The Mask Project
Artist statement
The mask that I have created is relating to social media and the norms that have been established around it. As you can see in my mask there are two Instagram posts. In one post there is a white skinny female and the other is a woman who has a darker skin tone and is slightly overweight. The girl in the bottom left-hand corner has more likes than the other and therefore is more accepted. Society has said that beautiful, skinny females are the people who will be noticed and liked on social media making others feel like they are not good enough. I also have red and blue drips coming off of the mask in different directions. This represents the “blood and tears” that come with social media and trying to fit in. Social media is a big part of our culture. But because of the norms that our society has set and the way that we have been socialized it has had a harmful impact on many people. |
Project Reflection
The mask project is about socialization and how the agents of socialization affect people. Some of the main tasks that we worked on when we were gathering background knowledge was a mini project called My Jam. It was a project focused on music and how music has socialized us. I chose the song Shallow by Bradly Cooper and Lady Gaga. We wrote an essay about how the song that we chose affected who we are and why it related to us. My song personally tied to global warming and how it has had a big impact on me. We also watched the movie Mean Girls, in this movie, there is a very prominent role of socialization. We discussed the film and how it related to socialization. I wrote two more essays in this semester, one essay was timed writing about a short story called “Metamorphosis” This is a story written by Franz Kafka about a man named Gregor, he has a normal life with a job and a family. One day he wakes up as a cockroach. For a while, his family still sees him as a human. Even if he is unwanted they still know that he is family. But slowly over time, his family starts to think of him more of a bug than a human. He realizes this and stops eating and slowing deteriorates until he dies. Leaving his family happy, with a weight lifted off of their chests and a normal life again. This timed writing was answering a few questions about Gregor and his relationship with his family. We also wrote a creative writing relating to Metamorphosis my story was about Cancer. Through this semester we have written and read many articles and I feel like I have grown as a writer and a learner.
Throughout this semester and especially this unit I feel like I have expanded and gone beyond my comfort zone. When I was writing my socialization essay I first made the essay about society overall then I realized after talking to Stephen that I should go out of my comfort zone and make my essay more personal. I then rewrote my essay in the last week of the project, that was also something out of my comfort zone. I feel like I advocated for myself through projects, there were a few times when I did not ask a question when I should have, an example of that was my difficulty understanding TEA format. But I did end up advocating for myself so I could get my needs met. Overall I conferenced with Stephen about my essay many times and understood when I needed help.
At the beginning of my project I feel like I could have preserved more and not given up. I was having trouble starting my essay so I fell behind for a while and as I said before didn’t advocate for myself. Nearing the end of the project I realized that my work was not going to be done for me and I worked hard to have a finished outcome. This unit has taught me a lot about socialization and I am proud of my finished products. My mask is refined and related to my essay and my essay is something that I worked hard on and I am proud of the finished product. If I were to do this project again I would spend more time on my essay in the beginning so I could have a more refined product. But my essay is finished and I am proud of my work.
This project has changed me as a leaner and a thinker. I had never thought about the way socialization affects our society but now when I am walking down the street or looking at my Instagram feed I think about how we have been taught to act the way that we do. A skill that I feel like I have grown in is communication. At the beginning of the year I had trouble communicating and asking for help when I needed it but I feel like I have really improved in getting my needs met. Something that I doing well is refinement Refinement is about making your work better and not being afraid to listen to suggestions. One example of this is when we wrote a short story in humanities and I refined and practiced a growth mindset and when I rewrote my mask essay to improve it. I feel like throughout this semester there are things that I could have done better, like making sure I am not getting distracted, but overall I am proud of the work that I have completed and feel like I have grown as a person and a learner.
The mask project is about socialization and how the agents of socialization affect people. Some of the main tasks that we worked on when we were gathering background knowledge was a mini project called My Jam. It was a project focused on music and how music has socialized us. I chose the song Shallow by Bradly Cooper and Lady Gaga. We wrote an essay about how the song that we chose affected who we are and why it related to us. My song personally tied to global warming and how it has had a big impact on me. We also watched the movie Mean Girls, in this movie, there is a very prominent role of socialization. We discussed the film and how it related to socialization. I wrote two more essays in this semester, one essay was timed writing about a short story called “Metamorphosis” This is a story written by Franz Kafka about a man named Gregor, he has a normal life with a job and a family. One day he wakes up as a cockroach. For a while, his family still sees him as a human. Even if he is unwanted they still know that he is family. But slowly over time, his family starts to think of him more of a bug than a human. He realizes this and stops eating and slowing deteriorates until he dies. Leaving his family happy, with a weight lifted off of their chests and a normal life again. This timed writing was answering a few questions about Gregor and his relationship with his family. We also wrote a creative writing relating to Metamorphosis my story was about Cancer. Through this semester we have written and read many articles and I feel like I have grown as a writer and a learner.
Throughout this semester and especially this unit I feel like I have expanded and gone beyond my comfort zone. When I was writing my socialization essay I first made the essay about society overall then I realized after talking to Stephen that I should go out of my comfort zone and make my essay more personal. I then rewrote my essay in the last week of the project, that was also something out of my comfort zone. I feel like I advocated for myself through projects, there were a few times when I did not ask a question when I should have, an example of that was my difficulty understanding TEA format. But I did end up advocating for myself so I could get my needs met. Overall I conferenced with Stephen about my essay many times and understood when I needed help.
At the beginning of my project I feel like I could have preserved more and not given up. I was having trouble starting my essay so I fell behind for a while and as I said before didn’t advocate for myself. Nearing the end of the project I realized that my work was not going to be done for me and I worked hard to have a finished outcome. This unit has taught me a lot about socialization and I am proud of my finished products. My mask is refined and related to my essay and my essay is something that I worked hard on and I am proud of the finished product. If I were to do this project again I would spend more time on my essay in the beginning so I could have a more refined product. But my essay is finished and I am proud of my work.
This project has changed me as a leaner and a thinker. I had never thought about the way socialization affects our society but now when I am walking down the street or looking at my Instagram feed I think about how we have been taught to act the way that we do. A skill that I feel like I have grown in is communication. At the beginning of the year I had trouble communicating and asking for help when I needed it but I feel like I have really improved in getting my needs met. Something that I doing well is refinement Refinement is about making your work better and not being afraid to listen to suggestions. One example of this is when we wrote a short story in humanities and I refined and practiced a growth mindset and when I rewrote my mask essay to improve it. I feel like throughout this semester there are things that I could have done better, like making sure I am not getting distracted, but overall I am proud of the work that I have completed and feel like I have grown as a person and a learner.
Creative Writing
Cancer
Roan Harvey
Hello, I am Cancer. I was not always like this, I used to be a 12-year-old girl. Living in upstate New York. Where my only worries were what to wear to school the next day and where I was going for spring break, I think it was California but I can’t remember now. I never got to go on that trip. January 8th, 1942
It was a rainy day, cold and depressing. I could already tell this even before I opened my eyes. The way that the light came through my eyelids, dull. if a color could have no emotion then this would be the color. All of a sudden I feel a sharp pain in my leg, a burning sensation increases until it is all-consuming causing me to gasp aloud. My eyes jerk open and I find myself not in my room but lying on a cold metal table the smell of a sterile hospital invades my nose. The pain in my leg is still causing me to gasp, I am not able to get in a breath of air without my lungs feeling like they are going to explode. I hear a name, over the sound of my heartbeat, it sounds like it's coming from a hundred miles away.
“Sweetie, could you rate the pain from 1 to 10 for me.” I hear a tired voice ask me this question. It takes me a few minutes to realize that she is me to answer and I manage to gasp out an 11. I see her face through a haze of tears, I didn’t even realize I was crying. All of a sudden there are more people surrounding me. An older man and woman, the woman sobbing into the shoulder of the man as well as more doctors nurses. I’d like to say I'm confused but I don’t have enough energy for a coherent thought. I just want to sleep, slowly spots cloud my vision and I slowly close my eyes and breathe out. The last thing I hear is someone screaming in the distance, then all fades away.
This has been going on for years now. I don’t even remember what my name was or any details about my old life. I guess my family is dead now, I try not to think about that. I don’t even know what I look like anymore, I suppose I look something like a nightmare. Or at least that's what I think of myself. All I do is ruin people's lives, tear apart families and then move on. By now I've figured out who I am, Cancer. I Infect people, normal happy people and I destroy them, kill them. It’s kind of like a cruel game. If I succeed in killing my victim then I continue. If I lose and the person survives, then I die.
A newborn screams, the sound is coming from my mouth. In my mind I scream, I give up. I can’t breathe but I'm used to this now. I’m whisked away from a confused mother. I close my eyes.
I’m a seven-year-old playing on a swing set under a dripping sky. My heart stops. An old man, laying in bed around loved ones, I breathe out.
The cycle continued, until now. One day I wake up in a soft bed and sit up, for the first time in many years there is not a blinding pain. Slowly I stand and look at a reflection. A skinny young girl with dark circles under her eyes and hair, short and cropped close to my head. Before I can stop myself I smile. I can tell this is the one. For a few months, I stay with this girl. Feel her pain and feel her triumphs. We have a few close calls, me and her. One day we can’t breathe and have to be rushed to the hospital. But slowly I get weaker as she gets stronger.
January 7th, 2019. She is Cancer free. As she runs out of the hospital and rips off her hospital band. I watch as it floats to the ground. Smile and breathe out.
The end
Timed Writing
Roan Harvey
Stephen Sellers
Humanities
25 September 2019
Metamorphosis
What is the effect that language and communication have on Gregor's identity? Does the fact that he can no longer form words mean that he's no longer human? Do you think the other characters should have been open to the possibility that Gregor may be communicating in other ways? Why or why not?
Metamorphosis is a short story by Franz Kafka. This story is about a man named Gregor, he has a normal life with a job and a family. One day he wakes up as a cockroach, a disgusting unwanted bug. For a while, his family still sees him as a human, so they take care of him. Even if he is unwanted they still know that he is family.
But slowly over time, his family starts to think of him more of a bug than a human. He realizes this and stops eating and slowing deteriorates until he dies. Leaving his family happy, with a weight lifted off of their chests and a normal life again. In this short story, there are many metaphors. Franz Kafka did not have an easy life. He had an abusive father, as shown in the text who did not support his passion as a writer and would often tell him he was worthless, making Franz doubt himself. In the story, his mother was portrayed as a weak character with a lung disease making her seem slow and afraid. In real life, Franz also talked about his mother being unable to stand up for herself and her son. Franz Kafka wrote many other stories that were about his childhood. Even if they did not seem so when you first read them. Some of the stories that he has written include The Judgment and Before the Law. He died when he was 40 years old soon after he finished his last story, A Hunger Artist. What is the effect that language and communication have on Gregor's identity? When Gregor turned into a cockroach he lost all of his ability to speak and communicate to the world. Does that mean that he is no longer a human? I believe that even though Gregor can't communicate that does not mean he is not a human. In the text, there are many places that he speaks to the reader with what seems like a human brain. This is just one of the many parts of the text where Gregor thinks with high intelligence levels, "But I must not stay in bed uselessly," said Gregor to himself.” I do not believe that a cockroach has enough brain to think about being useless and useful.
When his family discovers that he is a cockroach they automatically think that he can't communicate so they don't try and find ways that he may be trying to communicate. But on the other hand, Gregor doesn't seem to try and community to his family ethier. It almost seems like he gives up on himself the moment he discovers that he is a bug.
Through the text, Kafka has hidden many different “red flags” that relates to his childhood. But at the same time, he has taken his life and turned it into something that not many people would think about. He took creative writing to another level. Giving the reader something to think about even after they have finished the story and moved on to something else.
Stephen Sellers
Humanities
25 September 2019
Metamorphosis
What is the effect that language and communication have on Gregor's identity? Does the fact that he can no longer form words mean that he's no longer human? Do you think the other characters should have been open to the possibility that Gregor may be communicating in other ways? Why or why not?
Metamorphosis is a short story by Franz Kafka. This story is about a man named Gregor, he has a normal life with a job and a family. One day he wakes up as a cockroach, a disgusting unwanted bug. For a while, his family still sees him as a human, so they take care of him. Even if he is unwanted they still know that he is family.
But slowly over time, his family starts to think of him more of a bug than a human. He realizes this and stops eating and slowing deteriorates until he dies. Leaving his family happy, with a weight lifted off of their chests and a normal life again. In this short story, there are many metaphors. Franz Kafka did not have an easy life. He had an abusive father, as shown in the text who did not support his passion as a writer and would often tell him he was worthless, making Franz doubt himself. In the story, his mother was portrayed as a weak character with a lung disease making her seem slow and afraid. In real life, Franz also talked about his mother being unable to stand up for herself and her son. Franz Kafka wrote many other stories that were about his childhood. Even if they did not seem so when you first read them. Some of the stories that he has written include The Judgment and Before the Law. He died when he was 40 years old soon after he finished his last story, A Hunger Artist. What is the effect that language and communication have on Gregor's identity? When Gregor turned into a cockroach he lost all of his ability to speak and communicate to the world. Does that mean that he is no longer a human? I believe that even though Gregor can't communicate that does not mean he is not a human. In the text, there are many places that he speaks to the reader with what seems like a human brain. This is just one of the many parts of the text where Gregor thinks with high intelligence levels, "But I must not stay in bed uselessly," said Gregor to himself.” I do not believe that a cockroach has enough brain to think about being useless and useful.
When his family discovers that he is a cockroach they automatically think that he can't communicate so they don't try and find ways that he may be trying to communicate. But on the other hand, Gregor doesn't seem to try and community to his family ethier. It almost seems like he gives up on himself the moment he discovers that he is a bug.
Through the text, Kafka has hidden many different “red flags” that relates to his childhood. But at the same time, he has taken his life and turned it into something that not many people would think about. He took creative writing to another level. Giving the reader something to think about even after they have finished the story and moved on to something else.