1. Berger’s uses the words “mechanical record” to talk about a work of art like a photo.  A picture or work of art is an image that has been detatched from it’s place in history.  That history was the time when it was first created.  Since we, the people who observe it, are in a different time period, there are often mistaken perceptions about the work of art.  Furthermore, the person who actually created the work of art probably sought to immortalize his place in history.  Berger defines the word “history” on page 136 by saying that it constitutes the relation between the present and the past.  Hals’ painting is an example of typical mystification of past.  The art experts, who have “explained” the painting to us,  have actually deprived us of the real meaning behind the painting.  They have tried to make the painting mean things that the author did not intend.  Berger wants to end the mystification and examine the work of art in context.  He reminds us of the actual history of the painting.  He asks what was happening historically and what was the relation between the artist and the subjects.  Why did the artist paint those particular people?  Berger wants us to look for evidence of the relationship in the painting and judge the painting for ourselves.  We do not need the interpretation of art historians.

2. Berger’s account of the painting is totally different from that of the art experts.    He asks questions about the art instead of merely stating “facts” about it.  He doesn’t think that art interpratation is the same for everybody and he believes that people should think about pieces of art and have their own personal opinion about them.  The passage that that characterizes the way that Berger sees the Hals’ painting is on page 138.

In the first section, Walker talks about the experience of visiting the Grand Canyon and how most people cannot truely see it.  Instead, they become consumers and they cannot appreciate it personally.  Walker gives examples of how to avoid becoming a consumer whether it is venturing off the beaten path or observing the familiar not as a tourist but as an observer.  He also gives an example of encountering the Grand Canyon during a disaster to completely alter one’s perspective on it.  When Walker talks about how we yearn for a real and authentic experience, he gives examples of what we would want.  For instance, stumbling on an Indian village during a festival.  However, Walker also states that we feel the need to get approval for our experience and he gives the example of the couple who invite the ethnologist to the Indian festival.  Walker’s examples do build on each other, feeding the point that he makes.  His point is that we have lost our sovereignty, our right to enjoy and appreciate things.  We feel that we cannot make proper judgements about things so we ask the experts.  Walker’s progress of thought includes everybody from tourists to students because they have both fundamentally lost their sovereignty.  Both the tourists and the students have given up their right to discovery. 

This essay is filled with the language of loss.  We have lost our ability to truly discover things because the experts have packaged experiences and learning into convenient little packages.  We have lost our sovereignty which is our ability to discern things for ourselves.  Instead, we feel compelled to consult experts to get approval for our opinions.  We also have lost our ability to see things in their essence as they have been labeled and dismissed as specimens.  We should all be concerned about the loss because it effects us all no matter who we are. 

One of the questions the reader left me with was how can I stop being a consumer and regain my “soverign rights”?  Am I really being put at a disadvantage because of my education?  Is my education such a perfect package that I lose sight of what I am truely discovering?  Pererhaps my education is hindering me from truely experiencing things.  Is it really true that I cannot attain a truely fufilling experience if I do what everyone else does?  Can I not see the Grand Canyon in the “proper” fashion if I am expecting something, if I have preconcieved notions of what it should look like?  Will it not satisfy me in some fundamental way?   If I read about Mary Washington and hear good things about it, will that build my expectations so much that I will ultimately be robbed of the experience to “discover” college for myself?  If it doesn’t live up to my expectations, I will ultimately be dissappointed and if it does, I will never be able to “see” it.

There were parts in the reading that I struggled with.  There was the idea that the more others try to make it “easier” for us, the more we miss out on certain, fundamental experiences.  For example, people who cannot get an education easily have so much more of an innate desire to learn then students who get all their education handed to them in schools.  Students in our school system sometimes lose their enthusiasm for discovering things because they have no reason to probe and struggle to learn things.  There is no excitement, there is only complacency in accepting the “package of education” that someone else created to make it “easier” for us to learn. 

Since a cliche is a boring, overused, common word or action, it is within our comfort zone to utilize it.  It is not creative and it is not thought provoking.  Packaging an education or an experience is a type of cliche.  It removes the possibility for making it personal and special.  For instance, taking the donkey ride down into the Grand Canyon is a type of cliche because everybody does it.  You miss out on the personal experience of the Grand Canyon and you have no idea what your own reaction is because the tour guide is telling you what you are supposed to feel and think about the Grand Canyon.       

This photo represents the liberal arts Education to me because it shows people actually flying-lifting off the ground as though they are wieghtless and carefree. I do not believe that the liberal arts education can make one carefree or makes one literally float up like a balloon but I do believe that it frees one’s mind to be able to think logically and clearly. It frees the mind of certain inhibitions and fears that might limit us in thinking for ourselves. We can be free to discover things for ourselves rather than relying on the opinions of others. A liberal arts education also can stir such an enthusiasm of discovery in us that we can feel liberated enough to explore unknown regions like the children in the photo are doing-jumping up to see something different, a new landscape. I think that we can discover a new landscape through a liberal arts education or at the very least, get our feet off the ground. By austin’s spacephotostream.

This photo represents a liberal arts education to me because it looks like people connected throughout the whole world. I think that one of the goals of a liberal arts education is to connect people of all sorts of races and types. A person’s scope of understanding and tolerance is broadened through education. For instance, reading literature written by a person from a totally different walk of life can make one appreciate another way of life besides their own. Education forces us to stop ignoring the people around and opens our eyes to the similarities between our culture and other cultures despite the differences. By Weaving.
All these doors remind me of my education because at this point, I have so many “doors” to choose from. There are so many fields of education that are open to me and they all look equally tempting. I know that by the end of my college experence, I will have to choose just one door but at this point, I really enjoy being able to “peek through every door” or dabble in every field before I choose. A liberal arts education is unique in the sense that one is not forced to choose a “door” right away and thus it is much more well rounded and satisfying. By Nelmaf.
I believe that first and foremost, the liberal arts education is one of self-discovery. In this image, a girl is seated next to a mirror but it is blurred and scratched, symbolizing that she has yet to uncover her full identity as of yet although she is working on it. I can see myself as that girl, tolling to discover something about myself through my education. Reading and learning about other peoples’ experiences in literature should awaken some questions in how we percieve ourselves and our experiences. A liberal arts education should never be passive, it should be active and exciting. We should really apply it to our everyday lives instead of leaving it in the classroom. We should also use our knowlege to improve our character. By Jippolippo.