Mothers of Wolf Children

    I have never known a parent who said that raising children is anything close to easy. I have never known a single mother that did not look exhausted as she tried to both work and raise her kids. Being a parent is hard, and being a single parent is even harder, but poor Hana had to raise two children who were part wolf and do it in secret. Mamoru Hosoda’s Wolf Children is a moving film of a beautiful and complicated little family that I believe is really geared towards parents. It contains some really great messages and lessons for young parents, especially single parents, who are struggling but filled with so much love for their little monsters. Wolf Children is a fun, but touching, movie about the importance and difficulty of family life, and the pain of growing up.

    Hana is impossible to dislike, and her strength through her exhausting journey is extraordinary. She is a stay at home single mom with little money, no friends, no help, two rambunctious wolf children, and a giant secret to keep from the world, and she does it all with a smile and a laugh. All parents go through remarkably similar things. They can connect with having too little money, too little sleep, being out of their depth, having little adult interaction, and children who are always hungry and making messes. All children can be wolves sometimes, and I feel this film is really just a slightly exaggerated tale of every single mother and family. While we can chuckle in amusement and sympathy seeing Hana doze off every spare second she gets, we also realize through her diligence and dedication that all the hard times are so worth it to her. There is nothing more important to Hana than her family. Nothing. Most families I know will agree that raising happy successful children is the top and only priority of a parent. Seeing the children laugh is all the reward needed. We all go through really hard times, but by remembering why we are doing the things we are, and who we are doing them for, it makes the burden just a little lighter. We will do anything for those that we love.

    All parents want a good future for their beloved children, but it can be hard letting them go in the end. We raise them to be able to live confidently and happily in the world by themselves, to grow into good men and women, but the years always seem to fly by too quickly. After living a difficult life of secrecy in the city for years, Hana decides to move to the countryside with her children to give them more privacy and to give them the chance to decide who they want to be. However, when the time came and Ame chose to leave home and be a lone wolf, Hana is torn apart. Parents raise children for the purpose of them leaving home one day, but when they do, it is so difficult to let them go. It’s painful.

Hana actually reminded me a bit of my own mother. Once, my mother broke down in front of me when she thought of her youngest child leaving home in just a few years. She lamented that being a mother was her whole life and purpose, and when we had all left, what would her purpose be in life? With Ame living in the forest and Yuki gone to boarding school, there is a final scene with Hana just sitting alone in the dining room. She is still so young and has gone through so much, but now what was her purpose? It broke my heart a little.

Wolf Children helped me to understand the feelings and purpose of a parent so much better, as it slightly exaggerated the trials and reactions of a single parent. It is a hard life to raise two wild little pups by yourself, but the hard times make the joys that much greater. Little things like new books, new skills, fresh snow, and kind neighbors are treasured so much more. The fulfillment of a parent’s purpose is bittersweet. It is heartrending to let them go, but every time Hana hears her son howl out in the wilderness, she smiles. They are gone, but they are where they are meant to be. This movie is a wonderful, meaningful family film that teaches what it means to be a mother.

Remembering Our Worth

    I have loved C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia since I was in elementary school, and I was thrilled to see that I would be able to read one of them for homework and write a paper analyzing the spiritual nature of the most popular book in the series. Watching the movie, it can be difficult to see the spiritual messages that make up the entire series unless you are looking for them. That is near impossible when reading the books. The Chronicles of Narnia are saturated with the Christian stories and believes, and they make the tale glow with depth and wonder. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is the most well-known book in the series and teaches of the divine nature of man, of the redemption of sinners, of the Resurrection, and the importance of applying this knowledge to real life.

    The moment that Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy enter Narnia, they are heralded as royalty, heirs foretold to the thrones. Their very presence is seen as hope to the faithful and a threat to the wicked queen. They are inherently royal, and this points to the royal inheritance that awaits all men and women. We are all “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve,” and if we are faithful to Jesus Christ, represented by Aslan, we will be crowned kings and queens. We are children of God, heirs to a throne, and once we recognize this fact, fight for the Savior and freedom from sin, and are crowned victorious by the Savior himself, we will forever rule in heaven. “Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen (94).” We all have come to this land with divine potential and we sometimes we are the only ones who fail to understand. Satan, represented by the White Witch, is certainly not going to wait until we are headed towards Aslan until he reaches out to tempt us and seek to block our way forward.

    The most spiritually important moment in all seven books is depicted in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Edmund falls to temptation and Aslan gives his life to save him. There is no more vital moment in the history of the world than the Atonement of Jesus Christ for our sins, and there is no better fictional representation than Aslan walking willingly into the cruel arms of the Witch and her hosts to redeem one precious soul. Edmund sinned, he betrayed everyone, but he was repentant. This is a lesson that no sin is too awful, so failure too great, no flaw too big, that cannot be redeemed. Aslan, like Christ, gave himself willingly as sacrifice for us. He was bound. He was mocked. He was surrounded by creatures “kicking him, hitting him, spitting at him” (181). He died. And yet he lived again, more glorious than before. C. S. Lewis really brings the point home and makes the reader think at the end of the story. When Lucy asks Susan if Edmund should be told what Aslan had done for him, Susan replies, “It would be too awful for him. Think how you’d feel if you were he” (193). How do we feel about all the Savior did for us?

    The readers really follow and identify with the Pevensie children, and after they, and the readers with them, have this glorious adventure and learn of Aslan and of their own worth, they have to return home to the real world. Lewis is teaching the readers that these wonders they have just learned are not just in some far off magic land, but they are to be carried through after the wardrobe is closed and the book is put away. While the world might not believe them or recognize the royal divine worth of the readers, just like the Pevensie children, they must always keep in their minds and hearts that “once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia” (196). We must always remember who we are and what the Savior has done for us.
 
    It can be difficult to comprehend all that we are and all that Jesus Christ has done for us. It can feel impossible to comprehend the whole picture of the Plan of Salvation. The Chronicles of Narnia are wonderful tools to help young minds, and old minds, learn and remember in a fun way. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a compelling and wonderfully spiritual story that teaches the value of each human life, the importance of the Atonement in redemption and resurrection, and the principle to applying this knowledge to normal life.

Fireside Chat - Benifits of Violent Media

    When asked what I believe in, I can easily rattle off a long long list, and would be able to talk about each and every point on that list at long length. However, for this final project I wanted to talk about a belief that might make me different than the rest of the class. I wanted to make people think. I believe in the afterlife, in the importance of families, in equality among all people, but that wouldn't make me stand out. It was after a long debate I had with my husband two weeks ago about what he had learned in a forum that I realized my feelings about violent media. I truly believe that some violence and conflict in media can be extremely beneficial for mentally preparing the audience for bad situations they might encounter in life.

    After watching violent media, it is common for me to place myself in those situations and mentally go over what I would do if faced with that. Even though I don’t expect to be attacked my monsters, I showed the Doctor Who clip to demonstrate a scene that made me realize the dangers of not reacting well to a bad situation. By mentally walking through bad situations, we can train our brain to be able to handle the shock of being in danger. As Dr. Brad J Bushman spoke of in his forum at BYU in 2014, being exposed to violent media reduces the shock of violence in real life. I don’t think just watching violent media on TV will turn us into cool, calm, experts and Kung fu masters, but I do believe it has a good probability of helping you not freeze and panic. If my house is broken into or if a man pulls a gun on me in a parking lot, I want to be able to think and act.

    I also believe that violent media can spark a lot of good “what if” questions with family. What do we want to decided to do as a family in case we come home from school and the door to our house is ajar? I used the White Collar clip to show a scene where the character had walked through a “what if” situation with her husband and had reacted well, and it was a scene that also inspired conversation of the same sort with my husband.

 I framed my Fireside Chat after the manner of a Ted Talk, rather like the “danger of a Single Story” that we watched for class. They are interesting, make you look internally, and inspire great questions. That is exactly what I wanted my audience to leave with after my presentation, as well as stating to think more critically about what they watched for media.

Concerned Citizen - Liam Isaac

    It is quite common for the best people, for those that make the biggest differences in the lives of individuals and communities, to go unnoticed. Even more so when the individuals work with those who are shamed by the community and wish to be anonymous. Their stories often go untold. Some of those great heroic individuals are those who serve in the Addiction Recovery Program. Brother and Sister Fiefield have served those with addiction and the loved ones of those with addiction, for years unrecognized. Hours and hours every week are spent comforting and giving hope to those in need, both in their family and in the community. They have been a support to hundreds over the years, and yet in their humility, don’t see themselves as having that big and impact.

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    We chose to document the Fiefields using audio rather than video to capture the anonymous nature of their service as well as the humility of their personalities. Those they serve are often unknown and invisible in the community, but the impact they have is huge in shaping that community. The “ripple effect,” as they called it, is what makes the biggest impact in a community. They fear that shame of what addicts do are causing them to isolate themselves from the community, and they hope to help the addicts overcome that and renter the community with confidence. As Goldbard stated: “The antidote...is a culture that prizes connection and creativity.” The strive to reconnect those who have lost connection through growing confidence through honesty and anonymity. We harnessed the audio to help represent that.
    We were also greatly inspired by the videos shown in class of LDS women sharing their personal stories. While we didn’t introduce and close our video with ourselves, we found the style of the absence of the interviewer during the actual story to be quite powerful. With the Fiefield’s speaking directly to the audience, it makes the story more personal and powerful. Even though the couple was reluctant to talk about themselves and give themselves credit, their strength and impact can still come across. As in the Mormon Message “Abide with Me,” they don’t have to boast of themselves, or even be seen as the main characters, for their strength and importance to the community to be obvious to the audience.
    Those enslaved to addiction are often seen as the lowest of the low in modern communities, yet the Fiefield’s are there offering love, support, and hope. They work to bring freedom and friendships to those who have lost everything. They help mend hearts and give strength to try again. And they do it all without drawing attention to themselves. There could be no better people to focus on then them, and no better way to document it than a faceless, yet personal, story.
 

Speed Racer

    That was the best movie for children I have ever seen. If that can’t hold a little kid’s attention, I don’t know what would. Bright and vivid colors, constant movement, epic race cars, explosions, awesome transitions, a chimpanzee for a brother, and a perfectly horrible villain make the two hour long movie a gripping tale from start to finish. There is no way I could walk away, and I would be shocked if even my energy-filled-4-year-old nephew wouldn’t watch the entire thing in awe. However, in Speed Racer, there were many things that I noticed and subtle messages that stuck out to me that a child might not, at least consciously, realize.
    There is a strong message about the importance of family. It was forgetting that which lead to the problems in the beginning of the movie, as the eldest son left home. It was remembering the importance of family that healed the cracks years later, when the second son, Speed, was going to leave home. Family is more important than money, more important than a business, more important than fame. What a great principle to teach to the children who are watching this.
    There is also a strong underlying message about the dangers of politics and “Big Brother.” The villain is a wealthy, seemingly kind and generous, businessman. He owns a giant corporation and is offering the benefits of it all in return for Speed giving up his ideals, honesty, and faith in the world. Mr. Royalton controls everything without anyone knowing it. The races are rigged, the companies control all the resources. According to Mr Royalton, everything in life is controlled by companies and it is all about the money and the economy. That is what truly matters. Using the games and the public through these is what everything is really about. Is this making a statement about our sports and our big corporations and controlling government?
    Staying true to yourself and finding your purpose for living and fighting is the true meaning of life, according to Speed Racer. That is how success is really found and how true happiness is achieved. Mr Royalton had everything he could have wanted and dreamed of, yet always wanted more and always seemed to be on the edge of anger and a temper tantrum. Speed lived a decent life, but he had a family, his morals, and his dream, and he was at peace as long as he stayed true to those. To doing what he knew he should and what was right. The true win at the end of the movie was not the race, but the battle inside himself as he tried to reconcile who he was and what the world was. In finding himself, he was able to come off conqueror.
    Speed Racer was filled with great messages and lessons for the viewers. Honesty, family, the purpose of life, the dangers of big business and big government. I might not have noticed these, or noticed that I noticed, as a kid, but they definitely had an impact on me as an adult. It was wonderful.

Play - An Escape From Adult Life

    I have always loved to play, and when I was younger, I played constantly. I brought a book with me everywhere, and would even read walking I between classes. I loved coming home and playing with my older brother with blocks, Legos, cars, stick “swords,” video games, plastic hangers, or just our imaginations. Some of my favorite memories of growing up were when he would build Lego racetracks, planes, and forts, and then I would tell the story of what was going on. We could play like that for hours everyday. Now as an adult, playing Lego Star Wars brings me back to those times, and is not just an escape from the stresses of adult life, but are also a nostalgic reminder of earlier days of creativity and family bonding.

    For children, play can be a way to pretend to be grown ups and to be in charge, but for adults, it can be a way to go back to the simpler days of childhood. After dealing with school, work, spouses, children, and finances, it is such a relief to sit down and play Disney Kingdoms or Lego Star Wars. It is so nice to forget stress and responsibilities for an hour or so and just play. It gives us a feeling of being strong and in control, just like it did when we were little. Playing gives us a chance to escape the consequences of real life, knowing that if we fall off the ledge fighting Darth Maul we will just pop back up a second or two later. If gives us a release to vent frustrations, and shoot every droid, box, flowerpot and window that we can. Everything in a game is a release and feels like a return to more stress-free, simpler times. Games are an escape.

    While there are “adult” games, I love playing the games I played when I was younger, because it always reminds me of my brother. We loved to play Lego Star Wars together. We grew up with a GameCube, and often played on the weekends and evenings. Even when there were one player games like Legend of Zelda or Portal, I would sit next to him and we would talk and laugh, or sometimes just sit next to each other. I loved the games for the main reason of spending time with him. They were a way to bond. Playing Lego Star Wars really reminded me of those times. Andrew always loved playing as General Grievous. He lives in Idaho with his wife now, and I see him a couple times a year. Playing reminds me of the days we were close.

    Playing Lego Star Wars reminded me how much playing effects how creative I am. Growing up and playing everyday, I was always writing little stories or acting out adventures for my toys. After starting college, I have had much less time to play or read, and coming up with ideas for papers and projects has been difficult and stressful at times. I believe that playing loosens up the mind and allows thoughts and ideas to form and wander without being beaten back by a list of things that need to be done. I have time to imagine and the stories in the game are invitations to form my own stories and alternate realities around them. My creative brain can venture out and stretch; it is being fed wonders and has room to romp around for a bit. There is nothing quite like having a Wookie wander around Jaba’s hut with a Stormtrooper helmet perched skewed on his head and wearing a mustache and glasses disguise to get the creative juices flowing.

    I really really hate stress, but as an adult there is no way to avoid it. Life happens and, more often not, it doesn’t happen the way you want or expect it to. Play remains a way for us to escape and relax. It gives us a chance to breathe, put aside our worries for a time, and laugh. Play, like in Lego Star Wars, allows us to defy the rules and demands of reality, and play with little worry of the consequences of our actions. Games remind us of our youth and bring a feeling of nostalgia. They let us easily connect and bond with those we play with, or remind us of those that we used to play with. Video games and Legos will always remind me of Andrew and the days when he was my best friend. Playing stimulates our brains and provides the creativity I need for school and work. Honestly, I believe that we don’t appreciate games enough for all they do for us. Taking time to play is what gives me the strength to keep going in this stressful life.

Fear of Diversity Creates Witches

    The early 1700s in America were full of witch trials, of which the witch trials in Salem are the most well known. These witch trials didn’t come because of sorcery or black magic, but because of spite against, and fear of, anything different or unknown. Humans are generally content with their view on and understanding of life, and anything different or new is resisted. Difference is scary. Difference is a threat to the current way of life or way of thinking. Elizabeth George Speare’s book, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, highlights the dangers of the lack of diversity and how it can lead to stagnation, and the creation of false witches.

    A lack of diversity results in an individual, or a population, growing very comfortable in their limited point of view and standard way of living. Provo is such a place. Little Rock, Arkansas was such a place. And in this story, Wethersfield, Connecticut was such a place. It was a small town of Puritans, separated by a good distance from any other towns and foreigners were very rare. The most diversity they have is in the form of Hannah Tupper, the only Quaker in town. Even this small difference is shunned, and Hannah is feared and hated. Children are warned away from this little old lady for fear her oddness could spread. This tiny town, so uniform and strict in its ways, was wholly unprepared for a bold, freethinking, foreigner to enter its borders.

    Because differences were not welcome in that town, nothing really changed. There wasn’t much growth. New ideas lead to improvement and growth, but because new ideas were looked down on, that growth couldn’t happen. John Holbrook personifies this stagnated progression. Although he is intelligent and open, he is convinced that everything that his new teacher says is doctrine. He stops thinking for himself and tries to make himself just like his teacher. Growth can happen and did, but only to a certain point. No one can advance further than their teacher or parent if they never try anything new. John, and the entire town was stagnate without diversity in view and action to drive them to new heights.
    The town’s hatred of difference was not only oppressive and halting, but their resistance to diversity became dangerous. When new ideas and behaviors were introduced, they were greeted with hostility. Her ability to swim and disobedience to town culture ended up getting Kat labeled as a witch by those who hated her. She was nearly killed just because she was different. We see that in the real world, as those different than us are persecuted. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, homosexuals, women, and Muslims, just to name a few, are different than the majority of Americans and are stereotyped, mocked, feared, and are sometimes seen as so different that others don’t even try to understand them. They are more likely to be arrested, evicted, fired, mistrusted, or shot out of fear. The fear of the small town in The Witch of Blackbird Pond turned their distrust into anger and turned difference into witchcraft. Kat was lucky to have a more fair judge at her trial, and friends who showed everyone that different did not have to be a sin.

    It is not until difference is accepted that change and progression can occur. A teacher that gives strict guidelines and docks points for straying will not be able to help that student progress beyond those limiting guidelines. A government that restricts immigration, mingling of races, or publishing of ideas, restricts the citizens growth. This town of Wethersfield restricted new teaching styles, plays, books other than the Bible, different cultures and religions, and levied a fine for not going to church every Sunday. If everyone was the same, their way of life would be safe. But as John Bytheway said, “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are made for.” Growth and progression are not always easy, fun, or painless, but they are what humans need to be really happy. It was only after Kit had been proven by a court of law to not be a witch, and was only trying to help teach a girl to read, that Wethersfield came to accept her a little more. They were a little more open to diversity, and small concessions towards growth were made.

    Diversity opens the mind to new ideas, cultures, and possibilities, but the change to get there is hard. The Witch of Blackbird Pond demonstrated the fear, dangers and stagnating consequences that come with a lack of diversity, and showed a slight softening towards differences in the end. However, it is still an issue we have today. We are trying to change and be more open to differences, but it is a continual fight and change is slow. But, as seen in this book, the rejection of diversity is dangerous for our growth and for those who are different. Our fear turns differences into witches.

World Building - Christine, Alicia, Rick, and Cristin

   We’re not sure how it worked out this way, but the males in every species but humans seem to be the appearance conscientious ones. It is the males that wear the bright colors, that draw the eye. It is the males who strut about and fluff their stuff. They fight to be noticed by the females and establish their strength and dominance. Females, on the other hand, tend to be more drab, small, and dull in color and appearance. They just kind of blend in. In mating season, they are the ones who simply sit and wait to be impressed before they make their choice. What if humans operated the same way?

    We decided to make such a society. We were very inspired by the award-winning documentary series, Planet Earth, and this scene of bird mating rituals where males dance and perform to win over their female counterparts.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QZnwKqopo

    The brighter and more colorful, the better. Men want to stand out, to draw the eyes of prospective mates/wives. “Matching” is not an issue. “Clashing” colors and styles are better at standing out. Makeup is worn by the men rather than the women. While courting, men do their best to appear strong, big, colorful, quick, and bright. Occasionally, more than one man may fight for a female's attention.

    This world, in a way, mocks the culture of our current world. In politics, in many cases, the public judges political candidates based more off of appearance than capability, experience, or their ideas. We judge people on the street by what they wear and how they walk. Jobs are often given to the best dressed and best looking applicant. In dating, the men and women sought after tend to be the “hot” ones, the “sexy” ones and the “cool” ones. Potential girlfriends and boyfriends are first judged on what they look like, how outgoing they are, and how confident they are. This created world just amplifies those characteristics and flips a lot of the traits from women onto men.

    Our world today is based around the approval of others. We live on Facebook and SnapChat and are always worrying about if we will fit in. Looks, whether real or not, is what many strive for. This world we created points out these characteristics in our world and exaggerates them. The absurdity of it all makes us laugh, and also wonder if appearances are really that important to us, or if they shouldn’t be. Just as we talked about in class, society forms media, but media also affects society. Seeing such characteristics in such a ridiculous way might make people evaluate what we want to base our opinions on in the future.





Future Mating Instruction Pamphlet

The Makeup

For mating purposes, males are required to wear a face full of colorful makeup that with enhance their image. All males are subject to finding the colors that best shows of their skin complexion. At age 18, males are encouraged to attend a makeup convention that will help them learn about contouring in the effort to helping them focus on enhancing their image.




 Females on the other hand are highly encouraged to wear no makeup and maintain a clean basic appearance. Their training is based on their inner self. They develop solid attributes of intelligence,good judgment, and selectivity.







The Clothing




Males have a responsibility to find clothing that is colorful and fitting to their personality. It is a requirement for all men at the age of 18 to attend a colorizing clothing center where they can experience various backdrops and dimensional modes in order to find their most attractive and enhancing colors.





The formal look is reserved for when males are at the final battle line of competing against another male for one particular mate.



The casual look on the other hand should be worn throughout the season until finding a mate that is remotely interested.





Because females are attracted to vibrant colors and elegance, men have the responsibility to prepare their attire before mating season that will elevate their chances of finding a mate.



Women are only allowed to wear loose clothing that isn't remotely flashy. Only skin tone clothing is allowed because females should blend into the environment. They are the base motivators of society. Henceforth their appearance should be fortifying.







Mating Season Calendar





The mating season only last three months. So starting from May-July men need to be on the lookout for potential mates. The first round of mating occurs from the 13th of May to the 20th. The second round of mating last from the 11th of June till the 18th. The last round occurs from the 10th of July until the 17th of July. Those who are unsuccessful in finding a mate within that time period must wait an entire year.

Diversity is the Key to Progression

There are some stories that leave a real mark, that make you think, and it takes a while to shake off those feelings that they leave. Whale Rider is that kind of movie. I had never thought about diversity meaning anything other than race before, but watching this movie really made me realize that diversity is so much more than that and can leave a large detrimental mark if ignored or spurned. Diversity covers a large array of ideas, culture, ethnicity, gender, personality, and status. Whale Rider calls the viewer's attention to the issues that come from a lack of diversity in gender and gender equality.

 Living without being exposed to diversity in any of these forms can be dangerous. Without diversity, humans are resistant to change. Without difference, it is easy to think that we are always right and our way is the best and only way to do anything. Minds are closed, and growth is stunted. Moro, in Whale Rider, is a traditionalist, and believes any change in tradition is evil, and thus almost loses his tribe, his granddaughter, and his mind. In his world, men ruled and women were to keep out of their way.

It was very clear that gender was the inhibiting factor in the progression of this tribe. The characters were nearly all native New Zealanders. They all shared the same skin color, the same religion, and the same culture. Besides Moro’s son, they all stayed in the area and followed the same leader and followed the same teachings. It was a great lack of females that was apparent throughout the film, and the demeaning of female opinions, ambitions, and status. Moro believed that it is a woman’s job to bear sons. This is made apparent in the beginning when Moro tells his recently widowed son to move on and try to have a son with someone else, and when Paikea tells off the older women for smoking because it would ruin their childbearing abilities. Moro is so close minded that he refuses the diversity that women ideas and strengths could bring, and refuses the idea that a girl could be the next great chief.

Jerk. Stubborn, blind, fool. It took his granddaughter Paikea actually riding a great whale before he realized all that she was.

I realize that there is value, great value, in heritage and history. There is great importance in culture and tradition. But unless there is change, there will never be progression. Limitations of the past do not have to tie down the present generation. Men and women have different ideas, different ways of doing things, different strengths and weaknesses, and men and women need each other in order to grow.

 Differences and diversity make us stronger. By mingling with different countries, our country has a stronger defense. By learning from different cultures, we can discover truths that would have been forever hidden from us. Technology can advance, medicines can be improved, creativity can explode, knowledge can spread. Diversity makes up our world, and we need everyone in order to better understand it, each other, and ourselves.

It wasn’t until Paikea was accepted as both a girl and as a leader that the tribe was able to come together. It was the accepting of the gender diversity in equal worth that everyone from tribal elder to rebellious son to town lazy drunks could come together with pride and row together in unity. Whale Rider truly shows that acceptance, open minds, and diversity can create progression and harmony.

How Play Creates Adults

Growing up, my father’s job caused us to move about every two or three years. I was constantly the “new girl,” and knew that all of my friends were temporary. They might promise to stay in touch, but no one ever does. My best friends were the only things that were constant in my life: my siblings, my books, and my imagination. And even my siblings we not always fun to play with; my older brother always wanted to prove himself. For me, play was a way for me to convince myself that I was strong and I could support myself. Whether I was surviving in the wilderness, fighting monsters ten feet tall, or transforming into wolves, horses, or hawks, I was powerful and free. Constantly moving around, on top of being picked on by my brother, my life as a kid was completely out of my control. Play, whether in books, video games, or the realm of imagination, was my way of establishing control and stability.

Books were my constant companion growing up. I was never without one, and entering the worlds contained within, and “living and playing” in those worlds, was my favorite past time. In them, I became someone else, someone better. From them, I learned history, chivalry, horror, and what is important. They were my friends, my escape, my strength,and my teachers. My books were a stable and unchanging part of my growing up life, and my best playmates.

Play also gave me a way to feel strong and powerful. When playing with my siblings or my school friends, I was always the one in charge. I was the one that told the stories and would decide what was “allowed” or not. I felt very grown up. As we discussed in class, during play we would break “rules” of the real world and play with magic, secret hideouts, and secret codes, yet at the same time there were rules within our world of play, and I was in charge of those rules. That has actually stayed with me as I grew up. I love watching movies and shows, but in order for me to be able to really get into them enough to mentally “play’ with them, they have to be believable and follow the rules of the world they are in. I can suspend my disbelief, but only if what is going on is logical in it’s own world. Sorry, Battle of the Five Armies, but your last battle scene was poorly done.

Play is necessary for children, in their growth of imagination, ability to interact with others, and developement of who they are. Playing at the end of class made me realize how that play allowed us to make friends more easily, talk more easily, and naturally and easily interact with others we know very little. How we play as children influences our futures. I played primarily with my imagination, and I grew up to tell stories, lead others, and go into film. My brother played with logos, blocks, and video games, and he grew up to be very analytical and builds complex computer programs. We are who we are because of how we played.

Webspinna Battle - Nature vs Tech (with Will)

We have both always been fascinated by the power of elements and nature. Especially children, there’s something inherently fascinating about the idea of controlling the water in the shower we or magically sending ourselves a nice breeze on an especially hot day. Various series, from Avatar: The Last Airbender to Pokemon, explore this fantasy and fueled our imaginations while growing up. However, over time, technology has begun to dominate our world. We would rather die than be without phones and laptops. Even today’s pop culture seems much more interested in aliens and androids than elemental monks and pyrokinesis. Gone went the innocent fantasy of our childhood, and in came more realistic representations of “the not too distant future”. For our Webspinna Battle, we decided to explore this dichotomy by staging a battle between technology and nature.
          This battle is one that has been staged many times in various media. Pocahontas, Avatar, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Last Samurai, Dances with Wolves, and even Ferngully: The Last Forest, tell stories of small groups of rebels who are in touch with nature as they are fighting insensitive high-tech armies. We ended up using a couple of these examples to represent nature’s side in our battle. However, we also thought about the fight in a rather logical way: Who really would win? Who would fight for nature’s side, who would fight for technology? Through this process, we concluded that Smaug and the general power of fire—and death—would obviously be on nature’s side, as well as every animal ever, hence the stampede that was used. For the natural musical cues, we used cheery music dominated by wind instruments, which goes in line with the element of wind.
          For technology, it was a bit easier to decide on different clips to use because all forms of modern—or futuristic—weapons fall under the bracket of technology. Robots, laser guns, normal guns, and even cars are all important modern inventions that have replaced more natural traditions. For technology’s musical cues we used electronic music and rock, with the much louder, manufactured sounds of those genres working against the lighter music that was used with nature. Ultimately, in life, the battle between technology is not one of either/or: Just because we have an iPhone doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy hiking. To represent this, we decided to end on a happier note, with the side of technology learning a bit of humanity and then helping out nature by making its dreams of dinosaurs returning into a reality through the magic of Jurassic Park.
The planning of our Webspinna Battle was an interesting one because we were forced to work within the limitations of clips and samples from pre-existing media we were familiar with. As we discussed in class, these limitations provided us with more opportunities to be creative as we found different media to represent our battle’s combatants. Even technical glitches from the live performance can be seen as, in the words of Bob Ross, “happy accidents”, as we were forced to personally battle against the frustrations of technology while also having to act out the rest of the battle. With these “accidents,”  as well as the * “plagiarized” clips we had planned and used, we were able to tell create something new and awesome, tell our own story and unite opposite forces. Not bad, if I may say so myself.

*From The Escasy of Influence: A Plagiarism by Lethem

Willy Wonka - An Experiement in Consequences

Everyone has heard of Willy Wonka. There is the actual candy company, the multiple movie versions, the video game, and, of course, there is the classic book that everything started with, written by Roald Dahl. It is the story of a good young boy in extremely poor circumstances that is raised to a height that only in his wildest of dreams could he have even begun to imagine; A tale full of chocolate, sweets, luck, wittiness, humor, Oompa Loompas, and a rise to greatness for one who needs it most. What more could a child want? Roald Dahl was very creative with his characters, and emphasized the traits of the children, parents, grandparents, and Willy Wonka himself in order to teach a point to his readers. Every room in Wonka’s factory was strange and clever, demonstrating the experimental nature of Wonka himself, and the consequences for each of the “naughty children” demonstrated the experimental, and wonderfully creative, nature of the author.

As an experimental story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory encourages children to put aside the real, and boring, world for a few hours and enter the strange, yet wonderful, world in these pages. Wonka could do anything. I love how in the beginning of the story, when Grandpa Joe is telling Charlie who Wonka is and what he has done, Charlie tells his grandfather “But that’s impossible!” To which Grandpa Joe replies, “Of course it is! But Willy Wonka has done it!” Anything that could be imagined could be inside that fantastic factory. I loved the wordplay for some of the rooms and inventions! “Whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all if it hasn’t been whipped with whips, just like poached eggs isn't poached eggs unless it's been stolen in the dead of the night.” There is Beetle Juicing, Lickity Split Peas, Square Candies that Look Round, and, my favorite, the Bean Room: “All the Beans, Cocoa Beans, Coffee Beans, Jelly Beans, and Has Beans." Dahl came up with things that made the reader pause in surprise, think for a minute, and then burst out laughing. What he experimented with, caught the reader off guard, and yet was perfect for his story.

Dahl also chose and developed wonderful characters that pushed the extremes and chose odd, yet very fitting, punishments for the naughty children. All of the naughty children and their parents displayed characteristics that Dahl probably found repulsive and saw a growing trend in the real world, and so he exaggerated them in his book in order to, very obviously, give them the proper punishments that could only be actually accomplished in this realm of experimentalism.

 Augustus Gloop is concerned with nothing but eating, and is fatter than Dudley Dursely. His gluttony lands him in a bit of a bind at Wonka’s. After falling into a river of chocolate, he is squeezed up a chocolate pipe and sent to the fudge room. The squeeze up the pipe squeezes most of the fat off of Augustus, and he leaves much lighter than he came.

Violet Beauregarde chews way too much gum. While it became popular to do so in the early 1900s, Violet could not be happy without it, and it became a disgusting habit. She chewed gum not yet fit for chewing in Wonka’s factory and blew up like a blueberry. She was “juiced” and returned to her normal size, but stayed an alarming shade of violet.

Veruca Salt is a spoiled brat that gets everything she wants from her parents. She runs into the Nut Room to grab a squirrel she it told she cannot have, and is deemed a “bad nut,” and sent down the garbage shoot by these intelligent squirrels. Her parents soon follow.

Mike Teevee does nothing but watched tv all day, and finds all other things nothing but an annoying distraction. His zeal for television causes him to rashly send himself through tv and end up the size of a Polly Pocket.

All of these children demonstrate selfishness and refused to listen to Wonka’s warnings. Dahl wrote these children in as a warning to his readers, and made the most bizarre, creative, and stylistically experimental consequences that befell them for their selfishness and greed.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is truely a book of wonder and warning. It makes the reader laugh and it also makes them reflect a bit after reading the warning songs sung by the Oompa Loompas. It manages to teach in such a different way, that the story and lessons have lasted in the minds of the readers for decades.

Jumanji - The Tale of Nightmares

    I have always loved reading and playing games, and have often fantasized of these things coming out of the pages or board, or of me going into them. I loved the magic, the wonder, and the foreignness of what they made play out in my mind. One of my favorite books was Inkspell, because that actually happened and the good and the bad came to life. And good triumphed. However, I never could get through Jumanji growing up. I watched five minutes and it terrified me. Yet for this paper, I was determined to be a big girl, and sit down and watch the whole thing through. While not nearly as scary as it used it be, this film definitely played with the idea of imagination and that was the reason I found it unsettling. It had the nightmares and terrors of the mind coming to life instead of the heroes and wonders, and there was no way to end it except to keep inviting new horrors to play.

    Every child dreams of an escape from the real world. We dream that the worlds in these stories are real. We play as Ironman, Batman, Mulan, Ash, and Lady Knights. There was always an evil that we had to fight, but it never really stood a chance of winning. Jumanji was the opposite. All the evils of the imagination came out, but the good guys never stood a chance of beating them. Alan’s small knife never could have killed the lion. The tennis rackets couldn’t kill the demon mosquitoes. Nothing could have stood up to a stampede or killer plant or monsoon. Alan and the others had no chance against the hunter. They were being driven and beaten, and all they could do was run. And run. And run. Yet they could not escape. Every kid’s worst nightmare. There was no way out except to bring more tragedies and pray they could finish the game.

    I have always hated not being in control of my choices or of the consequences. I have always been rather analytical, so as to avoid unpleasant things. In Jumanji, there was no way to avoid the terror. There was no way to stop the game and the evil that came out. The idea that all of my worst fears would come out to get me and that I COULD NOT STOP was what terrified me most as a kid. I didn’t want to watch the movie, because my imagination came alive even after just hearing what it was about. The game had to be finished. The players had no control over how long the game was, what they rolled, what came out of the board, or the ability to stop and put it away. This idea was one straight from my nightmares. Bad stuff was happening and there was absolutely nothing I could do.

    Some of the fears you had as a child never really go away. The difference between those fears as a child and those fears as an adult is that you face them. But the dark will always be unsettling. I will always be terrified of being kidnapped. But now I deal with those fears. Jumanji demonstrates this as it keeps throwing the idea of growing out of fears, growing up, being a man, and standing your ground. Alan grows up, but because he still runs from his fears, he is still “a child.” But when he stands up to his fears, even though he is technically a child again, he is now “a man.”

    Imagination is all about your dreams and fears and how you see yourself and the world around you. Jumanji confronts all of these aspects and teaches children that while lots of things are scary, and will always be scary, that they are easier to manage when you stand up to them. All things have an end, and that includes the nightmare.

Textual Poaching

One of the hardest questions mankind lives to answer is “Who am I?” It is not uncommon for young adults to leave home and travel in order to “discover themselves.” I had a difficult time picking an aspect of myself to focus this project on, because I often feel, like I’m sure others do, that there is very little of me that is that different or noteworthy. Even after listing some aspects of myself (white, German, well traveled, female, stubborn), it was very difficult for me to pick a media source to work with or think of how in the world I would alter it. It was actually in talking to my husband, who relates a lot with Calvin from the comics Calvin and Hobbs, that I realized how much I identified with Belle.

I have always been a reader. Growing up, I was never without a book in hand and a spare in my bag. I got in trouble in elementary school for reading in my English class instead of paying attention. I would read while I walked and never bumped into anything, and would love to share these stories with others. I can relate to Belle in a way that I can’t with any other movie character that I grew up with. This picture of her reading is one that totally reminds me of myself. Just as she is here, I would love to read to, or explain the story, to anyone who would listen, even my dog on occasion. I found a great joy in these books, and they were my life. I moved often and they were my constant friends and an escape from the everyday world.

I chose to recreate the picture using words. I used to draw in this style all the time growing up, using song lyrics, the Young Women theme, words from a book, or whatever was on my mind at the time. It’s relaxing. The lines tracing the picture of Belle are actually sentences from one of my favorite books, Terrier, by Tamara Pierce. It’s a story of another strong, quiet, young woman who overcomes difficult circumstances and expectations and becomes great. I gravitated to books and stories like these, because I felt quiet, odd, and yet strong and stubborn when I was young. I loved to read and put myself in these books. I read to “find myself.” I am a reader and I am what I read. Just as Jenkins said in How Texts Become Real, these books became real to me when I read and reread them until the covers fell off. I always laughed when the Bookshop owner gave Belle a book in disbelief because she had already “read it twice.” Of course. That love, and playing with the story, is what makes it so precious. I agree with Jenkins, as he says that reading a story once is consumption. Reading it twice is play. What I tried to represent in this project is that I am a reader and that my stories become my world.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

    While I cannot say the The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T was the strangest movie I have ever seen, it was definitely up there on the list, along with The Yellow Submarine and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But, seeing as this was a Dr. Seuss movie, with Dr. Seuss himself playing a large role in the making of it, that is only to be expected. If anyone can be called the King of Imagination, it has to be this man. If it could be dreamed up, he wrote it down and provided pictures to help transport his readers into the world inside his head. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T was a typical Dr. Seuss story, but illustrated on-screen in live action, bringing this young boy’s bizarre dream, and the Seuss’s imagination, to life.

   
    Dr. Seuss stories have always reminded me a bit of my own dreams, and, like dreams, are believable in a fantastic way when in the medium we are used to it being in. What made this movie so strange was that it was a story brought to life. It was Dr. Seuss being lived. I feel like it would be the same strange feeling if I saw one of my own dreams or stories from my imagination occurring in front of my wakeful eyes. Utterly strange. But at the same time, could be simply wonderful.

    Imagination always has that quality of wonder. It is what we encourage and nurture in children, and is the base for every gripping story ever told, written, drawn, recorded, or filmed. Stories are all about getting what is in your head in a place for others to experience as you imagine it. Imagination stories often take this principle and add to it fantastic qualities and events that make the imagination of the audience soar. The video, A Shadow of Blue, does just that. It takes a situation that is believable and yet a fantastic event happens, and a shadow story full of wonder and adventure begins. I loved how they used shadows in order to portray the fantastic elements and the aspect of imagination.

    It also showed how nightmares are part of imagination. Not all dreams are as beautiful as Wonka’s Chocolate Room. Some are are frightening as the imagination can come up with, like in Pan’s Labyrinth. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T contained the fears of Bart Collins, and they were terrifying for him. He was chased, thrown in a cage, and had his mother being taken away from him by the man he despised most. Yet, in a dreamlike fashion, was able to take control of the situation. His imagination was what made him victorious, with his atomic noise-nullifier. Oh, man, that part made me laugh so hard!

Medium Specificity

    Poetry Is

Poetry is the unsung song
The story untold
It is the beat and the rhythm and the current
Pulling you along

Poetry is chaos abound
Or order pristine
Containing rhyme and rhythm and flowing stanzas
Or thoughts jotted down

Poetry is our feelings read
Each word with meaning
Focus on the words rather than person or story
Sounds thoughtfully said

Poetry is written with care
So much more than words
It is the meaning and the feeling and the flow
That poets transcribe


    After watching a good movie, reading a good book, or seeing incredible art, the first things that often jump into my head are, “Wow! That was incredible! Very well done. How did they do that?” It is natural when I am astonished to wonder how such a thing came to be, and if I could do such a thing. I want to learn more about it. In many cases, after watching a movie, I find that I enjoy the “making of” features of the film even more fascinating and entertaining than the main feature. I tried to create my poem with the same feeling and explanatory elements that I have enjoyed in other media sources. I integrated the poetic elements of rhyme, rhythm, flow, and stanzas not only into the structure of the poem, but in the subject of the poem. It describes itself.

    Poetry has a lot of the same elements as musical lyrics, but I noted that in the poem and described a difference between the two. “Poems are songs unsung.” Poetry has a flow and almost a beat to it, but poems are not written to be sung. They can have rhythm and flowing lines, as I displayed in Poetry Is, but I mention how they can have no rhyme or rhythm at all. Literally. They can be chaotic and unorganized. Larry Eiger’s poem #1201 is a great example of this. This poem, like so many of Eiger’s work, is made of one, seemingly unrelated, word per line. It speaks of the flow of ideas of a poem going onto a page.

The words or sentences can have seemingly no connection, but they always are connected through meaning.

    All poems are written with meaning and feeling. They convey emotions just as much, if not more so, than they convey stories or scenarios. Just as McCloud tried to teach what comics are, and why they are important, through his comics, I tried to enlighten others in a similar fashion with a poem. My poem tries to teach this as it invites the reader to focus on the words, but even more, on the meaning and feeling of each word. What does the poet want you to feel? That is what is truly important and that is what my entire poem, Poetry Is, is trying to teach the reader about poetry.

God Bless the Child

     The world is filled with a lot of hard truths. It is filled with death, disease, poverty, crime, abandonment, greed, and is downright unfair. It is often very difficult to determine when to introduce these truths to our children, and even more difficult to decide how to do so. I have found that the best way for me to understand these hardships, especially the ones I have never experienced for myself, is through films. God Bless the Child is an especially poignant documentary to introduce individuals to the concept of being left behind by a parent. It was a tough film, but teaches this hard truth through observational documentary, being real but not over-dramatic, and touching the hearts of every one of it's viewers.
     I think it is safe to say that every human being in history is born with the fear of being abandoned, and this film tugs on that fear. Human beings seek for connections and have a general dislike of being alone for too long. Parents are especially dear to us, and the idea of them just up and leaving can terrify any child. Yet this happens all over the world. God Bless the Child teaches this and introduces that pain that comes from being left by a parent, as well as some of the other consequences that often occur. The documentary was perfect for displaying this situation, as it reminds the viewer that this is real, and the pain we feel for them is that much greater. Documentaries make us view the world differently, as we now know just a little bit more about it and what goes on in the lives around us. It's a hard lesson, but a very valuable one.
     The children in this documentary were not exactly the most well-mannered children in the world. They were rather ruff around the edges and ruff to those they interacted with. Although I did quite enjoy the racist pilot joke in the beginning! The children often fought, they were rude towards each other and even strangers, whined, and were rather scruffy looking. They did not grow up secure in the knowledge that they were important, loved and protected by their mother. They did not grow up with parents teaching them through word and example of morals, conduct, and manners. This film actually made me feel a little bad about some of my feelings towards others in my past. These type of kids always greatly annoyed me when I was young, but now I realize that their behavior might have been influenced by growing up in a similar situation. Movies that teach these hard truths make their viewers more understanding of the world around them and more patient with those who suffer.
     God Bless the Children made me much more grateful for the life I have and currently live, as well as make promises to any future children I might make. I grew up in a stable home with loving and religious parents. They were always there for me whenever I needed them. After seeing that documentary, I really want to make sure they never have to face what these children grew up with. It was very sad to see how being left for who knows how long was so normal! They handled it remarkably well, but it still made me sad inside. But that is what it was supposed to do. Documentaries done well change people. They teach us of the good and bad and fascinating in this world, and teach us truths that are hard to learn in other ways.

Historical Story - Tunguska

https://writerduet.com/script#TB4JJ   

A script is one of the very first insights into the vision of someone’s idea they have for a story. When read, one may discover the characteristics and attributes of certain characters and settings. A script is more often than not based off of an idea or experience its creator has had which they desire to share. The script may be a literal representation of what this idea is or it can be transformed into something completely different; or it can contain a little bit of both.

    For the script we have written, we combined a great deal of truth from an actual event that took place in 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, and mixed it with a fictional twist to add depth and excitement to the story. What occurred was some sort of massive explosion in Siberia that destroyed thousands of acres of trees and land, although no one really knows what caused the explosion because there was no crater, or any kind of radiation. Our story is thrilling because it is based on an event that has produced many questions and theories due to its puzzling nature (was it a bomb test, meteorite, etc?). It is not clear exactly what happened, creating natural loose ends to which we could create our own story behind what actually happened.

    There are many films that will take a piece of history and blend its truth with the ideas of a director or writer. For example, Valkyrie, a thriller film about a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, is an example of a movie with real elements of history mixed with fictional elements. In fact, any movie that states it is “based on a true story” could have any varying amounts of fiction added to historic times, people, or events. This is an excellent way to see someone’s take on what could have happened in history; what subplots or untold stories there may have been.

    It was a real challenge writing this script: trying to make it a good enthralling story, be accurate to the historical facts recorded and studies done, be basically believable, and have a balanced storyline. It was new and exciting, and definitely made us grow. Many different internet pages were open and constantly being referred to as the script was written, and it was exciting weaving our own story around another. It was a fun reminder that history is really what we create it to be. History books are written by the winners and biased by the author’s opinions. It was quite enjoyable creating our own version of history!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Siberia
http://www.space.com/5573-huge-tunguska-explosion-remains-mysterious-100-years.html
http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion
https://www.psi.edu/epo/siberia/siberia.html

Adventure - The Book of Three

    Everyone wants to go on an adventure. Almost all books that we read, movies that we see, or music that we hear, talks about an adventure of one type or another.The most classic and lasting stories tell of an individual, or group of individuals, who leave home, have a set of trials and return home as changed beings. The Book of Three is a great tale of classic adventure. Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper in tiny Caer Dallben, wants nothing more than to learn to fight and go on adventures. However, upon being dragged off into an epic adventure, Taran quickly discovers adventures are not as glorious as he thought, he is not as ready as he presupposed, and home has become a place to long for. As in any good adventure book, our protagonist leaves home, faces many trials for honor’s sake, learns from his adventures and mistakes, and comes home a changed man.

    Taran was given a charge, a duty to fulfill, and left home on this adventure in order to do that duty and recover his charge. He saved the kingdom because his fortune-telling pig, sought after by both hero and villain, ran away. Weirdest start to a save-the-world story ever. But, hey, it’s certainly intriguing and different. And it sets this protagonist on the same journey that so many legends have gone on before: the journey for duty and honor.

    Another quality that many heros gain in their adventures is humility. In the beginning, Taran is so overconfident and proud that he thinks he can do anything. At one point, Taran and the hero, Gwydion, cross a big river and Taran starts to flail. After Gwydion saves him, he asks why Taran didn’t tell him he couldn’t swim, and Taran replies, “I was sure I could learn, as soon as I came to do it,” and then he promptly blamed the horse for his failure to swim (32). Yet the quest makes him face many trials, most of which he messes up though his arrogance, which by the end of the book plants in him the growing seeds of humility. Through the story, he comes to recognize and admit his faults and start to rely on others to help him.

    This adventure, like so many others teaches that things are not always what they seem and not to judge too swiftly. First off, it is about a pig and Pig-Keeper, and the reader should not jump to judgment about that as I did within the first two chapters. It is about a scary messy monster that is actually quite sweet and loyal. It is about a chatterbox of a strange young girl that actually has more bravery, fire, and brain than Taran. It is about a lying, flimsy bard that becomes a stalwart fighter and good friend. Things are never as simple as they first seem in adventure books, and The Book of Three is no exception.

    Taran learns that home is never so sweet as when it has been left. Adventures are all well and grand, but he learns that peace is far more dear than heroic quests. Just as Frodo Baggins, Jim Hawkins, Brian Robertson, and Dorothy Gale learned in their adventures, Taran learned that there truly is “no place like home” (Wizard of Oz). He returned with home with joy and then was surprised to find that he had changed in his travels and home would never be quite what it had been. As his mentor, Dallben stated, “it is not Caer Dallben which has grown smaller. You have grown bigger. That is the way of it. (186). The heros in adventures go through the refiners fire and come out a new creature.

    While most people will never go on a grand adventure and save the world, we all will live through our mini adventures in life, and because of that, we gravitate towards adventure books. They make us feel alive and give us hope. The Book of Three is a great adventure book to inspire these feelings as it speaks of a common nobody with no great skill but big dreams and a good heart. We can connect with such a blundering hero, as he acts very human as he goes through these adventures and returns home, happy with what he has.

Sound Process

https://soundcloud.com/micai-nethercott/process-piece

Here’s the embed link:
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    Documentaries focus on everything from the extraordinary to the common, everyday occurrences. They inform and they inspire feeling, whether they be documenting the Hundred Year War or the making of horseshoes or the washing of dishes. Our short audio documentary is the everyday experience of walking a dog. It is simple, unadorned, has repeating sounds, few words and is rather quiet, yet listening to it could produced a different experience, and inspire different feelings and memories, to each listener. Most people have walked a dog at some point or another, and by documenting such an ordinary and plain event, it allows the listener to picture what they will and insert themselves into the audio and picture their own memories into the walk.

    The jingle of the collar. The panting of a dog. The steps tapping down stairs. All these quiet noises make the listener focus and try to identify these quiet noises and create an image of what is going on. As defined in Broderick Fox’s book on Documentary Media, this is a performative piece, quite different from any of the videos we watched as homework, but rather in common with Jack White Makes a Guitar. It makes the viewer wonder what the person in the piece is thinking. The sounds in the beginning are very familiar as the leash is placed on the dog and they go out the door. New sounds are introduced as they walk down stairs and around the neighborhood, telling a simple story as we listen for things that we can identify and picture. As the pair return to the stairs, we realize the short journey is at an end and they have returned home.The beginning and ending is easily identified and allows for an easier identification with what is going on.

    I loved to walk my dog around the neighborhood back when I was home. It was peaceful and I often would stick in headphones, and think back to the latest book I read, placing myself in it and having a mini adventure in my head. That is what this audio recording captures for me when I listen to it. However, when Micai walks his dog, he enjoys nature and time with his dog, while thinking about nature, school, hobbies, friends, family, his next task. This audio documentary doesn’t just capture one moment, but many.

    For me, it has the same effect that “The Equation” scene does in the movie “The Little Prince.” Both are very simple, with few and repetitive sounds, and. Document something very simple. “The Equation” scene is about a young girl stuck inside doing homework. The simplicity of the scene and the sounds bring a nostalgic feeling and allow one to place themselves into the scene or documentary.

Morality - Mary Poppins

       Every parent wants their children to grow up being taught the right morals and how to behave in society. Childhood today is something that is highly valued and cherished, yet parents are trying to prepare their children for adult life and adult society. Adult  life and expectations come quickly, and the young must be prepared for it. And no one teaches what is acceptable and good, and what is simply not done, like Mary Poppins can. She is, as her magic measuring tape says, “practically perfect in every way.” When teaching children right from wrong, the correct attitudes to have, how to treat others, and how to be childlike without being childish, there is no better teacher than Ms. Mary Poppins. The movie, and character, of Mary Poppins, is a fabulous example of moral media for children as it teaches children how to work, respect others, and what is truly important in life, in a very entertaining fashion.

    There are so many words of wisdom that sprout from Mary Poppins mouth, that she could almost be the saint of nannies.

Her words and her songs inspire morals and behaviors into children in a fun way, that is simple for them to understand. She is stern, but she is also kind and loving, which comes across very clearly. She teaches hard work, but that it can be fun and appealing if looked at correctly: “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap! The job’s a game.” She spoke of never judging anything based on appearance, and corrected the children on their critical first judgements on everything from carpet bags to  men and women asking for money on the street. She taught them that they can do anything and experience anything, as long as they do not get in their own way. When she spoke to the children, she taught them morals they should make a part of their lives.

      Mary Poppins doesn’t just talk the talk, but she walks the walk, and she teaches a great deal simply through her example. She is always dignified, well dressed,and proper in both word and action in every situation. She is able to laugh and have fun, while at the same time maintaining her wellbred image. This teaches the children that it is alright to have fun and play as long as they are still respectful of those around them and stay mindful of who they are. Mary Poppins spends a lot of time around those of the lower classes and speaks highly of them, such as Burt, the chimney sweeps, and the lady feeding the birds. Normally, these are people that others might shun or ignore, yet Mary Poppins treats them as valuable and important members of her society. Her example teaches that all people are important and we should not judge based on appearances or station in life, but instead judge the actions of these individuals.

    Morals define what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable or not, how to behave, how to talk, how to judge. They are the most important things to learn growing up as they define who we are and where we go in life. Mary Poppins is an ideal for children as she is fun, but stern, beautiful but elegant and kind, confident but not pompous. She teaches in both words and actions, what makes a good, moral person.

Inquiry Response

Inquiry
Here Comes Science


I am a firm believer that there is something to be learned from everything. But there is more to be learned in some than in others. Many children's shows, and other children's media nowadays, is geared towards teaching on the kids’ level. There are books that teach colors and letters, shows that teach basic Spanish words and Amina's facts, short movies that teach kindness and moral principles. Barney. Little Einsteins. Dora the Explorer. Sesame Street. Buddy Dinosaur Train. Backyardagains. Zaboomafoo. Blue’s Clues. While I am a big fan of learning when you are young and of teaching at the children’s level, I do not like that many of these shows because they dumb down the shows instead of just simplifying them.

Inquiry media can be fascinating and stimulate curiosity and learning, but when dumbed down it does not encourage greater growth beyond that level that it is teaching. Dora the Explorer treats children like they are stupid little babies that need to be treated like they cannot see what is on the screen. It simplifies to the point of stupidity. It conveys the message of “you are young and stupid. Let me throw you a bone.”

Media that simplifies what it teaches without dumbing it down stimulates that growth so much more. It fosters curiosity, invites questions, and teaches the children, and even adults, in a way they can understand and desire to know more. The YouTube videos “Here Come Science” are great examples of Inquiry videos that simplify without dumbing it down. Just looking at their video “Paleontology,” we can see big words, simple explanations and definitions, scientific terms, fun color, and catchy music. The video is fun and engaging, yet teaches new concepts and words that most little kids won’t know. It doesn’t treat the audience like they are stupid, but rather like they want to learn in a fun simple way. This makes these videos enjoyable to all, teaches, and asks us to turn to another for more definitions or explanations.

We see these same principles in the book, “Cathedral: The Story of It’s Construction,” as well as the video “The Powers of Ten.” The book is stuffed full of pictures and uses few sentences per page, yet contains complex processes and words. “Powers of Ten” catches the attention and holds it fast as the camera zooms backward and then forward, revealing new and exciting discoveries every few seconds. Both are simple and yet fascinating, they answer questions and teach new things while making the audience feel transfixed and intelligent. I think we need more children's media like this.

Round Robin with Gigi

For those writing this kind of story, one that is completely back and forth small messages, it creates more feeling, in some cases, than a straight narrative. The reader can almost see the characters, can almost hear their voices and inflection. The collaboration techniques allow the stories to almost develope on their own as it just unfolds. The shorter messages and shorter stories, while without as much detail or description, carry emotion and connect with the younger generation. That is how they communicate all day. Personally, for us, it broke down the creative process into much more manageable chunks. It was easy to know how to respond because it came naturally, and you’d follow the flow of conversation into what eventually became slightly exaggerated but within the realm of possibility of a real conversation.
How we started was with the basic premise, which came from a real text conversation one of us had been a part of earlier that week. Interestingly, we set out to establish all this background information that we could draw off of, that we simply never did. Details about the context were useful for getting into the headspace of these characters who were barely characters at all, just archetypes. There was the possibility that these details would come up, but when we actually got around to writing, it just didn’t seem necessary. Supposedly we were just jumping into a previously established relationship, so there was no need to establish much, though a few details did come up naturally.
While we were establishing how we were going to go about it, we discussed a lot of what we were both bringing into the process with our assumptions. We had different ideas that we didn’t discuss as well, adding them in as soon as we started our project in earnest. The attempt was to make it as realistic as possible, going off of what DJ Spooky said about how much information we produce everyday. A lot of that information is useless, but we were also considering that that information, however useless is what makes up our lives. The conversation we came up with could have been communicated much quicker and in simpler terms, but the characters generated what essentially became filler space in the conversation because that is how they were used to communicating. This idea of filler content that is part of the content came from a discussion we had about social media. There is all this information that is just a stream of information, but taken as a whole can be used to determine character, direction of a group, intentions of an audience, or any number of things. That was the kind of authenticity and stream of consciousness we were going for, especially in contrast to the overly constructed narratives on Hooked we both had some complaints about.




 
 

Fear and Morality

I hated Pinocchio as a little kid. I loved Disney and adventure, but I grew up seeing Pinocchio as the “bad” kid. He did everything that my mommy told me was bad: he ignored his conscience, disobeyed his parent, went with strangers, lied, smoked, and drank alcohol. And yet somehow he still somehow managed to become a real boy at the end. My little six year old brain could not understand how someone could do what daddy told them not to do, do bad things, and still live happily ever after. Plus, that movie contained my worst fear growing up: kidnappers. Even now, while I understand the deeper lessons about honesty, purity, goodness, obedience, and listening to the small voice inside, I still get the heeby-geebies with the guile of Honest John, Gideon, and the man who tricked the boys onto Paradise Island.

Pinocchio is stuffed full of lessons in morality. I mean, talk about a didactic narrative! Everything that happens in that hour and a half long movie can be taken as a lesson to be learned. Good boys get their wishes granted. Bad boys punished and end up being miserable. Listen to parents, for that will make you truly happy. Don’t talk to, listen to, or follow strangers. Listen to the Spirit and listen the first time. Do not lie. I mean, Pinocchio is a mother’s dream come true. It teaches children a ton of moral lessons, and properly scares them away from strangers. Most importantly, it teaches that what is fun, is not always good. Just like the two lazy pigs in all the different accounts of “The Three Little Pigs,” what is fun and easy is most appealing for children. They don’t see the big picture and the long run. They do what they want, rather than what is best or smart, like the bad boys on Paradise Island. And in both moral stories, they do indeed have fun, but their fun is not long lasting.

I think that despite disdaining this movie as a kid, it is quite accurate as far as the vulnerability of children go, as they can be manipulated so easily. I realized this time around that Pinocchio was not a bad boy, but that he was used, misled, and manipulated, in some cases he was even forcefully taken, like by Honest John who wanted him to go to Paradise Island. Children are very trusting and are quick to change their minds when presented with something new, or colorful, or fun. They are taught to trust adults, which in some cases can be dangerous. Growing up, I was always far more afraid of kidnappers than monsters, and this movie played right along with those fears. I believe it is supposed to. Just like in Little Red Riding Hood, not everyone is to be trusted; not everyone is as they seem. It still gives me the goosebumps when I see or read stuff like this. Children need to be protected.

Music Mosaic

       The first thing that came into my mind when I hit the play button, was “this is morning.” Soundroll’s instrumental song, Your Inspiration, really was to me as the title named it. I immediately felt excitement, happiness, and like the start of something new. I could “see” the sun peaking through the window and felt a childlike pleasure. I immediately knew what I could draw, because it was what I felt, and I wanted to make it clear through what eyes we were looking in the picture. Not “looking through” literally, but “with the feeling and attitude of.” I used pencil and a selective use of color to show the innocence and softness, yet attention and excitement of a child through the adventure of each new day.

       Children get into a lot of trouble and like to get their way, but despite all that, they are the sweetest, most innocent, and most pure delights on Earth. I felt like pencil captured that softness and innocence. My light sketches show the simplicity of young children as well as their purity and innocence. They are still learning everyday and know only the outlines, the basics, of a few things in this great big world around them. Their knowledge is incomplete, yet it shows them the basic idea of things they are so curious to learn more about. My pencils drawings are not detailed or exemplary, yet they show the idea they are supposed to contain. My pencil strokes are pretty soft, without harsh lines, just as children are not hardened or set in any position or attitude. They are always looking to understand more and are so accepting of facts told them by parents.

As everyone who knows anything about young children know, kids have very selective hearing and sight. They are easy distracted and drawn to things that are different, colorful, or move. I tried to draw attention to things that would draw the attention and fascination of children, by coloring them. Just as Annie Dillard states in her article Seeing, there is so much to be seen and experienced, and what you see depends on what you look at and look for. Edgar Allen Poe spoke of this human condition in his story Message Found in a Bottle, as he realized that the sailors we walked among could not see him no matter what he did because they did not expect to see him. Children see in a way that is very different to adults, and the pops of color draw our attention to the exciting, the colorful, and the fun that are there to be seen if we look for them and study them as Dillard, or really, as a child would. This song, Your Inspiration, reminded me that magic and innocence can once more enter our lives if we see the world with the eyes and excitement of a child.

Your Inspiration

Your Inspiration - Soundroll (start at the bottom)