Title: S.O.S. – Saving Our Shad

For years, shad had been able to move through the Delaware watershed, but now they can’t move up stream. What’s stopping them?

Title: Deepening Our Roots

Logline: LaFarm harvests more than just produce; it harvests connections between the college, community, and Lehigh Valley.

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DACA students are working towards a college degree while constantly fearing deportation.

This film uncovers the food waste problem in the Lehigh Valley and reveals the active roles the community is taking to combat it.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KuHBd2z7O29TSztMcafdzl1Pk4fmGXHy

Sara Taksler said that she loves political satire because it inspires people to take action. She said that it is the spark that ignites the viewers inner fuel to take action and change the world they are being exposed to, but how come those who watch satire are taking the least amount of action?

Political satire is a genre that grew from the Greeks. The Greeks use to put on a playwright competition where the best playwrights would write a drama, a comedy, and a satire. This competition was called the Dionysia. Dionysia was a 5 day festival where all Athenians would flock to enjoy some of the best and wittiest playwrights pieces. These pieces were praised by politicians in power and enjoyed by all. This competition died out as wars raged on, but these genres lived on through the will of the people. Now these art forms have evolved and are being practiced and preformed on platforms that have evolved with the evolution of media.

Now we have papers such as the Onion that write satires that are now available online. We now have shows like Last Week Tonight, The Late Show, The Daily Show, and so many more. These shows reach millions of viewers and have cult fan bases.  The largest audience of these political satire shows are millennials. The millennials who watch these shows are associated with a more democratic or liberal mindset. According to Sara the millennials who watch these shows should be the most driven to create change, but facts from the recent election and primaries would show other wise. According to Election Project, the age group of 18-29 year olds had the lowest turnout rate by a margin of 20% during the 2016 election. This age group also declined by more than 5% from the previous election and declined almost 10% from the last controversial election of 2008. Despite the fact that more satire shows are showing up and despite what Sara said, viewers seem to be getting more complacent and are taking even less action then before. Satire might not be the spark that lights the fuel anymore, it just might be another platform of information.

Hope You all enjoy

https://drive.google.com/open?id=173IcfY3f_6NoEPen7S4RsS2bkR7cKbFY

This past week, filmmaker Sara Taksler came to Lafayette to talk about her film Tickling Giants.  The film was about a doctor, Baseem Youssef, who gave up his medical career to become a powerful Egyptian television star, using satire to comment on his country’s oppressive regime. It was shocking to watch as people were slowly brainwashed into hating Baseem because of the political comments he would make. He was just trying to shine light on the horrible situation that his people were in, but the Egyptian population eventually all turned their backs on him. It was a little bit ridiculous that a comedian was considered a wanted man when there were so many other horrible things going on in Egypt. 

Baseem states that maybe his jokes are insults, but they are not injuries. No one is getting hurt by him having his satirical show, yet people act as if he is a felon. Baseem is “the Jon Stewart of Egypt” and the people there need him more than they know. The film made me very sad to see the stakes Egyptians face every day just to tell a silly joke. Watching Tickling Giants really made me think about how in America we take for granted satirical political commentators, but when people try to do this in Egypt, all hell breaks lose. The film had a good way of showing the freedoms that we have here in the US that not all countries have the opportunity of having. People like Bill Maher, Steven Colbert, and Chris Rock, could never be what they are had they been working in Egypt.

I very much enjoy when well-known, talented people come to our school to show us the amazing work they have created. It was very exciting to have Sara Taksler with us because she is a producer on The Daily Show, which is very popular with the current generation. With each talk I attend, I not only learn more about how to create art, but I learn more about the world around me which I believe is one of the main purposes of art.