The Stock Market: Then and Now

As we begin to recover form this latest market crash, I think it's important to compare this market crash, to the infamous market crash in 1929, to see both the similarities and the differences in the market then and now.

The roaring twenties, was an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity in the states. The market rose to record highs, as we saw in class Broadway grew immensely and was more popular than ever before, and people were just happy in general. That is why the market crash on that fateful tuesday in October came as such a shock. There were a number of factors that caused the market crash, but the biggest factor was the lack of understanding of how the market worked. People were buying insane amounts of stock and as a result the market grew immensely. The problem back then was, banks were lending people the majority of the value of the stocks they were buying. There wasn't enough money going into the market to sustain the growth and as a result the market crashed. On top of that, many farmers were having trouble paying the mortgages on their farms. Due to their mass production of crops, the amount of money they made per crop decreased, and as a result they couldn't make enough money each month to pay their mortgage. A large drought that occurred around the time of the market crash put the lichee pin in the farmers. Their crops became dried out and destroyed and the farmers went bankrupt. As a result of the farmers' bankruptcy, the banks handling their mortgages lost money and went bankrupt as well. Banks losing money, people losing money, unemployment rates skyrocketing, major drought and dustbowls, and general depression were the best descriptors for the end of the roaring twenties.

The recent market crash however, was caused by a crash in the housing market. The problem we had was that people were trying to take out mortgages they knew they couldn't afford. This wouldn't have been so bad if the banks hadn't been more greedy than usual and ignored credit checks and given out the mortgages. When these people couldn't pay back their mortgages, the banks started losing money and as a result property values dropped and the housing market crashed. The stock market crash was a ripple effect of the banks losing money. Because they had no money left, many investment banks went out of business and as a result the stock market crashed as well. As a result of this crash unemployment rates skyrocketed and many people lost their homes. However, having learned from the efforts of FDR and the previous market crash, we have responded quickly to this crash, and as a result are already on the path to recovery. The world today is still very unstable as a result of this crash though. Markets all over the world have been effected by our market, and unfortunately the conditions are very simlar to those that caused the first 2 world wars.

The Origin of Jazz

Tracing Jazz back to its roots has always been somewhat of a daunting task. The recording technology in the late 1800s wasn't very good and listener accounts can only provide us with so much information. What we do know about the origins of Jazz is that the recently freed slaves, played a large role in bringing Jazz to the forefronts of society. Jazz music began in the south as work song that were sung by slaves, and later prison inmates. After slavery ended, it existed in the black communities in forms such as gospel music, blues, and ragtime. As time wore on, black people became more educated and moved to new parts of the country, their music also changed. Musicians had begun learning how to play new instruments, and combined with their new talent, many began mixing the various elements of gospel, blues and ragtime. The music we know as Jazz, didn't come about until the early 20th century, when Broadway and music were just beginning to blossom.

This website,

http://www.redhotjazz.com/originsarticle.html

I found to be very interesting, because they give a brief, but excellent description of the Afro-Creole cultures that lived in New Orleans who had a big hand in creating Jazz music. A group I never knew existed. As I previously mentioned, Jazz music originated in the south. The Afro-Creoles were a group of French and Spanish speaking blacks who lived in the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. Their influence form the French and Spanish is what allowed them to become highly educated musicians and they were the ones who began combining new instruments with the blues, gospel, and ragtime of the newly freed, American slaves. The article also tells of New Orleans' red light district, Storyville. I knew New Orleans had a very widely influenced history, being that the city is still divided into four sectors, but I never imagined that such a popular genre of music began there.

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly was, put simply, amazing. The animators did a great job of capturing the different emotions displayed in each scene. I could feel the passion between Aria and the sailor during the love scene, I could feel her happiness when her daughter was born, and I could feel her sorrow and despair when her daughter was taken away. One thing I know about operas is that they are very good at bringing out the emotions of those who listen,

and I feel this animation does a great job in displaying the emotions the music wants to bring out in its audience.

I also liked the symbolism the animators used. I liked how the scenes were able to just flow

together nicely, and the symbols within each scene were able to flow with them. For example,

during the childbirth scene, the fishbowl is used to symbolize the actual birthing of the child,

the fish ultimately becoming the child. When the child is born, she is connected to her mother by an umbilical cord. This cord is kept in the animation and is used as a literal representation of the mother-daughter bond between the two, and when the sailor finally returns, that breaking of that cord is used to represent the breaking of the mother-daughter bond and Aria's entrance into despair. Ultimately, the reason the animation displays the emotions of the music so well is because the symbols used within it are able to tug at the strings of the audience's hearts.

First Post

My name is Patrick Ewing, and this is my blog. I am from Annapolis, Maryland and I am a Senior at the University of Tampa. I am an EMAT or New Media Production major. I chose this major because I love computers, and although I don't know exactly what I want to do yet, the major is broad enough that I can go pretty much any direction with it. After only the first class, Art 211 has blown my mind. I have never seen technology used in so many crazy ways. I have never been much of an artist, but I hope that this class can help me understand the ways in which the various media forms can be combined to make truly great pieces of art. I want to learn to think outside the box and to become more creative. I want to learn to think more like an artist.

Having taken Latin in high school, I knew that the Romans were technologically advanced for their time; I am still amazed to this day that they could have naval battles in the Colosseum. However I never fully understood how much of an impact their technology has impacted our society. It wasn't until class yesterday that the dots were finally connected and I started to truly understand the impact art can have on society. I guess there's a lot more to consider when making a work of art than I originally thought.