OMG IT'S FRIDAY.

Today you either registered for your AP exam(s) or you had some built-in time to get some school work knocked out.  I was proud to see some of you finishing up your architecture reading that is due on Monday! Brownie points for you!

If you were absent today and were unable to register for your exam(s), the counselors will be summoning you sometime next week to get that taken care of.

Since there's nothing else to really say, I'll leave you with this (just replace "work" with "school"):

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

Who wants to party with Warhol?

Ah, Andy Warhol - you eccentric, creative, silver-haired party animal.  Of all the gajillion artists we study in Humanities, there is a short list of people you need to know in order to be considered a functioning human being, and Warhol is one of them. Monroe, soup cans, Elvis, Jackie, Mao - he was all the rage in the 1960's.  His studio, The Factory, located in Midtown Manhattan was the scene for socialites, hipsters, and celebrities.  The likes of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, David Bowie (tears), Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Betsey Johnson (you'd recognize her jewelry label), and even Salvador Dali were some notable visitors.

Warhol and Dali hanging out and being weird together

Since I'm all about lists and the categorization of information, here are some fun facts about Warhol:

• He was born as Andrew Warhola to Slovakian Byzantine Catholic immigrants 
• Warhol was almost murdered by a radical feminist, but he slowly recovered
• He worked closely with the rock band, The Velvet Underground
• He usually wore sunglasses to cover up his "lazy eye"
• He began collecting photographs of celebrities at the age of nine
• A mama's boy through and through, he lived with his mother and 25 cats until her passing
• He was a fan of taxidermy and had a stuffed peacock, penguin and moose head

Reminders

1. 10th graders - please bring a pencil for registration tomorrow! Also, tonight is the deadline to RSVP for the practice exam online
2. Study hall in class tomorrow! Bring something to work on (perhaps your architecture reading?)

Looking for a Humanities Experience? 

• Check out the Vermeer collection at the DMA if you haven't done so already
• Watch a performance of Wicked at Fair Park (I'm going in two weeks!) 
• Visit the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art (I think I've only referenced it 30 times in class this week...Gottlieb, Motherwell, Lichtenstein, and Pollock are all featured there)
• Listen to a FREE performance of the works of Mozart and Bach at UTD this Friday only

Lots of things in the news today! The music legend Prince died and Queen Elizabeth II of England turned 90. In Prince's memory, here he is performing Purple Rain at the 2007 Super Bowl halftime show.

Here's your Throwback Thursday for the month - this is when I visited Washington D.C. and posed in front of a Lichtenstein three years ago. Note my trusty handbag that comes with me everywhere I go.

All the Internet funnies. 

Modern art is so deep.

Someone get Mr. Stanton this.

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

Bee or Biden?

Flawless

Today we got you thinking about Pop Art by testing your knowledge of commercial logos, famous celebrities, and a few local and global leaders. Some of my students seemed disappointed in their inability to identify some of the popular images, wondering if these are actually important things to recognize in 21st century America.  Which got me thinking - shouldn't we know who Beyonce is just as much as our Vice President, Joe Biden? What does it say about us if we can only identify one or the other...or neither?

Speaking of Beyonce, I think we need to dedicate some time to her, since I'm still riding high off of the release of her single, Formation in February. If you're wondering why your old-esque Humanities teacher is listening to the same music as you, just remember she was mine before she was yours - I've been a Beyonce fan since Destiny's Child dropped their first album in 1998.

Some of the best Queen Bee lyrics:

• I can see your halo, you know you're my saving grace (Halo, 2008)
• Been the number one diva in this game for a minute (Diva, 2008)
• Who run the world? Girls! (Run the World, 2011)
• When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets (I Was Here, 2008)
• I woke up like this. We flawless. (Flawless, 2013)
• I took a vow that from now on I'm gonna be my own best friend (Me, Myself, and I 2015)
• I got hot sauce in my bag, swag (Formation, 2016)

Bow down to the Queen...an icon and a voice for female empowerment.  Speaking of which, our CE tomorrow is about Harriet Tubman making the $20. Ladies, stand up! 

Sophomores, don't forget to sign up for the practice exam by tomorrow! This is a valuable and free experience for you! Don't we all love free things? And if we didn't think it was worth your time, your teachers wouldn't be sacrificing sleeping in on a Saturday to hang out with you instead. 

Squad goals...why do I hear snapping?  

We're halfway through the week, friends!

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

Jack the Dripper

Oh, Abstract Expressionism, how you make me think (or not).

The last time we studied art in class was when we were hanging out with our Surrealists and Dadaists and you thought that was nuts. From mustached Mona Lisa to paint splatter. Well that escalated quickly.  Remember, we don't have to like a certain kind of art to respect the work of an artist.  Abstract Expressionism isn't necessarily about dealing with your feels, but taking ownership of the human experience.  Like Mark Rothko once said, "a painting is not a picture of an experience, but is the experience". All of the painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, and philosophy is subjective in the 20th century and beyond - it's what you make of it. Kind of like jazz music or dance, just go with it.

How about these fun Rothko cookies?

Or even these Pollock cookies????

I motion for an Artistic Movement Cookie Day. It will be amazing and delicious. 

Don't forget - your Pop Art reading is due tomorrow!  

Everytime. 

Finished with the reading and have some free time? Here are some things you can do!

• Like studying or hanging out in coffeehouses but you're either too lazy to leave your home or your parents won't drop you off? Listen to the background sounds instead! 
• Make your own Jackson Pollock art!
• Play Pacman via Google
• Watch a bunch of oddly satisfying gifs

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

Alllll the isms!

Whoops, almost forgot to post for the day! I'm currently updating this while watching the season finale of Better Call Saul (anyone else watching?!).

Fun fact: There are only five Mondays left in the school year.

Today was one of my favorite days of the year - introducing one of my favorite projects to you guys - Isms! How often do we tell you to imagine, color, draw, paint, sculpt, cut, or glue with the fewest parameters possible? We've shown you some of the Humanities masterpieces and we can't wait to see what you come up with by May 23. So, start thinking of what you'd like to do and let us know in a week!

Modern Dada: Skeletor hates He-Man! 

Don't forget - you've got a few pages out of your Humanities textbook over Pop Art to read this week as well as our first Current Event of the six-weeks tomorrow (two questions!).  The Pope recently took some Syrian refugees to Rome in act of compassion.

I think it's time for some papal trivia.

• Cardinals didn't begin electing the pope until 1054 - previously the decision was made by aristocrats and secular leaders
• The first pope to change his name to something "pope-y" was John II in 533; his real name was Mercury and he didn't believe being named after a Roman god was very Christian
• The shortest papacy belongs to Urban VII, who died of malaria after just twelve days in office

Also, sophomores, don't forget to sign up for the practice exam by this Thursday online!

Some Internet funnies for the day:

Definitely me

Lols...#sorrynotsorry

Seriously...such a mystery

Totally Siddiqui & Virdin...why all the hugs!

Until next time.

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

HAMMMMASSSSSSS, oh wait Hummus

Humanitarians,

For those of you who were here today, we hope that you enjoyed West Bank Story as much as we did. For those of you who were out playing instruments or whatever it is that you do, here is what you missed! We watched West Bank Story, a tale of two Falafel restaurants in the West Bank, one run by a Jewish family, one run by a Muslim family. It's based on the musical, West Side Story, about rival gangs in New York.

me, most days

Here is the opening scene from West Side Story, which is where I learned how to dance fight....

And here is West Bank Story, for your viewing pleasure. 

Don't forget this weekend you have some humanities pages to read; pages 589-592 are due Monday!!!

If you finish that, take this quiz to see if you are a Jet or a Shark!

This day in history....

• 1817: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet opened the first free American school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. 
• 1912: the Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland on its maiden voyage after it struck an iceberg. 
• 
• 



this is literally one of the travesties of my youth

• 1947: Jackie Robinson made his Brooklyn Dodger debut and scored the game winning run. On this day in 1997, his number - 42 - was retired. 
• 

• Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, died. 



remember our discussions about the Cambodian Genocide? yeah, that Pol Pot

And for our last cover of the week, I bring you Ingrid Michaelson singing Radiohead's Creep, one of my favorite songs eva. 

The original: 

And now, Ms. Michaelson's version:

Have a wonderful weekend :) 

- cbg

.

y'all today, for real

Nothing like silent fear in the morning

Humanitarians,

Congrats! Your last quiz of the 5th six weeks is under your belt. You are so close to the end. You have one more quiz, one more project, a bit more reading, and either an AP exam or a final and then you have completed the year. Bask in the glory of all you have accomplished thus far, but don't check out yet...a bit more is on the horizon.

y'all, during block lunch

Tomorrow, a lot of you are missing....I will post a link of the video we watch so you too can enjoy it. Regardless if you are here currently or not, you have a few pages in your Humanities textbook due on Monday...pg. 589-592! We will only be reading out of that book for the rest of the year, so put your other two in a safe space before you need them for review time.

Don't have a lot else going on, so let's hit up this day in history:

• 1828: Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary.



thank god for the dictionary, am i right?!

• 1860: The first pony express rider reached his destination of San Francisco. He left St. Joseph, Missouri on April 3. 
• 
• 
• 
• 1865: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth
• 

• 1969: In a record breaking night at the Academy Awards, a tie between Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand resulted in the two sharing the Best Actress Oscar, and Hepburn broke the record as the only actress to win three Best Actress Awards. Below are scenes from two of my favorite Streisand movies, Funny Girl and The Way We Were. 

• 2002: Hugo Chavez returned as president of Venezuela after being forced out of office two days before. 
• 

Finally, my cover for the day is one of my favorite songs. It is the Civil Wars covering Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. 

First, the original:

Then the cover:

- cbg