Nicole Salmeri's Assingnment #1: Curarting an Experience

Experience#1: Human Freedom

The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open.”

I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one... Humans are caught-in their lives, in their thought, in their hungers and ambitions, and in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too-in a net of good and evil... and it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue is immortal."

-John Steinbeck

"Freedom is general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires."

-Bertrand Russell

Curator Statement: I choose the experience of human freedom based on the John Steinbeck book East of Eden. Human freedom is the main concept of the book and mainly the concept of all his novels. Human Freedom in the biblical term of “timshel,” meaning “thou mayest.” Instead of saying “thou shalt” which means one can not sin and is told to not sin, “thou mayest” represents the choice. You choose who you are in this world and road you take in life is purely up to you. It is the act human freedom. 

Experience #2: Ocean Beach 

The Ocean Beach surfing community is equipped with four of their own surf shops, several popular beach-themed cafes, as well as scores of local surfers devoted to its cold water and dangerous break.

Third Eye Blind's "Motorcycle Driveby" was written about this beach.

Curator Statement: I choose Ocean Beach as my site specific experience because I believe that the feeling you get when you stand on the edge of the beach looking at the ocean is the most free anyone can get. I hear people say that Ocean Beach is the worst beach in San Francisco, and it probably is, but I've loved it since I was a kid.