Josh McDonald
Speaker Critique on Kimberle Crenshaw
What is one of the least discussed yet most important social justice issues of our age? Kimberle Crenshaw illustrates the idea of intersectionality and inequality experienced by marginalized groups. Her direct audience was the Gonzaga students and faculty that were interested enough to attend. But her rhetorical audience is anyone who fights the ideas of racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, etc. Her goal with this rhetorical audience is to raise awareness of the issue of intersectionality in this country, where people lose opportunities and more because of the multiplicity of their marginalized identities.
It was important that this speaker came to Gonzaga because this is a community where we have the social power to enact change in legislation and public opinion, however Gonzaga is lacking diversity itself and is oblivious to many social inequalities. February represents an opportune time to visit and speak on campus, it is Black History Month and presents another opportunity to consider our privilege and that people group’s oppression.
Kimberle Crenshaw’s main focus of the talk was intersectionality, which is the idea of the nature of identity as multiplicative rather than additive. However, she brought up an additional point that added another dimension to this issue, and I would say this was her main focus. Crenshaw introduced the topic of frames, that is the way in which information is presented by an authority figure (the media, an organization, Kimberle Crenshaw, etc.) and how that shifts our interpretation and understanding of that information. Frames are abstractions that work to organize message meaning, and they allow us to see how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group. However, much of the time people’s frames are limited or distorted and don’t allow them to fully observe an issue at hand, instead coming at it with preconceptions.
Crenshaw shows a plethora of examples of discrimination against black women specifically where intersectional discrimination was highlighted. She discussed police violence against African American women from 7-95 years old and gave details about specific women’s murder by police. Her point was to show the media’s framing of police violence against black Americans. Most people in the audience had heard of all the male victims of police brutality, and next to no one knew about the female victims. This perfectly illustrates the problems that biased framing can leave us with, a national public knowledge that in reality is a warped understanding of the full issue at hand. The lack of accurate understanding is partly due to linguistic relativity and the way in which this information is given to us since so few people have first-hand experience with these events. This also helped me understand the idea of intersectionality and how it can affect people and information. Since black males have the privilege of being male in this hegemonically masculine society, they are less affected than a black woman, who suffers “injustice squared” as Crenshaw says. Being impacted by multiple forces and abandoned to fend for yourself, that is the injustice of intersectionality. Her goal in this is to raise awareness of this double discrimination, which in many of her examples prevented these people from getting jobs or getting out of jail.
As people, but especially as students and faculty of a Jesuit university where social justice is supposedly a focus of the school, we have to bear witness to the realities that we would rather not confront - the violence and humiliation that black women across color, age, gender, expression, sexuality, and ability have had to face. Crenshaw didn’t expect to change the view on this topic in one presentation, but she was able to bring the faces of some of the most tragic stories of police brutality into the light, have their names repeated, and in doing so add some semblance of respect for their death instead of leaving them unknown in the dark. Speaking on such a weighty topic takes a lot of care and intention from the rhetor, but Crenshaw navigated this minefield well.
The persona that Crenshaw carefully crafts while on stage is one of authority, wisdom, and someone who is desperate to inspire change. As a black woman herself, it would’ve been somewhat easy to address this issue from the standpoint of a victim, appeal to people’s pity, and try and enact change in that manner. However, I believe Crenshaw recognizes the importance of creating a powerful ethos, to show why marginalized groups should not be discredited or disenfranchised. She speaks with a lot of weight, authority, and power, and uses a lot of vocal inflection and rhythmic intonation in her delivery. Her use of space is very intentional, adding impact to certain words and phrases. She is gesticulating throughout to help illustrate her points and looking around the room to keep everyone engaged. Since Crenshaw’s topic is very heavy some would expect her to use humor throughout to try and lighten the mood and not scare people off. However, this is not a tactic she embraces, instead leaning into the intensity of the topic and keeping the audience involved through verbal participation. All of these tactics were effective in creating a credible ethos on stage, and the audience responded well.
By the time that Kimberle Crenshaw had stopped speaking, the audience seemed to respect her as a rhetor and appreciate the wider understanding of inequality that she had given us. The public emotion was one of deep consideration and a hopeful excitement about the future of this issue as awareness is raised. Her message was not one of despair but tried to inspire people towards action and challenging people’s common beliefs about identity and equality. The final sentence of her presentation sums up her call to action well, “But the time now is to move from mourning and grief to action and transformation. This is something that we can do. It's up to us.”
Josh McDonald
“US, China Probe of Fentanyl Ring Stops International Dealer”
The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China just performed their first international narcotics investigation in collaboration, marking an important partnership in global crime fighting. It was an enormous bust, with over 20 million doses of the drug Fentanyl being prevented from entering the U.S. most likely through New Orleans. The majority of fentanyl in the U.S. is illegally shipped from China, and when the People's Republic of China Narcotics Control Bureau began controlling 116 chemicals including fentanyl in 2016, the supply in the United States dropped significantly. In recent years opioid related deaths have taken a dramatic spike, claiming the lives of nearly 30,000 people in 2017 alone, doubling in the first six months of the year. One of the predominant factors responsible for this increase is the drug fentanyl, a prescription painkiller 10,000 times as potent as morphine. It is extremely addictive and dangerous, impure versions are sold on the black market. Preventing such a huge shipment of this drug entering, circulating, and harming our country is a huge step towards solving the opioid problem, allowing officials to focus on localized suppliers and the buyers for this shipment. Additionally, this is a landmark investigation in that it is the first time these two governments set aside differences and have collaborated on an investigation, which is clearly necessary to stymie international smuggling. The opioid epidemic has affected nearly all of us, from the youth being exposed to these substances, the patients prescribed them, and those who have lost loved ones. This news story is newsworthy because it is timely, impacts our whole country, prominence from the two largest nations in the world working together, and has some novelty as such a large drug bust.
Josh McDonald
Composición Personal
Este pasado fin de semana, mi amigos y yo caminamos a un restaurante en el centro de Spokane. Se llama “Chkn N Mo”, es un restaurante con la comida casera y la comida del sureño. Tienen muchas tipos de carnes diferentes, incluyendo el bagre. La servicia es muy sencillo, pero simpático, pero he tenido mejor. Me hablo con el camarero para cinco minutos cuando mi comida listo. El restaurante es muy poquito, y dueño de un familia, el papa y hija trabajan juntos anoche. Yo pedí tres pedazos de pollo frito con puré de papas y salsa. La comida fue preparado muy rápido, cuál me hecho alegra. Este fue el mejor pollo que yo comí en todo mi vida. Mis amigos pidieron sandwiches de pecho de ahumado, frijoles al horno y el maíz en la mazorca, les gustan mucho también. El restaurante interior fue oscuro, viejo y informal, pero muy apropiado para el tipo de restaurante. No me quiero comer el pollo frito en un restaurante grande y elaborado, un local pequeño restaurante es el mejor. Hubo dos personas en la restaurante además de nos grupo, y fueron cliente regular y amigos con el dueño. El precio que la mayoría de los ítems en el menú fue más de diez dólares, el más para los acompañamientos. En general, el precio es más cara que la comida rápida, pero la comida es mejor y muy sabrosa.
Role of Salmon Run in Native American Eco-Spirituality:
Salmon is an integral part of Native American tribe’s lifestyle, diet, and spiritual practice. In fact, native tribes in the Pacific Northwest region view and define themselves as “Salmon People”, or “People of the Salmon”. This animal serves as a part of many tribe's spiritual and cultural identity to this day. These people also identified strongly with the animal itself, with countless stories, poems, and songs dedicated to Salmon. Epochs were told through the eyes of a Salmon of what life was like, how they interacted with each other, and of having a very similar sense of home to people. Every year, the Salmon run is celebrated as a symbolic representation of the continuation of the natural world and prosperity of human life.
There is a Native American creation story told that highlights the importance and benevolence of the Salmon. When the creator was preparing to bring people forth onto the Earth, he called a gathering of all the beings. At this gathering, he asked for the offering of a gift to these new creatures since they would be fresh and helpless, requiring assistance. The Salmon was the first to step forward, and offered itself as a gift of sustenance, feeding the people. The second to step forward was Water, offering itself as a home for the Salmon. This inspired the others to offer gifts to the new people, but Salmon and Water are held in especially high reverence because of their sacrifice.
Many Native American tribes across the Pacific Northwest region viewed the Salmon as a supernatural being, who incarnated themselves into the form of a fish every year. The spirits do this for the benefit of humankind, and are believed to return to their sanctuary beneath the sea once they are caught and to be consumed by people. After being consumed to the fullest extent possible, the full fish’s skull and bones are placed back in the water to aid in the spirit’s return to their form and home, creating the cycle of life. Due to the sacred view of this animal, they were held in high reverence and respect. There were many ceremonies and taboos around this species to avoid offending the spirits, ensuring a good catch and harmony with the spiritual world. One of the ways this was done was through the “first Salmon ceremony”, where the first Salmon caught every year during the primary fishing season were set aside. During this ceremony, the Salmon was sprinkled with the down feathers from an eagle and red ochre, as well as other sacred substances depending on the tribe’s specific practice, before morsels of salmon were distributed to tribal members in a form of communion and honoring of the spirits. There are traditional songs and dance of thanksgiving that accompany this ceremony, which have been passed down from generation to generation. In the Columbia Basin, there are at least a dozen churches and longhouses which have been used for thousands of years for these ceremonies and celebrations and are still in use for this ceremony today. These locations are extremely important to modern tribes since so much of their land has been taken from them and developed. Additionally, with the declining health of water, air, and soil quality, and Salmon populations in decline, it is essential to protect the remaining tribes, historic locations, and traditions so they can survive for future generations.
In Native American mythology and artwork, Salmon are a very important symbol that appears consistently across different tribal cultures. The symbol of the Salmon is frequently used to represent virtue and values such as abundance, fertility, determination, renewal, and prosperity. The symbol of the fish more broadly is used to represent life, motion, and spiritual change. The Salmon is also one of the 12 animal totems that are used in Native American spirituality as being attached to certain parts of the year, similar to the practice of zodiac signs and astrology. It is believed that people born under this totem have joy, creativity, and a zest and love of life, appreciating every small detail.
In Native American lifestyle, and diet, Salmon are absolutely essential to the survival and culture of tribes and individuals. Salmon is more than a staple for tribal individuals diets historically, with most people eating on average one pound of Salmon per day. For many individuals, fishing is still their preferred form of livelihood as it pays respect to the traditions of their forefathers. They view Salmon as important to maintaining their sense of place in the physical world, since the creator put them in a particular area to preserve it and live alongside the natural world. The annual Salmon run is an important cultural event as it aids in the passing along of traditions from one generation to the next, preserving their culture and spiritual practice.
Dams are one of the largest physical, man-made blockages that have been put in place and have caused the inability of the Salmon to return to their breeding grounds to mate and reproduce. This has prevented Salmon from freely traveling up freshwater rivers, which is an essential part of their lifestyle. Environmental change and its effects, such as droughts and rising water temperatures, have also deeply impacted the health of Salmon in this region. Many Salmon are dying off due to their inability to breed, and others are beginning to migrate North into Canada due to colder water temperatures. This has deeply affected tribes in the Pacific northwest, by cutting off one of their primary food sources, as well as removing a deeply important spiritual aspect. Without the yearly Salmon run, the core traditions and ceremonies involving Salmon are lost and impossible to pass down to future generations. The spiritual importance of this animal and its spirit to these people is in grave danger from the effects of colonization and a lack of regard for the natural world.
Photographer Biography - Ryan McGinley
Josh McDonald
Ryan McGinley is an American contemporary photographer, who is famous for his raw portrayals of people and their interactions with nature and each other. He has a vivid, in the moment style that captures the emotion of the moment in a beautiful way.
Ryan McGinley was born in 1977 in Ramsey, New Jersey, as the youngest of eight children. One of his brothers died from a complication with AIDS when he was only 17, which was a formative experience and inspired him to focus on enjoying life, living in the moment, and capturing it as accurately as possible. He also consistently has advocated for HIV/AIDS awareness and contributed to many fundraisers. As a young adult, he was surrounded by multiple subcultures such as skateboarders, snowboarders, punk musicians, the queer community, graffiti artists, and other visual artists which inspired his focus on documenting life in a vivid and authentic way. These individuals often performed for his camera with a unique self aware and full self expression.
In 2001 he graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York. During his college years he lived alone in an apartment, and would adorn the walls with polaroid photos of friends, lovers, and strangers who came to visit him or that he encountered. He became an important part of the underground rock and roll scene in New York, capturing numerous iconic photos of the era and establishing a tribe of peers in the artistic community that he was able to engage, grow, and enjoy revelry with. A large part of his early work is documenting these underground scenes, with young people always at the center. His work often featured nude models, illicit substances, wild settings, and captured the excitement and danger of that lifestyle.
He has cited Terence Malick, the American Film director as being a large influence on his style. Terence Malick has a distinct directorial style, encapsulated in movies like “Badlands” and “The Tree of Life”. His movies are largely visually driven, with a unique cinematographic style, and an emphasis on a vague dialogue concerning broad philosophical and spiritual truths, as well as examining the individual's desire to transcend. At first glance it may be difficult to see why Malick is mentioned as a strong influence on McGinley, but after considering some of the larger themes behind their work, a similarity arises. Both of their visual styles are relatively simple, emotional, and tactile, drawing the viewer into the situation, while conveying a serious depth of emotion as well.
His first published work was a book called “The Kids are Alright”, with its title drawing inspiration from a movie about the band “The Who” with the same title. The book was a collection of the very same polaroids that adorned the walls of his apartment. They celebrate the wild, joyful, and free expression of youth and life that many young people feel but struggle to capture or express. This book became some of the material for an exhibition at the Whitney Museum where 1500 never before seen pictures were displayed, taken between 1998 and 2003. McGinley was only 25 years old at the time and was the youngest artist in 30 years to have an exhibition there.
In 2004, McGinley established the goal to travel America extensively over the next 10 years. He largely did this by planning an annual cross country road trip with a group of models and friends. Some of these trips were planned extensively in advance, with McGinley and assistants starting to examine guidebooks and maps in January to ensure they could find and create situations that he wanted to document. These trips yielded some of his best known work, typically exercising the use of nude models interacting with nature in imaginative and expressive ways, sometimes miniaturized by giant landscapes.
In 2009 McGinley shifted his mode and style of work significantly. He began to work predominantly in a studio setting, doing black and white portraiture. During this time he switched to the use of a digital camera almost exclusively which presented a significant shift in his method. A selection of this initial run of black and white, nude portraits was featured in an exhibition entitled “Everyone Knows This is Nowhere” In New York. This style proved fruitful for McGinley and culminated in 2014 with an exhibition called “Yearbook” which featured 500 portraits printed on vinyl adorning every inch of a gallery, floor to ceiling, creating an immersive experience.
I am particularly drawn to McGinley’s early work due to his commitment to capturing the joy, wildness, and personalities of his friends and companions. His style perfectly captures the attitude of the scene he was immersed in with a no holds barred approach. His fascination with the human body and emotional expression through that form created a new style. Nude portraiture had previously been a rigid and serious affair, but he flipped it on its head and was able to capture the freedom his subjects were experiencing.
Josh McDonald
Photo Analysis Essay
The photo I selected to analyze is by Andreas Gursky, a renowned German Photographer. I spent a lot of time combing through his images and appreciated his style, however this particular image struck me the most. The content of this image appears to be a field of solar panels with some grass in the foreground and mountains in the back. There were many intentional choices that Gursky made with the form of the image. The first thing I noticed was the incredibly deep depth of field, with everything from the forward-most solar panel to the mountain peaks being in focus. The most striking element of this image is its use of a very broad perspective, likely achieved with a wide angle lens, as well as its use of repeating patterns. The repeating pattern of the artificial solar panels draped over the hills, following the same contours, creates a very visually interesting image. There is a lot of movement throughout the image created by the sweeping lines formed by the solar panels on the hillsides. However, the irregularity of the shapes creates a bit of tension within the image. There is also a bit of leading lines being used, shown by the lines going through the solar field, helping to move the eye through the image to the mountains. In terms of lighting and exposure, the image has very flat lighting, likely due to the cloud cover blocking out the direct light of the sun, which limits harsh shadows and makes light more even across a scene. It is exposed well, though slightly on the darker side. This may have been done to try and create a specific mood and emotion within the image. Color is not a central element of this image, the only colorful elements are the green grass in front of and between the solar panels, as well as a bluish hue on the mountains. At first it seems color may not be a focal point of the photographer, however I think that color is one of the most important and illuminating elements of this image. The dichotomy of green grass and black solar panels in the foreground and middle ground is symbolic of man’s relationship with nature, shows man encroaching on natural spaces, and could also be providing commentary on renewable energy sources. This is a traditionally composed landscape photo, even down to the shapes and layout. However the addition of solar panels adds a very interesting element, and at first gives the impression that the hills are black. The rolling hills draped with panels create very interesting shapes and motion within the image, and also lead the viewer to think about larger issues such as man’s use and abuse of the natural world. This image uses some of the iconic elements that Gursky is known for, such as a very broad perspective, repeating patterns, and many small elements working together to create a cohesive landscape or city scape.
