A Conscious Author

When I first saw this question to this post, I panicked. I couldn't name a single female artist that influenced me tremendously. I mean, even when it came to directors - the people that I tend to pay attention to the most, my mind automatically started listing male directors. Not that I have anything against female directors, it just so happens that a lot of the directors that I admire happen to be male. So after scouring the web for female artists that I could really admire and whose work could potentially inspire me, a name suddenly popped into my head. I don't know how but the author of one of my favorite Young Adult series came up - Cassandra Clare. Cassandra Clare is the author of several trilogies and a series all set in an imaginary world called the "Shadowhunter World". On hindsight, it may seem like just another YA series but in this series as well as her trilogies, it features a female protagonist. I think that's why this world really resonates with me. It's basically Harry Potter but with a female lead. On top of that, there's also many other strong female characters. And though almost all the female characters are in romantic relationships, they all shine best when they're focused on an important situation. I think that it's hard to find book that do not have just one but several strong main female characters. In fact Cassandra Clare once said in an interview that "I wanted to make sure that every book passed the Bechdel test", which is pretty awesome to have an author who ensures that not only the books pass the Bechdel test, but also that the film and tv series pass the bechdel test as well. I think it's also pretty amazing that the series not only include several strong female characters but it features several characters in the LGBTQ+ community. Talk about diversity. 

Cassandra Clare saw a gap in a lot of the Young Adult series, most heroes tend to be male protagonists. A few examples of this are Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. And even when there was a female protagonist, more often than not she is the only female protagonist like The Hunger Games trilogy. So Cassandra wanted to fill that gap in her series by putting multiple female heroes. Though there are times in the books when the female needs saving (I mean who doesn't every once in awhile), it's hard to ignore that by the end of the book, the female hero ends up saving the world. The films and some of the book got pretty harsh reviews, but no one can deny that these books have that female voice that we have all been waiting for. Of course it can use some improvement as the books talk about some pretty heavy topics that seem to be taken lightly in the actual books themselves, but there's always room for improvement. Nonetheless, Cassandra Clare started to pave a road for many future authors to follow.

Works Cited:
-Cassandra Clare on the Bechdel Test: https://www.themarysue.com/cassandra-clare-interview-sdcc/
-Why Cassandra Clare is Important: https://medium.com/legendary-women/why-cassandra-clare-is-super-important-to-ya-fiction-8de5a28b1c2

Final Project: Gender Equity In Islam

R

Hot Girls Who Go To Galleries

Hot girls, Click Here!

If you just got click baited, #sorrynotsorry. The original intent of my whole project, my instagram account, was to create a smoke screen with a pretty catch phrase. "Girls Who Go to Galleries" was oriented to drag all different sorts of people on the internet who were looking for beautiful girls to look at, but instead of stumbling upon a feed of typical pretty girls, they would be bombarded with art that spreads vulgar messages. To fit the theme, I had to have a girl in the photo next to the piece of art, but facing it instead of being in front of it. My intention was to have the person facing the art seemingly give his or her interpretation of it, captioned down below.

There's me, posing in front of Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" as if I am interpreting the art.

Curating art to be on my 'gram was my favorite part of this whole entire project. Fitting the theme of all the topics we learned this semester, I chose feminist art, and art pieces from women artists. I went around New York City, going to the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the MoMA. I found so many pieces of art that was just so dark and vulgar. Anger was a constant theme, and Carol Rama created art based on anger caused by the tragedies of her life. Many women felt angry that they weren't treated with respect or weren't even taken seriously. It was Carol Rama's art that led me to believe artworks that usually speak loudly and boldly to us were built upon factors of anger and sadness. Feelings that climb out of these pieces of art into art viewers. Throughout my whole trip, if I felt that a piece of art did not make me uncomfortable, then the artist's intent was too subtle for me. I preferred something more strong and bitter.

"Porn Grid" Marilyn Minter, 1989

"Seduzione" Carol Rama, 1982

Finally, I chose to visit a local artist in the East Village. Ironically, I met the artist, Seth Foss, on instagram, and he was kind enough to let me visit his gallery and visit his "Gender" series. I had the easiest time writing my interpretation of his art because of the direct connection I had with him. His art was so dark and empowering, speaking about how religion and sexuality play out together. At the end of our meet, he posed in front of his own art and I wrote down his intent in why he created the "Gender" series.

Seth and his artworks.

The most difficult part of this project was to filter out certain art pieces. Although I saw a lot of art, I could've easily uploaded a hundred photos of different art pieces. But, I settled with what I chose because those were artworks that shook me. They transformed me and made me so uncomfortable, making me feel so raw and disgusted at the same time. But, good art is never subtle art. Why be subtle when we are angry and responding to misogyny and political crisis?

Feminists in New York

Claudia Fareri
Women and Media
Doris Cacoilo
13 March 2017

Feminists in New York #FONY

My name is Claudia Fareri and for my final project, I created an instagram Feminists in New York as well as a PowerPoint for my women and media class. This instagram account captures feminists in New York and their experience with feminism. I based my instagram on Humans of New York, the project created by Brandon Stanton in 2010. Stanton photographs people and includes a quote from them alongside the photo. In the same fashion, I chose to create my own instagram for my project because personally, I enjoy learning the stories of others and and hearing what they want to share with the world.

Everyone has a voice and the right to share their story with the world. In a world dominated by patriarchy, it is especially necessary for women to have their voice be heard and show that they matter just as much as any other male. 

For the last three weeks, I took pictures of people from various backgrounds and ethnicities, and asked them three questions: 1) Why are you a feminist? 2) When was the first time you've recognized your resonance with feminist thinking? 3) When has there ever been a time where you have felt powerful by being a feminist? These three questions helped break the ice and ease into a conversation about their experience with feminism. 

While it was a bit awkward at first to get into someone's personal space and photograph them, the outcome was worth while. It was enlightening to hear how other people identify with feminism and where their support is rooted from. I felt proud for being the bridge between feminists and the rest of the world and being a platform for them. While everyone had their own individual story, they all stemmed from the single point that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. 

Initially, I only wanted to include females on my instagram but after a second thought, I realized that not only females are feminists. Feminism comes in many ways, shapes and forms which is why I included anyone and everyone who believed in it.

Do You Really Need This?

As my time on the internet increases, I start to see a change in many things. First, there's a lot more stupid people out there than I could've imagined and I'm afraid that the number of idiots are only increasing. Second, there's been an increase in advertisements - like a dramatic increase. As a person who hopes to create content in the future, either for myself or for a company, I don't put ad blocker on. I understand that there's a lot of people making money because of the ads that are around their content. And since it's free for me to watch them, I normally just let them play. But while I see an increase of ads, I see a direct increase on the amount of material things that one possesses nowadays. I spend a lot of my time looking up beauty videos on YouTube; and as I see so many people, particularly women, just hoarding (like actually hoarding) beauty products - I can't help but wonder why. Sure I could've done my project researching numbers and how the beauty industry affect women but I decided to go a different route.
For my semester project, I decided to watch many beauty product ads and see how they try and sell product. The key? They all promise you different things. I focused on three ads: one from Maybelline, one from Rimmel and one from Covergirl. I twisted the words they were using in the commercials to make my own. I tried to expose what those commercials were selling, hoping it can be an eye opener for others. I tried to be everything they weren't - a lot more truthful, sarcastic, humorous and I even used a team of diverse women.
Maybelline Commercial
Rimmel Commercial
Covergirl Commercial

EXPOSED - shady work

I have been working in the restaurant industry for more then 5 years. For my end of semester project i decided to create an Instagram account , mediashady17
My main focus was to shed light and inform my coworkers about the dynamic relationships between Female vs Male go workers as well as costumers.
I stared talking to. Each co worker alone and see where he or she stands on the problem at hand. This was to see if they are aware of the difference in treatment and daily job expectations. Most of them had no idea what feminism meant. I had one of the Spanish speakers  that spoke well English try to translate it but they still didn't know, Also those that had an idea or have heard of the word before said oh yea
"Those girls that do not want to shave " "the girls that want to dress like a man and have short hair". This showed me how hard of a job i am In for

The first step i had to take was try to talk to them daily and ask him how a male treated them in contrast with how a woman treated them. This was regardless of weather it was a coworker, or a manger or a costumer.

They send me pictures as well as i took some. But most of the pictures where just random that they couldn't give me a story behind it. So the Instagram started of slow but it  is growing. Each picture will have a story and a narrative
Where is all starts
This illustrated how important the things i have learned are to be shared.
It was also eye opening because it mad me realize how many restaurants are in city
How many of them have a dominate Hispanic work force, and this work force is the hardest working but are not aware at times of the issues that they and their families may be facing


2.0 Exposed

Semester Project - #StarringAsianActresses

Mina Youn

Media 384

Prof. Cacoili

May 13, 2017

For my semester project, I’ve written an essay on the whitewashing and racist practices against Asian Americans in Hollywood, titled #StarringAsianActresses (and accompanying slideshow), as a tribute to the social media campaigns #StarringJohnCho and #StarringConstanceWu that have reimagined Hollywood movies with these actors as the main leads.

A social media campaign re-imagining Hollywood movies starring Constance Wu.
A fan created poster of Easy A shows Constance Wu replacing Emma Stone who drummed up controversy by being cast as a quarter Chinese, quarter Hawaiian woman in the film Aloha.

In my essay, I cover a bit about my own experiences growing up as a Korean American girl with a lack of understanding of Asian representation and diversity. I also address issues such as the lack of Asian American roles in television and media and the whitewashing of original source material that features Asian characters in Hollywood especially.

Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese cyborg named Major Motoko Kusanagi, based off a Japanese anime manga and anime film Ghost In The Shell

By writing this essay, I’ve started a blog called Youn Sistars which I hope to collaborate with my sister in documenting our experiences living as Asian Americans in New York. Hopefully, I will be able to reach young Asian Americans and spark a dialogue that will help bring more awareness to this critical lack of Asian American representation in media. I hope to reach Asian American artists, film makers, aspiring actors and other media makers to try and collaborate in creating content and art that will inspire others like us, where we can ultimately encapsulate all our unique and individual experiences as Asians in America.