Just the beginning

Blogging was a distant, strange idea for me before I actually started doing it. I did not realize how many words I had typed for the blog posts until I read through them. Writing these posts was great in terms of practicing writing and learning new knowledge. Skimming through the posts was almost a whole new learning experience. From the beginning of the Victorian arts post to the end of the Cold war post, these blogs followed the period of the poems that I learned. 

It was interesting to see the distinct characteristics of different period that were reflected by the poems, arts and even fashion of that period. Tennyson’s “The Bugle Song” was majestic and ornate, so were the arts during that time. The rich color shown in the arts was just as enchanting as the wording of Tennyson’s “The Bugle Song”. 

Few years later, Walt Whitman stood out with the concise and emotional America. What I could think of were the rebel artists of the period, the impressionists. Just like Walt Whitman, who abandoned the rhyming and used free verse to express his feelings, impressionists rejected the traditional way of creating their work. Instead of confining themselves in the cages, they took excursions beyond the studio to capture elegant images of nature and present them through their own interpretation. 

Just a split second, Sandburg rushed in to the classroom, praising Chicago and the America with a knife in his hands, head held high. He led me to the 1920s, a period filled with social ferment and the excitement brought by the new technologies. The growth of the film industry was as fast as that of the urbanization. Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin’s character appealed to the lower class, the working class of the time, the “Big shoulders” that Sandburg described. “Building, breaking, rebuilding” the cities helped create jobs so that people could enjoy their friday nights in the movie theaters. The film production reached 800 films per year and became the highest output in the history. 

Twenty years later, Jarrell led me to discover the World War II Flying Fortress and Superfortress by showing me the horrifying image of “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”. Even though I did not wake to “Black Flak and the nightmare fighters”, I witnessed the Harlem renaissance and the Black arts movements through Brooks and Baraka. In the end, I learnt the the Cold War even had an impact on pushing the Civil rights movement. 

This was a magical term,

I walked in the classroom with nothing in my mind

I walked out with poems in my hands 

I stumbled upon the words 

I tried not to Rhyme........

There are moments

when the words flash before my eyes 

and I catch them

gently place them on the paper 

voilà !

there goes my poem. 

Dance with the Wolves

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As a fan of the western movies, I am fascinated by the rugged and unstrained beauty of the grand west the movies portray. I’m not sure if the depictions in the movies are accurate or not, but they shouldn’t be too far off. Despite the view of the west, something else that also caught my attention is the portrayal of Native Americans. 

For some people primitive, cruel, belligerent are merely enough to describe the Native Americans. Cutting out human scalps and wearing them on their shirts is one of the scenes that repeatedly shown in movies. In the movie "Legend of Fall", Tristan Ludlow, who was raised by an Native American, killed twenty German soldiers and covers himself with their scalps as trophies. All these horrifying images of them never alters my interest in these fascinating people. 

“Dances with the Wolves” is the first movie that depicts the Native Americans that I’ve ever seen. The story is about an injured First Lieutenant, Dunbar, who volunteered to go to the western frontier before the vast land is gone. However, he ends up being the only soldier in the abandoned post. Just a few days after he arrives the post, a group of Sioux broke into his post and tried to steal his horse. He seeks out to establish a relationship with the Clan after encountering them several times. With the help of “Stands with a Fist”, a white girl who grew up with the Native Americans, he begins to be involved in their everyday life and eventually is drawn to their life style and becomes an Native American. 

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As an outsider, I'm stunned to see how the Native Americans live and fight against the unpredictability of nature. The scene of Indian warriors fighting against the another clan to protect their families still lingers in my mind. Just as Dunbar says in the movie, " This had not been a fight for territory or riches or to make men free. This battle had no ego. It had been fought to preserve the food stores that would see us through winter, to protect the lives of women and children and loved ones only a few feet away."

I don't know what the fresh buffalo's tongues taste like, but I know these animals are the Native American's life sources. On one hand, it is very exciting to see the warriors slaughtering buffalo to help their families get through the winter. On the other hand, I lament that these moments can only be seen in movies. 
                                     

After a hundred years, the west gradually lost its unique beauty. What perished along with it were the Native Americans. Most of them are either living at reservations, suffering from poverty, disease, or have assimilated into modern American culture, gradually losing the strength of their ancestors and their unique way of life.

Biography of Issey Miyake

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On April 22,1938, Issey Miyake, a supernova in the fashion design history, was born in Hiroshima, Japan. At such a young age of 35, he had his first fashion collection “A Poem of Cloth and Stone” held in Tokyo. After designing for several prominent brands, such as Givenchy, Miyake eventually founded the Issey Miyake International Inc. in 1971. As an internationally notable Japanese designer whose designs are without structural pattern, Issey Miyake got rid of the traditional western styles. The spirit of innovative product creation with the goal of enhancing people’s daily lives is carried throughout each design piece in ISSEY MIYAKE. 

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Getting the idea while working for Givenchy to Geoffrey Beene, [Miyake] made the traditionally intertwined terms, signifiers and signifieds, independent from each other, and thus bringing out the new interpretations of clothes. (Barlett) Miyake’s deconstruction was then established. For example, in his 1982 “Bodyworks” collection, he brings in the combination of fashion and architecture. As shown in the picture on the left, black is used as the dominant color of the whole piece; nonetheless, it is more than just black, but Miyake’s study of the body form and emotion, using materials other than normal fabrics. For example, wires made up the corset, and feathers made up the shoulder pads. Feathers that stick out of the corset symbolize Miyake’s intention to make things different. “[Miyake’s] cast breastplates of laminated polyester, as well as his sculpted shapes of wire and cage-like rattan forms, function like housing for the body” (Baxbaum). Through this collection, his new concept of importance of clothing functioning is revealed to the world.

Starting in his early career, Miyake devoted himself to experience “with traditional Japanese fabrics while developing the A Piece of Cloth (A-POC) concept in the Seventies, and [to design] clothes that attempted to assimilate the traditions and cultures from around the world at the beginning of the Eighties” (Barlett). In Miyake’s opinion, he does not want his works to be serious and negative, instead, “he wants his exhibition to be a joyful, sensual, colorful and playful experience for the viewer rather than a pretentious display of art in a dress disguise” (Bartlett). It is clear that Miyake is a designer who rejects to follow the mainstream and traditional design and that he prefers to find another way of making clothes.

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Although Miyake does not invent the pleating technique, “his way of thinking and his technique gives new meaning to the prevailing fashion terminology, whether minimalism, high tech, sensuality, luxury, art or tradition” (Bartlett). Thus, Miyake’s style of pleating is comparatively more unique and famous. The PLEATS PLEASE collection “was a response to the evolution of the condition of women, through a study of the traditional Japanese pleating technique, tatamu.” (Bartlett). Since the 1989 launching of PLEATS PLEASE collection, Issey Miyake’s name is well tightened with the pleats. Picture shown above is a design from the PLEATS PLEASE collection. Every part of this black dress is pleated; however, there is some clash in this dress, as the pleats are on different directions. Although the only color used in this piece is black, the dress is various because the direction of the pleating brings different light reflections to the garment.
              Origami-lantern-like dresses, huge sharp-end folds, and highly original fabrics are synonyms for Issey Miyake. With extraordinary creativity, Miyake made his way to retain a permanent seat in the fashion industry of the world, Paris. Confronting a marvelous designer like Issey Miyake, the towering Eiffel Tower even seems dimmer.

Works Cited

Bartlett, Djurdja. "Issey Miyake: Making Things." Fashion Theory: The Journal Of Dress, Body & Culture 4.2 (2000): 223-227. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Mon. 05  Nov. 2012. 

Baxbaum, Gerda, edt. Icons of Fashion: The 20th Century. Munich: Prestel Pub, 2005.

Issey Miyake Inc. Official Website.           

Vietnam War and President Lyndon B. Johnson

After World War II, the Vietnamese fought for and won their independence from France. Starting in 1964 and finished in 1975, Vietnam war was held between communist North Vietnam, usually called Viet Cong, and capitalist South Vietnam. The South Vietnam was supported by troops from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea while the North Vietnam was assisted by the USSR. Although not as well equipped as South Vietnam, North Vietnam had advantage of large numbers of soldiers.

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At that time, American President Eisenhower sent foreign aid and military advisors to South Vietnam because according to domino theory, he was afraid that if Vietnam fell to communism, all of Southeast Asia would also fall. However, the U.S. troops were defeated because they underestimated the tenacity of Viet Cong and his skilled jungle fighters. Moreover, the war reached its climax during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency in the 1960s. He was attempting to operate the war for his own purpose of gaining more votes through a series of actions like the bombing of North Vietnam, sending U.S. troops into Vietnam and so on.  

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In March 1965, President Johnson took an action of attacking North Vietnam and launched Operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing raid. America thought North Vietnam was weak enough to be easily defeated and scheduled to bomb eights weeks but it lasted for three years because they miscalculated Viet Cong’s power. At first, the bombing raids gave not only the South Vietnamese support and relief, but also the will to fight the Viet Cong. In the Operation Rolling Thunder and other bombing raids, the Americans bombed various targets, including main transporting trails, major fuel depots, and important factories, trying to decrease the infiltration of Communist troops, but it was useless and attracted much opposition. Ho Chi Minh trail is the main transporting system for manpower and supplies; thus, it was heavily bombed throughout the war.

Making poor decisions and unable to achieve American’s expectations, President Lyndon B. Johnson became one of the most unpopular presidents. During 1960s, he bombed North Vietnamese, thinking it would do good to the South Vietnamese and America, sent numerous of soldiers into Vietnam, hoping they could defeat the North Vietnamese, and promote the Great Society Program, wishing to improve all American’s life; however, none of his proposals came true. In March 1968, President Johnson decided not to seek re-election since he was doing badly during his administration by announcing, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” At the same time, he began to bring soldiers back from Vietnam, wishing everything could end peacefully.