Las Dos Fridas, by Frida Kahlo
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I told you those eyebrows were real...
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You survived your first two days of high school without major freak-outs. Congratulations. You're doing better than most people.
During the first day of class, there wasn't much to do - I introduced myself, you broadly introduced yourselves, and I gave you your first homework assignment.
I just wonder how many of you didn't believe I'd give you a quiz...
Lesson #1: When teachers give you homework, it's not just for kicks or to make your life miserable. I, genuinely, only give homework when I need you to review something for the continuation of the course. I know you guys can read, so no need to insult anyone's intelligence by giving you some looooong boring lecture. But, today, we talked about the concept of text and what that means to us. Text surrounds us, and exists in so many forms because we are literate, interpretive, analytical beings. All humans are! We have that wonderful capability of higher complex thought that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. All that higher order thinking often gives us a headache, especially when we're out of practice.
So, let's see if practicing that higher order thinking on a daily basis contributes to our ability to understand other readings we have throughout the course. Our 'text' today was "Las Dos Fridas", an oft-discussed masterwork by surrealist painter Frida Kahlo. We noticed so many details in this picture, but here's where it seemed like we focused our energy:
1. The dresses: The dresses are so stark in comparison, from color to elaboration and formality. Certainly some symbolism lies between the stark, pure white (though tampered by blood) versus the earthy tones of the greens, blues, oranges and browns of its counterpart.
2. The women themselves: In most classes today, it was noticed that one of the women was demonstrably more masculine than the other. We looked at body language, possible facial hair (minus those ridiculous eyebrows), posture, etc. Why would one woman be compared as more masculine than the other? Is there any significance there? And they look SO similar...
3. The simplistic setting/background: The setting of the picture itself is rather stark; it seems like there is not much but a floor/outside surface, a stormy (symbolic?) background, and a bench where the women were seated. Why would the background be so simple? Is it so we focus all of our energy on picking out details from the women... or does that background beckon a second look? Why a bench? Why not two chairs?
4. The hearts: We know that hearts are symbolic in themselves. We have seen hearts commercialized into a cartoon version of themselves for the purposes of romance, teenage crushes, Valentine's Day, anniversaries... We know hearts are a representation of emotion. The emotion between these women is palpable, as they are connected at the heart, but they also seem to be opposite hearts. We talked about the health of the hearts, the ways they are connected, the way the hearts are exposed... Here's a word of advice: don't ignore the hearts. They might give you more information about these women than you know (and no, they are not lovers/in a relationship).
You might have found other symbols that are more relevant than what's above, and that's fine. Your main objective of tonight's assignment is to create meaning out of this picture. Create symbols from what you noticed within the picture. Give us Kahlo's story. I'm interested to hear your interpretations of this piece. Remember, two paragraphs, 7-9 sentences per.
You can click here or here for more information about Kahlo and her artwork.
Now, for the answers to the quiz questions today...
1. You must write in blue or black ink (or pencil) because I have poor vision, and it is very hard to read. My eyes are whacked... Thank you in advance for your consideration.
2. My three big house rules are: 1) WORK HARD, 2) RESPECT EVERYTHING, 3) RESPECT EVERYONE.
3. If you turn in your essay at 3:01 on the day it is due, you get a 15 point deduction*.
4. If you turn in a daily assignment late, I cannot give you credit. So, turn it in!
5. If you have a zero, you can complete an alternative assignment during tutorials. You can recover some points to help boost your grade.
6. Phones CANNOT be used as e-readers in class. Tablets are fine, as long as you can annotate and turn the Wi-Fi receiver off.
7. My tutorials are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school. All other sessions must be by appointment.
8. The penalties for plagiarism are:
a. a zero for the assignment
b. A parent/teacher conference
c. A disciplinary report (Cheating is a Level II Offense, according to FBISD's Handbook)
9. The books we will read this year are The Odyssey, Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet, and Animal Farm.
10. It takes me, on average, 2-3 weeks to grade essays. Patience is appreciated.
*This is actually an error. The penalty is 10 points if an essay is late. However, you still need to make strides to turn it in on time.
**I'm not taking this quiz for a grade, but man oh man, I hope you non-studious people learned the lesson. When I say to do it, I'm not kidding. :-)
See you tomorrow,
Ms. Bellon
I just wonder how many of you didn't believe I'd give you a quiz...
Lesson #1: When teachers give you homework, it's not just for kicks or to make your life miserable. I, genuinely, only give homework when I need you to review something for the continuation of the course. I know you guys can read, so no need to insult anyone's intelligence by giving you some looooong boring lecture. But, today, we talked about the concept of text and what that means to us. Text surrounds us, and exists in so many forms because we are literate, interpretive, analytical beings. All humans are! We have that wonderful capability of higher complex thought that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. All that higher order thinking often gives us a headache, especially when we're out of practice.
So, let's see if practicing that higher order thinking on a daily basis contributes to our ability to understand other readings we have throughout the course. Our 'text' today was "Las Dos Fridas", an oft-discussed masterwork by surrealist painter Frida Kahlo. We noticed so many details in this picture, but here's where it seemed like we focused our energy:
1. The dresses: The dresses are so stark in comparison, from color to elaboration and formality. Certainly some symbolism lies between the stark, pure white (though tampered by blood) versus the earthy tones of the greens, blues, oranges and browns of its counterpart.
2. The women themselves: In most classes today, it was noticed that one of the women was demonstrably more masculine than the other. We looked at body language, possible facial hair (minus those ridiculous eyebrows), posture, etc. Why would one woman be compared as more masculine than the other? Is there any significance there? And they look SO similar...
3. The simplistic setting/background: The setting of the picture itself is rather stark; it seems like there is not much but a floor/outside surface, a stormy (symbolic?) background, and a bench where the women were seated. Why would the background be so simple? Is it so we focus all of our energy on picking out details from the women... or does that background beckon a second look? Why a bench? Why not two chairs?
4. The hearts: We know that hearts are symbolic in themselves. We have seen hearts commercialized into a cartoon version of themselves for the purposes of romance, teenage crushes, Valentine's Day, anniversaries... We know hearts are a representation of emotion. The emotion between these women is palpable, as they are connected at the heart, but they also seem to be opposite hearts. We talked about the health of the hearts, the ways they are connected, the way the hearts are exposed... Here's a word of advice: don't ignore the hearts. They might give you more information about these women than you know (and no, they are not lovers/in a relationship).
You might have found other symbols that are more relevant than what's above, and that's fine. Your main objective of tonight's assignment is to create meaning out of this picture. Create symbols from what you noticed within the picture. Give us Kahlo's story. I'm interested to hear your interpretations of this piece. Remember, two paragraphs, 7-9 sentences per.
You can click here or here for more information about Kahlo and her artwork.
Now, for the answers to the quiz questions today...
1. You must write in blue or black ink (or pencil) because I have poor vision, and it is very hard to read. My eyes are whacked... Thank you in advance for your consideration.
2. My three big house rules are: 1) WORK HARD, 2) RESPECT EVERYTHING, 3) RESPECT EVERYONE.
3. If you turn in your essay at 3:01 on the day it is due, you get a 15 point deduction*.
4. If you turn in a daily assignment late, I cannot give you credit. So, turn it in!
5. If you have a zero, you can complete an alternative assignment during tutorials. You can recover some points to help boost your grade.
6. Phones CANNOT be used as e-readers in class. Tablets are fine, as long as you can annotate and turn the Wi-Fi receiver off.
7. My tutorials are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school. All other sessions must be by appointment.
8. The penalties for plagiarism are:
a. a zero for the assignment
b. A parent/teacher conference
c. A disciplinary report (Cheating is a Level II Offense, according to FBISD's Handbook)
9. The books we will read this year are The Odyssey, Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet, and Animal Farm.
10. It takes me, on average, 2-3 weeks to grade essays. Patience is appreciated.
*This is actually an error. The penalty is 10 points if an essay is late. However, you still need to make strides to turn it in on time.
**I'm not taking this quiz for a grade, but man oh man, I hope you non-studious people learned the lesson. When I say to do it, I'm not kidding. :-)
See you tomorrow,
Ms. Bellon
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