[Stella Castro]

First of all I want to start out by saying that I always thought postcards were just a form of letting someone know that they are or were on vacation, or went to a nice place. I myself sometimes have bought postcards because they are pretty, they are of places I have seen or been to before, want to visit or it’s just a pretty picture. However, upon reading the article of Postcards, Commerce and Creativity I was impressed by some of the points made in this article. First of all I never imagined that Postcards had so much meaning to them. Granted they have a point to convey and relay and during the war, and also they had a lot of meaning in propaganda, during Mao’s term in office, but I still did not know how important they were and can be. Yes, postcard are important for people to send and write a message on them to their recipients as their purpose was intended, but I didn’t know how important they were used in an artists’ perspective. In this sense it was to acknowledge the artist of his wonderful work, but it was sad to read that the article stated that sometimes the artists never signed their works of art so that the artists are not recognized in the biographical references. This point I find sad as it is important for all artists to be recognized and given their credit. Another interesting point is how most cards were used for advertising purposes, where the designs of some the postcards featured women’s clothing, as well as stylish dressed women.  A company called Mitsukoshi, was the first to issue postcards with a Western culture connection. It was interesting to read how this same company after the Sino War started employing males as in house designers, with make  more up-to date kimonos, and the used of glass cases displays were utilized to show off these new patterns, and thus resulting in retail display. This was interesting, as I never imagined ever thin king about how the use of glass case displays erupted, and then while reading the article , there it  was, and an interesting point at that. It is interesting to read about how many times women are used n the pictures of the postcards, these images range from a nurturing mother to well dressed beautiful women, to sexily clad women. But I have to say that as long as there are women, women, will always be the objects of desire for men, (sometimes women as well). But for the most part the postcards were used fro advertisements of beautiful places, western style clothes, and propaganda.

[Stella Castro]

I definitely enjoyed reading this article, “Women of U-kiyo-e”, by Sampras Biswas. However I was not surprised to read that all if not most of the time the women are depicted for their beauty, mostly their nakedness. This has been and will continue to be a reality, in any artist’s life, whether they are musicians, painters, theatre people, actors, etc. It always seems as an “Artists” life always ends up with women. For instance if one is a musician then they have their followers, the “Groupies”, which they always give the musician what they want and it’s usually sex. The painters paint portraits of nude women, the artists draw the nudies, the sculptures sculpt vivacious women. It was interesting to read that in the city of EDO, Japan, in the district of Yoshiwara lays a city of temptation, where many men unashamedly frequented. The widest part was that city/district was the inspiration for artistic creativity.

What I find most interesting from this article and many more that I have read and have heard from in lectures is the abundance of prostitution that existed then and probably still exists today.  But I am surprised how it is talked about so freely, I would of thought that this would have been sort of  not talked about so openly as I always thought prostitution was taboo, but I guess back in the times that was the/their source of entertainment and whoever wanted to entertain themselves in  this manner, did so. That is why they had those so called “green houses”, and women available. I am just surprised to read how open and accepting they are to the art of prostitution. Even in some painting, the act of prostitution is visible and laid out. But hence the title of this article is, “Women of Ukiyo-e, it makes sense that most of the article talks about the women, or rather, “Courtesans”,

In another section of the article I enjoyed reading the part where the women of the Bengali society were depicted as ridiculing men, as this is a role reversal. Many times it is the men that ridicule the women, but I like the idea that the artists had, that women can be and are strong

[Stella Castro]

I was impressed with Ms. Suk Young Kim, “Twinkle” article on K-POP; boy did she hit the nail right on its button. In her article, Ms. Kim mentioned all the resemblances of the world of K-Pop now to Broadway and/or Hollywood, with the extravagant frills and clothes, make-up, pageantry, coquettish moves and facial expressions, etc. The only difference being that the stars are now in their early teens, whereas in the old Broadway plays and/or movies, the stars were in their 20’s -30’s, (that being the younger stars). Now in the K-pop music videos, they are still in their ripe teens, (and as mentioned in the/or lecture), the stars are phased out in their late teens’ or early 20’s, even if the/their band/group, is successful and doing well. However, the similarities are many. Like how in the music video, “Twinkle”, the stars arrive and the paparazzi is eagerly awaiting them, and takes many photographs of these so called, ”Stars”, using the flash photography emphasizing the greatness of them. Also shown are the body and dance moves that are shown from atop a swirling staircase, (depicting other famous movies and/or plays, for example, “Dreamgirls”, or the,”Ziegfeld Follies”. While it is an interesting read, and as aforementioned, it emphasizes on the similarities, and the comparing and contrasting of the then and now in regards to entertainment. What I found the most interesting was the line from the article, stating, “Hence copying that scenes turns the music video into a copy of a copy”, when it compares “twinkle” to a, “Motown stage performance”. I love that line.*

 

*Line taken from Ms. Suk Young Kim’s article page 141, 2nd paragraph*

[Stella Castro]

Courtney, I too think that having the students do/make a comic book would be an enticing way for them to get the/their message across. It is a good idea to present and pass the books around to show the people how enthusiastic they are about “promoting the word”, as they do in China. As you state that it would be an interesting thing to compare and contrast the comics as they are used in China as opposed to here, (U.S.A.).and the difference is huge. Comics are already used to convey the political messages in the world today and of important issues involving foreign countries as well as  critical issues herein America.  Such as Doonesbury found in the Los Angeles Times. I am sure this comic strip is found in other newspapers, but the LA Times is the one that I am most familiar with. I know that there are other comic strips also, but Doonesbury is the one that pops into my head now. I can’t think of them as of this writing . I would have to wait until the next Sunday paper rolls out of press to take a look at the comic pages.

[Stella Castro]

Zoey, I agree with you 100% percent when you say that difficulties in studying North Korean film lies not in the availability but rather on the translations of such films. Who can understand a movie if I is not presented in their main language, Yes, one can rely on the facial expressions, hand, body and head movements, but without the proper dialogue and language one can perceive a film in a total different aspect that what is its intentions of the film. Another good point you mention is the fact that the film industry in North Korea makes and produces films for their population, and gives a rat’s *&^, about the rest of the world, but that they do create films separate  for the rest of the world to see. So I guess they do care, but they only care about their population first and foremost, and I think and believe that, that is how it should be.

But it was interesting to find out and know that the Library of Congress has many tittles in the/their language, but this may make it difficult for others to watch as they are not subtitled.

[Stella Castro]

Midori, while I have never read “The Great Gatsby”, nor seen the movie, or know anything about this title, but  I was compelled to respond to your statement  making the comparisons between Gatsby about how, (I presume, Gatsby is the male character), he gives up (as you put it), his life, reputation, friendship  and even chances of love for an unattainable woman, whereas the K-pop stars/performers also give up their lives, youth, health and social lives, to their companies , only to be put out to pasture, at a very young age, and as Ms. Kim mentioned, many times they have to pay back the companies for the clothes, make-up, costumes, that they used and acquired in their super stardom phase, all the while the record/recording companies were taking a big chunk/portion /percentage of their earnings.  But who says life is fair, these K-pop performers are getting something out of it, something that they want. They are getting their 15 minutes of fame even if it is at a costly price to them.

Now I  have to admit to myself  that I would have to watch/read  the Great Gatsby, as I know it is a classic, to actually be in the know of this classic.

[Stella Castro]

Courtney, I too was amazed to learn that these K-Pop stars have as you call it “an expiration date”, no matter how popular they become or how great their success is. It would seem to make sense that if  they are  then successful they are the companies would care to keep them and their fans would remain loyal to them  as their followers, (groupies), like with the bands in the U.S. and other countries, where the bands stay with their companies/labels, and bring in more money/revenue  via concerts. But k pop bands do not do concerts.  Unfortunately because these so called K-pop bands really just rely on the good looks of the performers, that is why they there magic number is up at 25, even as Ms. Kim stated, that is an old age for them. It is rare for a K-pop band to go past the age of 22. But in all reality, has anyone ever seen an ugly old looking 25 year old? No!, I didn’t think so. 25 is still just a baby as compared to the new aging phenomena. People nowadays are still looking and feeling good at the ripe ages of 60+, thanks to exercise and good healthy eating habits.

[Stella Castro]

How time flies when you are having fun. At first I was looking forward to the beginning of the summer seminar and before I knew it the week was over. I really had a wonderful time and learned many things. I was in awe of our guest speakers who came and taught us what they know. They gave us their expertise on the Visual Culture of Asia, and boy did they know their stuff. It was, as is always a pleasure to have such experts come and share their knowledge with us. What I  got to experience firsthand that a couple of times the guest speaker/s came by and sat at the table where I was sitting during lunch and I got to have conversation/s with these guest speaker/s on a one to one level. At times we talked about the lectures/s other times we spoke of life in general. So here I was speaking to experts on a personal level. Something I never imagined would happen to me.

 

The topic discussions were amazing. That is why I wanted to attend this seminar, as I knew it would be awesome, and awesome it was as this seminar was truly amazing. I learned many things in which ways I can apply my learning’s into my classroom. I can hardly wait to try them out. For instance I would love to have my students think of and develop a certain character, (a super-hero maybe), that can either be aanime or a fictitious cartoon character just for the sole purpose of putting their imaginations and creativity to work. I am sure they will succeed in this endeavor, because it will be a creation of theirs. In my experience I have found that students learn best when they are having fun and fun they will be having when they invent their character, either way they will like and learn from this experience. I can also have them create a post card and display them around the classroom, and then we can have a gallery walk and see if they can guess who made which postcard. That would be amazingly fun. So those are a couple of samples that I can practice what I learned from this seminar.

 

The field trips that we were taken on were much appreciated.  First of all I never knew that the Chinese American Museum existed, much less of its location. Visiting the Korean Culture Center was also a learning experience as interesting information was given to us about the Korean culture, for instance that their alphabet consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, or that one can learn to read Koran in one day, this sounds too good to be true.

 I really and truly enjoyed this seminar on the Visual Culture of Asia. I learned so much, and am grateful for the wonderful panel of guest speakers, we were so privileged to have, listened to and learn from and who shared their expertise with us.  I assume they were just as happy to be here as I was.

 

 I want to emphasize that none of these lectures/sessions were more important or better than the other ones. All sessions were of equal value to me, as they all had much interesting and important facts and data to each and every session. I was astonished by each and every single session. Way to go Mr. Clayton Dube, Mrs. Catherine Gao, and the NCTA for making this seminar possible and accessible to those of us educators who want and would like to bring in the teachings of Asia into our classrooms. Kudos!

[Stella Castro]

Hello everyone my name is Stella Castro and I am a special education teacher. I have been teaching for 13 years.  I love my job and what I do. I teach the moderate severe population. This is my 3^rd seminar in teaching about Asia. I truly and thoroughly enjoyed the last 2 seminars, although I admit that the first seminar I found really hard. But I was a glutton for punishment, and so when the second seminar rolled around I wanted in, as I really learned many things from the first one, and like aforementioned I really enjoyed it, as difficult as I found it to be.  I was secretly wishing and hoping that there would be more seminars on the teaching of Asia and bringing Asia into the classroom. Then one day as I was looking through their website lo and behold there it was. This time it was on the visual arts aspect, and I am an avid student/learner of the Arts, I love the Arts, and so here I am. I really thank USC and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, (NCTA), for making this seminar possible.

[Stella Castro]

In our second session of the day we traveled to The Chinese American Museum in Downtown Los Angeles, First of all that I did not know this place existed at all, secondly, I did not expect it to be so near Olvera Street, but as the spokesperson for the Chinese Museum told us, the locale where the Chinese Museum is located at, used to be part of the original Chinatown, That Chinatown was bigger than what it is today. This I did not know and now it made sense that the museum is located where it is. Inside the museum they ha interesting literature on how the Chinese kept moving in and thus creating Monterey Park, and thus creating Monterey park to become a bigger pace, with all the shops, restaurants and businesses. Now it all made sense of why here are so many Chinese people in the City of Monterrey Park. This is a fact I had always wondered about, and because of this field trip/outing and the seminar, now I know. A thing that I found funny about this museum is that on the second floor in one of their displays/exhibits boom boxes are thee. This seems so weird ,as boom boxes existed not too long ago, when many people would walk around with these giant radios on their shoulders and enjoy the/their music. But  now how times have changed and now people walk around with  their music on their I-phones, or small MP 3’s ,( but these are not so visible any more as well), How times have changed. However I bet that when they put the boom boxes on display they were at their peak of existence, he modern trend, the must have’s. There was also interesting artwork ant the museum. There was one poster that mentions the fact that the Chinese were in a growing Latino barrio or something to that effect. I found this interesting as I would never dream or correlate the Chinese people in a “Barrio”, barrio meaning,” a part of a large U.S. city, especially a crowded inner-city area, inhabited by a Spanish –speaking population”, the meaning taken from Merriam –Webster’s dictionary.

The ways I can incorporate this session/field trip in bringing and teaching about Asia in my classroom, once again I can teach about bus safety and community rules and regulations. I can make a compare/contrast chart with technology as the main point. I can make and teach my students about timeline, and what inventions happened at what particular times, dates, era’s.  I can teach them about the five senses in regards to the foods/ boom boxes, musical instruments o the different cultures in the different time periods. I can teach them about trade and expansion. I can teach them the basics of running for office such as, a school president, treasurer, or a member of an organization, such as in joining a group/social club at school. I can teach them many things from this one session. 

[Stella Castro]

first of all i want to sy that i am the one in the baseball cap on the right side of the photograph. You realy can not see my face due to the baseball. I should of taken it off:)

Today was such a learning experience for me. First of all I want to say that earlier this summer I took the Korean Culture seminar, ( which was also a wonderful experience as thus Visual culture one), and during the Korean seminar they talked about Mr. Ahn Chang Ho, who was a leader of the Korean American immigrant community, I found this man to be fascinating, and during of their lectures they mentioned that Mr. Ho has his residence at USC, I had always wanted to find it and look at where this man resided, but hadn’t’  had the opportunity to do so. So when Mr. Dube asked us if we wanted to takea mini field trip, we walked a couple of steps west. There it was Mr. Ho’s former residence.  Mr. Clay made my day and we hadn’t even left USC campus yet. But here I was star struck even though Mr. Ho was not a movie star, nor were we in a movie theatre of any sort or type. However that is how I felt, and to which my feeling s were appropriate in the sense that we have been talking about films, movies and the visual art culture if Asia.  I was in awe! Then we went on to the Korean Culture center in LA, and there we were shown a video of Korea, with many interesting facts and features. We also learned that Koreans use mulberry trees for paper to make Hanji (paper). Our Hostess, (pardon me I did not catch her name), described the process of making Hanji, which was very interesting. Our Hostess also told us that it is very easy to learn to read Korean, and that most people can learn to read Korean in one day. I found this impressive but hard to believe, but the only way to prove this to myself, is to actually go and take lessons on how to read Korean.  We then walked around the museum part of this Cultural center, and they had very nice and neat artifacts on/of the Korean culture. They also had facades of the Asian residences. I believe one was Japanese, as I recall going on a field trip to the Huntington Library and our decent telling us that Japanese homes just have the essentials of what they need, and then at night or whenever their guests leave they put things away. So in one of these facades it was very minimal and had scarce furniture and that is why I think/thought one of these was a Japanese dwelling. We then walked over next door, where we were able to experience and see things, such as replicas of cartoon characters, toys, such as transformers look alike, a K-Pop exhibit, and a 3-D simulated experiences, such as going down mountain on skis/toboggan, a virtual walk around Korea, such as in the market place, (although some of these did not work), and a video gaming table/console where one can play games. It was a fun place to visit.

What I can teach my students in regards to/ with this field  trip  first and foremost is safety, bus and community rules, how to follow directions/ instructions, how to be behave in a  public place. We can do research before a field trip about the locale we are to visit, the culture, the foods, etc. We can also research traditional dress and costumes, as well as holidays, traditions and special events, like tea ceremonies, weddings, etc.

[Stella Castro]

The afternoon session was presented by Mr. Stanley Rosen. His lecture was on the topic of movie clips from China. This was a fun experience as we got to see several small clips of movies/trailers. Mr. Rosen mentioned that the movie,” The Great Wall”, was supposed to be a great hit for China, that it was supposed to be a breakthrough for them, instead it was a big flop. Mr. Rosen mentioned that the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon is the number one film of all time. Mr. Rosen had a list of the top 30 movies that were big hits. The topic of Soft Power”, was talked about, because it ws stated that here in the United States, soft power is not linked to the government, whereas in china, the government plays a prominent role in Soft power. Mr. Rosen also had a list of the top companies according to Forbes magazine, and Apple was at number one. In the top six all companies w ere in technology. It was also mentioned that soft power was created with the U.S. in mind and that China will never have a high soft power ranking.  However it is estimated that china will be the number one in the film market by the year 2020.

The subject matter from this session would seem a bit difficult to teach my students, as I think they would have a hard time in trying to grasp the definition of Soft Power. But we can research famous movies and find who directed these movies. We can look for several different film directors and or movie producers and make a graph of who directed the most films then have the students arrange the movies in alphabetical order or sequence the movies by the year they were released. We can also make a graph of how much money these films, brought in. Or we can simply watch a movie and have the students write a summary of it. So I guess there are things that I can teach my students from this lecture/session

[Stella Castro]

The morning’s session was titled.”Postcards as Modern Japan, presented by Professor Kendall H. Brown from the cal state University Long Beach, (CSULB. Mr. Brown’s presentation consisted of him showing us, (the students), different post cards from Japan and some sheet music. Mr. Brown told us that he is a collector of these types of post c cards, and sheet music as well. Mr. Brown gave us some background information about historical facts about Japan. For instance, that the Emperor at the time of the Meiji Enlightened Rule 1868-1912 was Mutsuhito, During the Taisho. ”Great Virtue’ period 1912-1926 the emperor was Yoshihito.  Mr. Brown mentioned a great fire and a 7.0 earthquake that destroyed many towns, lots of land was lost and that there was also massacres.  Then Japan invades Manchuria.  There is a second Sino war, (1937-1945).  However, technology was now introduced into the world of printing, which helps offset the dot matrix type of printing.  Mr. Brown elaborated on paying attention the drawings on the post cards, as many depicted of the things that were happening, for instance many post cards had/pictures/drawings of the soldiers, the military or of a fun time such as eating at an outdoor restaurant. Mr. Brown had many mentions of sheet music, ad some samples thereof, but no actual music was played for us to listen to.  It would have been really nice to listen to some of the music that was written on the pieces of sheet music, so that we as an audience could and would appreciate the importance of this sheet music, and also so that we would be able to hear and listen to what was being played in terms of music in those times.

From this lecture I can teach my students how to make a post card how to write a message on the post card, how to mail the post card. We can go on a walking field trip in our/the community to the local post office. I can teach them about traffic signals, and community signs. We can research post cards on the internet so that they could see what they looked like back then, and from this we can do a compare/contrast type of art project on making their postcards.

[Stella Castro]

The first part of today’s lecture/s was that presented by a Mr. Bruce Coats. Mr. Coat’s presentation was titled “Tough Guys, Dandies and Dangerous Women”. I enjoyed this presentation as it consisted of paintings of prestigious artists, (of the time), and their works, styles, and certain characteristics that they are known for in their work. The presentation elaborated on the Kabuki form of entertainment, and that in those years the women were not allowed to entertain in these plays because it was considered dangerous , because the plays were frequented by men, and the actors/actresses were available after the show , so the danger was that they men would get aroused watching the women in this plays and after the play would be over then naturally the men would want to hook up with the women, a form of prostitution would follow, so the government foresaw this as a  problem, and that is why they would not allow the women to entertain in the plays.

Mr. Cates showed us pictures of the lifestyle at the time, the well to do going to the plays and shopping malls to eat, drink and be merry. Then Mr. Coats showed us pictures of the mild forms of erotica that would exist in those days, which was allowed by the government to be accessed by the townspeople in public places, such as train stations and bus stops. This was not odd as many people especially the men were the prime market of these types of magazines/ comic books. As time went on the books got more graphic and sexual.

Mr. Coats was able to turn the subject matter around in the last part of his presentation as he ended his lecture with and on the subject of Anime and Cartoons, which many children as well as young adults and even adults are fond of. Mr. Coats showed us pictures of famous image of well liked characters such as “Astro Boy”, an android robot, as well as Doraemon, Dragon Quest Hero, Pokémon, and the famous Hello Kitty, all characters of Manga. Mr. Coats also told of a comic character,” OSCAR”, whom I never heard of before but is a girl that is bought up as a boy, so technically she is a girl/boy, or boy/girl, which I thought this fascinating since these comics were from long ago,9Maybe), and I did not think that this type of subject would even be brought up in those times, as opposed to now, having gender equality, transgender/androgyny, and sex operations,

From this part of the lecture I can teach my students how to make a comic book, how to develop and invent a superhero of their own thoughts and mind, with powers that the fictional character may or may not have. I can teach them how to draw a simple character, (But I first would have to learn this myself). I can teach them about the usage of water colors/ paintings, and textures, as well as how to draw simple patterns.

[Stella Castro]

The second part of today’s lectures was presented by Mr. Clayton Dube., titled, “Random Images”.  However the lecture started on the definition of ,”Soft Power”, several in the group had a different opinion of what the term, meant, but after discussions about the definition it seemed as if everyone was content with the meaning, (at least that is what I derived from the conclusions), Mr. Dube did point out that in several towns her in the USA, some towns have names that can be seen as taken from town/cities in Asia, for instance a town I Illinois is called .”Pekin”, and another town in Ohio as well as Baltimore are called, Canton”. These town names can be associated with the definition of “Soft Power”, as no one twisted anybody’s arm to name the towns these names. Soft power meaning, others try to copy imitate another, sometimes they even try to outdo the original owner, person, city/towns, etc.

Mr. Dube mentioned the fact the “seasons”, which are called the “Four fathers”, in the Asian visual culture are usually portayed in the ASaian artwork/s, the definition of some colors was touched on. For instance, “White means to mourn, red means being festive and black meaning remembering a lost one. Mr. Dube also mentioned that as time goes on things change, and become less strict. But I still think one must be careful when wearing certain colors, to be certain not to offend anyone, or one’s customs.  Mr. Dube recommended a couple of good movies to watch as well as mentioning some bad movies not to watch. Finally, we were told that the Chinese/China’s number one form of art is Calligraphy.

There are many things that I can teach my students from this part of the lecture. First of all I can teach them their colors as some of my students do not know their colors. I can teach them about feelings and emotions and the appropriateness of. I can teach them not to be bullies, as being a bully is wrong. I can teach them about the “Golden Rule”. I can teach them how to be courteous and act properly in public, such as in a movie theater, and I can also teach them safety, like when going out in and within the/their communities.

[Author]

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