Aqua Tower & Smurfit-Stone Building

The Aqua Tower is meant to mimic the movement of waves, blending man made structure and nature into one, nearly seamless, place of residence for those lucky enough to spend part of their day inside it. The building's core is a relatively simple design, but the balconies make the building what it is. They contain no sharp corners and transition from various depths, giving the facade it's oceanic properties, hence the name "Aqua." The Smurfit-Stone Building does not have the same intentions. It is meant to make a bold statement about the female form, not only on its own, but also in relation to the buildings that surround it. From the bottom it is a relatively average building for the downtown area of Chicago, but the top is what makes it stand out. The roof of the building is angled, to make what appears to be a slanted diamond shape out of the roof.

Both of these buildings are rather unique, but in different ways. The Aqua Tower is more modest and, to be truly appreciated, one must take a somewhat close look at the structure. The Smurfit-Stone Building is almost the opposite. It's uniqueness lies in it's basic shape and that is about it. Upon a closer look, no other major details become apparent. The Smurfit-Stone has become a Chicago icon, as one of the more distinguished elements of the city's skyline. It's diamond shape makes it instantly recognizable to both residents and tourists alike. The Aqua Tower, on the other hand, blends into Chicago's skyline. That is not to say that it is not still impressive. It's flowing exterior is refreshing in the surrounding blocks that are filled with jagged glass structures. The building is somewhat understated, but in a good way. It is not one of the recently built monstrosities that blocks the view of city goers, but rather a nice little gem of creativity to find in Chicago's bustling downtown.

One of the more interesting aspects of the two buildings are their designers and their corresponding design ideas. The Smurfit-Stone Building was designed by Sheldon Schlegman, a man, and it's shape is meant to mimic that of the vagina. The structure was built in 1984 and the designer thought that many cityscapes contained too many phallic symbols and that there should be more of a feminine presence in Chicago's skyline. The Aqua building, on the other hand, was designed by Jeanne Gang, a woman, and is not meant to be a symbol of femininity, but rather to breathe new life into a cluster of buildings that had, in some opinions, grown stale. The building finished construction in 2010. It is not meant to make a larger statement about femininity in today's culture (as the Smurfit-Stone is), it is meant to be pleasing to the eye and to give a larger presence of nature in a surrounding maze of concrete.

Dance With Snakes

Dance With Snakes addresses social issues involving politics and the media, in a way that makes you never want to set it down. On the surface, the book is violent and profane, but underneath all of that there is real substance that gets to the heart of the matter. In 1996 Horacio Castellanos Moya released this one-hundred and fifty-six page epic tale about death, identity, and snakes.

The main issue that the books addresses is the control that the media has over the majority of the population. Moya shows how people can get so wrapped up in what the media says, especially about devastating events, that they are willing to believe any explanation for what happened, even if there is none. One point where this is blatantly obvious is during the times when characters in the book are speculating about why these crimes are being committed and nobody can decide on an answer. Everyone gets so wrapped up in the justifications that they have created in their own heads, that it almost becomes more important that who is actually committing the crimes.

Another interesting idea that is brought up in Moya’s book is that modern culture is forcing people to become more introverted. Eduardo Sosa would be an extreme example of this. He has become so involved in his own world, and excluded from the outside that his main companions are snakes. His disconnection from society goes so far that he barely bats an eye when the snakes kill dozens of people right before him. It is highly unlikely that Moya wrote this without the intention of making society take a long hard look at itself and try to see what’s going wrong.

When any sort of serious discussion about this book occurs, one has to ask if Moya’s gratuitous violence is really the best way to address the given issues. It was a method that was certainly quite effective, but are there also drawbacks to introducing even more violent images into the media (mainstream or not)? It also begs the question of the light that the violence occurred in. It was certainly not portrayed as something positive, but there seemed to be a lack of negativity to it due to the fact that all of the violent acts are first described by the one committing them.

All of these factors lead to the question is Eduardo Sosa the hero or the villain. In the chapters told by Handal and Rita, he is the villain, or rather Jacinto Bustillo is the villain. The murder of Bustillo is really the only cirme that Sosa commits as himself. The rest he commits as Bustillo, or at least that is what he claims. The reader sees the majority of the story through his eyes, so it is difficult not to see him in a somewhat positive light, but at the same time, he commits such horrible crimes. The only answer is that he is somewhere in between. He is not a hero or a villain, but rather an individual who is telling the reader the story of his life.