Happiness, Meaning, and Personal Ethics
During the Happiness and Meaning project we were asked to produce both a written and visual piece that adequately expressed our philosophy. You could create a painting and write an artist statement about it, or you could write a song with a video to go behind it. As long as there was a visual and written piece that conveyed your meaning, anything was game.
This project was eye opening for me. I went into the project uncertain about what my meaning was, so I decided to emphasize this idea of not knowing and showing it in a short story. When I came back from my LINK Internship I realized the power of words and how they can be used to be a genuine human being. I changed my project to a kind of speech and I talked about how I found my authenticity. That realization that the best me was the me that was not being held in a box or conforming to anybody else was a very interesting discovery. Not because it was a new idea but rather because I had never been thoughtful about applying that very idea to my daily life. One of the quotes that I used in my project is from Meredith Monk, who is a composer, and she says "That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something." For me this quote really got to me. I found this to be something that captured what authenticity is all about. This quote is what I want to be. I want to be honest and clear and accept the initability of life and everything that comes with it.
I am questioning now how can I make it second nature to be authentic. Or does it become something that will operate on auto pilot after a few months of practice. Something where you will no longer have to think or consider what you might need to do that day to be the most true you. Maybe being genuine comes with age. When you get to a certain point where that new clothing brand or that new hair style just don't matter anymore because you have better things to do. Being genuine could just be a personality issue. Some people that I know seem to be so comfortable in their own skin they don't even know what other people experience everyday. We all have to figure out on our own path.
This project was eye opening for me. I went into the project uncertain about what my meaning was, so I decided to emphasize this idea of not knowing and showing it in a short story. When I came back from my LINK Internship I realized the power of words and how they can be used to be a genuine human being. I changed my project to a kind of speech and I talked about how I found my authenticity. That realization that the best me was the me that was not being held in a box or conforming to anybody else was a very interesting discovery. Not because it was a new idea but rather because I had never been thoughtful about applying that very idea to my daily life. One of the quotes that I used in my project is from Meredith Monk, who is a composer, and she says "That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something." For me this quote really got to me. I found this to be something that captured what authenticity is all about. This quote is what I want to be. I want to be honest and clear and accept the initability of life and everything that comes with it.
I am questioning now how can I make it second nature to be authentic. Or does it become something that will operate on auto pilot after a few months of practice. Something where you will no longer have to think or consider what you might need to do that day to be the most true you. Maybe being genuine comes with age. When you get to a certain point where that new clothing brand or that new hair style just don't matter anymore because you have better things to do. Being genuine could just be a personality issue. Some people that I know seem to be so comfortable in their own skin they don't even know what other people experience everyday. We all have to figure out on our own path.
Rhetoric and Ideology Project
1. Describe the project and give it context. Explain both the assignment and what you did with it.
The Rhetoric and Ideology Project is all about saying what you are burning to say to the world. You find an issue, you research it, you take a position, and you speak your mind. The whole point is to go out into the world and tell everybody what you think and see. It is truly eye opening to both the audience and the student. I saw the ideology that is American Exceptionalism and I wanted to tell people about it. I had never heard this ideology referred to that way. I thought that exceptionalism was something that people needed to know and think about as it is something that defines our American culture today. I wrote both an opinion article and a spoken word/speech/open letter to the world. I performed my spoken word/speech/open letter in front of an audience for not all the world, but some of it, to see.
2. Describe how your project incorporated the Art of Rhetoric. What function did your rhetoric perform? (Did it test ideas? Did it discover facts? Did it shape knowledge? Did it assist advocacy? Did it build community? Did it distribute power?)
My project incorporated the art of rhetoric by trying to make people question the American identity. I sense a lot of confusion in American politics and there is a lot of unrest in American society. I wanted people to read what I had to say and think “Oh we could do that better.” or “How do I see America?” I have found that how America sees and defines itself plays a large part in our role in the world. All I was trying to do was build community among Americans and I did that by questioning our exceptionalism and sometimes even apologizing for it.
3. How did you connect to this project? What did you like most about studying these topics?
I connected to this project because I found something that was not a personal truth of mine and questioned it. I liked getting to take something that runs deep in American politics but is mostly hidden from the general public if they are not looking for exceptionalism specifically. It was a lot of fun to search in Google “America is the greatest country in the world.” or “America is the best.” Those searches brought up a lot of interesting articles that I never would’ve read anywhere else. This project was a journey of discoveries. I learned so much about American politics and the American people.
4. What was difficult/challenging about this project? What would you do differently if you had it to do over again?
The hardest part about this project was finding what form of writing I wanted to use and what tone I wanted to write with. I went through a couple ideas before sitting down and letting the words poor out of my fingers and onto the paper. I really fell in love with my final piece. It was fun to read and to speak. The period of time before was grueling and, honestly, it was hard on my mind because I was racking my brain trying to think of how I wanted to attack this. I had read many other pieces from my class and I found that many seemed a little underpowered or they hit you so hard that it was hard to find the meaning. I concluded that I needed a piece that was powerful but not overwhelming, while still maintaining flow and eloquence. After lots of hard work and some perseverance I finally found the piece I was looking for.
5. What have you learned about rhetoric, ideology, and the American experience? What have you discovered about your own emerging ideology as a young American?
Through this project I have learned how powerful rhetoric can be. It influences people and we don’t even realize that it’s happening. I also discovered that it is okay to be critical of something that most people love. It is okay to be critical of something that you love. I had an interaction with my dad the other day and he asked said, “Why are you so critical of America? I grew up in a time when there were riots in the streets and college campuses. I was months away from getting my draft card. Vietnam was considered by some one of the worst foreign policy eras in American history, yet I still emerged with love for America.” I told him that my criticism was not a lack of love for America but rather it was my love for America and the fact that we can always do things better. That is what I have found to be my emerging ideology as a young American.
The Rhetoric and Ideology Project is all about saying what you are burning to say to the world. You find an issue, you research it, you take a position, and you speak your mind. The whole point is to go out into the world and tell everybody what you think and see. It is truly eye opening to both the audience and the student. I saw the ideology that is American Exceptionalism and I wanted to tell people about it. I had never heard this ideology referred to that way. I thought that exceptionalism was something that people needed to know and think about as it is something that defines our American culture today. I wrote both an opinion article and a spoken word/speech/open letter to the world. I performed my spoken word/speech/open letter in front of an audience for not all the world, but some of it, to see.
2. Describe how your project incorporated the Art of Rhetoric. What function did your rhetoric perform? (Did it test ideas? Did it discover facts? Did it shape knowledge? Did it assist advocacy? Did it build community? Did it distribute power?)
My project incorporated the art of rhetoric by trying to make people question the American identity. I sense a lot of confusion in American politics and there is a lot of unrest in American society. I wanted people to read what I had to say and think “Oh we could do that better.” or “How do I see America?” I have found that how America sees and defines itself plays a large part in our role in the world. All I was trying to do was build community among Americans and I did that by questioning our exceptionalism and sometimes even apologizing for it.
3. How did you connect to this project? What did you like most about studying these topics?
I connected to this project because I found something that was not a personal truth of mine and questioned it. I liked getting to take something that runs deep in American politics but is mostly hidden from the general public if they are not looking for exceptionalism specifically. It was a lot of fun to search in Google “America is the greatest country in the world.” or “America is the best.” Those searches brought up a lot of interesting articles that I never would’ve read anywhere else. This project was a journey of discoveries. I learned so much about American politics and the American people.
4. What was difficult/challenging about this project? What would you do differently if you had it to do over again?
The hardest part about this project was finding what form of writing I wanted to use and what tone I wanted to write with. I went through a couple ideas before sitting down and letting the words poor out of my fingers and onto the paper. I really fell in love with my final piece. It was fun to read and to speak. The period of time before was grueling and, honestly, it was hard on my mind because I was racking my brain trying to think of how I wanted to attack this. I had read many other pieces from my class and I found that many seemed a little underpowered or they hit you so hard that it was hard to find the meaning. I concluded that I needed a piece that was powerful but not overwhelming, while still maintaining flow and eloquence. After lots of hard work and some perseverance I finally found the piece I was looking for.
5. What have you learned about rhetoric, ideology, and the American experience? What have you discovered about your own emerging ideology as a young American?
Through this project I have learned how powerful rhetoric can be. It influences people and we don’t even realize that it’s happening. I also discovered that it is okay to be critical of something that most people love. It is okay to be critical of something that you love. I had an interaction with my dad the other day and he asked said, “Why are you so critical of America? I grew up in a time when there were riots in the streets and college campuses. I was months away from getting my draft card. Vietnam was considered by some one of the worst foreign policy eras in American history, yet I still emerged with love for America.” I told him that my criticism was not a lack of love for America but rather it was my love for America and the fact that we can always do things better. That is what I have found to be my emerging ideology as a young American.
Voices from the Animas
During the Voice from the Animas project our goal was to interview Durango locals, Silverton locals and anyone with any connection to the river about the Gold King Mine blowout that occurred August 5th, 2015. The interviews that we conducted would be uploaded to the Storycorps website and would eventually be archived for generations to listen to long after the spill. The whole point of these interviews was to get down and deep in it. We wanted stories from the people we were interviewing. We wanted to hear their regrets and their memories about the river and how they felt when they watched our river turn orange. We also wanted opinions. Opinions about how to fix the river, any opinions about the situation with the mine spill really. All of these things would eventually be put together in the same places so that the day the Animas River turned orange will never be forgotten.
This project has taught me a lot. A lot of things that that I did not think I would learn from the project. Before talking to the Silverton High School students I had totally overlooked the fact that they would feel differently about the river than I did. This feeling would then affect their personal solutions and their feelings about the spill itself. The Silverton students seemed more worried about the history of the mines around Silverton than the actual quality of the river water downstream and how that water quality could affect the people and wildlife below Silverton. I also learned that there are a lot of variables in every problem that is trying to be solved pertaining to the mine spill. Specifically the issue of cleaning up the mine. Some of those variables are funding, are you cleaning the mine or treating the water, which mines will you work on, where will the boundaries of the work being done be set and how will the community be involved in the clean up. Those are just some of the important questions that need to be asked when looking at this mine spill. Lastly I created a perspective about nature and Earth. That perspective is that it needs to be cherished. There is only so much time before clean water is still easily accessible. That may be rather dark and that time is a long time from now but that is something, that as a human race, we need to consider and think about.
I had a lot of fun interviewing and speaking to different people that I just wanted to hear opinions from. The person I chose to interview was the founder of the Animas River Stakeholders Group (ARSG). For the past 25 years they have been working to treat water and clean mines in the watershed above Silverton, Colorado. The struggle that I had with my interview was that the questions that I really wanted to ask did not really lend themselves to answers that were really personal or had a story in them. I was asking questions about what the ARSG has accomplished and what they were currently doing to treat water around the Gold King Mine and questions about the Superfund option. All of these were important and I learned a lot from my interview but I wish I had gotten a story. I wish I had recorded something that was about this person’s love for the Animas. On the flip side I was pleasantly surprised when I was the one who was being asked questions and it really turned the conversation in an interesting direction. As a human I found that during the interview sometimes you just don’t always get what you want and that is okay. I mean I knew that you don’t always get what you want but I wasn’t really expecting that from a situation where I was in control of most of the variables. I still had a great time and it was a lot of fun being the interviewer rather than the interviewee.
The exhibition was, to say the least, interesting. I was supposed to be interviewing people that were there, but I decided to take part in the exhibition myself. I filled out sticky notes answering the various questions that were posted on different walls and tables around the room. I listened to some of my fellow classmates interviews. I talked to people. We would talk about the river, solutions and how they felt about the whole situation. This just further pushed feeling that the Earth needs to be cherished. We like to wait until something truly terrible happens in order for us to do something about an issue. That is a mentality that needs to change. The time is now to start saving the world.
Through this project one of the most important social lessons that I learned was that humans really need to get their act together. More specifically about our motivations to save the world. I don’t think that the people who walk around the streets with their save the world signs want to save the world for the sake of saving the Earth. I think that they want to save it because they want to keep living on it. I am not saying that that is an invalid reason to save the world but that reasoning worries me. That reasoning worries me because I feel that if the world was saved in order to save the human race we would simply repeat our same mistakes again. If humans were to save the world because the world is beautiful? Now that could be very different. A mentality with an appreciation of Earth is the most important and the most powerful asset we have in making sure that we keep Mother Earth, Mother Earth.
This project has taught me a lot. A lot of things that that I did not think I would learn from the project. Before talking to the Silverton High School students I had totally overlooked the fact that they would feel differently about the river than I did. This feeling would then affect their personal solutions and their feelings about the spill itself. The Silverton students seemed more worried about the history of the mines around Silverton than the actual quality of the river water downstream and how that water quality could affect the people and wildlife below Silverton. I also learned that there are a lot of variables in every problem that is trying to be solved pertaining to the mine spill. Specifically the issue of cleaning up the mine. Some of those variables are funding, are you cleaning the mine or treating the water, which mines will you work on, where will the boundaries of the work being done be set and how will the community be involved in the clean up. Those are just some of the important questions that need to be asked when looking at this mine spill. Lastly I created a perspective about nature and Earth. That perspective is that it needs to be cherished. There is only so much time before clean water is still easily accessible. That may be rather dark and that time is a long time from now but that is something, that as a human race, we need to consider and think about.
I had a lot of fun interviewing and speaking to different people that I just wanted to hear opinions from. The person I chose to interview was the founder of the Animas River Stakeholders Group (ARSG). For the past 25 years they have been working to treat water and clean mines in the watershed above Silverton, Colorado. The struggle that I had with my interview was that the questions that I really wanted to ask did not really lend themselves to answers that were really personal or had a story in them. I was asking questions about what the ARSG has accomplished and what they were currently doing to treat water around the Gold King Mine and questions about the Superfund option. All of these were important and I learned a lot from my interview but I wish I had gotten a story. I wish I had recorded something that was about this person’s love for the Animas. On the flip side I was pleasantly surprised when I was the one who was being asked questions and it really turned the conversation in an interesting direction. As a human I found that during the interview sometimes you just don’t always get what you want and that is okay. I mean I knew that you don’t always get what you want but I wasn’t really expecting that from a situation where I was in control of most of the variables. I still had a great time and it was a lot of fun being the interviewer rather than the interviewee.
The exhibition was, to say the least, interesting. I was supposed to be interviewing people that were there, but I decided to take part in the exhibition myself. I filled out sticky notes answering the various questions that were posted on different walls and tables around the room. I listened to some of my fellow classmates interviews. I talked to people. We would talk about the river, solutions and how they felt about the whole situation. This just further pushed feeling that the Earth needs to be cherished. We like to wait until something truly terrible happens in order for us to do something about an issue. That is a mentality that needs to change. The time is now to start saving the world.
Through this project one of the most important social lessons that I learned was that humans really need to get their act together. More specifically about our motivations to save the world. I don’t think that the people who walk around the streets with their save the world signs want to save the world for the sake of saving the Earth. I think that they want to save it because they want to keep living on it. I am not saying that that is an invalid reason to save the world but that reasoning worries me. That reasoning worries me because I feel that if the world was saved in order to save the human race we would simply repeat our same mistakes again. If humans were to save the world because the world is beautiful? Now that could be very different. A mentality with an appreciation of Earth is the most important and the most powerful asset we have in making sure that we keep Mother Earth, Mother Earth.
The Animas River after the 3 million gallon plume was released from Gold King Mine in Silverton
http://www.newsweek.com/epa-causes-massive-colorado-spill-1-million-gallons-mining-waste-turns-river-361019
http://www.newsweek.com/epa-causes-massive-colorado-spill-1-million-gallons-mining-waste-turns-river-361019