Free Your Mind in Times of Trouble

Reily Lynch:

As many know the The Great Depression was a decade of unemployment, low profits, low prices, high poverty that affected the entire world in the 1930s. People became much more frugal and careful of their money. They never wasted anything; they never threw anything away if it could be used again. In this photograph captures 4 boys lounging on a hill. Many of the boys friends and family reacted to the great depression with sadness confusion and anger. U.S citizens were losing their jobs everywhere. Chaos was surrounding these 4 boys with families not being able to provide for their children. The Depression had a powerful impact on family life. To escape the chaos these 4 boys would find a way out with music. I interpret these boys to be friends and the little one in the left corner to be one of their little brothers. Taking care of little siblings was a big help to the mothers who were cooking dinner and taking care of household chores. These boys seem fairly well dressed perhaps coming back from a long day at school. Their families were making an extra sacrifice to keep these boys in school to give them a bright future. Moving forward, on delightful fall afternoon the boys came up to the hill behind there houses to free their mind. As the boys sat in a pile of leaves they pulled out their guitar and started to play some music. As the music played they sang along. For an hour or so their problems would fade away. Music for these boys is a form of expression their time to express themselves because during the day they don’t have a minute of time to relax. They get to put America’s complications away for a moment. They seem to be very focused in the music and don’t have a single other thing on their mind. This is considered their escape. They rarely get time for themselves and are under a lot of pressure. They go to school during the week try and help out with the family the majority of the time. They take care of younger siblings and try to help around the house as much as possible. They also have the burden of being the man in the house, temporarily while their fathers are out trying to find work in the bad economy. When supper is ready they will part their ways and get back to reality. Over all Shahn did a great job capturing this photo.

Photo-Lost childhood

This photo to me showed a story. There are more images of this group of children but I felt that this one had a strong message behind it. The first thing that catches my eye in the child in the middle, he seems to have a demanding quality to him even though he is looking down. The boy in the middle looks to be the oldest and to have some relationship to the younger boy that he has his arm around. The fact that the older boy has his head down as though the weight of the world has already weighed him down with responsibility and anxiety for putting food on the table or taking care of an older possibly sick family member. His serious demeanor makes him look as though his childhood has been taken away from him. Normally when you see kids in photos they strike a pose or are in the middle of a high energy game, but not here. 

The younger boy looks as though he is trying to be tough or manly when a stare down look to him and his hands both placed in his pockets. His body cocked to the side add a stand off-ish feel as well, as though he doesn't trust new people. The little girl to the right standing away makes a loud statement the the negative space between her and the boys. Her hand in her mouth and a confused worried look to her also makes me think that stresses have come down on here. Maybe its the floral skirt but I see some glimmer of childhood left in her as though she could leave the photo and go play tag. Over all the image looks very serious from the bare winter trees in the back ground and the lack of community in the photo.

“Documenting America in the 1930s” Blog Post 1

Sydney Grosser
     Through interpreting this photograph, one can learn a great deal about the 1930’s that cannot be gathered from traditional historical texts. This photo by Ben Shahn exemplifies a central theme of his work, which is the condition of people in the rural communities where they work. Upon first looking at the image, one most likely first notices the men working hard, bent over the fence they are constructing.    These workers are the central point of the image, but another object included is the planks that are used to build the fence, they are scattered on the ground in an unorganized manner behind the workers. The setting appears to be the field in which they are working to build the fence. Upon taking a second look at the image, one may notice the actual length of the fence these workers are constructing. It is extremely long and overwhelming; it looks as if it goes on forever because there is no end in sight within the image.
     When the photographer captured this image, he was at the same level as the subject. This particular vantage point helps to get the message across because it gets the viewer on the same level as the workers and forces one to be where they are, if only for a moment. The viewer sees the bent-over laborers, the miles of fence, and copious amount of wood planks yet to be added to the project. We can see the work they had to do from almost a first-person perspective.
     The mood of this photograph is one of hardworking, serious matter. Through examining this image, one can see the extreme degree to which these people had to work, because there was only three men for this overwhelming length of fence with no end in sight. We can begin to understand how hard their work was through learning about this image and other images from Ben Shahn.
     Interpreting images shows the emotion other documents cannot depict through text. I think the photographer wanted us to see these people’s work and how labor intensive and demanding it was. We can see them bent over their work and feel the emotion and imagine how overwhelming it must have been. To conclude, interpreting images such as this one is a refreshing, meaningful way to learn about the history of our country and the people who lived through it daily.

Hey Guys, 
Just a test to see if we can all get into this. Let me know also if Monday the 27th at the library is a good time to meet for everyone. Till then stay warm!!!