La Familia de Carlos IV

This summer, I was privileged enough to travel to Spain with my best friend and her family. We stayed for two weeks and traveled to four different cities. My favorite city by far was the capitol of Spain, Madrid. We began and ended our trip in Madrid, spending a total of six days there. My favorite day was the day we went to visit El Museo del Prado. We were lucky enough to be traveling around the city with a resident of Madrid, a close family friend who was going to school while also tutoring Spanish children in English. Hilary was of the utmost help. I am not usually a fan of museums, so I did not really have high expectations for this day. However, I was completely incorrect in my assumptions. I easily could have spent days in the Prado taking in all of the culture and brilliance in those paintings and sculptures. In this blog, I want to zero in on my favorite paintings. It was an image I had viewed before but I am not really sure where. I am guessing art class in high school. The painting was the centerpiece of that specific room. It was the first thing you saw when you entered. It was a rather large painting, measured about 280 centimeters by 127 centimeters. Painted by Francisco Goya, La Familia de Carlos IV, is considered by some to be one of the most important paintings of that time period.
I found the painting to be important for two different reasons. The first is simply the appearance. Goya was able to make the family portrait look so incredibly life-like. It looks more like a photograph than a painting. More importantly, though, is how Goya used this breathtaking painting to preserve history. The painting was ordered by Queen Maria Louisa de Parma (center) who was known as the matriarch. This is depicted in the fact that she is placed at the center of the painting while the king is to her left. Goya did not like the queen, and therefore was sure to paint her at an unflattering angle, making her arms look quite large. On the left of the painting in blue is the future king standing next to an unidentifiable woman. Goya left her face blurry so he could later fill in with the face of the prince’s wife. Goya was also sure to include the queen’s illegitimate child in the picture. The most comical aspect is that he painted a large mole on the face of the queen’s cousin standing on the left. To say the least, the queen was not happy when she saw what Goya had done to her family portrait.

For more information on this painting or El Museo del Prado, visit http://www.museodelprado.es/index.php?id=995&no_cache=1&L=5&tx_obras[adv]=0

Jimmy Santiago Baca says hello to USM!

Language is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs.” Spoken language is the key to efficient and accurate communication. Some use it to convey insipid concepts or ideas, while others use it as a form of art. I will admit that I have taken it for granted before. For some others, though, language is what they live for and, in a sense, why they are alive.
Jimmy Santiago Baca is a perfect example of the importance of language. At a very young age, his hopes for a giddy, pleasant childhood were squashed. His mother left he and his sister and brother for a rich white businessman and his father comforted himself after her departure with a bottle. Jimmy had no one to turn to, at least no one that could be of any help. By the time he became a pre-teen, he had already been in and out of jail on numerous accounts of theft. His crimes grew more serious as he aged and by twenty he was in a prison cell next door to murderers and rapists. Even though his crime was not this serious, as it was possession of illegal drugs, the system deemed him to deserve this punishment. He obviously was not on a good path. He had nothing to turn to except for the fleeting image of the woman he loved leaving him for a man with a degree. With this image, he wrote his first poem. Its power drove this woman to fly from states away to see him. After observing what power his writing contained, he took this talent and ran with it. Today, years and years later, Jimmy is a nationally recognized poet and author. He is also the proud father of two children. Language saved him from himself and if that isn’t power, I don’t know what is.
On Tuesday, September 15, the University of Southern Mississippi was graced with Mr. Baca’s presence. He spoke at the Honors College forum. Luckily, as an Honors Ambassador, I was required to attend. He was, without a doubt, the best speaker I have heard in all of my time at USM. He brought new insight to campus with him, and he has definitely left a mark on me since his departure. Coming from an extremely poor family in New Mexico, he and I definitely share two completely separate backgrounds and life stories. He opened my eyes to a whole new world, and I wish that all of the students at USM would have been privileged enough to hear him speak.

My Cultural Exhibit!

The de Grummond Collection at Cook Library

Prior to the commencement of this class, Library Science, I had never heard of the de Grummond Collection. On the first day of class, we were informed of its purpose and location. As soon as this assignment was given, I knew that I wanted to write about this collection. When I walked through the doors I knew that I had made the right choice. Being that, even though I am a sophomore in college, I am still a kid at heart, this exhibit was perfect for me. I love children’s literature, from the stories to the illustrations. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to view the makings of one of my favorite children’s stories, Curious George. It was so interesting to see how the whereabouts of the authors were tracked. My favorite part, though, was the pages on the makings of the illustrations. All of the zoo animals were planned out so mathematically, and I had never really considered them to be that big of a deal. Now I know how time consuming it must have been to design each and every one of them.
Maybe a little less popular than Curious George but a masterpiece just the same, is the children’s book, The Snowy Day. This was also one of my favorites as a child as well. It was so interesting to see the raw materials used to put together this award winning book. The de Grummond Collection really did make me appreciate the work put into children’s books, which are often not given the respect they deserve.