Split Personality

Pablo Picasso Self-Portrait

Last week in AS we had a discussion about how Pablo Picasso was, and still is, considered one of the greatest artists of all time. Another thing that was mentioned, however, was that he beat his wife. I cannot remember for sure, but I think we discussed this because of the new "21st Century reading" of the poem, My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke. After reading this poem, our class had, as many other modern English classes have, decided that this poem was about child abuse. The terms "child abuse" and "dysfunctional family" had no meaning back in the 1800s (Huckleberry Finn's era), because these kinds of social issues were not as freely discussed as they are today. While I know a lot about Pablo Picasso and his art, I never knew about him beating his wife. Because beating your wife was not a social topic that was thrown around the news and media of Picasso's time, it never was apparent to me and presumably many others how odd this man really was. In today's culture, it is a different story.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name "Tiger Woods"? If you had asked me two years ago, I would have probably responded: "the best golf player of all time." If you had asked me today, my reply would probably look a little more like this: "Don't you mean 'Cheetah' Woods? Hehehe..." Both Tiger Woods and Pablo Picasso have two sides to their personality: a famous and popular side, and a dark and hurtful side, yet not everyone thinks poorly of Picasso. Because of the time period, Tiger and Pablo have been treated differently. Who will you remember more: Cheetah or Tiger?

HOOK

I was recently watching some of my favorite videos on youtube when I came across my favorite song by Blues Traveler. For the first time, I listened to the message of the song, and it reminded me of what we discussed a few weeks ago in AS. Can you find it in this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdz5kCaCRFM

Intimidation Tactics

This week in class we were discussing some issues that were apparent during the reconstruction era of the United States. (this was the period where the southern states were to be admitted back into the Union after the Civil War). One topic we discussed was intimidation tactics that Planters used to make sure former African American slaves could not become independent and from having full rights as a US citizen. One of the things that they did was to make sure that the former slaves voted for people that the planters wanted them to vote for. This reminded me of something that happens still today such as the Taliban election threats Members of the Taliban would use physical intimidation to force voters to re-elect Saddam Hussein. They would also make pre-marked election forms. After the elections, Saddam had received a unanimous decision by the hundreds of thousands of voters.
What is the point of having an election if people are forced to make selections?

Wave your flag...

During AS this week we talked about how when you visit southern states, you will still see some confederate flags. We wondered whether this means that people in the South believe in slavery or if it means something else. Another thing that I noticed was that there are a lot of things in the media and pop culture. Here are some examples of the confederate flag seen in today's culture:

ABOVE: General Lee from Dukes of Hazard

LEFT: Lynyrd Skynyrd logo

BOTTOM RIGHT: just your average southern motorcyclist




So why do people still wave the flag of the confederate army? One writer waves the confederate flag in honor of southern heritage. Check out this opinion here. Do you buy this answer? Is it OK for people to still honor this flag?