Gene Kwan

10/8/2008
1st Period
Scribner Exercise 4-7
1)-The hands instantly take my attention
-The right hand then receives more attention than the left hand, it looks bigger, less
feminine, and shows’ more feeling in the way it is captured.
-The circular object next to the photograph of the hands has a goofy smiley face painted
or drawn on that throws off the seriousness of the hands.
-While the photo is black and white, the picture of the hands has a more defined color, it
stands out much more than anything else in the photograph.
-On top the “shal” and below the word stop make me think of it as, “Shall stop.”
-I find myself questioning whether the hands are of a man or woman, but my thoughts
say woman for the hand with spread out fingers, and man for the hand that looks like it is
about to grasp the woman’s hand.
-The words “shall stop” run through my mind and I see the hands. I think the message
this photograph gives me is, “Shall time stop?” The hands represent hands of a clock,
while where it is in the photograph suggests how the message is relayed. Reading from
top to bottom it is “shal time (hands) stop.
-When looking at this photograph, time stops, at least in my case. I just look at it, and it
quiets my mind into meditation. Since the photograph serves no specific meaning, it
makes you question how to approach it. It occupies your entire mind.
2) Photographs have endless possibilities for speculation if the photographer gives it
no context for the viewer. Some photographs give you the same message over and over,
and some give you a different one every time you look at it. Words associated with the
photograph trigger a viewer to make connections between the imagery and the words. In
my case, inspiring imagery and objects associated with feeling (such as a ring from a
girlfriend, boyfriend, or husband) retain meaning over time. Inspiring imagery has always
had the same meaning to me, that picture was simply meant to inspire. An object like a
ring that a lover once gave you still holds the same feeling it gave you when you were
together with that person, the feeling the object gives remains consistent. But when you
are unclear about why a certain picture was taken, or do not personally know the
photographer, you may lead to new conclusions about the photograph. Endless
possibilities of speculation hold true for an image if it is not provided with a context.
 Gene Kwan
10/8/2008
1st Period
Exercise 4-8
Environmental science and history have been two fields of study that interested
me for various reasons. The main connection held between history and environmental
science is that they study the past to see the present, in order to make decisions for the
future. In history people understand why events like revolutions occur, or how the ideas
of history persist until today. In environmental science we study the cause and effect, not
necessarily the development of things like in history, but more of discovering history
from the present, instead of reading history books written from past accounts. In
environmental science we first have to take note of the effect before we trace the cause.
Such has climate change starting from the industrial revolution, during the time of the
revolution; we do not know that industrializing would endanger the earth. Lastly, history
goes through a process of deciding how legitimate an event was, but environmental
science is not a matter of belief most of the time, it is mostly factual.
My first environmental science class was in freshman year. I was introduced to a
new subject that was gaining notice on a global scale. The class had us do various things
such as calculate carbon footprints, study ecosystems and habitats, and become
knowledgeable of the world outside of humans. This particular subject made me become
aware of just how big an affect humans have on the entire world. It expanded my
perception of the world outside that of humans, and made everything in nature
significant. Nature affects the human world more than we know it. Upon understanding
nature, we learned about how nature is being destroyed. The goal of the class was for
students to become environmentally aware, or at least understand the causes and affects
of our actions.
History has been a subject simply of inputting “facts” into my brain, until
sophomore year when I took modern world, where we questioned the legitimacy of
events and ideas. My interest in history came about when I started seeing connections
between the past and the present. History is a widely studied subject; studying
Shakespeare allows us to witness the development of modern English, reenacting
experiments of past scientist shows why things in science textbooks are true. The purpose
of this subject is to have people understand why things are the way they are today, as well
as to instill good judgment in the minds of people today.
Gene Kwan
10/8/2008
1st Period