Fireside Chat Artist Statement

            As I read the assignment description for the Fireside Chat, I felt my stomach sinking. I have nothing against live performing, but I find it difficult to perform live as myself. It’s enjoyable to present a character in a performance and pretend to be someone other than myself, but to bare my own life, experiences, emotions, and self to an audience is much more challenging and nerve-wracking.

            During preparation for this project, however, I began to realize that I had something that I wanted to say. The ideas flowed and something began to develop. One phenomenon that I have observed here at BYU is that although there are a number of students, particularly within the film program, who are socially liberal, there are very few who are fiscally liberal. Being incredibly fiscally liberal, I decided to use this as my topic.

            In Susan Sontag’s essay, “Regarding the Pain of Others,” she writes that photographs often present something as better than it actually is. During my preparation for the Fireside Chat, I realized that I wanted to avoid this phenomenon if at all possible. Because of this, I chose to not use any form of projected media for my project. I wanted to use something that was physical, real, and tangible. I felt that this added a small sense of realism to my project.

            I also wanted to avoid preaching or lecturing. I knew what I wanted to say, and I knew what my viewpoint was, but I decided to make things even more personal than I had originally planned by telling a personal story about myself. I was inspired by Jane Taylor’s poem, “Poverty” and the way that she personalizes her story by talking about what she will do with her money, whilst still very powerfully making a point. I wanted to do something similar.

            And so I told a personal story, interwoven with cynicism and political thoughts, dressed as a homeless man, and used cardboard signs as my media. All in all, I feel as though the presentation wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Although I memorized my piece, I forgot several parts as I stood in front of the audience. I also feel as though it may have been the wrong time and place to present such a topic. Most of the other presentations were more comic in nature, even if they were dealing with serious topics. I wonder if this detracted from the message I was trying to convey.

            In conclusion, I enjoyed the Fireside Chat more than I thought I would. I was able to share a personal story about myself in a manner that was potentially more powerful than simply writing it. I do, however, wonder if even the Fireside Chat was the best medium for this particular story.

Concerned Citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYHggsb9tJM

This project was the most frustrating so far.  Firstly, it was pretty tough to think of something that both of us wanted to do.  We both had different ideas that we thought would be worth pursuing but it was tough to reconcile these differences at the beginning.  However, once we really began to look more closely at the ideas we settled on the idea of a look at a volunteer at the Humane Society.  I felt this would be something a little different as most people think of helping in their community as helping people.  The Humane Society helps both people and animals by finding homes for orphaned animals and helping a family find a new member.

Something from the reading by Goldbard that really stuck with me was “We understand that anyone who wishes to make significant headway on a social problem or opportunity must engage with people’s feelings and attitudes about it.”  When I read this, I thought of Sarah Mchlachlan singing “Arms of the Angel” over the faces of the injured and sad-looking animals.  The ASPCA wants to make significant headway in solving a problem so they are engaging with the emotions of the people. This is one of the reasons I thought of shooting at the Humane Society.  Though this was an inspiration, I wanted to show more of the good sides of being at the Humane Society.  I wanted to tell people about the good things that can come of it instead of just the sad because that is usually all people hear.  Also, I helped organize pet food drives in my hometown and I had always thought about volunteering but could never get myself to do it.  I really wanted to hear what inspired others to do it and why they continued to do it. 

Secondly, the process for this project was rather hectic.  I first began calling different animal shelters in the area to set aside a time for me to come in with a camera and talk to someone who volunteered with the animals.  However, many shelters told me that I could not get footage of the animals or that they did not have time for me to come in.  In order to get the footage I had to drive to Murray on Sunday and just walk in a talk to someone.  Once I did that, I was golden until I realized that the mic equipment I had rented didn’t work and I only had an hour to get all my footage.  This presented a problem to get good sound on the interview and I kind of had to rush everything to get through it in time.  

Protest Poster

Artist Statement

            As I prepared to create a protest poster, I found it difficult to determine exactly what I wished to portray. I knew that I wanted to portray something to do with capitalism. Unfortunately, capitalism has been portrayed in many different ways and part of the assignment was to present a social issue in a less-conventional manner. It was then that I came across the musical machinations of Sun Rise Above, in particular the album “Every Day I Wake Up on the Wrong Side of Capitalism” and the title track (includes strong language) from said album.

            As I listened to this rapper and considered the implications and messages presented, I realized how I wanted to portray capitalism and its negative consequences. I realized that capitalism is almost never presented from the perspective of those on the “wrong side” of it: the oppressed, working and impoverished classes. An article from the New YorkTimes pointed out that in France, most members of the socialist party are in fact products of “elite schools and careers.” Chimamanda Adichie represented the dangers of such one-sided viewpoints in a TED talk in which she spoke of different stereotypes that she had been exposed to, from the westernized books that she would read as a child, to the views she had when visiting Mexico. With all this in mind, I began to produce my piece.

            I wanted to be able to understand and present poverty from the viewpoint of those in poverty and I used a collection of photographs from various photographers to try to comprehend the various aspects of poverty. Those in poverty are often objectified or presented as less than human even in the artistic pieces that are attempting to draw attention to the problem. I found it refreshing to look at some of the photographs of children smiling and happy, despite living in poverty. I realized that in order to avoid dehumanization, I would have to draw attention to those not in poverty rather than trying to portray poverty. I chose an image that would commonly be found on a poster fighting poverty, but chose to draw attention to the reader and point out both the similarities and the differences between the reader and the people portrayed in the poster. I feel that I was able to avoid dehumanization and still draw attention to the subject through the line I put on the poster; a line which I had drawn from Sun Rise Above’s album, and which I felt accurately portrayed my response to many capitalists.

            Response to this poster on Facebook was very intriguing. I found it especially interesting that not a single person liked the poster who was a student at BYU. Thinking deeper on this, I realized that even though I have met several socially liberal students at BYU, I haven’t really met many economically liberal students. I was also able to have a very engaging discussion with one of my roommates about the poster in which we discussed poverty, socialism, and capitalism. I personally believe that a socialist or communist society could not exist in the US due to the rampant individualism, so common in our country today. We do not care about the common good, except as it directly affects us. If we were to change our perspective and realize that those around us were humans and part of our society, our motivations and desires would change.

            In conclusion, this is an issue that I feel particularly strong about, but I was able to realize through this project how important it is to avoid dehumanization when poverty is portrayed.

Webspinna Artist Statement

            As we considered this project, we found it difficult to come up with a topic for our Webspinna battle. It wasn’t until we discussed different personas in class that we arrived at a solution. We realized that we would be more effective if we focused our theme on our personas and not vice versa. Through this focus, we were able to discover and play with the question of why personas are created and maintained.

            Our personas for the Webspinna battle were Richard Simmons and Robin Sparkles. We found this particularly applicable as both are technically created personas themselves; Richard Simmons was originally named Milton and Robin Sparkles is the stage name of a fictional character in the television series How I Met Your Mother. We also wanted personas that were very different from our normal selves. With these personas in mind, we began choosing our clips and links.

            We chose links that were iconic of our personas. We wanted our personas to shine through and not necessarily our song or clip choices.

            Much like DJ Spooky’s Rhythm Text we didn’t want our performance to be dictated and controlled by the order of our pieces. Rather, we chose a beginning and an end, and let the rest happen spontaneously. This created some confusion and discord, but the project seemed to call for it. This contrasted with our personas, people who meticulously controlled their public appearance and identity.

            The performer Lady Gaga is a master of creating a persona. Her stage name is based on the Queen song “Radio Gaga” which Brian May wrote to illustrate the “messagelessness” of their songs. In much the same way, Lady Gaga has created a persona which mocks fame and the purpose that we tend to put behind music and art in general. Although our personas did not go this far, we did mock the idea of personas with our over-the-top outfits, which were so different from our normal selves.

            Through this, we discovered at least partially why personas are created. Through our taking on the personas of Richard Simmons and Robin Sparkles, we were able to be people, do things, and wear clothing that we normally wouldn’t.

            In conclusion, although we both were fairly hesitant to begin with when we read the description of this project, we were able to discover at least to some extent why and how people create personas for themselves. We also were able to develop personas and use this to perform in ways we wouldn’t if we were acting as ourselves.

A World of Ideas

Artist Statement

There is nothing more powerful than an idea. Through ideas, wars are started and ended, diseases are cured, art is created, and love is born. We decided to create a world in which ideas became commodities, items to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In doing so, we came to consider how the world we created, and in turn, the world we live in reflect and influence our morals and society.

It was an enjoyable experience crafting the world in which ideas were mined, bought, and sold. What was particularly interesting was that we seemed to feed off of each other’s ideas, even though we worked mostly separately. Each new idea or concept seemed to spark new ideas and we were very unified in our vision of this strange world. Upon further reflection, it became clear that this was due to our having a unifying theme or purpose in our world building. Julian Beecker wrote in a 2009 essay that fiction follows fact. In our case, the design of our world followed fact in that it was based on our perceived inequalities in the world and merely accentuated these.

George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, is not merely a novel about one man’s search for sex and fulfillment in a dystopian society. Rather, it is a stirring commentary on not only the society in which Orwell lived, but the progress of the human race. In much a similar fashion, we came to see how our created society was a commentary on our current society and world. There is class inequality in the world today and although social mobility is possible, it is severely limited due to lack of education and appropriate infrastructure. In short, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, although there are several exceptions. We wished to highlight this, by creating a world in which there is no social mobility, since even ideas can only be purchased by the rich.

We attempted this feat by creating a newspaper. Through this medium we were able to present several different ideas in what would hopefully be a fairly normal fashion. We wanted to present the world as those living in it would see it and not as outsiders. Because of this, we focused on ordinary stories and advertisements. Through advertisements, we showed fashion, in particular focusing on the elaborate fashions of the upper class. One of the advertisements even compares the fashionable upper class to the plain clothing of the lower class. The upper class show their power and status through their extravagance. We also focused on the idea of ideas affecting everything from propaganda to crime.

Through this assignment, we were able to not only create a world and society, but also were able to speak through this world and get a point across that was more powerful through the presentation.

Mario-me

Artist Statement

            I grew up playing the Nintendo games of Mario and Zelda. To this day, I can recognize the sounds, sights, and even the controls of those classics. I do, however, view video games in a different way today. Through this project, I attempted to reconcile both my childhood view of video games and my current view of this media. In the process, I also reconciled my childhood view of myself and my current view of myself.

            Much as in Jenkins’s How Texts Become Real, as a child, I viewed video games as something malleable and moldable that eventually became mine through use. I couldn’t consider myself to truly be in possession of Mario Kart until I knew where all of the secret passages were, which character I drove best with, and how to get a boost every time I accelerated from the starting line. In light of this, I decided to add the name “Seth” to the foot of Mario, much in the manner that Andy in the Toy Story franchise writes his name on the feet of his toys. This shows both in the films that the toys belong to Andy and is often used to remind the toys to whom and where they belong.

            As I’ve aged, I’ve played fewer and fewer video games, although the ones that I do play are much different. Beginning with Goldeneye, I played a number of games that put me in the feet of the main character. Games have become more story driven and more personal. I attempted to show this by putting my face in place of Mario’s. Through this process, I began to recognize how I identify myself with video games and gamers.

            As a child, I tended to view myself more as a character in the video games I would later play. Life was my adventure, and I knew that it had a happy ending. There were goals and accomplishments and I knew that sooner or later I would achieve the ultimate goal. Now, however, I identify more with the very early games, such as the early Mario games. I realize that more often than not, I feel as though I am chasing after something, despite the almost certain knowledge that I will never achieve it. Mario is constantly chasing after Peach and (in the earlier games), he never reaches her. Not only that, but she never even acknowledges him. I feel, in much the same way, that I constantly work towards things without any recognition or achievement. It was because of this that I chose Mario as my subject as opposed to Link or one of the other earlier video game characters. Perhaps there is a happy ending, but for the Marios of the world, we’re still waiting.

Fashion as a Medium

Artist Statement

As I considered which medium I would choose for this piece, several ideas, each one worse than the previous one flashed through my mind. I thought of film, photography, painting, and music. It wasn’t, however, until I read that the almost-legendary designer Marc Jacobs announced that he would be leaving Louis Vuitton that I realized what I wanted to create.

            Marc Jacobs has been known for his extravagant, nonsexualized or overly sexualized to the point of fetishism, strange and otherworldly designs (examples can be found here, here, and here). He is the poster boy for fashion as spectacle and it was with this idea in mind that I began creating my piece. I decided to approach fashion as an art form and not really as a wearable medium. I purchased several articles of clothing and removed any utility from them by ripping, tearing, and cutting them. I then modeled them in a dimly-lit, grimy parking lot. In order to focus on the clothing and not on photography, I did not edit the shots and only used the camera’s automatic focus.

            My attempt was to show fashion’s potential as art and not merely as clothing. In the upper-class ultra-rich portion of society, the same fashion may be worn that three weeks earlier was parading down a catwalk in Paris. In the normal, middle-class portion of society, however, fashion is considered something merely to be worn and used. In such circles, luxury fashion is often considered to be unnecessary, over-priced, and in some cases a complete and utter waste of time. I find both approaches to be wrong in some respects. I believe that some fashion is not designed for wearing (see Marc Jacob’s Fall 2012 Collection), but should be appreciated and interpreted for what it is: an art form. We would not judge an experimental film because it does not conform to our ideas of traditional narrative; in like manner, we should not judge extravagant and almost-unwearable fashion because it does not conform to our ideas of utility.

            Through showing fashion that is not wearable and is not beautiful, I showed that fashion itself can stand apart from mere clothing. It is an art form of its own and should be appreciated as such. Just as McCloud in his piece “Show and Tell” argues that a change in the perception of drawing and writing should occur and is occurring, I believe that a change in the perception of fashion as art will positively affect both the fashion world and the art world. 

The Lion

Artist Statement

            “We went from children who were afraid of gunshots to now children who were gunshots.” – Ishmael Beah (former child soldier in Sierra Leone)

            As we approached our topic of child soldiers and war, we found it difficult to write our script due in large part to our lack of experience with such matters. Drawing largely upon stories Hunter had heard on his mission in Sierra Leone and research, we were however able to articulate our ideas into a coherent script.

            Having served in Sierra Leone, a country in which child soldiers were employed during the civil war of 1991-2002, Hunter was able to hear several stories from Africans who had fought as child soldiers. These stories were both shocking and disturbing. One such survivor spoke of arms being cut off at the wrists or shoulders depending on if the victim wanted “short sleeves” or “long sleeves.” Another survivor was betrayed to rebels by his father. These ideas cast a vivid backdrop to our story and allowed us to achieve some level of authenticity, despite our lack of personal experiences in such matters.

            Despite the gruesome and disgusting nature of these stories, however, we desired to write a script covering the theme of redemption. We found this to be a very realistic theme due to Hunter’s experiences with survivors. Many of them have gone on to live normal lives. Some are cooks, some are tailors, some are just moms. They are tied together through their experiences as child soldiers, but even more so through their quest for and eventual triumph in humanity. Through this idea, we came up with the concept of art as a redemptive medium. Kolleh, based off of an actual person known by Hunter, is able to remember and reconnect with his own humanity through the art and actions of another.

Although redemption was our ultimate goal, we also wished to portray some of the horrors of child soldiers. Drawing from Neufeld’s “After the Deluge” we wished to show the confusion that comes from innocence and ignorance. Just as the victims of hurricane Katrina didn’t believe that the hurricane would be so severe and went on with their normal lives, we wished to show the normalcy of life within a war zone, characterized by Kadi’s capturing of the butterfly.

In conclusion, we were able to achieve an almost archetypal narrative with hints of personality drawn from stories of actual survivors. Although we are not experts, we are human and are able to understand to some small extent the sorrow and despair that can be washed away by the joy and elation of redemption.

Eat. Love. Consume.

Eat. Love. Consume.

There is nothing more quintessentially American than the supermarket. It is here where Americans can exercise their most pleasurable freedom-- the purchase of products. It was with this in mind that we determined to record the process of shopping at a supermarket. By assembling these sound bytes, we discovered and documented the power of consumerism over American society. We begin our shopping trip with the one thing everyone needs: food. Starting from infancy, food becomes our most basic desire. However, food has become, like almost all other products we consume, a mass produced commodity that we see only in its final form. In "The Smokehouse," Rohan Anderson builds a smokehouse to prepare his own food. Every cut of meat comes pre-packaged, vacuumed sealed, and declared as "farm fresh." This marketing ploy has hoodwinked our nation into believing the products are naturally produced and organic. This lie is fed to citizens at a very young age, and is constantly applied to them throughout their stages of life. As our process piece continues, we enter the toy aisle. The marketing strategies here are geared towards young children using playful music and loud noises. From a tender age, kids want the latest, newest, and best toys. The new, shiny toys whisper promises of fun and adventure if they are bought and played with. They convince our children that they must have the newest toy in order to be happy. This pattern of thinking is not only observed in the prepubescent stage of life, but during the teenaged years as well. We continue past the children’s toys towards the electronics section. We mature out of children’s toys and move on to video games and movies. Movies, music, and video games litter our houses, and take up most of our time. Tirupathi Chandrupatla writes in his poem “Himalayas” of the ranges where the gods reside. No longer do we revere the ranges of the gods, but instead we worship the palaces of technology that store the latest model of Nintendo console or newest iPhone series. People will camp out over night at an Apple store in anticipation for the "next best thing." Little do these consumers know how tangled they have become in a web of lies and marketing ploys. We finish our process with the sounds of the purchase; the satisfying beep of the checkout scanner blares and we are free to leave the store, shopping cart laden with food, toys, and electronics. Our child is delighted by gifts that have been bought for them, and we ourselves are happy with the purchases made. Consuming is our happiness and happiness is our consumption. The process depicted in this project is meant to act as a mirror for our lives through which we can analyze our guzzling nature. To staunch our consuming desires, we must recognize the deceptive strategies used to trick shoppers into products. Once one understands how one is being deceived, one will learn to ignore the brainwashing messages used today and overcome their gluttony.

During our audio piece, "Eat. Love. Consume.," subtle, quiet words like "fresh," "new," and "next generation" are heard. They are said in a monotonous, computer-like tone reminiscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. We included these sound bytes to act as the subliminal messages found in persuasive media today. These sound clips are used in the same way the lyrics of "Fitter Happier" by Radiohead are stylized.

Objects of Desire

            The first thing that struck me and bothered me when I arrived at Brigham Young University for the first time was the way that women are treated. In public, men treat women with all manner of chivalry; doors are opened, places are given up in line, conversation is polite and respectful. What drew and continues to draw my resentment, however, is the way that women are treated when they are not present. There they are measured, weighed, and assigned values in a manner similar to that found at a butcher’s amidst the various cuts of meat. The only word to describe it is objectification. They are no longer people; they are goals or feelingless items designed purely for the enjoyment of men. This disgusts me.

            It was with this in mind that I began to craft the short stories that would later serve as my presentation. I wanted to show the dehumanization and objectification that occurs every day around us. I was aided by the ideas demonstrated by the photos of Sternfeld, which were so incredibly powerful due to their connotation. I wanted to take images and words and weave them together in such a way that they can only achieve their true power when they are seen together.

            The final stitch that helped me finalize my project was a work by Grace Brown entitled Project Unbreakable, in which she photographs sexual assault victims with quotes from their attackers. I found this very powerful and disturbing and wanted to incorporate this idea into my project. My main goal was to “deobjectify” women by presenting images and stories in which women were objectified. With this in mind, I drew no faces on any of the images and removed the face of the subject from the second to last one. The only image in which a woman’s face can be seen is the last one but I felt that this solidified the message I wished to convey. I decided to use photograph’s rather than drawings for the last two images because I felt that I could not properly convey in a drawing what I wished and that it would be disrespectful to do so.

            I found it difficult to do this project because it is something that is very personal to me, having grown up with three sisters and having seen the pain in several of my friends that accompanies sexual abuse or assault. 

Good Men do Nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMo3Uviv-PY

There is some music which gently caresses, drawing us into its warm embrace. Some music attempts to inspire and invigorate us, driving us on with its upbeat pace and harmonic sound. And then there is my selection for this assignment, a piece which attempts neither. Merzbow’s “T-2000” draws us away from the traditional and shocks us out of our comfortable reverie of self-centeredness, something which I attempted to recreate through imagery. It was through this process that I began to learn a simple truth: more often than not, we are too caught up in the small moments of our day-to-day lives and fail to recognize the suffering of those around us.

In Dillard’s essay, “Seeing,” she explains through her experiences that we often pass through life failing to notice the things around us and that real effort is required to see. Although I generally concur with Dillard, I feel as though sometimes we need an extra push to shock us into realization and seeing. “T-2000” does just this by ignoring conventional music styles and instead painfully bruising our minds with a barrage of atonal sound. This forces us out of our comfort zones and makes us consider why we listen to what we do.

It was with this in mind that I began to craft images. I decided to create visuals that played off of this. In general I took photographs of normal occurrences and objects: swimming, smoking, an apartment. I then inserted various images of victims of the Syrian war. (It is at this point that I feel I must insert the disclaimer that, yes, I do have political opinions, and yes, they are present in this work.) Just like Otto Dix’s “The War Cripples,” this juxtaposition of the normal and the shocking is to show how often we forget the suffering of those around us because we are too caught up in our own lives and to shock us into noticing the brutalities in the world. In each of the images, there is no recognition between either the actual or Syrian subjects. The two do not overlap.

The final image, however, breaks from the traditional mold, in that it shows a statue of a woman giving a man a loaf of bread. At first, this image seems to stand alone by showing a positive action of giving. It was not with this intent, however, that the image was placed with the others. Rather, the statue is just that: a statue. The inedible loaf of bread almost mocks the starving. This can be taken further by showing that we venerate and honor the generous, but (as the other images show) just don’t have time for being generous right now.

Through Merbow’s “T-2000” and my images, I have attempted to highlight the universal truth that we are too caught up in ourselves to notice those around us. Unfortunately, this may fulfill one of the most harrowing anonymous quotes ever written: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.”

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” – Albert Einstein

It is with no small amount of trepidation that I attempt to analyze and interpret the 2012 novel, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. I find myself wondering if in the very endeavor I am journeying into the murky waters of the morally grey or perhaps even dipping my feet into the morally reprehensible. How can I, who have never experienced war or its ravages attempt to critically analyze the work of one who has? And yet, it is for this very reason that I feel inclined to write on this work for the true power of the novel lies not in its ability to personalize war but rather the characters of whom Powers writes. This personalization occurs despite of and perhaps because of the distance and coldness Powers employs when he writes of war.

Kevin Powers, like Vonnegut and Heller before him survived the horrors of war. It is thus with poignant and poetic intimacy that he describes his experiences. There are things that cannot even be contrived by the most creative of minds unless experienced. Powers writes of soldiers rubbing Tobasco sauce in their eyes to stay awake; of the wordless last moments as life seeps out of a previously breathing, healthy body; of learning important words in Arabic: thank you, you’re welcome, and bomb. These moments are powerful and yet they are not the focus of the narrative. One feels distant from the action despite the brutal, grimy language Powers employs. Rather, the action only serves to focus attention more on the personal emotional journey of the protagonist, Bartle. This is emphasized by one of Bartle’s personal quotes in which he states, “The details of the world in which we live are always secondary to the fact that we must live in them.”

Private Bartle is a soldier, serving in the United States Army. Near the beginning of the novel, he promises the mother of one of his comrades that he will bring her son home safely. From the beginning, the reader knows that he does not succeed as the novel weaves its way through time, place, and storyline in no particular order. We spend a chapter in the heat of battle, only to return for a moment to Bartle’s Virginia home after his return. This lack of chronological order contributes to the personal nature of the story as well. Rather than following a distinct storyline the novel follows Bartle: his thoughts, emotions, and to some extent experiences. As previously stated, this contributes to the power of the novel; we are not interested in the experiences of Bartle but rather, his reactions.

And Bartle’s personal reactions are nothing if not powerful. Bartle’s thoughts dominate most of the novel and it is through him that we learn one of the ultimate casualties of war: innocence. One particularly poignant moment occurs as Bartle takes a quiet moment amidst the rage of war to look at the stars. Says Bartle, “I knew that at least a few of the stars I saw were probably gone already, collapsed into nothing. I felt like I was looking at a lie. But I didn't mind. The world makes liars of us all.” Later on, Bartle admits that he doesn’t wish to die, but merely to fall asleep and never wake up. The power of these statements, however, does not rest merely in the fact that Bartle experienced them, but rather in the fact that they are simply human feelings and thoughts. Although many of us have not experienced war or even its destructive influence, we do understand pain, loss, suffering, and fear. That is the human experience. Through Powers’s surreal, heartrending novel, we come to realize as Bartle puts so eloquently, “All pain is the same. Only the details are different.”

The online comments under reviews of Kevin Powers’s The Yellow Birds are dominated by soldiers or relatives of soldiers expressing their thanks for the novel. Many write that Powers has put into words feeling of theirs that they could not fully comprehend, let alone articulate. One can feel the influence of the novel and the cleansing effect it has exerted on these men and women. Although I do not fit this group, I do believe that the novel is powerful not only for servicemen and women. This is because the human experience is universal and Powers chooses to focus on it. Through focusing on the character rather than the story, Powers is able to show the raw emotion that we all can relate to. It is best said by Bartle, “To understand the world, one’s place in it, is to be always at the risk of drowning.”