DUE WEDNESDAY 11/5 -Nelson Nunez

 Chapter 3:

Quote 1: "Jesus was, among other things, an activist and an organizer, and, judging by the two thousand-year lifespan and global spread of his message and movement, a pretty good one."

Quote 2: "Instead, Jesus is saying that if we are going to be truly liberated from the Empire, we need to create, embrace, and enact an entirely different way of seeing and being that refuses to acknowledge its authority."

Short Response: Although Jesus is not often taught as an activist, when we evaluate his actions through a modern lens, his actions of helping those in need and organizing the people around him, it is clear that he was indeed an organizer whose movement has lasted for centuries, suggesting that activism grounded in compassion has a lasting power. He demonstrates that true liberation necessitates rejecting the oppressive system in place and instead creating and embracing new mindsets grounded in justice and equality. 

Chapter 4

Quote 1: "Culture is the operating system of humanity, and if we are going to change the way humanity operates, we need to be able to hack the culture."

Quote 2: "One of the biggest mistakes an artist can make is to fool themselves into thinking they can create outside of culture. They can expand it, turn it inside out, and refute it, but the one thing an artist cannot do is create outside of it."

Short Response: If the form of activism that Jesus and other figures exhibit in chapter 3 shows how transformation begins by challenging the dominant established system, chapter 4 shows that change also has to happen through culture. The chapter made clear that humanity needs culture to thrive, and the way to create real change in the world is to change the culture around people. Artists are some of the best people to change the culture in their societies, but they have to be careful to not lose the appeal that they have, making sure to intertwine their work with activism and cultural innovation to create change. 

Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy

Quote 1: "I offer that narrative with the recognition that, over my life and professional career, I have witnessed young people be easily derailed when they don’t see themselves in the representation of who is creating."

Quote 2: "Artists need to take in, to process, to decipher, to separate from the noise and create things that are beautiful and impactful to the spirit. Artists have to offer a different type of slowness to work against the speed of today."

Short Response: Shaun Leodarno talks about one of the biggest problems when it comes to the art world, the lack of representation. Just like that, the professor told Kimberly Drew that an art class is not the place to discuss her culture. Leodarno also touches on the subject, revealing that although for him the lack of representation was not a problem, most people tend to disassociate themselves when they can relate to what they see in museums. Later in the interview, Leodarno also talks about culture in art, and just like Duncombe and Lambert said, artists need to be careful to not create art that is outside of culture.