1. Digital Zapistas- So today's article was about how the NYU community was making an international statement within their own community. But how can the internet blur borders between international communities? It seems that cyberspace hazes the definition of physical space, so if users have access to "physical space" on cyberspace belonging to and affecting communities across borders, how does can one community affect others across the border. Could NYU student shut down other University websites temporarily to make a statement? Across state lines, and further country lines, and continental lines? Not having this prior knowledge, how much freedom is there on the internet to cross borders people are unable to cross in reality?
2. Tourist Performance in the 21st Century- When I first read about this amusement part, it initially confused and sickened me. But as I plowed my way through the article and I realized how much this park is an adaptation that incorporates Mexican patriotism and symbolism that attempts to open eyes, redress wounds, and honor the past. One thing that struck me in the article was the recreation of the underground railroad and the author's disgust with its diminishment of authenticity from the first time the author attended the park to the second time he went with his students. At what point does diminishing the past disrespect the memories and lives of those that once underwent that specific event. There is absolutely a fine line between simulating the past verbatim and creating an adaptation that becomes meaningful to the present audience and participants. I walked away from this article feeling as though, at least through the author's eyes, Caminata Nocturna, does just that. So if this is a respectable honorable artform that can honor and pay tribute to the past, at what point does that line get crossed to becoming tasteless, disrepectful, and irreverent; especially when physical liability of the participants comes into play? How can diminishing the past misrepresent it as well?
In regards to number 2, I also felt sickened pretty immediately upon reading about the Caminata Nocturna. I think the line between the respectable artform and the tasteless, irreverent spectacle lies largely in the difference between performer and spectator. The masked guides probably said with conviction and truly felt the words they spoke in reverence to their people who cross the border to chase their dreams. The tourists, on the other hand, probably often undertake the experience with the desire for a cheap thrill, almost in mockery of the reality actual border-crossers face (though a good number probably go into it hoping to understand on a deeper level the border-crosser experience). The other issue I had with the Caminata Nocturna is that it imitates, as Lauren posted in her questions, a current event that happens daily and nightly with real people, real living people, the same as you and me. While there always have been and always will be border-crossers, it feels a little too soon for a tourist venture like this to become chic.
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