My cultural icon

The cultural icon I chose to present you is Greece's former prime minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis. He did not manage to help Greece as much as he wanted but he showed that he struggled and fought in the name of a better and more independent country that should be based on a strong economy and become stronger in the political background.



In my collage, I chose my centric photo to be this of a happy family because this man values family above everything and this was one of his characteristics which got him elected by the Greek people to be the leader of our nation. Konstantinos Karamanlis always seems to respect and honor the institution of family and would never do something to disappoint or embarrass it by any means. I also represented Karamanli's love and obsession with athleticism adding some balls and athletic symbols in my collage. He supported the promotion of Greek athleticism while being prime minister and encouraged young people to come closer to it and benefit from the things that it has to offer. He is also a fan and goes to the court or soccer field to support his team.



In the collage I made, you can see in the right side a man trying to pull himself up and a hand struggling to pull him down. That is to show that his political rivals tried very much to decrease his popularity and make him seem corrupted so that the people will hate him and they will be able to gain his position. You can also see a man above him, who is kicking him and also preventing him and keeping him away from improvement and finally another one under his feet representing the fact that Karamanlis had taken down politically some of his rivals.



Moreover I added a picture of Parthenon to show that Greece's prime minister respected and admired the classical Greece and its ancient people achievements, who spread the fame of Greece around the world. Additionally I chose to include beautiful images and landscapes that remind me of my country like a field,a boat in the sea and a caught fish to show that in Konstantinos Karamanlis years as a prime minister, our tourism improved and many more tourists visited Greece.



Finally, I represented this man's coolness by adding a man wearing a suit and supposed to hurry to go to his job, wearing black glasses and holding a beer and a cigarette. He was against the last two and I am against smoking too, but these were the only images I found to show that he could remain cool even at the toughest situations and he could also handle them without panicking.

clara

When I think about America, I usually can imagine of Marilyn Monroe, Mickey mouse, coca-cola. These things could express industrial things or mass media. If we saw just these things also, we could think that express America. Like this, Korea has Icons that are Park Ji-sung, diet and Kimchi.
Park Ji-sung is a very famous in Korea and he is a soccer player. Soccer is very famous and almost Korean like that sports. So if the World Cup season is coming, my country seems like a festival. Almost people wear red T-shirt, which presents that we are cheering up my country. They go out in the park or something big place for cheering up and together. Park Ji-sung is so famous that everyone knows and he is a symbol of Korea soccer.
Most of Korea women think that she is fat. Even she less than a average of weight. Almost of Korea woman want to be skinny. And they think that is a beautiful. So almost woman doing or done diet, which can rude your health.
When I came here I am surprised because the food is so salty, fat and sweet. And people are really fat. They also want to be slim so, here in America has a lot of merchandise, which concern with diet and they sell that merchandise even in the market. The concerning about a diet is seems like a similar. But in my country diet is almost woman’s dream. And they really hard to lose their weight.
So in my picture, I was use blue and red color paper to represent flag, which can present America but also symbol of Korea flag. The food is America’s. so The woman and food represent that concerning about diet.
The money in the picture is represents materials. In my America experience, They use materials like one-used thing very much. And the left side there is two guys. One represent gay and the other represent football. In America football is most famous sports and they really pride of super ball. The Starbucks coffee means selling. These things are the most impressive things after I came here.

An Ideal Hero by Diane Dai

Every person has his / her own super heroes; including me. In this photomontage, there are things to show my ideal superhero. In my photomontage, it’s mainly about a heroine’s life. Although being a heroine is very tiring, she still has a lot of fun.

I use big pictures to make my photomontage simple and easy to understand. The main point is a woman who wears a suit. This can show that even women can do men’s thing-being a super heroine. After watching so many movies, there is already a stereotype of a super hero in my mind. One of the important things that super heroes can’t miss is cars. In my opinion, cars are the second life of a super hero. A fantastic car can be showed off sometimes, but in generally, it can be use to chase the bad guys. Super hero needs cars every day, just like make ups for women. A cell phone is a very important technology nowadays; I don’t think a heroine can live without it; it’s a priority tool of the heroine.

Super hero doesn’t just catch bad guys and protect the city or the world. She is not god, she also needs some fun. Behind the hero, there is a huge glass of vodka; besides that, she also has a ring with a man’s head and a purse in her hands to show her recreation. This can show her character and what she enjoys.

Being a well known super hero is pretty annoying sometimes; she must need a shelter to have some quiet moment; the cruise is the so-called “shelter” in this photomontage. Just like everybody, super hero wants a normal and peaceful life, it also presents in this picture. Due to her “job”, that will be the last thing to do after her heroine life. In my photomontage, you can see the typical life of a heroine. Although, she is been busy at fighting with bad guys, she still enjoys her life.

Kate Lee

Kate’s Montage about Korean and American ideal life in their old age

I want to talk about successful life as parents between Korea and America.

The reason why I chose this topic of my montage is that I want to express what I’ve seen since I came here. First of all, I saw many old people who hold hands each other and walk friendly.

It was impressive to me (and Koreans). What I want to say is that the old in America are considering their rest of lives. And they don’t care their children’s life too much. Since their children become almost 20 and then independent form them, they start thinking their own lives. Their dream might be to live in a house with their spouse and puppy. In a good place, nice house, great environment, they want to live with doing what they wanted to do. I think this is one of the ideal things in America. Of course I know, the differences between Korea and America are caused by different size of land. They live in a big house with various things such as farm, grass, artificial lake, some animals. How beautiful life it is! Therefore, I made the montage with yacht, grass, dog. The most important thing I want to emphasize is the ole couple with holding hands together smiling. And I made ‘LIFE’ and ‘I’ words in order to express the American think their life. So, how about the Koreans ideal life as parents? Korean parents’ successful life is to have children who success in a job, marriage etc. This situation is caused by their caring about all the things while their children grow up and become adults, even after they (children) get married. Korean parents always think about their children first. And then look through their lives. Their children’s Working for a good company, living luxuriously, having a nice car. Those are the all they want as if those are the final goal in whole life. This is the ideal life of Korean parents. Therefore, I used man and woman looking young who are wearing good looking clothes in order to express that parents consider children’s successful life most important. And the skyscraper was placed on the background in order that they work for a good company as much as people envy.

Gustavo Dudamel, icon for Venezuela and the world by Daniela Acuna

When I think of any Venezuelan icon, it comes to my mind someone who does not necessarily has supernatural powers, but that is respected and admired nationally and internationally for all the achievements he has gotten so far and will get throughout his life, and for being recognized worldwide for his knowledge and experience: Gustavo Dudamel.

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez, young Venezuelan musician and conductor, was born in Barquisimeto, Lara state, on January 26^th, 1981.

He studied at Colegio Católico San Pedro (San Pedro Catholic School), where he excelled in sports and music.

His studies of popular music began under his father tutelage when he was four years old. Later on, when he was ten, he entered the Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (Venezuela’s Youth and Infant Orchestras System), taking the violin as his instrument. Parallel, he went to the Conservatorio Jacinto Lara (Jacinto Lara Conservatory) and to the Academia Latinoamericana de Violín (Latin American Violin Academy) where he received classes with the conductor Jose Francisco del Castillo.

He started studying conducting in 1995, at first with Adolfo Saglimbeni, then with Jose Antonio Abreu. For many years he was concertmaster of the Sinfónica Infantil de Venezuela (Venezuela’s Infant Symphonic), standing out for composing small ensembles.

In 1999, when he was 18, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra), which is the most important of Venezuela’s Youth and Infant Orchestras System, where he still remains as director and conductor.

Dudamel started to win several conducting competitions, including the Premio de Dirección Gustav Mahler (Gustav Mahler Conducting Award) in Germany. His reputation began to spread and was appreciated by worldwide famous conductors such as Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who accepted invitations to conduct Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela.

Countless are all the recognitions and achievements the young conductor has gotten so far nationally and internationally. Along with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, he has traveled all around the world touring and making sold out concerts, which had let him be recognized worldwide and admired for his work and knowledge. Some of the musical pieces he performs are a mix between Venezuelan folk music and classical music, where he shows the pride of being Venezuelan and introduces our country and its traditions internationally.

He has conducted several international orchestras such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many others. He was designed principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for 2007/2008 season, and musical conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 2009/2010 season.

In 2005 he signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon, a German recording company, with which, and in company of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, has released three albums so far.

In 2007, Gustavo conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert in commemoration of the 80^th birthday of the Pope Benedict XVI, having in the audience the Pope himself and other dignitaries of the Church.

These are only a few of all the recognitions and successful performances Gustavo has done. There is a huge amount of achievements extended around the world.

Nationally, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra have done several tours and concerts, some of them commemorating certain important celebrations of our country. He has incorporated around one million of children and youth to the Venezuela’s Youth and Infant Orchestras System and received recognitions from Governors of different states in Venezuela and from President Hugo Chavez, highlighting and encouraging the tireless and unstoppable work he has done to position the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra between one of the best of the world and recognizing his worldwide achievements.

Talking about his personal life, in 2006 Gustavo married Eloísa Maturén, a classic ballet dancer and journalist, in the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Andres Bello Catholic University) Church, Montalban, Venezuela. During the ceremony, several marches and Ave Marias were interpreted to make of the wedding a musical celebration.

We can’t say Gustavo Dudamel is a hero, because evidently he does not have super powers. But there is no doubt he has become a cultural icon and someone admired for Venezuelans and people from all over the world, for both his musical knowledge and tireless work to get where he is today. He has crossed international barriers always keeping present Venezuelan tricolor and has worked really hard to leave Venezuela´s name high all around the world. Not only Venezuelans but people from everywhere are sure he has a long way ahead and a future full of countless achievements, in which day by day he will improve the great artist and conductor he already is, has been and will always be.