Last week, I went to the Rose Cafe with GRF Sam Lagasse, where I learned about the modern primitive.  We looked at various dances and photographs, and I looked at these dances and photographs in a new light.  Before the conversation, if I looked at a painting of a train crossing water, I would have thought about how the painting was different.  But, I never would have really considered the meaning of the painting: why is the train going over water when trains usually go over land, what does the train represent in contrast with what the water represents, and what does this photograph say about progress?  I never would have thought about the train representing masculinity, over fragile waters.  I never would have thought about how the train represents travel and the journey into the future.  I never would have thought about so many different aspects of the painting.

I was really happy to go to this talk because it gave me a bit of a new perspective when analyzing certain parts of my life.  He brought up some contemporary examples, like the paleo diet (people eating like they used to because it was “healthier”) and the new push to move away from being so engrossed in technology, and I like how the idea of the modern primitive was applied to things I encounter daily.