Our first guest this Wednesday, March 27, at 9am, will be Mark Paul, an Assistant Professor of Economics at New College of Florida and a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He is a political economist working in the areas of inequality, environmental economics, and applied microeconomics. His research is focused on understanding the causes and consequences of inequality and assessing and designing remedies to address it. His writing has appeared in The American Prospect, The Nation, The Hill, Washington Monthly, US News & World Report, Jacobin, and Dissent, among other publications. His work has been cited by the New York Times, The Economist, Washington Post, CNN, The Atlantic, Vox, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, and more. Mark will also talk about the Green New Deal.
Our second guests will be three Ringling College students: Eria Kozu from Tokyo, Gi Sun Kim from Ocala, Florida, and Juliana Reolon Pereira from Rio de Janeiro.
They’ll talk about Waku Waku, which means “pleasing” or “thrilling” in Japanese, but in their case means a Japanese experiential art exhibition that will be held at Lois and David Stulberg Gallery on the Ringling College campus on April 2nd and 3rd from 11am-7:30 pm. It’s a free event for all ages and a way to learn about Japanese culture and history. Here’s what they wrote:
Fact: Waku Waku is an ancient Japanese phrase and it means excitement, which appropriate for this event.
There will be four installments that highlight Japanese culture:
1. Japanese pattern projection of different patterns; guests will be able to interact with them. Every pattern moves differently from the others. There is a significant meaning for each Japanese pattern, like Kikko (kanji: turtle shell), the hexagon shape which means having a long lasting life.
2. Omikuji (Fortune Telling): Before the guest gets to the fortune telling area they will walk through five torii (gates) similar to the senbon-tori (multiple gates). Torii is a part of the Shinto (‘way of the gods’) religion, and torii is a boundary between the human world and the god world. The five gates will be painted onto a fabric that will be hanging from the ceiling. When the guest gets to the end, there is an omikuji zutsu (fortune box) that will tell you your fortune. You need to shake the box until a stick comes out which will tell you a number in kanji. Then you must look for the number on the shelf as that will be your fortune. If you get a good fortune you can take it home with you, but if you get a bad fortune, you can tie it to the tree next to the shelf. The reason to tie your bad fortune is to let the god diminish the bad luck. In Japan, the gate and omikuji are always part of a shrine.
3. Calligraphy: There is a wall full of blank calligraphy papers where guest can create their own calligraphy or drawing. But you can also take it home with you. There will be staff members who will help you write your name in kanji, hiragana, or katakana. We will teach the guest the significance of brush strokes.
4. Origami Crane: There will be 300 cranes hanging from a bunch of balloons resting onto a net. You can walk through the cranes and see your reflection through the mirrors that are on the walls and floor. The crane means purity because the ancient people saw cranes as a gift from God since they mate only once with only one partner. Back then, the Japanese loved anything amazing or magical, as they saw as a god’s gift. A professional origami artist will be there April 3rd 11:15am-12:30 pm and 3:15-5pm. We can teach you any origami that you want to try. There is a free balloon for any guest who passes the quiz and guests will be able to fold their own cranes!
There will also be traditional Japanese music that will heighten your experience, and we will be providing green tea and some Japanese snacks. Again, that’s free.
“Sarasota community is a wonderful place for art as it values art and culture. Waku Waku wants to share and give experience to the community as it craves culture and history. We walked through Sarasota downtown to put up our posters and most of the people were very excited and open for us to spread the event. The community is very welcoming of new knowledge and experience.”
