Rules of success

According to Richard St John, there are eight rules to be followed in order to have success, which are :

Passion: you have to love what you’re doing, not working for money but because you’re enjoying that

Work: do not let the things doing by themselves, you have to be hardworking but also have fun doing this

Practice: find something you’re good at, and work on it to get better and better

Focus: just focus on one point because if you try to be everywhere and to do everything on the same time you’ll fail

Push yourself: try to go beyond your difficulties like shyness and self-doubts

Serve: don’t think about yourself only, success will come if you’re serving the other and don’t be selfish

Ideas: find a great idea can bring success (and a lot of money, like Bill Gates) and to reach this goal you’ll have to listen, be curious, observe, ask questions…

Persist: do not give up at each difficulty, be persevering and brave

In my case, I consider passion as the big rule of success. I can’t do anything if I’m not, at least, interested in. I think you’re definitively not able to manage in your life if you’re not motivated, and motivation comes from pleasure, interest, will, and of course passion. I couldn’t wake up every morning saying “oh no, I have to work”, I have to be motivate by my passion. And it doesn’t working only with professional career, but also with studies. Personally, if I’m not interested on a subject, during a lesson I won’t be able to listen and be concentrated on the topic, and therefore I will probably fail the exam. I can give a concrete example with the marks I had at the first semester exam : I wasn’t interested by the story of literature and I had 9 at the exam. Otherwise, I was passionate by the story of journalism and I had 15.

And it’s the same thing for a career. If you’re passionate by what you’re doing, you work harder, you get more ideas, you go beyond the difficulties, and so you succeed. That’s why I think passion is the real key to success, it brings all the rule Richard St John gave in his conference.  

How art gives shape to cultural change

I’ve decided not to choose a painting, but the photograph of Jean-Michel Basquiat you can see on the beginning of the video. On this photo, you can see Basquiat, well-dressed, barefoot, who’s looking at us with a serious expression. Behind him, a wall has been painted by him and shows us a little part from his art. I chose this picture for two reasons : first, I think Basquiat is a very important man for both art and equality between black and white. Indeed, he is one of the first black artists who managed to get a place in the field of painting, even if it’s been hard for him. On the other hand, I found this photo very interesting because there is a contrast between his tuxedo that represent a high social class, and the fact that he’s barefoot, which can remind us the slavery or also the fact that Basquiat remained attached to his modest origins. Then, the overturned chair can symbolize his engagement and his rebellious behavior in relation to segregation and racism.

Plus, I really like his art which is very critical about the society he used to live in, racism and social inequalities. So, I like this photo because it shows Basquiat’s universe just with a suit, a overturned chair, some painting on a wall and barefoot.

By the way, there is a great movie that have been done on his life named Basquiat, the radiant child, with several grand actors.

Now, about Thelma Golden speech. First of all, she thinks that art can change our mind concerning the culture and ourselves, which means that it has a real power on people. She develops this aspect of how images are powerful by giving us an example that really happened, during an exposition, where a woman told her about two paintings she though unsettling. This event made her think about this power dimension of art. So, according to her, images are working as catalysts, because they’re making people react and think about something, in this particular point black culture in the USA.

Which bring us at her opinion about the role that a museum have in society. Indeed, she asked, with one of her expositions, if a museum couldn’t be a catalyst in a community, in order to make people think about themselves.

To conclude, I agree with Thelma Golden’s point of view concerning the fact that artists are catalysts for several reasons. First, art is a roundabout way to express artist’s opinion, and when people are looking at a painting or a sculpture, they are thinking about what is the secret message of the painting. They can agree or not with the artist’s opinion, but they at least have think about the main idea. Furthermore, a painting is already a catalyst in itself because it always creates a reaction from the spectator. So, because the artist is the one who is at the origin of this reaction, we can say that he is the catalyst. And then, museum is a place where people are solicited by a lot of ideas and where they can talk with other person about what they’re thinking concerning the piece. That’s why artists are the one who can make people react, become angry, enthusiastic or involved just with their imagination, their talent and their wish to change society. 

Drawing upon humor for a change

This speech is about a cartoonist named Liza Donnelly who thinks that humor is a good way to change things, and she says that women are the ones who can make the society evolved because they can bring “a different voice to the table”, thanks to their knowledge of traditions. So she started drawing to think about society, and then she realized that she could try to make other people thinking about all the rules without sense that we’re following. In this perspective, she decided to work with women from a lot of different countries who also draw, to get their voices heard.

Consequently, the central idea of this speech is the power of the association between women and humor, in order to change some injustices or stupid rules.

I think Liza Donnelly is right, humor does change things. I think it’s easier to pass an idea with a funny cartoon than telling that directly. It can make people think about an injustice that they didn’t know while they’re simply reading a comic strip, and so the message they receive is softer than information given by a journalist who speak with difficult and very specific words. In many countries, we can see cartoons or caricatures in the news papers which catch our intention more than a long article and resume some situations in a funny way.  For example, since many years, Charb is drawing some satiric and teasing cartoons to illustrate the “Charlie Hebdo” news paper, who contribute to the success of this one.

Charb's illustration

Plus, the fact that women express theirself with this type of illustration is very important because they have a different look on what happens in today’s society. So, with their point of view, they can touch people  in a other way than men’s.

Finally, I agree with her about the idea that humor depend on one’s culture. Actually, humor is sometimes based on events that happened on a country. For example some French peoples may laugh at the Charb’s cartoon I put in my post because they understand the meaning of this, which is that some of us are waiting for 2012’s elections in order to change of government, but a foreign people may not understand the purpose if he doesn’t know that. That’s why I think that humor depend on the culture when it refers to a particular point.

On the other hand, humor is kinda universal. For example, Liza Donnelly’s cartoon makes me laughing, even if I’m not an American woman, and I think that even a guy could laugh. So, everybody can laugh at some jokes if they’re not referring to an un-universal reference. 

Places to hang out in Grenoble

Cinema "La Nef"

I'm in Grenoble since the beginning of the school year, so I don’t know very well the city. But I can propose you at least one or two places where I like to go.

First, if you want to do shopping, you can go to the mall at Grand Place. This is next to Echirolles, and if you don’t have a car, you’ll have to take the tram A in direction of “Echirolles, Denis Papin” and get off at the tram stop called “Grand Place”. In this place, there are many clothing store, and also some places where you can eat, like Mac Donald or a little restaurant in the mall’s center. Plus, there is a library, called Kateb Yacine, where you can borrow books, DVDs, CDs, and also art paintings.

Then, if you want to have a drink with some friends, I advise you to go to the “London pub”, which is my favorite bar in Grenoble. I really like this place because there is a friendly atmosphere, waiters are nice, there are many foreigners students who come in this pub so you can hear many language, which is kinda funny, it’s well decorated and they play good music (in my opinion…). Or, if you like beer, there is a pub called “Les frères Berthom”, in the city center, where you can try many different kinds of beer. This pub is really cool, the decoration is great (there is a tree inside!), and the music is super too.

Finally, if you want to see a movie, you can go at "La nef", a great cinema close to Victor Hugo's parc, where movies are in original version with subtitles. This cinema is easy to recognize, it's the one with Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin or Alfred Hitchcock drawn on the front.

I hope I helped you, and I’m sorry if it’s not really original…! Have a nice time in Grenoble !

A paraplegic climb the Mount Fuji

I once read an article about a young man who was paraplegic and who managed to climb the Mount Fuji, despite of his handicap. After a little research, I found out informations about this feat, and so I have chosen to speak about this fact because I think this guy is really courageous.

His name is Keegan Reilly. He’s only 22, and he lost the use of his legs in a car crash, years ago. He studies informatics in Oregon, and went to Japan in order to climb the Mount Fuji, which is a famous mountain at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Many people are going there to climb it by foot, but Keegan Reilly managed to clamber up the mount in wheelchair and without any help. His wheelchair was special and made-to-measure to make easier the rising.

After managed the climbing, he said he was very proud of his feat and he hoped it will be an inspiration for other persons.

Mount Fuji

1 : introduction

Hello !

My name is Sandrine D’Agostino, I’m 18 and I study literature at the Université Stendhal in Grenoble.

I’m from Annecy, in Savoie, and I go back there on the week end to see my family. I’ve got one brother, named Stephane, who works in a food store. He’s 25 years old and he lives in a flat close to my parent’s house. My mother’s name is Chantal, she works at La poste, and my father’s name is Vincent, he works in his own little company.

I want to be a journalist since I was in high school, and I’m very interested in cinema so my wish is to be a film reviewer. I’m also a music enthusiastic, and I particularly like rock n’ roll, folk, country, and the underground culture of the 70’es. I don’t practice any sport, but I play the billiard at home… I enjoy travelling, but I often go to the same place (most of the time in Italy) so I really would like to go further away, for example to the US, especially in Arizona or in Wisconsin.

And I think there’s no more thing I can say about myself… So I stop now :)