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One of the last painting was created by my own interest and style. This painting was just to express my feeling for nature and the spring time. 

Sims confuse us. Makes perry's eyes burn :(

Badly dressed sims burn my eyes.

​For the third quarter project, we were giving a task to draw different objects from drawing a self-portrait, hands, and still life to full life figures. Also the task was to draw from what we see onto different sizes of paper, from 8x11 to 24-36.This projects was to help us identify the sizes and shapes of the object that we exam and draw. Also it was a useful way to help us identify the positive and negative lights, along with the shading of the object. This project put us though a process of interacting from live objects to still life and so on to clear/see though items.

         The most frustrated thing about this project for me was the process when we have to identify the object by viewing them as shapes and the shading of the object. It was a bit of a challenge working on different sizes of paper and drawing a clear/see though objects. I really enjoy this assignment at the end because it was not easy but it help realizes a lot more about lighting and shading. 

​For the third quarter project, we were giving a task to draw different objects from drawing a self-portrait, hands, and still life to full life figures. Also the task was to draw from what we see onto different sizes of paper, from 8x11 to 24-36.This projects was to help us identify the sizes and shapes of the object that we exam and draw. Also it was a useful way to help us identify the positive and negative lights, along with the shading of the object. This project put us though a process of interacting from live objects to still life and so on to clear/see though items.

         The most frustrated thing about this project for me was the process when we have to identify the object by viewing them as shapes and the shading of the object. It was a bit of a challenge working on different sizes of paper and drawing a clear/see though objects. I really enjoy this assignment at the end because it was not easy but it help realizes a lot more about lighting and shading. 

​ So basically in quarter three, I focused on a vast variety of things. The main focuses of this quarter were shadowing, still life, and the human body. To mirror those focuses is my art work. Behind all of this though, each picture is supposed to show something about myself. 

The first drawing of this quarter was just a pencil drawing of a hand. IF was the smallest picture of the year. In the picture that I drew, the hand looks like its reaching out for help. From the shading and shadows of the picture you can tell that something is hanging over the hand. The picture is symbolism, saying that there are always things that hang over our shoulders and try to hold us down but it is up to us to try to get ourselves out from under them. 

​ The second drawing of this year was a pencil drawing of myself. For this picture what I did was take one of my favorite picture of myself and then just try to remake it with pencil. In this picture, I was wearing a hoodie and my head was tilted down. When i tried to portray the tilt in my drawing it didn't come out as well as I'd liked but the picture was still okay. Once I finished the picture in pencil I went over it and colored it in just to enhance the emotion behind the art. The picture gives off deep and somewhat sad pictures. 

​ In the third drawing of this quarter I had to do another self portrait but this time it had to be bigger and in charcoal. This was my third favorite picture to draw this quarter. In this picture I attempted to draw myself looking off to the side again, using a picture I took of myself as my model. This picture was hard at first because it took a while to try to proportion out the drawing. At first the head was too round or the shoulders came out too far. In the end though, I was proud with the outcome of it. The picture shows a stronger, serious version of me which is a side of me people aren't used to seeing. 

​ The fourth picture in this project was a full figure charcoal drawing of someone. I chose to draw my friend Michael Chase. I had took a picture of him a day or two before hand and so I used that picture in order to draw. This was the most annoying picture of the quarter just because I could not, no matter what i tried, get the picture perfectly the way I wanted. Lines were too far up or down and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. In the end I just gave up working on it and stuck with what it was. 

​ The sixth draw was a still life of a an area in the art studio that Ms.Hull set up for us to draw. This drawing was the most fun because I wasn't really interested in doing it but I did anyway. It turned out okay.

​ The seventh drawing was a charcoal drawing of a clear bottle on big paper. I enjoyed making this picture slightly just because of how I set it up. I placed the bottle in a window seal and then attempted to draw literally everything in the picture. That included the car driving by that got caught in the picture. I think this is one my my favorite pieces because of the fact that it can be taken to have a humorous yet sinister tone. When I look at it, it makes me think that an evil bottle is looking down onto a car that it's hated for years, plotting ways to bring harm to it. 

​To finish this off, I'm going to talk about the finale piece. For our final piece I chose a specific genre and then drew a couple pieces that took up 6 hours. The genre I chose was anime because it's my favorite type of art. To display it, all I did was take my school lab coat and then design on it something pertaining to anime. The reason I chose to design my lab coat is because I've always looked at clothing from stores like fye and hot topic and liked the cartoons and anime themes that are placed on them. I've always wanted to design my own. So I did. 

On the lab coat I drew a girl playing the flute because that's what I love to do. And so the theme of the coat is music. 
Originally she had arms and hands but it was very difficult to draw on the cloth so I ended up just not giving her them. 

 

After I did that I decided to make two hand draw sketches of anime and then on on a white board. 

​For the third quarter we had to create a compilation of drawings. For a short run-down it was: a sketch of a hand, a sketch of a self-portrait, a full self-portrait, a full-size figure drawing, a full size still life, a sketch of a plastic bottle and a full-size plastic bottle. The medium was simple, mostly charcoal or pastel. The drawings were all from observation which also, for me, made them easier.

Basically, this was my forte. I have been learning how to draw for years and I finally got to exercise them in a classroom setting. Starting with the hand and portrait sketches, I was able to smoothly transition into the larger 24 x 36 pieces. I feel as though the content wasn't too challenging; it was nothing I hadn't done before. 

However, for these I chose to being working in color which I had never done before. I used them first, simply, in my large portrait. I used conte (sanguine and medici) and white conte. For the full figure I went back to using only black and white because it was larger than any drawing I had ever tried before. For the other drawings I chose to work in multiple colours. 

I feel as though all of my drawings turned out really well. I think that the water bottle and the still life, as well as possibly the full figure, could be used for portfolio pieces. I showed the water bottle to admission counselor at Tyler and she really liked it. Regardless, I learned a lot this quarter about how to use my medium to make new looking things rather than the same old things I've been drawing.

*PICTURES ON THE WAY*

I have officially completed my story! This morning, my character experienced a complete transformation on the steps of a Bronx apartment building. She projected her thoughts via successive tweets (all within the course of 3 hours) as the pressure of her new life began to sink in.  

Overall, I am very happy with the way my project turned out.  I loved using the descriptive aspect of the Facebook profile in conjunction with the short and sweet tweets.  Patricia Lebow came to life within the last few weeks, so much so that a few people asked me if I knew her in real life! By using a real Flickr account (courtesy of Lauren Piper), I was able to create a believable visual component to my character as well.  She had a face and a life that could have existed outside of fiction. 

these are the three drawings that I did for my quarter 3 benchmark art project. I picked an artist by the name of Rik Lee to mimic I guess you could say. I picked him because his art work is kind of out there, but at the same time it's normal and really pretty. He incorporates some words in his drawings and only uses hits of color. When I'm drawing I don't like using color, because I feel it ruins the drawing. So it was nice that I found someone whom shared that feeling. I probably could of added more to each drawing, but to be perfectly honest I'm quite proud by the way the turned out overall. I also found it fun, that I got to inquorate my style of drawing in and at the same time learn new styles of art. This was definitely my favorite project so far.

Tajh Jenkins

April 8, 2011

Senior Artist Statement

            This quarter of senior art has been very challenging. The drawings that we had to create we’re very challenging to me because I’m do not trust my abilities as an artist. I think that when drawing things, you trust your skills and have confidence that what you are drawing is good and has meaning. There were times during this quarter when I was discouraged by what I was drawing because I would look across from me to see someone else’s drawing that I thought was way better than mines. Even though I think that my drawings aren’t as good as they could be, I did try my best on each one. I completed every assignment except for the full figure drawing. I didn’t finish that drawing because it took me longer than a week to draw it and after the first week, Kim was posing for the class anymore.

             The drawings that I liked doing the most were the hand drawing, and the self-portrait drawing, specifically the large one. I liked these drawings the most because I think that those were my best work. My hand drawing was very simple and easy to draw and I like the detail that I was able to put in it. I think that my large self-portrait is my best drawing that I create in the third quarter. It looks exactly like me in my eyes. I actually enjoyed drawing both the hand and the self-portraits. My enthusiasm to draw them made the drawings become my best works.

          Having a drawing once a week became stressful because I was used to have ample time to create one piece as we did in the first two quarters. Having a drawing once a week kept me on my toes. The fact that Ms. Hull gave us an extra two weeks to complete any drawings that we missed did benefit me. I don’t think that Ms. Hull getting sick affected me negatively. I think that since we are seniors, we should have been able to hold our own and still complete the drawings and ask Ms. Hull to tell us what she thought about them whenever she came back to school.

            Ms. Hull did a good job this quarter giving the condition that she’s in. As a student, I could have done some things differently. I think that I could have used my class time more effectively. Even though I got most of my assignments done, I found myself procrastinating a lot because we had so much time to finish these projects. I think that I could have used most of the time I took not doing work to make my projects better. Overall I think that I was mostly successful this quarter. I hope that I can continue being successful in the 4th quarter and for the rest of the school year. 

Drawings: 

Here is the link to my 5 page art paper. I wrote about the history of digital art.

In the beginning, I am signing up for a fighting contest and Brooke walks out of the door and teases me for entering. Saying that "I can't fight." and "I must be joking".

Da Vonte Martin
Jareese Long
Amirah Burkett
Kyla Carden
​
The scene that my group and I wanted to recreate was a scene from "High Tension". 

Qianna Nelson

For this quarter we did a lot of still life drawings in which we drew what we saw and not what we thought we saw. This was especially hard because when someone tells you to draw something such as a hand, immediately the thought is to trace the hand. But no. that is not what our task was. Our tasks were to look at certain things and draw everything that we saw and not how we knew them to look. Such as when we did have to draw a hand. We had to stare at our hands and draw the lines and take out the lights and darks as well as add the lights and darks. Drawing our hands were one of our more simpler projects.

Our second project was to draw our self-portraits, this was particularly harder to do then drawing a hand. A face has a lot more detail and getting the proportions are also harder. Drawing things such as the eyes and lips were the hardest parts to me. Because drawing things twice and making them look alike has always been a struggle. 

The next picture we drew was of a person, Kim. She posed for the class and we all drew her. Getting the figure right for her body was complicated and drawing the curves and such was a struggle. 

We did a still life drawing of supplies that were in the classroom. This was one of the more simpler drawing we did. The complicated parts were taking the lights and darks out of the supplies.

The last thing we were instructed to draw was something clear. I chose to draw a pair of lab goggles. I enjoyed drawing the googles and I used colors in this one besides black, since the googles were green.

The final project we did we could chose from many topics. I chose the project where we had to ARTIST FOCUS - choose an artist and create works of art that are inspired by them or that are copies of the chosen pieces.  3 pieces for art 3 students. Choose the pieces you want to copy or be inspired by, create your pieces, upload them to your blog and tell about them and why you chose that artist. Since my art focus has been on city landscapes lately I chose to draw posters of city landscapes. I chose the artist Anne Garney, because all her pictures are really colorful and I love color, and i enjoyed looking at her art so I wanted to draw something like her. 

.

 

For my third quarter benchmark I choose to pick an artist and do a research paper based upon that person.  The artist that I choose is Andy Warhol. I picked this artist is because his artwork is bright with different colors and he combines more then one image within this drawings. Another style is that he will do a single color but make certain elements pop out using a different brighter color. I like his artwork because it so abstract and it seems as though he likes to captures younger audiences.

The history behind Andy Warhol is that he was an American painter, printmaker and filmmaker. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. Andy has four siblings and is the youngest of them all. His parents are from Slovakia and immigrated here after the death of Andy grandparents. When Andy was in third grade he was diagnosed with Chorea, which is a nervous system disease that makes his body twitch uncontrollable and also caused skin pigmentation blotchiness.

Andy was always bed-ridden which caused him to develop a fear of hospitals and doctors. He was an outcast at school so Andy always loved to be with this mother at her side. When he was confined to bed he would draw and collecting pictures of movie stars. This period in time was told to be the period where Andy developed his personality and his skill set.

A little information on his personal life, Andy is thought to be a homosexual and that influenced a lot of this work and shaped his relationship to the art world. Many of his movies were displayed in gay porn theaters drawing from gay underground cultures and openly expressing sexual desires. One of the first artwork he tried to submit to a gallery was a drawing of nude men but it was rejected because of it being “too gay”.

            Andy religious belief was that he was Catholic. He often volunteers in helping at homeless shelters. He likes to do it during the busier time of the years because he thought of himself as a religious person. While volunteering he start to develop more picture of religious theme. He would attend mass but did not do confession or take part in communion because the fear of being recognized. He was self-conscious of being seen in a Latin Rite church but always because he thought that it was a private thing that people did not need to be aware of to the community.

The Last Supper cycle (1986)

 

            In 1949, Andy was admitted into Carnegie Institute of Technology now it is known as Carnegie Mellow University. He studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts. Then he moved to New York City and worked in magazine illustration and advertising.

 

Diamond dust shoes, 1980

Since, then he has traveled around the states and made different pop art drawing form different museums. In 1968, one of Andy Warhol was shoot by Valerie Solanas who was a screenplay write from some of the films that Andy was directing. The reason for her shooting is because she wanted to a script of her returned but Andy said he misplaced it. Andy suffers majorly from this attack because a lot of physical effects that he would for the rest of his life.

"Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there – I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel anything. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television. The channels switch, but it's all television."  -  Said after the shooting.

 

            Andy died a year later in 1987 on February 22 at 6:32 in the morning because of post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. His parents sued the hospital because they claim that improper care and water intoxication caused the death of Andy. His body was taken back to Pittsburgh for burial. He was buried next to his mother and father. 

self-portrait 1978

Andy Warhol’s drawings are not only different because of the abstract color scheme but because he captures them with a bold statement.  I like his painting because it takes a simple portrait of someone and makes it bold by adding a bold primary color like red or yellow. I feel like that he takes what he has been through and turns it into something inspiring that involves his religion, sexuality, experience and his life.

Overall Andy Warhol is not only a painter but a film maker and founder of The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts it was something that he put in his will that he wanted to accomplished for those who have a visual art skill and wanted to continue to achieve it.

A cool fact is that Andy Warhol painting Eight Elvises sold for $100 million in 1968. The highest to ever be priced.

When I first heard that we had assigned assignments for art I was a bit sad. I enjoyed figuring out what I wanted to do for the quarter because it always had meaning to me or my life. However, when I started these assignments, I found them pretty challenging. Partly because I feel as though I'm not that good of an artist but also because I was a bit intimidated by the people in my class who were doing the same artwork but with better skill.

Even still, I tried my best and completed the tasks at hand. The first one we started off with was the hand drawings. I don't know why but I really liked the outcome of my hands. I found them not really easy but enjoyable to do. The hardest part about them though was making sure the dimensions of the gaps between my fingers were right and also the length of my fingers as well.

Then we did our self portraits and I must say that I have mixed feelings about this one. I mean, I guess you could say that I like the outcome of my drawing but I just feel as though I look old. I found it really fun to do but it was really hard to hold a mirror and look at myself, and draw what I saw at the same time. Also, I ultimately hate drawing lips. I can't draw them at all so I was upset with that. 

The next thing we were supposed to do was draw a full life figure and I was that figure. My sister is in the Navy and they have to learn how to stand for long periods of time so she taught me the secret behind it...Secret haha...but I was happy that I could help people draw without moving...it didn't really hurt for standing that long or anything. I didn't even feel self conscience...it was just blank. 

Then we did a drawing of a still life drawing which was a landscape made up of a sheet, stands, vases, fruit, bottles, and even skulls. I found this drawing to be the hardest yet I don't really know why. Maybe because I had to draw it from the perspective of someone sitting in front of it rather than looking over top of it. This was weird to me because the lines of the table that the items were on weren't straight...they were curved and it was just alot to it. The hardest thing to draw would be between the sheet and the skull. since the skull had such a distinct shape to it, I didn't know how to make it look as though there was a "back" to it. The sheet was hard because it just had so many creases and curves in it. I don't know, I don't really like how mine came out, but I guess it's alright.  

Then after that we did drawings of things that were transparent like glasses, or a bottle, or a picture frame. I did a bottle which I thought was pretty easy to do. The shading was the tricky part because I didn't really know how to go about putting the detail into the specific areas. I also didn't like how my bottle came out a  bit crooked. 

I love charcoal drawings though because I feel as though it's bold and free. You can do anything with it and with a mark and a smudge, you can make things come to life. 

​This quarter we had to do many different drawings based on different things. Mostly perspective and shading. I found most of these drawings different for me because I'm not used to drawing things that need specific specifications. Each week we had a new drawing to complete. Most of the drawings were the same just a bigger size. I'm proud of my art work and I hope you enjoy. 
Self portrait small 


hand drawing



 
Clear bottle Small


Self portrait large

 
Bottle Large 


Still Life 

These are pictures of Spring. The first picture is a picture of an artist named Henry Serra, I believe that is how you spell his name. The reason I say that this picture is spring is because you just grab the feel from it. You see people sitting lake/river side just relaxing. Some in the shade others in the sun. I mean you can just feel the spring peace from it. The picture that I got are also Spring related. Like the first of my Grandmother's flower you can see it budding and trying to come out. The second is of her yellow flower bushes which are sprouting into season, just like the sun would after a long winter. The third is from the side of the school on Arch st. The cherry blossom trees I think, but you can see that they are blossoming. Just looking beautiful, these are what i think help represent this pic from Henry Serra.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25608237/spanish%20routina%20vid.mov

this link leads to my daily routine throught out the day i enjoyed ecording this video it was loads of fun

Characters

 

Charles - A host of a late night talk show. He’s a male in his 40s, mild-mannered, funny, knows when to be serious about things.

 

Ellen - A young 15-year-old girl living in Arizona. She has a rebellious mind and talks to her stuffed bear.

 

Subcomandante Marcos – Spokesman for the Zapatista. He is a rebel and a philosopher; he fights for the rights of the indigenous people in México.

 

Javier Garcia – Mayor of the fictional city of Monte Negro. He is a man with power and is disgusted with the rebels in his city. He has a soft side for his family.

 

Inez – A young indigenous girl in Chiapas, she talks with her doll when she wants to understand something.

 

ACT 1 – Scene 1

 

(Charles enters stage, fixes himself up while looking and the audience. He begins to talk to them in a friendly, yet assertive voice.)

 

CHARLES
Hey everybody! How has your day been? ... Well, today I was on CNN and you know, I started looking through the news... I read this article that my friend sent me, it was about the prime minister of India. He’s been accused of scamming around $31 billion dollars from India’s treasury. Anyway Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he’s innocent, and it got me thinking.
   Don’t we hear about things like this all the time? I mean, it’s either companies or governments that always do this kind of crap. Now, I’m not blaming the prime minister for what he might have done, but the average person has developed this... thought, a thought about governments and companies having control over humans like you and me. It makes people seem insignificant.

 

(Looks down at the floor to ponder a moment, start looking up as he starts talking again)

 

Here’s another thing I want to say: People don’t stand up for themselves!

 

(He starts talking more aggressively)

 

If people fought united for a cause, anything, I bet they would achieve their goal and it would benefit mankind. You might be saying “Well Charles, aren’t there organizations trying to benefit mankind already?” Yeah, but I’m not talking about getting a signature from a lazy citizen who sits on their ass all day, supporting a kid in Africa by sending monthly payments.

 

(He talks a bit more calmly, with a sentimental feeling)

 

That’s not help, that’s financial aid!
   There are some people who stand up for themselves... um....

 

(He does a hand motion as if he was remembering something)

 

The Zapatista! Who knows about them? ... A few of you might...

(He looks away from the camera)

Do we have any pictures of a Zapatista?

(A picture of a margarita appears for the audience)

No! A Zap-A-Ti-STA! Not a Margarita!

(Picture of Subcomandante Marcos appears for the audience)

Anyway for those who don’t know, the Zapatista are revolutionaries, doesn’t mean they go shooting up every other place they go to... they only use their guns for self-defense. * They’ve never attacked first. Their goal is basically make it a fair game, not only for the indigenous people they’re helping, but also for all of Mexico. The indigenous people they’re helping have the same trouble as many indigenous people in any country, adapting to the new world. Just like when your mother-in-law moves in with you...

 

(Shrugs)

 

It’s tough! I’d start a revolution too, if she ever came back!

 

(Shakes fist in the air)
 
Anyway, Corporations and governments take away their land, and indigenous people have a hard time being looked at equally compared to the modern new world citizen.

Going back to 1994,NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was made to make a free trade system with Mexico, Canada and the United States. It was a great way to get Canadian bacon to your local Denny’s.

 

(He gets closer to the audience/camera and whispers)

 

It’s HAM!

 

(Goes back to original position and resumes monologue)

 

But seriously folks, NAFTA came with its downsides. NAFTA actually ended up abolishing Article 27, section 7 of the Mexican constitution, which had the indigenous people’s land no longer protected by the law.

(Looks at audience with a serious look.)

Don’t you hate it things like that happen? Talk about a buzz kill... It feels like finding out you wet your nice clean bed the day you just cleaned your sheets by yourself. For most of you that was after you left moms house right?

 

(He squints and points to a random adult in the audience)

 

Yes, I’m talking about you!

Anyway back to the subject that’s one of the many reasons the Zapatista want fight for their cause. It’s funny... In other parts of the world, there are people that would want to have a modern revolution in order to help people and change the way their government works. Here in this good country, we complain about EVERYTHING and are either too frightened or too lazy to do it, and expect one person, our president, to change the world for us. Last time I checked, America was the people’s country, not the responsibility of one man or woman. It’s us who have to revolutionize the world!

 

(He grabs a nearby chair, stands on top of it)

 

We the people of the world can unite and overthrow this super power controlling our world!

 

(In a louder voice, almost yelling)

 

For the world and for the human race! Freedom and equality for all!

(He steps down from the chair slowly, fixes his suit’s cuffs. Coughs and fixes his voice)

 

Ahem!

 

(He is clasping both hands together, in front of his chest.)

So I leave you with this thought, how are you making the world a better place?

 

 

ACT 1 – Scene 2

 

(Ellen is holding her stuffed bear is lying in bed with it, while looking up at the ceiling)

ELLEN
Hey bob! You wouldn’t mind listening to my rambling right?

(Gets comfy)

Great! Listen, don’t you think life is a bit boring? It’s the same thing, day in and day out, school, home, work. There’s no purpose. I want there to be a purpose for me to get up in the morning. I want to aspire for something; I don’t want to waste my life for 7 hours a day at school thinking I’m not contributing anything to the world!  I remember in history class, our teacher was telling us about people that made changes in our history. Many of them weren’t educated to begin with, but as we went forward in history there seemed to be a system developing. Men with fancy coats or suits and an education were the ones that had power, they took the spotlight from the other people I considered heroes, or innovators in history. Like they say, history repeats itself, and those same men in fancy coats are still here today, different names, and same story. Continuing the system passed down generation from generation.

Don’t get me wrong, school and life have its fun times. I love learning; it’s society I’m mad at. I don’t like inequality, or the idea of doing something just one-way. I don’t like the fact that you need to do certain things to be noticed or taken into consideration as a being in existence in this world. Why isn’t the world equal to being with? Our president is no different than you and me. His skin is just like ours, we breathe the same air, and we walk on the same earth.

There are people in other countries where equality is being challenged. I remember learning about some American Indians losing some of their land here in Arizona... this whole discrimination thing happens even here in the US. Are indigenous people any different than you or me? I don’t think so, then why are they disrespected? Why are they considered outsiders compared to the “average citizen”? What makes them so different? Are we just jealous because they were here first? There are just some things you can’t learn in school...

 

I’m not looking to join some organization or group, I want a way, a method of being able to change the world and make it a bit fairer for those who are discriminated. I wonder if there’s anyone like that in our world. Heck, I’d join them. Better than trying to let some predictable politicians do it...

              (She falls asleep for a little while, she wakes up after a couple of seconds or so)

I’m not tired! I have to stay awake, Bob; my favorite stand up comic is going to be on in a while.

(Flips herself around in the bed)

 

I wonder how Dora feels about this. The whole inequality thing I mean. She’s been my friend since forever! Her mom brought her here when she was little, and they’ve been living in the US for a long time. There’s been a lot of talk about immigration recently, I know that her mom’s an illegal immigrant, I’d be worried if the government was trying to get rid of my mom from this piece of land I call home!

Jeez... to be put under that much pressure everyday. I’ll have to look into that more, Bob. Take note!

 

(Ellen starts pacing around her room)

Ready? AHEM! Note to self: Research some stuff about helping not only undocumented people, but people who are discriminated and do something about it!

(Jumps to her bed and starts watching TV, Points remote to TV and yawns.)

That’s all for today Bob, I’ll reflect tomorrow morning I’m tired and now, time to watch my favorite late night show.

 

Act 1 – Scene 3

 

(Subcomandante Marcos is writing in his journal, during his 2006 campaign throughout México, he is sitting down on the back of a truck, he speaks his thoughts as he writes)

MARCOS

May 3, 2006

it has been a couple of months since this campaign started, it’s been a brutal quest to find friendships and respect.

As I walk in the same territory as my adversaries, I’ve not only encountered people who might be against our ideas, but people within their system who support us.

They encourage us to bring peace to this land, which was once governed by actual people, not blinded bats seeing only power and money.

We want to bring peace not only for our indigenous brothers and sisters, but for the many different people who inhabit this place we call home.

Human discrimination has been a sin inside us for many years, like a dirty jewel, once clean and lustrous, then smudges and unable to be returned to perfection.

Many of us have been discriminated at one point in our lives.

Whether it is because we are homosexual, male, female, or we support a cause, it is our duty to unite... and stand as one.

This is why I’m on this long lasting journey.

I thirst for the feeling of synergy and justice.

I wish for the term “inequality” to disappear for every single Human being on this Earth.

I want to take the pillars that make up this capitalist world, and take it down.

Then rebuild it...with the thought of everyone in mind, and the every other person out there.

(Marcos stops writing; he looks up at the sky with longing look on his face)

 

One day...

 

Act 1 – Scene 4

 

(Javier looks out of the window in his office. There is a protest outside; he stares at the massive group of people.)

JAVIER

Look at all those people... they have no idea how dimwitted they look like. They’re acting like savages. That’s all they are, savages! They know nothing about how this world runs, and how hard it is to maintain it the way it is. Complaining won’t fix anything.

(JAVIER Walks away from the window sits in his desk)

They always come here to city hall and protest. Yelling won’t help you at all... they’re always complaining about the same thing too. They want equality or whatever fits their standards these days...

 

(Raises his voice)

 

They can’t have equality!

 

(Slams his fist on the desk; he hears the chanting going on outside, Javier calms down. Speaks in a more calm tone.)

It simply can’t be done. Not everyone can be equal... that’d take...CENTURIES!

They don’t know how much malice I have towards them... I’d take this desk and throw it right at them if I could, but that’s probably what they want me to do. It’s too much effort to satisfy these people. It’s like talking to stupid kids!

(Pauses)

Unfortunately it’s my job as mayor to keep city alive and running. The only thing standing in my way of doing that job are those people out there. They’re my problem... unfortunately. I put too much work into trying to suit their needs. It’s taking time away from my responsibilities...

They’re keeping me away from the only time I have with my kids. As much as I am the mayor to these people, I’m a parent to my children, my wife’s husband. I don’t wish to act so brutal against these people. But I have priorities. They do not understand this game we’re all playing, this game of life.


                        (Sound of door opening in the background, Javier doesn’t bother looking.)

No Sandra, I don’t want anything. I’ll be going home in a bit... thank you anyway. Why don’t you leave early today? It’s good to be at home with your family while you still can.

                           (Javier goes back to talking with himself)

They’re walking around, causing mischief, just because some people get treated differently than others. All you have to do to be part in this world is get a job and be part of the work force. Anyone who doesn’t participate in the way this world is supposed to work can go rot and die by their own means. That includes any rebels, “indigenous” people, or any other hippie out there.

                       (He keeps staring. Thunder noise in the background, it’s beginning to rain)

Oh my, it’s starting to rain. I better get going. The scene will look more violent in the rain. The weather will take care of them though. But they’ll be back the next day, and the next. There’s a never-ending feud between power and people. To be honest, one can’t live without the other, I have a responsibility for these people, not all of their demands can be met, but without them, my job is meaningless. Without them there isn’t anything for us to control, or to “dominate” as they say. We all have a good person inside us all; some of us just chose to be the way we are because of what we do.

It comes down to this raging protesters, I could care less if we both hate each other to the bone. But I look at my daughter and care so much; I hope she never has to see the tainted world we live in.

 

Act 1 – Scene 5

 

(Inez is looking at the Zapatistas; She’s holding a doll made of various cloths.)

 

INEZ

(To her doll)

Hey, do you know who those people are?

(Pauses)

I don’t have a clear answer either.
Why do they wear those masks, most importantly, why do we cheer for them?
Papa started wearing a mask like those people. They all talk about things like equality, and justice. Things Mama says I don’t understand yet.
One day I asked Mama about the men with the masks on. She told me there are people who want to change the rules of how we live by. Mama kept talking. She told me about the “government” and other words I couldn’t understand. One of them was “revolution”.
My Mama said that they want to be like a man that was in a revolution a long time ago. That man fought for people who couldn’t defend themselves and wanted things to be fair. “Zapata was his name, and this legacy he left behind are the Zapatistas” Mama said.
Are the masked men fighting for the same kind of “fair” Emiliano thought of?
Are they fighting for the same reason my friends and family are fighting for?
I’m young; I won’t understand anything for a long time, Inez, that’s what everyone tells me. But what I DO know is that when the time comes, I’ll know whether it’s worth it to put a mask on my face.

Tyler as Subcommandante Marcos from scene 3.