent that his original intention was to use Vogue to present something exclusively about himself. Another student produced an interview with a strip club bouncer, an article that was very telling about the strange habits and needs of rich twenty-somethings with nothing better to do. Her reasons for picking the article seemed rather personal, and I couldn't imagine ever learning of these reasons under normal circumstances.

Possibility (A Matter of Scale Response)

1. Cole's astounding fascination with these gargantuan and microscopic worlds is very understandable. The alluring nature of these realities comes from the inclinations that they hold. The knowledge that there are worlds beyond human comprehension in existence galvanizes her human curiosity. There is so much about the world that humanity is unaware of. The ocean, which Cole briefly mentions in her essay, is eighty percent unexplored territory. I can't say that Cole's essay has warped my perception of reality. I've always had a consistent fascination with the hidden and known wonders of the world. A Matter of Scale won't make me feel more sympathetic towards flies just because I understand their plight.

2. Cole may have quoted Schrodinger in order to give her essay a little more validity. Presenting an experienced and respected physicist's explanation and analogies helps to support her own claims. Offering the full paragraph, rather than just including a footnote, offers a more complete second  perspective. The use of this Schrodinger quote is the only time Cole doesn't summarize or briefly quote another person. This could be due to the fact that earlier in the essay, Cole used others as a way to confirm scientific facts. Here, she uses Schrodinger to conclude the essay with a thoughtful and lasting idea.

Peter Menzel Questionnaire

1. I realized something while deciding on which Menzel photo to use. I definitely had the most interesting reaction to the picture of the Aboubakar's camp. This was mainly due to the fact that I had been anticipating the reveal of that picture, or at least something like it. As soon as I had seen the bountiful veggie display presented in Menzel's first photo, I assumed one of the photos would contain a less fortunate family, struck by some form of poverty, and living off whatever they could scramble together. I envisioned dark skin, the absence of smiles, and a tone befitting the harsh truth of reality. Faith D'aluisio's accompanying descriptions continued to confirm my expectations. I have only just realized the worst part of this situation. My comfort with this familiarity left me completely unmoved.

I would describe Peter Menzel's photos as a firm reminder of societal differences through kitchen/dining life. I'd say I notice the size of their living quarters, more so than the differences in space.

2. The Fernandez family and Ukita family have all laid out a week's food, and these servings take up a large amount of space. My original assumption was that the Texan family had spent more money, with a considerable amount going towards junk foods. They were the larger American family with the bigger house so it made sense. The Japanese family looks to have spent most of it on local market snacks and fish. D'Aluisio's descriptions reveal that I was wrong. The Ukito's had actually spent more overall, and a large amount of finances had gone towards fruits and vegetables, as well. Maybe I was confused by the spatial differences in the apartment, or the fact that most of the Japanese food packages on the ground look like American trail mix bags. I'm still a bit confused by the logic of the situation. One would expect the family of four, living in what appears to be poorer conditions, to spend less than the family of five?