Curation: May 8th

    This week I have accomplished a lot of my curation.  It was difficult getting started and trying to figure out how to use the google sites.  Once I finally picked a layout and theme that I liked I got started! I have put a little onto to the home page but not a lot because I am not sure what that page should consist of.  I also did not want to put anything that I wanted to go over in another place on my home page.  Although it may seem that I do not have much in my curation, I do!  So far I have worked on the braids for the most part but I still have a lot to add.
     The braids link has the most information on it so as of now I would have to say that it is the most interesting link.  I found a lof of great how-to videos which I think viewers are going to find very interesting.  Even though I already knew how to do so many braids before I started this curation, doing more research, I have learned how to do a lot more complicated braids.
     The biggest obstacle that I need to overcome would probably be how to organize my curation.  Braids is such a broad category that I still can not decide if it should be it's own link.  Also, there are so many other hairstyles other than braids but not a broad category for those.  Hopefully I can come up with a solution to this.  Another obstacle I need to overcome is figuring out what I should put on the home page to get viewers intrigued by the curation.
     The next three steps that I need to take include the following things.  First, I need to look up more braids and how-tos for those.  My second step is thinking of hair styles other than braids and figuring out a category for that.  The final step I need to take is organizing all of the information in a way that it tells a story.
     I think that this project is set up fairly well.  The only complaint I have is that is still confuses me as to what a curation is.  I know we have been shown a lot of examples but is it essentially a mashup of common topic? Other than that I think it is a very cool idea for an assignment, especially because the topic is something you enjoy.

Carry It Forward: Innovating to Zero

     When I think of Bill  Gates I think of Microsoft Word and how he was the richest man in the world.  Although this is what he is most known for, I discovered him covering a topic much different from technology.  Recently, I wrote a paper and did a presentation about Bill Gate's project involving CO2 Emissions.  His goal is to have the CO2 emissions down to zero by 2050.  He said is may be a miracle, but it is a miracle that is totally possible to achieve.
     The stuff Gates brought up was very interesting to me.  I never really thought our environment was that big of a deal right now, but it is! Like he said, the government should be putting in more research funding to help this cause.  To be honest, I do not go out of my way to recycle things or reuse them.  It was never on the top of my mind.
     It should have been.  His TED Talk has made me realize that I need to make my contribution to the environment.
    I am going to start by making sure my family recycles more, or simply use reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones everyday.  I want my children and my grandchildren to be able to experience the planet I did, so that is why I need to do my part.  The outcomes that Gates presented really stuck with me.  To have crops failing and people starving scares me.  I do not want that to happen.  I want to make a difference.
    Like Bill Gates said, this not on the top of the governments to-do list, and it was not on the top of mine either.  It is now.  I am going to make a change with my habits of recycling, reusing materials, and  reusing things.  Gates made a huge impression on me and changed my outlook on this topic very much.

Metacognition: MashUp

     
     When I think of a mashup, I think of a collage.  To me, mashup means a lot of things randomly put together.  I never knew there was a way of doing this other than in a collage.  This assignment introduced me to a new way of doing this.   The assignment was so new to me that I did not understand how I was suppose to construct this mashup.
     Picking out the theme was pretty easy for me.  I knew the assignment required five reflections from the in class responses.  I also remember writing a lot about solitude in my reflections.  The concept of solitude also really intrigues me because I still do not one hundred percent understand it.  There were a lot of quotes that stood out to me about solitude, so finding quotes from Letters to a Young Poet was very easy.
    Although I had already selected the quotes, I had no idea what other elements to put in the mashup, or how to incorporate them.  It was very difficult to find a place to start with this mashup.  I kept re-reading the rubric, yet I was not sure how to get a decent grade on this assignment because I have never done anything like it before.  Then, I realized something about this assignment.
     There is no right answer.
     The project started making more sense to me.  It was meant for us to explore our creativity and use the books we have read and the other various elements we chose to connect them with the theme we selected in the beginning.  There was no right way to do it, because everyone can interpret a connection in a different way.   So thats when I just went with what I thought made sense.  Although it may not make sense to someone else, it makes sense to me so I think I ended up putting these various elements together in a meaningful way.

Mash Up: Solitude

Solitude:

"It is only alone, truly alone that one bursts apart, spring forth"-Maria Isabel Barreno

1. A man stands there just now, absently emptying his pockets and weeping.  Without reason, his friends have abandoned him. 

2.  In solitude I remain 

    With absolutely nothing to gain 
    Perhaps in time I will be strong 
    You see! Solitude is not my favorite song

3.

4.   At its source you will find the answer to the question of whether you must create.  Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it.

5. A crazy thought just occurred to me.  Babies are essentially in solitude.  They can not talk to anyone, and they are alone with their thoughts.  Sometimes I wonder what goes through a babies mind, or even what went through my mind when I was a baby.

6.

7.  Solitude, a heightened and deepened kind of aloneness for the person who loves. 

8.    In my opinion, solitude would be very lonely.  I cant even imagine what I would do with myself if I was kept in a room, alone, for a certain amount of time.  I think I might go crazy if that were to happen to me.  Not being able to talk to anyone would be terrible!  I feel like everyone needs someone just to keep them company and avoid solitude.  

9. I sit in my chair

And filled with despair
There's no one could be so sad
With gloom everywhere
I sit and I stare
I know that I'll soon go mad

10. But with your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths. 

11.

12. And if the body speaks, it is the speaking only of so many levers and forces.  The body is a thing to be ordered, not obeyed.  

13.  Your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance. 

14.   It is impressive that Rilke can find it in himself to admit that he pushes things and other people away from him.  For all that I know I am not aware that i push people or things away.  Then again, I can not be so sure because like Rilke said, he did not realize this habit of his until after he was married.  I wonder if I do push things away from myself to stay in solitude.  

15.  It is vast, heavy, difficult to bear, and almost everyone has hours when he would gladly exchange it for any kind of sociability, however trivial or cheap, for the tiniest outward agreement with the first person who comes along, the most unworthy... 

16.   Sometimes I feel alone, but then I realize I am everything but alone.  I just had to realize that I have the strength to be able to handle solitude.  It takes a lot of courage to accept solitude, well at least it does for me.  Solitude does not mean to be alone, it means to be alone with your thoughts.  While sometimes I have thought that I was alone, I was just coming to terms with the meaning of solitude.  

17.  Most people have turned their solutions toward what is easy and toward the easiest side of the easy; but it is clear that we must trust in what is difficult

18.  The solution solitude can vary from person to person but I can tell you what I think the solution for me was.  Learn to live with it, and experience your thoughts.  I think being in solitude is very similar to what we are doing at this very second.  We are left alone with our thoughts to write what comes to our minds.  That is just how being in solitude may feel, just alone with your thoughts.  

19. It had occurred to her while sitting there that everyone she would encounter in her life from now on would be a stranger.  

1. Lightman, Alan. Einstein's Dreams.  New York: Random House, 1993 (29)

2.  Chidi, Sylvia.  In Solitude

3. Ipod nano. Google Search

4. Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet. New York: Random House, 1984 (9)

5. Personal Reflection 

6. The Forgotten Art of Silence and Solitude.  Google Search 

7. Rilke, Rainer Maria. (69)

8.  Personal Reflection

9. Ellington, Duke. Solitude

10. Rilke, Rainer Maria.  (44)

11. Many Paths. Google Search

12. Lightman, Alan. (20)

13. Rilke, Rainer Maria. (8)

14. Personal Reflection

15.  Rilke, Rainer Maria. (54)

16.  Personal Reflection

17. Rilke, Rainer Maria. (67)

18. Personal Reflection

19.  Wiggins, Marianne.  The Shadow Catcher. New York, 2007 (77)

iMedia: Chevrolet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0


    Almost every day I will sit down and watch a little tv to relax, just like most americans.  I can also say that with watching tv comes annoying commercials.  All they do is interrupt my shows.  I saw this specific commercial about a year ago.

     This commercial was different from the others.  

     Although it is not recent, I still remember when it would air on tv.  When I first saw it I had no idea what this commercial was suppose to be about. The thoughts going through my head were, "Why the heck is there a commercial about a kid dressed up in a costume?"  To say the least I was very confused.

     At the end, when the car came into the picture, I finally got it.  I was still confused though.  Why would they even think about putting darth vator in a chevrolet commercial?  This never made sense to me until we studied postmodernism and modernism.  This commercial is completely postmodern.

    After I made the connection to postmodernism, the chevrolet company really reminded me of what we are currently doing in class.  Right now we are constructing buildings with limited materials and time.  Just like us, Chevrolet does not have all the time in the world to come up with new models of cars; they are always competing against many other companies.  Similar to Chevrolet, we are kind of competing against the other groups to see who had the best ideas to construct a building.

     Everything is a competition.

During class we have to put all of our ideas together to come up with one solution.  We have to be innovative just like Chevrolet.  With limited time they always seem to produce high quality products.

     This commercial does not only represent postmodernism, but it also reflects on how Chevy is always coming up with new ideas and quickly.

Blogging Around

The first blog post I commented on was Katie Dwyer's post on modernism and postmoderism. She forst explained how hes was kind of comfused on the topic, but then drove by a playround and it clicked.   She related how playgrounds have resolved to modernism.  Since we have been kids playgrounds have evolved and changed significantly.  She then showed pictures of examples of how different playgrounds have become.  Then the last point she made was how this newest playground broke the old boundries and was made appealing for the modern eye. 


 Katie D,
I like how you related what we were doing in class to something we see everyday. I never would have thought to do that. You really made me understand how modernism has developed into postmodernism. This is very insightful and clever. Just to think that the first playground is what we grew up with and already it has developed into the last picture you posted. That just shows how fast things can move forward and change. You rock Katie D! - Kimmy D

The second blog post I commented on was Mark J's. His blog was a Change of mind blog about modernism and postmodernism.  What made him change his  mind and realize what those concepts were, were the car commericials.  He also made the connection to how art is shown in these car commericials. 

 

 

 

Mark J,
I completely agree with everything you said here. I did not really understand what postmodernism and modernism were. I like how you related to specific examples that made you realize the differnece between modernism and postmodernism. I like how you realized that commmercials contain a lot of differnt aspects of art.
Nice Job Marky J!
-Kimmy D

Change of Mind: Postmodernism

     An activity that changed my mind was when we talked about postmodernism during class. When we first started going over the chart I had no idea what Mr. Allen meant by Modernism and Postmodernism.   I never really understood either of those concepts.
     One of the descriptions on the chart of Postmodernism states,"you cannot express or grasp the 'whole'(Allen)."  Before this activity I thought postmodernism was about things that happen after the present.  I thought it was the theory of things that are predicted to happen.  I also thought modernism just meant new.  I never really thought twice about it.
     I was way off.  Modernism is a period that actually ended in 1945.  I never would have known that. When I think of modernism I think of houses that have a lot of windows or something like that.  Lets just say I was clueless.  Postmodernism is the concept that I really had a change in view point about.  The first day we were going over this chart Mr. Allen showed us a video that really got me to understand this concept a little bit more.
    Mr. Allen showed us a clip from the movie The Devil Wears Prada.  I have seen this movie many times before, but I never caught the reference to postmodernism.  The clip he showed us was when the mean boss was telling the naive secretary how the sweater she was wearing was actually chosen for her.  This is when it hit me.  We actually live in a world where our decisions are not one hundred percent our decisions.  We live in a place where other people chose things for us.  Society makes that decision.  We see what is popular and that is what we choose.  There are advertisements everywhere we go, even the internet.  These advertisements influence our decisions.  
     Although I may not comprehend this concept fully yet, I undertand it a lot more.  We live in a life of advertisements and things chosen for us.