Portfolio Reflective Essay - Yan Davydov
Cultural Passport Portfolio: Reflective Essay
For me, this past semester’s hardest class in terms of work wasn’t Calculus II or English 2150; it was actually the IDC Arts in New York City seminar. I guess that isn’t really so surprising, considering that in many ways, the class was an assortment of lots and lots cultural ‘field trips’ and reviews, most of which were (understandably) time consuming. The Cultural Passport Journey was one of the more time consuming assignments, since we had to pick out an event on our own which involves some research that we would otherwise expect a teacher to do. To utilize my Macaulay Cultural Passport, I went to three very different but equally good events.
I basically picked events based on their convenience at the time. First, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was a pleasant experience that I hadn’t done since freshman year of high school. In late October, I went to see an independent film called I Served the King of England. It was my first time at an indie-film, and luckily, it was a great first time. The last Cultural Passport event I went to was Break Out, which was a really exhilarating and funny show to end the class with. Having listed the three, it looks like I accidentally worked my way up the chart of New York City art, from simplest to most exclusive. Even though I went based on at-the-moment convenience, I’m glad to add that no matter how random the three are, all proved to leave me with a feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction. Also, all three served as agents of discovery, and have allowed me to be much more welcoming of similar shows or experiences in the future.
Anyway, my two favorite events of the three are I Served the King of England and Break Out. I really like the former because it worked out to be an amazing first time experience (and those are great because it acts as positive reinforcer and leaves a person more likely to do the thing again). Even though the film was in Czech, it was subtitled in English. And the plot was interesting enough to make the language barrier a small twist rather than an annoyance. I Served the King of England tells the story of a man called Jan Dite, who is short in stature but always big on dreams, with the ambition to make millions. It was funny seeing Jan climb up the ladder from pub waiter to brothel waiter to a fancy restaurant waiter, always getting closer to becoming a part of the Millionaire’s club. From this experience, I discovered the beauty of Indie films, which is often overlooked. Their humble charm offsets the pull of big budget blockbusters, and I’m excited for my second Indie.
As for Break Out, the show served to reiterate unto me the benefits of taking the time out to find a show in the City and to go and see it. The show itself was great. I personally love seeing break dancing, so that, with humor added to the mix, made for one heck of a show for me. Another great think about seeing Break Out was how perfectly it rounded off the semester for me (not counting Danny Hoch’s Taking Over). After a semester of plays, operas, and galleries that often required analytical understanding, Break Out was a nice break. It too is a favorite Cultural Passport experience of mine because through it I discovered that Manhattan shows aren’t all stereotypically “hoity-toity” and the like. Shows in Manhattan offer fun for a variety of preferences, which I learned from the Cultural Passports and the other plays and performances that we went to.
In retrospect, the Cultural Passport Journey that we undertook was one of the most underrated assignments of the Art in New York City course. Before this year, I never went to a Broadway or off-Broadway show, or any NYC performance, or any water tour. But, after going to three very different shows for the Cultural Passport and countless more for the rest of the class assignments, I think I finally have a decent taste of New York’s culture. Much like the variety in my Cultural Passports, New York’s culture is also ever changing. I was lucky to have seen what I had a chance to see, but there’s still so much to see and so much that I didn’t get to see. Then again, I now know firsthand what’s out there. I think that’s really the best part of this course and the Cultural Passports… for some of us, myself included, it opened the doors into NYC like 6-train never will.
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