Bethany Khan's Pensieve

My Mother

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:54:28 -0600

For this assignment, I picked my mother as the subject of my documentary. Basically, I picked out a few key stories from her life so that I could tell the viewer a little bit more about my mom that one wouldn’t necessarily know just by looking at her. I choose to film her in front of a wall that is located in the main entrance of our house which is filled with family pictures that we take every year; our family is very important to my mom, and I wanted my placement of her to reflect that. Also, since she is instrumental in getting us all together every holiday to take a picture that she then sends out to our family and friends, it seemed only fitting that she be filmed in front of the wall of yearly Christmas greeting card pictures. I wanted my mom to the subject of this documentary short because she doesn’t usually get to talk about herself all that often, she is usually recounting achievements of her kids or taking care of us, so that is why I wanted to see what she had to say if I just put a camera in front of her and started asking her questions.

Melinda and the City

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:57:34 -0600

New York -> My digital story

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:45:15 -0600

Reflection on the Oscars

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:56:01 -0600

As I watched the all the people file up and receive their little golden man for their various achievements I was struck at the differences of this year’s 80th Oscars compared to previous years.

First of all, I have never seen this many international films in the spotlight, this was most notable when several accepters burst into their native tongue to utter their thank you speeches. I loved it! Even some of the other people that I watched the Oscars with commented on the diversity of the actors and actresses there at the show.

Yes, there was a lot of international representation in the house, but where, oh where, were the people of color and women?

Indian. Woman. Storyteller.

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:47:16 -0600

“Home…in past tense�? by Bix Gabriel

When I was growing up Hyderabad had a bad reputation. People who were from there or had some cultural attributes were not as good as other Indians. No one ever came out and said that, it was just something that I knew. I came to college not really giving that a second thought. I didn’t think people from Hyderabad were bad, I just didn’t challenge the notion that they weren’t any good. All I knew was that I loved Hyderabadi Biryani.

This piece resonated with me because I loved seeing pictures of India and learning more about the South Indian culture. Being half-Indian myself, I love anything to do with India…no matter what region. I found her story to be rather engaging and I thought her quote about her house back in Hyderabad being "a musum about growing up," and her before and after photos of Hyderabad to be poignant reminders of capitalism and globalization.

I thought it was so cool that Bix Gabriel was exploring her roots and not forgetting where she came from. I loved seeing an Indian woman who was filmmaker in the spotlight – definitely don’t get enough of that. This piece was an excellent reminder of stereotypes that learned growing up and that I personally still have work to be a more socially just person.

2/19

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:54:49 -0600

This week in class we are focusing on photography and as I struggle to think of a famous photographer who was a woman, I can only think of one name. Annie Leibovitz. Her work has always stood out to me. I remember coming across her name when I was researching John Lennon for a project, and I saw that she was (perhaps) one of the last photographers to take his picture before he was murdered. More recently, I was pleased to see that Leibovitz was hired by Walt Disney to shoot some fabulous scenes of real-life celebrities as imaginary characters – I loved it!

Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 02:58:40 -0600

Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies by Lucy Lippard

Lucy Lippard’s goal is that she is trying to walk the reader through the process of figuring out what “feminist art�? is, especially in terms of a landscape. She talks about the terrain and the lack of critical attention it gets from a majority of feminist analysts. She said that usually the focus is on the home, workplace, urban and suburban environments, but not so much on the terrain. She makes the point that the terrain has been possibly gendered into a masculine symbol of freedom that many women feel excluded from.

2/12

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:54:20 -0600

I meant to post about this earlier, but I just remembered this example…so I will blog about it now. Over winter break I went to New York and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. In the MET I literally walked around dozens of galleries looking for female artists.

My Media Log

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:47:10 -0600

*Feb. 9th
4pm: Watched “Jersey Girl�? on Netflix (instant viewing)
6pm: Watched CNN cable news and read the MN Daily during dinner
9pm: Watched random news shows on TV and then caught the last 45 minutes or so of Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp version).

*Feb. 10th
4pm: Watched “Glory�? on Netflix (instant viewing)
6pm: Read the MN Daily during dinner
7-10:30pm: The Grammys on CBS

*Feb. 11th
1am: Watched “California Suite�? on Netflix (instant viewing)
10am: Started “Bus Stop�? on Netflix
11am: Kare 11 “Discovering MN�? during breakfast
12p: Read/skimmed through the Pioneer Press and the MN Daily
9pm: Read online news at CNN.com and watched NBC Nightly News
11:30pm: Continued “Bus Stop�? on Netflix
2am: Finished "Bus Stop"

My thoughts on Judy Chicago...

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:47:37 -0600

“Visual arts is our picture of the world.�? - Judy Chicago

Before, I saw this film I had no idea of who Judy Chicago was, and I was really struck by how tough and honest she was. She really pushed her studio students outside of their comfort level as much as she could, and I really do think that they grew a lot because of that. She was so forceful at times and really harsh with her students, so much so, that I really kind of grew to resent her - I was so glad that I wasn’t in class with her.

I did, however, find some of her statements to be enlightening and I did learn more about some new aspects of feminist art and feminist pedagogy from her.

Obama in Minneapolis!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:46:57 -0600

I went to see Obama on Saturday, February 2nd at the Target Center and I loved it! He talked about many important issues that I really wanted him to address, and I left feeling completely justified in deciding to vote for him to be the next president of the US.

One thought that was brought to my attention by a White woman that I met while standing in line with 20,000 people, was that most of the Obama supporters seemed to be White. She said that she didn’t understand why this was the cause, and then she referenced the crisis in Darfur and stated that most activists were White.
I have three thoughts on this:

1/29 Reflections

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:53:14 -0600

This reflection is on "The Blue Door," a play that I saw at the Guthrie on January 26th.

“The Blue Door,�? which is set in 1995, is about Lewis, an African American math professor who struggles with his Black identity one night as he suffers from insomnia. His wife, (who is White) encourages him to join in the Million Man March by challenging his “authentic�? identity. He refuses to go and she leaves him alone in the house with his thoughts as her request for a divorce rings in his ears.

Lewis spends the night alone. He sits in his chair reflecting on why his wife all of a sudden wants a divorce. Before she left him, she made the argument that their relationship had not been authentic in quite sometime because he refuses to be true to himself. To make matters worse, Lewis is visited by three ghosts of his past: his great grandfather who was a slave, his grandfather who was lynched because he tried to vote, and by his father who, to Lewis, was never be proud of his son no matter how much he achieved academically.

The play brought up some important themes to my mind: One’s “authentic�? identity, lack of connection to one’s history and race politics. Lewis struggles with identifying as a Black man, not because he hasn’t ever experienced racism or discrimination, but because he thinks that Blackness, in general, means being “ghetto�? or uneducated. He doesn’t seem to be very proud of his roots at all, in fact, he has done his best to distance himself from fitting into stereotypical “Black�? roles. I identified with Lewis’ plight to some extent, because I understand why his character would try to cling to anything but a “traditional�? race role. I know that I sometimes think that if I distance myself from “cultural things�? then I am distancing myself from the discrimination and racism that comes along with those actions – even thought that’s not at all true.

Lewis also discussed the lack of connection he has to his personal history and how conflicted he is about it. He talked through some issues that he had with negative aspects in his family’s history such as alcoholism, drug abuse, slavery and poverty. He seemed to conclude that the only history he knew were the bad things. So, in absence of the knowledge of positive events in his history being passed down, he felt as if there were none that where important enough to be passed down. As Lewis’ ancestors visited him throughout the night, they told him about their lives (in an abridged version) and shared with him several stories of racism and how they fought against oppression. Recently, I have learned so much about the importance of history and how it is essential to know about past event in order to better fight against oppression and social injustice. I have always taken history for granted before coming to college. In my high school, history was AP US History or AP European History, the latter being much more encompassing for world history, but still very White and not very inclusive. I sometimes envy African Americans or Black Americans for the access they have to their civil rights history, it seems like I don’t know what my history is. I realize that many African/Black Americans are unable to chart their lineage specifically due to slavery tearing families apart without record, but I almost feel as if I’m in the same situation. For some reason or another, my family’s history doesn’t go back that far – and for many of my racial connections I have to rely on my parents recollections as my ethnic facts.

Lewis also talked about race politics in terms of racism and the Million Man March. He said that he didn’t feel Black enough, he didn’t feel connected to the oppression and plight of his brother, and maybe that didn’t bother him, or did it? He was confused on why he was confused. He wanted to just live his life and not have to think about race, but he knew it was impossible. Maybe Lewis’ race wasn’t as important to him as it is to other people of color, but he knew he couldn’t escape the fact that he was a man of color in a room filled with his peers – who were professors and university administrators.

I found myself frustrated with Lewis’ inability to connect to his racial history and I kept thinking, why is he distancing himself? It does no one any good! I also found it hard to sympathize with his reasoning on why he didn’t join the Million Man March – how could he miss a once-in-a-lifetime experience? I realize that his character is now just beginning to unearth his buried feelings, and I was once there – so I guess I can empathize with him, and just write it off as social justice educators say, “everyone is in different places in their own journey.�?

Overall, I liked the play, but it didn’t go as deep as I wanted it to go, and I left feeling slightly disappointed. I thought it would be a serious heart-wrenching experience, but it was not - it seemed more pedantic and scripted rather than a passionate look at race. I was unable to stay engaged, so much so, that I started get restless about 45 minutes into the play (it was an hour and a half, with no intermission!). However, I am glad I went because at times, I found myself thoroughly interested in Lewis’ dialogue with his ancestors, and I think that their scripted conversations pushed me explore some other branches in my own social justice tree.

Introduction / Self Portrait

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:55:50 -0600

I...
-am a junior majoring in print journalism, minoring in social justice and gwss
-live on-campus (Dinkytown)
-am in love with my new digital camera that I just got for Christmas. See a picture of it here.
-am 21, but still love most of the Disney Princess'...even though I know all the reasons why I shouldn't. My fav? Jasmine!
-love: reading fun, going to bed really late and sleeping in.
-strongly dislike: shaking people's hands when I am introduced to them.
-use the word facetious too much!
-love anything that comes in the color pink or black
-cut my hair to the shortest it's ever been over winter break
-could and probably will spend the rest of my life dedicated to learning all about social justice, and making the world more socially just
-love to be put in uncomfortable situations, that are safe...it's where I grow the most!
-used to be more optimistic, but ever since I turned 21 and realized that I haven't done shit with my life yet, I am more cynical
-am ethically conflicted with my major right now. Journalists aren't supposed to make news, they are supposed to report on it and be objective. Problem? I like to make the news, and I often do (not to my choosing), and I like the access I am given at "the table" as a participant rather than just reporting on those who sit at the table.
-Guilty pleasures: Bollywood, mayo and ketchup w/my fries, Rated G and PG movie, Disney and Harry Potter Scene-It
-collect: bangles, earrings, anything glittery, shiny or pink
-fear: not achieving my dreams and goals, losing someone I love, angry men,
-am wary of: big brother, politicans, administrators,
-can't wait to: be 30 and have everything figured out...? and be working in my career and love it!

The end of free speech as we know it?

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:40:49 -0600

This academic entry isn't about bill 1959 or the end of free speech as we know it, it is merely my comment on some ethical concerns with the following story.

"Senate Bill 1959 to Criminalize Thoughts, Blogs, Books and Free Speech Across America"
- quote taken from story headline

A friend forwarded this "article" from NewsTarget.com. The author, Mike Adam, talks about a new Senate bill (1959), which would essentially be the “…end of Free Speech.�?

Ethical issues arose when I got to his linkage to a YouTube video of Naomi Wolf’s lecture on the “10 steps of fascism,�? and the endorsement that readers go click on the provided Amazon link to buy her book, both of which got a slight eyebrow raise from me, but I was absolutely surprised when I got to his blatant endorsement of Ron Paul for president.

When I first starting reading this “article,�? I assumed it was just that - a news article. Upon further investigation of NewsTarget, (I had never heard of them before), I came across a very important part of their discloser that was located at the very bottom of the homepage. It stated that “all content…is commentary or opinion…�?

Interestingly enough, I had just finished reading the New Media ethics section in our course packet and immediately thought that this story was questionable. Just by glancing at the page, I cannot see any disclosure that this article was opinion-based. I also see mostly health ads covering most of the free space surrounding the actual story. But, to be fair, in NewsTarget’s discloser (which is in fine print at the very bottom of the homepage) they state: “Truth Publishing International, LTD. has full ownership of and takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no health or nutritional products and earns no money from health product manufacturers or promoters.�?

NewsTarget.com’s motto is “information that empowers ™,�? sure Adams is informing me on this new Senate bill, but I thought more disclosure could be used, and if NewsTarget isn’t getting any money for the ads, then why are they there in the first place? It’s tacky.

This story is essentially a blog...that isn't presented in that way. I thought the site was misleading and lacked some serious disclosure, for real. I also posted the above thoughts in my journalism Media Ethics (JOUR 3771) class' discussion, so hopefully other students weigh in with their thoughts.

-B