The Buddha of Suburbia

Week 5:  The Buddha of Suburbia. 

The book talks about a British teenage who is half Indian and half English. Being half Indian and half English comes with struggles in the 1970's. Also week 5 theme is Coming of Age as a Global Citizen and it is our final theme.

Museum of London: One of the images that stroke my attention is The Brixton Riots. This image has a lot of meaning, police attacking the African-Caribbean minorities in Brixton. This Image certainly helped us understand how Karim in The Buddha of Suburbia struggled in terms race and ethnicity because he was half Indian and half English.           

The other image is of these Indian girls in their traditional dress. Indians are one of the big minorities in London. Indian were discriminated against based on their skin color and look. Karim in The Buddha of Suburbia explains the nature of discrimination saying " to the English we were always wogs and nigs and Pakis" (Kureishi 53). It shows how Indians were humiliated with such words like nig or Paki.

Pink Floyd Exhibition at V&A Museum: In this Museum Pink Floyd Exhibition had variety of lyrics, instruments, and equipment that the band used. It also had artistic views and paintings. Pink Floyd taught me a lot about the 1970's struggles, such as Karims struggles as a biracial teenage that lived under discrimination and racism around that time. 

Beside the meaningful aspect of the Pink Floyd Exhibition. This place is super psychedelic, colorful, and the music is relaxing. I suggest everyone to visit it. 

 The London Eye our last destination: This place showed me the most amazing 

view of London. Unfortunately it was our last day. Karim struggled in London until he achieved his goals. It is such big place that it has so much history and so many cultures. 

Coming of Age as Global Citizen for me it means that I learned how to depend on myself. I also learned how to socialize with different people that have different backgrounds. I learned that although the city of London is such a beautiful city with great view, but what makes even more beautiful is the diversity of people that it has. Thank you London for teaching me a lot about myself !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXmpCF2BLQo   

Week 4: Atonement

The first day of the week I visited the British Library. It was fascinating experience because I got to see the different religious texts and documents such as poems,  all in one place. 

 I looked at the similarities between Magna Carta and other documents in the British Library. Interestingly, I noticed many similarities between the sacred texts and Magna Carta such as bringing justice, and protecting the rights of people.     

The second day was in the Imperial War Museum.This is one of the shelters that I saw in the Museum. It is called the Anderson shelter that protected people from air raids. It must have been difficult for Robbie to hide in these small shelters. There were barley any space for a group of people to hide. Usually people with better education get better protection, but Robbie did not have good education therefore he struggled.       

This is another shelter, a one person shelter that offered protection for anyone in the battle field.

   

On the third day I went to Florence Nightingale Museum. Florence was neat and very organized person. She also had demanding and controlling  personality. Similarly, Mcewan in the book Atonement describes Briony saying"Briony's was the only tidy upstairs room in the house"(Chapter 1),  It shows how Florence and Briony are both neat and organized.

    

 This is an image of a nurse that caught my attention. The Nightingale model of nursing was, "trainees had to be sober, honest, punctual, quiet and orderly, clean and neat." Briony was a nurse as well and she had to follow that model of nursing. This model matches many of the qualities that Briony possessed such as her controlling nature and neatness. That shows that Briony was a great nurse. 

This is another image of a nurse taking care of a patient that I liked. 

This is a painting of the Nightingale sisters. Many of them came from an upper-class background just like Briony. As seen in the painting they are brides for gentlemen because upper class woman were expected to be pretty. Many of them did not have good education such as Florence and Briony.

A Room With a View

On Tuesday, I went to John Soane Museum. A very fascinating, and bizarre place. Very interesting to be explored.

This is the statute of the God Bacchus a very cool piece art that stole my attention. It is very interesting to see how there are many statues that lacked head or other pieces. They represent the view of John Soane which might be pleasant for some people, but others might not. Soane had a unique view and Lucy in the novel A Room With a View had also unique view as a traveler. 

That is a  random painting that I liked called Architectural ruins painted by Clérisseau, Charles Louis. It was located in the painting room. It is also collected by John Soane, shows very fascinating view of Rome and the destroyed buildings. There are also three people wondering at the destroyed buildings of Rome. It represents civilization and existence.  

Wednesday I went to National Gallery Meuseum. In this painting  The Fight between the Lapthis and the Centaurs painted by Piero di Cosimo. One can see  horrific chaos and beautiful nature in all together in one place. The women holding the fainted man in the painting reminds me when Lucy fainted on George's arms. She fainted from similar chaos which a man got murdered and died in front of her. This is one of my favorite paintings.

 An Old Man holding a Pilgrim-Bottle by unknown Italian artist in the National Gallery Museum. A very artsitic  painting that showed a traveler who gained wisdom from traveling. Similarly, Lucy in the novel understood herself, developed an Independence, and saw the beauty of life  from her trip to Florence. She became traveler as well like this wise man.    

        

          This is another painting Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli that I stared at for a while.

On the third day, I went to Tate Britain Museum. In the painting above The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa painted by the great artist JMW Turner. It showed a view of Italy from a tourist perspective. Jane was a tourist and she said about Florence in the beginning of the novel "It was pleasant…to lean out into sunshine with beautiful hills and trees and marble churches"(Chapter 2). This quote showed Lucy's view about beauty as tourist which changed through the novel.

       

This other painting was painted by JMW Turner which I was impressed by. It showed faded colors and a melted view of the water and the sky. It was a very mysterious piece. This painting showed Turner's unique view on Italy. Also it is related to the novel because Lucy was told by people what to see and what not and lacked that unique view until she changed and had her own.

Week 2 : The Brideshead Revisited

This stained glass was located at the Great Hall in Christ Church at Oxford University. The art of this stained glass represents the Medieval era. Besides the time frame it also represents the Catholic faith in Christianity. In the Brideshead Revsited, Sebastian went to Christ Church college and he was a Catholic. 

In the photo where I am standing, it is the Great Hall located in Christ Church. Henry VIII and  Albert Einstein both studied in this college. The greatness of this place comes from the diversity it contains. Sebastian was amazed for sure at the diversity and the great people that attended this college. People who are wealthier and people with greater purposes. 

This is another Image of stained glass at the Eltham Palace, which represents the Medieval era.

                                    

The second day of the trip was to Eltham Palace located in London. In the dining room I found these Images of animals that represents wealth and beauty. Similarly, in the novel the fountain had figures of animals, which mainly represents the wealth of the Marchmain family. Animals that represented beauty and art. 

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This is an image of the Virginia's bathroom in Eltham palace. It might not have much significance, but  I liked the architecture. It is the most modern looking room in the Palace in my opinion. The statue in the middle reflects beauty and sexuality.  

In the third day, I went to Hampton Court Palace. One of the things that stole my attention was the ceiling in Baroque architecture . It had painting and  drawings that showed art similar to what Charles painted. Charles said "I decorated those rooms with Morris stuffs and Arundel prints" (Chapter 1, Part 1). The quote shows an example of Charles style of paining. 

This fountain in Hampton Court Palace was located in the middle of the Palace. It looks like that fountain has a greatness and significance. Charles said "There’s a frightful great fountain, too, in front of the steps, all rocks and sort of carved animals. You never saw such a thing" (Prologue). The quote shows the importance of fountains in demonstrating wealth and power .

   

First week blog

 Mosses was scared to go back to the pharaohs daughter, he was holding tight  his real mother.  

In the Founding Museum Mosses was an orphan just like Jane. It is an attractions to charities to make them donate to orphan houses back then.

This is an art piece in the founding museum that shows the injustice that orphans faces. Jane was called a liar by Mr. Brocklhurst.
                                       

This picture represents an Orphan house in the Founding Museum which lived in during her child hood. 

 Middle class house were governess worked which looks pretty awesome and artistic especially the screens that prevented make up from melting. This Image was taken in the Geffrye Museum.  

In the Geffrye's Museum I found this quote. It is true because  Jane faced the struggle of getting paid low as a governess but she was proud of being independent. 

These chairs caught my attention because governess were not allowed to sit them. These chairs seem very comfortable at the Geffrye Museum. 

This piece of art at the Tate Britain has deep thought the lady looks hopfull and rich man is preventing her from having her freedom. There is a also a bird that is held down by a cat which symbolizes how humans act. 

This art piece  also has a deep thought which shows a women treated like asexual object.  

May Peace Be Upon You :

Initially, my name is Mustafa Ibrahim. I am a senior at Texas Christian University. My major is Combined sciences and my minor is Middle Eastern studies minor. In addition, I am on the Medical track or as known as the Pre-Health program. My future goal is go to Medical school, become a great Doctor and work on healing the wounds of our society. I want to be able to provide medical care to poor areas around the world like some countries in the Middle East and also in Africa. I am very excited to start my journey from London this summer. This journey will open my eyes to the different life styles that people live with. A long this journey I will see how minorities are treated in comparison to the majority of people because I am a minority. I will see how I can help these minorities in the future with Medical Care.   

I included this Picture of myself because it was taken in Pre-Health fair which is very close to my heart. In that day It was my first time discovering the different opportunities to get into a Medical field. Medical fields including Medical schools, Optometry schools, pharmacy schools, and Dentistry schools. What made that experience even more unique is that I learned that there are other medical fields such as physical therapy that I did not know about.

This picture represents diversity, I was doing an Indian Bollywood dance. Although I am from the Middle East, Indian and the Middle East have totally different cultures from each other. Me dressing in Indian cultural clothing and performing their dances taught me so much about the world and cultures and their significance. I love Performing cultural dances. This was a SAICA event called Experience India.  

This is the only picture I have left of my Parents house in Iraq. I grew up and raised in this house. Although I have lived for 7 years in the United States and lived in Syria for 7 years as a refugee. My house in Iraq has so many memories that I can never forget. It is a piece of my soul.  

Exploring is one of my favorite habits,  I love to explore since I was a little child. When I 14 years old I started my journey in discovering the United States of America. Today I found so many awesome places in Texas that are worth to visit. Especially natural sites like Turner Falls in Oklahoma.

Finally, this picture represents the faculty that supported me and gave me a full ride scholarship to TCU. Without the community scholars program I would not have had the opportunity to live my dream and go to college. The community scholars program is equivalent to the chancellor scholars program but it is for minority students. I am on right side of the picture.