Brian Torres Green Stream PDF

Recently, we have been learning how to make slides for presentations on keynote. As anyone who say the previous version of this slide, you can see that I took away a picture and added a picture to the slide. The reason I took away the picture from black ops 2 is because anyone who looks at it would already know that I play games, so they don't really need to know the specifics of exactly what game I play. In place of the pic of black ops 2, I added a picture of books because boks are something that occupy me in my spare time where I am not playing video games or watching tv.
Brian Torres Green Stream

Felix d'Hermillon

Felix d’Hermillon


This slide represents me by stating exactly what I like.It is telling you exactly what I am interested in.

I love skateboarding (my favorite thing in the world) so I had to put that up there. I want a penny board really bad. I am getting a gopro camera and they are one of my favorite things. I love surfing. I love photography, skim boarding, biking and music. I made the slide look the way it does so that people would be able to understand it and like the way it looks. What influenced my decision making was the blog that Mrs. Hull read.

In conclusion, this is everything that I like and the reason and decisions that I made.

Tech slide.key

Media Fluency- Carolyn Borock

The reason I..



The reason I used this theme is because its simple and to the point. I did it based on Instagram, which is a photo sharing app. The font is in a bunch of places to make it look  like a collage. The photo stands out and makes it something to look at, the photo was taken by my friend. So it’s not just something off the internet. The photo is recent and has not hit the internet yet except for Instagram of course.The little hashtags are what makes it look like Instagram. Instagram is all about me the photos that people take on there is amazing. The reason I picked Instagram is it's the #StoryOfMyLife. It shows me though my photos.

I'm Me.

Nicholas Manton - English Project

Self-Reflection

            Recently, in Sexuality and Society, we read the interesting tale of The Scarlet Letter, about the complicated relationships of Hester Prynne during colonial times. Shortly after reading The Scarlet Letter, we watched Juno, about the struggles that a girl named Juno has with being pregnant. Our project is loosely based upon both of these stories, mainly the themes we pulled from them. Matt and I chose to base ours off of theme of the main character finding it hard to change, while the world is rapidly changing around them.

            For our project, we wanted to create something that could show our theme very well, and what came to mind was making a stop motion film. Making a stop motion film showed one person (me) staying the same throughout the entirety of the video, while everything else around me, was changing very fast. The process of making the film was rather tedious, but in the end it was worth it.

We didn’t want the film to be the only aspect of our project, so we spent a good amount of time searching for songs that would relate to our topic. At first, we were thinking about using the song at the end of Juno, but that would be too closely related to the movie, so that song was scratched from the list. But, after much more searching we came upon song via Pandora, called Tire Swing by Kimya Dawson. We believe this song was just what we were looking for, the lyrics strongly related to our theme, and the beat was similar to the one at the end of Juno.

Putting the project together on the computer went without toil. But, taking the pictures was extremely tedious, getting the angle correct, working around the city folk, etc. When we had to take the pictures in the night time, the camera acted as if it hadn’t had sleep, and kept capturing blurry pictures, which prolonged our night, but was not a major setback.

With the minor setbacks that we had, I believe we crafted a well put together project, showing our understanding of our theme, as well as making an interesting visual. The project should show via the pictures, how much time we put into this project. The only part I wish we could have done was rather than choosing a song off the Internet to play in the background of our video, was Matt and I each playing a guitar in the background, like the ending of Juno. I believe that would’ve been much more personal, and much more powerful for our project. We couldn’t complete that aspect due to the fact that I have never played a guitar before, and we did not have enough time for me to learn it. And, if we could do it again, I would’ve taken the time from the start of the project to learn at least how to play the chords on the guitar so that we could have added that in, but that’s about it.

Media Fluency- Caitlin Keough

Recently, we have been learning how to make a professional slideI made the slide look like that because I like how simple it looks and I like the colors. Something that influenced my design making is my favorite colors and "glance media." My favorite color is blue and I liked the way it looked with the brown. I made it an acrostic poem because its easy to read and understand and its simple, and that follows the "glance media" guideline because it has all you need to know about me and that's all it needs. 
Tech slide
When I presented, I realized that I needed to fix my text and add pictures. My text was out of line, so I made sure I fixed that. I also had too much empty space on my first slide so I added a couple pictures. I learned some more about how your eye looks at certain things first and how it easily notices little differences throughout the whole slide. Knowing that, I made sure all my pictures and text were aligned right and that everything was even. 
Tech slide

Self Reflection & Images of Paintings

 

My creative piece is about a combination of themes between the scarlet letter and Juno. What we had to do for this project was to come up with a creative idea that represents at least one theme present in the book and the movie. The idea that I chose was to create two-canvas painting, which represent two themes. The two themes that I chose were “Forgiveness & Acceptance” Also “Freedom and the cost of your true self”. To get my point across I went through different ways that I could express each theme and I believed that painting was a bold choice that would convey what I wanted to express.

While I was going through the process of brainstorming and trial and error for this project I hit a lot bumps along the road, but the end results show how much I worked on it. First thing was to figure out how I would represent each theme, which required understanding what the theme meant and looking for possible examples to further my ideas. For the first theme that I tackled was “Forgiveness & Acceptance” which is a little broad since there were a lot of things that I could draw for this. But I wanted something that would stand out and look well, the first idea was to be two people hugging which didn’t go to well because the proportions were incorrect. The next thing that I tried was having two people holding hands but the proportions were incorrect again. The last idea that I really like was to have a girl kneeling on the floor and crying, then I though about the fact that I would need someone to forgive and accept her. So I then drew a male putting his legs and arms around her, which represent the theme though at first the proportions were incorrect. So I asked my uncle who was more experienced in drawing and he told me to have models pose in the way that I wanted them two snap a picture and draw them. The last thing that I have which look ten times better as well as a lot more natural.

 

I believe that the aspects of this project that I did well was choosing two themes and finding ideas that strongly represent them. Also trying new things when it comes to realistic drawing as well as painting and researching ways to prefect them to increase the aspects of the overall project, while at the same time boosting my skills as an artist.

I don’t believe that there was much about this project that I had trouble with and I feel as though I expressed my opinions to the fullest. So I don’t regret anything I created so I feel confident about this project because I don’t feel as though I was lacking in any area. Some of the thing that I had trouble with was centering my ideas as well as choosing a theme.

If I were to do this project differently I would start a lot earlier and would have drawn more pictures to correspond with more of the themes. Other than that there isn’t really anything that I would change if I were to do this project again, since I am pretty proud of it as it is. Though some things that I would change would be to have more experience in realistic drawing, as well as painting on canvas. So that I wouldn’t have made the small mistakes that I did. Overall I am really happy with the work that I did on this project, because it shows all of the hard work that I put into perfecting my skills as an artist. I learned knew techniques such as how to paint with acrylics on canvas. Also I was able to improve my skills in drawing realistically since I always draw things that are anime based. Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 11.06.37 AM                     Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 11.06.17 AM

Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 11.06.37 AM
Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 11.06.37 AM

A Story About Everyone

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ato_jBBihiQkxPSkVIcExvajQ

REFLECTION: A STORY ABOUT EVERYONE

The short movie A Story About Everyone was designed to invoke ideas beyond those that are literally shown. The main character, Everyone, breaks out of her paper world, and though she is at first frightened by the great things that can be, she is soon inspired. Back in the paper world though, the stick figures are not happy. They interrupt her fun and drag her back inside the lines. There she struggles to show her newly discovered and colorful personality in a place where there is only black and white. Eventually she tires of their confinement and returns to the land of colors and three dimensions to become a real girl.

This movie posed an interesting dilemma. How to show emotions and deeper discoveries with a poorly drawn figure? How to show the difference between two worlds? I decided to use lined paper for the stick figure world to literally represent the metaphor of living within the lines of society. The characters within this world are all drawn with a charcoal pencil which often smudged. The individual characters living within such strict lines have little definition. In the scene where she sticks her hand and the tip of her skirt into the other world, you will notice that they became colored, providing a direct comparison of the two lands.

I decided to use the metaphor of light for illumination. Everyone is no longer frightened once she has the light. She dances for joy in fact. The following montage of happiness with an overtone of giggles show her learning about music and activity, and making friends with my happy dog, whom she had previously been afraid of.

Finally there was the issue of how to differentiate Everyone from Everyone Else once she had returned to the lines. They strip her of her flower and color leaving her as blank as Everyone Else. I decided to use eyebrows as a tell. In the scene of a hundred faces, she is the only one with eyebrows, and they speak of her sorrow.

There were a couple more obvious metaphors, The title scene with the text A Story About Me, A Girl, Everyone is telling of the fact that this story of self discovery and struggle against society is something Everyone can relate to. 

It was difficult to insure that the watcher would understand all these points. For one, the video camera I have is not of the highest quality and would not focus at times. Another major issue I had is that once transferring the videos into quicktime, the top and bottom were cut off, leaving some of my thought bubble clues difficult to decider. The most effected scene being when she decides to use a cog as a flower. 

When I first sat down and began drawing I did not know the complete story, but as I drew it became clear. I had already picked my two themes self discovery and the individual struggle against society, so after having the complete story in my head, I went back to the beginning and added more drawings to show those themes a little bit better. I finished all the drawing and cutting before filming anything. 

The hardest part of that was getting my dog to do what I wanted. I ended up spoiling him with tiny pieces of steak to get him to be my actor. He did run away with my little character sitting on him a couple times, and I would have to run after him and find where she had flown off. 

After I finished the filming I had quite a few issues first removing the videos from my camera and then, getting their thumbnails to show up on imovie. I cut the videos together, and then added the song. I made some minor adjustments so the music and video fit better, added some sound effects (giggles and jail door slamming sounds) and finalized the project.

If I had more time, I would like to add more scenes between the ones already existing to help the watcher follow the plot line and catch the clues. I might put the project to music that fit a little bit better and use a higher quality camera to catch the already limited details of my drawings. 

The concept of this project is what I am most proud of. My drawings are poor and my video editing is passable, but the ideas and the metaphors that I tried to incorporate are something for me to be proud of.  I think that in terms of concept, this project is a star, I have rarely liked an idea so much. It is a bit frustrating to know I did not do it justice. 



Claire Elliot

Creative Project and Self-Reflection

For this project, I wanted to create something that was out of the ordinary. I figured that the obvious choice would have been to make something like a Keynote, but I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative. So, the idea came to make something that people could actually touch. At first, I was unsure of how to go about this. I considered making something out of clay but realized that this would be too time consuming. Finally, after watching a commercial, I came up with the idea to make a voodoo doll. I knew that this would well represent a theme from the novel and movie involving pain.

            After I figured out that I wanted to make a doll, I had to figure out what specific themes I wanted it to represent. The best choice seemed to be sin and punishment, which occurred through much of The Scarlet Letter and Juno. The toothpicks that I wanted to put in the doll could be labeled, each with a different type of sin present in the two works that we studied in class. When all of the sin-representing toothpicks were put together, it would show how more sin equals more pain. This then led me to another theme shown in both the movie and book, self-condition. I realized that the toothpicks on the doll could also represent how the aftermath of added sins can take its toll on a person, as the doll seemed more uncomfortable as more toothpicks were added. This was much like the characters in the book and movie getting increasingly uncomfortable as they committed more sin in the eyes of the elite.

At this point, it was time to start making the creative piece. Since I knew it would be impossible to find a real voodoo doll, I decided to make one myself. After seeing a sock monkey online, I instantly thought about making a sock doll, which I could easily stick toothpicks into. To do this, I gathered up the materials, followed an online reference, and carefully constructed the doll. Even though the process went smoothly, I was not pleased with the final appearance of the first two dolls that I created. I felt that the limbs were not proportionate to the head in the way that I had hoped. As a result, I created more dolls and selected my favorite. After this, I labeled a set of toothpicks (each with a different sin) and randomly stuck them in the doll, finally completing my goal.

Now looking back, I am most happy that the final doll came out the way it did. It is one of the most unique products that I have ever created. I was shocked to see that it actually did look like a voodoo doll when completed. In fact, I was so pleased with it that I actually preferred making the doll, as opposed to buying one. The reason is because since I made it, I could make every aspect of it (its size, colors…) the way that I wanted it to be. On the other hand, my least favorite part of this project was the fact that I did not get to utilize my class time as well as I could have. The reason is because I would keep my supplies at home for fear that I would leave them in school. It is my guess that if I had brought my materials to school, I could have taken advantage of school resources, like specialized paint. As such, I will do this the next time I have a creative project.

Photo on 12-10-12 at 11.28 AM
Photo on 12-10-12 at 11.28 AM

Soccer is life.

Technology Slide Project: Micah Henry


Introduction: In technology class, we are creating a slide that describes ourselves, with very few words. Visuals or a visual is being used to show our hobbies, our life, or possibly just are passions and dreams. The purpose of this slide is to show who we are and what we enjoy to do in life. Lastly, the slide should be very short with words to describe yourself, with a picture to emphasize your lightly worded description.


This slide looks the way it does because my favorite, most inspirational quote is hard work & dedication. I admire this saying because it basically sums up everything you need to succeed in life with three words. These three words being very powerful , for they explain how working hard towards your dream an having a motivation to do so, you will be successful. In addition, my slide has a picture of soccer, and on the top, hard work & dedication because the words summarize the picture. For the picture is of a soccer player leaping to his full extent to win the ball and gain possession, this all being to get a goal; this goal is to succeed, to win. My love for the game of soccer, and my thought patterns of how if you work hard at something, you can never lose has helped me to make the decisions on this slide. The message, in text, is short, but could tell a story, with this great picture of hard work & dedication to back up this message of succeeding. 

tech slide project

All About Me.

​On my slide I chose certain pictures describing myself. I put every school I've gone to on the top part, and my likes on the bottom part. In the center I have what I want to do in order. I have a picture of a gymnast because I used to be a gymast and I would like to start it again. I have someone graduating because I want to graduate. and I have someone working and a family because I want to have a good job a settle down.

I made some changes to my slide, I decided to use the same idea of my previous slide but I made changes to the background images by making them the same color of the background and thats pretty much it.
Me Slide- Edited

Media Fluency

On my slide of myself I made it with a black background and red which is the color that pops out the most to the human eye. I was attempting to be as creative as possible when assembling the slide but still maintaing an attractive and large slide the would grab a person’s attention. The contrast of black and red is something that always catches my eye, for example other companies use red and black as colors that stand out like Verizon, Comcast, Obey, The Atlanta Falcons, and the Chicago Bulls , just to name a few. I knew that those colors to me are somewhat synonymous with black and red, so I figured why not use those colors for my slide. I included a picture also wearing red so it would fit with the colors of the slide. 
Tech Media

"Mind of State" by Ryan Harris & Sam Lovett-Perkins

Reflection: 

For this creative English project, Sam and I decided to create a playbill, along with an accompanying scene from the “play” to demonstrate our theme of “Freedom at the cost of true self”. To start off, our play is set in an alternate dystopian universe within a society where all of its members are given role that to fulfill from birth. They abides by this standard so much that, its citizens aren’t even given birth names. Citizens are solely referred to by their occupation. Our main character, follow this with the name “Accountant #56780” who represents individualism and opposition to conformity. In our “play” he decides that he’s had enough with blindly fulfilling his occupation, and not getting anything out of life. This parallels the character of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. Hester herself was an outcast within the Puritan Boston community doing something that she felt was the right thing. Within the book, her reason for being out casted was because of her having an illegitimate children and not revealing the father. This is similar to our character “Accountant #56780”, because he also took a stand, went against societal norms and did what he wanted, not letting the society’s judgment effect him. The dialogue represents the scene where “Accountant #56780” is finally standing up to his society, represented by another character: “The Machine” We used the playbill to give detailed information on our play, as well as including ads which also tied to our theme of “Freedom at the cost of true self”.

            My responsibility in the project lied within creating the dialogue, as well as the cover photo of our playbill. The dialogue was the first thing I created for our project. Using Sam’s idea for a play set in a dystopian society, I wanted to create a scene where our character could demonstrate his emotions and the audience gets to see his passion for individualism. The actual process of writing the dialogue was pretty exciting. While writing, I had already planned out what the scene would look/sound like. It was really amazing to just get my ideas down, and be able to turn them into an interesting performance. One problem I did come across was creating an ending to our scene. I had this great dialogue but didn’t want the ending to be weak. Thankfully having my partner, we were able to easily come up with a strong ending. Next, the cover photo was kind of an opposite experience. While I still had a good idea of what I wanted the photo to look like, actually drawing it was an ordeal. Since I hadn’t actively drawn anything for the past 3 years, I was really rusty on my skills. All in all, the process took a good 4 ½ hours, but I do feel really good about my final product.

            I feel that Sam and I could have done a lot better on the final performance. I definitely wanted to incorporate costumes for us, because I feel like it would just look a lot more professional. I also felt that we could have utilized or time for things like making a more flushed out dialogue and developing costumes. Certainly if we had more time, my partner and myself would expand on our final project.

            

IMG226
IMG226

Books with a different context..

After reading The Scarlet Letter and watching Juno the theme that stuck out to me the most was the theme of private vs. public self. I wanted to illustrate this theme in a way where it applied not only to both stories, but also applied to society today. I decided to make a book using poster board and construction paper. I chose to make the border of the book red because it stands out just as the characters did. In both The Scarlet Letter and Juno both of the main characters stood out from the crowd in a significant way, which drew a lot of attention. On the outside of the book I used magazine cutouts to illustrate misconceptions of the 2 characters. I used a lot of judgmental words and words that essentially would make you want to look at the book but not actually open it. Then, when you open the book you see the quote "Never judge a book by it's ..." and several magazine covers. 

In The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character, Hester Prynne, was highly criticized by the people who lived in her town. Their judgment was based solely on the “A” that she sported on her chest. Not many took the time to actually get to know Hester, which ended up to taking a toll on her. For a while she lived a lonely life because not many people wanted to get involved with her and what they believed she stood before. This relates to the book because everyone was so focused on her outer appearance that no one wanted to take the time to see what was inside.

Juno also shares a similar storyline. One thing that’s different in this story is that the main character, Juno, had a hard external appearance. She acted as if she didn’t want anyone to know the real her which is why no one actually did. Throughout most of the movie, the one person that wanted to know the real Juno, she drove off until the end. This also relates to the book because I chose to make parts of the book to look forbidden so that people don’t actually open it.

Although I am very proud of how my final product came out, there were a few things that stood in the way of me having a complete project. One problem I encountered while doing this project was determining the size of the actual book. At first I wanted to create a book that was essentially the size of a poster board, but that proved to be unrealistic. If I were to do a book this size, I would have needed a greater amount of magazine cutouts than I had. I chose these cutouts very selectively, so if I were to add more just to fill space I feel that the meaning would no longer be clear. However, I do feel that the quality of the project is being jeopardized because of the size but this was the best way to accurately get my point across. Other than that I really had no other complications. Normally my final product comes out nowhere near the way I envisioned it because of time. However, I did a good job with time management for this project so my final product was not far off from how I saw it to be.

            Even with my project fitting my expectations, if I could do it over I would do some things differently. For instance, instead of using magazine cutouts I would have found another method. I say this because for the most part all the magazines I got cutouts from had common themes. This made it hard for me to add a sense of diversity to my project or a variety of images. Maybe I could have done a drawing or something, which would have required me to generate my own themes, images, and ideas. 

Danny Wirt Scarlet Letter/ Juno mini project

In every day life, everyone is exposed to these labels; labels that define them and give them a place in the world. These labels can be placed on someone by the way they look, act, dress, their job, etc. This is exactly the point that I tried to make in my presentation. I tried taking something that is real, like a radio show and having real people talk on it. Maybe these people aren’t really alive, but that doesn’t mean that the labels that the people talking on the radio show display aren’t real. Everyone has a label, and the way that they act is reflected from this label. I really wanted to take to very common labels in high school, the jock and the popular girl. Both having this label and expectation that they need to live up to what they are.

The reason I ended up choosing these two specific roles in high school is because I feel they are the two roles that people can relate to the most. Whether they the jock or the popular girl, or someone who was affected by them, it is still represented throughout the typical high school scene. I really wanted the people talking to not only have the background of the label, but I wanted the way they talked to reflect it too. For instance, as I acted out the jock, I talked with a deep voice because when you think of a football player you think of a big muscular guy with a deep voice, and perhaps not the best talker. As I moved onto the popular girl I wanted her to talk really badly. Having her sentences messed up and for her to still be consumed in the label that she once had.

I really think I was able to capture the roles of the two labels in the two people that I represented in the radio show. I also think I was able to capture a typical radio host’s enthusiastic tone. I tried making it as smooth and as natural as possible and that is something that I think that I was able to capture really well. I really wanted the background music to flow with the conversations.

Equally I think something that could have been a little better is exactly what I did well with. I could have maybe elaborated the back-story of the two characters I created. With my first character, the jock, I think I made it clear that he realized he had this label on him, but with my second character I may not have made it clear that the popular girl still felt like she had this need to fill the label she was given. I also feel as though I could have perhaps looked into how other radio shows host their shows. It may have helped me in my creation since I don’t know much on how radio shows are run.

If think if I were to do this project over again, that I would work more on my second character. I also had thought about putting in more characters. My idea to stick with just two characters I believe is enough so that the person listening can sit and analyze the points I tried making, I would still stick with the labels that I chose, however if I were to add another person, I would want to take a completely different direction. Take it from the role of someone that may not seem to make a huge impact on the high school scene. Perhaps that person who isn’t the most well known person, but isn’t the one being teased; the middleman. It may have given the final product a bit of a twist with having such a big difference in characters and maybe kept the listener more interested. 

Maggie Long's creative project

​Click HERE for the link to the poems!


Reflection:

 Maggie Long

B Band

Self Reflection

For my creative piece I chose to do a series of poems. I found that writing out some emotions is a great way to get a point across. I also thought that it would be good for me to work on my writing more instead of drawing pictures or doing a painting. My poems are each about something different. They each express a way someone in society is feeling. Each person in my poems has something about them that really stands out to them and to others. For example, in the poem, “Road bumps”, one girl is feeling very insecure about herself because she is pregnant. She also is the only one in the school that is pregnant. Which makes it harder for her because she is then labeled as a whore. This relates back to The Scarlet Letter and Juno because when both of the main characters in those movies were pregnant, they were both labeled as whores or sluts by the people around them.

I tried to make the poems overall problem a bit harder to figure out, but it was really hard to do. If I would start beating around the bush, then the poem started to loose some meaning and it was harder for me to get the point across. I ended up making the poems last however long I felt would be good for that poem in particular. I found it to be hard to write about topics I'm not all that familiar with. I don't have a kid, I'm not pregnant, and I'm not anorexic, but to create these poems I had to be for a short while. I had to research some illnesses and how they effect people and the results of having that illness. That was one of the biggest challenges for me in this project. If I go through a problem, then I feel more comfortable talking about it because I have a pretty good knowledge on that topic. But when I'm talking about things like pregnancy and schizophrenia, I just don't know enough about the topic from experience, so I have to research it.

Some aspects of this project I think I did very well in. I got it done on time and the process was normal, also I think that the creative side to this project was also very well done. It could use more in depth analysis for each poem. I think I did a great job showing the overall problem and the emotions the character was feeling, but need to go more in depth on why and what is to come next. The way I wrote the poems went well with what the poem is trying to say. Although, some of the poems could be longer. I did 5 poems overall to make a series of short poems. Writing a long poem is hard for me because I tend to go off task and forget my topic. Another thing I could have done well in is the process and time management. I did most of this project over the last week that you gave us because I procrastinate a lot. So, I used the time we had in class to work on it over the week and then put it all together over the weekend. That's when I figured out the structure of each poem and the topic for each. Other than those small problems, I thought this was a good project to work on for the Scarlet Letter and Juno. There were a lot of things to write about for each of the movies/books.

If I were to do this project again I would choose to do a whole other project. I would probably pick something more with arts and crafts. I love hands on learning and being able to have a more interactive final product then just poems. Not to down on poems though, because it was a great experience writing them for a specific theme and being able to have such diversity in the poems. I would just like to be able to look at something without it having a definite answer to it. That makes the whole project more fun and visually appealing. Thats another thing I could have changed about this project. I could have done something more to make it prettier. It seemed really simple to me and a little too plain. I didn't realize this until after the fact though. I probably could have cut out the poem and put them all on a board, then drew around them and made them look more appealing. All in all I think that the way my project came out was good. I got the point across and did it in a different way then most people that I heard from. I'm looking forward to other projects that we do that will be like this one.



Limitations and Expectations: The Oppression of Women

There’s a vast array of interpretation that can be made about the meanings and messages behind the acclaimed novel “The Scarlet Letter” and the modern film Juno; though, as separate works. However, putting them in a side by side comparison forces one to hunt for common ground as simple, and as applicable, as the statement, “The theme of this is story is that lying is bad”. I personally chose to view both works through a certain feminist lens; a lens that looked at society as consistenly divided by gender and its accompanying stereotypes. Through hours of labor, I composed a charchoal piece symbolic of the past and current state of women, and the normalcy of its oppression.

Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 9.51.47 AM

My piece is an 18x24 inch large charcoal drawing, consisting of a nude woman with one arm in a chain, and the other hand pressed against a wall in front of her. The statement that I want to get across regards the standards to which women are held to because their womanhood, and how oppressive is has been, and will continue to be. First, the woman in my drawing is nude, yet she cannot see because her hair covers face. The nudity is symbolic of the vulnerability that women face consistently, and the impaired sight is a sort of conditional disadvantage. I deem it conditional because as the woman in the picture can choose to push the hair from her face with her free hand, women in our world today can choose to let their womanhood be a hinderance or disadvantage. A little bit more obviously, the wall and the chain are the constraints of society and gender roles in the world. Though, I chain specifically represents the seemingly unbreakable aspect of it, and the wall shows the seemingly immovable aspect of it. Both obstacles are repressive reagrdless, but I felt the need do incoperate both.

Speaking of obstacles, I honestly didn’t face too many that while creating this piece. My inial ideal had changed- after we finished Juno- but the idea was still very similar. I started by setting a mid-tone on the entire page, and began to construct a profile, or side view, face. From there, I losely worked my way down, making sure to outline the arm placement, and shape of her torso. It was here that I began to make contrast, shade and highlight. If anything, making sure that the darkest areas of my piece was dark enough, and the lightest areas of my piece were light enough, was my biggest challenge. Also, I’m very finicky when it comes to anatomy, so I tried my hardest to get my proportions correct. I spent a good hour just on my left hand alone! After I finished my hand, I touched up on my lighting, and wanted to make sure that my shadows were cast in the right places. I then transitioned into the chain and then the wall. Both objects didn’t necessarily have particular shading that added their sybolism, their actual appearance wasn’t something to focus on, but rather what they stood for.

On that note, I think that I did a great job with creating a piece that clearly displayed the message that I wanted to get across, throught my effort. Charcoal is a very messy medium, but if channeled correctly, it can produce a beautiful outcome. I believe that I worked hard and precise enough on the actual image of my drawing, but also, I believe that I composed its entirety in a way that isn’t too hard to pick up on. Furthermore, I think that I made sure to encompass both pieces of work. My theme can be applied to “The Scarlet Letter” a bit more blatantly than it can in Juno, but if you squint, you can see that Juno broke many gender stereotypes herself, though it wasn’t as focused upon. On a different note, I believe that I could have made my shading a bit more smoothed out in the drawing. I also could have put her in a different space. Ultimately, all of possible things that I could have done better, are techincal. Yet if I could do this all over, I’d try to create a piece that captures themes that are bit more critical in thinking.  Overall, I’m satisfied with my work and portrayl of my ideas.

An Outsider

Frank, how’s it going? Are you happy in China now? Actually, there is something making me nervous.

You know, my mother was invited by a university as a visiting scholar. I follow my mother and have been in the United States for three months, and I entered a fantastic high school. But I still feel nervous, because I’m a foreigner for others, and it is hard to be understood. I am living in an environment which is foreign to me and my culture. 

We are having a science class, and our group did an experiment just now. I had a good idea for the experiment, but others in our group didn’t know what I was talking about. So they just did the experiment in their own way, and I couldn’t join the process of the experiment at all. I’m an outsider! Then, there were two members of our group asking me whether the teacher in China hit me if I did something wrong. Of course not, the teachers in China respect and love their students, just like the teachers in the United States. They don’t know much about China. They might just know a little bit about ancient China, but not modern China. It is my duty to introduce these to my classmates.

I want to talk about the present situation of China with my classmates, because China is not what they believe it to be. For example, China has become the second largest economy in the world, China has become the biggest developing country, and China has the third strongest military in the world. Most of Chinese are satisfied with their lives.

I want to talk about the Chinese culture with my classmates, because Chinese history is as long as five thousand years. Ancient Chinese people made great contribution to world civilization. For example,  Confucius, the greatest ideologist in ancient China proposed the idea of peace and harmony which are still meaningful nowadays. Chinese culture is colorful. For example, The Spring Festival is a time  Chinese spend time with families and eat dumplings. And as a language, Chinese is beautiful in form and pleasing in sound. I’d like to teach my classmates some easy greetings in Chinese.

I want to join the discussion of the experiment and the team work, and I want to be an active member in the discussion of the group or the whole class instead of being an outsider. I have a lot of good ideas for the experiments or discussion, and I hope I can make others understand what I mean. I wish I can make others stop saying something like “I don’t know what you are talking about”.

But as you know, I just come to the United States and my English is not good. So, it is hard for me to tell these to my classmates. Nobody wants to chat with a person who speaks slowly, so I can’t introduce the present situation and the culture of China. My English is not good, so I don’t know how to express my idea. I feel nervous. I need to improve my English as soon as possible. I need to read more articles in English and listen to VOA Special English every day. I need to memorize the new words that I meet and try my best to pronounce them so that I can communicate with others more quickly. I feel tired about these, but I can’t give up improving English in order to communicate with my classmates adroitly.

Oh, I’m under heavy pressure now, and I have to continue to have science class. Those are all the things that I want to talk to you. Frank, can you understand me? Hope you can!

Creative Project

The Scarlet Letter/Juno Creative Project

Isabella Tognini

Self-reflection

Due: 12/10/2012

 

For my creative piece I actually decided to focus on a couple of topics that weren’t quite discussed in class, which was “independence” and “an individuals pursuit of happiness.” When reading The Scarlet Letter, I couldn’t help but admire Hester’s ability to take her situation head on, and continue to carry herself and her child through some very rough times. From the beginning of the book she is definitely seen as an independent women. In spite of the way the townspeople see her, she soon finds liberation in the letter, which allows her to transform the meaning of the letter. In the movie, Juno, she starts off being an extremely independent person. She, as well, takes the situation head on, and decides to stay pregnant and for the most part, does not let others opinions effect her daily life. But though these two ladies were independent, they also found comfort and longing for the one they loved. I created a song about society’s cruelty and having the strength to endure their perception of right and wrong. When writing this song, I focused more on Juno, and how she had to carry the evidence with her, but also the support that she, in the end, wanted from Paulie. The song starts off saying “they were kind, for a time,” where I connected with how society treats individuals -- they can be kind, until you do something that they don’t see as the norm. With my lyrics I wanted to show that the character (or whoever might sing this song) was affected by society’s opinion, but at the same time knowing that they don’t actually understand the whole situation. Though times are hard and people are cruel, you can still be strong and be able to carry a burden without running away. But although it’s nice to be independent, having someone by your side to help support you can be a great thing.  

            I started my piece by picking a song that I really liked and know all the lyrics to. I originally wanted to write my own song, but then realized that I don’t play any instruments and that it would be extremely hard to come up with a tune/melody without knowing chords. So I decided to use a Mumford & Sons song and change up all of the lyrics. I wrote down some key concepts, which I thought might help with writing the song. While doing this I thought about that scene when Juno walked through the hall at her school and all of the kids just stared at her stomach and in The Scarlet Letter when Hester had to stand up on the scaffold. And while those people judged her, they still stood strong, Juno didn’t run to the bathroom and cry, and Hester didn’t just leave the town.

Unfortunately, the problem with using an existing song, is that I did have to pay attention to how many words/syllables I had in each line, or it would be sounded like I was trying to rush the song. Also, since it’s such a new song, I could not find the instrumental, and had to stick with using just my own voice (and a crappy microphone). I am also not great at writing songs, but I tried the best I could with being as poetic as possible. And I think that for never having wrote a song before, I did do a pretty good job, especially when I needed to execute a theme. I think I made it clear that in the beginning of the song, there was an obvious issue with society and was able to show a solution near the end when they are able to be strong together and they don’t have to run away, even if they don’t live my society’s expectations. 

If I had to do this project all over again, I think I could have tried to pick another song, one that I could find an instrumental for, which I believe would have made the song sound a lot better. Another thing which would have been really cool to do, is to actually have learned to play the song on guitar. Though I do think it was smart for me to take an already existing melody, or I would have created something that would have absolutely been horrid (haha). 

Qmalik-Creative Project

     

Qaswa Malik

Theme: Identity VS Society 


Self Reflection 


        We read “The scarlet letter” and watched “Juno” in our sexuality and society class. Both stories portray the same themes and some messages but represents the different time periods of the world. “The scarlet letter” is a story of a women who becomes victim of public eye just because of committing an unforgettable sin of adultery. Many themes occur which directly relates to our sexuality and society class. “Juno” is other story of a teen girl who gets pregnant and reflects the story of modern Hestor Prynne. Both stories are not just congested in portraying the main ideas of sexuality and society but goes further and explains themes, ideas, symbols and messages which makes the reader enough flexible in understanding of sexuality and society and things beyond this. 

I chose the theme of Identity Vs Society, for this creative project. Identity and society are one of the main themes in both stories which are important because it explains how sometimes a personal identity actually looks like but how people are unaware of the real identity of an individual. In both stories, this theme is occurs as the prominent one. In Scarlet Letter, Dimmendale’s character was facing some inner destruction and he knew his identity but for people, due to his work and purity, Dimmensdale was a very young beautiful, genius and pure person who have served the community honestly. But she has shown wise enough to pull the situation on a right side so that she can solve the problem even though she was much younger than her perception and wise decisions. For her parents she was like a kid and in actual she was but her decision for making other's family happy was a proof of that she was not kid anymore. Here this shows a connection with The scarlet letter in a way that sometimes people think opposite of actual identity or stage where a person stands at that time. Although this does not directly relates with the Dimmensdale condition but shows the same idea behind them. For my final creative product, I could not put the situations of both them together but I chose to make a cage that could reflect the dimmensdale's situation but would be giving the same idea for both or any kind of situation like that. 


When I started to think about my creative piece, I decided to make a cage which would show my selected theme by representing a little piece of poetry and color selection which would be showing different meanings. I hanged a bird, broken feathers with poetry written on them, in the cage. I did not poetry by myself but I translated it from Urdu to English just to give a shape to my final piece. I chose to make feathers and bird all in red color because each color means something different. So the meaning of red or scarlet color is sin, flame and the things in this categories. For the outside of the look, I decided to choose green color because this color shows respect and honor. I put some flowers and butterflies to fully show what I wanted to present through it. So this whole piece describes an inner situation of a person and then how people are unaware of the internal destruction or internal happiness or things that portray the same idea behind something. I really tried to show the colors that mean something important in understanding of the theme and creative piece. 


For the picture of my final creative piece, I passed through different stages of thinking to finalize my thoughts. At first, i had a different idea about feathers and poetry. I thought I would just stick them inside the cage but that wasn’t enough for poetry so then i decided to hang them with string. Before hanging them, I had to arrange according to the lines of poetry. The making of whole piece was a fun for me but I faced some problems in making the cage with the paper. I think this was difficult and took more time because I made a craft like this first time. 


Now there are some parts I where I did good as well as some parts where i don’t think I did well. Well done parts include choosing of a theme and idea of how to present it. I think I was creative in doing this project as a whole because main parts of the project include the well presentation of ideas through various creative techniques. I took more time to finalize the product than choosing theme and idea. I did this crafts thing for the first that’s why it took me more time to stand the structure of this cage. I have a better idea of this project if I do this again because  this piece have some mistakes done by me. First one include small size of feathers which lead to small font size of my poetry. If I do this once again, I would focus on large size of feathers so that it would be easier to read the little piece of poetry. Also redoing would expand my mind and hands to do better to present the idea of theme based on colors and poetry.


Little piece of poetry

the heart's desire 

was left ignored

and so this love madness grew

between us 

were these distances 

i know know what compelled us

a bit of my heart was drowning in sorrow

and a bit of it was a love madness


there were lonely nights 

and they stayed just so 

in these colorful tides

my eyes drowned 

what was unsaid, unheard

all that was to be said, my gestures articulated 

a bit of my heart was drowning in sorrow

and a bit of it was a love madness


IMAG0182
IMAG0182

The Struggle of Standards

The Struggle
The Struggle

Kamilah Hudson

Sex and Society

B - Band


When I first started off this project I had a lot of ideas rushing through my mind. It took a long while to sort through them all. There were so many themes within Juno and the scarlet letter that I could have made something off but I wanted to make sure I picked something that could be original and meaningful. When it came down to it, I was stuck between two deas. The first idea was that I would do an artistic piece on the perception of evil and how people didn’t always see the same things as good or bad. I think that I could take that a lot of places but when I started trying to get creative with the idea, my brain when dryer than a desert.

Once I realized that the idea was dead, I settled on the other which was based around acceptance and struggle. To me, acceptance and the benefits of learning to accept being an outcast, were very prevalent in both booth context. To me, Juno and the Scarlet Letter are two context about being beacon’s in a dark and conformed world. They say to us “Don’t stop shining no matter how hard anyone tried to make you”. They both teach the idea of accepting difference and set the example for everyone watching that no matter what people may tell you, there’s nothing wrong with being with yourself.

I thought hard about all the things people like to try to conform and fit into. I thought how must strain and stress we put ourselves through just to get a chance to be just like the “everyone else”. Then it reminded me of a common problem that a lot people can relate to; I thought about how often time’s we try to squeeze into clothes that just aren’t made in to fit us. That was it. It clicked in my head. Often times, we try to squeeze into clothes that just aren’t made to fit is; often times we try to force are self’s to fit other people’s standards when in reality, not every can. Never everything is made for everyone.

After I realized this i knew exactly what I wanted to do. I took the giant canvas I had been saving for a good project and went to work. The first thing I did was draw a woman struggling to get into a shirt. I think the reason that appealed to me so much was because I had done it before. I’ve always looked up to my older sister because of her personality and they way she looked. She gives me clothes occasionally because when I was little I’d like to get into and wear her things. She’s a lot smaller than I am but for a long time she was what I considered to be the “perfect size” so I would squeeze into her things. It was frustrating because they would always be too small and uncomfortable but I kept telling myself, “this is the standard.” Unlike Juno and Hester, I didn’t attempt to set my own standards but fill the ones of others.

I didn’t think of it til afterwards but I think it would have been better if I had drawn a woman trying to squeeze into jeans that are too small. It would have been much easier to understand for people who are just looking at the creative piece by itself.

After I drew the woman, I tried to think of an original quote to fit the theme of acceptance and knowing that we have to meet our own standards. The quote i finally ended up making was “We struggle for acceptance but in return we get frustration and pain until we reach the realization that.... we all can’t be the same.” I used 7 different fonts to write this out and put emphasis on the words struggle, acceptance, frustration, pain, realization, and same. Those six words summarize, in my opinion the process of acceptance and the process of Juno and the Scarlet Letter.


In both the Scarlet Letter and Juno, things starts off with a struggle. Hester struggles with coping with the A and at first hates it and herself because of all the indifference that they cause between her and the town. She hated the situation she had put herself in and felt guilty about being who she was because the town made her feel guilty about it. Eventually the struggle broke her and she wanted to be just like everyone else, not having be put on display for not being “typical”. She tried to act and look more like the people of the town. She was a bright passionate flame dulled and oppressed by bitter, cold, and old hearts. She was suffocating herself trying to “squeeze into their shirt size” because no matter how she tried, it just wasn’t able to cover her properly. Eventually she got tired of the frustration and pain the comes along with trying to force things to work. At that moment she had the realization that, she didn’t have to meet anyone’s standards but her own. She came to the realization that she could “wear her shirt in a larger size” because the shirt society tried to cover her in just couldn’t fit.

Juno was very similar to this and yet very different. Juno started out in the movie “wearing the right size shirt”. She understood herself  enough to know she didn’t and couldn’t conform to standard. Because of that she ended up helping someone else realize that, Mark. Mark conformed. At one point he wore the size. He knew what fit comfortably on him. Over time though people gave him shirts that weren’t his size and he made himself squeeze into them until they shirt got too small and ripped. Only until after the shirt ripped did he realize/accept that they just we’re made to fit him. They weren’t his size.

Along with the picture of the woman squeezing into the shirt, I played around with different art tools on the canvas to see which one’s worked. Not all art utensils are made to work on every kind of paper. I used crayons, markers, pencil, pen, chalk, and paint to make this art piece. Each one held differently to the canvas. The crayon held fine on the canvas but it couldn’t lay smooth across it. The marker wouldn’t take because the canvas wasn’t absorbent enough to hold it down. The Pen wasn’t strong enough to leave a thick enough line. The pencil was the same. The chalk would not take at all. Like the marker, it was having trouble sticking because the contradiction of materials. I ended up having to use hair spray to hold it down and keep it from blowing and smeering off. The paint was the only thing that took well to the canvas. It was strong enough to stand on it’s on against it and yet still blend to it.

I think the thing I’m most proud of for this project is the woman I drew. I’m not used to drawing people in such an uncomfortable position or on such a large scale so it was awkward but fun to do. I also like the fact that I used more than pencil to get this done. I’ve never really enjoyed painting because the few times I’ve tried, it didn’t go the way I wanted. I think i should have done the writing of the quote  a little more neater. If I were to do this project again, I think I would come up with a better quote. I think I could have done a better job of doing it. I also think I should have been a little less indecisive about my choice on a theme and medium.


Coach John

Coach John

 

Hey everybody( Stumbles to the microphone, with a 40 in his hand) . How is everybody (we’re good said the crowd).  Let me tell yall about one of my favorite kids to coach basketball, Zamir. He was smart, very good in basketball. He was D1 bound, that mean he had offers to D1 colleges like Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky. He did not grow up in the best of neighborhoods. He grew up in North Philly. Where he wakes up gunshots in the middle of the night. He was not the leader type. He just went with drift. What ever his friends do he do. That’s why he did not have the best role models. I would say “Boy you know you be at practice. You won’t make in life by selling drugs or being around them niggas that sell drugs.” His responds was “ I need to bring money home for my mom, this basketball thing ain’t going to but bacon on my table.” Well it went something like that  I would tell him everyday to come to practices. Ill text him he’ll say “ Yeah coach” Or “ I got you”. He would be out there with them drug dealers, he didn’t think I would know that but I did. One day, I texted him saying you better be at practice. He told me “k”. So I took his word. 3:50 hits, that’s the time of practice. So I was worried. Then I get A call saying he been shot at a drug house. I couldn’t deal I felt like it was my fault. So I started to drink, pop pills. I did not know what to. Then One day somebody told me that “Don’t waste God time”. He wasted God time. So that’s why we are sitting here today. That’s why I am speaking at his funeral. If he went to practice this wouldn’t happen. He is so selfish. He would not listen to me now yall cannot live the life yall want, and now is death is on my shoulder. Fuck him. He messed up my life. He messed ya’lls to. ( Drops the microphone, wobbles.)

Depth of the mixed Cd and a reflection

This Mixed Tape goes through several similar themes; identity, private vs public self, and being an outcast. As the tape goes through each song the listener is going through a musical journey of self acceptance and loving ones self.

 

The Logical Song - Supertramp

This song is going first in the mixtape. The first part is about how wonderful life is when you are little and that everyone gets along. As the song goes on the tone of the song is changing. My favorite part is the chorus about thinking late at night. Who am I? The ultimate struggle of defining your person and trying to be your own person and dealing with the ups and downs. This is an obvious theme of identity. 


People are Strange - The Doors

This song is about not fitting in. Each line is the stuff that people are fighting with in their heads all the time. Specifically not fitting in (When you’re strange). The line “Women seem wicked when you are down.” It touches on the fact that people feel unloved, unwanted, and insecure in the world. This song specifically resonates with the private of feeling judged by the public at large and how being different makes you feel alone.


Welcome To My Life- Simple Plan

Teen angst, no one understands me, this mixtape of identity would not be complete without this song. Each lyric is about getting by in life and how everyone feels like they are going about the world on their own. Of course all the themes in this song “To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark, To be kicked, when you're down, To feel like you've been pushed around.” The basic I am feeling left alone and forgotten. This goes into all of the themes with ideals of not fitting in as the identity and the personal self.


Shout - Tears For Fears

 Fun Fact: This song was written about political protests. 

I added this song after The Doors to keep a similar sound but bring in different ideas. “Shout let it all out.” This one is more about letting the private out, of course this does not happen often but it is letting your self let go of  the things that are messing with your head. Letting frustration and pain out about the things that ail you can help you relax. 


Failure By Design- Brand New 

This is more about accepting the mistakes that we are as people. Shout took the listener out of the stoic sad sounds of The Doors and Supertramp into the teen punk rebellion. Hating yourself and feeling stuck. “I’m another day late and one year older, It’s failure by design.” Stuck, stuck stuck. Stuck on the girl, on the things that help you forget about what is haunting you.This is more on the theme of identity and private vs public self. Really angst songs are a perfect show of private self vs public self.(Every single second that I pull this off is another lonely night I gotta race the clock.) The whole song is about just getting by in this shitty world after finally admitting that things are kinda sucky.


Who Are You - The Who

Done with the teen angst. Now in a drunken confusion still asking yourself who am I? Am I the person who I know I am deep inside or am I this persona that I hide behind? How does one change into this new person when they have been perceived one way? Still trying to find yourself , “I musta lost my sense of direction because I ended up a superstar.” of course for Pete Townshend he literally became a superstar most of the time people find themselves in other things like a dead beat job they never wanted or stuck with an ideal of them that is a public view. 


A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help) - Motion City Soundtrack

Continuing with the idea of change this song take witty words and strings them into beautiful poetic ideas. “I think I can figure it out but I’m gonna need a little help.” Is the chorus and is prominent throughout the song as searching for the person and just trying to be happy with the world, but still has the ever present darkness “I wish I was someone else.”. This ever present need for escape from yourself but being trapped and having to make the best of it. The singer is obviously trying to change though and make the best of his world while still saying he has bad days.


Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been- Relient K 

Okay finally a happy song. Well not truly, it is a I have changed song. This is an apoligize about the past and the mistakes he has made. The singer says a great line “And the things bottled inside have begun, to create so much pressure that I’ll soon blow up.” This is the tie into the earlier songs of keeping the internal problems and the personal self hiding to make room for the public self. The identity of one is partly hiding true feelings and ideas. 


Unstoppable- Foxy Shazam

Now our tempo is up. The world is feeling a bit better. WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE! Finally fighting the world that has been putting our spirits down we are stepping up to the plate for ourselves and for the things we believe in. Even though life has been spent harshly “Sticks and stones may hurt, but we don’t care.” The song is saying it is time to step up and fight back. Identity is finally coming out through the public self.


 Mixology of Tom Collins - Less Than Jake

This song is much like the last though more on a sour note. The song is accepting yourself as you are but more so just not letting others opinions get in the way “ Who the hell needs self doubt.”. This song is needed because it is not alway a great change but it is a change and the happiness with who you are.


The Middle- Jimmy Eat World

Cliche, I know, but this song is the last. Be yourself. Things suck but it will be all fine in the end which. This last song is one of assurance that always gets me pumped when I am down and is therefor required for this mixtape. Leave the listener on a good note that even if things suck now it is not as bad as you think and things will only get better.



Self Reflection 

My creative piece is a musical partner. As a teenager specifically the world sucks, it feel like everyone is out to get you and you hate yourself. I wanted this cd to say it was okay. That feeling this way is normal and that even though you feel horrible now it will get better. This mix is what has been going on in my head the last few years. I mean specifically relating to these themes of identity and private vs public. I kept the mix less specific to me and more obtuse so that more people can relate to the music and think back to that time in their life when everything kinda sucked at they felt stuck. Or when they were so sad and alone that things get better and how you think changes as you change and go through experiences.


I have been spending a lot of time on Spotify because of this Mixed Cd and I feel like my biggest regret of this project will be that I slowly find better songs to portray the point I want to get across. I had a mix of twenty songs widdled that down to ten and than swapped them out for better songs. I could do that for days though until it was perfect and still find something that means more. I think that I could of done the tape better I feel like there are songs hiding out there that describe what I want to say perfectly but the mix I have put together is still important to me because I know that one day I will need a pick me up and I can listen to this. 


Another thing I wish I could of fixed was my song analyzation. Some of these songs I could of ripped apart and told a whole story with it showing everyone of my feelings of the depth of some of the lyrics but I did not want to overwhelm the situation. Thinking about it now though I like that I gave a brief point to the songs because it forces the listener to see them with more of their own eye.

Masquerade Mask Photo Essay

Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 8.40.23 AM
Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 8.40.23 AM
Justin Pullins
December 10, 2012
Scarlett Letter/Juno Creative Project


For this project, I chose to focus on the theme of identity. To me, this was the perfect theme to explore because it is truly an universal aspect of life. Nearly everyone, at some point in their lives, struggle with the concept of who they are to themselves, to societies, and otherwise. After brainstorming various ideas, I found that the best way to explore this theme would be through the power of masks.

The concept of a mask is a fascinating one. The very point of wearing one is to conceal your face, or what many consider to be their true selves. Sometimes they can be worn for sheer enjoyment, while other times they are attempts to cover the truth. Masks can be very subtle, or very intricate, bland or expressive, direct or decipherable. Because of these reasons, I believe that masks would be the perfect way to portray Hester's story.

Hester's arc throughout the book is one that is often masked by fear, hidden passion, lust, and secrets. As she struggles with these inner conflicts, as well as her identity in Puritan Boston, the masks tell her tale.

It was my belief that the best way to explore the multiple dynamics of the theme I chose was to focus specifically on one tale. Because of this, I focus solely on The Scarlett Letter. However, as Juno is also the tale of a character's identity changing and shifting, many connections can be made between the two stories.

The process in creating this collection was a very thorough one. Each mask took roughly 60 minutes to conceive an idea, create a design, and execute it. Throughout this process, I often struggled with the concept of literalism versus artistic expression. I often wonder how easy should the mask be able to comprehend, the story each mask should tell, and the way it should do it. No aspect of the final mask and corresponding photo, whether it's the lighting, the mask used, or the placement of the mask, was left up to chance. Every aspect was analyzed and calculated.

Ultimately, I hope the collection can speak for itself, and can be used as an additional component for future readers of The Scarlett Letter, which will help them understand the novel in a different way.



Click here to enjoy the slideshow.


Description of the Masks:
#1- "Adulteress Only"
This is where we begin our journey with Hester. She is, to many, an adulteress and nothing more. The "A" across her face represents the only thing that the Puritans see in her. The full mask represents the fact that Hester's true self is being covered and marred by scandal.
#2- "Peeks of Truth"
After public embarrassment, Hester speaks to her jealous, estranged husband Roger Chillingworth. In this audience, Hester is desperately concealing her secret, which is represented by the darkness that covers the majority of the mask. This is the secret that keeps her back. However, across the mask are lighter colors; the truth is trying to appear.
#3- "The Adulteress' Guilty Pleasure"
The description of Hester's sewing was told in great detail. Because of these, I thought that the depiction of Hester's sewing should be very subtle and intricate. This is a half mask, because here, Hester is the most truthful.
#4- "Alone, on the Scaffold"
Hester's scaffold confessions with her lover, Dimmesdale, are moments of intense passion. The dichotomy of the public Hester and the private Hester meets here, and so this mask is to represent this.
#5- "The Letter Defined"
Throughout the whole story, Hester's Scarlett letter is constantly being redefined, whether this is by Hester or others. Because of this constant identity crisis, I wanted this piece to display the Scarlett letter fully. However, the black and brown stains represent the Scarlett letter fading and morphing into something else.
#6- "The Sunshine Does Not Love You"
In one of their private moments in the forrest, Pearl tells her mother, "...the sunshine does not love you". This really struck me, and so I thought it was a perfect thing to represent in a mask. The yellow is meant to represent the sun, with the black streaks representing the sunshine's hatred of Hester. The trees are present in order to give us some setting.
#7- "The Façade for the Governor"
During her meeting at the governor's mansion, Hester is desperate to make herself seem appealing and able, so that she may keep Pearl. This mask is meant to be very intricate and detailed, as Hester is trying to create a false image of herself. However, the Scarlett "A" remains.
#8- "Promise of the New World"
This is mask is meant to represent the part of the story in which Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl plan their escape. The mask here is meant to represent the new world, with the color scheme meant to have an old-world sense. Also, the mask itself was meant to have a sinister look, as the promise of the new world are often misleading.
#9- "A Brook Ahead, the Fear Behind"
I wanted to shoot this photo in a way that differed from all the others. Therefore, we this mask from behind. Most of the mask is a blue, to represent the calming powers of the brook. However, the Scarlett red continues to bleed down, infiltrating the blue.
#10- "Collision"
Hester's tale is one of great inner conflict. All throughout the novel, there are struggles of identity, and because of this, I want to manifest this is a mask. This mask specifically details Hester's plight during Dimmesdale's final speech, the very speech in which they are planning to escape afterwards. During the sermon, Hester's emotions and inner turmoil runs rampant, which is the reason why colors clash within this piece.

#11- "Serenity"
Upon her later years, Hester seems to have reach a sense of great peace in her life. She no longer is subject to the judgment that has marred most of her story, and is quite content living out the remainder of her days helping in the ways that she can. Though the remnants of her Scarlett "A" are still present, it now represents peace and security in the identity. This is the last "mask" that Hester wears in her lifetime.
#12- "Gash of Shame/Gash of Hope"
The Scarlett Letter ends with Hester's death. However, Hester's life lives on. This final piece is a representation of Hester both in the after life and before the events of the book. Within Puritan society, Hester vastly different from the demographic. She shines brightly in the world while others tend to blend in. Therefore, there is a streak of yellows and reds amongst the darker colors. This streak symbolizes not only society's perception of shame versus Hester's perception of hope, but it also represents Hester herself, as she has always been the powerful force against the established order.

Self-reflection

When I first started this project did this project I was not sure what I wanted to do. I really enjoy creative projects and I was so excited to make one I was not sure what I creative piece I was going to make. I first thought I was going to draw, or paint because I enjoy that as a past time. There would nothing better than being about to that kind of art work for a class I am actually going to receive a grade in. 

After a while I figured that I wanted to do a written piece, the only problem was I did not know what I wanted to wrote about or what theme I wanted to use within the piece. Then Manna told me she was doing a monologue and asked if I would like to work with her. I have always wanted to work with someone else doing a monologue(s) but that chance just never came up. I was excited and quite curious to see what we were going to create. Our biggest problem we seemed to have was trying to combine our ideas together. We both has a basic idea of what we wanted to put into the monologue but had a time struggling on the best way to combine ideas. 

Although the process of trying to figure out what we were going to do took longer than we expected. For the simple fact that we kept going back and forth trying to figure out what we were going to write. We kept working on it trying to prefect it and not giving up on it or separating from one another as partners. I feel as though we stuck together well because sometimes I was ready for Manna to just suggest something about us working separate as we started to but of course she didn’t So I was determined to hang in there to get the job done. 

By sticking together with this project we were able to, get our theme across enteral destruction. Once we figured out that was what we were going for it was their easier to connect what we wanted to do together. We know we wanted to explain our line of thinking by using strong words. To us, what better way to do that than using a monologue. Powerful and straight to the point. We wanted to touch basics on the life of  one person who has a strong addition and gets better overtime. The main focus in the monologue is the one person of course. We felt like if we put to many characters in the story then it would take away the important and the focus off of the main character. We would have then had to develop more than was needed, being so we made a monologue and not a play. The entire monologue is a presentation for our main character to share a part of her life that she has grown with the most. 

Something I think I could have done differently is decided sooner rather than later about how I was going to present this information with or without a parter because it would have been easier to work knowing what I was going to do. For the simple fact that I changed my mind so many times. So I feel as though that was something that I could have done better. I still think i gave myself enough time to finish the project I just don’t think I gave myself enough creative time. I was creative with my writing I just, sort of feel like there was something missing. 

Hopefully I am wrong. If I were to do this all over again I would just make sure that I knew what I was going to be in sooner than I did before. I probably would just paint a picture because the last times I painted with my oil paints was about four weeks ago. To me that seems like forever and oil painting tends to keep my very tranquil and my mind always at ease. I think if I were to make a painting, if I were to do this all over again then I would then feel as if my work is no longer missing the little something. But besides that, I invite you to listen to Emily telling about her strong addiction to cocaine between her past and present self. 

MPyfrom- Public vs. Private Self

Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 10.58.55 AM
Screen Shot 2012-12-10 at 10.58.55 AM
After reading The Scarlet Letter and watching Juno the theme that was most relevant was "Public vs. Private Self." I chose this theme because it applied to the story, movie, and also today's society. For this project, I decided to illustrate an abstract piece of artwork. So I chose to create a crayon melting art piece. On the canvas, I wanted the various colors of crayons to symbolize the use of emotion. So the cool and warm colors represent the different emotions a person can feel by being victimized for being different. Then in the middle of the canvas, I painted a black silhouette to represent the person who has been ostracized from his or her community. Then around the black silhouette, there are words that people may say about you that they feel is true.  It is basically their perception of you before getting to know you personally. The public vs. private theme explains that the external layer of yourself may not necessarily be identical to the internal layer. In my artwork, the words represent what society may view you as versus the real you on the inside. That is why I decided, to add a heart for the black silhouette that says “Misunderstood” because it shows that people may view you one way but your internal character proves you are the total opposite.   
Before starting the creative element to my project, I had to conduct serious research on how to perform the crayon melting method. I watch several videos on art and media websites such as youtube and etc. Soon after, I purchased the materials which were a 18 by 24 canvas and box 64 crayons. The process of completing this project was very time consuming. It took me an hour to paste the crayons to the canvas. After, I drew and painted the black silhouette. Then I had to complete the difficult part which was actually melting the crayons. This activity was very messy, I spent over 40 minutes melting the crayons. Positioning the hair dryer to melt the crayons in a certain direction was challenging because as the crayons began to bleed down the canvas, it would splat in random directions. As I continued, another problem that occurred was the crayons would run on the words I pasted, which ruined them. So at the end for final revisions I had to paint the black silhouette and add the words again.
Although I had face several challenges, I am still very proud of my final outcome. I knew I was I taking a risk with using crayon melting method, but chose to ignore the negatives. For me personally, I love doing creative hands on projects because it allows us to our artistic side show. Also being at SLA, we are so used to creating videos or digital visual representations that we tend to shy away from creative pieces such as paintings, sculptures, and etc. So for this project, I was to exceed expectations and do something different, and I think I achieved my goal. My creative piece was not only visually appealing but also there was a message behind it. I wanted to let the audience see the various emotions a person is victimized due to being different. Although someone is different from you, you still should respect them. However, if I could do this project over, I would maybe add a quote versus using the words. The quote would be related to the theme “public vs. private self.” I feel as though the quote would be more beneficial because it would grasp the audience’s attention and they will understand it  more than the words. One problem associated with creating an abstract piece, is letting your audience into your thought process, meaning they know the direction you were heading in while creating this project. I would have done a better job of letting my thought process be known more so no one was confused about my artwork’s meaning.