Jenna Brooks
When I wrote my poem, I had a lot of ideas in mind. For my earliest draft I went online, found the script for the matrix, and started pulling out quotes I liked. The content inspiration I used for my poem was Hegemony. This idea shows up in a lot of places, one being the matrix. It is the idea that we are a part of a system that we support, even though it oppresses us, and we completely buy into this system. I represent this in my poem really well because I talk about how there has never been a time when we have been free of hegemony. I talk about how society murdered social freedoms and it will be almost impossible to get them back. Hegemony inspired me because my mind got blown when I learned about it and I want to blow minds with my poetry. I really want to enlighten people about the depths of our society. I want to show people the system, and let them decide what to do from there. When I learned about hegemony I saw the puppet strings, now I want others to see them too.
My poem is an elegy for social freedom but the poem that inspired me is an elegy for the earth, a poem by Jawaaz Jafri translated by Muhammad Shanazar called “An Elegy of the Earth”. This poem is beautiful and when I read it I wanted my poem to emulate it. Also I really want to have beautiful and poetic language in my poem. The first draft of my poem had really dry and unoriginal language, “An Elegy of the Earth” has really beautiful and poetic language, especially amazing alliterations and metaphors. One of my favorite lines is “The Decree of Death Has been written, On the pale forehead of the Earth; Only time is to be fixed”. In my poem I tried to have really strong figurative language like “An Elegy of the Earth”. For example I used a lot of alliterations, “Until all that’s left is this raw, radiant, real, woman.” I also tried to really capture sorrow and mourning like in my form inspiration. Another line that really inspired me in “An Elegy of the Earth” was “Roodali of the Air will sing, Weeping and wailing, Sitting amid the burnt Decomposed bodies.” Another line that I feel really has some essence from my form inspiration is, “I want to scream for unrestrained privileges, these intimate losses, and weep with the willows for a world as unattainable as the truth.”
My performances inspiration is Anis Mojgani’s “Rock out”. I love the energy in his performance and I want to try to do that. I am really passionate about what I am writing about and I can really show that passion when I perform. I am a very verbal person so I feel like performance fits me and my poem best. When Anis Mojgani was reciting his poem he used different tones of voice and volume for different parts of his poem, like at the beginning he is really loud and energetic. However, when the tone shifts in his poem he gets really quite and serious. I want to be able to do this and really emphasize my tone shifts. Overall I love performing and I want my performance to have a big impact on people like “Rock Out”.
Praise for a ghost that never existed
Bang, Bang
Laws and labels are born
From murder.
Social standards are
The bullets that went from
Ear to ear, like your smile,
The smile that triggered tears from
Groups of strong solemn men.
The firing of a gun started the rat race
And closed the gates of prison cells.
But now I’m squeezing the bars so tight
My knuckles are turning white
And I’m crying the blood that bled
From your head when we fired the gun
That said, having freedom over
Who you are and the choices you make
Is unnecessary and
Apparently unimportant,
No wonder you haven’t come back.
Was there ever a time when
You, my love,
Have been alive, I don’t remember,
No one does
But I’ve seen your spirit before,
When I was young
Or alone.
I remember running naked through
The grass on a wild whim when
I was young and unknowing
I didn’t have gratitude for you then…
I want to go back and cut all the hair off my
Head instead of my dolls
I want to scream for unrestrained privileges,
These intimate losses,
And weep with the willows
For a world as unattainable
As the truth.
I want everyone
To abandon their pride
If only just to cry, momentarily,
For this waterfall world I can’t stop chasing after.
I want to slash and cut self image,
Then watch beauty bleed form
The cracks in my mask of lies,
Until all that’s left
Is this
Raw,
Radiant
Real,
Woman.
However, then I would be like the heartbeat of the hunted,
The only sound in a room of noise.
The heartbeat of freedom,
The heartbeat that now stands as still as silence
So I’ll break as many rules as I can,
To one day resurrect you,
And find those who will break them with me.
Poetry Project Reflection
This poetry project was the final humanities project of my sophomore year. The main guideline for this project was it had to be about or inspired by something we’ve learned in humanities so far. A lot of people wrote genocide or war poems. Also, the poem had to have three inspirations, content inspiration, form inspiration and performance inspiration. Your content inspiration was the subject of your poem, the thing you chose to make it about. The form inspiration was the type of poem you wrote, if you wrote a sonnet your form inspiration could be a Shakespeare sonnet. The performance inspiration was how you displayed your poem. Some people wrote their poems on paintings, so their performance inspiration would be a painting with a poem on it like “The Tiger” by William Blake. During this project we learned about poetic devices like similes and oxymoron’s. We learned how to use figurative language and I learned how much that enhances poetry.
My poem is about hegemony. Hegemony is the idea that we are a part of a system that we completely support and buy into even though it oppresses us. Hegemony was my content inspiration. We learned about this concept earlier this year. My form inspiration is “An Elegy of the Earth” because my poem is an Elegy. My performance inspiration was a slam poem by Anis Mojgani called “Rock Out” because I displayed my poem by slamming it. I used a lot of figurative language in my poem. One poetic devise I used a lot was metaphor. I had this huge metaphor in my poem that described social freedoms as a ghost that we murdered. This ghost never existed but in my poem I praise it. In this project I also got to read some famous poetry and I’ve really come to appreciate it.
In this project I got to recite a poem called “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats and I had to analyze it as well. Poetry can have so many layers and that’s a beautiful thing. One thing I learned from that poem specifically is how to use symbolism and metaphor. These two things are such powerful tools with language. Poetic devices are like spices you add to food. People don’t want to eat bland things or read them either. The first draft of my poem had some really cliqued language and that made it less interesting. It was nothing special. However, as I developed as a poet throughout this project I started adding some spices like similes and alliterations. Now my poem is a very flavorful piece of work and that really affects how people read it, now there actually interested.
The way I displayed my poem is I performed it, or in other words I slammed it. I learned a lot about performance in this project. First, I learned that movement is key. Using motions and gestures to emphasize a poem makes it so much more powerful. A line in my poem is “I want to slash and cut self image.” When I said this in my performance I would actually use my arms to slash the air. Another thing that’s really important in performance is having everything flawlessly memorized and being able to recite it smoothly. Stuttering and unnecessary pauses really take away from the performance. If you want to send a powerful message you have to speak with conviction. Finally, you have to have confidence when you perform, or at least act like you have confidence. Over all, this project has taught me a lot.
Bosnian Genocide Project
Genocide Secrets
The Bosnian Genocide, or specifically the Srebrenica Massacre, was one of the largest mass murders in Europe since World War two. During the 1990’s a war was being fought in the former Yugoslavia between Serbians and Bosniak Muslims. The Serbians wanted to cleanse their land of Muslims and have a country of only Serbs, and the Muslims wanted to stay in their country. However, along with fighting in this war the Serbs targeted civilians and civilian towns, killing thousands of innocent people. In 1992 a racial cleansing happened in the Srebrenica area killing many, and in 1995 the Serbs invaded Srebrenica and slaughtered over 8,000 Bosniak Muslims. My project is based around the Srebrenica Massacre. First of all, Srebrenica is a town that, along with a few other towns like Potacari and Bratunic, was part of a small chunk of Muslim territory surrounded by Serb territory. That is why the Serbs really targeted this town and ended up committing two genocides in this area. During the Srebrenica Massacre a column was formed in Potacari to escape from advancing Serbs. This column was made up of men that were of an age old enough to fight in the military because this was the target group for the massacre. However, even though these men were the target group for the genocide many women and children were killed as well. Also since there were no men to defend the women, most of the women were brutally raped.
In this column, the men had a plan to march from Srebrenica to Tuzla, a town safely on Muslim held territory. Though this seems simple enough it was not an easy feat. First of all the distance between Srebrenica and Tuzla is about 45 miles, all of which have to be traveled by foot. Next, the men had to march for months evading dehydration, starvation, mental instability, and the ever looming Serbs that were literally hunting them down in the hills between Srebrenica and Tuzla. In the article “The Srebrenica Massacre” the author Martin Frost talks about the hardships that the men that survived went through: “Men from the rear of the column who survived this ordeal described it as a ‘man hunt’.” I decided to base my project around the journey of this column because of how inspired I became after reading about these men. The story of how these men did the impossible by escaping the Serbs but also surviving when all odds were against them is truly amazing to me. Even though these men were in a bad place they overcame it and I think everyone can relate to this.
This project was probably one of my favorite all time projects. I am a poet and so I loved writing the lyrics to this song and being able to channel my school work into something I love. I have never made a song before so that was really fun and really cool to do. Sadly, none of the musical aspects of this song are completely original, only the lyrics. I really have no talent with instruments so I used the tunes from Garage Band, a music program on Mac computers, to compose this song. However, even though I didn’t write the song I put all the parts of the song together and that wasn’t easy so I think this project was a good challenge. My favorite part of the project was writing the lyrics to the song and putting it to music. Over all this project was really fun to do but I also learned a lot and worked really hard.
Lyrics:
What happened in July 1995, was the final episode
of genocide, of mass killing, of mass murder.
1st Verse:
1. People are not like stones or keys
2. You can’t put them in your pocket and move them painlessly
3. So if you want to clear the world of race, tell me please
4. These Muslims are such a disgrace, SO ARE WE!
5. It’s a man hunt so blunt, brothers we must leave
6. Before our lives get erased from our family trees
7. It’s not safe anymore Srebrenicas been seized
8. I got a wife and kids, MOM HELP ME PLEASE! I scream
9. My babies are getting ripped from my breast
10. Lest any man fight the mass graves are to you left
11. If you’re old enough to fight you’re old enough for death
12. Men it’s time to start moving or give up our very breath,
13. I guess Potacari is behind us now
14. No food or water or shelter and our mental state is down
15. We’ve got to keep moving or get shot to the ground
16. We’re run down, but we have hope newly found.
Chorus:
I’m bleeding and I’m scared (I’m scared)
I’m damaged far beyond repair (Beyond repair)
And now no one seems to care
People are dying everywhere
Stand up brother hold my hand (Stand up)
Keep marching on I know you can (I know you can)
We will live and every man
Will make it back to our homeland (It’s a man hunt)
2nd Verse:
1. We’re hiding in the trees, in the hills all the sudden bang
2. On the ground the blood of my brother spills have the angles sang
3. Sleepless nights holding tight to the hope that I’m sane
4. Hallucinations of god knows what feel my brain
5. My veins overflow pumped with adrenaline
6. My vision starts to slow I can hear the devil fiddling
7. And on this asphalt the Serbs are killing them
8. The beats of my heart slow I can feel the bullets stealing them
9. Were trapped but we keep marching on
10. I can feel it were almost home marching from dusk to dawn
11. My feet are bleeding; life is fleeting 2/3rds of us already gone
12. Should we stay or go, hope we didn’t choose wrong
13. On Muslim land we finally reached it
14. Our goal had it forever; I hope we can keep it
15. Ending our endeavor hope we never have to speak it
16. I’ll keep with me forever this genocide secret
Chorus:
I’m bleeding and I’m scared (2: I’m scared)
I’m damaged far beyond repair (2: beyond repair)
And now no one seems to care
People are dying everywhere(x2)
Stand up brother hold my hand (Stand up)
Keep marching on I know you can (I know you can)
We will live and every man
Will make it back to our homeland
(It’s a man hunt)
Lyrical Annotations
“What happened in July 1995 was the final episode of genocide, of mass killing, of mass murder.” (Hasan Nuhanovic) The reason I chose to make this a reoccurring line in my song is because I feel like it is a really powerful line and it really describes the Srebrenica Massacre well.
Chorus:
I wanted the chorus to really capture the essence of the lyrics I wrote and my message so I start off by mentioning how the men are bleeding, scared and damaged. However, then I go on to say stand up, keep going, we will reach our goal and make it back to our land. The point of my song is not only to inform people about how terrible genocide is but to tell about how strong we really are and how even though all odds are against you, you can survive and you can persevere. I wanted my chorus to be inspirational and something that people could connect to.
Lines 1-2 verse 1:
The first and second lines of my song are actually derived from a quote from General Ratko Mladic about how genocide was necessary for the Serbs to accomplish their goal. “People are not little stones or keys in someone’s pocket that can be moved from one place to another… Therefore we cannot precisely arrange for only Serbs to stay in one part of the country while removing others painlessly.” I thought this quote was really sad and really strong so that’s why I started my first verse off with it.
Line 5 verse 1:
Line five is taken from a quote in an article by Martin Frost about the Srebrenica Massacre; “Men from the rear of the column who survived this ordeal described it as ‘man hunt’.” This quote really stuck out to me because when I read it I thought about what it would be like to actually be hunted down and that thought really made me sympathetic to the situation these men were in.
Line 8-9 verse 1:
Line eight I thought of after reading an interview with Zuhra Osmanović, a mother who survived the genocide. In her story she talks about a man that has a wife and kids but as he’s being taken away he still screams for his mother to protect him. This almost made me cry when I read it, it shows that the connection between a mother and “child” is really one of the strongest connections there is. Next the ninth line is also from a mother’s perspective and reflects on the mother child connection. I really wanted to put that line in because I want people to be able to relate to what’s happening to the men and women who were victims of this genocide. What better way to do that then to talk about how children are getting ripped away from their mothers.
Line 11 verse 1:
In this massacre men of a military age were targeted so this line reiterates that. Men as young as 14 were killed just because they were of military age, or in other words because they were old enough to fight.
Lines 1-4 verse 2:
These lines talk about the hardships the men went through while traveling to Tuzla. They had to watch their friends die, they didn’t get much sleep, and some of them actually went insane. In the article The Srebrenica Massacre, the author, Adam Jones writes, "Trapped in the hills under Serb bombardment, sleepless and thirst-maddened, men succumbed to hallucinations, paranoia, and despair."
Lines 5-8 verse 2:
These lines actually refer to a specific event, on July 12th 1995 around midnight the column started to cross an asphalt road between the towns of Konjevic Polje and Nova Kasaba. There they were ambushed by the Serbs and only the men at the end of the column survived, out of around 15,000 men only about one third survived. This was one of the more brutal and severe ambushes. I really wanted to mention this ambush in my song because it was really sad to read about and I want those who hear my song to understand how close to death these men really were. Also, the last line says ‘the beats of my heart slow I can feel the bullets stealing them’, and this just means that bullets are stealing heartbeats or the men are wounded and dying.
Bibliography:
"FRONTLINE/WORLD. Bosnia - The Men That Got Away . Interview With Hasan Nuhanovic . PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. 28 Mar. 2006. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bosnia502/interviews_hasan.html>.
Frost, Martin. "Srebrenica Massacre." Srebrenica Massacre. Web. 01 Dec. 2010. <http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/srebrenica_massacre.html>.
"Interview with Zuhra Osmanović, Srebrenica Genocide Survivor." Congress of North American Bosniaks. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.bosniak.org/interview-with-zuhra-osmanovic-a-srebrenica-genocide-survivor/>.
Jones, Adam. "Gendercide Watch: The Srebrenica Massacre." Gendercide Watch - Main Page. 1999. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.gendercide.org/case_srebrenica.html>.
Sarah. "Srebrenica Massacre." "Srebrenica Massacre" a Srebrenica Travel Page by Gotties. Virtual Tourist. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. <http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/caa2e/57cc3/>.
"Srebrenica Massacre." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre#Massacre>.
Picture URL’s:
Special Thanks to:
Clara Gray-Staling
Mikael Oliger
Alicia Whiteman and
Lori Fisher
Bosnian Genocide Project Reflection
I am really proud of my project in general but the thing I’m most proud of is my lyrics. I love to write poetry and rap so writing the lyrics to my song was awesome. When I first got the idea for my project I didn’t know how I was going to be able to write powerful lyrics. I wanted my song to be emotional and passionate but I had no idea how I was going to put that into words. However, after slaving over my song for a day, I got home and just started writing. All my ideas and emotions flowed onto the pages and created a masterpiece. This writing process is a beautiful thing, and I think it created beautiful work that I am extremely proud of.
If I had one more week to work on this project I would make a better video to go along with my song. When I was trying to perfect my video I wanted another week to make it better but sadly that couldn’t happen. I had a really hard time making my video because I couldn’t find a good program to use so it would have been nice to have some more time. I really wanted to put in some video clips so that my music video wouldn’t just be a slide show but again I didn’t have enough time. Over all, I’m still really proud of my music video and I think if I would have made it to complex it would have taken away from the song but I think I could have made it better also.
I think my project was really strong in all four categories but it was the strongest in audience engagement. The whole point of my project was to evoke emotion in the viewer’s so I really worked hard to be strong in this category. If my project would have just been a poem it wouldn’t have been near as good or engaging. The fact that I made it a song and made it appeal to the emotions of my viewers is the very reason that it is strongest in audience engagement. When I recorded my lyrics I tried to fill my voice with passion and emotion. When I said “Mom help me please, I scream. My babies are getting ripped from my breast.” I connected with my emotions and really put as much power into these words as I could. I think I was able to make this so strong because I am a good poet and because I really connected to the project and pushed to make it powerful. Over all, my project is really strong in this category.
Of all the four categories I think my project was weakest in professionalism. I think my artist statement could have been better. Also it was starting to come off the black paper because the glue was really lame. Along with that my lyrics had some smudges on them because of the glue so I think I could have done better on that. The reason both those mistakes occurred is because I did all my cutting and pasting in one night and went through it kind of fast. I could have fixed these mistakes by gluing better and not smudging.
I think I got an A in all four categories. I believe my final grade for this project should be 99% or an A+. The reason I think this is, is because not only has this been my favorite project yet but I think I did some of my best work ever. I worked so hard on this project and I put 100% of my effort into making this a good project. I connected to this project so much and actually worked on it at home. This is one of the first projects I’ve done, including last year, that I worked on at home. I have learned so much from this project, I didn’t even know the word Bosnia before this project. Over all, I think I deserve an A+.
Propaganda/World War One Project
Jenna Brooks
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“If you tell a big enough lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”[1] The effect I want my poster to have on the viewer is first, I want the viewer to be captured by the artwork on my poster. After that, once they take it all in, I want my viewers to think that Germany Germany
This poster fits into the historical context of World War One. First, the symbolism in my poster fits that time period. Britain was usually represented as an octopus in central power propaganda because Britain was trying to take over the world, and I used tentacles to represent Britain. Germany was represented as an iron fist in some pieces of propaganda so I represented Germany as a fist. Second, The German flag is a World War One German flag, not a modern day German flag. Also, of the nations that went to war from 1914-18 Germany was the most prepared, Germany had long planned for war. In class we read a document called Germany and the Next War, This document was written by a German General named Friedrich von Bernhardi. In this document Friedrich talks about war and how it would be pointless to try and stop war. He even goes so far to say that trying to abolish war is not only foolish but absolutely immoral. Germany was very militaristic during and before World War One, that’s why I made my poster militaristic and made the German fist look warlike. Germany also hoped the war would unite the people of Germany. The fist on my poster is also a uniting symbol not just one of power. Next, Germany started fighting the war because the German government thought the war would end Germans disputes with neighboring countries. Also the Kaiser of Germany hoped that the war would unite Germany behind monarchy. Over all my poster fits into the historical context of World War One well.
I think propaganda has a big effect on us subconsciously. If we’re not guarding against it propaganda works its way into our brain and we could be affected without even knowing it. For example if you’re sitting, watching T.V perfectly content and a Wendy’s cheeseburger commercial comes on and you watch it. The next day you’re really hungry and you want a cheeseburger and then that commercial flashes in your mind after being asleep in your subconscious. It sways you to go to Wendy’s, you don’t even know why you want to go to Wendy’s but it just sounds so good. Without that commercial you might have never gone to Wendy’s that day. In my opinion propaganda is way more subconscious then conscious. I think people are more affected by propaganda then they think because propaganda is subconscious. If someone were to ask me how affected I was by propaganda I would say not very much, but in reality I would be a lot more affected then I think. In a reading called Propaganda, American-style it talks about how in a society where you can’t use force to control the public you use propaganda. I think the reason propaganda is subconscious is because if people knew they were being controlled they would protest and fight against the message the propaganda is trying to send. Germany used propaganda to control people because they couldn’t control people by force, just like we do today. When you’re fighting a war propaganda could be the factor that wins you the war, if your propaganda convinces all the men in your country to fight then that could tip the scales in your favor and give you the edge to win. All in all propaganda is used to control people and it plays a huge role in war.
Citations:
"First World War.com - Propaganda Posters: Germany." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. <http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/germany.htm>.
"Joseph Goebbels Quotes." Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/joseph_goebbels/>.
1918, By September. "History of Germany during World War I." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Germany_during_World_War_I>.
Image Citations:
"Cartoon Tentacles | Royalty Free Stock Vector Art Illustration | IStockphoto.com." Stock Photography: Search Royalty Free Images & Photos | IStockphoto.com. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. <http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-5515216-cartoon-tentacles.php>.
"IRON FIST." Democracy for Iran. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. <http://shahin121uk.blogspot.com/2009/06/iron-fist-in-colloquial-english-iron.html>.
[1] Joseph Goebbels (see citation page for source)
Jenna Brooks
Propaganda Reflection
In this project I had to make a propaganda poster of World War One. Then I had to wright an analysis of my poster. First, I made rough draft of my poster. My rough draft was extremely rough as it was scribbled on a piece of paper in pencil and not colored. Then I made a second draft of my poster. This was colored but still pretty rough. After that, I had someone critique my posters. The feedback I got helped me start my final poster. Once I had begun my final poster I started working on my first draft for my propaganda analysis. I had someone critique that and then I started my final draft. Finally I turned in my analysis final draft and my poster final draft.
I made many revisions to my poster and propaganda analysis between drafts. First, my propaganda analysis didn’t describe the propaganda techniques very well so I went back and did that. Second, I decided not to add cut off tentacles to my final draft. I didn’t do this because I lacked the Photoshop skills and because I wanted to keep it simple. Also I added the German flag to the background and changed it to a World War One German flag. Some critique that helped me with this was Alicia told me to add the German flag in the background to make the main country clearer. Also Ms. Fisher gave me an idea to add an iron cross to the fist and that added a really cool touch. Finally I decided to center my fist and add more tentacles which made it cooler. Over all the revisions made to my project added a lot of flavor.
I feel really proud of the final product of my project. Some parts of it I particularly like are first, I really like how clean and cut my poster is. The message is really easy to see and the final product just looks amazing. Secondly, I really like the last paragraph of my propaganda analysis. I added in a challenge reading and really put a lot of work into it. Lastly I really like the art on my poster. The fist and the tentacles are just really unique. However there was one thing I didn’t like so much. I think I could have done a better job photoshoping my poster, I don’t know how well it’s going to look on a big poster. Over all, I really enjoyed the project and I think I did a good job.
I have taken many main ideas and lessons from this project. First, I learned the different techniques of propaganda. Whenever I watch propaganda or see it in a magazine, for most of them, I know how they work. Second I learned a lot about World War One. Before this project I didn’t even know who fought in World War One or why and now I do. Finally, I learned about war and if it’s necessary or unnecessary. We read to readings about war and both had a different perspective, what I really took from them is that it’s pointless to try and stop war but war is still a bad thing. In the end I learned a lot of lessons and main ideas from this project.
If I did this piece over again there are a few things I would do differently. First, I would feather the tentacles so they don’t look so rigid. They ended up kind of rough in my final poster. Then, I would make the British lines on the tentacles better. There are some gaps where there should be color. Finally I would make the spikes on the arm of my fist fit better. I couldn’t get the right angle on them the first time. These are the revisions I would make if I could.
