Energy and place
Happiness and Meaning
How to Find Happiness
Flow, the idea of being so engaged in an action, that nothing else matters. Whether this is skiing, biking, or creating, flow is how I define and find happiness and meaning. Worrying about when to turn in my homework, whether I emailed someone back, or how many likes I get on a picture all go away when I am experiencing flow. When someone experiences flow, it is one of the few times where they are completely involved with one thing and one thing only. No past, no future, only now. This idea has been introduced by many philosophers and has been known to create and promote happiness. Flow helps me to find happiness purpose, and meaning through the activities I do. When have you experienced focus last? When have you been so immersed in only one thing? The idea of flow really appealed to me because I experience this concentrated sensation a fair amount. When I am in a ski competition, I hear the commentator narrate everyone elses run, except mine. Of course my run is commentated, however I am so deep in this flow, this concentration, that everything except for my breathing and skis can be heard. This is what makes me happy, not worrying about the past or future. Forgetting about everything except for the now, not only seeing in tunnel vision, but thinking in it. This experience also gives my life meaning because I am so happy and doing something I love to do. After the flow sensation goes away, I try to remember what I just experienced, however It is difficult to grasp what I just did. The closest word to describe the experience of flow is happiness. I believe that flow equals happiness and meaning and it is good to find something that increases the amount of flow for those reasons. This can be art, sports, music, and more. Happiness is very important to have, and flow increases this. No amount of pleasure, money, or incentive creates as much happiness as if there is flow involved. The activities I do promote flow, which promotes happiness and gives my existence purpose. |
Native American Historical Inquiry
Essential Question
How can an examination of multiple sources and perspectives lead to a more enlightened understanding of history AND contemporary social, cultural, and political realities?
How can an examination of multiple sources and perspectives lead to a more enlightened understanding of history AND contemporary social, cultural, and political realities?
Journal
When reading First Persons, First People, and Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, I noticed a common theme that stood out the most to me: resiliency. These readings were very interesting to me as I did not know much about Native American culture before I read these stories. Upon reading this, I learned about what some Native Americans in the present have to deal with. I think that the authors of these stories want to share the reality of a modern day human in a minority group. Resiliency was a common theme in these stories and it is a very relevant reality to Native American culture.
In the First Persons, First People essays, there was a story written by Marianne Chamberlain, a Dartmouth student that was very good at athletics and is a Native American. She experienced hate, sexual assault, and academic hardship.. She could not find a place that she fit in. The Native American group at the college did not even like her, and neither did many other people for her race. She was an outcast. Chamberlain was sexually assaulted, failed her classes, and left Dartmouth. later on, she returned to Dartmouth. After talking to her grandma, Chamberlain stated,”knowing that I was not alone, I felt confident in returning to Dartmouth with renewed strength and the wisdom of my relatives." Chamberlain returned and graduated.
In the book written by Sherman Alexie, a short story titled “Indian Education” really demonstrated the resiliency of the character in the book. In the story, the character felt out of place. He was bullied as a kid, not by white people, but by other Native Americans. This was in first grade. In second grade, a white teacher made school miserable for him. He was singled out due to his culture. In junior high, after a basketball game a teacher ran up to the team and said, "Hey, what's that boy been drinking? I know all about these Indian kids. They start drinking real young.” The character had to overcome the stereotypes preconceived about all Native Americans. These stereotypes come back throughout the story, but Alexie perseveres through.
Another story from First Persons, First Peoples was from the point of view of Robert Bennett. Bennett was a Lakota Indian. He was not taught a word of Lakota because his grandmother never thought it would be a good idea to have many native affiliations so that Bennett would not be made fun of or have as many future problems. Bennett grew up in a non-Native American household, and had many white friends. As a result, when a proud Native American kid interacted with Bennett, the kid was made fun of because he was "traditional." The kid was resilient with his traditions, and so were his parents. The western "american" culture had not affected him too much.
As demonstrated in these stories, the Native American authors and stories have really related to each other in terms of the common theme of resiliency. I learned about how hard it is to be a Native American through these stories, and how resilient people can be when trying to persevere through hardships. Native Americans in these stories show resiliency when living in the 21st century.
When reading First Persons, First People, and Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, I noticed a common theme that stood out the most to me: resiliency. These readings were very interesting to me as I did not know much about Native American culture before I read these stories. Upon reading this, I learned about what some Native Americans in the present have to deal with. I think that the authors of these stories want to share the reality of a modern day human in a minority group. Resiliency was a common theme in these stories and it is a very relevant reality to Native American culture.
In the First Persons, First People essays, there was a story written by Marianne Chamberlain, a Dartmouth student that was very good at athletics and is a Native American. She experienced hate, sexual assault, and academic hardship.. She could not find a place that she fit in. The Native American group at the college did not even like her, and neither did many other people for her race. She was an outcast. Chamberlain was sexually assaulted, failed her classes, and left Dartmouth. later on, she returned to Dartmouth. After talking to her grandma, Chamberlain stated,”knowing that I was not alone, I felt confident in returning to Dartmouth with renewed strength and the wisdom of my relatives." Chamberlain returned and graduated.
In the book written by Sherman Alexie, a short story titled “Indian Education” really demonstrated the resiliency of the character in the book. In the story, the character felt out of place. He was bullied as a kid, not by white people, but by other Native Americans. This was in first grade. In second grade, a white teacher made school miserable for him. He was singled out due to his culture. In junior high, after a basketball game a teacher ran up to the team and said, "Hey, what's that boy been drinking? I know all about these Indian kids. They start drinking real young.” The character had to overcome the stereotypes preconceived about all Native Americans. These stereotypes come back throughout the story, but Alexie perseveres through.
Another story from First Persons, First Peoples was from the point of view of Robert Bennett. Bennett was a Lakota Indian. He was not taught a word of Lakota because his grandmother never thought it would be a good idea to have many native affiliations so that Bennett would not be made fun of or have as many future problems. Bennett grew up in a non-Native American household, and had many white friends. As a result, when a proud Native American kid interacted with Bennett, the kid was made fun of because he was "traditional." The kid was resilient with his traditions, and so were his parents. The western "american" culture had not affected him too much.
As demonstrated in these stories, the Native American authors and stories have really related to each other in terms of the common theme of resiliency. I learned about how hard it is to be a Native American through these stories, and how resilient people can be when trying to persevere through hardships. Native Americans in these stories show resiliency when living in the 21st century.
Seminar Prep
Questions to ask:
If you wrote textbooks would you include America's negative history along with the positive?
Many claim that the Indians were hostile, do you think that they were rightfully hostile?
What is the responsibility of a scholar of history to accurately portray historical facts?
Three important ideas
Media
The media shapes identities of Native Americans because the media portrays Indians a brave, bold, and feathery, but then as not a human being. In the Dartmouth articles, some of the people in the Native American Club were filling these stereotypes, the Native American girl got mad.
History
Learning the history that was provided, I really understand what is going on with modern day Native Americans. I never really had realized the discrimination of Native Americans that other people had. I never really had realized how cruel some people were to even modern Native Americans. I really realized how this country was “founded”.
Questions
Why were people so rude/racist towards the Indian Population?
Were there any large Native American civil rights leaders ?
If you were the female Dartmouth student, would you have gone back?
Questions to ask:
If you wrote textbooks would you include America's negative history along with the positive?
Many claim that the Indians were hostile, do you think that they were rightfully hostile?
What is the responsibility of a scholar of history to accurately portray historical facts?
Three important ideas
- America took advantage of Native Americans.
- Native Americans were oppressed.
- Andrew Jackson and Columbus were not the best people.
Media
The media shapes identities of Native Americans because the media portrays Indians a brave, bold, and feathery, but then as not a human being. In the Dartmouth articles, some of the people in the Native American Club were filling these stereotypes, the Native American girl got mad.
History
Learning the history that was provided, I really understand what is going on with modern day Native Americans. I never really had realized the discrimination of Native Americans that other people had. I never really had realized how cruel some people were to even modern Native Americans. I really realized how this country was “founded”.
Questions
Why were people so rude/racist towards the Indian Population?
Were there any large Native American civil rights leaders ?
If you were the female Dartmouth student, would you have gone back?
The morality and politics of justice
Reflection
The assignment for this project was to create an op-ed and art project for a current political controversy. We were to research a controversial subject that was morally just in our opinion and defend the perspective in our op-ed. I chose to write about commercial drone laws, but many chose to write about abortion, gun control, and much more. We were then asked to create a visual art piece to represent our perspective. This could have been a poster or video, but I chose to make a sculpture. The most significant lesson that I have learned while doing this project is to definitely pick something to write about which has supporting evidence from credible sources. I definitely had a hard time trying to find evidence from credible sources on pro-drone use. There were many different articles against my own perspective, however these didn't really help. I had to preserver through this, and actually ended up finding a lot of supporting evidence once I dug deeper. I definitely think that the strongest part of my op-ed is the perspective part. I really thought I demonstrated this well with all the evidence that I had provided in my written piece. I think I was able to make this so strong because it was a thing I was passionate about writing. The weakest part of my op-ed was probably the connection to the constitution. This was difficult for me because it was hard to represent my own perspective to the public. If I had a week to further refine my project, I would refine my art piece a lot more, it was pretty rough around the edges, and I completed it the day of the exhibition. I could have laminated the pictures more smoothly and made the laminate more consistent. I feel like I could have put a lot more effort into the project to make beautiful work. |
Artist Statement
My political campaign sculpture represents my perspective on drone laws. I believe that drones should not be restricted to fly because of the benefits that drones pertain. The symbolism behind my art piece is that the benefits, shown as pictures of drones, outweigh the privacy concern. I do this by having the drone on a scale, and this outweighs the privacy debate on the other side of the scale. I used Logos and Ethos in my art piece. Logos is demonstrated by showing that the benefits outweigh the privacy issue by making the scale unbalanced. I also show logos by making the pictures on the drones logical uses for drones. Ethos is showed in my art piece because the pictures demonstrate life saving features. All the benefits have been used before so evidence proves that drone are an effective utility. The tone of my visual piece is logic. In my sculpture I show my opinion about drones which is that the benefits outweigh the opposition. I wanted to demonstrate the “logical way” of thinking about drones. For my sculpture, I wanted to do something else that was unique and not just a poster. I have had experience building drones and other objects before, so I decided to do a sculpture out of foam. I wanted to build a drone so it would pop out and make my perspective clear. I decided to leave the drone white before putting the pictures on the wings. This is because I wanted the pictures to pop out, and most drones are white. I wanted the privacy part to be small and light as to show that the benefits of drone use far outweigh the objection. I am proud of the way the sculpture turned out because I worked so hard to make it. It was very difficult to get everything cut equally and to get the shape to look like a drone. The laminate over the pictures makes everything look somewhat uniform and flush. I believe that the art piece expresses my opinion very well and obvious. The only thing that I wish I could change is to make the pictures look less wrinkled, but it was difficult when using the type of glue and laminate that I did. Images Cited "Drones Could Rescue Drowning Victims. Digital image : DNews." DNews. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "Cirque Du Soleils Light Show.”Digital image. Ibtimes, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "Sheriff Drone." Tracesofreality, Digital image. n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "Firestorm Drone.”Digital image. Designmind. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "Drones to the Rescue.” Digital image. Stuff. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "Fire Fighter Drone." Digital image. Drone Makers. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "3D Mapping." Digital image. Api, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. "DJI Phantom." Digital image. Amazon. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. |