Bruce Mau’s Manifesto for Growth Discussion

On Monday November 7th, in class we went over Bruce Mau’s Manifesto for Growth. Some points were interesting and caught my eye. I liked them, and I believe that they would help me in the long run. First off a manifesto is a declaration of policy or points, written by one person for a group of people.

The first point that resonate with me is number 1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them. Number one resonates with me because people always change, and hopefully for the good. I know that I have changed, that I have grown. I used to be so shy and now not so much. I was open and willing to stop being shy and open myself up to people. Now that I have I am this outgoing, always making new friends type of person, and I like it. The event that I allowed to stop making me shy was going to college, meeting new people and not the same people I have known for the past 12 years.

The second point is number 15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout you life at the rate of an infant. I resonate with number 15 because all throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school we were told don’t ask stupid questions. How would we know what was a stupid question? I believe that no questions are stupid questions. If someone, which I admit to having doing, doesn’t know the answer or how to get them answer, they’re afraid to ask because they might be told that it’s a stupid question. So I like number 15 because it says to ask the questions. That it doesn’t matter if it’s a stupid question or not, just ask, and don’t be afraid.

The third point is number 26. Don’t enter award competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you. Number 26 resonates with me because I have entered many award shows in the past, and had some not good outcomes. Throughout high school (9th to 11th grade) I did not enter any award shows because I was afraid I was not going to do well. But then in early senior year I entered a piece on a whim, I thought why not? It’s senior year. So I entered the piece and to my shock it placed. After the art competition passed I decided to enter more, since I placed with that piece. Every art show after that I did not place and it destroyed me. I thought I was good, and then not placing again kept hurting. So number 26 does resonate with me because awards competitions suck and tear you down if you don’t place.

The fourth point is number 33.Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic-simulated environment. Number 33 resonates with me because I love field trips-traveling in general. Seeing places I’ve never seen before and wanting to go, or even seeing places I’ve already seen but with new eyes. Traveling or even just looking at places I want to visit one day, gives me inspiration of a new piece or artwork. I’ve always wanted to see the world and number 33 is basically saying that. Take field trips, be inspired by the world, and not through a computer screen or TV, but real life.

Issues in Cultural Awareness

Racism and Prejudices are always there in the background, but they should never be there in the first place. It shouldn’t exist. We’re all human beings, just in different shapes and sizes. Why does it exist? Racism is basically discriminating against characteristics of a race, religion, body size, etc. different from your own. But when everything is boiled down-each and every one of us is a human being, the same thing. So why hate on someone who’s a bit different from you, when you could get to know them and potentially be friends. As human beings we pick apart other people who are different from us in order to do what? Make ourselves feel better about ourselves? Call me naive, but we shouldn’t do that. People should not have to revert to discriminating against someone who most likely did not do anything against them. It’s not right. It should not exist but it sadly it does. There shouldn’t be discrimination and prejudices out there against things such as body size, dis/ability, race, religion, etc. but there are. It’s people’s lives. Why have prejudices and discriminate against other human beings? It’s not right. No one should do that, but unfortunately they do. Because both-racism and prejudices still exist today, society suffers. People can’t show off talents that could potentially majorly benefit the country they live in because they are discriminated against. Think about it, if racism and prejudices against people were gone, and people could flourish and show off talents, how much would countries benefit? Why discriminate and have prejudices against people who are different from one another. Being different is a good thing. If everyone was the same, then it would be a very boring place to live. You need differences to shake up life, and make it interesting. So why discriminate against differences? Differences in people are a good thing, they make life interesting. We should accept differences, not discriminate and not throw prejudices at them. In my opinion the world would be a better place if there was no racism and no prejudices against one another.

Sculpture Walk @ Kent State

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On the sculpture walk I chose the “Star Sphere 2010” because I thought it looked cool. The Star Sphere 2010 was made by Susan Ewing, and was made out of stainless steel. The sculpture is located down by Franklin Hall at the front of campus. Looking at the link provided from the packet we were given Ewing said that “It’s what is removed that has the power,” “it’s part of a series on stars”. So, also following what the website says it is meant to pertain to newspapers who have the word star in their names. Also it relates to the power photojournalism has, which Ewing says “changed the direction of America” after the Kent State shootings in 1970. Looking back at the website, it also says that Ewing had it relate to the First Amendment of the US Constitution. So wow, one sculpture can mean many things, interwoven, but relate to each other all the same.

I had found this sculpture before when I was walking around before my class in Lowry Hall, and I liked it, thought it was interesting. Not having enough time to study it further I left to go to class. Coming back to the sculpture this past Monday, it was nice to see it again. I did not know what the statue was about when we found it on the walk last Monday. I thought it looked cool. I liked how the star in the middle was cut out or punched out as the rings as I originally thought spun around it. That the artist made it look as if the rings were spinning o fast that a star that was cut out was able to be seen.

I enjoyed looking at all the sculptures on the walk, especially this one. I wonder if we’ll do something like this again. I’d like that. Sorry this a really late entry but I was sick last week and did not feel up to completing it.

Challenges & Expectations

As a college student we face many challenges, whether they be personal, academic, or creative. For myself personal challenges tie in with my emotions. For example a big personal problem of mine is stress. Stress of homework, tests, quizzes etc., but what other college student doesn’t have stress about that? Sometimes my personal problem is stress but frustration. Frustration at not understanding or getting a topic in class right off the bat, or frustrated at not finishing all my assignments on time, like this blog post for example. Academic challenges get me lot of the time. Most of the time it is not picking up the material learned in class on a day, and stressing about it while studying. Also another big academic problem for me, as well as a lot of other college students, is procrastination and time management. No matter how on top of everything I am something always falls through the cracks and I have no time to do it. Or with procrastination, I put something off that I know I can do easily and do another harder assignment. As an art student, I had creative problems a lot last year in art class trying to come up with a new take on the project that no one did before. This semester, since I have all my studio art classes then, I haven’t really had creative art problems. Creative problems for Creative Writing I/English, I sort of had. On some of the papers we have written I had a hard time getting the paper started or choosing a topic.

To help with stress I usually go to tutoring because they really help me. For example I am taking French this semester (and year because it is apart of my major), and I “took a year off” of French last year so tutoring has really helped me remember and keep up in my French class. When there’s too much to do and assignments due near the same time, and before I start freaking out I take a deep breath and either watch one of my favorite TV shows (ex. Doctor Who, Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy), or close my eyes and listen to my favorite singers (ex. Taylor Swift, Thomas Rhett, Hunter Hayes). And most of the time it does the trick. Other times I read one of my favorite books (Harry Potter or a John Green) or break out my sketchbook and draw what ever comes to mind. Also I cannot work when it is quiet so when that happens and I’m stressing over homework I turn on Pandora, blast and sing along to my favorite singers while doing my homework. With my endless playlists of music, my favorite TV shows, tutoring, and my sketchbook I can get rid of my stress for awhile.

Why Kent Core?

The role of the Kent Core I think is to expand your view on different topics/majors, and make you spend more time and money on classes that don’t pertain to your major. The Core is expensive and having to do it will make you go to school longer to complete your degree. Having to do Kent Core along with classes that deal with your major, forces you to choose which is more important? Your major or the Core (which has classes that don’t go with your major). I believe that some parts of the Core aren’t needed for my major-art majors in general. One part of the core is math. Why would art majors need to take even more math classes? I believe, along with some other art majors, that math is not necessary for us. I am practically a history major so why do history majors need math for? I believe that we don’t, and will force us to spend longer completing our majors. Some Core courses however, at least for me since I am an art history major, work and help contribute to what I want to do in life. The Kent Core class is History. History Core classes help me with my major because I want to be a curator. A curator is involved with history 24/7, which I absolutely love. So there are Core classes that help benefit me and there are classes that do not.

Having a well rounded education is a good thing. It will help getting a job dealing with what you want to do in life quicker. A world view helps with this as well. By having a world view it makes you have a better aspect on the world, and what happens in it. Having both will make me a better curator because of it. A world view and a well rounded education will make me a better candidate for a job as a curator. Art History-as well as history makes people stop and think about how the past will and does effect the present and future.

What is Success?

What is success? Success is the completion of a goal or a dream. Also it can mean completing something that means something to someone. Personal Success to me means when I’m proud of myself completing something or a goal. For example getting to base when hitting a fly ball, or feeling proud of an art project that I thought I did terrible on. Professional Success is working at your dream job. For me it’s either an important curator, or just working in my favorite museum department. Since I want to be a museum curator, success means a lot to me. Success means a lot to me in general. In my chosen field field, success is big. A museum curator can define success as having a successful exhibition or getting an important piece into their department after working hard for it. I would recognize success the same way. If you work hard for something and it pays off, then it was a success. Measuring and achieving success as a curator would be keeping up with your area of history, and updating it if something that could add to history comes along, try and get it. Also it achieving and measuring success would be being happy with your job. I’ve wanted to be a curator for a while now, and now I’m going to college to become one. I had spoken with curators in the past, and they are happy with their job so I think that is being successful.

I think that success relates to both contentment and satisfaction. Contentment is defined as a state of happiness and satisfaction. And satisfaction is defined as completion of one’s dreams, expectations, or goals. So to me contentment and satisfaction go hand in hand with success, because all three basically mean the same thing. Role Models, or inspirations, in my life that have helped me work toward my goal for being a curator are Taylor Swift, my seventh and eighth grade history teachers, and the Collections Manager and the Lab Manager at the Cleveland Natural History Museum. Taylor Swift because she’s been my role model for so long now. She never gave up on her dream of being a famous singer and look at her now. She followed her dream no matter the obstacle and I respect that. I’m following in her footsteps by never giving up on my own dream and overcoming/will overcome whatever life might throw at me to try and make me give up. She didn’t and I won’t either. My Seventh & Eighth grade history teachers because they were the ones who got me interested in pursuing a job that would always involve history. Since they were the ones who got me obsessed with my all time favorite subject.  The Collections Manager (Amanda) and the Lab Manager (Lee) at the Cleveland Natural History Museum helped me finalize what I wanted to do with history. I met them through my high school’s senior project, which I did mine at the Natural History Museum naturally. By doing my senior project at a museum I could see if I wanted to continue of with this plan of being a curator. I can say that my senior project cemented my dream job to become a near future success for me.

SSS Sections Signed Up For…Why I’m Interested And What I Hope To Learn

I chose to sign up for three SSS sections. You might be wondering why three? The class states that you only have to do two. I’ll explain why I chose three in a bit. The three I chose are the National Student Exchange Information Session, Major & Minor Expo, and the Preparing for a Successful Semester.

I chose National Student Exchange Student Information Session (takes place on 11/28/16, the only one I could go to) because it interested me. I love traveling, and I want to continue doing it in the future. That’s one of the reasons I want to be either a museum curator or a museum registrar. Everywhere in the world has a museum and I can pick one to work at, by going to this session it will help me decided on a country whose museum I want to work at. And by most likely joining this program, it will give me a taste of what my future could be. I’m really looking to forward to it because if I can be an exchange student (or study abroad, whichever works for me), I will finally achieve a goal that I wanted to do in high school but new got the chance.

The second one I chose was the Major and Minor Expo on 9/28/16. I chose it because I even though I love my major (Art History), I want to double major with Museum Studies. I chose it because it technically goes along with my major and dream job and I want to see if I’m able to double major (and I really want to). Also I want to explore the Minors. I’m interested in them, and I want to see if any strike my fancy. I looked at some over the summer, but if they’re at the Expo then I want to know more. For example three are Anthropology, History, and Architectural History because those three are involved with what I want to do in the near future.

The third and final SSS section I signed up for is Preparing for a Successful Semester on 9/27/16. I chose it because I know it will help and benefit me greatly.  I’ll admit I am not the most organized person in the world. That’s why it caught my eye when I read the description. Also I’m a freshman, college is going to be overwhelming the first semester or year. I think that this class or section will help me stay on track with my school work. The other reason I signed up for this class is because I’m not able to stay the full time at the Majors and Minors Expo. I can only stay for an hour maybe a half hour, so I needed a third to get me to two SSS sections with a signed form or waiver saying I went.

That’s all for this week. There’ll be another post sometime next week. Bye!

First Week at Kent.

My first week here at Kent was alright. I enjoyed my classes, with my favorite being torn between Creative Writing and Anthropology. Creative Writing, well writing in general, has always been a favorite thing of mine to do. On Thursday we were assigned a paper that I will enjoy writing. I believe that I will enjoy this class immensely. Just the name anthropology interested me, so I signed up for it. When I got to class on Tuesday, I thought that it was interesting and that I would like this class because it’s different from the other classes. So far I have not been wrong and I really like anthropology class. The only class I was ready for was French because I’ve been taking it for the past five years at high school. French is my second favorite language (after English of course), so I was excited to take the class again.

The only thing I did not enjoy this first week was the weather canceling Blast-Off. I was able to sign up for a few clubs and organizations that I wanted to, but not all of them so I will have to either email the rest of them or wait for the black squirrel festival.

I have noticed that since starting college I have become more outgoing and talkative. The past couple years I have been the quiet, shy girl but now I have opened up and started getting out of  my comfort zone. Even my friends that I’ve had for years that joined me here at Kent said that I’ve changed and they like the change. I like it too, looking back I believe I missed out on things because i was shy. But now I’ve liked the changes that happened. It only took moving away from home to break out of my shell. I like being this friendly, outgoing person I’ve become after only the first week.

I am looking forward to what Kent has to offer for what I want to do with my life. I know for a fact when the time comes I am going to do study abroad. I’ve always wanted to travel and if I go on the Florence, Italy trip for a semester, I will conquer that goal. Studying abroad, especially in Europe will let me visit the place I’ve always dreamed of going and one day living there-London, England. I can’t wait to study abroad, and go to the places I’ve only dreamed of going.

Ice Breaker!

My partner for the ice breaker/get you know you on the technical first day of FYE of Katie M. She is from Salem, OH.

Major: Studio Art

Reason for major: Always been good-art

Pets: 2 dogs-Gracie & Hank

Sibling (s): brother Evan

Like About College: Independence

Describe Yourself in One Word: Loyal

Favorite Project: Drawing

Introvert or Extrovert?: Both

Favorite Medium: Drawing/graphite/charcoal

Favorite Drawing: Self Portrait

What Do You Want To Do In The Future?: In the right field just don’t know yet/unsure of future.

Place You Want To Travel To: Ireland