Fireside Chat

This idea kind of took on a life of its own. The belief I chose to present was that of how I think our culture’s focus on modest is hypocritical, but my final presentation encompassed a great deal more than just that one belief.

I knew I wanted to do a live presentation; there is something about the realness, the impromptu-ness, the live reaction-ness, that you can’t replicate with other mediums. A scene, with actors and costumes and props, was necessary for what I wanted to portray -- which was, as I came to realize only after rewriting my script with my 10 year old co-star, that beautiful, terrifying, deciding conversation between an LDS mother and her prepubescent daughter about modesty.

There were things I knew had to be included: the passive-aggression in the mother’s tone, the ignorance towards body image health, the incorrect and absurd reference to general conference talks. Those lines, along with the idea of the Mom applying ridiculous materials to her face and body as extreme makeup, made up the backbone We added in Barbara and the “I hate school” and other, more frivolous moments as character development much later on.

So, with all of the above formally delineated, Charlotte (my cousin, the 10 year old acting prodigy) and I created a scene almost too quickly. We basically scrapped my script and went off of what we knew to be familiar, and what we thought would be funny. Because yes, we thought it was funny. Perhaps I gave my humour too much credit, but I legitimately believed that audience members would be rolling on the floor, in tears, for laughing so hard.

But it’s not funny. Far from it. As my mom said over the phone, after I called and related the premise of the scene, “It’s heavy.” By quoting Sister Dalton, and using a line about “feeling the Spirit”, I not only poked fun at silly LDS culture phenomenon -- I attacked the entire Church. It was personal. And that...isn’t very funny, when considering the gravity of my fight. I mean, there is a reason why no one in the Nelke laughed. People don’t question it, but I did.

And, you know what, I’m not going to apologize for that.

I think I’m right. I think t is so incredibly hypocritical for us to sigh and waggle our manicured fingers at kids -- not only kids, but anyone not looking the part -- and criticize their faith, their character for being “immodest”, and in the same sentence, walk into the plastic surgeon for a third breast enhancement, or the tanning lounge, or the hair salon for the fourth time that month. Absurd. There is no contesting that. Absolutely, I’m right. Especially when those moms and dads and church leaders are in the midst of a prescription drug crisis. No, I’m not saying that legitimate illnesses like anxiety and depression are the Church’s fault; what I’m saying, is that if the cycle continues, those little girls who are told to be brave and look modest else they catalyze pornography and sexual assault will grow up to be just as self-conscious and uncomfortable and messed up as their mothers, and will then proceed to condemn their own daughters to the same fate.

I would go further to explain -- as I hinted at in my presentation -- that it is equally absurd for us to discuss matters of modesty as the sole responsibility of women. Rather than reinforce rape culture and teach women how to cover up their bodies for the sake of preserving their virtue or whatever the hell that means, why aren’t we teaching both girls and boys of the power and ability of their bodies as vehicles for good? It’s not that hard. Here, lemme ‘splain:

Instead of, “Hey, would you mind putting on a jacket? Your shoulders are just, you know…”

Try, “Isn’t this summer sun so beautiful? Let’s go for a walk!”

Or, “Wow, I love that band! That tank top is awesome! Do you play?”

Or even, “I hate wearing tank-tops because I have horrible back-acne, but you can wear whatever you want”

Or literally anything other than, “You should cover your shoulders so that boy over there doesn’t rape you.”

And I’m not even trying to be funny. Because it’s not funny. It’s heavy. It's absurd that it is, but it is nonetheless.

Moral of the story? You pick. Pick one thing out of that loaded skit and tear it apart, criticize it, love it, preach it, but please, please talk about it. Maybe someday, it won't be so heavy.

Concerned Citizen

In 2015, an estimated 60,200 cases of non-invasive carcinoma – the “earliest form of breast cancer” -- and over 231,800 cases of invasive carcinoma were diagnosed in America. And it is estimated that both of those numbers will only rise for 2016. That’s about one of every eight American women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives¹.

For women, breast cancer has proven to be one of the most lethal of diagnoses, as it is the second-most common cancerous diagnosis among American women, other than skin cancer, and has higher death rates than any other cancer besides lung cancer. Ultimately, this meant that even though death rates amongst breast cancer patients have been decreasing since the late 1980’s – when awareness first began spreading like wildfire – approximately 40,000 women died of breast cancer in 2015². That’s like the entire population of Brigham Young University, including students, staff, and faculty³.

Thankfully, the waves of breast cancer awareness have done a lot to help fight the cancer, both here in the US, and abroad. Campaigns in bright pink have spread across first-world nations rapidly over the past few decades, largely through independent, nonprofit organizations⁴. One of the most local was started through a survivor herself, Ms. Becky.

Becky, with the help of her sister, Brenda, and best friend, Denise, has been able to not only defeat her own diagnosis of cancer, but come to the aid of hundreds of others⁵. The three of them got the bug for advocacy when Becky first started undergoing treatments, and in one fell swoop, rose over $30,000 for her medical bills. Their success triggered the idea to start the Anything For A Friend charity. Since early 2010, Anything For A Friend has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and has sponsored dozens of friends, family, and strangers, inciting the support of local TV stations, marathons, universities, newspapers, and politicians all across the state of Utah⁵.

This was one of those cool stories about some of those cool people who “get off their couches” and go out and do things. This isn’t some bake sale to help the fourth grade class fund a field trip to the science museum; this has saved lives. We thought Becky was more concerned about her society than most people we know, and, further, has positively affected it on a grand scale.

It is amazing, first of all, that Becky and the trio had the drive and the guts to start something -- especially since Becky herself, is a survivor. It is equally amazing, however, that it is through small, self-motivated, nonprofit funds like Anything For A Friend that do the majority of the advocacy work. Sure, they get some tax deductions⁶. But even then, the money they save from their tax returns typically goes straight into the blogs of the people they are sponsoring. It made us curious; why do they have to pull the cart and push it, too? Isn’t there that whole pink bracelet thing? Why isn’t that enough?

A Google search of “breast cancer awareness” pulls up over 8 million results. All of them are either a) links to heavily-advertised prescription medication websites, b) informational self-diagnosis or Wiki-How sites, or c) nonprofit blogs. Turns out, Anything For A Friend is only one in a million. The National Breast Cancer Foundation (the “big one”, with all the pink stuff), apparently, is only a minor ally in the fight against breast cancer⁷. This would be like if everyone at BYU (the ones who originally died) started their own individual charities for themselves, relied on their blogs to be successful, didn’t die, and then turned around and used their charity blogs to support and sustain the other 200k people also diagnosed and struggling to afford therapies every year. All without any pink bracelets³.

We wanted to hear, from her own voice, her thoughts on all of this. What was it like fighting cancer yourself? What were you thinking when you started this organization? What has been the hardest thing about sponsoring it? Was there ever a time when you were inspired by one of the patients you helped fund?

Her voice, as we anticipated, is amazing. We thought it would be powerful to make an audio piece, highlighting her amazing voice as part of the crowd of people in similar situations as her who are doing the amazing things that she is doing of their own initiative. It is her voice, combined with the efforts and voices of the 8 million others like her, that have made the difference for the survivors.

Hear what she had to tell us. 

1. "Infographics." Cancer. N.p., 01 Jan. 0001. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

2. "U.S. Breast Cancer Statistics | Breastcancer.org." Breastcancer.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

3. Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

4. "Models Of Courage." Models of Courage. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

5. "Mission." Anything For A Friend. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://www.anythingforafriend.com/about-us>.

6. Existing Organizations. IRS, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <https://www.stayexempt.irs.gov/Existing-Organizations),>.

7. “About Breast Cancer :: The National Breast Cancer Foundation.” Www.nationalbreastcancer.org. N.p., n.d. Web 29 Mar. 2016. http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/about-breast-cancer.

Eat

TW/CW: Eating disorders, mention of "struggles", "calories", hospitalization, panic/fear

I was a Resident Assistant last year, at Helaman Halls. I ran full force into the lives and dramas of about forty teenage women, and – though I adored all of them, fiercely – quickly learned that I was vastly out of my league in terms of training and counseling. Several of “my girls” lived with crippling anxiety, several more had varying diagnoses of depression, some dealt with sexuality, personality, or bodily dysphoria, a couple struggled with addictions, and still others fought eating disorders. I was mostly able to sympathize with all of these girls and their struggles, but I had no idea how to help those with eating disorders. I’d had a basic, definition-based understanding of what eating disorders were; I’d learned about their symptoms and consequences in grade school, and some red flags were evident even within my own home. However, I had no idea where to step in terms of conversation or application; I knew, especially with eating disorders, that there were definite “Do Say This” and equally definite “Do NOT Say That”, and I didn’t want to step on any landmines.

I consistently turned to my manager and professors for help, and, of course, always directed the girls to their counselors or doctors first and foremost. I researched as much as I could about their respective disorders, but I still had a hard time differentiating between what would be safe to talk about, and what was dangerous.

My goal with this exercise was, without any badge of “authority” or any other reason for feeling removed, to wholly place myself in the shoes of these girls and their lives. How did their disorders affect their day-to-day lives? What did their interactions look like between them and their friends or family? How do these reactions differ even amongst themselves? How much of how they behaved was their personality speaking, and how much of it was their disorder…even in pleasant or benign conversation?

Aesthetically, I wanted this game to read as bluntly as a disorder is. According to my research, most people currently living with an eating disorder either deny that they have it, or have no idea that they have it in the first place. An eating disorder is direct; there is no “indirect” or passive consequence. And so, the thoughts of someone living with a disorder – specifically, someone who did not know or, or denied this disorder – would be direct, aggressive, straightforward. Going through the passages of the game and having to constantly readdress the plaguing thoughts of eating and body appearance and health is exhausting, and I wanted to incorporate that, too. Some of the passages loop within each other, trapping the player in an endless, relentless, and terrifying cycle of mental instability and panic.

A third and final focus I put into this game was that I didn’t restrain myself to only one eating disorder. The three biggies, as most people know, are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder, but there are plenty of others. I deliberately linked the passages so that, no matter what hyperlink the player chose, they ended up with some eating disorder. Hopefully, the player emerges from the game with an increased awareness and respect for those dealing with an eating disorder.

Citation:

http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/explain/index.php

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders-new-trifold/index.shtml

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/signs-of-eating-disorders

Game: Eat

(If that doesn't work, copy and paste either of these into a new Window)
file:///C:/Users/Maddy/Downloads/Eat.html
http://twinery.org/2/#stories/b5a9f7dc-75c3-33cd-5f70-c0741bfae699/play

*Trigger Warning/Content Warning

The Mask You Live In

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that BYU was hosting a screening of this documentary, and even more so that so many people showed up. The entire Varsity Theater in the Wilk was full -- I sat on the floor!

The documentary was...as expected. I'm thrilled about the progress of the dialogue about the harmful effects of masculinity, but I'm not satisfied just yet. As one subject in the film stated, it's wonderful that we're even talking about masculinity as anything other than the ideal, but we've still got a lot of work to do.

The sister film, Miss Representation, does a little more work than The Mask You Live In, I think. Perhaps that is because I am female...but then again, perhaps that bias is even more validating in my frustration. I walked out of the movie theater with a handful of peanut butter cookies (courtesy of the BYU Men's Studies Research dept.) and strut back to my apartment, where I spilled the good news to my roommates that the world is evolving, times are getting better, and people are finally getting it.

They didn't miss a beat; one sighed and walked away, while the other calmly explained to me that it is relatively pathetic that we need to be explaining to the men why these issues of gender affect them, too, in order for them to be interested. She also explained to me how it is also frustrating that we, women, are asked to give men any sympathy for the struggles they face (not being able to cry in public, etc.) when they, themselves, are the ultimate perpetrators. My shoulders slumped further and further as she continued to rant about how as much as men suffer for their own aggressiveness and idolizing hyper-masculinity, women will suffer tenfold by the same hands. The documentary touched on this, briefly, but still focuses on how sad it is that boys are emotionally stunted, rather than how many people end up victim to the charade of masculinity and the patriarchy.

Again, I am relieved that this conversation is happening. And, truly, I would say the film is successful if, for no other reason, because it sparks dialogue. But, as my roommate so clearly explained to me, this is frustrating. We need so much more than an acceptance of men's emotions; we need equal pay, we need to end rape culture, we need to rearrange sex education in schools, we need to do a lot of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc45-ptHMxo

A World of Sound

What if...we could see music?

Our original idea stemmed from this question, but we came across several challenges. If people can see music, then they can see all types of sounds. And if people can see all types of sounds, then they would always be hearing something. And if they are hearing everything at all times, then their other senses would be overloaded, and essentially useless. So, we decided, rather than "seeing music", what if, in this world, people "saw" through sound?

Freeway

The freeway is one of the noisiest parts of first-world civilization. Cars race past each other at speeds ranging between 55-100 miles per hour, if we’re being honest. It is also an environment where sight is critical; you need to see the road, the other cars, the environment, the buttons of the radio, the wheel, your passengers, the gas tank, the speedometer, which exit to get off of...

So, how would a freeway look in a world without visuals?

My first answer would be that freeways, if they existed at all, would ultimately function off of sonic interdependence. “Cars” would feel their way from point A to point B similar to how bats fly, by detecting the vibrating sound waves of the traffic around them. I tried to keep in mind that while sounds travel across time and space, someone who understood the world through sound would most likely have trained their focus so that the average person in this world would only be registering a specific radius of noises. I used hue and value to try to visually represent this range of focus; the brighter and thicker the color, the more “in focus”. There are tiny, dark, thinner and fading audial marks for probable objects emitting sounds, including the electricity flowing under the roads or the rustling of leaves in trees.

Band Poster

Another aspect of a world where sounds are seen that was considered for this project was live musical performances. To represent what an event like this would be like, we designed a poster for a real life band, STRFKR. Because music itself is the conglomeration of many different sounds layered on top of each other, I decided to represent this by using photoshop to manipulate a pre-existing logo for the band rather than use waveforms. I found that by selecting and deleting portions of the image, and telling photoshop to replace those deleted portions using a “content aware” algorithm, that the geometric shapes forming the original logo created a unique pattern that could represent the sights one would experience in this world. I found this to be appropriate since the band’s identity is not only defined by its music but also its logo- and who’s to say that in a world where one can see music that the music being seen can be visually distinct according to the band it originates from?  I also took into consideration that STRFKR’s live shows already use many different lasers and lights that correspond with the music, and by using a photograph of them where this is evident I feel that I bridged the gap from our imaginary world with the real one.

"Eye Phones"

My first thought when presented with this world was “what would become of headphones?” The concept was cool and really to me everything that emitted music and sound took on a new light. In my piece I thought I would convey this through a popular method we see in our own world, the Youtube sensation of unboxing a new tech item and then reviewing it. This is seen all over the web and can often be comical and in some cases it showboats over analysis of items. Using terminology like “watching music” and “I am sure you have (literally) seen this song” serve to further build up this world in which people see music. The cell phone footage, cheesy after effects intro, and plea at the end to subscribe all showcase the growing trend of technology in everyday life. If one was to watch music than, instead of listen to it, how would that effect things like this? My hope is that I was able to capture that in this small video.

Music Box

If I had to spend a week wherein I had to rely solely on one of my five senses, it would be my vision. Reading, driving a car, riding a bicycle, recognizing friends and family, locating food; these are all activities that I accomplish with my eyes (and the visual processing part of my noggin).

In the world we created, the eyes are not the primary sensory organ. The inhabitants of this society rely primarily on their ears to navigate their world and accomplish their daily tasks. These people react to sound waves similarly to the way in which humanity process light waves. Their brains are capable of processing sound waves in such a way that sound is translated into colorful imagery and detailed landscapes.

My question was, “how do these folk have any kind of recorded language”? Because they do not use their eyes in the same way that we do, I decided that a hand-written hieroglyphic language would be unsuitable. I also decided that a form of braille would not be the right way to go either. These people would want a form of recorded language that interacts with their most intricate sense AKA their synesthetic sense of hearing.

So I came up with a sort of music box. The music box has a hand-powered crank that can be turned at the user’s pace, much like turning the pages of a book. The crank simultaneously gives the “music box” book a source of power, and also controls the rate of playback. With each full turn of the crank, a certain amount of sound waves are emitted. These sound waves are processed  by the brain of the user, not only as sounds, but also images and colors. The resulting “reading” experience is deep and interactive.

I used a crank because I thought it would be impractical to have a “music box” book that required re-charging of any kind. Can you imagine a library full of books that need to have energy sources replaced? It would be terrible. But the crank? A little more practical.

Here's a video containing footage of the "music box" book.

Hannah Montana Vs. Miley Cyrus Webspinna

Our original idea of battling an extrovert with an introvert morphed through several phases before we decided on Miley Cyrus vs. Hannah Montana. The catalyst for our idea was actually Taylor Swift, who we’d talked about having “changed” over time. Swift’s first albums fall under the Country music category, with a lot of acoustic guitar and sappy, youthful, romantic verse. Now, with her new, short, straight hair cut and long list of ex-boyfriends, she sings and performs rebellious pop and

Miley Cyrus transformed even more dramatically, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment on the wildness of her evolution. Her career began on Disney Channel, of all places, and quickly became one of America’s sweethearts. She even performed across the pond, for Queen Elizabeth herself. And, of course, now she is known mostly for her nude videos and preference for cannabis.

Because we were originally thinking of the differences between extroverts and introverts, and then pre-1984 Taylor Swift versus post, our ideas on posing one Miley against the other began sort of skewed; we focused on the negative, satirical  humor of her defamation, and the audio we chose adhered to that. As we progressed with our narrative, however, we realized that it was much more interesting to think about how Miley has been the same person throughout all of her career. She has always had a strong character and, for some unquantifiable reason, an entertaining personality -- which we tried to emulate in our performance – and we felt that the most powerful story we could try to capture of her would be of the commonalities in her career. We tried to focus on her own reconciliation of what she used to resemble and what she resembles today.

The Hunting Ground

I brought a couple of my friends to the see the screening of The Hunting Ground and we were all greatly troubled by it. We're all hardcore feminists, and understood the rape culture problems before the movie, but had no idea of the problems with universities before we watched the film.

I walked away furious and terrified. I'd thought that America was on the rapid moral slope upwards, but seeing how many girls and women were raped and disregarded all across the country was shocking. All that a rape needs is a rapist -- so for that many girls to be raped, there needs to be quite a few rapists. And if there are that many rapists, it means that there is a severe discrepancy between proper sexual education and common, adult behavioral characteristics. The one quote of the young guy who said "Just because she said no, and you have sex, doesn't make you a rapist" says it all. Why is there such a lack of understanding of consent?

My first answer is, of course: the patriarchy. Men take what they want, as they've always done...the cause of the sex trade industry, international conflict, robberies, cartels, capitalism, buffets, free samples at Costco, everything. They want it, so why wouldn't they just take it? Right? And the woman obviously wants it, because she obviously wants me, because I'm perfect. *eye roll*.

It's the whole "Men are aggressive and women are passive" thing, but on a criminal level. And yes, rape is a crime, thank heavens. But it's such a sensitive subject, no one wants to talk about it. Or if they do, the man usually finds a way out of it.

My second answer -- though, in a way, still relates to misogyny -- is that there is too much of a focus on women/victims being to blame, and not enough of a focus on the perpetrator. Even in church, during Sunday School; I've had the modesty lesson maybe three hundred and seventy times -- including being told that I "need to help the boys out", or "the boys can't help it", or "being immodest is like throwing your body away and allowing any random boy to take it" -- but I've never met a guy who's been talked to in church (or in school) about respecting other people's privacy. Or, other people. Their biggest lessons are "pornography is bad...I know you probably like it, but try not to do it", not "women are people too. would you like it if there were Photoshop'd pictures of you splattered all over the internet for teenage women to drool over, download, and sin with?"

At college, this is dramatized, because all of a sudden, these kids are on their own. They're making their own decisions, and are drunk off of their independence. They made it to a university, so obviously they're always right and deserve everything! Hormones are peaking, fraternities are "cool", yada yada yada. Brigham Young University has it, too. Even within couples and marriages, I've learnt.

The moral of the story (?) is, don't be a jerk. Also, spread this movie, The Hunting Ground, along.

Medium Specificity: Acting

It may seem suspicious that I chose acting as the medium I wanted to explore, seeing as our 185 class had readings, guest speakers, and assignments all discussing it, but I swear that I thought of it before all that happened.

I'm actually in an Acting Fundamentals class right now, and I'm fascinated by the psychology of acting. It's really interesting to me that people will assume another person's being. Actors and actresses imitate and re-create whole other egos in order to both support the narrative in which that character lives, and to satisfy a primal urge to perform and imitate.

Acting is hard; studying and expressing ourselves takes a heck of a lot of self-awareness and maturity, but to simultaneously be aware of the fact that they exist as a person and play a completely different person is an extremely vulnerable emotional position. It's trauma when you get it wrong, and ecstasy when you get it right. To make things even more confusing, you'll never get it right with more than one person -- one director may absolutely adore your little lip-biting quirk, and his best friend may not be able to stand it. Similarly, some actors are method to the point of obsessive-compulsive, while others are "from-the-inside-out" to the point of marijuana-reeking hippie.

After all is said and done, however, there are a few fundamental aspects of acting that make "acting" a medium and expression of art. Acting requires:
1. An actor/A human being
2. A character for that human to represent
3. A stage/setting to act on/in
4. An objective the character is trying to achieve
5. Tactics the character uses to achieve that objective
6. An audience

There are also a few other things that people tend to think are necessary in acting, but really aren't:
1. A director
2. Lines or a script
3. A camera
4. A costume
5. Fame
6. Drama

In my project, I tried to both celebrate the necessary aspects of acting and scrutinize the things that aren't. I poke fun at the idea of meticulously following the script, I subtly mock the over-zealous director, I roll my eyes at the standardized interaction between directors and actors, and - most importantly - I tried to break the imaginary fourth wall between what the actor is acting and who they are as a person. The script has the narrative; it's the meat and potatoes of any film or production. But the actors are who we see on screen or on stage -- it is their faces, their body language, their quirks that we critique and become familiar with. It is they who live within the narrative's world, and who bring life or death to the piece, no matter how fantastic the script is.

Ultimately, I wanted the audience to read the script or watch the film of the project and wonder what was scripted and what wasn't...because in either case, the person on being filmed is acting. The narrative, in these, aren't as important as the characters within the narrative, or how the characters and their lines make the audience step back and think.


Script:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0GOdVYghxWkSExhMzRpLUl3VkE

Film:
https://youtu.be/RiYDRBG6KMY

Historical Story

The Manson Family murders are some of those creepy-and-intriguing stories that are hard to believe and yet, are completely believable. Ex-con Charles Manson was the leader of the hippie cult of the Manson Family, who were involved in a series of murders and crimes¹. Mysteriously, he was also seriously involved with the Beach Boys²; he was a fan, a friend, a colleague, and a solicitor. In one confusing instance, the Beach Boys found themselves in the middle of an almost-lawsuit dealing with charges of abuse and forms of kidnapping, though it was hard for either of us to find conclusive coverage of the real story of Lotus-Flower.

It was hard for either of us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of any of the characters, so we decided to allow our imagination to exaggerate. We thought it would be interesting to write a short story based on the perspective of the two hitchhiking Manson girls. Our characters are all based on real people, but we tried to focus on what our first-impressions were of those real people and incorporate them into dramatic straw-people. Their dialogue is stiff and blunt, yet descriptive. The scenes show a glimpse of what life in the Manson home was like, using whatever little information we could gather and assume.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson

2. http://crime.about.com/od/manson/a/charlesmanson.htm

file:///C:/Users/Maddy/Downloads/Cease%20to%20Exist.pdf

Laborious Roller Coaster

https://soundcloud.com/jonesy_815/roller-coaster

As the audience, we, ourselves, are drawn into the process of living through the sounds of the roller coaster by proxy; we recognize the invitation to climb aboard, we are anxious to hear the satisfying strains and clicks of the safety restraints, and our hearts pound as the voices on the ride get increasingly more restless. We follow the natural lifetime of the ride, as it climbs tick-tick-tick up the first and most aggravating incline. Our cheeks tighten as we anticipate the peak, the tension breaks as we are swept in the course of the ride, and we are lost in the throws of the machine. People scream and laugh, and we are tempted to join them...though we don’t, because we don’t want to look foolish in front of our classmates. Some of us get dizzy; some of us wish we were dizzier. Finally, the coaster screeeeeaches to a stop. We pry our fingers off of the greasy handlebars or the rickety library mouse.

In a way, we are somewhat disappointed upon reaching the end of the ride (either because it is over, or because we are forced to remember that we never actually rode the roller coaster), but -- as maybe should happen after any intensive, interactive human process -- we ask ourselves: “Was that fun or what?!”

Round Robin

I aimed for simplicity and creativity. I turned a girl into an orange-eating vampire, and gave an orange arms and legs. I derived both of these characters from something: Laura from Le Fanu's Carmilla (which I am reading for my 114 class) and Julius from the drink "Orange Julius'. I thought it would be fun to watch these characters interact with each other, as their interests contrast, and was excited to see whether Julius would survive.

I hadn’t realized, at the time, that it would be hard to maintain the specificity that Laura was an orange-eating vampire, and Julius was, indeed, an orange with arms and legs. Only the person immediately after me in the process knew those facts to specifically. The story developed into something less linear than I’d hoped, but was enlightening in that I learned that collaboration without communication is nothing more (or less) than a medium less controllable than watercolor. 

So, here is my story.

Laura The Vampire

Laura is a vampire. Except, she doesn’t drink blood; she drinks orange juice. Julius is an orange. (Maddy)

One night, the whole town ran out of orange juice. Laura thought that she could borrow some from Julius. She didn’t sleep that day. (Juan)




Laura couldn't get vitamin C from the sun. She didn't want to "borrow" from Julius. But, she must survive. (Heather)



Julius was quite the cautious type, but not too smart. His vitamin c was behind some lasers, but the wire was not. (Jake)

---- (Amy)

Artist's Statement

As eloquently stated by DJ Spooky in his preface to the Exquisite Corpse, recent advancement in social connectivity is fueling the fires of collaboration; breathing life and form into the masses of information we consume everyday. Despite the increased flow of information, however; collaboration and the art that derives from it continues to be dictated by the unbreakable, universal rules of chance and individual perception. Each one of our blogs displays a spin off of the Exquisite Corpse and evidence of the mentioned universal rules. As a team, we played a game where one individual begins a story, only to be constrained to writing under 20 words and sending the rest to be filtered through the artistic channel of four others. After coming together and analyzing each individual’s justification for their respective part, we were able to not only discover the following insights into how a disjointed story can work together, but also basic patterns manifested in collaboration itself.

After coming together, we each explained our justifications for the parts that we’d played. As a team, we realized that the game had forced us to think about our stories through a lens of communication -- which communication, in and of itself, fits under the definition of a ‘medium’. As a group, we each had to adapt to what the people before or after us in the process chain would add or take away from what we, ourselves, had imagined. Some players were able to adapt quicker than others, while the others were able to adapt more cohesively. This did not become apparent, though, until the game had finished, because there was such a lack of communication.

Therefore, without communication, the stories became more about expressing our personalities and worldviews rather than plotline. The game was challenging. It was hard to release some of our precious creative control into the hands of chaos, but chaos was crucial in preserving the crucial element of purity with regards to our reactions and responses. Most importantly, out of this purity came a story that was more creative and unique than we could ever imagine.

Looking deeper, we as a team felt that our game also helped unlock additional insights into the role of collaboration in art itself. As mentioned by DJ Spooky and class discussion, collaboration as an artform may seem disjointed and Frankensteinian in many regards. Each individual carries their own worldview, which is only accentuated in narrative construction as that worldview seeks to adapt to constraints and filters. Above all, however; these constraints are what make the Exquisite Corpse the artform that it is and the strongest glue that binds our story together. Each part of the story is unique in content, yet similar in which is what made. It stands as a microcosm of art itself, where we merely sample and elaborate off the shoulders of artistic giants who came before. Information and creativity may exponentially increase in a globalizing world, but the rules of artistic creation remain the same; forever dictated by the constraints our game portrayed.

Music Mosaic

"Porcelain" by Helen Jane Long (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk)

 I first began listening to this kind of music in 2013, my freshman year at BYU. I was learning a lot of things about myself, by myself, and this song reminds me both of who I am today, and what it took to get me here.

"Porcelain" is mostly composed with soft, blue piano cycles, with ebbs and flows of warmer -- yet restrained -- strings. These images try to capture the melancholy and loneliness of the piano, as well as the growth and release of the violins. Overall, I tried to maintain a level of depth within each image; I used several layers of pigment in my watercolors (which medium I thought expressed the "seeping" feeling I get from the song), as well as altered the last three photos I took to further distance the viewer from the real subject. The top two images I did not alter; I wanted to capture the original clarity and intrigue of the opening bars of the song.

The flowers require a little more explanation; I feel that the best way of visually capturing the first moment that the violins come in is with natural movement...either in the spreading and receding of a wave on the beach, or in a flower's bloom. I figured I could manufacture the same sensation with the wet-on-wet watercolor technique of dropping pure pigment onto a dampened canvas. The GIF of my paintbrush touching the wet paper and watching the first rapid, then slow spreading of the yellow was my attempt to recreate the natural, power-then-release feeling of the violins.

I then photographed the final images of my watercolors. Keeping the process of the wet-on-wet technique in mind, the flowers correspond (via their color, size, and placement on the page) to the notes of the violins as they enter and exit the frame.

Disney Fuels Addiction For Money and Uses Star Wars Video Games As Gasolime

I never know what to get my sisters for Christmas, but my brother is easy: video games. It doesn’t even usually matter what video game it is, as long as at least one of his friends or cousins has the same game, and they can go online and play multiplayer together for hours on end. It’s a $50-75 Christmas investment, which can be painful for college students like myself to watch that much money go into my brother's present, but I like thinking that I give the best gifts out of the kids in the family. 

If it’s a particularly popular game, like Star Wars Battlefront (2015) was just this last Christmas, we may not see my brother resurface for weeks...which, admittedly, I may benefit from, but Jake may not.  

I don’t judge him for liking video games so much. I like them, too. I’m not nearly as good at first-person shooter games, but I can definitely keep par with Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Those games, though, aren’t often the problematic games. Jake tends towards the big-money games: Halo, Call of Duty, and as I just mentioned, Battlefront. All Xbox and Play Station 4 games are expensive, but these massive, blockbuster, soldier-with-constant-action games are the ones that break people’s banks and overwhelm their personal lives.

Parents and experts have become increasingly more aware of and concerned for the growing numbers and symptoms of youth spend more and more time in front of a large, loud, violent and anonymous screen and less time with personal human interaction (http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/?AID=45) -- which is bad, considering today's mental health crises and developmental disorders. 

Kids and teens use these incredible 3D worlds as a substitution for real-life connection (http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/?AID=45), throw tantrums when the games are taken away, (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/video-game-addiction-no-fun), and lose the motivation for anything else in their lives: homework, sports, music, eating, sleeping.

Approximately 8.5% of children who play video games (which are about 91-97% of all children in the U.S.) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/16/survey-97-percent-of-chil_n_126948.html) can be considered chronically addicted (http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/06/health/video-games-addiction-gentile-feat/index.html)

And while this is going on, EA, Bioware, and other game developers are sitting around a large, white table, thinking of new games, new downloadable content (DC), new advertisements…more, more, more sources of income. Milk it ‘til it dies, and then take the leather and steak.

I think that some game developers – and sponsors, carriers, brands, etc. – have gone to lengths of catering their products around what they think people will buy and become addicted to – or, in more specific phrasing, I think that Disney is using Star Wars (the games, the movies, the entire franchise) to drain money out of people whom they have molded into not being able to resist.

This theory is mostly based on my skepticism of the huge success of both the movie and the game. While early ticket sales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens “broke IMAX records at $6.5 million” (https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/the-history-of-marketing-star-wars.aspx#sthash.ZX6mrqvZ.dpuf), Battlefront (2015) “has reportedly sold 12 million copies since its launch in November,” generating approximately $660 million in revenue as of January 4, 2016 (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/star-wars-battlefront-ea-sells-095739583.html).

Along those lines, let’s also talk about how the timing of the release for Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) just so happens to perfectly coincide with the premiere of the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens (2015).

I think it is a little funny how, when I Google “Star Wars Success”, the first title that pops up is “Star Wars 7 Passes Avatar at US Box Office”, and right beneath it is “GS News Update: Star Wars Battlefront Has Sold 13 Million Copies?!” (http://www.gamespot.com/star-wars-battlefront/).

Critics explain that the reviews for both the movie and the game have solely relied on the fandom support, and play off of each other for their successes (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/122915/electronic-arts-buy-right-now-ea.asp?partner=mediafed). Battlefront (2015) is kind of an evil-genius way of extending the life of Star Wars income, “as it will give fans an opportunity to remain in the Star Wars universe while not watching the movies.” I would add onto that to say that the movies are a mirrored opportunity for the consumers of the games to grow more invested in the worlds that the games have created; therefore, “as long as the Star Wars movies continue to deliver, which likely they will, the demand for Battlefront games will be high.”

The game and the movie walk up to your doorstep hand-in-hand as they ask for your money, hand you some cocaine, and leave you to zone out in front of your TV for the next millennia.

Worse than cocaine, video games are extremely accessible. Anyone can walk into GameStop or Target and put a few thousand dollars’ worth of consoles and games into their carts – and that’s not even including the extra fun stuff, like headsets, plug-ins, and plush toys. NPD even coined the phrase for “Force Friday” (September 4, 2015), during which weekend, every $1 of $11 spent “went toward a Star Wars toy” (https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/the-history-of-marketing-star-wars.aspx#sthash.ZX6mrqvZ.dpuf). 

Then, when you go home and plop down onto your couch, you can buy even more stuff. I like to call these things “gaming lunchables”, because even though the buyers know they’re spending money on caloric waste, they love them…and, everything seems to end in “-bles”: collectibles, unlockables, downloadables, and so on.  

Lucasfilm kind of invented the idea of over-marketing through fandom with the first trilogy. “Over the 38-year span of the Star Wars’ lifetime, Lucasfilm has licensed $20 billion worth of goods. The saga’s brand consistently finds a place in the top five licensed toy brands each year, according to NPD Group. Today, companies like Campbell’s and CoverGirl are harnessing Star Wars’ marketing power, creating Star Wars-themed everything, from canned soup to eye makeup.” (https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/the-history-of-marketing-star-wars.aspx). Since the latest The Force Awakens and Battlefront, I myself have even gotten trapped in the Star Wars aisle at Target and been tempted to buy a remote-controlled BB-8, or a child-size Lego Ty-Fighter.

Mostly, I am concerned for the direction of where video games are going. It is arguable that the Hollywood film industry has turned into nothing more than a moneymaking entertainment business, and I think that video games are en route to surpassing film – and any other mode of entertainment – by means of exploiting their consumers’ addiction to them. I fear that Star Wars is sending that trend into hyper drive with Battlefront and The Force Awakens at the wheel.