The Shadow of Hiroshima

The ability to come to a decision as a team of varied individuals, collaboration, is a skill often overlooked. However, for our English class this semester, our instructor asked us to team up into groups of four and come up with a new post. After thinking about the nature of our assignment, we decided to look at a picture of the Hiroshima Shadows and write down two words that came to our mind. We then combined these words (gruesome, still, light, frozen in time, immortal, escape, blotted, lost) and wrote a poem. Click here to check out the picture.

Shadows frozen in time
Immortal they died
Unable to escape the gruesome light
The everyday life they lost
Is still blotted in our minds
Forever frozen are the Shadows of Hiroshima

As a side note, the Shadows of Hiroshima are shadows of people going about their everyday life before the atomic bomb went off. The enormous amount of radiation ejected from the bomb painted the wall. However, some of the radiation was blocked by people and other opaque objects, and thus left their "shadows". A beautiful result of a tragic incident.

Aliens: The Cure to War

"I couldn't help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together."
- Ronald Regan

Much of what is said as a joke has a kernel of truth in it and this factious remark by the former president Regan is no different. The truth underlying Regan's comment lies in the science of ecological interactions. Humans, like all other animals, are programmed genetically to gear towards violence. This intraspecies competition, however, is also genetically overruled by interspecies competition. This explains why it must take aliens, another species intelligent enough to threaten our species, for human civil war to end. With that said, humans are the only species capable of overcoming nature. So, it is my hope that we are able to surpass our genetic obstacle of aggression and end this ridiculous "intraspecies"competition.

Looking Back at the Iraqi War: 2003

In this photograph from the streets of Baghdad, a monument to Saddam Hussein is being brought down by U.S. troops before a crowd of Iraqi spectators. In central focus is the curious, shocked expression of the U.S. soldier and the falling statue, being pulled down by a chain noose. In the background is the crowd of onlookers, blurred out, and without focus. It is impossible to tell what they are thinking or feeling from the photograph. The photo uses the contrast between dark and light well, with the soldier and the statue being very dark, and giving the appearance of everything else being whitewashed. The low angle exaggerates the size of the statue and soldier. The statue being pulled down by a metal noose is very metaphorically significant as well. It represents the collapse of the Iraqi dictatorship by the U.S. leadership, perhaps this related to the whitewashing out the Iraqi people's opinion by the United States in it's quest for control over Iraq.

Written with - Eytan and Matt

Vertigo

Looking at the image to the left, I almost get a sense of vertigo. The tilted angle of the picture combined with the non-parallel repetition of the bombers epitomizes that feeling of nausea described by war veterans. In addition, the focus on the planes makes it apparent of how bleak and empty the background really is. This emptiness is enhanced by the dark values used in the planes, the hillside and the clouds. However, the eyes always travel back to the planes, captured by their ominous journey, cutting through the air, just waiting to drop their deadly cargo.

Open the Lines of Communication

Fellow Americans,

Plato’s observation that “Only the dead have seen the end of war" is one of the most obvious remarks by this great man and as a testament to his words, our everyday lives seem to be saturated with war related information. Ironically, I don’t feel that we as a collective nation are very informed about the totality of war. This concept is exemplified by our response to the terrible events of 9/11. Instead of waiting to analysis the situation carefully and use history to our advantage, we American’s as a whole rightfully demanded retribution. While we were right in our demands and right in our pursuit of Bin Laden into Afghanistan, in our rage, we neglected to learn from the many failed conquests of that country. I partially blame this reaction to the inadequate/partial media coverage of any current event. Whenever I turn on the news, I hear the same basic analysis of the ongoing around the world, and that similarity in analysis is very troubling. People has always disagreed about event the most basic concepts, so I find it hard to believe that all the news groups can only come up with one basic analysis. The solution to this problem is very simple and it is something that our parents have been telling us forever – keep an open mind. This means that we Americans need to either force our current media to pick up new angles or find a new source of information to obtain all possible information about a given topic. If we do not take the proper steps to rectify the aforementioned problem, I fear that mistakes such as our early invasion of Afghanistan will be repeated.

- A concerned citizen.