Seeking A Diploma For The End Of The World
As I prepare to walk at graduation and receive my diploma, I can’t help but think about the challenges and perils waiting for me in adulthood. I’m an art student you see, or a Film & Video major really. To survive in the near future I will most likely have to work a shitty part time job or two in order to supplement my creative interests. But even if my degree were in a more traditional field (STEM, business, political science, etc.), I don’t think there’s much time for me to make something out of myself in the world as we know it today. Last year globally-averaged temperatures were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit (0.99 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-20th century mean. This makes 2016 the third year in a row to set a new record for high global average surface temperatures; and at the rate we’re going, with an administration in the United States that avidly denies the legitimacy of this catastrophe, it doesn’t look like global warming trends are changing anytime soon.
A Burning World
Globally, carbon pollution is trapping heat, shifting the entire distribution of temperatures. Cold days turn chilly, cool days turn warm, and balmy days turn sweltering. The collective output of tailpipes and smokestacks is cranking up the global thermostat, producing milder winters and more sizzling summers.
Temperatures at the far end of the distribution, the ones that break records, are almost invariably explained by carbon pollution, but the long-term outlook is worse than we thought. A study released by the University of Hawaii in their journal, Nature, reveals that worldwide temperatures will reach a 2° C increase within a generation, sometime in the year 2047 to be exact.
“You realize this is really not that far into the future,” says UH associate professor Dr. Camilo Mora, the lead scientist on the study. “Right now I’m 38. By the time these things happen I’m going to be 72 years old.”

“I don’t think anyone was expecting it to be that soon,” says researcher Ryan Longman, a Ph.D. geography student. “We thought maybe within our lifetimes, maybe by the end of the century, but nobody expected it to be before the midpoint of the century.”
The change is expected even sooner in the tropics. These are places located close to the equator, typically surrounded by water. Not only will sea levels rise and the heat become unbearable, the humidity in these areas will increase as well and become stifling. In Honolulu, that will be in 2043 — less than 30 years from now.
“Our index is saying the climate is going to be hotter than anything we have seen in the last 150 years,” Dr. Mora says. And it’s only going to get worse from there. Greenhouses gases in the atmosphere trap heat, so as surface temperatures increase, more and more heat will be trapped.
This past month, unnaturally high tides flooded beaches in Waikiki, ruining many Memorial Day businesses and vacations. In other parts of the island, this mix of heavy rainfall and out-of-control sea levels have led to streets flooding high enough for fish to swim along them.
But it’s not just Hawaii. Vicious earthquakes have ravaged Oklahoma after years of unregulated fracking. Parts of southern Arizona are in the midst of a long-term severe drought, while scattered areas of Texas, Colorado, the Dakotas and the greater Washington D.C. region are dealing with more moderate water shortages. Not to mention that, each year the north experiences miserably inconsistent winters due to changes in the jet stream that are caused by a warming arctic. The effects of climate change are impossible to ignore and yet we find ourselves in a time where the current administration of one the most powerful countries in the world consists of a very vocal minority who firmly believe climate change is a hoax meant to impede business.
They believe in profits, and in the freedom to conduct their businesses as they see fit. When citizens become superfluous to the creation of profits, they become liabilities. The private sector begins to destroy the state; treating each cut as a new profit center. It is with that same mentality that they approach the issue of climate change. Or Anthropogenic climate change as it should be referred to, which is all about class. With their current ties and allegiances, the political figures involved don’t see much profit in transitioning to a sustainable society.

Transitioning to a sustainable society is really about averting a 2° C global increase in current average temperatures. Such a change would result in the desertification of much of the middle latitudes of the planet, the infertility of much of the world’s agricultural land, and the catastrophic mass migration or starvation of a great proportion of much of Earth’s poorest inhabitants. This is unavoidably a class issue — the wealthiest inhabitants of even the most disastrously effected underdeveloped nations in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia have the means to insulate themselves from the effects of climate change through migration or the creation of enclaves, whilst the toiling masses of subsistence farmers, poor laborers and industrial workers have no such luxury. Watch 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road or 2013’s Elysium for an idea of what a world like this would be like.
When viewed from this point of view, those who deny climate change are not ‘stupid’ or ‘badly informed’. They are making a deliberate choice conditioned by class allegiance. Those with a vested interest in preserving the carbon-based economy make a cold economic calculation, rooted in the direct logic of capital accumulation: costs sunk into the behemoth industry of the oil economy — from trillions-worth of plant material to the incalculable political infrastructure buttressing dictatorial oil-rich regimes across the globe — must be recouped, locked in place as they are by a labyrinthine network of debt obligations and banking compacts within and between Third World nations and the developed West. It is therefore utterly unsurprising that climate deniers place the profits of a tiny group of oil barons, shadowy shareholders and political stooges above the interests of the vast majority of the working-class people of the world.
All the objectively correct science and moral arguments in the world will not convince climate change deniers to change their positions — since their wealth depends on the contrary.
Washington in Crisis
Our fragile world needs visionary leaders more than ever before and unfortunately for us all, the 45th president is not one of them. His presidency has been divisive before it even started and the ‘choose-your-own-media’ movement in our country hasn’t helped.
To his credit, the 45th has not significantly departed from the right-wing centrism of the Republican Party in the early days of his presidency. Like them, he insists on increasing military expenditures; He insists that the United States is a Christian nation and that it must resist globalization–despite producing several name-brand products overseas; and he’s firmly committed to the policy of “economic growth at all costs”–hence his rejection of the Paris Climate Agreement (which the GOP unanimously opposed anyway). That’s right, while France and 192 other countries decided to abide by the Paris Accords, the U.S., the 2nd biggest contributor to the release of carbon gases in the environment today, is withdrawing.
“We’re getting out,” the 45th states in his official speech delivered June 1st, 2017. “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” It was a move made under the ruse that:
- By leading climate efforts, the U.S. was making itself weaker by limiting its economy, thus allowing other countries to ‘surpass’ it.
- The Accords would bring on a massive GPD drop over the next several years, citing the loss of thousands of jobs in the steal and coal industries.
- Business big and small were investing less as they struggled to meet the harsh regulations of a sustainable society.
It is fair to claim that the U.S. contributed a lot to the Paris Accords, we committed to give $3 billion, and I’d say that was done so we could lead by example since we’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but when you rank contributions as a fraction of GDP, the U.S. ranks 32nd. The accords weren’t perfect, but the key achievement was that for the very first time, most of the world’s nations (including China, India, and North Korea) made a commitment to take action against climate change. It was a historic moment but now, America’s absence from the agreement could make other countries less inclined to fulfill their accords. The agreement as a whole is voluntary and not legally binding (there’s no penalty for nations who fail the commitment, the goal they themselves set) but by leaving, the 45th is causing harm not just to the world, but to American workers as well, the very people he claims to protect. Most of the world now realizes, that in order to reduce emissions we need to shift to renewable forms of energy and the more a government encourages that goal, the faster it happens, the quicker costs come down, and the more likely that country is to be at the forefront of a whole new industry; creating countless jobs in the process. China knows that. They’ve not only cancelled plans to build more than 100 coal fire power plants, they’ve also began investing more than 3.6 Billion dollars in renewable energy by 2020, which it says will create 13 million new jobs. And you know the best part about renewable energy? It needs continuous maintenance and improvements so these jobs are jobs that will last.

So yes, switching to a sustainable economy in the U.S. would cause a drop in the national GPD. Yes thousands in the Coal and Energy business would lose their jobs, but that’s because we would be making the switch to a new economy. The Paris Agreement is what we actually call an investment. It isn’t just instant wealth and happiness for all us common folks… It’s going to cost a lot of money and take years, but you know what? We’ll be better off for it in the end. It’s at that point however, where conservatives and investors of coal and natural gas industries usually balk. Their only interests are profits, immediate ones, and the threat of a 2° C change in temperature won’t change that. Well, a 2° C rise means cocoa farming would become unsustainable, coffee would not grow and wheat would be severely restricted; so no more chocolate, coffee or beer, along with heat waves, droughts, and the submergence of islands and coastal cities like New York or Miami.
Since the 45th claims to be a businessman, it surprises me that he has no interest in this type of investment, even if he does have ties in the coal and steel industries. A chance to lead the world in a whole new industry? Wow, who’d give that up? But you know what? The 45th didn’t win Pittsburgh during the election. Want to know why? Because when coal and steel collapsed, universities and hospitals took over as the primary industries in the city. Pittsburgh couldn’t host the G20 summit again because they were still languishing in the post-steel economic collapse. Now, the Steel City stands as an example of a successful economic recovery all because they modernized instead of demanding the world stop moving forward so they could continue with business as usual.
By dropping out of the Paris Accords, and leaving the investment of a sustainable future on the table, the 45th is failing to do his job as a businessman that closes promising deals for his working class citizens. And that’s what he was elected to do isn’t it? Or was it all just a ruse? But it doesn’t stop there. As the world heats up, it looks as if the 45th’s administration is likewise failing its citizens in the health and education sectors.
The Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act never sat well with conservatives. It was a bill that sought to insure 44 million people without insurance and to decrease health related bankruptcies, the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States, while simultaneously decreasing the amount of money Americans spend on healthcare over time. Conservatives called it both a “socialist” law and an entitlement program because if there’s anything Republicans absolutely despise, it is entitlements — unless you count corporate welfare, farm subsidies, international aid and various tax loopholes. So now, with a majority in both the House and Senate, Republicans have been hard at work to repeal the ACA in efforts to pass their own healthcare bill under the 45th’s administration.
Unfortunately for all Americans, many of the Republicans working on this new bill are under the heavy influence of their backers in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The healthcare bill House Republicans offered would make deep cuts, of an estimated $370 Billion over the next 10 years, to the Medicaid program, which insures more than 70 million Americans. The revisions threatened to strip benefits — or even coverage — from low-income children, elderly and disabled folks and proposed to give wealthy Americans an incredible tax break. Those in the 1% would receive a break of around $33,00 and those in the top 0.1% would receive one of about $197,000. Wow. It’s no surprise that this bill, dubbed the American Health Care Act, looked dead by the time it was introduced in Washington. The American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association, and the AARP all came out against it and the 45th himself even called it “mean” on twitter.
A couple good things about the AHCA are that young people won’t be forced into buying health insurance and that insurance companies will still be forced to cover (some, not all) pre-existing conditions. But these small positives aren’t enough to outweigh the overwhelming negatives for the general American public, so Senate Republicans have taken it upon themselves to write a legislation that is less, “mean.” This private team of senators, made up of 13 men and no women, worked diligently and in secret to provide pretty much the same bill. With zero senate hearings and zero amendments from Democrats, the senate’s version of the ACHA remains an enormous transfer of wealth from working people to the richest Americans. The 45th remains uninvolved in this matter, once again failing to do his job as a leader and champion of the people. The wealthy get to keep their government funded healthcare while working on a bill to strip poor Americans of theirs, all while claiming that ‘government funded healthcare doesn’t work.’ There are tradeoffs to every legislation, but this, leaving the poorest, oldest, and sickest Americans to fend for themselves in an individual market place they’re unable to afford, cannot be one of them.

One member of the 45th’s administration that seems to be flying under the radar is millionaire, Betsy DeVos. The newly appointed Secretary of Education, having only attended private schools, is working to turn the Department of Education into the Department of Reclaiming Student Debt; as if the future workforce of the country wasn’t already hindered enough. While other members of the administration work on cutting taxes for corporations and the rich, DeVos has revoked federal protections for minorities, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students. She believes it is a problem that high-poverty school districts receive more funding than low-poverty schools and her department is working already to rewrite two Obama-era rules intended to protect student loan borrowers: Borrower Defense to Repaying and Gainful Employment.
Borrower Defense To Repaying allows students to have their federal student loans forgiven if a school employed illegal or deceptive practices to encourage the students to borrow debt to attend the school. The gainful employment rule was created to ensure that students earned enough money after graduation to repay their student loans. For a college to have access to federal student aid, the college must meet minimum gainful employment standards. The current formula says that on average, student loan borrowers of a degree program must not have student loan payments exceed 20% of their discretionary income or 8% of their total earnings.
Both rules were written in response to practices stemming from for-profit colleges but DeVos believes that the two rules are confusing and unfair to both students and schools. She wants to strike a fair balance between protecting students from predatory practices and creating balanced rules to which colleges can adhere. Critics view the move as a win for the for-profit college industry, including the American Federation of Teachers, who released a statement on the department’s decision:
“The [actions of the 45th’s administration] today show that the White House stands with predatory for-profit schools, not the students they rip off,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “About the only thing worse than ripping off students with worthless degrees from for-profit colleges is denying them help to relieve their substantial debt, and allowing the schools to continue to prey on students.”
DeVos argues that the rule changes will still help students who are victims of fraud, though she does not detail how. In my opinion, DeVos was appointed to lead and cultivate a department that strives to provide the next generation with the best knowledge and opportunities to succeed. But she has lacked spine thus far, remaining ambivalent to several issues while caving to the pressure of conservatives and private companies on many others. While she personally opposed a rollback of the Obama administration’s federal guidance protecting the right of transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, she did not say so publicly and was unable to persuade the 45th or fellow Republicans to leave the guidance in place. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), issued a statement saying that she hoped DeVos “stands strong” and doesn’t “cave to pressure,” but when given the choice by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to go along with the move or resign, she caved. After the rollback, she said the issue was best left to states and local school districts.
It’s as if DeVos doesn’t care if the Department of Education falls apart at the federal level. In her brief time with the 45th’s administration she has said, amongst many other concerning things, that she doesn’t care if the department she runs is shut down (there’s already a bill in Congress proposing to do just that, H.R. 899, which says in its entirety: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”) Though not unexpected, this and the lack of a mention of traditional public schools in her vision is alarming to many; as is the 45th’s education proposal, which calls for $20 billion to help families leave “failing government schools” for charter, private, or religious schools.
DeVos is an advocate for “school-choice,” similar to how many senate and house republicans are advocates for “free-market” healthcare. To her, only the wealthy deserve the best. Of the $100 million the Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation has given out from 1998–2014, more than half has gone to Christian organizations and private companies seeking to privatize education and blur the separation of church and state. She doesn’t care if everything else falls apart and if only one demographic of students receive a good education.
It’s clear that once again, this administration is failing the very people that helped them rise to power. Their headstrong belief that the government shouldn’t give entitlements will only leave room for the wealthy, but it ignores one etymological fact: Governments are funded with the people’s money; therefore, the people are “entitled” to it.
An Apocalypse for Every Generation
As dire as the decisions of the 45th’s administration may seem, it certainly isn’t the first time Americans have faced ‘the end of the world.’ In fact, it’s almost as if every generation in modern day America has faced their own apocalypse.
It starts with ‘The Lost Generation,’ those born between 1890 and 1914. This group rode the prosperity of the Industrial Revolution into the turn of the century and experienced the First World War. I think it’s appropriate that they are dubbed the lost generation because if they didn’t lose their lives fighting the Great War, they soon lost them after the uproar of the 1920’s, in the wake of the Great Depression.

Then comes ‘The Greatest Generation,’ born between 1915 and 1940. Those in this group grew up during the Great Depression and probably fought in World War II. It was Tom Brokaw, a famous News Broadcaster, who named them the Greatest Generation; they fought for what was right, rather than fighting for selfish reasons. And they certainly did made great self-sacrifices, fighting to protect people in other countries from the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Japanese Kamikaze suicide bombers. They are the parents of the “Baby Boomers”.
Baby Boomers were born between 1941 and 1964. They grew up in a time of prosperity and an absence of world wars, which led to an incredible population increase in the U.S. They were the Flower Children: taking LSD, fawning over The Beatles, and protesting the war in Vietnam. This generation, unlike their parents who grew up during the Great Depression, became the great consumers, made famous for spending every dollar they earned.
They were the first Western Generation to grow up with two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot. But they also endured the conflicts in Korea, the Cold War, the assassination of progressive President John F. Kennedy, the moon landing, the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther, the stonewall riots, and the waste and destruction of the war in Vietnam.
But now Baby Boomers are CEOs, leaders, and politicians driving the country into the ground with their unbelievable stubbornness, greed, and aversion to change.
After them come those born between 1965 and 1979, otherwise known as “Gen X”. Originally called “Gen Bust,” due to the vastly smaller birthrate during this time compared to that of Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers were treated to: the highest level of education in the country’s history; MTV and the rise of Disco; the 1973 and 1979 oil crises; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union; the Tragedy at Tiananmen Square and China’s momentary flirtation with personal freedom; the Gulf War, the rise of Saddam Hussein, the Dujail Massacre; and NAFTA, where President Bill Clinton paved the way to offshore millions of American jobs.
And finally there’s Gen Y, the Millennials, born between 1980 and the year 2000. This is my generation, the generation of ‘Boiling Frogs’. With most of the world’s issues now resolved, we grew up expecting uncomplicated lives but when starting our careers we quickly found out that wasn’t going to be the case. In a time when a majority of homes have an Internet connection and computer, we’ve been witness to: the 911 attacks and the rapid surge of worldwide terrorism; the fall of Enron, due to corporate fraud and energy trading scams on a national level; President George W. Bush, Congressman Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney deceiving the entire nation about nuclear and biological weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; the subsequent invasion and occupation of the Middle East; a rise in the number unstable Americans committing mass murders with weapons of rapid destruction; Congress becoming dysfunctional due to a 50:50 division of conflicting fundamental believes and values in the US; 2008, the largest economic decline since the great depression; college tuition and housing prices growing beyond what most young adults can afford; the effect of 20+ years of offshoring American jobs; and two proposed apocalypses in Y2K and the Mayan Calamity.
A lot has happened in the nation within the past century, and yet, no matter what the situation may have been, Americans found a way to prevail/rise to the challenge each and every time. But living through it feels different. It seems like too much is happening at once, and it seems like maybe this time we won’t be so lucky. Like maybe this time we won’t prevail.
In my time composing this piece, I’ve also gone out onto the field to survey people of all ages, creeds, and color about recent events. After striking up careful conversations on the topic, I proceeded to ask interviewees what challenges they thought the current generation might face while starting their careers compared to when they themselves were starting theirs. And to my surprise, despite what was happening in the world through each of the aforementioned generations, I received similar answers from nearly everyone I interviewed. Even on a 23-hour train ride, from Tampa, FL to Philadelphia, PA, where I had the pleasure of surveying passengers from all walks of life (including a WW2 vet!), the answers I gathered remained largely the same, highlighting one issue: This generation has more distractions at hand than any other before.
But I suppose that answer makes sense, Millennials are the Internet generation after all. Our phones and devices are always within reach, giving us access to anything and everything. The distractions are literally right at our fingertips. Whether it’s for communication, news, or entertainment, these devices meant to facilitate our way of living have become a double-edged sword and are now hindering our futures as well. It’s no wonder that many who came before us think this generation isn’t focused enough.
That’s why I finished most of my interviews explaining the Boiling Frog analogy:

Put a frog into a vessel, fill it with water and start heating it. As the temperature of the water begins to rise, the frog adjusts its body temperature accordingly. It focuses on this simple task to remain sane as the situation surrounding it becomes unbearable. As the water reaches its boiling point, the frog cannot adjust anymore so it’s at this moment that it decides to jump out. But it is too late. The frog has lost all its strength in adjusting to the rising water temperature and it is unable to jump. It dies shortly after.
What killed the frog?
It wasn’t the boiling water if that’s what you’re thinking. No, the frog died due to its own inability to decide when to jump out. No need to mince words here, for Millennials the boiling water in this analogy is a culmination of the issues I covered earlier in this piece: climate change, self-righteous politicians, and the removal of public “entitlements” in government.
So yes, many in this generation are certainly using the Internet and ‘smart-devices’ to distract themselves. But it is not on purpose, it’s not because they want to ignore their careers and responsibilities. It is because they need to escape and detach themselves from the reality that, now as Millennials reach the early stages of their careers, the water is about to hit its boiling point. Hence why I dubbed Gen Y, “the Boiling Frogs.” Like in the analogy, we Boiling Frogs have found a way to stay sane while adjusting to the rising pressures and expectations required of us to succeed in this nation, but as we go forth, we have to be aware that it’s now time to quit detaching ourselves from the reality of the situation. It’s time for us to jump. Because if we don’t, if we continue allowing those before us to exploit us physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, and/or mentally, we will certainly meet our demise. So we have to speak up, get focused and take action; we have to care about others and we have to jump while we still have the strength!
As I completed my interviews, I received two pieces of advice that have stuck with me:
“Fail, pick yourself up and fail again. Because without this struggle, what is your success anyway?”
“You do not have to be fearless, just don’t let fear stop you.”
Renaissance
With unusually severe storms, hotter weather, harsh droughts, violent floods, etc., it’s obvious that we’re in a time of crisis not just politically in the US, but globally as well. Many People of Color and Third-World countries are experiencing the worst of it. Insanely high temperatures, militant governments, civil wars, political unrest; and as these situations grow worse, art seems more and more like a luxury many just won’t have time for.
As the US itself falls apart, certain leaders and right-wing groups focus only on winning, on remaining the most powerful. The winners write history after all, and to these people, the ends definitely justify the means. Just like for Hitler, Mussolini, and other fascist leaders, the ends justified the means. To get there however, and to assure none would oppose them, these rulers often stole and purged the arts and culture of the nations they conquered. They did this with the intention to build their collections sure, but it was also because art captures the thoughts and emotions of a population for an eternity. An artist pours their soul into each and every piece, so the work is always honest; it makes no difference who commissioned the piece.

It is for this reason that art is always persecuted and defunded by fascist leaders and dictators; by those who know that they don’t have the people on their side. The winner writes history, but how legitimate can that history be when the populous from that time has something different to say?
Even now, with how accessible art has become, thanks to the Internet, people often complain that politics should be left out of it. Paintings, music, video games, film, etc.; they say the arts and entertainment are a form of escapism, not another medium for political discourse. But that ideology fails to acknowledge the very purpose of art.
“I think the purpose of art is the same at all times,” America Ferrera, actress, primetime Emmy-award winner, and Hispanic role model, tells the LA Times. “But I think in times like these, times of real, real questioning and reflection and concern, it becomes that much clearer that our role in society is to connect.”
Yes, art has always been about connecting, about translating the ideas and feelings within the artist in order to create a discourse or stir specific emotions with their audience. And yes politics are involved. Bob Dylan protested racism and war; Beethoven was forced to change the title of the final movement in his Ninth Symphony from “Ode to Freedom” to “Ode to Joy” by Napoleonic censors; and Shakespeare himself often made fun of King Richard III in his plays. Look at Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War era black comedy film, Dr. Strangelove! It satirizes the Cold War era struggles between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States. Much of this is attributed to the fact that someone with great talent more often than not has a free spirit. It’s natural for them to critique and expect more out of their leaders. What better form to do that than through art?
Russian novelist, Vladimir Nabokov, in his Lectures on Russian Literature says that throughout the 1800s, the governments of Russian Tsars Nicholas I and II, “Remained aware that anything outstanding and original, in the way of creative thought, was a jarring note and a stride toward Revolution.”
And that’s why Art thrives most in times of crisis. More people want more out of their leaders and more creators have something to say, more thoughts and ideologies to share. Not many people create content when times are good because, quite honestly, they’re busy enjoying themselves. But when things turn sour, that’s when the talent of a populous arises and flourishes.
Look at the renascence. The largest movement of art and culture to date in human history was preceded by one of our darkest and most violent times, the Middle Ages.
To me, the abundance of music over the last two years serves as a modern day example of this same concept. It helps that the medium is so accessible these days, but ever since the 45th began his candidacy, an impressive number of (conscious) artists have flooded the industry with records expressing their feelings on the matter.

Film is an art form that’s just over a century old, but it’s one of the best mediums to capture the voices of a generation, regardless of what certain oppressive leaders might want their legacy to be. After the 45th’s election in November Tom Quinn, the Film & Video program director at Drexel University sent the following email out to his students and staff:
“One could not walk down the hall or enter a classroom yesterday without catching heated discussions about the aftermath of the election. I saw students who were angry, scared, confused, or quiet. Hearing all of this made me ask the question: Why aren’t these emotions being represented in student work?
As educators, it is never our role to tell you how to think or vote. That’s personal to each person and while there were majority opinions in these discussions, I also wondered about how those who voted differently were feeling. No one should feel like an outsider in this basement. This is a community and all opinions should be respected. We can have dialogue while showing respect and that should always be paramount.
However, I’d be remiss if I did not use this opportunity to remind you of the privilege you have as storytellers to use your feelings in your films. It’s your responsibility. I avoid it at times too. We make art to escape as often as we do to engage, but I heard a passion in the halls that is missing in pitches and on screen. You are not creating calling cards. You are not creating a reel. You are creating a body of work.
If you feel angry, put it in your work.
If you feel confused, put it in your work.
If you feel no one understands your worldview, put it in your work.
If you’re conflicted, put it your work.
You can use it for comedy, for drama, for experiential work or for docs. Be respectful. Challenge your own opinions. Let it be complicated. Messy. But engage.
Times of social unrest have produced great artwork — — largely from youth movements. There has been less of that recently and I wonder if it is because online spaces give you an outlet that did not always exist. But we want and need you to speak up — regardless of political views or perspective.
I see a lot of think pieces on Millennials trying to sum you up. Having had the privilege of working with you, I know them to be false and oversimplified. Your films are your voice. Talk back. Be loud. Reclaim that conversation and tell us who you are.
We look forward to listening.”
A piece of art is a piece of someone’s soul. It’s their deepest emotions, their inner beliefs, the fancies of their imagination, or a combination of all three. It’s the silent voices of many, speaking out about their experiences and differing lives. Whether it be film, music, sketches, paintings, sculptures, etc. the arts bear witness. When artists engage with their political and social contexts, their critical role in terms of social conscience, moral critique, and collective action becomes visible. They document the thoughts and emotions of a population. They provide an essential outlet for the range of heightened emotions we feel: confusion, frustration, anxiety and hopelessness. And most importantly, they remind us of life’s joys and of the strength and resilience of the human spirit. That is why, despite everything that’s coming in the 45th’s administration, I am happy to have a degree and background in Film & Video. Why I’m happy to have a diploma for the end of the world.

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