Four Degrees of Separation

Interrelating four topics with the weekly readings- "Make It Right"

A Film: The Blind Side

A Book: To Kill A Mockingbird

Innovation in Science/Tech.: Segway

A Food Item: Noodles


The Blind Side is a recent movie based on a true story of a family in Memphis taking in a homeless and traumatized boy who, with their help in education and upbringing, became and All-American football player and first-round draft pick this past year. It is a very inspiring story, and I would suggest that everyone go see it. (IMDB.com)

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pullitzer Prize-winning novel written by Harper Lee. A classic of modern American literature, the book is also inspiring and taught across America in schools for its lessons that emphasize "tolerance and decry predjudice." It's story about a girl named Scout, her brother, Jem, and a friend named Dill, explore and play in their neighborhood. Scout's father, Atticus, is a widdowed lawyer who was appointed by court to defend a black man being accused of raping a local white girl. The time is set during the Great Depression, and the story exemplifies "racial injustice and destruction of innocence." (wikipedia.com)

(starz.com)

The segway is an invention that was first produces in 2002. It is a "two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle" that you ride standing upright. You lean forward to go forward, backward to move back, and lean the handle to turn right or left. I had the chance to learn to ride one in Washington, D.C. last week, and found it very easy to ride, andwas actually a lot of fun. (wikipedia.com)

A noodle is a food made of dough, formed into a shape, and put into boiling water to be cooked. It is used for many different cultures and many different flavored dishes.

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The Blind Side is related to To Kill a Mockingbird because it involves hints of racial discrimination in both. In The Blind Side, the boy, "Big Mike" is new to a private Christian school in a very nice part of Memphis. He rides to school across town on the city bus, and most of the time, he ends up staying around the school to stay warm instead of going all the way back home. He carries his books and and extra shirt in a plastic bag, and washes his shirt in the sink at the laudry-mat. The family that takes him in has a large home, nice cars, clothes, and reputation. After caring for him, their friends and family question why, and think that Big Mike could hurt them or steal from them, but in fact, he shows them appreciation, and ends up loving them. He becomes part of the family. To Kill a Mockingbird shows one of the first encounters of blacks and whites uniting and defending each other, and The Blind Side brings a true story to a movie to show the very important point that racial injustice is happening, but many people aren't even phased by the idea. The right thing to do is to look past that and share what you have with others. In this case, it was simply food and a bed, and most importantly, love.

The segway can be brought into the picture by its restrictions. In many different countries, there are certain laws that prohibit it in different places and situations. For example, in Japan and Switzerland, it is treated as a motorcycle, being able to ride on public roads, but in Sweden, it is unlawful to use it on any public road or pavement. Different laws apply everywhere you go. In To Kill a Mockingbird as well as The Blind Side, in different parts of the town the stories were set in, many different things were going on. If you went to one place in The Blind Side, people were eating eighteen dollar salads and making their beds with 800 thread count Egyptian cotton bedding, but if you go a few miles away, people don't have beds. Big Mike slept on a couch or on the floor under shelter if he was lucky, because his mother had gotten so swept into the life of drugs and alcohol, she couldn't take care of her children. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem's adventures including finding treasure hidden in a tree, whereas across town, there is supposedly interracial rape going on. Things so different are going on over just little distances.

The subject of Noodles may seem that there could be no relation to this at all. It is very random, but it still relates to the many different styles/laws/events that go on in short distances. Noodles are used in many different cultures and styles of dishes, yet are still made of the same thing. They blend flavors together, mix well with different meats, sauces and sides, but still essentially taste the same no matter what size or shape they come in. Relating back to The Blind Side, all the different types of people in the Memphis area were brought up differently, may come from different cultures, but at the end of the day, they are all human, made the same way, and should treat each other with respect. (Picture below - art.com)

Six Degrees of Separation

Connections between subjects and their relation to architecture:

Movie: The Wizard of Oz
Architectural Phrase: Lucarne
Visual Artist: Paul Klee
Current Event: Tillie Tooter

The Wizard of Oz is one of the most well known movies based on a children's novel at the beginning of the 20th century. It wasn't expected to succeed when it finished, but over the years, the movie has gained our attention with its songs, colors, and message, and become popular by each showing.

<http://livingtatertot.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/the-wizard-of-oz.jpg

The architectural phrase, lucarne, is a small dormer window on a spire of the Romanesque time period. http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/culture/sitessdaps/sdap80/image/conseil/maison_individuelle/lucarne.jpg>

Paul Klee was a friend of Kandinsky and a fellow teacher at Bauhaus. He was known for his mastery in color theory, and his child-like perspective on painting. His work portrays many different styles, and each has its own interpretation.

<http://kathryndarrow.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kleetunisian-gardens.jpg


The current event on Tillie Tooter is amazing and inspiring. Nine years ago, she flipped off a Florida highway into a swamp, and was trapped in her car for three days without being found. She collected fresh water with her socks and her steering wheel cover, eating a stick of gum, and a cough drop. The crazy thing is that she was 84 years old at the time, and is still alive and kicking today at 93.

Paul Klee is directly associated to architecture by his involvement with Bauhaus, and also related to the Wizard of Oz by his child like perspective, colors, and creativity. Similarly, the era of these to subjects relate. Klee died in 1940 and the film came out in 1939, so that may have been one of the last films he saw in his life. Tillie Tudor was also alive at the time. As a matter of fact, she was 13 at the time that the film came out, so It could have been one of the first films that she saw and remembered. She has also seen the progression that it has made in America.

While Tillie was trapped in her car for three days, she would have had to think about the construction of her car, and if there was any way that she could escape the vehicle, maybe even the safety features put into her car that allowed her to still be alive. All of this relates to the design of making humans comfortable, which is what a part of architecture and design is.

The term, lucarne, may seem that it could not relate in any way, but in this case, the lucarne is a part of Romanesque architecture, which if I recall looks a lot like the city of Oz from a distance. There were also little munchkins singing out of the dormers in Munchkinland. This may seem bizarre or elementary, but to me, it just shows that we can relate anything to architecture. It doesn't mean that all IS architecture, but it can be related to it in some way or another.