FIRESIDE CHAT: SYDNEY

     For my final project in this class, I chose to share a belief that I have through the story of a very significant event in my life: the day that one of my best friends committed suicide. Being an English major, I found my creative voice through my writing, and I chose to write a story of the day that I found out that she had passed away. For me, this presentation was what I hoped to be a small homage to Sydney. It has been over three years since the death of my friend, and I have come to find peace with her not being here on this Earth, but reliving this experience and sharing it with all of my classmates turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be. When I think of Sydney now, I don’t think of that horrible day it happened or the sadness and unease that I felt at her funeral, or the months of recovery that occurred afterwards. Rather, I think of the Sydney who made me laugh harder than anyone I have ever known, who was honestly one of my truest friends during a really awkward and hard time in our lives, and who will always be the first real best friend I ever had. So reliving this horrible day in front of my classmates may have been quite emotional, but it illustrated my belief that Heavenly Father knows where to put us when He is preparing us for something hard. Other than my home or the temple, I truly do believe that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth for me. Disneyland is such a cliché, but what’s wrong with that? I feel good there. I feel happy and childlike and some of my best memories have been formed in this magical kingdom. So yes, I don’t think that it was a coincidence that I happened to be in this happy place when I was delivered the saddest news.

     This fireside chat was truly remarkable. It was so thrilling to see what my peers and friends came up with and how they chose to illustrate their beliefs. I was dumbfounded with the amount of talent that was in that room that night. Some of the presentations were profound, others were hilariously entertaining, and others were beautifully sentimental. The depth of passion that was displayed that night was incredibly inspiring. It was such a free and comfortable space to be in, which was really comforting to me, as I knew that my story would get the best of me and that I would be extremely vulnerable and emotional. I hope that my presentation had an impact on somebody, because everyone’s courage and creativity had a major influence on me. Thank you to everyone for letting me be a part of your soul for a brief moment.

HERE IS MY STORY

I believe that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, even in the darkest of times.

            When I was a senior in high school, my family and I went to Disneyland for a break from reality. I am young at heart when it comes to Disney and everything about this kingdom appeals to my senses: the aroma of the popcorn and cotton candy carts, the blooming flowers and blossom trees, the rush of adventure that I feel when entering new lands and time periods, and the air of magic that constantly permeates the atmosphere. Disneyland has become a tangible place of comfort for me because I know that my happiness is guaranteed.

To this day I refuse to believe that it was simply a mere coincidence that one of my best friends committed suicide while I was engulfed in this immortal world.

I remember everything about this day like it has been branded into my memory. I was blissfully waiting in line for Space Mountain when I was pulled from my carefree realm into a harsh reality by a text from one of my good friends. This boy didn’t know that I had been so close with Sydney, as Sydney and I hadn’t seen each other in quite some time due to us attending different high schools, so he can’t be blamed for his insensitive text casually telling me a girl named Sydney Bruning had committed suicide.  After reading this text, my feet acted of their own accord and pulled the rest of my body through the stream of parents and children eagerly waiting in line for the ride. I could feel the arms of strangers brushing up against my own lifeless body somewhat forcefully, as if they knew that I was in distress and they wanted me to suffer. My mind was a haze, my mouth was dry, but my senses were in a heightened state of frenzy. The synthetic smell of popcorn and cotton candy had now begum to overwhelm my sense of smell and I began to feel nauseous. This sickly sweet smell that I would normally welcome with open arms came at me like a ton of bricks and wiped any pleasant memory I had of that smell right out of my mind; Sydney’s perfume smelled like cotton candy.

I had tunnel vision as I stumbled my way down the cobble stone streets; the only thing I could see around me was my mother sitting underneath a cherry blossom tree, looking at me as if I had grown a second head. She was my comfort and I knew I had to keep it together until I was sitting next to her underneath that blooming tree, rich in color and life. I envied that tree, as I knew that it represented everything that Sydney no longer was.

Life went on around me. A child laughed, siblings jokingly bantered… I could vaguely hear my fathers’ voice as he yelled my name, wondering where I was escaping to in such a rush. Families and couples and friends joyously carried on with their lives with no awareness that my life had just been shattered. After all, Disneyland is the happiest place on earth.

This day will never be one that I wish to return to, however, I look back on this day with a sense of reverence and a greater perspective on life. I still remember my family spending the rest of that day at Disneyland trying to comfort me and pull me from the dark place I had retreated into. Their love for me and their attempts to keep me grounded by forcing me on rides and trying to get me to experience Disneyland like I always had helped in more ways than even I understand. It was no mere coincidence that I happened to be in this magical world when I was delivered this terrible news. In some small way, this immortal kingdom kept me closer to Sydney than I had ever been, and although I was filled with darkness, the light and happiness that was all around me kept me from falling apart at least for that one day. I believe that God knows where to put us when he is preparing us for something hard. Disneyland became a tender mercy to me that day, and it will forever remain a place for me and Sydney to be near each other, despite our being worlds away.

I LOVE YOU, SYDNEY

CONCERNED CITIZEN: COMPASSION IN EDUCATION

Throughout our many years of education, as students, we come across some of the world’s most influential, and often life changing, human beings: teachers. A good teacher has the power to make a child feel loved and wanted when they don’t feel that at home. They can enlighten a student to their own potential and show them that there is more out there than they ever dreamed possible. They can influence the way we view different cultures, different people, and different communities, and they have the potential to mold our minds for the better from a young age. We owe a lot to these good teachers, and we need more of them. We learn most of our basic human skills in the home by simply observing and mimicking the actions of our parents and siblings, but our imaginations, creativity, and social behavioral skills largely come from what we learn and experience inside the classroom. This area is a place where children should foster their own creativity and feel safe enough to begin to discover who they are as a person. In Goldbard’s article “Human Rights and Culture: From Datastan to Storyland,” we find that “…the mutual recognition, interaction, sharing and connection that can be nourished through the exercise of artistic creativity are more powerful guarantors of peace than any number of prisons, weapons systems and human rights restrictions.” What students learn inside of the classroom by teachers who truly care about their student’s success can become the most influential and effective way of providing peace between communities.

For our Concerned Citizen Project, we chose to highlight Kristin Hardester, a young second-grade teacher at Spring Creek Elementary School in Provo, Utah. Kristin has taken it upon herself to know and love her students as individuals rather than as a general diverse group, and this has made her stand out as someone who is influencing the community for the better. Spring Creek Elementary School has taken in a diverse group of children and provides help and hope to many low income families. Visiting the homes of her students, Kristin has seen the difficult circumstances in which some of her students live and has taken it upon herself to give her students what they might not get at home: someone to cheer for them. More so than just teaching these kids their numbers and their letters, Kristin places a significant emphasis on letting her students know that anything and everything is within their reach if only they work hard enough and believe in their own potential. She provides a sense of safety and security for these students who may be dealing with tough family situations, all while making sure that each child has an equal opportunity at a successful future. Kristin has excelled at going above and beyond her role as a teacher and has shown our community that sometimes loving a child is all it takes to guarantee the success of a future generation.

GAME FOR CHANGE: ALL'S FAIR IN FILMMAKING. BUT NOT REALLY...

     Being a woman has always been something that I have loved. I have never felt oppressed by others because of my gender, but only because I have never let others oppress me because of my gender. As I have slowly become more and more interested in the film industry, and have developed aspirations to be a significant part of that industry one day, I have realized that sometimes women have no choice but to feel oppressed. Because they are. Although I have never experienced this extremely real social issue, I worry that I will some day. I still remember watching the 82^nd Academy Awards where Kathryn Bigelow was awarded an Oscar for Best Director for her film The Hurt Locker. Bigelow was the first-ever female director awarded with an Oscar, which had an impact on me when I was only sixteen years old. However, I didn’t realize the extent to how groundbreaking this was. I just remember thinking, “Wow, a woman won Best Director for a war movie?” The fact that I was in awe at this award is disappointing because it means that I had fallen victim to the belief that only men were acknowledged with this kind of award.

     It hasn’t been until recent years that women in the film industry have taken a stand on this injustice and demanded for more acknowledgment and equal representation. And this was much needed. A recent study conducted by the New York Film Academy showed that only 9% of all directors are female, 15% of all writers, 17% of all executive producers, and only 2% of all cinematographers. Not to mention that the combined income of the top ten highest paid actresses in 2013 was $181 million, compared to a whopping $465 million made by the top ten male actors. Furthermore, the Swedish Film Institute has brought to our attention that although people believe that there are very few competent female filmmakers, this is not true and that the many competent female filmmakers around the world are just not visible enough. Not to mention that it is a lot harder for a woman to find business partners and financiers than it is for a man. In addition, Women’s Media Center released a 10-year study of gender and Oscar nominations and found that from 2006-2015, “nominations of women accounted for just 19% of all non-acting nominations (327 women compared to 1,387 men)”.

     For my project, I wanted to portray what life in the film industry may be like for a female screenwriter if we don’t change these statistics. By having each gender choose his or her own path, we find that the male gender always comes out on top and the female gender does not get the acknowledgment or equal compensation that they deserve. It is designed in a simple format, with a simple path to follow, but this social issue does not need any sugarcoating or fluff to make a statement: men win, women lose. Every possible path in the game leads to this conclusion. Let’s hope that within the coming years, within the years that my fellow peers and I begin to step inside this industry, this social issue will no longer be an issue and that equal representation and compensation between the two genders will be implemented in all work environments.

PLAY THE GAME!

http://www.philome.la/AddisonHunsaker

WORLD BUILDING: GRAVITY

What if we lived in a world where the gravitational force on Earth was variant from one day to another in the same way the weather fluctuates? After some discussion, we realized that such a world would have a lot of implications in comparison to the world we currently live in. Taking in consideration that some days the gravity would be strong enough to keep us from easily moving around, while other days it might reach such low levels that we might float around as if we were on the moon. Our buildings would have to be designed in a different way, we would dress differently to adapt to those weight shifts, and we would have perhaps new ways to exercise under such variant conditions. Most importantly, we would have to find ways to work whether those gravitational changes occurred or not.

That being said, in this world, people would be more sedentary than nomadic. On heavy days, people would stay home and work from there. Telecommuting would be extremely popular, thus, increasing the amount of people doing business online. This would force the government to put more security in the cybernetic world than real life. Law enforcements wouldn’t be as popular on the streets since most crimes would occur online. Hackers would be as common as robberies in our current world. If required, the government would have access to people’s information in order to track maleficent users. Meanwhile, hackers would constantly find new ways to bypass and avoid government's security patrols. This would create a world where people got used to being surveilled, while at the same time, not being too concerned because they would believe that they are being protected. On the other hand, some people wouldn’t agree to the idea of having limited privacy; in that case, some people would create softwares to browse the web anonymously

In Bleeker’s “Design Fiction,” he not only talks about how design fictions should create functional, interesting materials, but that the design fiction process should derive from a good story. So rather than just creating a world where the gravitational pulls shifted like the weather, we imagined what life would be like for the people who lived in this unexpected and inconsistent world. What would they live in? What kind of sports or games would they play? What was their history like and what stories would they see on the news? What would they wear?

In the same way people tend to stay at home more often during cold winters, heavy gravitational periods would require homes built specifically for those conditions.

People would also create new activities to enjoy the perks of light gravitational days.

Since a lot of time would be spent at home, people would mainly be informed through the media.

Seeing the Good in the Gravity Shift of ‘86

By Zach Connell March 14, 2016

As we look back over years, many disastrous Gravity Shifts have interrupted our peaceful lives and for some people has ended their lives. Toady marking the 30th anniversary of the great Gravity Shift of ’86, now is the time to remember and honor the lives lost during that tragic event. Though on a more positive note, not everyone was negatively affected by the gravity shift. One couple recalls the ‘adventure’ they had that presented them the opportunity to meet and fall in love. After meeting with them, the Redfords, I have come to realize how deeply they honor and respect that day.

The morning of, Mr. Redford got in his car and drove to work. Since he works as a nurse for the hospital, he was greatly needed to help with all the injured people that were coming in. Noticing that his wheels were not getting much traction on the ground, he decided to grab the sand bags in his garage and place them in the trunk of his Toyota. After twelve 50lb bags he was finally able to get his car to rest on the ground the way it should. “I remember seeing animals, trash, and even people stuck on lamp posts and signs. They must have accidently jumped too high, or taken too big of a step that just launched them off the ground. It was really dangerous, and looking back I don’t get why I didn’t realize that I needed to be more safe” Mr. Redford remarks about his trip to work. It’s truly devastating knowing that the people who disappear on those days died as a result of floating up into the abyss.

Mrs. Redford looked out her window on the same morning and thought to herself that she would stay safely inside for the day after hearing about how light the gravity was. However, she was swayed when she saw her cat Sprinkles stuck in a tree, feet dangling above with its claws jabbed into the bark holding on for dear life. “I ran outside to desperately help my poor Sprinkles. The unfortunate thing was that I myself started to rise into the air with each step I took. I was risking my life to save my cat, probably not the smartest decision, but I would hate to see Sprinkles succumb to the weightlessness and float up to heaven. Why Sprinkles was outside in the first place I have no idea” Mrs. Redford remarked.

All of this happened as Mr. Redford was driving by. “I saw a pretty looking girl struggling to get to a tree with an almost floating cat, so naturally I had to stop.” Serendipitously for the both of them, he did stop and helped out his future love. Both individuals remarked in our interview about how fate can be a funny, and slightly ironic thing. They each saw an opportunity to make a frightening situation into a positive memory.

After listening to the story of this lovely couple, I realized how maybe everything does happen for a reason. The grass is green, Christmas comes once every year, indisputable these facts are as the gravity shifts we experience every day. The only way to get through it is to keep a happy face and move along.

Lastly, the creative designers of this world would come up with clothing that not only would allow us to adapt to the gravitational shifts but also make us worthy of a catwalk.

The world we created needed to be more than just a fictional place with objects and weird gravitational pulls... it needed to be a world where people could build homes, enjoy leisurely time with games and sports, read about the local cat lady, or dress to impress. We collaborated as a team to combine our creative differences and create a place that we wouldn't mind living in, and I think we can all agree that a world with fluctuating gravitation pulls would always keep us on our toes. 

Written and created by Juan, Nathan, Zach, and Addison

WEBSPINNA BATTLE: EARTH AND SPACE

     

     How does one become the Earth? How do I embody the cultures, climates, and attitudes of a world filled with so much diversity and history? I found this task almost impossible as I attempted to discover and create my alter ego and webspinna persona of Earth. Rather than trying to embody all that the Earth entails, I chose to focus on the sounds and feelings of the natural world. The soft hum and loud crash of an Amazon rainforest taken over by a storm, the rushing water of a crackling stream, or the pounding of instruments fashioned by God’s elements. Although the natural elements comprise a large majority of what the Earth means to me, I chose to mix these sounds with the culture of the Earth’s people. I opened my performance with the introduction track of the popular show Planet Earth. The triumphant rise and climax of instruments embodies the majesty that is our planet and I felt like it was the perfect way to introduce my alter ego. Followed by the steady rhythm of the rainforest and the gentle pace of a rushing stream, these natural sounds led us into one of the world’s most iconic figures and songs: Michael Jackson’s Earth Song. Mixing the natural world with the digital world represented the two unifying worlds’ among us. I finished my battle with Toto’s Africa, a song that captures the cohesion of two juxtaposing world’s among Earth.

     While creating my alter ego, I found it strange to steal/plagiarize sounds and songs from the Internet and make them my own. Up until I read Jonathan Lethem’s article The Ecstasy of Influence, I believed that taking another person’s work and making it your own was wrong. However, Lethem argues that every form of art or artistic creation derives from a long line of triumphs by other people. It is natural for us to be inspired by the works of others and to create our own interpretations of what we see. That is how we continue to build the artistic world.

     After Hannah and I came up with our fighting alter ego’s of Earth and Space, we used our individual persona’s to create a battle that defined our locations but also worked cohesively as a unit. We used choreography to literally battle each other with fake punches and kicks to represent the struggle between Earth and Space, but ultimately ended our battle side by side to demonstrate Earth’s and Space’s reliance on each other. It was so entertaining to dress like our personas—Hannah in an all spandex “space suit”, and me in a fur vest and majestic eagle t-shirt—and to create a dichotomy between the two places that still worked together. The entire experience of creating this battle and seeing what creative personas the rest of the class came up with was in some ways entirely awkward (in the best way), but also important for us all to burst from our comfort zones and to show our creativity in a new way.

BATTLE TRACK LIST

SPACE

AMBIENT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8OJzAs7CB8

STAR TREK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh4lCZoEo5o

GRAVITY + ADVENTURE CLUB: https://youtu.be/9g4Pi2GHLkU?t=1m2s

ZOOM ZOOM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MML1jNr_j8c

CAN’T BE TAMED 2:29: https://youtu.be/sjSG6z_13-Q?t=3m23s

EARTH

PLANET EARTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlAtWG_mDIk

RAINFOREST SOUNDS: https://soundcloud.com/listeningearth

DRUMS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=747hJQNJpeg

RUSHING WATER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgsdqGP1rc

MICHAEL JACKSON, EARTH SONG: https://youtu.be/XAi3VTSdTxU?t=1m26s

TOTO, AFRICA: https://youtu.be/FTQbiNvZqaY?t=3m28s