While looking through my classmates’ blog posts, one that really stood out to me was Maria Papas’s blog post “How Do Institutions Fail You?”. I liked her post because in class, a topic of discussion I found very interesting was the topic of institutions and whether or not any institution can be trusted. In her post she provided examples of quotes from different peers about what it means when an institution has failed them and it was very interesting to see different peoples’ perspectives. Continue reading “Institutions”
Meaning of Movement
Dance has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up I threw myself into ballet, jazz, and tap lessons. Three to four times a week I would sit at my desk at school and glue my eyes to the clock as the last hour of school progressed. I would fly like a rocket out of my seat and make my way to my dance school were I would spend hours doing the thing I loved most. My favorite type of dance was and still is ballet. The grace, poise, and strength needed is something I have always appreciated about the art. However, dance can become a competitive and very pressuring mind game, so my career of dance eventually came to a close.
When I transferred to Geneseo my sophomore year, I knew I had to get involved in the community somehow. My mind immediately went to my first love— dance. In that time I joined two dance groups/teams/troupes. By the time registering for classes came for this semester (spring ‘19), I not only wanted to take my required courses, but I also wanted to take at least one or two courses that would challenge me academically and/or would capture an interest of mine that wasn’t strictly academic. That class for me was DANC 104: Cultural Dance— Latin Cultures taught by Deborah Scodese-French of the dance department.
My Experience With Blogging
As this being my last of the ten required blog posts for this course, I find myself reflecting on my blogging experience. This was my first experience with public blogging and to be honest it was very intimidating at first. I took me a couple tries to get comfortable straying away from the formal version of writing that I have been used to. As an English major I, of course, have been used to, as well as comfortable with, writing formal analytical, research, and argumentative essays. This resulted in myself having a hard time transitioning into writing in a casual conversation style. Continue reading “My Experience With Blogging”
The Art of Teaching Art
As I was reading through the blog, I was reading Brian’s blog post titled Power In The Internet; An Artist’s Dilemma. I really enjoyed reading it. He says, “The option to teach is a gift which enables musicians to support themselves financially as they try and pursue the creation of music or visual art, as well as the continuation of the music tradition—of course, there also exist those who want to teach the future generations the tradition of art”.
Artists tend to have financial struggles throughout their career because as Prince stated in his first visit to Geneseo, “artists work on come and go paychecks, sometimes you have lots of money and then you go without receiving pay for months”. This leads to a lot of artists to pursue a career in teaching art. Continue reading “The Art of Teaching Art”
Still Here, Still Doubting Faith
Wow. I have so much admiration for Victor LaValle’s story-telling in Big Machine, and so I constantly keep it in conversation wherever I am, and whoever I am with. Every time I raise a question or make a point about the book in regard to where I am in my reading at the moment, Lavalle addresses that same point again later on in the book. What I am thinking about here is faith.
Perfect? No. Honest? Yes.
During my time as an English major, I’ve become well acquainted with my strengths and weaknesses as a student. The long research papers? I love those. PowerPoint presentations? Eh, not my favorite. Blogging? It’s pushed me to not be so formal. Reading out loud? That’s been the hardest for me.
Keep the Drafts!
Over the course of the semester, I have grown to really like the concept of blogging. It has allowed me to get thoughts out and into print. I’ve thought through things that I otherwise would not have, gaining better clarity in my mind about challenging concepts. I’m thinking back to my past English courses and the approach of a few large papers worked on for the whole semester that reflects a large amount of your grade, with a focus on tiny details for points. I’ve had other courses with daily write ups, but none like this. There is something about the public nature of a blog, and the compositional tools at my disposal that allow me to be a bit more raw than those daily write ups for class I mentioned. I think that the practice of blogging can be rooted in our course concepts: making a quilt.
As this is my “last” blog post for a grade, I’m thinking about continuing the practice of writing my thoughts out at least once a week. If you all haven’t noticed, I certainly enjoy my pens and stationary, so I’ve thought about journaling in the past, which could be an outlet for me as well. Blogging, though, is public. I find the idea of putting content out there for others to read and think about to be exciting, that I could spur a discussion that otherwise would not take place. The approximate length of a blog post is excellent for me to explore a thought of this level, as I have now done eight times before on my own and once collaboratively. These past few posts have been about a similar theme in different contexts which is purposeful, not just me squeezing a similar idea into more posts so I can meet the deadline. It may be a both/and, but I’m really thinkING about the course concepts in preparation for the self reflective paper, which I have been preparing for during the entire semester. Continue reading “Keep the Drafts!”
Living in Precarity
One of the courses I am taking this semester is entitled Precarity: The Deplorable and Invisible, taught by Dr. Elaine Cleeton and Dr. Michael Restivo (in Dr. Cleeton’s absence). A main focus of the course is how American Capitalism has been taken to such an extreme that it marginalizes many different groups of people, including Native Americans as well as the black community, to name just a few.
Perspective and Light Rays
Weeks ago, during a fit of furious note taking, I quickly jotted down the phrases “sun trail” and “light rays” in the margin of my physics notebook, accompanied by a terrible sketch of a moon (I don’t know why it wasn’t of a sun given my note) and its reflection on a lake. If you’re wondering, yes, the sketch simply oozes the feeling of boredom, but that’s how it is when you’re hitting your head against a desk trying to understand reflection, refraction, mirrors, and lenses at 8:30 in the morning. When I finally looked back at this note, I was kicking myself for not making my drunken-in-a-sleep-deprived-kind-of-way-self more clear, but I suppose looking back, reflecting (no pun intended), and putting in a little work to find my way is what this class is all about. Continue reading “Perspective and Light Rays”
The Both/And of Expression Through Face and Body Language
During one of our class periods back in March (I know, it’s a throwback) led by Teaching Assistants Sabrina, Anderson, and Katie, my peers and I participated in the Sculptor/Clay exercise. As Katie led our reflection period towards the end of class, as memory serves me, she mentioned something about the importance of facial expressions in the exercise. Katie said that when she and Sabrina attended a conference over the summer, they participated in the Scuptor/Clay exercise with a small group of about twelve people, and Katie noticed that one of the “sculptors” in particular paid special attention to the facial expressions he had his “clay” wear. I found this especially interesting and I began to think about some of the other mediums in which the presence or the absence of facial expression is significant, such as Willow Tree® figurines, American Sign Language, the Baby Dolls, and, of course, Steve Prince’s art.
Continue reading “The Both/And of Expression Through Face and Body Language”