Dust: Permanence and Particles When I think of dust, I see particles illuminated in a beam of sunlight in my dad’s work shop. Saw dust on the floor, and indication of his progress on my dresser or whatever new woodworking project he is taking on. I see my mother and myself bringing up the Christmas decorations from the basement, cardboard boxes full of forgotten treasures, covered in a years’ worth of dust, indicating the passage of another 12 months, another 365 days. I see “Wash me!” written in the dust on the back windshield of our white minivan by my five year old brother’s grubby fingertip in in the parking lot of a campground in Death Valley. Dust all over the car, a sign of an adventure had. I smell the mustiness of it that permeates in the cavernous rooms of my grandma’s house as we stack books and trinkets and old …show more content…
Art, once like us was bound to end up as dust as well. Maybe it would outlive us by a few hundred years, or maybe even a few thousand, but eventually it too would disintegrate into dust. But with recent developments in digital technologies, there is a new permanence to our thoughts and our art. It can exist in the cloud. Our photographs and drawings can remain un-faded, untouched by the hands of time, impervious to fading or the gathering of dust or disintegration. Political philosopher, Hannah Arendt was interested in this idea of permanence of art of which she called “the non-mortal home for mortal beings.” Now that our art is more permeant than ever before, does this mean something about our permanence ? Potentially, if current technology and the internet stick around our art and ideas could be around for millions of years, making them close to immortal. Can like Arendt says, we find homes in art which is able to live on? Will art be exempt from the fate of becoming dust? Artist Robert Smithson once said that “art can set on fire the dust” and it seems now that maybe it
Often art is lost or destroyed through out the many dangers of time. Art is sometimes used to convey thoughts or ideas of a time or people. If works are lost or destroyed we may lose important information from this time or the people who created the art. This matter is shown best in the movie titled The Rape of Europa.
The Dust Bowl was a treacherous storm, which occurred in the 1930's, that affected the midwestern people, for example the farmers, and which taught us new technologies and methods of farming. As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out. Carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless - restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do - to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut - anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land." The early thirties opened with prosperity and growth. At the time the Midwest was full of agricultural growth. The Panhandle of the Oklahoma and Texas region was marked contrast to the long soup lines of the Eastern United States.
You have probably heard of The Dust Bowl but didn’t know much about what it was like. Well Out of the Dust is a phenomenal book that you can read to really get a grasp on exactly what it was like to live during this time. The patience, perseverance, and hard work it took to live as a farmer, to stand by what you cultivate and do everything in your power to make it through this hard time. There is also the feeling of inhaling dust when you go outside and your eyes searing bright red and dust caked. It displays this fascinating story in free-verse which is a style that allows the authors creativity run wild.
When I think of dust, I think of old materials or places that have not been used for a long time. In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner did a great job using dust as a symbolism for aging. In the beginning of the story, Miss Emily’s house was described as once beautiful: “It was a big, squarish house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street” (787). Although the house was once beautiful, as time goes by, the house becomes old and loses its beauty: “…But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps- an eyesore among eyesores” (787). Later, when the Aldermen come to the house to receive Miss Emily’s tax payment, they describe the aged house from the inside: “It smelled of dust and disuse- a close, dank smell” (788)....
...uare Temple at Eshnunna; both very different mediums of art. Although the mediums are different, both are greatly significant in understanding the cultures of the past. Within each of these works of art the theme of immortality is prevalent. One states the theme very plainly, whereas the other has acquired this theme as time has passed. Never-the-less the theme of immortality is important in understanding each of these works of art. It is this theme of immortality which connects these works of art to our modern day and the dream a lot of us have of living forever. Although many hold this dream, I think the artist Freddie Mercury said it best in his song “Who Wants to Live Forever” when he said “This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.” Our life is very fleeting in the grand scheme of things, it’s this same fact that gives our life such great importance.
Sander, Noel. "American Dust Bowl." American Dust Bowl. American University, May 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. . (Sander).
Imagine standing outside trying to farm your dying crops. All of a sudden, the sky gets dark. You look up and see a big, black cloud heading straight towards your town. You attempt to seek shelter, but it is too late. Cars come to a complete stop, and people rush to get cover. The cloud of dirt sweeps into your small town, and you can no longer see anything but only feel the gritty dirt blowing against your skin. This occurrence is what people experienced during the Dust Bowl. In the historical fiction book, Out of the Dust, the author, Karen Hesse, describes the hardships that Billie Jo and her family faced during the worst years of the Dust Bowl. Hesse depicts the effects of the dust storms, reasons for the occurrence of the dust storms,
Can you imagine living in harsh dust, losing your mother and brother, and barely recognizing the man, sitting in front of you, is your father? In the novel, Out of the Dust, the author, Karen Hesse, reveals the theme of the novel is loss and grief. Karen Hesse unfolds the theme by using messages throughout the book to emphasize the hardship and power of the Dust Bowl.
After the yellow dust has been researched, and been proven non-toxic, the people of the town were “reminded of waking in the morning after the first snow.(2)” Usually, when someone wakes to find snow outside, it is a pleasant and happy experience. This means that the yellow dust is not only being symbolized as harmless, but is also being symbolized as happiness as well. Immigrants are also like this because they are harmless, but they also bring happiness as well to people who are open to bringing them into the
Out of the Dust is a 1934 historical fiction novel written by Karen Hesse. The setting of the novel is in a struggling farm in Joyce City in Oklahoma. The novel talks of the challenges faced by Billie Jo a 13 year old girl and her family. It tells of Billie’s struggles a she grows up in Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the depression. Billie’s father was a farmer but his crops fail to nourish because of the drought but Billie is determined to make a better life for herself. Billie was a pianist and got a chance to travel around town with other aspiring performers but her mother never gave her the support she desperately needed. She decided to escape but her escape was halted by a horrific accident which let to her mother and her baby brother being bed ridden and later died. The accident left Billie Jo with severe burns on her hands until she could not play the piano the way she use to. However much she tried doing, she felt a lot of pain. She ran a way from home after she thinks that her father does not support her, later on she comes back home and mends her relationship with her father. She meets Louise who her father had met and she starts rebuilding her life. The family in Out of the Dust faces dust storms and an economic disaster resulting from the drought.
In the Victorian era dust heaps were filled with useful garbage. Dust heaps were made up of many different things. One such ingredient – also the main ingredient – was fine cinders and ashes. These items, along with some soil, were sold to brick makers for making bricks, and to farmers for manure – especially for clover. The next item tended to be pieces of coal which were usually there because a servant’s carelessness. The coal was either resold or simply used. Another portion of the dust heaps was made from ‘breeze’. According to “Dust; or Ugliness Redeemed”, breeze was named after the cinders which were “left after the wind has blown the finer cinders through an upright sieve”. These ciders were also sold to brick makers, but for burning the b...
On February 2, 2014, a coal ash spill occurred in Eden, North Carolina which affected the Dan River; wildlife, drinking water, and other surroundings were destroyed or contaminated. The spill was caused by a leaky 48-inch storm water pipe located in a defunct steam station. The spill not only devastated its surroundings, but “sent millions of gallons of sledge” into the river which is used by North Carolina and Virginia citizens for drinking water (Shoichet, 2014). The leak was eventually patched, but left traces of copper, aluminum, iron, and arsenic that state environmental officials stated were “above state standards for surface water” (Shoichet, 2014). At the time, the article was published by CNN, environmental officials were working on a plan for cleaning up the river and remaining pollutants. Although the spill was not a major spill, the future effects that coal ash may have on the river, wildlife and citizens of North Carolina and Virginia are unknown.
The opening chapter paints a vivid picture of the situation facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is described a covering everything, smothering the life out of anything that wants to grow. The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous with "deadness". The land is ruined ^way of life (farming) gone, people ^uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for ^profiteering banks in the background that squeeze the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil, the people (farmers) have been drained of life and are exploited:
It is a wonder to marvel about how much debris man has created over the span of approximately 50 years. Sadly, this is nothing new on our planet. However, little is known, or at least in regards to public awareness, about the celestial landfill that man has created since the early days of the Space Race involving the Russian launching of Sputnik. Ever since then, the repercussions of the US versus Russia mechanized frenzy have snowballed into an estimated 6,600 satellites being launched, in addition to 1,000 that are still active now.
The natural conservancy is an organization that is out to conserve the lands and waters on which life depends on. In this paper, I will argue that the natural conservancy organization mission statement captures the true essence of environmentalism. The mission statement of the Nature Conservancy represents the true essence of environmentalism since it recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings while prioritizing the importance of protecting nature for future generations.