FiNaL

For my final on identity, I decided to have a group project that also left everyone with a little souvenir from class. I had each person claim a bottle and put a few words describing themselves inside it. They used one sheet per thought. I asked them to then write at least one thing on a sheet about someone else and put it in their bottle. I asked for all thoughts to be anonymous. By the end of the project each person had a bottle full of words and thoughts that others in the class felt about them. The “hidden” aspect could be described in plenty of ways. The traits you feel about yourself were hidden from others. And the identity of those that described you was hidden from you.

It was kind of exciting to look inside and read them. It reminded me of grade school valentines day, where you wondered who had left you a valentine or candy, or even who was your secret admirer.

I hope everyone left feeling a little more enlightened about themselves and if all else fails, at least likes the tiny jar as a memento. 🙂

Identity

So for my bliss day I went out…and took care of myself. I read for awhile. I got things I needed. And I spent time with my mother. we went and shopped for curtains for the house. It wasn’t perfectly blissful because I was missing my favorite person, but for what it was, I enjoyed my time. and I didn’t have to work 🙂

But I did do some thinking on what it meant about me. That my happiness involved other people, except incorporated with time to myself. and an idea came to my head about the project. I wanted to do something involving the whole group. Each would have a small box which was completely blank. on the inside they would put as many traits about themselves that they know are true. adjectives describing their TRUE selves. then on the outside. the class would go around (anonymously if needed) and write on the outside, without looking in, what they thought were traits of the person that they see from the outside.

then…..see if they match or are completely different. So that we, in essence would have created a visual representation of how we perceive ourselves and the images we project to the world.

The fear experiment

Examine the situation.

Fear to me is intangible. It is anxiety. It is tension. It is the realization of a horrible, unavoidable truth. It is several things. It’s also the lack of certain things, like acceptance…understanding…and hope.

Formulate an experiment.

My experiment was to draw myself and to see what I see. So to start with, I just drew.without thinking. Then I noticed certain tendencies that I had, and elaborated them. Making them more exaggerated. And the end result was in the post below.

Hypothesize the expected outcome.

I thought I would get the traditional…”oh you don’t have to worry about that,” or just a general dismissal of the issues. Like they weren’t really founded. Although not in a way that Implies judgement, but more as in what a friend would tell you. Like what you want to hear.

Conduct the experiment.

I stood up in class. I spoke my piece, much like the explanation above, then listened.

Observe the reaction.

People in class elaborated more off of what I told em and told me what they saw in it. Things I hadn’t intended per se but were there none the less in my own representation of myself. There were certain boosts to my confidence, like comments of courage for putting myself out there and doing something as personal as a portrait, even if it was modified.

Analysis of hypothesis with actual outcome.

I expected the comments on the observations I proposed, like the fattening of my face and the…unhappiness of sorts while studying my reflection, albeit they were about inconsequential things.

Propose changes to your idea based on what happened.

I think that I would do several portraits. Each with a different goal. A cartoon:to show exaggerated features. An abstract: to show expression, especially with colors. The realistic one: to represent my self Image.

The most impacting fear experiment was the religion one. Zac lost a friend because of beliefs and assumptions. The conversation everyone had was touching, and gave me hope in us as the human race. People listened. They elaborated, responded and had an open mind. It was in itself..beautiful.

Fears

Games

For my game I shall be bringing in apples to apples. Is a fun game that is good for large groups. I think I might be looking for another toy as well 🙂 we shall see if I’m successful.

Oh…are you bored?

http://www.boredbutton.com/

Sleep much?

First off , I should apologize for the lateness of my post. Given that I was up rather early yesterday, and stayed awake for a good while, my body decided to sleep past noon. Who knew?

So.  My thoughts. Well…an appropriate feeling would be astonishment. I think that it is amazing that as a class, we had an open and honest disscussion on a topic that was extremely controversial. We talked about race ans stereotypes without confrontation. Nothing was meant in offense and nothing was taken as such. I think such environments bode well for the future of our species. Maybe we are just one class and humble iupui students, but we are still people and we still managed that feat with no extra effort.

Rules?

I contemplated creating an assignment..that wasn’t an assignment. In essence doing absolutely nothing. because as far as the rules of the class go…that is the only one required of an assignment. to do SOMETHING. well. because I actually wanted to create something, i made a graphical representation of different symbols/images that imply that rules were broken, both creative, morally and even visually. ( Not to mention the image doesn’t follow the rule of composition. tee hee)

Times they are a’changin’

This past class, I was really involved in the political discussion. As awful as it sounds, Politics have always been a certain interest and passion of mine. I personally feel that it is every citizens duty to care enough to educate themselves and vote. I think I would change my project and turn it a whole different direction. I would probably make it less focused on me and more focused on the population. We are such a large country and such a pioneer for democracy, yet a large percentage of us don’t even bother to vote. Other people in other countries are risking their lives to do something that we scoff at as an inconvenience. I would probably make a few spoofs of posters shaming those that opt of voting. That choose ignorance. or even worse…indifference. Too many people don’t care. You can’t complain if you don’t vote. Our system relies on everyone putting in their two cents. else, how would it truly reflect the majority?

My Lost Cause

So. When I first started this assignment, I decided to take the pieces and work up into something. I thought, “okay, I have don’t have a text book because all mine were rented. K. So newspaper. Let’s run with that. Its got text right?” From there I did the math in my head: Newspaper+Lost causes ( aka, my findings from monday)=……ORIGAMI! yes. maybe  not the most original idea. but there you have it.

Now i’m not completely inept at these things, but give me anything more complicated than 5 or so steps…and you have a lost cause :). So, my lap top is out of order and out of reach at the moment and i’m currently cameraless and use a kind family members computer, so you’ll just have to wait til class to see my finished work. One is a miracle, the other is a “symbol” of frustration. tee hee.

Classssssstiiiiimmmmmmmee

SOmething that ReAllY stOOd oUT tO me in CLaSs was that funky SOnG. I thought it was extremely amusing, and if i didn’t know he was talking about an egg from the start, I would have wanted to wait until the end of the song to find out.

While I was listening to the various stories, tales and shenanigans from the rest of the classroom, I noticed my mind wandering to random things: projects I could do, Ideas I could follow, Experiments I could try. But from all of those I realized that all my creativity finds its base in a story. I love everything I do to have a meaning behind it, or its own life that its trying to make known. its own Story. And every image in my head has its own story, and that’s what drives me to create.