The LAST video

For my last video project in INQ, I’m pretty happy with it. The assignment was to take something that college students have difficulty with and make a video that addresses the problem and then come up with a solution. Instead of doing a skit though I decided to make several comics and explain what they portray. The four problems I chose were healthy eating, money management, making friends, and exams. To me those seem like problems that first year students may have in college.           

            I had fun making the comics, but at the same time when I scanned them onto my computer, they didn’t come out perfect when I added them into the video. The text is somewhat difficult to read, but I think I explain the problems well enough in the video that a viewer can follow along. I always want to try something different than the norm so I thought this would be a good way to go about it. The last video I tried something different by hiking up West Rock and videoing it and that didn’t turn out the way I was necessarily hoping, but nonetheless, the thought was there.

            I think I did a pretty good job with this video by have a clear beginning and a clear ending. I know for the past videos, I was lacking in those two areas and for this video wanted to try and address that more. I also took out having music in the background with the narration because I thought it got a little overwhelming in the last two videos. Overall though I’m pretty happy with how the assignment came out. Even though I’m not a huge fan of sitting in front of a webcam and explaining the comics, It really didn’t come out that bad.

Criticism At Its Best

After finishing the Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, I’m happy to say that I’ve actually learned a lot. The book itself to me doesn’t really delve into creativity or maybe I just don’t see creativity the way Tharp does. On the other hand, I see endless life lessons that are addressed in the book which are extremely important when trying to accomplish things in life. I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of some parts of the book more towards the beginning. I didn’t like the idea of Tharp blathering on about a “box” which I really couldn’t relate to.

             As the book went on though she talked about things like having skill in your field. Tharp says, “What all these people have in common is that they have mastered the underlying skills of their creative domain, and built their creativity on the solid foundation of those skills” (162). I thought this idea of skill which seems trivial at first glance is actually essential to even getting and idea of the ground.  You need resources that stem from some type of prior knowledge you have in your field of interest.

            I also liked how Tharp talked about the “Spine” of an idea. She defines it as the roots of the idea or the foundation from which creativity begins. The spine of the idea is what keeps you on track and able to ultimately accomplish whatever endeavor you may have. I also liked the fact of how Tharp includes ideas from earlier chapters related to how they affect the “Spine” of your idea. I thought that was important because at times I was having trouble figuring out how some of her ideas from earlier on in the book related to idea introduced later in the book.

            The final part of the book that spoke most to me was troubles you have along the way. Tharp makes it very clear that not every idea you have is going to be ‘fool proof’. There are going to be times when you fail. I think this is the hardest part of the book to address because most people in the world see failure as a negative extremity of creativity or as I would call it being goal driven. Tharp does a very good job of pretty much saying that just because something doesn’t go off the way you expected it that you were a failure. There are always going to be positive aspects with the negative aspects, it is on you to separate the two and analyze each.

            Even though I think Tharp’s and I idea of creativity differs, I feel we have a similar view in the way we approach each of our definitions. What she calls creativity, I see as book to help people with accomplishing goals they have in life. She delves into life lessons and where to start with becoming a more goal oriented person in life. This whole process is essential to people because without goals, we really have nothing to push us to greatness.            

The Buley Safari

The trip to the library was actually very informative. I had never been in the library until that point. I am sure I’ll be there more often though next semester because I won’t have mandatory academic study hall through the athletic department. It will lie solely on me to make the right decisions and fit in my own study time. I think the most interesting thing I found out about the library is that it has librarians dedicated to each graduate program. I personally think that is essential to the success of students because it makes the process of finding books you need for your major that much easier.

            The library also has a vast amount of resources for finding information that has been pure reviewed. Pure reviewed articles are extremely important when it comes to writing papers. I learned that firsthand while at Millbrook because I had to write a lot of research papers that required sources to be cited properly. If you look up articles on Google, you aren’t guaranteed every time to get the author for the article because the article either has multiple authors, or was written by an individual who writes for the website itself. When you go through a libraries peer reviewed search engine, most of the time they already have the article cited for referencing purposes which makes your job just that much easier.  Plus from personal experience, search engines that bring up pure reviewed literature is a lot more reliable that your standard Google search.

            The article I found at the library had to do with finding correlations between group and individual autonomy. The author wanted to know if people portray more positive behavior when demonstrating autonomy in a group activity or working individually. The article more or less came to the conclusion that autonomy is more self driven because of the fact that self reliance is driven more by what you have to offer. When you are in a group setting, you are more likely to put off on others when you could easily accomplish.

Works Cited- Jønsson, T., & Jeppesen, H. (2013). Under the influence of the team? An investigation of the relationships between team autonomy, individual autonomy and social influence within teams. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 24(1), 78-93. doi:10.1080/09585192.2012.672448

Major Time

For this weeks campus safari I decided to go and attempt to finalize everything for my major. I went to the athletic training department and asked about declaring and how to go about it. They said that I need to fill out some paperwork that is fairly basic. Once completing the information, the department can set me up with an advisor who can further help with deciding classes and answering questions I have as far as catching up for lost time and how to make it up. I'm pretty happy to have this all cleared up because I'm kind of tired of worrying about it and it was better to just get it over with.

Troubling Realities

I did activity four on page thirty-two which addresses going a week without someone that you value. Since I don’t have a week, I decided to just go twenty-four hours without the object. I decided to go without my I Pod for a day. This may seem trifling to some people, but to me it was actually a big deal. I usually always have my I Pod with me because it gives me a sense of well-being and enjoyment in whatever activities I have throughout the day. I listen to my I Pod walking to class, on car rides, doing homework, workouts, running, even before I go to sleep. Without my I pod, I almost feel as if I’m missing a piece of me.

            I found that throughout the day I was much more social. I walked with several of my teammates to classes that morning and had a conversation with them. It encouraged me to ask more questions that involved doing everyday things I normally do alone like eating at CONN or walking to Moore field house for skills practice and lift with others. I found that I enjoyed doing the little things during the day a lot more with people around me rather than just going alone.

            While at Millbrook I rarely used my I pod except for workouts and when I came to Southern, I began to rely on it. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that I moved to a new school, meeting new people, and starting something new as a whole. My I pod may be acting like a crutch at the moment until I can begin standing on my own two feet socially. It’s tough having realizations like this because they become concerning and you want to repair what damage has been done as soon as possible.

From Dreams To Reality

            From what I can tell the exercise wants you describe some of your biggest fears and note them down. I don’t have a ton of fears.  Most of them are related to social anxiety. I often have trouble having conversations with people I don’t know and meeting new people. I think the reason for this is because I often worry about what people think of me. For some people a fear like this is extremely trivial because they honestly don’t care what people think of them and have no problem with just being who they are. As for me, it can be difficult sometimes to watch people who posses what I believe is a unique trait.

            Another pretty big fear I have is actually quite funny. It is actually a dream that I’ve had several times throughout my life. The dream is extremely surreal and literally almost lifelike. If you have never heard of lucid dreaming before, you may be interested to Google it and do some light reading. The dream is pretty simplistic as it starts off with extremely random things that aren’t of any significant importance. The dream always ends in the same way with someone chasing me. As the chase progresses though, I always begin to slow down and can’t control it.  I always wake up extremely distraught and always to think myself why I would have a dream like that again, and again, and again.  Thankfully the dream only re occurs over extended time horizons.

            I think the last thing that I actually really fear is being hit in the head by a baseball while batting. Even though this fear is subtle, it comes alive whenever a ball rides in close to my upper body. During my at bats though I’m so concentrated on hitting the ball that I completely forget about the fear, but every now and then when a wild pitch is thrown, the fear immediately comes alive. I don’t worry about the fear too much because it doesn’t affect my batting.

A Learning Experience

For this weeks campus safari I think I learned a lot about the school in terms of deciding a major and how to go about it. I also learned a lot of information regarding picking classes for next semester. I have been doing a lot of soul searching and have been trying to decide what I’d actually like to do when I leave college.

            I would really like to do something involving athletics. I am interested in pursuing a career that involves being in an environment where I get to work with athletes. I went to the athletic training department in search of information on how to get involved in the major and ideas for classes to take in the upcoming semester. I was told that I missed a fairly significant course because I came into the university undecided. I was advised to take a summer course that could be transferred over for the missed class along with taking anatomy and physiology one in an effort to complete a tier two course related to athletic training.

            I also learned how to obtain a course that is classified as needing department permission and who you need to contact. At first I thought you would need to contact that teacher for the course itself, but it turns out that you need to contract the department head and have approval before your pin will be accepted to sign up for the course online.

            After learning all this information, I know what I need to do in order to begin my journey in a career related to athletic training. Overall it was a pretty informative week and gives me something to talk about with my parents when discussing pursuing a career.