The Empathic Empowerment Manifesto

 We as humans are not the heartless creatures society has made us to be. We are emotionally charged beings striving for emotional connections in all we do. Through my works I have presented a viewpoint that is outside the box of the "norm". The pieces of art and music I chose all held deep emotion in various ways. From my post, "Tragedy Scripted & Staged : A Churchyard", I dove into the intense emotion and passion that is displayed by the many characters of Shakespeare's Hamlet act V scene I. Where two men so profoundly love a woman that they would jump into her grave and fight one another. Oh the emotions so highly charged in that scene, you could feel the intense wave of energy as Hamlet and Laertes tussled back and forth of the corpse of one they both loved so dearly. 

Looking into my post "Anatomy of a Scene". My analysis of Brokeback Mountain, touches on a different aspect of emotional feelings. Intense emotions, but emotions that bring us to the opposite side of the spectrum. Fear, shame, trauma, neglect, so many other negative emotions that tie into the horrific scene described. The trauma that Ennis del Mar's father put him through was something no person should ever see, especially a child. Children are pure and innocent until otherwise exposed to the truths of the big bad world. This scene was so intensely charged, it made my stomach twist in knots. The ignorance that a person could have that they would murder and mutilate another living thing is horrendous in itself. To expose a child to that is a crime and morally wrong in many ways. 

Diving deeper into emotionally charged pieces I touched on, we are going to take a look at my post, "Photographer's Eye: Essence of Nature". Specifically the photo titled, "Its Christmas in Florida". In this particular photo you see a bundle of berries in focus in the foreground and foliage in the background that is blurred out. As this photo presents an energy of calmness and grounding, there is a lot more going on in this picture to the trained eye. The background has bright natural lighting that makes the picture itself pop! While the foreground remains more dimly lit with just a little beam of light touching the top of the berries. These key factors bring a very positive and warm energy to the photo. 

Examining another post, we scroll to "Diamond's Self-Worth Playlist". Music one of the most emotionally charged and easily connected forms of art. Music, something that every culture has and connect with regardless of language. One may not understand the words, yet they will dance to the beat of the music. Babies and children for example no nothing of the complexity of the language or meaning of the words, yet they will stance dance and/or sing along the music. One song that truly resonates with charged emotions is The Voice Within by Christina Aguilera. The range of her pitch creates a goosebump raising feeling that send a wave of energy and warm shiver of energy through your body. I can feel her voice penetrate my heart as the piano so smoothly and elegantly puts you in trance. Her voice is almost siren like, pulling you in. An emotionally charged piece for sure. 

One other song from this playlist to touch on has to be Survivor by Jack Black. For those you can deeply feel the effects of EDM through your body, this song radiates with intense and fast paced energy that simply lights up my heart chakra. With a beat drop that causes my body to dump a heavy load of dopamine. This song is so charged that anybody could feel it through their body. It makes you want to dance and let go. That free feeling when you let go and submit to the music is so powerful. Music itself can create and induce spiritual like experiences. 

Not Seen on TV : Ever is Over All

 Ever is Over All holds a very trippy energy. Many different aspects of this video bring this hypnotic energy into play. The music for one is very slow and drawn out with hums that give a calm feeling when listened to alone. The video itself portrays a woman in a beautiful blue dress, hair and makeup done. This woman is walking down a sidewalk lined with cars, while holding a very large and long flower of sorts. This beautiful flower in a sense portrays the woman as the flower does her. They go hand in hand. I feel that attention is brought to societies twisted view on how a woman should present herself. Through the video, this woman walks down the sidewalk with a walk that shows confidence and grace, as she smashes the car windows. Smashing the car windows as she walks down the sidewalk brings in a whole new sense of what could be portrayed from this. This woman begins to bring in a feeling of female empowerment and strength. Just as the flower can be calm and beautiful, so can the woman. Just as the flower can cause damage, so can the woman. Presented here is a long time twisted sense of women in our society. Women are told they must dress a particular way, speak a particular way, and over all present themselves in a certain manner. Stepping out of that realm, this woman shows a whole new view on the strength of a flower and a woman. Continuing down her walk, an officer passes by giving the woman a smile and wave of approval. To me, I saw empowerment and strength through the entirety of this video. From the flower, to the woman, and to the officer. The vividness of this video adds even more to the hypnotic trance music. Periodically the trippy music is disrupted by a sudden and abrupt burst of glass as the woman swings the flower into the car windows.

Tragedy Scripted & Staged : A Churchyard

Reading the scenes of Hamlet the one that really stuck out to me and peaked my interest was act v scene I. Through the reading of of this particular scene I felt that a strong sense of emotion went into the totality of this scene from most of the characters. Ranging from Hamlet all the way to the two grave diggers. The gravedigger expressing his morals and values for his faith and beliefs about Ophelia being buried in the churchyard given the uncertain circumstances of her death to me showed strong emotion and character building. The passion the grave digger has in explaining his logic on this matter really helped pull more emotion into the scene for me. The video I watched of this scene matched well with my interpretations of the reading. I feel most of the characters in the video truly embodied the passion that the writing holds. As Laertes jumps into the grave and proclaims his love for Ophelia in the scene, Hamlet does not jump into the grave. Likely utilizing what little stage space the actors had, I still feel that Laertes stayed in character as he lunged for Hamlet out of the grave. Graveling back and forth the scene played out well in favor of the actors. Creating an organized chaos in a sense. Hamlet portrayed a certain level of insanity within his struggle of trying to fight off the funeral company, that helped pull even more grief stricken emotion into this scene. The one individual in the video I felt could've given more emotion and feeling of faith would have been the priest. Even the gravedigger showed more passion for his belief of the burial than the priest did. 

Video 

Anatomy of a Scene

A Serious Man is about a man named Larry Gopnik a Jewish man living in 1967. Larry is a physics

professor on his way to tenure. Out of no where his life starts to crumble before his eyes. His wife Judith,

demands a get (jewish divorce) so she can marry another man within the community who had been

widowed. As if that isn’t enough Larry takes in his homeless and troubled brother, all while being faced

with troubles at work. One of Larry’s students failing his class demanded a passing grade. After refusing

to raise the students grade, the student bribes him with money left in an envelope. Refusing the bribe and

trying to return the money to the student, this student denies all allegations. Later this students father finds

Larry and threatens to sue him for either defamation of his son if he doesn’t raise his grade, or for

accepting the money. Larrys tenure becomes looked into as letters were written to the committee urging

them to not grant tenure to Larry. Judith’s other man dies in a car accident, leading to Judith eventually

apologizing to him for all the recent trouble in his life. This movie was very scattered and at times hard

to follow. Not only was the scripting poor, but in my opinion has no comedic value to it. 

Brokeback Mountain takes place in the Wyoming mountains on a ranch. Two men Ennis Del Mar and

Jack Twist get hired as ranch hands to watch over the sheep. Over time the two men develop an intimate

and close relationship. Being in a time and place where homosexuality was not accepted, this dynamic

was very difficult for Ennis to accept. Despite their connection the two men go on to live separate lives

where they married women and had children. Throughout time the men would get together for “fishing

trips”, which was code for them to spend intimate time with one another. A scene that really stood out to

me that added a dramatic flare to the movie was the horrific incident when Ennis tells Jack about a man

from his hometown who was beaten to death for living and ranching with another man. As a small child

Ennis’s father made it a point to show him this disgusting act, almost as if to put fear into him to keep

him from being gay. During this scene we get a glimpse of 9 year old Ennis witnessing this act of horror,

adding even more to the dramatic flare of the scene. Transitioning viewpoints between the present and

9 year old Ennis’s past creates a sense of trauma. Ultimately this scene seems to be a major factor in the

suppression of Ennis's homosexuality, leading to misery throughout his adulthood. When Ennis gets the

strength to reach out to Jack, he finds out that Jack died from a terrible tragedy.

Diamonds Self-Worth Playlist

Self-worth is something I have struggled with my entire life. From an early age, I faced difficult

circumstances and an unhealthy environment. Later on in life, this trauma followed me into my

relationships. I allowed myself to be blinded, I allowed others to gaslight me and warp my reality.

Through these many experiences, I learned, I grew, and I developed boundaries. Even now, I’m still in my

journey of healing. Part of that healing is redeveloping and learning my own self-worth. Even now,

I struggle with knowing and remembering how amazing I really am. I chase acceptance and love

from others when in reality I have to learn how to accept and love myself first. It sounds so cheesy.

It is such a true statement though, on so many levels. 

Survivor by Jack Black aka David Guetta hits number one on my playlist. This song ties into self worth

in so many different ways through the lyrical aspect. The major one being, “I’m a survivor!”. This in

itself can have so many connotations into different peoples lives. For me, it comes from a place of

reclaiming my self worth after so many traumatic experiences that crumbled my self worth into rubble. 

This piece has a house beat that is familiar to anyone that has listened to David Guetta before. David adds

in a bass line that builds to the climax of the song. Personally I feel this bass line paired with the

distorted vocals creates a beautiful consonance that drives you to want to dance.

Blow Your Mind (Mwah) by Dua Lipa definitely sits well on my playlist for self worth. It fits even more

as my past partners and I had very similar dynamics as Dua Lipa and her lover she is describing. The

dynamics of the music is inbetween a soft and medium softness all while Dua Lipa has a few lyrics where

the rhythm draws out slightly creating an almost trance like effect. She begins describing a sensual

love that turns into her lover calling her crazy and different than who she was before. Then Dua quickly

changes the theme and dynamics that scream power, self love, boundaries, and courage! The dynamics

quickly become louder and demand your attention. While the theme quickly changes from a passionate

and damaged love to her lover blindly loving her. Claiming her power and worth she says over and over

how she will “blow your mind”. Throughout the rest of the song this same pattern follows. 

Feeling Myself by Nicki Minaj has gotten me through a lot of breakups and helped me rediscover my inner bad bitch when lost. With that, I felt this song earned a spot on this playlist of self-worth. Through the entire song, Nicki raps about owning and knowing her worth. Essentially Nicki is hyping herself up, bragging in a sense about how she is a bad bitch. Nicki  raps about literally stopping the world as her music drops. When you listen you can hear a synthesizer creating the base of rhythm with the beat of drums throughout. The emotion of this piece really invokes a sense of self-worth in the fact of feeling confident in yourself. That euphoric feeling, like you're on top of the world. For three minutes and fifty-seven seconds, you can start your day by reminding yourself how bad of bitch you can be!

Self Esteem by Nelly is an oldie but a classic in self-worth! Nelly starts by rapping about “believing in yourself”, and not letting anybody tell you about your worth and who you can be. This song is a key player in my daily motivation. I felt a connection to this song as Nelly raps about a lack of parental figures, yet he still made it out okay. Growing up, I had to be self-sufficient to make it My mother abandoned our family, my father is a narcissistic, abusive, and homophobic individual that tore me down throughout my entire childhood and even into adulthood until I was able to find my own voice and stand up for myself. When driving down the highway I blast this song and sing it to the top of my lungs. In a sense, it's almost like doing daily affirmations. Every time I hear this song I dedicate it to my inner child, the little boy who to this day requires a gentle love from me. You can hear drums almost like a djembe drum being played throughout the song that creates a ground base. Nellys' vocals stay rather medium-toned throughout this piece with a bouncy almost jaggedy direction of the lyrics. During those bouncy and jaggedy lyrics you can hear cymbals that add emphasis to the beat and flow. 

Enough by Sarahbeth Taite felt so right on this playlist. From the beginning, the beat is slower and easy on the ears. The melody and way this song plays out bring a sense of comfort. In our world today we have a precedent in society that you have to look a certain way. Sarahbeth begins by touching on this. She sings about making sure you look dolled up before going out into public. Make sure everything on you and about you is just right. Then you can hear strums of a guitar come in and she shifts her voice from a softer tone to a strong sharp jump that grabs your attention with lyrics about rubbing the lipstick off. This lyric in particular brought me a sense of picking myself back up after being knocked down. Then you can hear cymbals come in with a jump in tone again with the lyrics “I’m enough no matter if he likes me, I’m enough no matter what they’re telling me. This piece had a surplus of consonance throughout with very little dissonance. Everything flowed very harmoniously between the different instruments and her range of vocals. 

The Voice Within by Christina Aguilera felt so right for my playlist due to the driving point of trusting yourself. To start the song you hear very soft melodic piano keys being played that lead to Christina’s beautifully soft and pleasing vocals. The range she reaches from soft and low to a higher-pitched tone really brought strong energy to this piece. Christina sings “when there is no one else, look inside yourself” & “Trust the voice within” throughout the piece which truly drives self-worth for me. As strong and confident as this song can be, it also makes me cry tears of healing. When someone gets stuck in a toxic relationship where your self-worth is destroyed it becomes one of the most liberating feelings to take back your power. I’ve been knocked down so many times in search of someone to love me with as much love as I give. Most times to an extent that negatively impacted my wellbeing all around. After each relationship, I would search for validation in others' love, when truly I needed to learn how to love myself. 

Photographer's Eye: Essence of Nature

 For this collection, I chose to utilize the copious amount of nature we have all around us here in the beautiful state of Florida. "Nature in Florida" is my theme for this collection. Each photo resembles different animals, plants, and even insects, all of which can be found naturally in the state. There are many different state parks that we have throughout the state that display the wondrous aspects of Florida. I can't wait to share what I've captured with you! 

In Search of Dinner

Above, I captured a gorgeous Roseate spoonbill that I spotted at Myakka State Park. These birds can be found in Southern Florida and other states and even countries. Usually found in marsh-like environments such as the mangroves we have here in southern Florida. In this scene, there is so much going on in the background. However, I did an excellent job centralizing and focusing on the spoonbill. Even as alligators swam through the waters behind the bird, it remained calm and collected as it searched for the food itself. As is the circle of life. Hunt or be hunted. Even when we mind our own business, there are always predators lurking around, waiting to stumble upon the perfect prey. 

An Evening Rest by the Pond

I captured Florida's notorious and fierce American alligator for my second picture at Myakka State Park. In this shot, my light source was quickly vanishing. However, a quick adjustment of my aperture and shutter speed allowed me to capture this big boy! Calm and observant, this gator lay on the side of the road sitting ever so still, allowing me to grab my shots. I feel the vegetation on top of the gator adds character and contrasts nicely with the gator's skin. The back portion is slightly blurred out, bringing your attention to the forefront of the picture towards the gator's eyes and snout. This blurriness helps the viewer centralize their focus to one area of importance.

Gopher Tortoise Burrow

Above I captured one of Florida's protected species. The Gopher Tortise is a protected species in the state of Florida; harming them is a felony of the third degree. Found at the Charlotte Harbor Nature Preserve are this tortoise and a couple others! To ensure I didn't get in the tortoise's space or burrow, I had to find just the right angle through the brush and vegetation. Within this photo, I centralized the tortoise to bring it to the center of attention; however, I also adjusted the aperture to help blur the image's foreground.

It's Christmas in Florida

My next subject of interest in this collection was Schinus terebinthifolia. Commonly known as Brazilian Peppertree or Florida Holly. Found at the Charlotte Harbor Nature Preserve in this particular image, I played with the angle of my light source to give the background blur a little more pop! Most of the background was dark and dim due to an abundance of shade, but the littlest sunshine helped brighten the shot up. The blurring of the background brought the berries and leaves to the forefront of the photo. This gave a more intimate look at the plant itself.

Once Upon a Florida

For my last photo in this collection, I went with this shot I got early one morning at Myakka State Park on the way to the Deep Hole. This picture captures the true essence of Florida. Once upon a time, this is what most of Florida looked like. I chose this photo for the many photogenic aspects, such as the placement of trees in the background with three colorful green tops. Three separate trees centralize this photo, the standalone foreground tree, the bright tops in the background, and the dead standalone that sits in front and to the right of the colorful tree. The sequence of three's is repeated many times in this photo. Can you find any more?

Plotting

On that cold winter night, Sebastian dropped into the seat of his beat-up old 98' Volkswagen bug. Starting up the little bug, he popped two hand warmers to slip into his gloves while he waited for Betsy to warm up. Turning on the radio, Sebastian flipped through stations finding nothing but the local news. "......hisssss........this is an emergency weather broadcast for Potawatomi county........windchills well below -5 degrees, snowfall sitting at 16 inches and increasing rapidly. Seek shelter and stay warm. Stay indoors, and off the roads at all costs.......hissssss.....". Sebastian checked all his mirrors, snugged his beanie on tight, and set on his way down the 5-mile gravel road to the highway. 3 miles down the gravel road, Sebastian noticed the snowfall increasing and his visibility decreasing. Trying to quickly get to his grandmother's house before the blizzard plowed through his town, he tightened his grip on Betsy's reigns and gave her a firm press of the foot. As Betsy forcefully galloped over Wailing Hill, Sebastian gripped her reigns even tighter, sending Betsy into a full gallop across the frozen gravel. Without even noticing, Sebastian began to drift off the gravel path into the side of a ditch, sending him flying over the ditch's mound into a pasture of cattle. Spinning out of control, one of Betsy's tires came clean of the axel sending Betsy and Sebastian rolling into an old oak. As Betsy made an impact into the old oak, she was crumbled beneath the strength of the ancient and solid tree. Sebastian went flying through the windshield, ultimately leading to his death from internal hemorrhaging and brain damage due to the impact of his limp body going through the windshield and into the field. 

This story has many elements provided to map out the plot of this tale. From the beginning, there are a couple different foreshadowing elements offered. In the beginning, Sebastian does not put on his seatbelt, giving insight into danger. The initial radio broadcast also tells us the weather is too dangerous to be out in. The rising action is identifiable by the increase of snowfall, a decrease in visibility, and an increase in the speed of the old car. The climax is identified when Sebastian loses control of Betsy sending them into a dangerous and deadly situation. The falling action is when Betsy is crushed by the impact into the tree, and Sebastian is sent flying to his death. The resolution can be identified that Sebastian was alive and is now dead.