I am probably not wearing enough layers and it is completely my fault. The campus walk is the same as yesterday and the day before, the brick and snow patches illuminated by white winter sunlight, and a tirade of other students walk beside or against me on their way to class or library or food. Even with my hands in my pockets, shoulders hunched up against the chill, the wind cuts through the fabric with practiced ease. As I walk, it brushes through my hair, ruffling my clothes against my skin and repositioning my outfit. The wind says I should open my collar, pushing it out to expose my neck, says I should let my flannel blow back behind me like a cape. I don’t disagree. Who can argue with the wind? I stop fighting it, both the wind as my personal fashion expert and the cold in general. I let the frigid air permeate my skin, my muscles, veins, and arteries until it touches my bones. It feels like cleansing. Like the cold is freezing off all of the detritus of the day, all the nagging leftovers of all the moments before this, letting me just be. Just walk down through the tunnel by the bridge and be a cold boy on his way to class.
“People often forget about how beautiful the world is, the way the trees blow in the wind, how flowers bloom in the spring, and how amazing the grass feels on our feet. We come from a generation where the only beauty we actually see is over an electronic. Go outside every once in a while, smell the fresh hair and the flowers, lay down on a blanket in the grass and look up at the sky and see how the clouds look. We don’t really live in a bad world, you are just blinded by what you see. Show me what you see.”
It is probably no surprise that this is a true experience, what with the weather we have been having recently. As you have just read, I love it. I find that there is something refreshing about the cold and I wanted to write about it here. It was the first thought that came to my mind in response to this assignment, besides the more overdone topics like flowers and sunrises and the like which I pushed to the side. Not that those things are bad, they are not, but they are talked about a lot. I wanted to give a view to something not really talked about. I wanted to try something a little more risky than just ‘look at all the pretty colors’. I hoped it worked, maybe it just made you shiver. I’ll take whatever response I can get.
This took a couple of days to come back to it and get it right, and I made very good use of a thesaurus. There weren’t too many roadblocks, but I am noticing that if I don’t have a way in, if I don’t have a first sentence that is interesting to me, I can’t start. I remember staring at the blinking cursor on this page for a good while before something acceptable turned up.
Well, I chose this assignment from the “Writing Assignments” section of the DS106 website. I kind of randomly picked something that seemed somewhat intriguing to me. This particular assignment focussed on natural beauty and being able to take a moment to truly take the world in for what one can see. It is 25 degrees outside, and absolutely miserable. This should go well…
I like to get outside and to see the world beyond face value. I like to take a much-needed break from what’s currently troubling me, and just zoning out. Thus today, I genuinely tried to focus on the outside world. I sat out on my balcony in the bitterly cold weather, looking up at the sky, as my neighbors stared at me assuming I was on crack or something. The sky wasn’t much to look at, and the air didn’t have much to draw from, and that’s fine. What matters is that when I did look out, when I did leave the world behind me, I felt something other than the momentum of the so-called bleak world we focus on in life.
Well, there’s that. I ignored the cold and did it anyway. The weather in a way made me focus more, as not an awful lot more crosses your mind when your body is in survival mode.
“By Any Sketch Of The Imagination”
I am an absolutely terrible artist. If that hasn’t been reflected by my previous visual assignments, I would like to make that perfectly clear now. I can make pretty good stick figures and whatnot, but any level of detail….. no. I decided for this assignment, that I would try and turn some image that’s significant to me into something that somewhat resembles a sketch. As I’m terrible with anything related to the word art, I decided this would provide a different perspective to some of the images that I hold dear to my being.
The picture I chose means nothing to me. I chose it simply because it was an interesting picture that I took at work. The original image was of a barn at a deserted farm. The original photograph almost makes it appear fake, with the curvature of the ground meeting directly with the hill behind the barn.
It still obviously is a computer-generated “sketch”, but I like the level of detail it added to the original image. It still looks somewhat surreal, yet realistic at the same time.
“My Favorite Picture“
I see this picture almost every day of my life. It’s my phone background and has been for the past several years. When I read the prompt for this assignment, I automatically knew that this was my favorite photograph and that this would be the one I’d immediately submit.
This picture means a lot to me. Even though I hardly stay in touch with the two others in it, sometimes I wished I did. When I left for college, the first time around, I was extremely naive. about it. I was at school in Southwest Virginia, and it was my first time “away” from home, as it was for pretty much everyone else. I found my tribe quickly, joined a fraternity, and was enjoying life. This picture is from a trip I had early on, to McAffee’s Knob, perhaps the most scenic point of the Appalachian Trail. We woke up at 4 AM to watch the sunrise over the mountains, and this picture kind of just materialized with the sunrise. It was one of the most surreal, and spiritual experiences I’d had in my life, and opened my mind to whatever else the world offered for me. That trip made me realize the person that I was, and made me think more deeply about myself. I left that school after my grades slipped significantly. I moved back up to Northern Virginia where my parents lived and changed my life by doing things I never would have done had I stayed in school there. In the end, that trip, personified by that picture, changed the trajectory of my life. There are many things in my life that I would change, but this wasn’t one of them.
Life moves so fast and it is way too busy. I usually don’t stop to smell the flowers but whenever I see mushrooms I do take pictures. I don’t know why but I think they’re so cool. Every mushroom looks different and each day they change as well. Mushrooms remind me of the 80s because of the uniqueness.
After I picked this assignment, I started to go through my camera roll, looking for a beautiful picture from one of my travels. I thought I had found the perfect picture, a picture of an island in Thailand, but then I realized that that picture was not just “another day” I had traveled to that destination because how nice it looked. To try to encompass the whole idea of “another day” more, I decided to step outside my house and look for beauty in something that I see every day but don’t pay attention to. Right outside my house I saw these berries. Despite the gloomy day these berries stood out, and looked fantastic.
Pop Art – Roy Lichtenstein WHAAM! (diptych), 1984 (1963) | Lithograph | Sold for $21,250
Graphing A Story
Every great story has a rise, a fall, and a conclusion. But not every story has them in that order. Some stories have characters starting off poor and end up wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Some stories follow the demise of powerful individuals or regimes by incredible ordinary people. Stories are designed to sell you on an interaction or experience someone has encountered and make you feel as though you were with them every step of the way. Feeling every emotion they felt, breathing every breath they took. good storytelling is more than starting from nothing and gaining everything. Good storytelling should invoke feelings of great empathy, true fear, and never-ending wonderment.
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Story Shapes” help facilitate a visual understanding of how stories are told. This conceptual idea of graphing the ups and downs of important story moments is not new, but nevertheless fascinating. when taking a look at the graphs of Cinderella, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, they are similar, yet different. Each movie begins with a nobody, that nobody finds a purpose, discovers something about either themselves or the world around them, and makes out victorious in the end, triumphing over evil.
For my chosen additional article to read, I chose The History and Evolution of Pop art by Heritage Editorial. The art of the 80s has always been so captivating. From the bright, bold colors to the subtle glances into the dark, capitalistic mindsets of Americans nationwide. Founded through an obsession with consumerism and POPular culture, Pop Art paved the way for new artists to expose the American people’s true habits and beliefs. As far as the article structure goes, the Kurt Vonnegut Shape Graph would look like a high frequency waveform. Bouncing up and down quickly between history lessons on certain artists and locations of new art styles.
When asked to analyze similar 1980s concepts, Pop Art influenced the entire decade. Glorifying popular movie stars and painting soup cans displayed America’s ever-growing interest in mass-produced goods and the entertainment lifestyle we consume. Storytelling through pictures and collages (Rauschenberg, Johns, Rosenquist) helps sear the idea of combined realities into the everyday American citizen. The 1980s were a time of freedom and bold thinking. For every citizen living their day no differently, there were 4 others trying to live life on their own terms. It is my opinion that I believe in the 1980s, we were more likely to take care of one another. neighborhoods could be walked alone at night with no fear, parents and kids lived happy and ignorant to the world around them. In today’s age, every single aspect of how America is run is being shoved in your face, no matter your age. The 1980s had James Rosenquist, we have Banksy. Both artists represent a side of the country we do not want to see or hear about.
The article did an excellent job providing historical storytelling with real examples of the artists’ work; Not being bogged down by artistic lingo or droning anecdotes about irrelevant information.
Writing Done Right
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
– Marcus Aurelius
Another Day
When faced with another day, we grow with anticipation or anxiety. Excitement or dread. What could happen today? Anything. A dog being walked by their owner could walk right up and demand love from a complete stranger. The love of your life could be having breakfast on the same street you decided to take your car to for an oil change. I see a world of endless possibilities. I see a cloudy day filled with endless sunlight just waiting around the corner. Trees, flowers, old brick buildings; they all remain stagnant, waiting for an outside force to change them. Maybe change comes from within. Maybe growth lies in the realization that with every new day, you will experience excitement instead of dread.
– C.M.
Facing Your Fears
How many people can you name with a fear of heights? A lot, right? What about spiders? Way too many. Hell, even snakes or crawl spaces. We all know someone that can stand any of these (rightfully so) terrifying things. But I believe I have a fear that is quite unique. Would you like to know what that fear might be?
Moths.
Yep. Moths. The tiny, little, rejected butterflies that live off that delectable lamp light. Here is what I think goes through a moth’s head when they have the audacity to be in my presence…
Ah, what a beautiful summers night it is. All my friends are flying around, having the time of their lives, smacking their heads against the Johnson’s newest porch light. It really is the nicest on the block, let me tell you. Oh, what is that? That person opened their door to let their dog out. It has some weird perm haircut. I don’t understand this whole “1980s aesthetic” these people are doing these days. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to see what the ~inside~ lifestyle is like. Fantastic, flew right in with no problems at all. It’s so strange how my flight pattern is so sporadic and uncomfortably fast compared to the other bugs that I’m friends with. Oh well, its what makes me unique I suppose.
Wow! He has ANOTHER light on upstairs in his tiny mirror room, I want to go check it out! OH MY GOD, HE LOCKED ME IN HERE WITH HIM, WHY WOULD HE DO THAT??? I HAVE TO ESCAPE! The only way I know how to escape is to continuously fly into him until he agrees to open the door! Why is he swinging at me??? I’m just trying to leave this terrifying predicament I have gotten myself into!
Oh hey, he’s grabbing a 1985 GQ magazine to hit the door open w-
Poem Parody
An 80s rendition of The Door in the Dark by Robert Frost:
In going from street to street at night, I rode hastily on my Schwinn, But little did I know what I would win, Getting to a friends for an overnight. An Atari game system lay untouched, And hit me with a feeling as though I got punched, My body posture quite crunched. Time and space doesn't matter
when the level I need to beat requires a ladder.
- C.M.
That Bucket List Though
No better time then now to create a list of things I’ve always wanted to do…
Visit a new country with my wife
Exploring new places is fun regardless but when you have someone special with you to enjoy it with, that makes the entire trip more memorable.
Get a tattoo
I have always wanted a tattoo in honor of a special person to me and hopefully one day I will pull the trigger and make an appointment.
Start my own company
Whether it be a clothing company, inventing a new product, or building new homes out of crazy materials, it is a dream of mine.
Design my own custom dream garage
I love cars and having a dream garage completely outfitted with workbenches, cabinets, and car lifts would be amazing.
Go to a drive-in movie in my Jeep
I’ve never been to a drive-in movie and my vehicle would be perfect for it.
Weekly Summary
This week has not been easy. Many personal things have come up, hindering my ability to work on any of my school work. But once I started it, I really got the ball rolling and finished it all within a days work load.
First, I started the readings and watched the assigned videos. I really enjoyed the Shapes of Stories video by Kurt Vonnegut. It was an excellent visual tool to better understand iconic story structure. These readings and videos better helped me understand what makes a story important.
Second, I applied what I learned from the readings and videos to the Pop Art article I read. Breaking down articles by story structure was new to me but it was fascinating learning about the history of Pop Art and how the artists shaped art as we know it today.
Third, I started on my four written assignments for the week. My first assignment was “Another Day” where we had to talk about going outside and observing what is around us and what it could mean. I took that opportunity to look into what a day can provide for you mentally, rather than physically. My second written assignment had me write a story from the perspective of what I fear most. That fear being moths. Moths terrify me because they have no expected flight path and that terrifies me. I need to know what bugs and animals are doing or else it sketches me out. They also love to only touch me when they fly into a crowded room. Nobody else.
My third assignment was to parody a famous poem. I perused the internet for a little bit to find a great poem that wasn’t too short and wasn’t too long. I finally decided on Robert Frost’s “The Door in the Dark” poem. I put my own 1980s spin on it with my favorite old video game system, Atari.
This week had its ups and downs but it ended on a good note and I am thankful for that. looking forward to what next week brings.
I see dead trees. However, that is the only thing that’s dead, if you don’t count the college students. The sun is as bright as it can be. It shines over me, however, I can’t feel its warmth due to the cold air that blasts my face when I walk across campus. The grass is withered and the dirt is hard. But it’s nature. But I can smell the fresh air and I know that the season will change soon.
This assignment is called Another Day where I give my perception of what I see outside. At the moment the season is winter so I’m really not seeing the best of nature. But still, nature is beautiful. I thought about what I see on a daily. On daily, I am on my campus so I visualized what I see on campus. I believe that everyone should take the time to look out and see nature rather than see it through their phones.
We live in such a beautiful world. Yes, there may be broken things around us but there is something so simple about being able to walk outside wherever you may be and look at the trees or the clouds. I recently just booked an Air B&B in the great smokey mountains for spring break with some of my friends and I couldn’t be more excited. Being in nature is the perfect getaway for me.
Outside you will find the most imperfect yet beautiful rocks. Finding places where you can barely sit but can hold onto as you take in the beautiful world around you. You see mountains that may look small yet are so big in person. You can see some towns that look tiny yet may be huge and try and see if you can see cars that look like ants.
In the summertime you can see the most beautiful sunny days. Filled with clear water, a bright sky, and green trees. You see the smiling faces of friends and laughs shared with each other.
Sometimes at night you can go outside and see different colors in the sky. You can see the sun start to go down and the environment you’re in become dim. You can see venues that attract people and small businesses to come together. You can see the beautiful layers in the clouds.
For this Assignment Bank, I chose to do Another Day (4 stars) to describe the beauty of a snowy night when I was in Akita, Japan for my study abroad. I wanted to describe its beauty because it was the first time I had ever seen snow on my birthday (early December). It was a special day for me, and all I could do was marvel as snow continued to fall and pile up.
That morning was one of the coldest I had experienced in
Akita prefecture—so much so that the sun gave no refuge of warmth. I stepped
out of my apartment to see small flakes of snow parachuting to the ground. I
wondered if it would stick to the ground and pile up, but I wiped those
thoughts away and carried about my day.
As the day passed, the snow became more intense, gradually
piling up to about three inches. Lunchtime came, and I took my seat by the
window, staring out at the blanket of snow tucking campus in to a bed of a
white wonderland. Down, down, the temperature dropped. Down, down, the
snowflakes continued to fall in ever increasing speed and intensity.
Night came, and about a foot of snow had piled up. I ventured
outside, walking along the road, stepping on other people’s tracks. I stared at
the clean, fresh, blanket of snow across the field, wanting to fall back and
make a snow angel, yet I was hesitant to break that perfection. But I made that
first step, my heart racing with childlike excitement. No matter how many times
I had seen snow, there is a sense of joy that cannot be extinguished from the
sight of it.
The sound of my boots walking on the snow with each step I
took was strangely satisfying. Everywhere else was suspended in silence, as if the
world was just made up of myself. The lights from the buildings were still on,
the students were enjoying themselves inside in the warmth, yet I remained
outside in the cold, breathing in the fresh, cool air, feeling the flakes of
snow melt onto my skin.
In my time living in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I haven’t actually taken time to pick apart its beauty. It’s a large, historic city that hugs the rough Rappahannock River. It is filled with welcoming neighbors who, unlike many cities, actually make an effort to acknowledge your presence. Its downtown restaurants excite the inner foodie in me. Finally, its abundance of parks takes away the stress of the busy lifestyle we all seem to live. I’ve never been able to fully appreciate the wonderful city that it is, and so, that is what I aim to do within this blog post.
The first place I decided to visit was Kenmore Park.
This park was one of my favorites because it was so close to my house. I’m just a couple of minutes away walking from a park that offers so much. I am able to utilize a playground, and an entire football field-sized grass area, and a ton of tennis courts. It also features a HUGE historic rock on top of the hill which has been here far longer than life itself (not actually, but it is quite old).
Next, I ventured near the Rappahannock River to a park that actually touches this river. It is called Old Mill Park.
I have actually been here a few times. The many memories I have include super hot sunny days, a bunch of friends, and the desire to plunge ourselves in the cold fresh water. This park, by far, is my favorite not only because of the preservation of this beautiful nature but the memories as well.
Next, after talking with a local who lives in downtown Fredericksburg, he suggested that I take in the beauty of Princess Anne Street.
My phone.
After walking down the street, I saw such rich architecture and attention to detail. I also discovered that the City Hall is located on this street, which is pretty cool. Every house seemed to have a carefully constructed brick or stone wall around their property as well, which is pretty unique. I believe that incorporates a bit of 80s home styles as well.
During my journey around Fredericksburg, I realized that our world has drawn our attention far away from things that we can enjoy if we just looked away from our phones. I can say that I very much fall victim to this, and I am sad that I’ve gone so long without doing something like this sooner. Now, reflecting on my experiences, this is something I will do more often.
4. Extra Extra Read All About It (80’s theme & 3 stars)
For this assignment, I watched 25 minutes of Full House (S1:E1.) The directions were to pay special attention to the extras in it. Note their acting skills, what they’re wearing? How many extras did the show have? Did any of them talk? What were their ages? The show started in the Fuller house where there were no extras or people in the background. After 15 minutes, a woman rang the doorbell. She was tall with blond hair and was dressed up looking for Uncle Jessie. I’m not sure if I would consider her an extra but she is the only person who appeared in the show who was not living at the Fuller house. I thought there would be more extras in this episode but, I was wrong.
