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The other day, we had a listening test, we needed to watch a video and write down the key information, summarize the content of the video, and complete the questions.

I was a little nervous about listening and trying to understand and write down the main content, but I still felt anxious because it was difficult for me to capture a lot of content, I had to watch the video many times, and I kept comparing it, and sometimes I was worried that I didn't have enough time.

It was as difficult as it looked, I needed to be very focused, capturing the key words and ideas of each sentence, and paying attention to every piece of data. Because I don't have a rich vocabulary, I try to ignore words that I really can't understand and focus on what I can understand.

It went well because I got the results I was looking for, this method allowed me to find the answer more accurately, and at the same time, it is helpful to listen carefully and attentively to the video content and write down notes, which can help you summarize and make it easier to find useful information when doing questions.

Now I know that writing notes, it is important to write down information that is useful and that I understand myself, which can really help me get a better score in the exam, when writing a summary, I can be easier and more logical thanks to the help of notes.

In future, I need to learn and understand more words because this is a very important foundation, if I don't learn more words I won't be able to get my grades higher, or learn more.

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In daily life, many women experience a subtle but harmful form of sexism called benevolent sexism. It often appears gentle or protective, but in reality, it reinforces inequality.

For example, people sometimes say that women are more suited for “easier” majors or jobs, while “difficult” subjects like engineering, science, chemistry, or politics are better for men. Some men also say that they should take on most of the responsibility in life, while women only need to play supporting roles—such as being a good wife, or simply looking beautiful in social spaces.

These statements sound like praise or care on the surface. They seem to protect women. But many women feel confused and uncomfortable when they hear them. That discomfort comes from a lack of balance and true respect. These words are not based on what women actually want or need, but rather on the assumption that women are weak and fragile.

The feeling is hard to describe. It’s like having a spiderweb wrapped around your arm, or a strand of hair stuck in your mouth. It’s uncomfortable, but difficult to say exactly where the discomfort comes from. It often takes time to notice and name what’s causing that feeling.

To express this experience, I plan to create an interactive installation using extremely thin threads—similar to spider silk. These threads will be stretched across an empty indoor space, like a gallery, in many directions. They will be covered in dye. When people walk into the space, the threads will gently touch their skin and clothes. Even after the threads are removed, they will leave behind colored marks and thin lines.

This is a way to show how the effects of benevolent sexism remain with people, even if they are hard to see or explain. It turns the invisible into something visible and physical.

The work hopes to give support to those who have felt hurt or uncomfortable, but couldn’t find the words to explain it. It aims to show them that their feelings are real and valid. Wanting equal treatment and rights is not being “too sensitive” or “too suspicious”.

At the same time, the work also invites men to think about how some so-called “kind” advice or “help” may actually come from unequal views. Real respect means placing others on the same level as yourself—not treating them as someone weak who needs protection or control.

This project will take place in the school gallery. The materials I use are delicate and need to be protected indoors. The quiet and open space of the gallery will also help viewers have a better experience.

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Reflection – Critical Thinking & Fake News Game

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Reflection – Critical Thinking & Fake News Game

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From the game and the class, I realized that we need to be more cautious in judging whether the information we are looking for is really authoritative, which is important and will affect our research, so I will spend more time judging whether the information and news I am looking for really meets the standards.

The example that impressed me was the example of coffee. At first, I thought this news was authoritative, but then I found out that its information was more complex, ranging from academic articles to easy-to-understand articles. When encountering such information, we need to take the time to judge whether it can be used.

The reason why critical thinking is important in college is that it is deep thinking; we are constantly asking "why", and we can learn a lot and realize a lot of things while constantly seeking knowledge and digging into problems.

I will think more deeply when thinking about the problem, ask myself more "why, where do these truths come from", and at the same time, when looking for resources, I will carefully judge whether the resources meet academic standards.

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I chose the school gallery because the materials I use need a space to feel and those materials can be fragile and easily destroyed if placed outdoors, so I think the gallery is the best location, where it is safe, quiet, and everyone can feel your work carefully

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what is the message what issue does it explore

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At the beginning, we had a group meeting together to discuss how we should assign our tasks, determine what each person was studying, and we allocate about a minute and a half for each person to give a presentation.

I feel happy and relaxed because we have a lot of fun working together, everyone is responsible for their own part, and everyone is willing to help others when they are confused or have difficulties, which I think is a very important part of group cooperation.

I think we're going well because we're all responsible and trying to do better, and we understand each other. For example, sometimes I'm too busy to take on more work, and my teammates are willing to help me with that part of the workload. When we have problems, we also have group meetings to discuss them together.

I think we could have been more careful and careful about the references, so that the format we were looking for was more accurate, and we were a little nervous today, so we could practice our speech more.

In the next collaboration, I think we can practice our presentations with each other so we feel more comfortable, and at the same time, we can have others check after one person has done it, so we can reduce some mistakes.

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Otonia Project Step 2 - Activism Template

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Description

During the week, we learned more about activism, I learned more about artistic activism, and while I was researching these works, I chose my focus, I wanted to do feminism-related issues, which I think is important for students.

Feelings

When I started researching my project, I honestly felt a little uneasy and confused, because feminism is not an easy topic to go deep into, in today's society, it is a hot topic, and I am worried that my ideas are too outdated to hit people's hearts.

Evaluation

In the course of my research, I found some great resources and examples of activist artists, which made my thinking go deeper, and I went from the big topic of feminism to the smaller branches, which made my goals clearer.

Analysis

I also gradually found a suitable way, I started with the topics I was interested in (such as feminism), and then I started to browse a lot of related artworks, in which I would find works that I was interested in, and then I would start to study what they mainly wanted to express, and analyze the details and priorities that I really care about, which allowed me to efficiently find the topics I liked and learn a lot from them.

Conclusion

I have learned a lot, such as how to find the key points in depth, and I have discovered a lot of special and different works of art in the process of learning, which has broadened my thinking and made me more creative.

Action plan

After that, I wanted to think more deeply about how to turn my ideas into works of art, because this is important for artists.

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Furman, A. (2017) See striking posters created by a 1970s feminist art collective, The Cut. Available at: https://www.thecut.com/2017/02/see-striking-posters-from-feminist-see-red-womens-workshop.html (Accessed: July 31, 2025).

Smarthistory (no date) Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party. Smarthistory. Available at: https://smarthistory.org/judy-chicago-the-dinner-party/ (Accessed: 31 July 2025).

Oxford Review (no date) Benevolent Sexism – Definition and Explanation. The Oxford Review. Available at: https://oxford-review.com/the-oxford-review-dei-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dictionary/benevolent-sexism-definition-and-explanation/ (Accessed: 31 July 2025).

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Weekly Reflective Task – Listening & Note-taking

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Weekly Reflective Task – Listening & Note-taking

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Description

This week I did some listening activities, such as watching some short news videos every day, or watching PCA videos

Feelings

I feel that my ability is improving, and after this period of study, I think my listening level has improved a lot, but at the same time I feel anxious because I find that I still have a lot of sentences that I have difficulty understanding

Evaluation

I think the good thing is that I'm sharper in terms of listening, but the difficulty is that there are still many videos that involve more specialized vocabulary (such as Harvard format or how to use linked words), and I still don't understand a lot of parts, and I have to spend a lot of time watching the videos constantly

Analysis

I think I feel this way because my vocabulary is still scarce and I need to query translation software for a deeper understanding

Conclusion

I learned a lot, for example, I now understand the importance of linking words in my essay, and I also learned the importance of using vocabulary accurately in my essay. At the same time, my hearing level is also improving

Action plan

I think my focus next is still vocabulary and grammar, which is something that needs to be learned over a long period of time, and I need to spend more time on my vocabulary and grammar. At the same time, I try to use more grammar when writing my essay as a practice for myself

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Art has often been used to make people think about important issues such as the environment, social justice, and animal rights. In recent years, artists like Olafur Eliasson and Banksy have created public artworks that challenge people to see the world differently. Their projects, Ice Watch and Sirens of the Lambs, are powerful examples of how art can be used to raise awareness and inspire change. This essay will examine how both artists use different methods to deliver strong messages and will explore how their work helps people understand and reflect on global problems.

Olafur Eliasson’s Ice Watch helps people connect with the reality of climate change in a personal and emotional way. For this project, he brought melting ice blocks from Greenland to cities like London and Paris. As the ice melted in front of the public, it gave people a physical experience of global warming. According to Smith (2022), Eliasson wanted to make climate science more understandable by allowing people to see and touch the ice. This approach is more effective than just reading about climate change in a report. Because the artwork was located in public spaces, it attracted attention and became a popular topic during international climate talks. As a result, Eliasson used art to communicate a serious issue to a wide audience.

Banksy’s Sirens of the Lambs uses surprise and humour to make people think about animal rights. In this artwork, a truck full of fake, crying animal puppets drove through the streets of London. The animals looked scared and made loud sounds, which made people stop and pay attention. According to Jones (2019), Banksy wanted to show the cruelty behind the meat industry in a way that was hard to ignore. Instead of showing real animals or sad images, he used puppets to make the message easier for people to accept. This unexpected and public performance made people think about where their food comes from. Therefore, Banksy used creative street art to raise awareness about animal suffering and made the issue more visible in everyday life.

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Otonia written submission template – activism （project step 1)

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These posters are from the printed posters of the British feminist group See Red, with bold colors and direct messages, and I like their way of expressing them, which are warm and powerful, also directly point out the issue of women being "seen as weak"

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In 1974, a group of London art students founded the feminist print collective See Red Women's Workshop. They taught themselves plumbing and carpentry skills while transforming a derelict building with no electricity into a fully functional screen-printing studio and meeting space. For the next 16 years, the more than 40 women organized consciousness-raising sessions, designed graphic posters railing against the division of labor, and educated youth groups about sexual and reproductive health.

The book See Red Women's Workshop, published February 28 by Four Corner Books, traces the collective's evolution in archival photographs of the printing process. The collection features correspondence letters with bookstore distributors, meeting memos, and preliminary sketches of poster designs.

Some prints are calendars riddled with blunt one-liners about workplace barriers (example: "Over 40, promotion given to younger man, go back to 29.") or expectations at home ("Housework in the evening, exhausted.") In 1979, one year after a coalition of black and Asian women put out the newsletter FOWAAD! to highlight how the women's liberation movement often ignored issues affecting women of color, a See Red member created a poster that read, "Black Women Will Not Be Intimidated."

In other illustrations from See Red's early years, disgruntled women are shown scrubbing dishes and ironing clothes with subversive or irreverent text. One print with the slogan "Sisters! Question every aspect of our lives" shows women vacuuming, grocery shopping, and applying lipstick. While much of the group's early work focused on attitudes toward marriage and domestic chores, later campaigns targeted equal pay, reproductive freedom, gay rights, and more racial inclusivity. Other campaigns targeted the closure of a women's hospital in South London; the imprisonment of women in Armagh, Ireland; and the use of public money in funding Queen Elizabeth's Silver jubilee celebration.

Printing was a male-dominated profession in the U.K. in the 1970s. See Red members graduated from art schools where less than a third of the students were female, and the instructors were all men. "The male students took up all the studio space," one member explains in the book, and "there was little respect for our ideas: the assumption often was that we were probably only doing art as a hobby."

The National Front, a far-right political group, frequently attacked See Red's workshop space - pouring ink over the presses, cutting phone wires, posting neo-Nazi stickers on doors, urinating on their mail, and in one instance throwing bricks through a window.

In addition to external conflicts, there were also significant fissions within the group. As member Sue Field Read explains, "There were quite a few downs, mistakes and mis-printings, high emotions and disagreements - but then I suppose this happens whenever there is a group of people working very hard, with little financial support, with the serious aim of spreading important ideas in an uncaring selfish world."

In 1982, See Red was awarded a government grant that allowed them to pay some members regular wages. This led to a series of irreparable divisions, as some members advocated that the paid positions should be filled by black, working class, and gay women, while others wanted the original collective members to assume paid positions. Buoyed by donations, calendar sales, and various commissioned print projects, See Red remained active until 1990.

Click through to see how the group deconstructed social expectations and fought for wage equality.

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See Striking Posters Created by a 1970s Feminist Art Collective

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A collection of graphic prints from See Red Women's Workshop.

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The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist by Guerrilla Girls（1988）

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The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist by Guerrilla Girls（1988）

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I really like the guerrilla girls, and their work "The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist" is similar to my focus, which exposes the treatment of women and male artists in a satirical, humorous way, and their use of bold fonts and pop art aesthetics to make their posters easy to understand and eye-catching. I think that as a graphic design student, we are all using the same art medium to care about women's issues that we all care about, and their irony, directness, and graphic design skills are worth learning

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The Guerrilla Girls are a group of all women artists who challenged what was considered feminine in art.

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I love the work "The Dinner Party", a monument to women's history and achievements, where the artist celebrates the physical beauty of women with exquisite table runners. These plates resemble flowers and butterflies that symbolize feminine features. At the same time, one of my favorite points is that women's great achievements are always hidden and ignored before, and this work puts everything that great women do on the table, and the artist challenges the narrative of "women are weak" with such exquisite and grandiose works, which is a protest against the marginalization of women.

I think my work should contain something like this: a celebration of female beauty and feminine power

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A Place at the Table

The Dinner Party is a monument to women's history and accomplishments. It is a massive triangular table-measuring 48 feet on each side-with thirty-nine place settings dedicated to prominent women throughout history and an additional 999 names are inscribed on the table's glazed porcelain brick base. This tribute to women, which includes individual place settings for such luminary figures as the Primordial Goddess, Ishtar, Hatshepsut, Theodora, Artemesia Gentileschi, Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Emily Dickinson, Margaret Sanger, and Georgia O'Keeffe, is beautifully crafted. Each place setting has an exquisitely embroidered table runner that includes the name of the woman, utensils, a goblet, and a plate.

The Dinner Party was intended to be exhibited in a large, darkened, sanctuary-like room, with each place setting individually lit, making it look as though it is composed of thirty-nine altars. The 999 names, written in gold, gleam softly, suggesting a hallowed or liminal space. Five years in the making (1974-1979) and the product of the volunteer labor of more than 400 people, The Dinner Party is a testament to the power of feminist vision and artistic collaboration. It was also a testament to Chicago's ability to create a work of art that spoke to people who had not previously been a part of the art world. When the exhibition opened at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco in March of 1979, it was mobbed. Judy Chicago's accompanying lecture was completely sold out.

Although critics praised the table runners, they ignored or disparaged the plates. These ceramic objects, which become increasingly three-dimensional during the procession from prehistory to the present in order to represent women rising, look somewhat like flowers and butterflies. They also resemble female genitalia, which many people found disturbing. Writing for the feminist journal Frontiers in 1981, Lolette Kuby was so taken aback by the plates' forms that she suggested that Playboy and Penthouse had done more to promote the beauty of female anatomy than The Dinner Party ever could.

Kuby's distaste for pudenda was echoed more forcefully a decade later, when Chicago attempted to donate the artwork to the University of the District of Columbia. Chicago was forced to withdraw her donation after the U.S. Senate threatened to withhold funding from UDC if they accepted what Rep. Robert Dornan characterized as "3-D ceramic pornography" and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher dismissed as a "spectacle of weird art, weird feminist art at that." It was not until 2007 that The Dinner Party, an icon of feminist art, would find a permanent home in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Feminist Education

What drove Chicago to embark on such a large and controversial feminist project? She was inspired, in part, by her pioneering work in feminist education. She started the Feminist Art Program at California State University, Fresno in 1970. The following year she founded the Feminist Art Program (FAP) at the newly established California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) with the abstract painter Miriam Schapiro. The galleries were still under construction when Chicago arrived at CalArts, so the FAP had their exhibition in an abandoned mansion that was slated to be demolished shortly after. The resulting installation, Womanhouse, was a testament to Chicago's method of teaching, which begin with consciousness raising and then progressed to realizing a message through whatever medium was most suitable, whether it was performance, sculpture, or painting.

While at CalArts, Chicago and Schapiro developed the idea of "central core imagery," arguing in a 1973 article published in Womanspace Journal that many women artists making abstract art unconsciously gravitated towards imagery that was anti-phallic. By the time she began working on The Dinner Party, Chicago had come to believe that central core imagery, which celebrated feminine eroticism and fertility, could be used to challenge patriarchal constructions of women. For Chicago, there existed an irreducible difference between men and women, and that difference began with the genitals. Chicago would eventually put vaginal imagery front and center in The Dinner Party.

Right Out of History

After several years of work establishing various feminist art programs in Southern California, Chicago was eager to get back to making her own artwork and resigned from teaching in 1974. Her experience with Womanhouse inspired her to embrace materials that had traditionally been associated with women's crafts, such as embroidery, weaving, and china painting. She was determined to make a monument to women's history using china-painted plates alluding to thirteen specific figures, which she originally planned to hang on the gallery wall. However, she soon realized that there were many more women that she wished to include, and the initial conception of the piece expanded to a large-scale installation with thirty-nine place settings.

An important component of the piece was the educational material that represented the years of research that had been conducted by Chicago's volunteer staff, led by art historian Diane Gelon. The Dinner Party was accompanied by a book of the same title (published by Anchor Books in 1979 and designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville) that included the stories behind all 1,038 names. Filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas documented the monumental effort that it took to make this installation in her film Right Out of History: The Making of the Dinner Party.

Not Exactly Playboy or Penthouse

In order to understand The Dinner Party, we must keep in mind that the sculptural painted plates were intended to be metaphors rather than realistic representations. Take, for instance, the final place setting on the table-the one for Georgia O'Keeffe. This plate is the most sculptural piece in the installation. Pink and greenish gray swirls and folds radiate out from a central core framed by fleshy looking folds that seem to have been deliberately spread apart in order to reveal what should be a hidden entrance. The plate can be read as suggestive of female genitalia, but its forms also recall the shape of a butterfly and the reproductive organs of flowers. O'Keeffe was famous for her abstracted paintings of flowers, and and the plate is an homage to some her best-known works, such as Grey Lines With Black, Blue, and Yellow (1923) and Black Iris III (1926), both of which have a central opening framed by folds, or Two Calla Lilies On Pink (1928), which has a similar color palette to the O'Keeffe plate.

Chicago's decision to use vaginal imagery has proven to be powerful. The Dinner Party, having survived rejection, critical dismissal, and political grandstanding, is now considered a key work of contemporary art, and is permanently installed in a dedicated space at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Additional resources The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago at the Brooklyn Museum Through the Flower
Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party: Restoring Women to History ( Arnold L. Lehman, foreword. Brooklyn Museum of Art/The Monacelli Press, 2014).

Jane Gerhard, The Dinner Party: Judy Chicago and the Power of Popular Feminism, 1970-2007 (Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2013).

Gail Levin, Becoming Judy Chicago ( N ew York: Harmony Books. 2007).

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Judy Chicago's landmark installation gives notable women from history a seat at the table.

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Benevolent Sexism - Definition and Explanation

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Benevolent Sexism refers to attitudes and beliefs that appear positive or well-intentioned towards women, but ultimately reinforce tradi.…

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In yesterday’s class, we learned about the Civil Rights Movement and the iconic song “A Change Is Gonna Come” of the time. I like this song very much, it makes me feel special.

This song makes me feel a little sad, soft, but at the same time full of optimism and tenacity. I think the message he conveys is that even if we are oppressed right now, we are awakening and everything will succeed.

I think the reason why this song is important to the civil rights movement is that the feelings he conveys are real and real personal experiences, so they can resonate with people in the same difficulties, and his tone of this song is soft, light and easy to be accepted by the public.

I know of similar modern protest songs, like the female rock band "Burka Band" from Afghanistan, who were hunted and threatened by the Taliban, but they are still singing, fighting for freedom and women's rights.

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What was the civil rights movement in the United States?

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What was the civil rights movement in the United States?

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The American Civil Rights Movement was a national movement in the mid-twentieth century to end segregation and exclusion for equal rights for African Americans. Among the forms of movement are protest marches, lobbying, sit-ins, etc. They also face opposition and attacks from many parties. By the end of the sixties of the twentieth century, the civil rights movement brought about major changes in the law and won legal guarantees for the rights and freedoms of African Americans

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Sam Cook is an American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most influential soul artists of all time, in the 50s of the 20th century as a member of the gospel band "Soul Stirrers", he shook the African American church across the country with his brisk singing, in 1957, Cook turned his attention to popular music, which had a huge impact on the black music scene, he broke the previous inherent pattern, in 1965 he wrote the song "A Change Is going to" Come" was born during the civil rights movement, and this song gave strength to many people who supported the civil rights movement.

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I think that in English, "will" is a temporary decision, as well as a promise to others， and a Subjective prediction.  “Going to" is something that has already been planned, as well as a prediction of the current situation

example：

Promise: I will help you

Prediction: Look at that cloud, it's going to rain！

Subjective prediction: I think this movie will be good

The part I often make mistakes is about predictions, and sometimes due to my unfamiliarity with words, I can't quickly and accurately judge whether the prediction is subjective or objective, and I am also prone to mistakes in planning time

example：

I think the students' work will be excellent.

I think I will be a little nervous.

I think people will hear different arguments.

I am going to do more detailed research on the weekend.

I am going to see more materials on the weekend

I am going to choose a topic of interest in tomorrow.

I will share my presentation skills.

I will help you make your notes clearer.

I will share my thoughts with my classmates.

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n today's class, AI really helped me narrow down my topic, and we gradually went from a big topic to a deep and detailed small entry point.

AI has proposed several works of art that I think are helpful, such as the poster art of a guerrilla girl, the art of combining performance and installation "In Mourning and in Rage", these works all show an entry point about women's rights, that is, "gentlemen in disguise", whether in school or society, many people will always use gentlemen and concerns to let women withdraw from the stage, it seems to be care, but it is essentially a deprivation of power, and for women we do not need such "care". What we need is opportunity and rights.

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About Tate Video – ‘How can art be active?’

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About Tate Video – ‘How can art be active?’

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The main concern of the Guerrilla Girls is sexism and racial discrimination, and the core work of the group is to bring the issue of gender and racial inequality to the attention of the wider art world and society as a whole.

Their primary forms of expression include cultural interventions in the form of posters, books, billboards, lectures, interviews, public appearances, and Online interventions aimed at exposing inequality, discrimination, and corruption.

I think what makes them unique and powerful is that the Guerrilla Girls dissolve their personal attributes and identities through the gorilla mask, and the group never uses their real names, but rather the names of deceased female greats to sign their art, because their purpose is to focus on gender and race. They also often use humor elements in their works to make serious messages more engaging. Guerrilla girls are known for their "guerrilla" tactics; they became famous for it, such as putting up posters or hosting surprise exhibitions.

Reference

Guerrilla girls (2020) National Museum of Women in the Arts. Available at: https://nmwa.org/art/artists/guerrilla-girls/ (Accessed: July 22, 2025).

Our story — (no date) Guerrilla Girls. Available at: https://www.guerrillagirls.com/our-story (Accessed: July 22, 2025).