Class take away 14

    I have purposely decided not to write this post for the assigned time because of what I have to say. I did write it down on my laptop immediately after class, but did not want to put it online. I know that this means that I will take a deduction in points, but I would rather take that than to have this message be read too early. I did not like the class we had last week. It will be uploaded just minutes before the final class ends.

When creating something, always keep the word “Predictable” in mind. Avoid cliche things, create my own formula of doing something that other people have not done before. Cliche photos are out of control.

One student devoted an entire week to changing what he normally does to address his fears

At the end, Jake talked about something that was really tough for him to do just this morning, which took a lot of courage to do.

He also showed us pictures of his work, he’s a sculptor and he seems to do it pretty well, creating life sized pieces.

We were then show a video of a man who creates art only through ten keys on an old fashioned typewriter. He has a disability that doesn’t allow him to make art with pencils or brushes, but he still found a way. What we learned from this is that we should not say “I could never do that.” because that asks the question, “What can I do?”. It's one thing to see a good artist, but to have them say things like that is just really nice to see these days.

Jake talked about one student and how his fear assignment was of outstanding quality, above everyone else’s. He talked about this quite frequently after his presentation was complete, and gave me an impression that he didn’t think that anyone else really tried compared to him or didn’t sacrifice as much as he did, I think he actually said something along those lines as well. I did not particularly enjoy how much he went on and on about it, I took a risk of being arrested for the way I dressed to push my fear assignment beyond being just an assignment, and to use it to learn just how powerful fears are in my life. I showed a lot of my true feelings and emotions, and even talked in my normal voice which never sees the public. Not only did I have to force myself out my apartment door for fear of revealing the design of a character I’ve worked on for almost 10 years in secrecy, but then I had to take that design into the school of Media Arts & Science, where I knew that everyone there could be a potential storyteller who might get inspired to make an evil villain out of a design I made to be that of an unusual hero. While in class, someone took a picture of me in my costume If my design turns into a villain before I make it as the hero I've dreamed about, I'm going to be lost. After all he had said about just one person’s assignment and how he didn’t think anyone else sacrificed nearly as much, I felt as though I had completely failed in my assignment, which happens to be one of my greatest fears. I know that the student did indeed make tough sacrifices to do his project, and I give him enormous props for it. His project was very well thought out and covered many important topics. I would have been fine with Jake saying that his project was very well thought out and there must have been a lot of sacrifice. Was his project the best? I don't think so. Was mine the best? I have no idea, probably not. But to give off an impression that nobody else sacrificed or risked anywhere near the amount that he did was a bit unfair to everyone who did make a huge sacrifice or take a big risk in making the project. Talking about personal information, revealing bold or even weird fears, and even taking risks with the simpleness of how they showed up to class; I may not have made a big sacrifice for the fear assignment, but nobody knows how much I feel like I risked to just walk in the door and take off my mask. I took a big risk with a bit of sacrifice today, to potentially sacrifice almost everything I've worked for in the past 10 years in exchange for a grade and getting myself outside of the walls I put up for myself. If somewhere down the line it turns out that my big risk turned into a major sacrifice, I'll look back on that time and say that it's my worst and biggest regret, and I'll probably think of it that way for the rest of my life. 

I just said a whole lot about something that everyone else in the class might not have thought of as a big deal, but it was to me. Normally I don’t like to talk about the small things that people say (not necessarily to me) that might discourage me, but this was so stupid that I felt like I needed to say something about it. I'm not a teacher, I have no experience being a teacher, and I doubt that I will ever teach professionally; but I wouldn't ever make such a point out of one students work to say that nobody else risked or sacrificed as much as previously said student, that's assuming way too much and is playing the favorites game. I honestly feel like I'm taking this out of proportion, but despite the fact that I normally stay very reserved, don't like to talk about things that bug me, and don't really like to give criticism, this was too much for me to keep inside.

Overall, I did not like this class, I almost want to say that I hated it, but that's too strong. Despite everything I risked to make it, I feel as though I failed my Fear assignment.