Art – Just Another Day…

The next writing prompt which is outlined above is something that I have never thought about until I saw the prompt over the weekend. Seeing as how today is President’s Day, I thought I would sit down and write a little about someone who served as a mentor for me when I started working at Target almost 10 years ago. How the timeline is doesn’t matter for context of this story because these are just a few of the things I appreciated about this gentleman. I remember meeting this older guy, who for identity purposes, we’ll call Jacob. I remember first meeting him when I was working in the grocery department and some customers were looking for somebody by his name. The catch was that they had to find someone by his name and take a picture with him. I then realized this guy must be really cool for them to ask him that and he takes the picture with them. From there, Jacob started acting as a mentor to me. I remember one particular instance where I got called by a customer and someone had (in a joking fashion) said that their name was Jose and I was freaking out because I had never even spoken to this customer over the phone. I then started asking around and asking if anyone knew who had used my name. Little did I know, Jacob told this person who had used my name to tell me that it was him because I had been freaking out. This person who had used my name then apologized and after that I said, ‘wow that was really nice of Jacob to go up to this other person and stick up for me’. I then realized that I can learn so much from Jacob and his life experiences. He had worked various jobs and he knew what it was like to interact with people. I wasn’t the most social or outgoing person and he taught to just be natural and not act awkward towards customers. I also learned that you can take things personally or not because we were dealing with people all day whether it was with managers, team members, and customers. His advice was helpful because he gave me confidence to advance in life and he also taught me one of the many important lessons in life: work hard and eventually you’ll get your due. I also started taking a less serious approach over the months as I was working there and I remember in my review for the first year working there, I got told that I was unapproachable and didn’t seem friendly. Jacob gave me the advice that you just need to relax and not take it so seriously.

I started smiling a little more at work and giving good customer service as opposed to before because I was not used to being in such an environment. As the years went by, myself and Jacob started working a lot more together and we bonded over the amount of work we would have to do, life advice, and sports. The one thing Jacob helped me with was realizing how much I helped myself out by separating myself from certain people. I remember him telling me that a certain friend of mine seemed different and one piece of evidence was when this friend of mine was switching teams because his team the Broncos had lost to the Raiders (best Football team out there!). I then started realizing my friend was just trying to be trendy by being with winners. He told me specifically ‘you’re in it for the teams and sports he isn’t’. It was one of the few moments I made the analogy between folks switching teams and the friendships they build. The way you drop friends and then decide to switch teams was apparent right there. These moments that I have mentioned above are why this Jacob fellow was one of my first mentors in life. He made you feel appreciated, he listened to you when it mattered, and we also shared some details about our own lives. I appreciated another time me and Jacob had a long discussion about me transferring stores. I had done the decision because I wanted to be closer to home and I was finishing up my final year at San Jose State. He supported me in this choice and I remember feeling pretty sad because I knew that I would not be able to talk to Jacob as much as I used to. I lasted at my new Target store 6 months but I remember stopping by to make a payment to a friend of mine. I saw Jacob there and we started talking about old times. I realized that I missed his advice and I remember I would have situations where I was just stuck whether it was at home, at work, or in life.

Almost a year ago, I saw one of my old co-workers and she gave me the news that Jacob had recently been diagnosed with Cancer and I was extremely sad that I never got to connect with him over that. It’s funny because I asked her to give me his number so I could contact him and ask him if I could help out in any way. I never got that opportunity but I would imagine it was hard on him. I would say the second part of that prompt is something I’ve always been interested in doing but it is not something that has come up in life. I would say Jacob taught me to be me most of all and also break out of my shell when it was necessary. I remember some of his classic sayings were ‘I just work here’ and ‘two highs ok with me’. These were some of those moments that just make me smile and think he knew how to have a good time and he wouldn’t seem upset about too many things. He would just keep on trucking without any hesitation. I wonder about getting old sometimes and the wisdom that I would be able to spread to others as well. I would certainly use my old friend and mentor Jacob’s will and humor to work my way through any situation. He didn’t seem like he was angry at the world either as I mentioned earlier which is something I’ve learned to take on as an everyday motto. I also learned from him that no matter how many people you deal with in life, the ones that matter will always be closest by you when it matters. He even mentioned in passing that ‘wouldn’t you like to be my son’. He knew very well that he was sort of a father figure towards me and he would protect me. He would talk about how much his family meant to him and he would speak with glee whenever he speak about his kids as well. He’s one of the main people I think about whenever I have a problem at hand and I take his many words of advice to heart. I miss the guy and I know where ever he may he also remembers what he taught me. Thank you buddy, thanks for the memories and the laughs! Till next Time!

The 300 writing prompts so far has given be 2 topics so far which have been thought provoking and made me reflect a bit on my past. This next one I see as a challenge because I am not the kind of person to express my words about art. This piece of art properly called “The Scream” is done by Edvard Munch. I’ve seen this piece of art before and I wanted to talk a bit about it. The reason I first like this piece of art is because it gives off the impression about a person (sex not described or indicated), who is in anguish or who has some sort of anxiety running through them. I can remember growing up or even through my adult years where I wasn’t feeling my best mentally because I was worried about something that was going on in my life or someone had just told me some shocking news that I had a hard time holding in.

I also really enjoy the painting because of the background that is in the painting. The skies are red with a blue and sort of black water. You kind of get the feeling from seeing the painting that if anything the colors provoke something within the viewer. When I see red, I think of blood or romance and in this essence it could be that it brings these two together to bring some sort of chaos where nothing is perfect in the world. I also notice that the red is mixed in with green as well and from my interpretation that can also be a sign of the green nature that is in and around our world. Now, to get into the characters within the painting itself. I notice that something I love about the painting is that the person that is screaming has eyes and his mouth open while the two characters in the back have no role. The two people in the background could be seen as observers who do not pay attention to what is going on around them. In fact, something that has been theorized about this painting is that artists were becoming more expressive during this time. Hence, this is why I make the connection to these two characters not being able to pay attention to what is going on around them. I can see what Munch means by his painting here is that artists have become afraid to express their opinions on social issues or the well-being of artists. Sometime back, I also read that art at this time was changing and was giving way for new artists in the field. It would be like today when artists from pop culture are starting to collaborate on projects such as movies, music, or even tv shows. I think back in those times it would seem almost impossible to bring so many artists together because everyone wants to have an input on what it is they do. One other thing I enjoy and love about this painting is that it paints a clearer picture of what else may be going in the background of this picture.

One article I read is that the person in the picture could be screaming at the horror of the slaughterhouse that is nearby. The main character that we see could be shouting at the horror that is going in during the actual proceeding where they are crossing. It goes back to what I said in the beginning, the main character is somewhat worried as to what is happening around him as he crosses the bridge. The artist also originally meant this to be a piece of how his friends had left him behind and he stopped to gaze at what was the red sky. Yet, he somehow stayed behind and he gazed on in fear. One other thing that needs to be pointed out about this piece of work is how Munch takes apart his work by not clearly explaining what gender the person in the work is. This is one of the parts of the painting because we who are viewing the painting could be in this painting. I sometimes think when we are not feeling our best we could be crying out for help. The sounds that is also covering up inside the main character is quite something to view as well because of how we may want to block out everyone else out. We may do this along these lines because we may cover up our ears with earphones when we are on the bus, airplane, on the train, or at our jobs. The idea of sound is also something that we tend to ignore in our lives because sounds can sometimes tell us something that we may or may not want to hear. When we hear directions, cues, or when we see something on a screen we tend to look for sounds that may trigger a certain emotion. I also feel the sounds when I may be reading a book that I really like.

Once again, this idea of how we take sounds may sound far fetched, but sounds make a profound impact on our lives and it is one of the final reasons I really enjoy this piece. I sometimes wonder what one’s perspective may be about slaughterhouses or being near some sort of thing that they may dislike. For example, I am not the world’s biggest fan of people that are having drinking issues being near a bar.

I can imagine having them resist a drink is something that is difficult for them to resist. Anyway, these are just a few reasons I really love this painting because of the amount of effort that is put into the detail. One thing that I think I forgot to mention is that Munch does a fantastic job of expressing with this painting with the bridge that is covering apart of the painting. This was definitely one of the most difficult pieces to write because of how I had never written about a piece of art but I am happy to get this one in because it felt like I was back in school. I’d be curious to get across what this painting maybe meant for other people back in older times but now I will never get that chance because time travel does not exist. Anyway, this does it for this piece. I will continue on with this 300 writing prompts piece until I can no longer write about the awesome prompts in here. Till next time, signing off!

Tag: Art

Writing Prompts #4: Do You have anyone in your life that has acted as a mentor to you? Have you ever helped someone out in this Way?

Writing prompts #3: What is your favorite work of art? What do you love about it?