PROJECT 3 - Reasoning
"Reason is the capacity of consciously making sense of things, applying logic, and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason
I am again back to partnering with Emily Diaz. We started our discussions looking at money laundering. Emily was interested in analyzing how crimes are created in schemes to gain more money. I was interested in looking how money moves our government. We in the end, combined the two ideas together to create a project that dives into how people finesse the government to get whatever their wants are. We discuss lobbying, money laundering, the Robin Hood complex, and other topics within our research and products.
English AND SOCIAL STUDIES
In the last year of Apollo, together we decided to challenge both of our perspectives and ideas to produce one of our final projects. Renee was challenged with the task of learning more about art crimes and the impact of money laundering. For Emily, she was tasked with understanding the criminal world of business and how it affects our political climate. With all of this in mind, our whole project came together to understand the reason I asked you why someone would turn to the criminal world for safety and protection rather than our government. Because of how criminal our government can be at times, there is uncertainty as to who should rule over the people despite the dream of pure elections without sway. However, as we soon discovered, pure American politics are rare throughout the history of the United States. Specifically, we looked at how the rich influence our politics simply by who they are as someone of the upper class rather than understanding the suffering of the lower class. In conclusion, we had discovered a way to understand both criminals and civilians in their relation to illegal activities and how that affects the greater population on a day-to-day basis.
The topic of finessing the government is hard to research. One, because it is in certain contexts illegal, and secondly, the people who do it tend to keep their tracks covered. Even in cases of lobbying, (which is not illegal) lobbyists tend to keep their business under wraps. This led to us having difficulties in the beginning stages of the project. We at first, wanted to create a business centered around the realities of the government being so easily persuaded and moved my money. But this in turn was hard to research and wrap our heads around. One topic that we did have success in researching was the psychological thinking behind why people commit particular crimes and work to finesse the government. We then shifted our topic into a more creative direction and started to build a story. A story depicting a crime between two women. One is trying to manage her Robin Hood complex as she works to sway local politicians into giving her and other local artists more money. The other is a former criminal out looking for revenge and a chance to get even at her former gang that ratted her out. Together their goal is to laundry a sum of money that the criminal, Stella Maverick, stored away before her artist. They plan on selling the artist’, Siobhan “Cyprus” Ramek-Weinstock’s, famous painting that she hasn’t ever put up for purchase. With the money that Stella had stashed, she is going to sell the prized painting for more than the asking price- increasing the value. They then plan on reselling the painting to a gallery or museum for an even high price. Stella gets the money back, and they split the profit. But because this is no regular finesse, they both have reasons as to why they are willing to commit this crime. Cyprus wants her share of the cash to go towards lobbying local politicians for more money in the arts. She has a strong Robin Hood complex which is why she is so willing to do the wrong thing. Stella wants to use the politicians to frame her ex-gang, and to get back into the game but on her terms. She is more aware that what they are doing is wrong but her reason is about claiming independence and revenge for the people who have wronged her in the past. As we were researching this topic we learned about the Robin Hood complex, and selfish reasonings as to why people commit crimes such as laundering money but we also learned about the psychological reasoning behind others' actions. Some people truly believe that what they are doing is a good thing, or that they won’t get away with the crime. As for lobbying, some people hate the practice, but other people believe that it is the most effective way to reach a politician. Politicians need to raise money for their campaigns the best way they can so people use that opportunity as the reason why they push money off of political figures. All in all, this project was very interesting the investigate. Our end product was less logistical but more creative and focused on the thought processes and rationales that people create to defend their crimes.
The topic of finessing the government is hard to research. One, because it is in certain contexts illegal, and secondly, the people who do it tend to keep their tracks covered. Even in cases of lobbying, (which is not illegal) lobbyists tend to keep their business under wraps. This led to us having difficulties in the beginning stages of the project. We at first, wanted to create a business centered around the realities of the government being so easily persuaded and moved my money. But this in turn was hard to research and wrap our heads around. One topic that we did have success in researching was the psychological thinking behind why people commit particular crimes and work to finesse the government. We then shifted our topic into a more creative direction and started to build a story. A story depicting a crime between two women. One is trying to manage her Robin Hood complex as she works to sway local politicians into giving her and other local artists more money. The other is a former criminal out looking for revenge and a chance to get even at her former gang that ratted her out. Together their goal is to laundry a sum of money that the criminal, Stella Maverick, stored away before her artist. They plan on selling the artist’, Siobhan “Cyprus” Ramek-Weinstock’s, famous painting that she hasn’t ever put up for purchase. With the money that Stella had stashed, she is going to sell the prized painting for more than the asking price- increasing the value. They then plan on reselling the painting to a gallery or museum for an even high price. Stella gets the money back, and they split the profit. But because this is no regular finesse, they both have reasons as to why they are willing to commit this crime. Cyprus wants her share of the cash to go towards lobbying local politicians for more money in the arts. She has a strong Robin Hood complex which is why she is so willing to do the wrong thing. Stella wants to use the politicians to frame her ex-gang, and to get back into the game but on her terms. She is more aware that what they are doing is wrong but her reason is about claiming independence and revenge for the people who have wronged her in the past. As we were researching this topic we learned about the Robin Hood complex, and selfish reasonings as to why people commit crimes such as laundering money but we also learned about the psychological reasoning behind others' actions. Some people truly believe that what they are doing is a good thing, or that they won’t get away with the crime. As for lobbying, some people hate the practice, but other people believe that it is the most effective way to reach a politician. Politicians need to raise money for their campaigns the best way they can so people use that opportunity as the reason why they push money off of political figures. All in all, this project was very interesting the investigate. Our end product was less logistical but more creative and focused on the thought processes and rationales that people create to defend their crimes.
ART
Art is where we created the famous painting features in our story. Our subject for our story revolves around a portrait that Renee had crafted in such an elegant manner that it speaks to such a degree of professionalism. Over the last four years, Renee has continued to pursue her love for the arts while Emily has delved a lot into more of the importance of history in today’s society. This project played to both o their strengths and knees. In this project, Renee was able to paint a beautiful portrait that was the subject of our story showcasing the reliance on art and business in today’s culture. The painting was something that played mainly to Renee’s strengths, but it counterbalanced Emily’s way to tell a story and explain how much a painting is really worth - not strictly financially, but emotionally and spiritually.
Here is a snippet of the story to explain the reasoning behind the painting:
The canvas almost holds the subject’s breath in its woven grasp, but it also takes a hold of those who look on. The background - eclipsed by its beautiful subject - is a relief against the claiming intensity that the subject possesses. The gold spatters shine and glitter as one dances their gaze across the canvas. The royal purple and peeking turquoise come together in a waltz of control as one cannot decide which color came first or has the most importance. Nonetheless, their waltz continues to thrum at a steady rhythm as the eyes of the subject stare into the onlooker with a confident allure. Her face, almost having a shine of its own, is steadied by her mattified blush that covers her deep complexion. Unlike a statue, she seems as though she may be immortalized with layers of paint, but she still has the freedom to live with those who look upon her beauty. Her hair cascades over her shoulder in a loose frilly braid that shows off the singular flower placed just above her ear, pulling back to admire her wonderful facial structure. One can see her hands cradling and posing her face, almost as if she is looking at the onlooker with the same gaze of admiration for their beauty. In great contradiction to the rest of the composition, the dress encircling her figure has deep red, purple, and orange hues that showcase depth to her figure that show that though she is beautiful, she is still a fierce subject to be respected. Though her face may say beauty, her clothes show she is fearless of what may be debated over the meaning and what she says with her lips slightly agape. Almost to tease the admirer, her beauty is too much for the subject to handle, she has to rest her elbows on a podium smaller than her that holds a small bouquet. Rather than engulfing the subject in a forest of blossoms for a symbolic way of showing femininity, the artist seems to have placed the bouquet theater at first, but the subject seems to have pushed those into the background and let nature’s true beauty shine.
Here is a snippet of the story to explain the reasoning behind the painting:
The canvas almost holds the subject’s breath in its woven grasp, but it also takes a hold of those who look on. The background - eclipsed by its beautiful subject - is a relief against the claiming intensity that the subject possesses. The gold spatters shine and glitter as one dances their gaze across the canvas. The royal purple and peeking turquoise come together in a waltz of control as one cannot decide which color came first or has the most importance. Nonetheless, their waltz continues to thrum at a steady rhythm as the eyes of the subject stare into the onlooker with a confident allure. Her face, almost having a shine of its own, is steadied by her mattified blush that covers her deep complexion. Unlike a statue, she seems as though she may be immortalized with layers of paint, but she still has the freedom to live with those who look upon her beauty. Her hair cascades over her shoulder in a loose frilly braid that shows off the singular flower placed just above her ear, pulling back to admire her wonderful facial structure. One can see her hands cradling and posing her face, almost as if she is looking at the onlooker with the same gaze of admiration for their beauty. In great contradiction to the rest of the composition, the dress encircling her figure has deep red, purple, and orange hues that showcase depth to her figure that show that though she is beautiful, she is still a fierce subject to be respected. Though her face may say beauty, her clothes show she is fearless of what may be debated over the meaning and what she says with her lips slightly agape. Almost to tease the admirer, her beauty is too much for the subject to handle, she has to rest her elbows on a podium smaller than her that holds a small bouquet. Rather than engulfing the subject in a forest of blossoms for a symbolic way of showing femininity, the artist seems to have placed the bouquet theater at first, but the subject seems to have pushed those into the background and let nature’s true beauty shine.