Beautiful Photographs, Max Miller
The world of hip-hop and urban music lends itself to a particularly brash breed of sexism, ranging from the phenomenon of “video girls” to lyrics which explicitly condone objectification, and even physical violence against women. I created this song with intentions to outline in broad terms the negative effects such typecasting has on young women in particular. While each verse ponders the various consequences of sexism in pop media, the refrain is a woman echoing the idea that she needs a man in order to be perceived as worthwhile. The bridge, pitched down a few octaves, represents the voice of modern media instructing women that without sex appeal, they hold no value. The end result is a piece which feels both gritty and perversely realistic when dealing with the issue at hand.
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Forever and Nowhere & Tracks to Forever, Hagen Reedy
I grabbed my camera and walked onto the tracks, my eyes following the strips as far as I could see. In that moment, I felt as though I was looking at my future. Each railroad tie was a second, a minute, a day; tracks that would take me through the years. The distant future, in sight, but then time began disappearing into the unknown space beyond what I could see. This photo is not technical. This photo is not my best work. This photo is raw. It is the embodiment of the feelings I was having in that moment, in the middle of Harriman, Wyoming, surrounded by nothing but open land and silence.
The poem paired with this photograph is a dialogue with myself, trying to find solace in that unknown ending to the tracks ahead. It is a poem simply about this moment, the only thing I have in perfect focus, and learning to embrace all of the simultaneous feelings around me. It serves as a reminder that forever is nowhere, if I don’t appreciate where I am now.
How far do you think it goes?
He asks me. As far as everything goes: forever and nowhere. I say.
Well, so like three miles do you think? He doesn’t quite understand.
I take a deep breath.
Everything around us is moving, do you feel it?
Do you feel the pull to the push, the whisper to the scream?
Do you see that as far as the tracks stretch this way, they stretch just as far that way?
Can you see where they end?
For they go on forever, stroking the ground with their parallel lines,
Curving
this way
and that,
but don’t you see that they are also not going anywhere at all?
He looks the other way down the tracks.
He looks down at his feet.
You are being pulled to the sky and cemented into the ground, do you feel that?
Your blood is flowing hot, yet your fingers are cold and your cheeks, numb.
With each breath you take, one escapes. But maybe someday you find it
and breathe it back in.
He closes his eyes. I can see everything, yet all I see is black. He says.
I smile.
You are starting to understand. I say.
I take his hand in mine and we begin to walk down the tracks,
walking somewhere, yet going nowhere.
Start, Alexander Miguel White
This piece utilizes the acrostic poetry style. S.T.A.R.T. This is the beginning of a lifelong project where once a week every year I will make an album with my friends and see what our world sounds like during that particular time.
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Never Lonely, Katie Porter
This is a book that I created as the final project in my Fundamentals of Digital Design course. It is a critique on the way I find myself using social media. While it is an extremely powerful tool for connection, I often get lost and find myself craving true conversation and sharing real stories as opposed to the edited version of my life that I post online.
