Group+2

Group 2: Alyrose, Sophia, Diana, and Shannon

** Culture **:

The sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings ([])



Culture is a complex of features held by a social group, which may be as small as a family or a tribe, or as large as a racial or ethnic group, a nation, or in the age of globalization, by people all over the world. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief. The elements of culture are first adopted by members of the social group, found to be useful, and then transmitted or propagated to others. In this way, culture is both defined by the social activities of the group and also defines the behavior of the members of the society. ([])

=**Folk Culture** = = = **Folk Culture**- frame of reference of a group (or subgroup or community) generated by lifestyle, background, origin, beliefs/values, expression or law. lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the "old ways" over novelty and relates to a sense of community. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place. If elements of a folk culture are copied by, or moved to, a foreign locale, they will still carry strong connotations of their original place of creation. ( [] )

Rodeo- example of one part of Texas culture and the cowboy and their struggle to make a life out of the Texas wilderness. It celebrates the skills that the cowboys needed in order to survive.
 * Examples of Folk Culture:**



Fiesta- Fiesta really is one of America’s truly great festivals. It began as a way to honor the memory of the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. That commemoration still takes place. But over the past century and more, Fiesta has grown into a



celebration of San Antonio’s rich and diverse cultures. 2010 marks Fiesta’s 119th anniversary. ([])

Chinese New Year Parades- Dallas, San Francisco ect. Lantern Festivals- In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, for only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones; in modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals and goats. The Lantern Festival is also known as the //Little New Year// since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. In some region and countries, this festival is also regarded as the Chinese version of St. Valentine's Day, a day celebrating love and affection between lovers in Chinese tradition and culture. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival)

Mardi Gras- The big party before the Lenten season and ending before Ash Wednesday, on Fat Tuesday. Carnival is an important celebration in Catholic European nations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called "shrovetide", ending on Shrove Tuesday. It has its popular celebratory aspects as well. ( [])



Music is also used in many cultures, for example Mariachis. Folklore is often passed on through song.

= = ** Mass Culture

**

Mass culture is a term which was used in the late nineteenth century until the 1950s. Since the 1960s the term popular culture has been used instead. Currently, some definitions of popular culture equates pop culture with mass culture. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass produced for mass consumption. From a Western European perspective, this may be compared to American culture. Alternatively, "pop culture" can be defined as an "authentic" culture of the people, but this can be problematic because there are many ways of defining the "people." Storey argues that there is a political dimension to popular culture; neo-Gramscian hegemony theory "... sees popular culture as a site of struggle between the 'resistance' of subordinate groups in society and the forces of 'incorporation' operating in the interests of dominant groups in society." A postmodernism approach to popular culture would "no longer recognise the distinction between high and popular culture' John Storey emphasises that popular culture emerges from the urbanization of the industrial revolution, which identifies the term with the usual definitions of **'**mass culture**'**. Studies of Shakespeare (by Weimann, Barber or Bristol, for example) locate much of the characteristic vitality of his drama in its participation in Renaissance popular culture, while contemporary practitioners like Dario Fo and John McGrath use popular culture in its Gramscian sense that includes ancient folk traditions (the commedia dell'arte for example) []



Mass culture can be defined as: A set of cultural values and ideas that arise from common exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communications media, music, literature, and art, etc. Mass culture becomes possible only with modern communications and electronic media. A mass culture is transmitted to individuals, rather than arising from people's daily interactions, and therefore lacks the distinctive content of cultures rooted in community and region. Mass culture tends to reproduce the liberal value of individualism and to foster a view of the citizen as consumer. []

Examples of mass culture: Newspaper, radio, film, advertising, celebrating the 4th of July, literature, art, black and white television, and popular music and dress.



[]

 Popular Culture **


 * Pop culture ** is what is going on everyday; it is the latest trend. It also describes the lifestyle and taste of the majority. The media decides what is popular culture. People also contribute to make things like clothes, movies, and food popular culture. [[image:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2860692024_19313c5d54.jpg width="248" height="264" align="right"]]

Popular culture (commonly known as **pop culture**) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. By contrast, folklore refers to the cultural mainstream of more local or pre-industrial societies. Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and dumbed-down in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, and corrupted. The term "popular culture" itself is of 19th century coinage, in original usage referring to the education and "culturedness" of the lower classes. The term began to assume the meaning of a culture of the lower classes separate from and opposed to "true education" towards the end of the century, a usage that became established by the interbellum period. The current meaning of the term, culture for mass consumption, especially originating in the United States, is established by the end of World War II. The abbreviated form "pop culture" dates to the 1960’s ([]). A few examples of popular culture include music, art, religion, and fast food.

The picture selected above provides a demonstration of how America allows pop culture to rule our nation, and in doing so, spreads to other nations.

 ** CULTURAL STUDIES **


 * Cultural studies ** is the study of how a society creates and shares meanings. Cultural studies combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies.





Cultural studies is the academic field grounded in critical theory, which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies. Cultural studies researchers often concentrate on how a particular phenomenon relates to matters of ideology, nationality, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, and/or gender ([]).

Gramsci modified classical Marxism in seeing culture as a key instrument of political and social control. In this view, capitalists use not only brute force (police, prisons, repression, military) to maintain control, but also penetrate the everyday culture of working people. Thus, the key rubric for Gramsci and for cultural studies is that of cultural hegemony.

An example of cultural studies would include the fashion and beauty industries and how they use their understanding of the majority of “real” women in their advertising.



** HEGEMONY **




 * Hegemony ** is the way which the dominant class attempts to secure control over the construction of meaning using one or combination of political, economic, ideological or cultural power. These dominate groups are no respecter of other cultures and diversity. Hegemony, in a way, can be described as brainwashing. Hegemony evokes the ideas and beliefs of one, maybe small, but dominate group, negating and ignoring all other beliefs and practices.

Examples of hegemony are seen in: · The highest contributions to campaigns are made from private individuals with a great deal of money · Politicians vote for tax laws that favor the rich because they depend upon continued monetary support from private wealthy individuals to stay in office · Tax laws are always going to favor the rich because the control of money equals the control of power · Those politicians who support better tax breaks for the rich have more money to spend on campaigns and greater chances of winning because of the large investments in campaigns by wealthy individuals

Individualism is also a big example of a hegemonic belief that we can be whoever we want to be without depending on anyone or anything. This belief is false, however, because individuals can hardly do anything by themselves. For example, a college student typically receives funds from government organizations such as grants and scholarships. Those who go to college strictly on their rich parents’ money are **//de//**pendent and not independent, and therefore, are not part of the “individualism population”. We see individualism shoved in our faces mainly by television and politics.

The clip below depicts how popular culture perpetuates the hegemony of capitalism.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Antonio Gramsci <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was a leading Italian Marxist. He was a writer, politician, political theorist, and a philosopher. []

He was punished for his thoughts by the fascist power, and condemned to pass almost his entire life in jail. We can say that he dedicated his short existence to his beliefs.

1926 – (November) Because of his opposition to Mussolini, Gramsci is arrested in Rome, and sent to a camp for political prisoners. He was 35 years old. []

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">During the trial, Mussolini said about Gramsci: "We have to prevent that this mind continue thinking." []

He was immediately sentenced for 5 years in confinement (on the remote island of Ustica); the following year he received a sentence of 20 years of prison (in Turi, near Bari). []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Gramsci's political and social writings occur in two periods, pre-prison (1910-1926) and prison (1929-35). His pre-prison writings tend to be politically specific, while his prison writings tend to be more historical and theoretical. []

He spent his last seven years in Mussolini’s prison. During his time in prison he wrote 32 notebooks containing over 3,000 pages. These writings were known as Prison Notebooks. [] The Prison Notebooks contained writings about: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the capitalist state.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The need for popular workers' education to encourage development of intellectuals from the working class.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The distinction between political society (the police, the army, legal system, etc.) which dominates directly and coercively, and civil society (the family, the education system, trade unions, etc.) where leadership is constituted through ideology or by means of consent.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'Absolute historicism'.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The critique of economic determinism.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The critique of philosophical materialism.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">His writings were smuggled out of prison and published in Italian and they did not get published in English until the 1970s. [] Gramsci agreed with the analysis of capitalism by Marx in the last century and that the fight between the ruling class and the inferior working class was driving force that moved society forward. He found Marxist view of how the ruling class ruled unacceptable. It was then that Gramsci decided to make a major contribution to modern thought in his concept of the role played by ideology, which he defines as “shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify the interest of dominant groups.” He identified two quite different forms of political control: domination, which referred to direct physical coercion by police and armed forces and hegemony which referred to both ideological control and more crucially, consent. By hegemony, Gramsci meant the access throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations. Hegemony in this sense might be defined as an ‘organising principle’ that is diffused by the process of socialization into every area of daily life. Culture and morality of the ruling elite comes to appear as the natural order of things. For Gramsci, society was made up of the relations of production; the state or political society and civil society. Gramsci’s analysis provided an understanding of why the European working class had on the whole failed to develop revolutionary consciousness after the First World War and had instead moved towards reformism. An example would be tinkering with the system rather than working towards overthrowing it. It was a far more subtle theory of power and went a long way to explain how the ruling class ruled.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pierre Bourdieu: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Theories; Cultural Capital **



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> French sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and author of //Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste//, **Pierre Bourdieu** “pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies,” coining the concept of **cultural capital** in the 1960’s along with his colleagues ([]). Cultural capital is the “non-financial social assets, for example educational or intellectual, which might promote social mobility beyond economic means” ([]). According to wikipedia.com, Bourdieu theorized that “**class fractions** teach aesthetic preferences to their young. Class fractions are determined by a combination of the varying degrees of social, economic, and cultural capital. Society incorporates “symbolic goods, especially those regarded as the attributes of excellence, […as] the ideal weapon in strategies of distinction.” Those attributes deemed excellent are shaped by the interests of the dominating class. He emphasizes the dominance of cultural capital early on by stating that “differences in cultural capital mark the differences between the classes” ([]).

An example of cultural capital, according to Dr. Audrey Denith, would be an unprepared college freshman thrown into the world of college. Not having any prior knowledge on “how to ‘do’ college,” whether the student fails to study, does not know to talk to a professor for help, or knowingly earns an F and does not drop the course to remove the F from his/her record, the student puts him/herself in a bad situation; the student must then work from the very bottom (“below zero”) and work him/herself up.

Bourdieu theorizes that classes teach their children about their own version of aesthetic. He believed that the aesthetic beliefs that are passed on to children of the different classes are a way for those of the “high culture” to keep they lower classes oppressed. Things like taste in art, food and entertainment are all ways that people are divided by class. Bourdieu believed that even if someone had enough money to compete with the ruling class, but were part of new money that they would be put in a class of their own that was lower than that of the ruling class. Someone that is coming into new money does not have the same experiences as those that were born into it. They are at a disadvantage culturally. Each fraction of the dominant class develops its own aesthetic criteria. While Bourdieu believed that the division of classes based upon aesthetic was vital to the ruling class, he did not disregard the importance of social capital & economic capital when it came to the building of cultural capital. For example, he theorized that the ability to produce art or play an instrument was associated with the wealthy not because they were better at playing instruments or drawing, but because they had the time to learn it. They didn’t need to work all day because their families had money. They had the spare time needed to learn to paint or play an instrument. While some one from a lower class may have had the drive to learn to play an instrument or the talent to learn to paint they would not have had the time or the resources to pursue that.
 * Class Issues ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">-

Bourdieu himself believes class distinction and preferences are “most marked in the ordinary choices of everyday existence, such as furniture, clothing, or cooking, which are particularly revealing of deep-rooted and long-standing dispositions because, lying outside the scope of the educational system, they have to be confronted, as it were, by naked taste.” Indeed, Bordieu believes that “the strongest and most indelible mark of infant learning” would probably be in the tastes of food. Bourdieu thinks that meals served on special occasions are “an interesting indicator of the mode of self-presentation adopted in ‘showing off’ a life-style (in which furniture also plays a part).” The idea is that their likes and dislikes should mirror those of their associated class fractions. Children from the lower end of the social hierarchy are predicted to choose “heavy, fatty fattening foods, which are also cheap in their dinner layouts, opting for “plentiful and good” meals as opposed to foods that are “original and exotic.” These potential outcomes would reinforce Bourdieu’s “ethic of sobriety for the sake of slimness, which is most recognized at the highest levels of the social hierarchy,” that contrasts the “convivial indulgence” characteristic of the lower classes. Demonstrations of the tastes of luxury (or freedom) and the tastes of necessity reveal a distinction among the social classes. Children that come from the lower classes are at a cultural disadvantage in regards to culture capital. The dominant class is the one that decides upon how valuable different cultures are. The dominating culture is considered the most valuable and the dominant class (in this case the white, rich class) wants everyone to strive to be them.

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**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Modernism ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">**Modernism** tends to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history, but presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be lamented and mourned as a loss. Many modernist works try to uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life; art will do what other human institutions fail to do. Modernism is marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. The term Modernism applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in the arts that emerged from the middle of the 19th century, as artists rebelled against traditional Historicism, and later through 20th century as the necessity of an individual rejecting previous tradition, and by creating individual, original techniques. Modernism is better seen as taking a series of responses to the situation, and the attempt to wrestle universal principles from the collision between the two. Modernism was defined by a reforming trend within previous artistic norms( []<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Postmodernism ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">**Postmodernism** is a set of ideas. It has emerged as an area of academic study since the mid-1980s. Postmodernism is a concept that appears in a wide variety of disciplines or areas of study, including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion, and technology. It is not clear when postmodernism exactly begins. The first definition of modernism comes from the aesthetic movement broadly labeled “modernism.” This movement is roughly coterminous with the twentieth century Western ideas about art. Modernism is the movement in visual arts, music, literature, and drama which rejected the old Victorian standards of how are should be made, consumed, and what it should mean. In the period of “high modernism,” from around 1910 to 1930, the major figures of modernism literature helped radically to redefine what poetry and fiction could be and do: figures like Woolf, Joyce, Eliot, Pound, Stevens, Proust, Mallarme, Kafka, and Rilke are considered the founders of twentieth-century modernism. Postmodernism follows the ideas of rejecting boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejecting rigid genre distinctions, emphasizing pastiche, parody, irony, and playfulness. Postmodern art favors reflexivity and self-consciousness, fragmentation and discontinuity, ambiguity, simultaneity, and an emphasis on the destructured, decentered, dehumanized subject. Postmodernism does not lament the idea of fragmentation, provisionality, or incoherence, but rather celebrates that ( []<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Diego Rivera ** Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez (December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Gto, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo (1929–1939 and 1940–1954). His large wall works in fresco helped establish the //Mexican Mural Renaissance//. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals among others in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. Diego Rivera was a painter of political murals. His murals grace the walls of cities all over the world from Mexico to Detroit. He also did paintings of native people. One example of this is //Two Women and a Child//. This painting depicts the back of a woman holding a child and the front of another woman. You can see the worry in the woman’s face, but the part that I find as beautiful in this painting is the fact that this woman does not have a “fake face.” Rivera often used parts of his wife, Frida Kahlo, face in his paintings. In this one you can see her strong brow and nose.



His murals, subsequently painted in fresco only, dealt with Mexican society and reflected the country's 1910 Revolution. Rivera developed his own native style based on large, simplified figures and bold colors with an Aztec influence clearly present in murals at the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City begun in September 1922, intended to consist of one hundred and twenty-four frescoes, and finished in 1928. His art, in a fashion similar to the steles of the Maya, tells stories. The mural “En el Arsenal” (//In the Arsenal//) shows on the right-hand side Tina Modotti holding an ammunition belt and facing Julio Antonio Mella, in a light hat, and Vittorio Vidale behind in a black hat. Rivera's radical political beliefs, his attacks on the church and clergy, as well as his dealings with Trotskyists and left-wing assassins made him a controversial figure even in communist circles. Leon Trotsky even lived with Rivera and Kahlo for several months while exiled in Mexico.



At the time that Cortez conquered the Aztec Indians a great deal of their culture was lost or overtaken. Rivera’s paintings tell a story of the past that his country has. This culture which was at one point unvalued was once again given life in Rivera’s paintings. Here he tells the stories of the past through his paintings and murals. This is a form of folk culture. He used his art to pass down stories and traditions of his people that at one point were considered lost.

Diego Rivera can also be seen as a symbol of mass culture as well. His art was a symbol for political freedom from Spain, although he was a Communist himself. His murals can been seen in the Palace of Cortez, San Francisco, New York City, Detroit and others. His murals often held political or religious messages. Rivera was an atheist who often put messages about the non-existence of God in his murals. Many people found his paintings easy to identify with because of their political freedom messages. They also caused a great deal of controversy because of their messages about God. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Rivera

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">** José Bernal **



Jose Bernal (January 8, 1925-April 19, 2010) was a Cuban-American artist. He was born in Cuba but became a naturalized US citizen in 1980. Beginning in early childhood, art and music was introduced and encouraged by his artistic parents. He continued to study art and got his Masters in Fine Arts at Escuela de Artes Plásticas Leopoldo Romañach. In June of 1962 he and his family left Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion after Bernal was arrested for unpatriotic behavior. After he was released he feared his life and his families’ life. The Bernal Family left Cuba and came to the US.

His family made there home in Chicago and throughout the 1960s his paintings were exhibited and sold in Chicago galleries. His artwork was discovered by Betty Parson. She was an art dealer and collector. She promoted his work and he continued to focus on the creation of his highly personal art.

In the 1970s Bernal decided to return to college and received a certified evaluation of his MFA by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As an artist he also was an art educator in the public high schools in Chicago.

In 1993, Bernal was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In 2004 Bernal donated over 300 paintings to the National Parkinson Foundation, to benefit the fight against the disease. He passed away on April 19, 2010.

His work has been described as modernist, abstract, and expressionist, but the broad spectrum of his art defies categorization. The term postmodernist also may be applied to Bernal's diverse and complex body of work, specifically as he rejected the notion of the new in art, a characteristic imbued in postmodern theory.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In 2007, two artworks by Jose Bernal were added to the collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art. A third artwork was added in 2009, and three more artworks were added in 2010 to SAMA. Dancers (1937), Composicion cubista (1938), sketch of Composicion cubista (1938), Brindis (1959, 1983), Released/Bay of Pigs (1962), and Riot (1963) are the six artworks by Jose Bernal that are in the collection of SAMA. [] []



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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jean Charlot **



Jean Charlot (1898-1979), French painter mainly active in Mexico and the United States was born in Paris, yet his mother’s family originated from Mexico; his grandfather was a French-Indian mestizo. He moved to Mexico with his mother after studying at the Ecole de Beaux arts in Paris and serving as a artillery officer at the end of WWI. Charlot spent many years in Mexico and participated in the founding of Mexican muralism along with Fernando Leal. He quickly established himself in the art community of Mexico City in the very early 1920’s. He did children’s book illustrations, easel paintings, illustrations, mural paintings, mural specialty, and printmaking/graphic design. In his artwork he uses fresco, graphite/pencil, oil paint, pastel painting, pen and ink, and printmaking specialty. He is acknowledged for using a modernism style in his artwork. One of his pieces, “Mother and Child,” also called “Work and Rest,” depicts a Mexican woman on her knees working on the floor with her child asleep on her back. The mother in the painting is not depicted as the beautiful female so many artists have depicted women, sending a message to women that this “beauty” is what all women should look like. This painting, however, shows the duties of a Mexican woman and how the fact that she has a child to take care of does not hinder her from completing her tasks. He died in 1979 at Honolulu, Hawaii. []



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">**Shel Silverstein**



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;"> Shel Silverstein began writing when he was twelve years old. He would have preferred to be playing ball with children his age, but he had no athletic ability. Also, girls showed no interest in him, so he began to write. He was not familiar with the style of any famous poets. Since he had no one whom he could mimic, he began developing his own technique. In the 1950's, Silverstein enlisted in the armed forces and served in the Korean War. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> During his time in the military, Shel Silverstein worked as a cartoonist for "Pacific Stars and Stripes," a Pacific-based U.S. military publication. After completing his military duty, he was hired as a staff cartoonist for "Playboy" in 1956. Silverstein contributed several poems including "The Winner," "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe," and "The Smoke-off" (see links below to read some of these) and wrote the books "Playboy's Teevee Jeebies" and "More Playboy's Teevee Jeebies: Do-It-Yourself Dialogue for the Late Late Show." In 1963, at the suggestion of fellow illustrator Tomi Ungerer, he was introduced to Ursula Nordstrom who convinced him to begin writing for children. One of Silverstein's most popular books, "The Giving Tree," was published in 1964. Ironically, just a few years prior, editor William Cole rejected this book, claiming that it would never sell because it fell between the interests of children and adults. In 1974, Shel Silverstein wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends," which won the New York Times Outstanding Book Award, 1974, and went on to win the Michigan Young Readers' Award, 1981, and the George G. Stone Award, 1984. He wrote "The Missing Piece" in 1976, a non-traditional books which Silverstein himself sees as being a little "disturbing" because of the unique ending he chose for the book. "A Light In the Attic," a collection of poems and drawings, was published in 1981, and won Best Books, School Library Journal, 1981. This book also won the Buckeye Awards, 1983, and 1985, the George G. Stone Award, 1984, and the William Allen White Award, 1984. The 1981 publication, "The Missing Piece Meets the Big O," a sequel to "The Missing Piece," won the International Reading Association's Children's Choice Award in 1982. His most recent book, "Falling Up: Poems and Drawings," appeared in bookstores in 1996, and has been praised by critics everywhere. Silverstein currently writes and draws for "Playboy," which published his poem "Hamlet as Told on the Street," in the January 1998 issue.

Shel Silverstein was drawn to folk music in 1960 and later became a respected composer. He wrote the lyrics for and composed "A Boy Named Sue" in 1969, which became a number one hit for Johnny Cash. He appeared in and composed music for the film "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Such Terrible Things About Me?," which opened in 1971. In 1980, Mr. Silverstein released a country music album that he recorded entitled "The Great Conch Train Robbery." Shel Silverstein co-wrote the soundtrack for the 1990 film "Postcards From the Edge," which was nominated for an Academy Award for best song in 1991, and for a Golden Globe for the same category and year.

Silverstein began writing plays in 1981. One of his best known scripts, "The Lady or the Tiger Show," was a one-act play first produced in New York City in the same year. It was a satire about a game show in which contestants risked their lives by choosing between two doors: behind one is a beautiful woman, and behind the other is a tiger. He also collaborated with David Mamet on the screenplay for the 1988 Colubmia Pictures film "Things Change." He wrote the drama "The Devil and Billy Markham" (see link below for poem and illustrations), which was combined with David Mamet's play "Bobby Gould in Hell" under the collective title "Oh, Hell! Two One-Act Plays," and was produced in New York at the Lincoln Center in 1989.

Shel Silverstein passed away on May 10, 1999 from a heart attack in Key West, Florida.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">"I know a way to stay friends forever, There's really nothing to it, I tell you what to do, And you do it," quoted Silverstein. The following youtube video does not have the best audio, but the video explains the poem well.

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Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins, And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And watch where the chalk-white arrows go To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go, For the children, they mark, and the children, they know The place where the sidewalk ends. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Resistive Hip Hop

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Crip Hop” by Snoop Dogg ​

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​ ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(feat. LaToiya Williams) **
 * "Crip Hop" **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">

//[Chorus: Tray Deee]// I'm tired of that punk shit Where niggaz claim to done, where they from and who run shit I bang it to the tip-top Can't stop, won't stop, droppin gangbang hit rocks To the last drip-drop To the, tick tock to the blocks niggaz rip glocks I'm knowin that this shit hot This your first introduction to this motherfuckin crip hop

//[Tray Deee]// It's time to research the documents and pull some files and put it down with this gangsta style Cause I be seein niggaz bein more aggressive now after peace treaty meetings and the weapons down Sport Chucks 'member once it was Nikes and sandals To me it's unlikely that you're sheisty and skanless To manage this dramaticness I call my rep Every step stay on deck keepin bustaz in check Certified murder guide through the streets of death Where the sleep ya slip soon as ya weakness met From that real killer deal get ya steal and mash Niggaz have done did when the steel'll blast Pockets filled with cash, fuck a Benz or Jag Lookin rough in a bucket, tuckin tens and Macs Dip roam, chip phones, flip (?) and clock Lick shots and the cops and control your block Keep it true with the crew from the old to new Ride providin 'em with guidance like your 'sposed to do Notice who, participatin all the activity That's how we livin G, strictly killer tendencies So death to all my enemies And to the homies who rest in peace, a dub bag and Hennessy These weak niggaz killin me with their proclivity to even proclimate that they as real as me

//[Chorus]//

//[Snoop Dogg]// Yeah nigga this crip, crip, crip Talk shit and I'ma bust yo' lip I'm gettin chips in the summer in a nine-six Hummer in D.C., fuckin with a breezy, easy See we see all we can see G.R. we can G, the Eastside family Coherent, cohesive, the co-pilot On this Eastside shit cuz, I'm co-signin On the East fuck peace we ridin violent Fuck where you been it's all about where I been Sirens, gunshots, flood glocks get popped when they all try to knock knock knock Who is it - visit the papers, the streets and the labels We got the hottest shit burnin on the turntables I won't deny ya, I'm a straight rider and you don't wanna fuck with me (yeh yeh)

//[Chorus]//

//[Goldie Loc]// C.. R.. I.. P.. cause that's all we G I'm from Rollin', 20, Gangsta Crip and I'ma tell you how the shit gon' C (gon' C) Now if I wasn't rappin motherfucker y'all be starvin on my nuts without bucks like Marvin You can't sleep, you can't eat, look who starvin Written bill paid but still gotta be a slave Flip your own money, make your own proper Get yo' own heat, in case some niggaz try to stop ya Be a boss hog about your money, float loc And trust no one, anybody can get smoke smoked like a fat-ass blunt, of that bomb shit Have a babysitter set that ass up for chip Chips Ahoy! Niggaz ran in with toys If you didn't see 'em it's the Eastside boys We be mobbin, like a motherfuckin cut Dirty dealt, lil' sag, lil' jay, lil' Chuck Two times, trey times on yo' motherfuckin ass Keep it O.G. nigga, rewind and pass It's just another day and forty dozen, niggaz strugglin Is you hustlin, do you relate to drug smugglin? If so, grab a nine and start to trip But remember, don't let nobody punk you out yo' grip nigga

//[LaToiya Williams]// Dogg Pound groovin, Eastside is the greatest and other guys can't fade us cause we're the hardest in the town (?) and duces, never could be faded And all you suckers hate it Ohh crip is goin down And baby have no doubt, we gonna turn it out And that's on Eastside L.B.C. And we're the best, we rockin coast to coast and we be blowin dope, and baby that's the shit I'm talkin real shit to ya baby (that real crip shit) Duces 'n trayz bangin (that real crip shit) I'm talkin real shit to ya baby (that real crip shit) Duces 'n trayz, bangin bangin bangin bangin (THAT CRIP!)

//[Snoop Dogg]// Oooh! Yeah, that Eastsider shit (Eastside Eastside) What y'all know about this here (what what wha-wha-what?) I'm (I'm) tal..king.. crip shit (talk to me, talk to me) I'm.. tal..king.. crip shit I'm talking crip shit to you baby Eastside.. ahh! Eastside, Eastside Ahh.. Eastside, Eastside! Uhh, ahh.. Eastside, Eastside <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">

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