Death is a subject no one likes to think or talk about…..out
loud at least. Death is the most commonly feared concept in the world but it
seems that everyone is indestructible until they are destructed. I don’t mean
to bog down my post with heavy subjects but I lost someone very close to me
this weekend, in the streets of my beloved Miami. A car accident stole my loved
one from me and I just want to take the opportunity to stress the dangers of
drunk driving.
Everyone experiences stressors or anxieties, and peopleoften look to alcohol and drugs as a means of escape. Miami is an escape
in itself, full of beauty and fun, but fun should never outweigh the importance
of safety and responsibility. The cost of a taxi is much less than the cost of
a DUI or, worse, the death of you or someone else. Escaping from your anxieties
and a fun night out can end in tragic and devastating effects. Why escape all
anxieties through alcohol to only create more anxieties for more people by
driving while under the influence? This creates a vicious cycle between escape
and contribution. Make conscious decisions and enjoy your time, but do it
responsibly. As I’ve reiterated through William Bejamin’s concept of presence
and time and space; be present…be smart. Create works of art through every step
of your life, do not disrupt the beautiful concept of aura.
This semester’s blog experience has been my favorite segment of all of my classes this semester. With four classes, many of my assignments were stressful and overwhelming. Blogging every week allowed me to both challenge myself and delve into writing in a fun and therapeutic way. I really wanted to create a blog that people would enjoy visiting, as they enjoy visiting Miami. I find that my learnings are strengthened when I can connect my classes or connect with other students. There is so much power in connection. I was able to connect with both my peers, and my other classes within my blog.
ReplyDeleteI really liked visiting other student blogs throughout the semester. I would often find myself clicking through blog to blog and trying to quickly find the connections between the various posts. I liked how discreetly some people decided to make connections and how clearly other students chose to connect to others’ blogs. The vagueness of this assignment confused me as first, but upon finishing up the semester I now understand why the requirements were so allowing of creativity. Five peers interacted with each blog, but the way they chose to intertwine them into their own blogs were so different, and so interesting. This solidifies the strength of intertextual relationships that this class has stressed since the beginning. Audiences view and interpret texts and images so differently, yet the connections are so interesting for other people to experience. As I clicked from blog to blog I was sometimes shocked at how well my peers were able to intertwine such contradicting texts. In my head By the end of the semester I was already familiar with all of the student’s blogs and would find myself saying “how is he going to connect his blog to that?!” But everyone always seemed to be able to challenge their creativity and make the connection. I also found it interesting how many people chose to use memes instead of simple photos. This both demonstrates memes presense in pop culture, but also the natural effectiveness that comes with texts in relation to images. Almost every student found it more effective to use memes, combining words and images, to illustrate what they were saying in their blog post. This concept appeared to me only as I wrote my fifth blog post, and I found it to be such an “aha!” moment.
As the posts began to require connections to the texts we read in class, I found myself slightly frustrated. It was very difficult to make the connection without seeming random and silly, so I felt like I was taking away from the effectiveness of my writings. I noticed other students, and myself, diluting the overall message of their posts by the necessity to connect to the class readings. Perhaps I would have appreciated the connection more if the requirement of the book or article’s title wasn’t required within the post. Perhaps leaving it as open ended as the rest of the assignment would have created another example of creativity and variety throughout the class’ blogs. I also found myself craving to explain my connections and creative standpoints of each post. I would have enjoyed commenting on my own blog post and explaining how and why I chose to make the connections the way that I did. This would offer the class an opportunity to defend and explain their creative processes. I’m sure many aspects of my peer’s blogs have gone unnoticed through the lens of the audience, I would have liked to hear the various authors explain their methods and though processes.