When our IDC class was given the "Snapshot NYC" assignment, I was curious to see how it would play out. I thought it was an intriguing idea that we could have an assignment that was supposed to portray our neighborhood, be about something else completely, that still spoke of "home" to you. It took me some time to figure out what it was that I was trying to capture; a flower, an ornate object, the water, what was there in NYC that spoke of the "ideal" neighborhood to me. I was surprised upon my findings, actually.

On thursday, my english professor gave us the opportunity to attend "Lets Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice" at John Jay College for extra credit. It was about the art of hip-hop and the underlying message it can sometimes convey. I often forget how music is just like all other forms of art, it expresses a message just like paintings and photographs can. When you read the lyrics of some songs, its often the artist expressing how he or she feels about issues.

I really enjoyed the Snapshot 2009 day for Macaulay students. It was suprisingly a beautiful day in New York City that Sunday. The skies were clear and it was oddly warm weather to be mid-October. I knew I didn't want to take the event too literally--I didn't want to take a picture of an actual neighborhood. I wanted to take a picture of something that was important to me. The challenge was to take a picture of an area where you can imagine yourself when older, a place you can come home. The image of "home" is what led me to the Conde Nast building in Times Square.

        In his essay, Richard Taruskin defines the poietic fallacy as, “the conviction that what matters most (or more strongly yet, that all that matters) in a work of art is the making of it, the maker’s input,” (10). Taruskin used this idea in exploring modern art, but the concept is certainly interesting in a different discussion of the definition of art. Here Taruskin asserts that all that matters in art is the maker and the effort he puts forth in his creation.