This capstone project is a story about a trip I took to visit a boyfriend in Pittsburgh that began as an essay, and ended as a film. Included in the project are both the essay, and the film and written script. While the essay reads as more of a story, the film works to connect the idea of time and uses the train as a vehicle for it, while explaining how we hold onto it in different ways. By visiting this person, the main character is holding onto the past, as is a mysterious woman she meets on the train, and by doing this she is being invasive, as are large developments in the city, as are invasive vines that take over other plants.

Capstone: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1osHhPGAs-BTsu8di48tDhl_8_b0gT8oz?usp=drive_link

For this Lit Log, I assembled magazine cutouts (entirely Playboy) to represent McMurphy’s view of the Ward— specifically pulling from the conversation he has with Harding on his first day, after the group meeting. McMurphy immediately knows the power he will have over the Ward in the coming weeks, and he seeks to have power everywhere he goes. Even after hearing of the unstoppable force that is Nurse Ratched - he is confident that he can “get her goat”, saying on page 67, “Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams, and shows, just one time, she ain’t so unbeatable as you think.” This piece is split up into a few different parts- one is how he learns most of the Chronics came to be the way they are, which is being sent to the Shock Shop. Harding describes this experience to McMurphy on page 62, “Even when you do regain consciousness you are in a state of disorientation for days…Enough of these treatments and a man could turn out like Mr. Ellis you see over there against the wall.” McMurphy is skeptical of these “treatments” that are given to the patients from the shocks to the group therapy, that seems to only humiliate and silence the men in the Ward, as seen in the picture of men with fingers pointing at them, and the sea of wires and electricity that the pictures of men swim in, their mouths covered. One man’s face has turned into a sort of screaming monster while his hair frizzes out from the electricity. A second part is the depiction of Nurse Ratched - her head is huge and she looms over this piece like a big round sun, watching every move at all times. Though she attempts to show a false sense of kindness and security towards McMurphy, he sees right through her faḉade to her foul intentions. Though Harding does depict her as a “mother” of the Ward, on page 54 he says, “Our sweet, smiling, tender angel of mercy, Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter? Why, friend, that’s most unlikely.” As much as they wouldn’t like to admit it, she is their caretaker and without her they would have no one to look after them. The final part to this piece is McMurphy’s idea of himself and Bromden, and how it reflects on Bromden. Though we know McMurphy is large, he is obviously smaller than our main character, who he speaks down to and pities. Being in the Ward so long, Bromden doesn’t realize how small and helpless he feels until he sees the new patient take charge of things so defiantly, especially after being force fed pills earlier that day. McMurphy sees that even a man that large can be suppressed and puppetted, but still does not feel threatened. As shown in the piece, McMurphy is a big, cowboy-like, cigarette-smoking, multi-limbed entity that looms over Bromden as he’s being lowered into a catatonic state. The pills represent the men’s inability to fight back. They cannot beat the Nurse because they cannot beat the treatments.

In the past two years alone, there has been a spike in conservatism in our government that has threatened civil rights, first with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and several bills trying to erase nondiscrimination laws towards the LGBTQ+ community and laws that will limit a transgender person’s right to transition. Amidst these regressions in our democracy are conservative social media stars, coaxing young people into dangerous beliefs.

A recent conservative star has been Andrew Tate, a 36-year old British kick-boxing champion known for his misogynistic takes such as saying women are more attractive when they are 18 and 19, rather than 26 because “they have been through less dick” - or that that female sexual assault victims should “bear some responsibility”. Through being wanted for arrest for sex trafficking young women employed in his webcam business, a new personality has come into light, who some are calling a “female Andrew Tate”. Her name is Hannah Pearl Davis, better known as “Pearl”, and she’s a 26 year-old self proclaimed “anti-feminist”. At first, people thought she was being satirical or was just desperate for attention, but as her following has grown she’s started being taken seriously. After scrolling through her twitter account for just five minutes, I immediately saw a picture she’d posted wearing a shirt saying “Women Shouldn’t Vote” - with twelve and a half million views. Other tweets from her profile in the last few months alone include: “Stop sleeping with fat chicks!!”, “Men like pure women not whores”, and “I’m transphobic. I am in fact afraid of trans people.” With almost two million followers on Youtube, you would think she’d consider the effects her platform may have on young girls and the way they view themselves.

“She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word.”

Serena Joy, a character from The Handmaid’s Tale, rose to fame in this dystopian novel similar to how Pearl has today. Serena was a christian gospel singer on a network television show and rose to fame preaching christian, conservative values. Offred infers that Serena had some influence on the evolution of Gilead, that she was “taken at her word”, which is why people like Pearl are so terrifying - her words are ridiculous but she may have more influence than we assume. What’s funny is, much like Serena, if Pearl were to be taken at her word and the things she’s claimed to want came true, she would lose all her status. The values she’s capitalized on have the capacity to render her powerless, and that doesn’t seem to scare her.

“We thought she was funny. Or Luke thought she was funny. I only pretended to think so. Really she was a little frightening. She was in earnest.”

It’s fun to sit and laugh at Pearl, whose political takes seem so ridiculous that we think she can’t truly believe it. And we know she doesn’t truly believe it, but what we don’t see are the people endorsing her, praising her for making these speeches. These people have the true power to take what Pearl says seriously and make it a reality. We see “Women Shouldn’t Vote!” pasted on her shirt and think of what a joke she must be, but the truth is that there was a time when women couldn’t vote and there is very little reason why, if the wrong people were in power, we couldn’t go back to that time. The Handmaid’s Tale is so horrifying and still so topical today because we know it wouldn’t be impossible for the US to head towards Gilead.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15SACGQ1LcMEKGtpmGI9wZM-chfA3J6JE/view

Samantha Lerner Español 1 Banda B 5/04/2021

En mi casa hay un hermano y mi mamá y papá, y yo. Yo tengo dos primos, Nate and Sloane, y tía Rachel y tío Rob, pero ellos viven en Virginia (como se dice: I don’t see them very often?) . También, tengo dos tíos Matt y Brian, que viven en New Jersey. Mi Papá son extrovertido, y tiene muchos amigos. Él es masculino, es alto y fuerte. Papa tiene pelo negro y rizado, y tiene ojos morenos. Él tiene cincuenta y tres años. Él es muy obstinado. Mi hermano son un poco como mi padre. El son un poco alto, y un poco fuerte. El tiene pelo moreno y rizado, y tiene ojos moreno. El tiene diez y siete años. Él es inteligente, pero muy obstinado. Eli son delgado y introvertido. Yo soy muy diferente que mi familia. Yo tengo ojos azúl, y pelo marrón claro y lacio. Soy un poco alta, un poco más baja que mi hermano. Yo soy muy perezosa, a diferencia de mi mamá y hermano. Soy delgado. Soy ambivertido, pero sincera. Tengo quince años. Mi mamá son trabajadora y inteligente, pero yo soy perezosa y desinteresada. Mi mamá son bajo, pero yo soy alta. Nosotras es muy pequeña. Nosotras somos muy delgadas, y discutimos.

Far From The Tree Soundtrack - Samantha Lerner

Long Distance Love - Little Feat This song reminds me a lot of Joaquin and his relationship with Birdie. Though he broke up with her, it was because he didn’t feel like he was enough and is constantly pitying himself. This song is about being helpless and hopelessly in love, while not really being sure what to do about it. The lyrics “and her life so sweet, I wonder do she know,” made me think of how Joaquin perceives Birdie, and how he thinks her life is so perfect and that he would just be a burden to it. The chorus also makes me think of how Joaquin is so scared to reach out for help, and just drops Birdie all together even though he really likes her. “Help wanted, but not enough, you know these times are getting rough, ‘cause no matter what I do, even pray to heaven above, all I ever get from her is long distance love!”

Picture To Burn - Taylor Swift Relatable break-up song for Grace. A song about rejection and payback, I thought would fit well for how she might have felt about returning to school. Though she didn’t directly clapback at her ex-boyfriend, she made it clear how she felt towards his friends in front of the whole school. Grace is really strong for even being able to go back to school with everyone judging her, but when Adam taunted her, she confronted him and gave him what he deserved! I love when Taylor says “state the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy, I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me, so go and tell your friends that i’m obsessive and crazy, that’s fine;” this reminds me of how Grace probably felt right in that moment. Who is Max to call her a slut when she has quite literally gone through hell as a teenager, and has received little support from the people she loves?

I’d Like To Walk Around in Your Mind - Vashti Bunyan This is personally one of my favorite songs ever, and it’s incredibly sad. I think it would be a tribute to Peach from Grace, as the song is about someone who cares for another very deeply but can’t confront them (my interpretation, at least). In chapter 16, I think, Grace talks about how she regrets not keeping Peach, and wonders if she would have been able to take care of her. “I would disturb your easy tranquility, I’d turn away the sad impossibility of your smile,” this makes me think of why Grace put Peach up for adoption in the first place, because she thought she couldn’t give her the life she deserved. “But most of all i’d like you to be unaware, then i’d just wander away, trailing palm leaves behind me, so you don’t even know i’ve been there,” this line is incredibly sad, but I think it might have resonated with Grace. Part of her wishes she could see Peach and still have a life with her, but she doesn’t think she could be able to do it.

Liability - Lorde I think this would be a relatable song for Joaquin, who clearly often feels like a liability to everyone around him. Even when his foster parents tell him they’d like to adopt him, he is hesitant still because he feels so unloved. He pushes everyone away because he’s so afraid of being a grudge and a burden. “They say, ‘you’re a little much for me, you’re a liability, you’re a little much for me’” I think this is truly how Joaquin thinks others view him, which is upsetting. “The truth is, I am a toy that people enjoy ‘till all of the tricks don’t work anymore. And then they are bored of me,” this reminds me of when Joaquin says that he feels that he needs fixing, like he is broken and unchangeable. “I know that it’s exciting, running through the night, but, every perfect summer’s eating me alive until you’re gone, better on my own,” I think this relates to his relationship with both Birdie and his adoptive parents, and that he feels that he would just be better on his own.

You Belong To Me - The 88 You Belong To Me is a perfect love song to guide the moment when Grace, Maya and Joaquin finally feel that they belong somewhere, together. They all lack a sense of belonging- Maya longing for her mother, who feels belonging when she accepts her mother and is excited to have her home. Joaquin, who always felt unwanted, feels belonging with his foster parents who he agrees to be his official adoptive parents. Grace finally feels belonging with Peach, when she visits her and notices how much they have in common. They all too find belonging with their birth mother, as they found pictures of Melissa and realized she truly did love them. “I could tell an antique lie, full of all the things I want to hide, but that would only lead to the truth, you belong to me, I belong to you.”

Hair - Lady Gaga Maya always feels like the odd one out because she’s adopted. Her parents have red hair, along with her little sister who is a biological daughter of her parents. I think this really gets at Maya, and she wishes that she could just fit in, or accept herself for looking different than the rest of her family. I think this song highlights individuality and accepting yourself from being different than everyone else. “And in the morning, I’m short of my identity, I scream Mom and Dad, why can’t I be who I wanna be?” I’m not really sure if Maya is necessarily questioning who she wants to be, but she definitely feels lost in her identity and wonders why she has to be a stranger in her own home. “I’ve had enough, enough, enough, and this is my prayer, I swear, I’m as free as my hair, I am my hair,” I love this line because I think it really represents when Maya finally meets Joaquin and Grace and sees that she isn’t so different after all. She sees that her siblings are just like her, and that she really does belong somewhere, even with her dark hair.

Thinning - Snail Mail This is a sad song to represent Maya’s depression as she struggles through her parents divorce. It’s hard to see two people you love stop loving each other, and wondering what that means for you. On top of that, she pushes her girlfriend away because she starts to doubt her love and doesn’t think that it’s enough. I think Maya was spiraling, and Thinning pretty much sums up that feeling. “Haven’t felt right in a week, and i’m thinning out, and it hurts bad, I gotta get back,” I think this is how Maya feels, especially seeing the condition her mother is in. It’s really difficult to have to deal with something like that alone and at such a young age. “I wanna spend the entire year, just face down, and on my own time, I wanna waste time.” When Claire finds out about Maya’s mother being hospitalized, she feels bad and tries to apologize because she still loves Maya. Maya just feels so hopeless and angry that she refuses Claire, I think she copes by shutting people out and forcing herself to deal with it alone.