abbyccpsarts

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Pentathlon Event #5 (Spring 2020)

Over the past few weeks in quarantine I’ve been passing the time by learning a few new skills alongside schoolwork! Most notably, I’ve been working on making friendship bracelets and sending them to my friends (because why make friendship bracelets just for yourself). Alongside making more intricate and colorful patterns, I’ve learned different “starting” and “ending” stitches Below is a picture of the one I’ve been working on for my cousin (its pictured with a braided tear drop loop start).

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Pentathlon Event #4 (Spring 2020)

On Tuesday, April 21, I watched the TED Talk titled “Titan of Terror: The Dark Imagination of H.P. Lovecraft.” It’s a short, animated video analyzing Lovecraft’s life, works, and influence. What interested me the most about this presentation is Lovecraft’s approach to redefining horror—he took the newest technological advances and innovation and thought of the most terrifying worst-case-scenarios one could think of. It added relatability, giving room for Lovecraft to explore the fantastical (ambiguous gods and creatures) with the basis of real-life exploration and innovation. He proposed that even though we may seem more technologically advanced, more sure of our world, we’d actually only just begun to explore the possible terrors of our terrain. 

I also enjoyed that Lovecraft encouraged his contemporaries to use, even re-imagine, the world he created. And despite his prejudices and blatant racism, authors of diverse backgrounds are repurposing his worlds and his myths still today to better contribute to developing a more inclusive narrative, both on the page and in real life. 

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Pentathlon Event #3 (Spring 2020)

On Sunday, March 9, I attended a musical production at my high school, Sherwood High School, called “Rock and Roll Revival” alongside several of my friends. This production consists of 35-40 song covers from the “rock and roll era” (mostly from the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s) usually centered around a theme of sorts (this year was “Name Game,” and consisted mostly of songs that had names in their title) by high school students. It’s a production that’s been going for 49 years (next year is #50!) and one I can say that I’ve been proud to be a part of (stage crew in #46+47!). What I love the most about Rock and roll revival is the community it’s managed to build, both at Sherwood high school and the greater region around Sherwood. I’ve attended the show every year since my graduation at Sherwood because of that community, but also because my younger sister is a part of it, and will be for the next two years.

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Pentathlon Event #2 (Spring 2020)

The other night (Monday, March 2) I attended a “Coffee & Crafts” at Bel Air hall titled Origami night. We learned how to make all different kinds of origami figures, which included the very popular paper crane, and other less-popular/known figures like a turtle, elephant, iris (kind of flower), and balloon. I only had the time to make a crane, turtle, and elephant, but I consider the elephant to count for at least three given how difficult it was to make (when I say difficult I mean it took us 20+ minutes to get through a 2 minute constructional video). What I really love about origami is how we managed to make something so beautiful and intricate out of such an overlooked and under appreciated material—paper. It really goes to show that almost anything, especially the mundane, can produce something so meaningful and expressive.

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Process Journal

Link to my Learning Agreement

2.10.20

This week I organized all of the Polaroids I’ve taken thus far into mini books to help organize and protect the film. I’m still working on finalizing the list of “bucket list” items I want to complete, as well as what the journal entry prompts will be. Besides the pretty big gap in research that I have with this, my project doesn’t feel “substantial” enough right now, if that makes any sense.

Some of the photos below!

(above is from the museum I went to, below is from my trip to Israel!)

Additionally, I did a critical response workshop with fellow Arts Scholar Adriana Alonzo:

Critical Response Process-w/ Adriana Alonzo

Statements of Meaning:

- Likes how this project has an air of “fulfillment”

- “Fun” premise; Makes it real life, not a HW assignment

Artist as the Questioner:

Research angle: the mental health benefits of traveling, journaling; Research the individual aspects of your project

- Logging mental health over a long period of time

-follow up research on the ones I enjoyed

Neutral Questions

- How many “experiences” do you plan having; do you know

Goal between 10-12; subsections within each “header”; don’t have final list

- How are you going to set up website?

Current plan is to have a gallery, but also direct links to each experience; A more clean cut design than the original scrapbook

- Any research on website?

Probably gonna have a page about that; be the home screen? (maybe not)

Permissioned Opinions

- Do you like the experiences I’ve brought up?

“It’s cute! I think the mix you have is good; always people to relate, like you want”

2.12.20

I had my advisor conference today with Heather and she gave me some really great advice on avenues I can go down for the research end of things. One thing Heather said that is really sticking with me is what she said about making this an experiment of sorts—I’m not just going to complete these bucket list experiences, but having a common theme/experiment throughout that will help me connect them. What if this experiment was prose related? I wanted to add in a writing element other than journaling originally so this could be my opportunity to do that.

I’ve also decided to use Wix for the final web format. It’s easy to use but also has the opportunity for “advanced tinkering,” as I like to say.

2.17.20

I’ve had a breakthrough today—I was hanging out with my writer friend and I remembered a while back she was talking about how one of her english classes had them do an assignment where they had to “people watch” for thirty minutes once a week and write down some of the conversations they overheard. My friend used this to help better her dialogue in her writing. I’ve decided to emulate this but take it a step further: I’m going to go to places I’ve always wanted to go to, but I’m going to people watch at these places—write down snippets of conversation I might overhear, etc—and then choose a subject/person to write a short story about. This allows me to not only experience new things, but try and put myself in a new mindset, context, by writing in these places about someone/something else. Because there’s a new, more time-consuming and creative-consuming element to this capstone, I think it’s wise that I aim for 5-6 total pieces/experiences instead of the originally intended 10-12. 

2.19.20

I had my first look presentation today and overall I’ve gotten some really good feedback from everyone. I still need to thoroughly go through the flashcards I got from everyone, but so far everyone seems to like the direction it's going, even giving some great suggestions for what format the stories should be in (flash fiction maybe? Or even dabble in poetry as well) and how I could narratively tie all the stories together. Below is the google document I used to succinctly point out the differences and similarities between this “new” capstone and the old one.

A Collection of Stories Inspired by People (or Wizard) Watching

SIMILAR ELEMENTS

Still In a web format

Still involves me going out and trying new things; simply asks me to be more engaged with my surroundings and other people there

Still involves reflection/journaling on my part

Still involves a photographic complement

DIFFERENT ELEMENTS

New narrative element- I’m writing a short story about a person experiencing the space I’m in;

Possibly contrasting and/or complementing that story to my own personal emotions tied to that space

Story is going to be the main focus, while my own thoughts are going to be secondary

RESEARCH

Fairly new idea, so I’m working on curating a new list of sources, but I’m going to primarily focus on researching the benefits of people watching, actively being creative in a new space (seeing how that affects my writing process), etc

2.21.20

Today I started messing with Wix a bit. I’m definitely jumping ahead on my schedule and ignoring what I should really be doing (research!!) but I’m giving myself some breathing room to get my thoughts and such accumulated to this new idea. I don’t want to share any pictures of my website bare bones until 

2.24.20

My goal for this week (on top of research) was to compile a rough list of the places I want to go for writing this story. A lot of the preliminary reserach I’ve done on writing/being creative in a new space suggests having a “control;” this means, in regards to this particular project, that I need to write in a space I’m familiar with and see how that differs from writing in a completely new space. Then there’s also the question of how I’ll write at the beginning when I’m first introduced to the new space, and then how’ll write once I get slightly more acclimated to the space. Regardless, here are my ideas for where to people watch/write as of today:

(1) Starbucks route 1 [serves as my control for this “experiment”]

(2) Bookstore/Restaurant (I’m visiting one next Thursday for a comedy show)

(3) “Somewhere” in NYC (visiting w/ scholars—write during free time?)

(4) Center of a campus (not UMD— maybe Towson? over Spring Break?)

I don’t want a totally “complete” list yet, as I want opportunities to present themselves as I go along, but I still think it’s good to have a basic list of things to do. I think the first thing that I’ll end up doing is either the Starbucks one (my control) or the bookstore/restaurant since I’m attending a comedy event at one next Thursday.

3.1.20

I haven’t really made much headway in research, writing, or anything to be honest. I had a pretty busy weekend—worked most of Friday and all of Saturday— and now I’m starting to get a little bit nervous. I’m switching up my weekly plan a bit and having this week be primarily research and working on my annotated bibliography. Then maybe I’ll have a good idea of how I want to go about people watching for the comedy show this Thursday. 

3.4.20

Last week we had arts scholars alumni join us for our weekly discussions. While I was expecting a plethora of great advice from each of them, It was also great to hear about how they each struggled, and that changing your mind is okay. 

3.10.20

Tonight we heard that school is going to be closed down for the next month or so because of the current worldwide health situation (it might be a pandemic. we don’t know yet). As much as I hate to admit it I’m more annoyed than anything, but I understand how paramount safety and health is over any frustrations I might have. I know we’ll adjust accordingly. I hadn’t really thought about how this was going to affect my capstone until now. Hopefully I’ll still be able to travel to new places. Everything’s pretty hectic right now so we’ll see what the next few weeks bring.

3.25.20

Creativity; Time Management Chosen Technique: Incubation. While I’ve utilized “taking a break��� while I’m working, (going to take a walk, etc) I’ve never really considered it in the context of “this is my time to let my thoughts marinate.” I really enjoyed reframing my mindset while taking incubation breaks and found that it allowed me to not only work longer, but more effectively.

3.31.20

It’s been an interesting month to say the least. I’m going to have to change my capstone quite a bit in light of the rest of the semester being online and not being able to travel to write my pieces. I’m really not quite sure what I’m going to do, but we’ll see. I have nothing to show at this time. I have my research but I haven’t dived into writing because I’m unsure of what direction to go in. Perhaps after I talk with Heather I’ll have some more direction.

4.5.20

Curation Rapid Prototyping Exercise: essentially, my sketching revolved around the various menu tabs I want for my website.

- An Artist’s Statement/Process page (BTS)

- Research page

- A central page for someone to visit that organizes all of the pieces onto one “table of contents” that links to each pieces individual page

- An individual page for each piece

- A contact page?

Second Advisor Meeting: 4/9/20

I met with my arts advisor (Heather!) over ZOOM today and thank god because I can salvage this capstone. I honestly with I’d reached out to her sooner. We’ve found a way to salvage my research and redirect/reword it to fit the current situation. I’ll be writing about rooms in my house that I’ve changed emotions for. It plays into my research on the Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis (our susceptibility of change due to environmental factors) and change itself. I want these pieces to encapsulate a clear before and after, and how that may have negatively or positively affected me.

Second Look Presentation: 4/17/20

Going into the second look presentations I felt more grounded in what I wanted to write about and the literary mediums I was going to write about. However I still feel like I’m lacking focus. Heather’s feedback on my central question really had me think about how I can clarify and specify the focus and the audience of my capstone. I’ve decided to rephrase my central question as: What’s new? It proposes that something has changed, but it allows me the flexibility to offer different answers with each prose. I intend to add some context to this question on my Wix page (perhaps in the process section?). 

4.21.20

For my show and tell I’d like to share a screenshot of the brainstorming process of my pieces right now, alongside a few little rough excerpts. I’ve also thought of doing a mini photo shoot to provide visuals for each of these pieces if I have time.

[abbyccpsarts]

Pentathlon Event #1 (Spring 2020)

On Wednesday, January 29, I went with some friends to see a free screening of “Joker” at Hoff theater. While I’d already seen the film twice before, new revelations uncovered with each screening, the third time around was still just as enlightening and masterful, if I may, as the first two times I watched it. There was also an added layer of seeing my friends reactions to the film, which resulted in a spectrum of reactions ranging from horror (understandable, given the abrupt nature of the film) to excitement to disgust (also understandable, with how transparently violent it was). I’d like to state for the record that I have some serious reservations about the film, which become more and more apparent with each screening an conversation I have, but I have an overall positive view of the film’s construction, acting, score, and cinematography. You can tell how delicately every detail, easter egg, piece of dialogue, was placed, and it serves as such a sharp, powerful contrast to the violent, blatant, rough and morbid tone of the film. I could talk about this film for days, about the implications and commentary it has on our society, but I’ll end this “mini review” by saying that this film is bigger than a villain backstory- it’s a universal character piece, designating a notorious, fantastical villain to an all-too-real setting; and that’s what makes Joker all the more terrifying. 

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Pentathlon Event #5 (Fall 2019)

On Thursday, December 5, I stopped by the art gallery in STAMP student union to see their current exhibit centered highlighting HIV/AIDS, more specifically the stigma that still surrounds it and how it’s perpetuated by today’s society, whether it be inadvertently or purposeful. One of my favorite art pieces illustrated the exclusion of LGBTQ+ in blood drives, a law still in place today that bans those that have had sex with their own gender from offering their blood in fear of HIV/AIDS being transferred; this is unnecessary given that these clinics always test every blood donation they receive and only serves as a perpetuator of the stereotypes against those in the LGBTQ+ community. Another one of my favorite art pieces in this exhibit was the documentary style video that they had playing on loop (second picture); It was a mashup of recorded political events through out history layed-over with a poetry-esque narrator unapologetically calling out the government and its faults. 

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Pentathlon Event #4 (Fall 2019)

On Wednesday, October 30, I attended the Homecoming Comedy show at the xfinity center, headlined by John Mulaney. While taking pictures was *technically* not allowed at the event, I managed to sneak one in before the show began of the stage set up from my position on the floor (the second picture is the special wristband I received for floor access). With John Mulaney being such a prevalent comedian these past few years, and being a fan of him myself, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to see him live here at UMD. I’m currently taking my arts i-series course CLAS275, which explores, in simple terms,  the topic of humor through comparing modern humor to past humor in addition to learning about the theories of humor; Watching this comedy show was so interesting to me because of this class, where I got to analyze the production on a deeper level in relation to the content I’m learning. My favorite joke was the on going “hydration” joke that was, in some ways, perpetuated by the audience. It made the whole experience feel more personal and memorable.

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Pentathlon Event #3 (Fall 2019)

Last Saturday, on October 19, I traveled into DC to explore the Smithsonian castle, and, consequently, the art exhibits included below it. One exhibit in particular that really stood out to me was the museum of African art- this exhibit included a variety of sculptures, paintings, photographs, and visual/film pieces that ranged across centuries for their conception date. They all managed to complement and contrast each others in such a unique way. One art piece in particular that really stood out to me was a series of polaroid photographs compiled together on a blank wall of different landscapes found through out Africa- this offered inspiration for my own capstone project, which not only has a photographic element as well, but the camera I’m using is a polaroid too. Additionally, I loved the center piece of the exhibit: a large snake circling around to eat its own tail; a symbol of good luck, supposedly. It was made out of plastic gasoline containers to highlight the dire situation that out environment is in right now.

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Pentathlon Event #2 (Fall 2019)

This past Thursday, October 3, (10/03/19) I went to see a free showing of Toy Story 4 in Hoff Theater, STAMP Student Union. As a big-time PIXAR and Toy Story fan, I was beyond excited to see the next Toy Story installment. Consensus? First and foremost, I’d like to say that I did, in fact, enjoy the movie, but I think the ending of Toy Story was just the perfect place to end on. The mastery of storytelling in this movie was great, and I’d argue it’s even slightly stronger than the third movie, but all the strings laid out in the first movie, the story line with Andy in particular, wrapped up in conjunction with Woody’s story line so perfectly in the third movie. I did really enjoy the reunion with Bo Peep in this one, along with the massive character development that Woody goes through. Gah I’m so conflicted, but I consider this movie an overall success given that I bawled my eyes out (see below).

I lack a ton of photographic evidence of my attendance of this event, but I’ve attached a picture of me crying over the movie after it was over (date of picture is visible) alongside a text conversation with my friend, who I saw the movie with, confirming us seeing the movie that night (conversation took place on October 3, so this past Thursday).

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Pentathlon Event #1 (Fall 2019)

At NextNOW Fest this semester I went to the “Maryland Night Live” comedy show. Their second show ever, MNL attracted so many people that they completely filled the theater- and the show didn’t disappoint. The show was a combination of music, comedy, performance, and videography in one, mimicking the set-up of the immensely popular “Saturday Night Live.” I really enjoyed the show, with my favorite skit being the digital short about casting the new Batman.

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Pentathlon Event #5

On Wednesday, May 8, I went to the last SEE movie showing of the semester in Hoff theater in STAMP Student Union. The film was an advanced screening for “Good Boys,” a raunchy comedy coming to the big screen in mid-august. It was by no means “amazing” but it was pretty entertaining and I’d recommend for others to see it if they like the genre. I can’t wait to see what SEE puts on next year for advanced screenings!

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Pentathlon Event #4

This past weekend I attended the “Puzzles and Paradoxes” show put on by the Kreativity theater group here at UMD. It lasted for about an hour and a half, and the theme of the show, or at least how I interpreted it to be, was about hidden desires and self-expression, a very relevant theme for college students. One of my favorite parts of the performance was actually the soundtrack they incorporated into some of the transitionary periods of the show- perfect throwback to early 2000′s pop. I’m so excited to see what Kreative does next, as I’m so glad that I got to attend this event.

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WHY HAVE I NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE?

During syllabus week, I entered every due date (and self-assigned reading) into an excel sheet. It has alleviated so much stress, I feel more organized, and I’ve been keeping up with all of my readings! It also makes everything seem more manageable - I have all the due dates lined up to finals week. I don’t know how I ever survived without this 

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Pentathlon Event #2

This weekend I attended the show “admissions” at Studio Theater in Washington DC. The show touched on several themes, most notably white privilege and how it has come to affect/how it already affects the admissions process for college and preparatory schools. It was eclectic yet polished in its performance, both from the actors and the script itself. I think that keeping one set through out the entirety of the play was a bold move (their kitchen), but the actors abilities to demand attention from the audience and stress the importance of their conversations and monologues (one of which lasted for over 20 minutes, at the least) every time made it work- to their benefit, I believe, to some extent as well.

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Pentathlon Event #1

On February 12, I attended the Ilana Glazer comedy show in the STAMP Grand Ballroom.

Her opening act was just as hilarious as she was, and I can’t wait for what SEE (student entertainment events) plans next.

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Pentathlon Event #5

This week a bunch of scholars friends decided to watch Rudolph to get into the holiday spirit. We also had our secret santa give away! Definitely going to miss these guys over break