SHAKE THE DUST | ANIS MOJGANI
This is for the fat girls. This is for the little brothers. This is for the schoolyard wimps. This is for the childhood bullies who tormented them. This is for the former prom queen. This is for the milk crate ball players. This is for the nighttime cereal eaters. This is for the retired elderly Wal-Mart storefront door greeters. Shake the dust. This is for the benches and the people sitting on them. This is for the bus drivers, driving a million broken hymns. This is for the men who have to hold down three jobs, simply to hold their children. This is for the night schoolers, and the midnight bike riders who are trying to fly. Shake the dust. For the two-year-olds who cannot be understood because they speak half English and half God. Shake the dust. For the girls with the brothers that are crazy, shake the dust. For the boys with the beautiful sisters, the gym class wallflowers, the twelve-year-olds afraid of taking public showers, the kid who's late to class 'cause he forgot the combination to his lockers, for the girl who loves somebody else, shake the dust. This is for the hard men, who want to love, but know it won't come. For the ones who are told to speak only when spoken to, and then are never spoken to, the ones who the amendments do not stand up for, the ones who are forgotten: Speak every time you stand, so you do not forget yourselves. Do not let a second go by that does not remind you that your heart beats nine hundred times a day, and there are enough gallons of blood to make you an ocean. This is for the police officers. This is for the meter maid. This is for the celibate pedophile who keeps on struggling. This is for the poetry teachers. This is for the people who go on vacations alone, and for the crappy artists and the actors that suck, shake the dust. This is for the sweat that drips off of Mick Jagger's lips, for the shaking skirt on Tina Turner's shaking hips, for the heavens and the hells through which Tina has lived. This is for the tired and the dreamers, the family that'll never be like the Cleavers with the perfectly-made dinners and the sons like Wally and the Beaver. For the bigots, the sexists, and the killers, the big-house pint sentence cat becoming redeemers, and for the springtime, that always comes after the winters. This is for you. Make sure that, by the time the fisherman returns, you are gone. Make these blue streams worth it, because, just like the days I'm burning at both ends, and every time I write, every time I bike through the night, every time I open my eyes, I am cutting out a part of myself to give to you. So shake the dust, and take me with you when you do, for none of this has ever been for me. All that was placed inside, that continues pushing like waves, pushes for you. So take the world by its clothespins and shake it out again and again, jump on top and take it for a spin, and when you hop off shake it out again, for this is yours. Make my words worth it. Make this not just another poem that I write. Not just another poem like just another night that sits heavy above us all - walk into it. Breathe it in. Let it crash through the halls of your arms, like the millions of years and millions of poets that course like blood, pumping and pushing, making you live, making you live, shaking the dust, so when the world knocks at your door, turn the knob and open on up, and run into its big, big hands with open arms. "Capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience." As humans, it's in our nature to associate feelings, emotions, and even memories with the physical objects we choose to surround ourselves with. The measure of thoughts we affiliate with these objects is up to our own discretion. Some objects may remind us of something, while others may simply just bring us joy. As I read this quote, I immediately thought of St. George Street. The shops of St. George Street, full of shoddy souvenirs in every variety, are able to stay in business because of a souvenir's capacity to remind us of authentic experiences. Tourists hope to remember their time in Saint Augustine by purchasing something that will remind them of their experiences. "Nostalgia cannot be sustained without loss." In order to evoke a feeling of nostalgia, we must long for something from our past. The word sustain directly means "to bear the weight of, as a structure; to endure without giving way or yielding." The deeper the loss, the longer this wistful feeling for the past will extend. This quote immediately made me think of losing my father, and how the desire for him to return to this earth has yet to dissolve. I think unlike most people, I enjoy that feeling of nostalgia. I can return to moments I've spent with him through my thoughts and replay them over in my mind infinitely. It's a positive emotion for me, so I enjoy surrounding myself with items that will trigger such feelings. “To have a souvenir of the exotic is to posses both a specimen and a trophy.” In this instance, I think the author meant specimen as in a piece of something much greater, while a trophy would be a token or memento of something. To have a souvenir of the exotic would be to possess something that is unusual to ones nature. Thus, I think the author is expressing the idea that by possessing a memento that is unique, we are holding on to and cherishing a part of a certain memory or feeling, while also celebrating it.
This story helped me to realize just how much energy and emotion we as humans put into little tokens. It's strange to think that something so small can connect people. I felt it odd, however, that the mothers in this story seemed to be more attached to the objects, rather than the children.I was initially drawn to both Ancient Egyptian and Baroque architecture because of their immense detail. While both ages of art share a lot of similarities, it was their differences that intrigued me the most. I combined the geometric lines and shapes from Ancient Egyptian architecture with the curved lines and organic shapes of Baroque architecture, while maintaining the rhythm and symmetry characteristic of both architecture styles. It was important for me to make religion the focal point of my piece as both styles typically used architecture to honor religious figures or symbols.
Ancient EgyptianGreat Pyramid of Khufu | El Giza, Egypt Unknown, -2600 Temple of Isis | Philae, Egypt Unknown, -500 Hatshepsut's Temple | Deir el-Bahri, Egypt Senenmut, -1550 BaroqueChateau de Versailles | Versailles, France Andre Le Notre, 1661 Piazza of St. Peter's | Vatican City Bernini, 1656 Einsiedeln Abbey Church | Einsiedeln, Switzerland
Kaspar Moosbrugger, 1719 |