Hi Jacob. My name is Pamela and I am an English teacher in the Bronx. I enjoyed reading your post “The Great American Artist Edward Hopper” because I have always loved Hopper’s paintings and I completely see his influence on movies and how movies influenced him. One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is “As a result film became a stylistic inspiration for him, especially in Film Noir, which helped create the world of loneliness, isolation, and quiet anguish found in his work.” I think this is insightful because all three qualities not only describe Hopper’s work and much noir film, the qualities describe the emotions that draws so many of us to the work. Personally, not only do I identify with the loneliness, isolation, and anguish in the paintings but I want so much to know the stories behind the places depicted. Hopper rarely includes people in his paintings and when he does they are rarely connecting to each other (like the way people in the diner in Nighthawks do not connect) and/or their features are vague. Despite this, the paintings are filled with human feeling and these imply many possibly imagined back stories. Another sentence that I liked was “During production of Force of Evil (1948), director Abraham Polonsky brought his cinematographer George Barnes, one of the greatest at the time, to an exhibition of Hopper’s and told him “That’s what I want this picture to look like”. This stood out for me for two reasons. The first is that I find it exciting when a work of art influences another work of art wether they are the same medium — say, painting — or different mediums — say novels and symphonies. The second reason this stood out for me is that I’ve never seen Force of Evil and now I want to watch it. Your post reminds me of something that happened to me. One time I was in Gloucester, Massachusetts and I saw a big house up on a hill and it reminded me of a Hopper painting. Afterwards I found out that Hopper had spent time in Gloucester and maybe he was inspired by the very house. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because I am always interested in the intersection of art forms.

Hello Jacob, I really appreciate the fact that you brought the idea of mob mentality from the olden days, torches and screaming peoples, to the online aspect that it as has evolved into. The one thing I felt was missing from your argument is the working behinds mobs and what they are. While you may have provided examples it did not show your knowledge of the topic. I also found that you didn’t include anything about the flaws of being apart of these “mobs”. Overall your writing is superb but in my opinion there are some slight changes that need to be made.

Jacob,
This post was very informative. Going into it I really only thought that the death penalty was a hot button issue because of the morality of killing a person, but now knowing about the racism aspect of the death penalty sheds a whole new light on the subject. I like how you discuss both sides of the argument and how for many the death sentence gives closure but, “ it’s hard to justify continuing the Death Penalty, even though it might bring closure to families.” Personally it is alarming not only that we are possibly killing of innocent people, but also the fact that it is costing taxpayers a huge sum of money. As today’s society becomes more progressive, I’m curious to know your stance on how the death penalty will be dealt with. Do you feel like it should be a federal issue or stay in the State’s Dominion? For being a Western civilization, the United States stands out among the 53 places that still have the death penalty, which are largely western civilizations that aren’t as developed economically and politically as the US. (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/countries-that-still-have-the-death-penalty/)

This was a very interesting post, Jacob. I did not realize that race was a major issue when discussing the death penalty. I think that this was a great perspective to look at to argue against the death penalty because it is so difficult to use morals to make an argument. Being able to use facts and evidence was a great strategy to convince your audience. I think that you make an especially strong argument when you say that “the second study shows that in Washington a black man was 4.5 times more likely to be given the death penalty than a white man in the same situation.” It would be very difficult to argue against this evidence. I am curious to know what you think about the closure it may provide to families of victims. Do you think that this is a valid argument for the death penalty? You might find this PBS article (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/death-penalty-bring-closure-victims-family) interesting because it talks about closure families are able to get without the death penalty.

Really interesting Jacob,

I truly never realized how big of a role race plays in a death penalty sentencing. It was really interesting to learn about what it is like to be a person of color in Washington state. The fact that “In Washington a black man was 4.5 times more likely to be given the death penalty than a white man in the same situation”, is really not surprising but yet disgusting. It really shows a lot that they got rid of the death penalty because of this and will set a precedent for all other states. Your idea of showing what is happening on the west coast comparied to the midwest was a new insight that i never thought of. The way of living and legal systems are the same but also different. While reading it i noticed you also talked about people who were falsely convictied, How do you think that plays in to the way death penalty sentences are given? Here is a quick article on it if you decide to investigate further. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-prevalent-causes-false-confessions Hope you have more to say about this topic because I truly enjoy your outlook on the legal system.

This is a good introduction of the death penalty that I don’t think most people know. I like how you brought up the significance it has on one particular state. I would like to know what are the other states that have the highest rate of people killed on death row.