november 30th, 2018.
Here is a new AUDIO JOURNAL! It's just a quick recap on what I plan to do for this weekend and the week following!
november 29th, 2018.
It’s almost December, and round tables have never been more intimidating.
Bott ran through an overview of what January Day will look like, and I am terrified. The date is set for January 24th which gives me a little over a month to film something and have a presentation. I’m not quite sure whether I should film a scene from the script or if I should make up a couple trailers that I have written on reserve. They will both be helpful, but it’s just a matter of what will make a bigger impact. I am planning on scheduling a meeting with Gergen to talk about some of that. If I do film a scene, I’m also debating which one I should do. I have a couple written (my script consists of only the basic outlines of each, so I would have to flesh them out more) but I have no idea what to do.
However, I’m not alone. Everyone seems to be in a position similar to mine concerning January Day. We’re all confused and concerned, and it doesn’t feel like enough time. However, I have learned (and I assume I will continue to learn) that deadlines are set within reason and it is up to us to use our time wisely. It will never feel like enough, but we have to learn to work with the constraints we are burdened with.
Beyond January Day, I am trying to figure out what to do for a new SDA. I know I need to work on my annotations but whenever I think of annotations, I think of school. It tends to be tedious work. I talked to Bott recently about annotations because I was frustrated with my APUSH class, but he gave me a better perspective on them. They may feel like busy work, but in the end, they help me to understand more about what I’m reading. I read fast and instead of truly understanding what a paper is about, I settle for a general overview, a TL;DR. It’s something I have to learn to enjoy. In terms of annotations, I will probably start with Katherine J. Wu’s paper Love, Actually because it was the paper that started my research and led to my first SDA (the infographic, which you can find here.)
I’ll keep working hard! Hopefully I’ll see you soon.
november 28th, 2018.
Here is a new AUDIO JOURNAL! I talked to my friend Kathryn Giordano, who is a musician, about her experiences with music and the relationship between, well, relationships, and music. Please enjoy!
november 21st, 2018.
I’m having script issues.
I find it really difficult to write unless I have something to lose. With a project like this, it can be really difficult to see the underlying deadlines even though they are always there. I’m a busy person. There’s always something else to do, a class to study for, a chapter to read, a person to contact. This project has fallen by the wayside recently, and with my Wednesdays and my IG Lives, I’m attempting to combat the slump I feel myself falling into. This time of year gets colder and darker, and my disposition dims as a result. It’s really hard to stay energetic. I try my best to put up a bright front at school, but by the time I’m home, I have exhausted all of my reserves and I sleep until the terror of not having my homework done shakes me awake. This project is something I am so passionate about, but even passion doesn’t feel like enough. How do I wake up?
This script is something that I have a lot of ideas for. I’ve talked about it on my IG Lives, and everyone seems to have different ideas on what I should do. Sexuality and aesthetics, psychology and biology, on and on. I’m trying to work out finding a happy balance while still retaining a comprehensible storyline.
I want to talk about chemical reactions and how those affect us. I want to talk about natural selection and the golden ratio. I want to talk about cultural differences and the variety of modern beauty standards. That leads into social media and its effect on relationships. Then, preservation, with psychology. I want to be able to have interviews, to reach out to professionals. I want to talk with creators, to understand the process behind projects, the megaphone facilitating projection. I want to be able to film and edit and make something worth being proud of.
I only have so much time.
By the end of the month, I hope to have an outline for my script. I think I’ll start filming what I can do by myself, and then I’ll work on getting a cast and crew. I do have to start writing some long-overdue emails as well.
november 14th, 2018.
Thank you, next.
Those words touched my heart when I first heard them. Ariana Grande has a way with her words. The song “thank u, next” is all about her prior relationships. When I heard it, I knew I needed to write a quick journal entry about it.
The best part of “thank u, next” is Grande’s take on self-love. She recognizes both in herself and in her mother that the issues they have had with their lives have led them both to growth and a new perspective life. They have both been able to grow from the drama that has surrounded them, and as Grande says over and over, she can thank her exes because of the experiences they have given to her. The lessons about love, patience and pain are ones I haven’t completely learned yet, but I know the repercussions. Not every relationship lasts, and even the ones that do can be difficult. Life is hard, and love is one of the most difficult side effects. There are so many songs about love and its beauty, but sometimes, the gruesome parts lead to more beautiful things. The scars bloom and metamorphosize into something better and stronger.
I’ll post the link to the song in here as well as in my running bibliography.
november 9th, 2018.
Here are some new AUDIO JOURNALS! The first one is talking about the Round Table on November 8th, the second is about annotations I have planned for the future, and the last one is a recap on what I plan to do for my documentary. It was really cool to talk in my journals because it was a different style of conveying information! Hope you enjoy.
november 7th, 2018.
Wrap-up Wednesday number one! Here we go!
For today's journal I want to talk a lot about the 5 Cs of EMC. Critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and curiosity. At first, they intimidated me. They still do, actually, but now that I understand their purpose in my project it makes having them on the brain much easier. My research revolves around something that isn't really tangible. Love - sure, we can feel it, but there's no dunce cap to show the lovesick that they're being foolish. That's where these 5 Cs kick in. In order to convey my information accurately, I need more than just facts. I'll go through each C and explain what they mean to me.
Critical Thinking - defining a problem and figuring out a game plan to surpass said problem. In my project, my goal could be anything from writing an unbiased survey to learning how a camera works. Critical thinking is necessary for me because this project is just problem after problem and goal after goal. If I am not able to have an idea of how I want to accomplish things, I tend to go on tangents instead of tackling the problem efficiently.
Creativity - choosing a more unconventional approach to displaying information rather than just notes and lectures. Creativity, to me, is a way to connect with your audience. I cannot expect my viewers to know as much about my topic as I do, so why would I explain my ongoing projects to them as if they did? Creative forms of information have different impacts on different types of people and learners alike.
Communication - talking with others to prove a point and/or receive feedback. Communication is something I do naturally, and so it tends to be a factor that I forget about in my projects. I talk to people about what I'm up to all the time, but when it comes to getting people to discuss my work in progress, I tend to lose sight and focus only on finishing the project at hand. It's definitely a factor I'm attempting to refine.
Collaboration - working with others to achieve a mutual goal. That can be through commenting on journals, getting help where you see your peers excelling, and more. Collaboration is probably the C I enjoy most because it is an even playing field for the people involved since you are working toward the same end product or have similar purposes.
Curiosity - asking questions, finding answers, and asking questions based on those answers. Rinse and repeat. Curiosity may not only be something you find in yourself. I notice that many of my best ideas, in EMC and outside, have stemmed from other people's curiosities about something I was attempting to learn more about. The resource people can be is priceless.
So, those are the 5 Cs! They're helpful to keep in mind no matter what you have going on. Thank you for tuning in! I want to try and get an audio journal up on Friday and write another journal this weekend (about a specific songwriter... get ready)!
november 4th, 2018.
It's the start of November. This is the month! I say that as if every month is not The Month, and every day is not The Day.
For this month, in favor of Latin, I'm going to do my best to make carpe diem my status quo. I had a meeting with Gergen on the 2nd to catch up and discuss some plans.
Some things we discussed:
- I need to write more. I've been researching a ton but without something to back that up, all the information I could provide just sounds like hearsay. I have some articles and videos on a list that I need to annotate, but we'll come back to that later.
- I am now starting a running bibliography of everything I've researched thus far! You will be able to find that in my revamped Projects page. I am in the process of editing it to make my different styles of projects more accessible. For instance, I will be starting to film interviews and post surveys, which will be on separate pages within the Projects tab. As I write more and create more, the links to everything I've used for my projects will be all in there.
- I am going to also set up a calendar/timeline for this project on my site. This is both for me and for those of you following this project! You guys can see what I'm up to and check out what's coming in the future. If I make a Google Calendar for it, you could even add it to your own calendars and get notifications! I've missed the past couple Wednesday Wrapups so this will definitely help me stay on track.
- I have started up an Instagram page for The Attraction Reaction! (That's the working title of my documentary.) I want to use it for multiple different purposes. The obvious: to promote EMC and my documentary. However, that's not all. I also want to use this page as a sort of portfolio for people I intend to reach out to for TAR, and also as a way to show to myself and to everyone else that this is in progress. Final projects are stunning, but all the work that goes into them goes unnoticed. There's a reason for that. People want to show the best of themselves. With this project, I am starting to learn that the rugged parts of ourselves are beautiful too. Every step matters. With this project, I want to show people that passion is messy, and work is hard. I plan to showcase that through posting as much as I can, and doing IG Lives on a regular basis while I work so that I can talk to people and they can see for themselves what I'm up to. Symbiosis, I suppose. I'll gain from it and (hopefully) so will my viewers.
We'll stay in touch! I'll try and annotate and journal more ASAP.
