I know we’re really in it with language right now, thinking about the lyrical edges contained within poetic lines, but I want us to also be thinking about how borders get represented, interrogated, made, broken, etc. within other mediums. Here’s an example of an artist who’s work, The Border Series, uses the materiality of things from the natural world to imagine the lines between identity and culture.
Some additional background: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44301342
For the past year while living in Europe I became very interested and invested in European politics, especially with the migration issue. After a few days in Budapest, I noticed numerous large political posters of an older gentleman, laughing, with script in Hungarian I couldn’t understand. Who was this guy, and why was the government so concerned about him?
His name is George Soros. He is an extremely influential philanthropist who fled Hungary during World War II. He basically made all of his money on investing, but has shifted his life’s focus to philanthropy. Soros started a foundation called the Open Society Foundations in 1979 that funds democratic movements and promotes tolerance all across the globe. He now lives in the United States.
So, it turns out in Europe many people see him as “dangerous”. Once I could sort of understand what the posters read in Budapest, I learned they were really warnings about “Soros’ plan to allow illegal immigrants into the country”, and how this would “threaten European country’s culture and languages” (Soros supports the welcoming of migrants, although this is hardly a valid issue in Hungary anymore). Scarily enough, a similar political ad put out by the Hungarian government has hints of anti-Semitism as well (it references Soros having the “last laugh”, referencing anti-Semitic propaganda put out by Nazi Germany). These posters were created and distributed by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s current prime minister, whose far right political party was recently re-elected in April. It’s not only Hungarian government, though, that has been scapegoating Soros and calling him the enemy, the source of the country’s ills. Similar sentiments against Soros have been common in Poland, Romania, Croatia, and even America.
Anyway, I just thought Soros and his story relates to ideas we discuss in class, concerning his dual national identity (he is Hungarian-American), and his influence across so many borders. I am baffled from the amount of criticism he receives within central Europe and the globe. How can so many people hate an 87-year-old trying to promote tolerance? I guess it exemplifies the underlying fear present not only in Europe’s political landscape, but in America as well. Maybe he’s a distraction from the real issue of the threats to democracy happening in these countries (including ours). Why are people so afraid? Is it morally right to have money have such a big influence in politics? Can exceptions be made for “good” causes? Should people from other places be able to influence how things are run in other countries, other than the one they are currently living in?
-Acadia
Here’s a space to post your in-process introductions to Paper 1 and receive feedback.
Utah has some of the most protected lands of any state in the continental US. The most recent addition to this protected area is Bears Ears National Monument. President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears a national monument in 2016 under the Antiquities Act, which grants the president the authority to designate national monuments on federal land. Initially, the monument protected 1,351,849 acres of land. President Trump later reduced the size of the monument by about 85 percent. The border has changed dramatically in the past two years (The US Forest Service).
The reason Bears Ears is such a widely contested land is because it is a large fracking site and is also home to many Native American tribes. Even though the Obama administration legally designated the land as protected, certain native peoples were upset at the designation citing that the government in Washington DC does not know enough about the land and that they are capable of protecting their own land. Others were glad the land was federally protected because large fracking industries could not buy up the land and mine it for fossil fuels (Los Angeles Times).
When President Trump shrank the protected land large areas were claimed in a similar fashion to land claimed under the Homestead Acts. Since uranium and oil corporations have the resources, they claimed a vast majority of the land. Uranium mining and oil fracking pose a threat to the natural landscape of Bears Ears. Fracking and mining make the land almost entirely unusable after the resources are collected.
In a way, the “border” that surrounds Bears Ears has always existed. It surrounds the homes of many Native American groups. The designation of the land changed this border to a literal one. Now that the border truly exists, it is being changed and fought over from many sides. Much of the criticism aimed at the recent reduction of the monument stems from the interpretation of the Antiquities Act. Many critics claim that a president should only have the authority to designate protected land but not make protected lands public again. The borders will probably shift again in the future based on the multiple court cases occurring simultaneously.
A few questions:
How does the designation of the land as protected change the way the land is seen by the government and the people who live there?
Is there some sort of compromise that can include interests of both corporations and native peoples?
Should presidents be able to designate land as protected and reduce the size?
–Skylar
Works Cited
Finnegan, Michael. “In an Unprecedented Action, Trump Dramatically Shrinks Two National Monuments in Utah.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2017, www.latimes.com/nation/la-fg-trump-national-monuments-20171204-story.html.
United States, Forest Service, “Bears Ears National Monument Questions and Answers.” 2016.
Point to 1 specific scene, image, or cinematic technique that Cary Fukunaga develops as a way of visually representing this border-crossing narrative, and discuss its meaning to the film as a whole.
Here is the space to share written explications of Zamora’s poems and to continue our conversation from class.
Since we discussed the importance of hearing poems read aloud, I thought you might enjoy this recording of Zamora reading “Saguaros”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8bzOJcxXtE
I went to Rosh Hashanah services last night. If you don’t know what that is, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur together are the high holidays, a sort of New Years and Lent all in one. It was my first time ever going to services, and it was the first time at Middlebury where I felt as though I was part of a community.
Midd’s very proud of how small and close-knit it is, and that’s one of the main reasons I picked it. I have been searching for a community for a long, long time. We’re still forming our community, of course- freshman have only been here for a week or two. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine a community as large as Middlebury. I can see it forming in classes and clubs, but not actually growing to encompass the entirety of campus and everyone inside. And if there is in fact a Middlebury community that arrives with the older students, it’s hard to imagine the freshman at anywhere but the border. I remember high school freshmen. They were the worst, and we treated them as such.
Hillel was a solution to this problem, in a way. I was expecting to be on the margins as a first-year and a largely non-practicing Jew. Instead, I found a sense of kinship. It was a small group, forty students at the most, and while for the most part they knew each other, they actively included the new students. We are in this together, their actions said. We may be to the side of Middlebury’s protestant consciousness (if there is such a consciousness), but that does not mean we are alone. We are a community at the edge of community, and you can cross the border from silent to beloved.
I have many issues with Judaism. It is not a flawless culture or a flawless people. I didn’t like many, perhaps even most of the people I met last night. I’m undecided leaning toward highly skeptical when it comes to the existence of God. I don’t support Israel, especially not in its current state. And yet, I felt the kinship I had been looking for sitting in a Christian chapel, listening to Rabbi Stillman and the cantor who traveled here just for the high holidays.
You can make of this blog post what you will. I tried to keep it as open as possible. And feel free to criticize me. I won’t be offended, and if I am, I’ll do my best to work through it. I hope everyone finds somewhere they don’t feel bordered.
–Lauren Eskra
Write a brief personal narrative about 1 instance in your life when you created, crossed, bridged, or resisted a border.