On the Internet: Ed Tech

It takes only a brief moment of online browsing to conclude that the internet has the capability to create miracles. Of course many say that the internet itself is a miracle, but I believe that we are still on a path to extract the potential of this amazing tool, and thus, I emphasize its "capability" over its state of being. Pope Francis declared the internet to be "something truly good, a gift from God" despite its negative side-effects. Right now, I would like to focus on some of the positives.

Ed Tech

The internet contains nearly all human knowledge. This is an amazing thing in and of itself, but it is not the miracle. After all, what use is a random conglomeration of information without much guidance on how to use it? It's not enough to simply splash information on a page and call it a day. 

No, the miracle is how the internet has been used for educational technology. That is, websites created for the purpose of teaching a coherent subject, with facts written by experts, on a well-developed user interface. These sites can act as a legitimate educational class when education is not easily accessible or affordable. In addition to offering resources though, these websites have created new mechanisms that revolutionize the way that we learn information, making it faster and more enjoyable.

This means that anyone who has the desire and willpower to learn a subject, can. Think about the potential that can unlock from people all around the globe. Think about the opportunities for personal advancement that can be given to virtually anybody.

I would like to talk about some good sites that I've encountered.

Duolingo

If you know me well, you've probably heard me talk about this app at one time or another. Currently, Duolingo offers Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese. It's an addictive game, but you actually learn something productive in the end. The site claims to be funded by user translated articles. I'm not quite sure how that works because beginner language students often do not give great translations, but let us be thankful that it does.

Codecademy

All you guys know about this site because we used it in STAC. It teaches HTML, Javascript, PHP, all that good stuff. To me it seems like a coding version of Duolingo, but that's only because I used Duolingo first.

Memrise

Memrise is primarily focused on learning through memorization. This works quite well for learning languages and other subjects. The learning is imagistic and fast-paced, while also making sure you review what you've already learned.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a resource for information on all traditional schooling subjects, plus test prep and programming. It is a tool for both students and teachers, offering advice for tasks such as implementing the common core. In terms of traditional learning, it offers all the resources.

What Might John Dewey Think of the Ed Tech Revolution?

I would like to quote from this interesting article on the Memrise website as a closing statement.

"If you believe in that view [the traditional view of education], then access to the traditional learning materials was the big problem, and technology has already mostly solved it. All that remains is to make sure that as many people as possible can get online and get access to the materials, and a way to judge which materials are the very best.

But I think that aims too low. Universal access to information is a good start. But only when we re-invent the moment-by-moment experience of learning will we achieve changes that are worthy of the astonishing potential of technology."

The Current World of Writing

Recently I've realized that if I want to write more, I ought to read more. This may be obvious, but let me expand. What I believe is that it is not enough to simply read classics of the past, no matter how good they may be. It is also necessary to follow the literary world of the present, much of which exists in blogs, magazines, and newspapers. 

I've spent the past hour or so browsing for random, interesting blogs, preferably idea and literary based though not necessarily. Based on what I've observed, I've come to one main conclusion.

Most writing is distributed through popular blogs, newspapers, and magazines. On the other hand, most writers have their own independent blog as their base.

That is, a writer will make articles for popular media as a way of gaining notoriety, but also maintain his or her own personal projects which have their own smaller but personal following. 

This makes a lot of sense. 

From this, I surmise that there are two types of modern-day writers. The first are active journalists who maintain these popular outlets. The second are passive writers who work on their own terms but rely on these outlets to access an audience.

Right now, I am working in a limited version of the second category. I am working for myself, but I am not seeking notoriety at this time. 

If I do attempt a journalism major, I could end up in the first category, or stay in the second. It all depends on what I want to do. 

I hope to read some more popular-ish blogs just for kicks, and if I enjoy them a lot, maybe I'll consider writing for them one day. Going to NYU, that could be a legitimate possibility for me.

Still, I'm not sure if that's what I would want to dedicate myself to, because I feel that I would want a vocation that actively helps make the world a better place. I suppose I could write for an outlet that does just that. It's still too early to predict anything though. 

There are many doors. There are many options. Right now, I'm just taking everything one piece at a time.  

A Belated Valentine

A Belated Valentine
I'm sharing this one because it has an interesting story.

When I was in Disney, I was having a conversation with a guy from my grade who I had gone to pre-school with. Our mothers had talked and apparently my mother had found a valentine he wrote to me back then. It was likely one of those valentines you pass out to the entire class, but nevertheless, he insisted that I write him a belated response and post it in my blog. He also demanded this letter meet his expectations, coming so late.

Hopefully, I was successful.

Coffeebreak: A Play

I am making a new change to this blog. Not only will I not post things I write on my daily writing blog, I will only bother to talk about the posts that have particular significance for me, either because of their good quality or personal value. Posting everyday about my writing process is not only time consuming but likely unnecessary.

Coffeebreak: A Play
So why have I chosen this post to talk about? A number of reasons. After recieving one act plays in STAC, I decided I would make an attempt to write my own. I didn't go into this project with any ideas. I simply started writing, and this was the result.

One thing that's unusual about this play in comparison to the rest of my posts is that it's not particularly funny. Up until this point I had focused on writing humor, but this day, I simply wanted to write without that kind of restraint. That means that this writing is more personal, and thus, more vulnerable.

That's something I often have difficulty with when I make art. True and emotional art makes you very vulnerable. I am a very open person. Perhaps a little too open at times. Here's the thing though. I am perfectly capable of sharing my past traumas and emotional experiences, but I only feel comfortable doing so in hindsight, when I can fully understand the circumstances and forgive myself for my own behavior. In the heat of the moment, I don't like having my feelings shared and criticized.

On the other hand, writing this piece was actually quite cathartic for me. It's one of those pieces of art that you make because you really just have to get something out. I think I needed to release some things I've been feeling lately, and that's why this piece spontaneously appeared.

After I wrote this, I was scared. I knew I would have to post it on my blog. It wasn't like I was going to write a second entry and share that instead. Then I thought, why should I? It's definitely rough, but I think it's pretty decent and it has potential to be better if I ever make the effort to revise it.

The day after I wrote this, I felt very strange. The piece hung over me as both a burdon and a liberation. I had a number of apprehensions, but I was also happy to open the door to expressing deeper emotions, as opposed to thriving on the surface with shallow humor.

I think that much young writing about deep emotional issues often comes out as shallow, like you're trying too hard. This is why I've avoided it. What I see now though is that it only comes out shallow if you go in with the intention of making it emotionally complex. If it happens by accident, it seems much more genuine. It's sort of like acting in that way. If you act like you're sad, it sucks, but if you make yourself feel sad, it's great.

So now, I have brought more flexibility to my writing. I'm hoping that one day I will be able to skillfully combine humor and drama into a wonderful mix to represent the dramady that is our existence.

Soap Suds: A Poem

Soap Suds: A Poem

I was watching How I Met Your Mother, and in the episode Bedtime Stories, Marshall was trying to stop his son Marvin from crying by reciting tales about his friends in the form of rhyme. I wanted to try it. A few days beforehand, I was telling a friend some strange stories about boys that have made terribly hilarious attempts to flirt with me. One of these stories has become the poem thus.

I have a feeling this one is going to turn into a vlog.

How To Get Your Roommate To Stop Playing Christian Rock

How To Get Your Roommate To Stop Playing Christian Rock

While on the phone with my brother, I told him to check out my blog. He did, and he told me I should write a post about how to get his roommate to stop playing Christian Rock all the time. I took the idea and ran with it. The suggestions probably won't help him at all, but hopefully they will make him laugh.

Why I Make Art

Why I Make Art

After reading the packet we got for our STAC homework, I figured the best way to create a response for why I make art was by brainstorming my random thoughts. This post is a collection of some of the best (and most amusing) reasons I make art.

Am I Overshadowing Myself?

I know I post a pretty obnoxious amount, and I've probably lost the following of the little audience I had because of the high influx. I'm somewhat conflicted about this. On the one hand, I write my blog mainly for myself, to help me process things that I see, to take notes, and to act as a grading mechanism for STAC. On the other hand, I sometimes have well thought out discussions on my blog, and I wish I could engage more people with me, or help them through my insights. Another issue, should I really be writing public posts purely for myself? If that's my goal, shouldn't I just maintain a journal with my notes instead?

When I first started blogging, most of my posts would be under my current category of "Thoughts." I would have some thoughts about an abstract concept, and I would write in order to understand it better. I had a number of fairly intelligent insights, even when I was just fourteen. Writing was my tool for understanding the world in concrete terms. It was also my way of sharing my understandings so people could comment and learn.

My current writing practice lacks this type of writing. It predominantly exists as a form of gentle amusement. I don't necessarily have a problem with that. However, it does mean that my "thoughts" posts are playing a lesser role than they used to, which is saddening.

Perhaps a simple solution would be to add my thoughts posts to my predominant blog, and keep my library and journey posts here. That is something I am considering, but I'm not so confident in my thoughts posts that I want to share them widely. I feel that I talk about a lot of subjects I don't necessarily have validity on beyond my own personal experience. I don't want to be one of those people who acts like they have the whole world figured out but lacks even a basic sense of how the world works. I don't want to make statements on the pretense like I know what I'm saying when I don't. Are statements valid when they cannot be empirically proven? Are thoughts interesting when they are not hidden under the pretense of creative writing?

While I think many of my insights are true, I don't know if they are necessarily different from what a lot of people say. What makes my thoughts worth more? I could argue that the pure act of writing my thoughts automatically rises me above the level of those who don't even make the effort. Why should people care? Perhaps it doesn't matter why. If they do, then that is good. If they don't, I do something else.

What a hypocrite I am. I want people to read my thoughts, but I don't want them to, and this happens simultaneously.

I don't plan on changing too much yet, but I'm going to do one thing on this STAC blog. Instead of simply copying and pasting the posts from my 365 blog, I'm simply going to talk about the process for each post. This is mainly to appease the requirement of intellectual involvement and artistic continuum for our new assignment. These posts can be passed over easily, while the main focus can return to my thoughts. Maybe I'll do more later. We'll see.

Feelings

People often have the idea that negative emotions are wholly bad without any redeeming value, and therefore they should be avoided at all costs. They believe that even possessing negative thoughts about others is a sin, and so these thoughts must be blocked out. To them, emotions are a mercurial phenomenon that should be conquered, and once these emotions are conquered, true happiness awaits.

Emotions aren't always caused by certain situations or certain people. Sometimes, they are unpredictable occurances that are caused by simple things such as lack of sleep or an adrenaline rush.

On the other hand, recurring negative emotions are often a sign of an underlying problem that needs to be dealt with.

Here's what I believe. It is not wrong to have human feelings. They are not something to be suppressed or overcome. They are simply a natural aspect of living. Yes, negative emotions can lead people to do rash things, making mistakes they will later regret. However, the emotions themselves are not intrinsically evil.

No deep emotional bond lacks an element of tumultuousness. Ups and downs happen, not because we want them to, and not because we didn't stop them, but because it's impossible to prevent them. Some people are more out of control than others, but no one is perfect. Mistakes happen, people are hurt. When it gets severe, we wonder why we even have these kinds of relationships.

To some, the solution is to simply avoid being close to anyone. No people, no care, no problem. But that's not satisfisfying on the long haul. In essence, you are artificially isolating yourself. You are forcing yourself to take the burden of the entire world on your shoulders because you're afraid a true friend could accidentally step on your foot while helping you carry it. It's a sad and lonely quest.

The most passionate relationships swing like a pendulum about to break its hinges. They are dangerous, but they can't serve as the only example. As with everything in life, balance and moderation is the key. Both extremes have consequences.

Sharing your feelings can be rewarding, even if there's no solution or end goal. Often, you gain the relief of knowing that other people struggle with the same difficulties, and that's helpful in and of itself. It means you aren't alone in the way you feel. You aren't a freak. You're just human, like everyone else.

In my opinion, the worst thing you can ever do to a person is make them believe that their feelings are wholly wrong. How can one live with themselves when they've been told that their uncontrollable tendencies are a sign of weakness or mental delusion? How is one expected to make choices and decisions for themselves when they can't even trust their own instincts?

Yes, feelings can be misplaced or misinterpreted. Yes, many feelings don't have much significance and should be gently dismissed. Yes, talking about your feelings at times can exacerbate them and make them worse than they would be otherwise. Yes, occasionally you need to bite your tongue and sit though unpleasant circumstances.

But you are never wrong to have feelings. Read my words. Never.

Monologues in the Style of Matthew McConaughey

Monologues in the Style of Matthew McConaughey

This post was actually a parody of a parody. I was inspired by the SNL imitation of Matthew McConaughey on Weekend Update. To me it seemed the actor was making up things on the spot, and I figured if he could make it up on stage, I could some monologues myself. These are quite silly, but very much fun to make!

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day

I started taking astronomy this quarter, and the wonderful Mr. Gangji introduced our class to the Astronomy Picture of the Day. The website is hosted by NASA, and each day they post an interesting astronomical image along with a description of what it is. I thought this would be nice to share because the images are quite fascinating and inspiring.

Here are a few of my favorites.

New Horizons Launches to Pluto

A Massive Star in NGC 6357

Hubble's Lagoon

Cloudy Night of the Northern Lights

Frida Kahlo

I haven't made a library post in a while, but I want to make one or two quick notes.

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican surrealist artist in the early 20th century. Most of her paintings were self portraits that contained symbols representing certain things in her life, such as painting her heart outside her body, to show that she felt vulnerable, or an unborn fetus to represent her miscarriages. She also used symbols derived from Mexican mythology. She had a very strong national pride, and she supported communism, especially in her later life.

Frida Kahlo began seriously painting when she was 18 after becoming seriously injured in a bus crash. This crash damaged her pelvis in such a way that she could never conceive children. A few times she tried, but she only ended up with miscarriages. This was a heavy emotional weight on her.

Her husband was an artist who also had great merit of his own, Diego Rivera. Rivera was very supportive of Kahlo's art work, but he was also a substantial adulterer. One time, he even had an affair with Kahlo's sister. In response to his affairs, Kahlo had a number of affairs of her own, with some well known people such as the Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi and even Leon Trotsky.

Her health deteriorated over her life and eventually she died at the age of 47. Still, she is remembered for defining Mexican culture and creating unique self-portraits that captivated viewers.

The book I read on Frida Kahlo helped inspire this writing post.

My New Blog

For those of you who don't already know, I made a blog with the help of Luke. It's hot stuff.

ellenrosewrites.com

As part of my artistic process, I would like to reflect upon a few things, but I shall do so in the form of brief statements.

On my blog

I've been wanting to make a strict writing blog since last year, and I'm glad I have finally done it.

On my URL

I came up with my URL spontaneously, but I have some concerns about it. Some may confuse the word "writes" with "rights" when it is spoken proverbially. Also, a friend of mine commented to me that "Ellen Rose" sounds a bit corny. I could see that. I wonder if it's worth doing something about.

On Wordpress

I don't know if I'm being antsy, but I find that Wordpress frequently loads much slower than sites like Blogspot. Perhaps this is because I use my own server instead of the server of a massive corporation.

On my layout

I like it a lot. The only issue I've been having has been trying to find a plugin that will give me a decent archive. I want to have my archive in calendar form, but the only plugin that did what I wanted looked like crap. So right now, my archive is simply in list form.

Additionally, I would like to change my favicon, but I don't know how.

On my portrait

I would like to take a better portrait of myself to use for my blog and other sources. I don't know when or how I'll be able to do this.

On promoting my blog

Everyday I've been telling myself "I'm gonna post my blog on my facebook once I get a really good post on the front page." Excuses. I've been too afraid of not seeming legitimate. I actually have grown the guts to tell a few people in person though.

On my Youtube

I updated the channel art, and I hope to add a description soon. My nerves for promoting my videos are the same as the ones of my blog.

On forming a community

I have a few other friends who write. I've been bugging them into updating their own blogs so that I can enjoy writing alongside them (instead of feeling the need to compete with them out of my own insecurity)

On talent

One of my friends who has been very supportive of my art told me that my blog showed that I was "talented." He claimed that my ability to post well everyday proved this. I don't know if writing daily is talent as much as it is discipline. But I'll take the compliment nonetheless.

On post-modern writing

In the world of the internet, I must admit that the long-form novel seems to be a diminishing form, at least at the moment. I see the future of writing in small, amusing snippets. That is how I like to write. The only issue is how to monetize it.

On my process

I usually follow the first idea I get for a shtick I can play with. I create many statements, and then I pick out the best ones. Somehow, I always have ideas. It's actually cool to sit in class sometimes and think "Later today, I will create something that I can't even conceive of at this very moment. But it will exist before the end of tonight."

On developing a library

It is a LOT easier for me to write when I'm basing my work off of something specific. For example, I read a book about Frida Kahlo, which inspired me to make some parody votive portraits based on her work and the descriptions I read. Easy to do, very funny. The more I write, the more I realize I must read in order to have material.

On maintaining my blog

Maintaining a blog is time consuming. I find myself running out of time daily trying to maintain the blog while keeping up with my high school responsibilities such as homework. I wish I could ease this process in some way but I don't know how. Perhaps I will not be able to post everyday, even though I will still write.

On posting my blogposts here

I don't know if it's redundant for me to post my blogposts on my STAC blog and my main blog. I know I have an audience here, so that's why I like to post here directly. On the other hand, I'm probably clogging up your blogfeeds way more than you expected, so maybe I should keep most things on my main blog.

On what's next

I don't know if I'll be able to complete an entire 365 because I don't know what my situation will be like in college. Also, I'm not 100% sure what I'm majoring in, but right now I'm considering a dual major in journalism and economics.

If this blog goes well, perhaps at the end of 4th quarter I will try to print some of the best posts, make a booklet, and sell it.

On why I want to have a completed project by the end of 4th quarter

When I was in 4th grade, I wrote an overdramatic story of how I snuck into my house to eat Doritos, from the point of view of a secret agent. When I shared this with the class, they hailed me as a writer. My teacher, Mrs. Talierchio, was very supportive of me as a student and she pushed me to keep writing. We developed a close bond. At the end of the year, she told me that she wanted a copy of my first book, and I never forgot.

In fact, I did give her the one and only copy of my first book when I graduated middle school. I wrote in 8th grade during the English Scholars Program. However, much of the book was haphazardly compiled together because I procrastinated so much, and I wasn't too proud of it. I told myself that when I graduated high school, I was going to give her another book, and it was going to be even better.

While my desire to write a book of some sort is related to overshadowing my album, it is also the desire to fulfill a promise I made to myself as a young child in various phases of my life. 

So we'll just see what happens.

Calligrams

Calligrams

I was inspired to practice this based on the works of Guillaume Apollinare. I typed the poems using Adobe Paint Shop Pro, which contains a number of great features that allow you to warp text. It was fun introducing computer editing to my own writing, and creating images with words. My particular favorite in this is "Too Much Alcohol," based on its sheer ridiculousness.

Why You All Up in My Grill?

Why You All Up In My Grill?

This post is just good rhyming fun.

Votive Portraits in the Style of Frida Kahlo

Votive Portraits in the Style of Frida Kahlo

I wrote this after reading a book on the art of Frida Kahlo. Though I was touched by the emotional struggles she went through in her life and put into her art, I also thought that some of her direct symbolic representation seemed ridiculous, at least in the way it was described. I wanted to try to make my own crappy pictures and describe them the same way.

I must admit that this is probably one of my favorite posts yet.

Haikus

Haikus

The haikus that I wrote here were inspired mainly by characters, written in the style of their voice. I figured this would make it easier to make more poems because it gave me a rule, as opposed to simply writing any old haiku. 

Phobias

Phobias

Once when I was younger, I read a very long list of phobias because I was amused by the complex names. Recently, I realized that there are a number of phobias that I could add to the list, so I made some new terms.

That's Unfortunate...

That's Unfortunate...

Have you ever talked to someone who somehow manages to turn all of your minimal statements into an opportunity to share long and somewhat awkward stories about themselves. I spoke to someone a few days ago who shared many of these tales, and while I felt sad for her, I also thought her tendency to share these stories was quite amusing. So made a few of my own.

Art and Emotion

Today is the day I'm finally de-angstified my blog. It has taken me a number of hours, but I feel a lot better now, knowing that there isn't very much disparaging information about me on the internet.

When I was reading my posts about The Enneagram, I noticed that I had a serious issue that I had difficulty defining. I was always talking about "the missing thing" or "the thing I'm not getting." I complained that much of my art seemed whiny and unsophisticated.

This one paragraph in particular made an impression on me.

"It feels like if I want to be upset, I can only express myself in a mature kind of way. It has to be through well written poetry, or songs. But you know, sometimes I can't make my sadness worth anything. I can't push my emotions through some grinder and mold them into something beautiful. It's just pain."

There are a number of things I interpret from this. First of all, I wanted to use art as a way of justifying my negative tendencies instead of actually coping with them. 

"If my art is beautiful, then who cares that I'm poorly behaved?"

Secondly, I had the idea that good art would sprout from me automatically because I had strong feelings. 

"Artists are sad and creative. I am also sad and creative. 

Therefore, I would make a good artist."

When I was younger, I fell into a lot of the fallacies of the artistic psyche. One of those fallacies is that good art stems from emotional instability.

You can cite many examples of great artists who were emotional disasters. However, you cannot trust raw emotion alone to make art. You also need technical abilities.

Art is the combination of emotional profundity and technical ability. Each entity by itself is not art. Emotional profundity is therapy. Technical ability is design. 

One of the difficulties of being an artist is balancing emotional involvement. You have to work with emotion to make art interesting and profound. On the other hand, you also need to be emotionally detached so you can handle criticism. Sometimes, you have to switch between the two quickly. It's very tricky, and for people who aren't solid, it can definitely knock them off their rocker.

With The Enneagram, I struggled with the disparity between my taste and my ability, which all young artists deal with. Additionally, I expected my art to give me some kind of emotional cleansing through personal expression. I was disappointed when this didn't happen.

In truth, good art can only happen when you stop talking about how you specifically feel, and instead move into the realm of describing abstract feeling and thought. Good art doesn't cleanse you like therapy does, but it will make you feel very good about yourself for accomplishing something. Maybe you'll discover new facts about yourself along the way.