Reflections

I want to address a few reflexive questions in this final section. 

First, I would like to explore my innovation, discourse, and aesthetics.  Without knowing it, I noticed that I really put something together that is a reflection of the person that I have become in the last few years.  The aesthetics mainly the clips and the music are stuff that transmits my personal style and tastes, and also the contrast in my personality.  In one section I am playing Kings Of Leon songs that are very easy to listen to and that have melodies that you can almost get lost in.  And in the next portion of the project, I am tuned into some Kanye West which has a very deliberate and steady beat.  The lyrics here are extremely focused and pointed and really command attention.  I also noticed and appreciated the fact that the photos that are displayed are pertinent and manipulated, but also composite which give you a feel of the disturbance and noise in my mind.

I also wanted to address the results of my emblem of my project.  My emblem, which is full of superimposed images give an opportunity that opens me up to everyone.  It also really guides my direction and makes me think about the different aspects of my life and how the way that I conduct myself influences everything that I am.  

Secondly, there are a few, perhaps many, things in project that demonstrate electracy.  But perhaps, the most important things are the storytelling and description in the narratives.  It is the point of electracy to discard the hyper literal and previously constructed mode of thinking and rather address the mode personal mode of thinking and writing.  I think the narratives I included pay tribute to this.  This device allows me to put aside concrete intellectual paradigms and shift to and focus on the value of my life experiences thus far and my state of mind.  This is the hallmark of electracy.

But the most important thing to me is the mark that this project and this semester have left on me.  Despite, the sometimes cryptic readings and lessons, this material has really allowed me to analyze myself and my life up to this point.  I am at the end of my junior year at UF, and this class, on a deeper level, has forced me to take a hard look at where I have come from in my childhood, my adolescence and where I going in my current young adulthood.  This has made me realize what I want, what I don’t want, and made me think about how I’m going to get there.  The result of this experiment is that I have gotten to take a much needed critical look at myself.  The new insight happens to be that I like what I see and enjoy who I am and the people around me.  But most of all this class has made me realize just how much I enjoy my life.

Poetics

In composing this project I really tried to take advantage of all the things I enjoyed about some of the concepts in this last portion of the class.  I used the emblem that I created previously as a starting point and really a launch pad for what I wanted to do.  I subtly used the images that are shown there as delicate pieces that I wanted to show throughout my project.  The music notes led to me using tons of music and video in all parts of project.  The chemistry set, calipers, the log/eye, and the puzzle relate to my meticulous nature and my process of thought.  The sunset is there to represent my home/family and community life.

Before starting my text work, I actually took some time to think about what I wanted to get across and what facets of my personality I wanted to display within the confines of the assignment.  I did not write anything down or take any notes on what exactly chapters and concepts I wanted to use.  I just came up with some rough ideas and scratches in my head.  As it came out, I ended up using many of the lessons in The (Bar) Street and Patterning in Part II.  For instance, in the two narratives that I ran throughout the Concept Remake, I tried to include the inflections and vibe of the speech of the people I was talking to without ever saying their name or identifying them.  I wanted to take the way we normally speak to each other and convey the mood through the text and my descriptions of the events that took place.  I felt it was important to convey the atmosphere of the people that close to me.  As far as the use of Patterning is concerned, I used many devices that I was comfortable with and that conveyed my personality/style.  One of those tools was the use of music and video throughout my project. 

I also ended up using the idea of Chora in Part I (Emblem Fire).  I wanted to examine and convey what it is really like being inside my head.  I wanted to dissect my thoughts and really give an outside view of how I think and see the world.  I ended up subtly putting in pieces of my life which includes my career field, family, entertainment, and community (Parts I and II).   I also felt that it was important to use the concept presented in The Ideal of Value by Ulmer, in getting across (in Part II) the importance of my experiences through personal/community problem of the completion and trials of post-secondary education. 

On that note, I tried to employ the type of captivating storytelling used in The Jew’s Daughter, Accounts of the Glass Sky (through photos), and Filmtext.

This project can act as a paradigm or guide for someone else who wanted to make their own assemblage expression in that it is very interactive and visual.  Most of all, it is very personal.  My project really lays out my mindset and worldview as well as displays my very personal struggles and turmoil as well as the value of my experiences with the people around me.  I would think that the personal and internal aspect would be the most important thing for someone to emulate if they wished to make an assemblage of their own.

Reflections

Materials

I employed all manner of media when putting this project together especially in Part II: Concept Remake which I chose to spread out and break up through multiple pages that can/are supposed to be read out of order.

I counted the fragments (1-16, one page has 4 frags.) as follows (just as a guide):

1) HomeFront, 2) Emblem Fire, 3) The Long Life Search (with 4 image fragments), 4) Rougest Path, 5) Dusty, 6) Energy (linked), 7) Heart (video), 8 ) Heavy, 9) Dialogue, 10) The Truth, 11) That helps, 12) Labored Breaths

Scholarly Sources:  Quotes, Stats, and Facts

The quotes on ‘The Long Life Search’ are from Howard Thurman (first few photos) and Albert Einstein (last photo, which is also a link).

The italicized facts and stats in the multi-page Concept Remake are from the articles

Careers & College by Jonathan Whitbourne; March 2002

as well as,

U.S. college drop-put rate sparks concern; Associated Press, 2005

Photographs

There are many pictures in the work that I obtained from the web using Google Image searches, and then manipulated in Photoshop or Pixlr.  Those include the clay path, the nutmeg, the peppermint, and the brain photo collage (Picnik used here).

The composite photographs in ‘The Long Life Search’ were all photographed by my sister, Dana.  She is a very talented photographer (though I’d never say that to her face).  The city photos are aerial and skyline blurs of the Chicago cityscape and the last photo was shot in New Symyrna Beach, FL while we were on vacation.

Video and Music

The music found on the Emblem Fire and The Long Life Search pages is from:

Kings Of Leon, and the songs, respectively, are

Manhattan, Only By the Night

Frontier City, Only By the Night

The song is the Concept Remake page, The Truth, is Homecoming by Kanye West featuring Chris Martin of Coldplay.  It is on West’s 2007 album, Graduation.

The video clips in the Concept Remake page links are from Garden State which was directed by Zach Braff and stars he, Natalie Portman, and Peter Sarsgaard.

Poetics

Labored Breaths

Materials

That helps

A half smile and an upwardly inflected, “Humph.”

She leans forward.  Face in the granite.  Her thumb makes an impression on her tepid forehead.  Her lungs expand upwards and then back down again.  A thinking mind is intermitted by labored breaths.

The Truth

Her tone and diction change.  Sarcastic, and now stark and frustrated. 

“It’s a tiny school full of privileged kids.  I don’t know what to tell you.  I busted my butt while I was there.  But other people didn’t, that’s their choice.  Maybe it’s their mission in life to take over their Dad’s horse racing business or work at the new Wal-Mart.  Or perhaps they’re a little more ambitious and are shooting for hosting the Red & White dinner and have their kids go to Cotillion.  It was a strange little place.  Maybe they want that life.  I don’t frickin’ know.”

“I’m scared.  I think I know what I want.  I’m not sure how to get there.  And I’m really scared.”

Dialogue

“Hey!  I had almost forgotten you were coming today.  How are you?” 

“I’m good.” 

                “I don’t believe you.”

She, herself, didn’t believe it. 

“Nah, I’m good.”

                “I know when you’re lying.  Want a cookie?”

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna talk.”

                “So there’s something to talk about.”

“Crap.  You and your Jedi mind tricks.”

                “Sit.”

The bar stool drags on the icy tile floor.  A creaking, screeching sound.  She sits in recoiled silence.

                “So I saw one of your friends at Publix a few days ago.”

“One of my friends, huh?  Wanna narrow that down for me?”

“It isn’t important, but it is someone close to you.  I asked her about her family, how college was going.  She said she quit school.  In fact I’ve seen plenty of people you went to school with around town.  What’s with that?”

“How should I know?  There are plenty of kids that quit school.  And yeah, I know a few.  Why are you asking me about it?”

“I know there are plenty of kids that quit school.  But what I was trying to say is that there are plenty of kids from YOUR high school that quit.  I was trying to ask why that was.”

A quipping brain sends muscles an unconscious impulse to smile.  The irony and the symmetry were just superlative given a previous conversation.

“So I’m the common factor? I don’t know either.  It was a small school.  It might have had something to do with the fact the guidance counselor constantly berated us about SATs or attempted to scare the crap out of us right as she was pushing us out the door without ever really helping us.  That may be it.  No one tells you how to deal with the stress or what to do when you fail.  I know from friends I’ve talked to that it always seems like no really cares or can understand or listen.  Maybe they had other things they thought they wanted to do or maybe they’re just lazy.  Maybe, if they’re like me, they don’t think they’re smart enough to make it.” 

Just 54% of students entering four-year colleges in 1997 had a degree six years later.