Five weeks into the Kiowa language class at the University of Oklahoma have passed, and things are going well. There are familiar words in the language; still, it was always the conjugating of the pronouns and other language-specific traits in the Kiowa language I didn’t know. In my youth, I would spend the summers with my grandparents. Both were Kiowa; however, my grandfather was a full-blood Kiowa who spoke the language as a first language. My grandmother had a Czech father and a Kiowa mother; she too also spoke fluent Kiowa.
I would hear them talk fluently to each other, not uttering an English word for minutes at a time. I was intrigued and determined to learn the language.
It wasn’t until around the age of twenty-one, on a trip to Key West, Florida, for a wedding, that I realized the urgency to which I needed to fulfill my quest to learn Kiowa. At Captain Tony’s in Key West, Florida, I met a non-native friend of the groom. He had taken Begining Kiowa At OU and knew how to speak it well. It was then I realized that if this non-native man knew the language of my ancestors and I didn’t, that was an issue.
Fast Forward to 2022, and here I am, enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, completing my degree and learning my ancestral language in a scholarly effort. My Kohñ with his Kohñ (below).
It’s challenging to navigate the Campus here at OU without encountering a structure, park bench, garden, or field named in honor of an important figure in the university’s storied past. Yet, it’s important to remember such heroes; more importantly, it is dire to keep churning out high levels of academia and sports. Therefore we all accept the challenge of navigation! Onward ho! I was walking to my car in the commuter parking area just beyond where the new statues commemorating three former Sooners have just found their new place. Fortunately, I just so happened to be walking about when they placed in the last of the three brothers. By the way, these three statues look remarkably close to the people they portray. I wondered what it would be like to have a statue or likeness cast of me. What would I do to earn such an honor? Of course, I’m not worthy of such an honor. But, I would be interested in knowing what I would have to contribute to humanity to warrant creating and recreating a likeness of me. I guess this is why not everyone gets their shot at the honor. Is it make people happy? Play football well? Or score a specific score on a Mensa exam? I feel a group of people’s love adoration almost demands this to happen. It is cool to be a part of a University that recognizes the greatest. Every statue on Campus was earned with hard work and created because of the honorees’ contributions. I’m ok with others’ immortalization in bronze; I’ll leave the rock carrying to those that choose and the hours of relentless study to the Rhodes Scholars to go on to solve the world’s most challenging of feats. But I am ok with seeing if they got the likeness close and details, if apparent.
What are some similarities, differences, and how might Artemisia Gentileschi’s past trauma inspire her work?
The following is an assignment from my humanities of the Modern World class. Here is the prompt:
Pages 271–272 – Italian Baroque painting. Look carefully at the reproductions of two paintings: Caravaggio’s The Crucifixion of St. Peter from 1601, and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes from ca. 1614-1620.
Crucifixion of Saint Peter. (2022, July 31). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Saint_Peter_(Caravaggio)Judith Slaying Holofernes. (2022, September 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Slaying_Holofernes_(Artemisia_Gentileschi,_Naples)
Page 271–272 – What is similar and what is different in what is pictured in the two paintings? Both paintings are compelling. What contributes to their impact? Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the few famous women artists of this period (and, sadly, of any period in Western art until the twentieth century). Does anything in her painting suggest a specifically female perspective?
The following is my response:
These two masterworks Caravaggio’s The Crucifixion of Peter and Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes, are similar in how they are both painted on black backgrounds and contain violent, dramatic depictions. The bold contrasts of light and dark are what Fiero describes as hallmarks of Italian Baroque paintings (Fiero, 2020, p. 271). Fiero also says the works’ actual size and impact are comparable (Fiero, 2020, p. 271). They seem to have some pulling or pushing effect. We know that, as with Baroque sculpture, the technique of foreshortening lures the eye of the viewer into the action with angles and perspective, making objects appear to recede into space (Fiero, 2020, p. 271). It is a beautiful technique that makes the paintings feel real and happening right in front of our eyes.
The two paintings are also comparable in attention to detail and realism. In Caravaggio’s image, we can see the dirty feet of one of the assailants to Peter. We can see the expression and light being used, a specialty of Caravaggio (National Gallery, 2016). In Judith Slaying Holofernes Gentileschi’s details, the blood spewing precisely from the victim’s neck in the most realistic attempts. It believably runs down each seam of the linens underneath. Each bloody detail is finely illustrated down the drops appearing on the bosom of the attacker.
The differences are few and minute but noticeable. The subjects depicted as victims are of different sexes. If we didn’t know the backstory of Holofernes, the women in Gentileschi’s work might be exacting their brand of justice as avengers or carrying out the most heinous of murders. Fortunately, we know that Judith is defending the name of Israel and killing Holofernes as an act of defiance, which was a famous allegory of liberty and religious defiance during the Renaissance (Fiero, 2020, p. 272).
The fact that two women are beheading a man in Judith Slaying Holofernes raises more questions than answers. The painting by Gentileschi was on par with her other favorite subject, female heroines (Fiero, 2020, p. 272). It begs the question, what did this guy do to these women that made them want to behead him? Or was this a random act of violence? What has happened to the painter to suggest such a situation? According to Fiero, we know that we see the painting from a victimized female perspective because of Gentileschi’s dealings with rape from a former drawing teacher at the age of eighteen (Fiero, 2020, p. 272).
References
Fiero, G. K. (2020). Landmarks in humanities (5th ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
The National Gallery. (2016, March 3). Caravaggio: His life and style in three paintings | National Gallery [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KcdgFxmnb4
“What is the relationship between online communities and political polarization?”
The direct correlation between online communities and political polarization is the community’s ability to harness technology and propagate the political message to a mass online audience. For obvious reasons, the internet makes communication easier between members or followers. Unfortunately, it also allows the keyboard warriors to mobilize while stirring the pot. The message, whatever it may be, is on twenty-four hours a day, and it will enable interaction between users. We saw it with the 2020 election cycle. Groups like the Proud Boys & ANTIFA were names we heard ad nauseam during that time. From my understanding, both organizations are the extremes of both ends of the ideological spectrum. Social platforms and online communities allowing free speech in 2024 will be just as unsettling. Unfortunately, those mentioned above aren’t the only groups guilty of using these internet communities to create propaganda and attempt to influence social media. There are bad actors worldwide. For example, countries like Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China are interested in our elections and which side may win. We saw that when Obama accused the Russians of guilty behavior. There are people paid overseas to sit in rooms, develop social profiles, and spread fake propaganda that polarizes our politics. In addition, these people create materials to extend America’s adversaries’ messages.
Regarding my media interests, it has to be how art, culture, free speech, and technology collide. It’s standing by and watching the wreck happen. Sometimes the changes within media occur in slow motion, and other times they’re lighting fast. As I sat in class today and listened to Dean Walker talk about the changing of mediums within media, I recalled a thought I often revisit. I was around when America Online mailed CDS that would allow you to access free hours on the internet; when it was Voice Stream (one of the few cellular companies available) before T-Mobile, the list could go on and on. Before toting around the most primitive cellular device, I carried a pager. This technology phenomenon wasn’t just isolated to me; everyone my age had them. You had to have a quarter in those days to return a call—you had to develop codes with your friends with number combinations. It was a time before SMS and emails weren’t in your hand. It was also when cold mediums were the only outlet of investigation. You had to visit the library and be somewhat aware of the Dewey Decimal System. I am dating myself but reminiscing about how far media has matured. Devices are everchanging, and technology moves faster than humanly possibly (AI); it will be fascinating to watch where it all goes. As I watched burgeoning platforms like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter emerge, I engaged with social media more than I currently do. At the time, maybe it was a FOMO thing for me. Everyone seemed to be on them and didn’t realize what we now know about social media. Issues of privacy. People are now a commodity. Questions about social media, the trends within, and interacting more with social platforms are some of the questions I may have.
