So this particular post deals specifically with an episode from This American Life where they discussed stories from two high schools, 3 miles apart, but exist in two entirely different worlds. It revolved around how circumstances set the stage for either failure of success, but that we can morph our own path. It shows from the perspective of someone who grew up with nothing, that is suddenly thrust into a world where they have earned their way and how they still don’t quite believe it. It showed how loosing faith in yourself can take you down a path you had wished to avoid. It showed the ups and downs very successfully of attending college after struggling in high school.
The first act dealt with Melanie, a student who had gone to a high school in a poor neighborhood that had participated in a sort of “exchange program” with another school, this one private and graciously funded. It told of how she reacted to the program, and then how she disappeared. She had participated in a program that would have allowed her to attend an Ivy league school if she made it through. She did not, and lost faith in herself as a person and disappeared, working at a grocery store and occasionally attending some college courses. But not living up to the potential she had because she couldn’t believe in herself.
The second act dealt with Raquel and Jonathon who did attend college, unlike Melanie, and the successes and downfalls they had. Jonathon had won the program that Melanie had almost made it all the way through, and attended college, but ended up failing out because he was embarrassed to ask for help. Raquel made it all the way through college, not without her difficulties, but has trouble accepting everything she has earned due to an ingrained thought that she is not good enough.
For me, hearing all of this from the story really added a lot of perspective on how circumstances play a part in our future. Melanie and Jonathon and Raquel struggled because they came from a place that told them they were inferior, that did not supply them the necessary tools for success because of the environment they came from. It was an eye opening experience that revealed that no matter how many people believe that you can succeed, its your own personal mannerisms and beliefs that will lead to that. And if you lack positive feelings towards yourself, you end up self-sabotaging.
The story was told mostly through narrative and some interview sections, and that was an effective method because it wove a story through not just the participants words, but the observations of an outsider. The interview sections gave first person information, adding a personal and believable element that reaffirmed the narrative sections. The narrative sections wove together all of the individual interview sections into a larger picture, and the revelations intended for the audience really hit home.
Its the same with the use of audio techniques. It emphasized certain sections, provided an additional emotional layer to what was being said, and again, really brought the story home.
Through all of this, story telling has become something to share information. To share lessons and wisdom in a manner that makes it more understandable, and a lot easier to relate to.
The ideas that came out of my research of the line dealing specifically with the word sound were really interesting. Interesting in the way that the the line is a extremely loud and noisy space. And maybe that’s a part of the intrigue of the line, that it shifts focuses. With the change in environment comes a change of sound, and even a change of objects that litter the ground. So for my final project, I took purely the audio quality of sound (pictured above). But I recorded it with no technology what-so-ever. And my ideas that relate to the project that comes out in the end. And that’s the challenge I gave to myself, “how do I record sound without the use of technology or words?”. And the result has led to lots of positive feedback, as well as a better understanding of the sound that certain things make (cars, crickets, footsteps, for example). The process itself of making these sound-wave images was intensive, walking from one end of the line to the next proves very tiring, especially carrying a wet paintbrush and trying to stay clean. But through this process, a little bit of clarity was granted as to what the line actually is.
For the final project, I proposed a set of stories that included the types of materials I used as an audio quality for the word project (I used rock, glass, metal, twigs, and water). The first, a set of accordion-style books that told the story of each of the objects I chose to represent the “sound” of the line, and how they got on the line in the first place. The second was an illustration that depicted how students art supplies went missing (the forest sprites {the figures with the funny faces that are all over my proposals} took what the art students took from the forest in an effort to keep the forest whole). And finally, the last proposal i made dealt with sculptures of the little forest sprites, each one only a few inches tall and made out of one of the materials I used in my word project. And that’s what i focused on for my proposal, not necessarily the sound of the line itself, but the objects on the line that had the possibility for an audio quality.
The line is full of sound, if you take the moment to open your ears.
Some of the sounds of the line are non-transferable. The wind in the trees or the cars that drive by or the insects that infest the wooded area(s).
But some of the sounds you don’t typically hear, and thats what I focused on for this assignment, the sounds the objects you find on the line make, because it’s very difficult to bottle up sound waves and keep them on a shelf.
So, I focused on the tinkling of metal, because metal is an object that is so prominent, buried in the earth. I focused on glass, which is everywhere as well. Twigs that fall from the trees, rocks that have either unearthed themselves from deep below or nestled their way into the ground from above. And water, that trickles through the interlocking stream system flowing through this one-stoplight town.
Sound is everywhere, and even when you think its quite, listen, really listen. We can’t easily retreat so far into the wilderness as to escape the sounds of humanity and if that is accomplished, we listen and process the overwhelming music of nature.
When we think about sound, it is commonly thought of as a noise, something we hear and register as a form of recognizing objects. But what else can sound be? For example, in some cases, it could mean sturdy. And sound is everywhere, for instance, currently there is a chatter of voices upstairs, the typing of a keyboard, and the static I hear over a phone call. If you think about it, how quite is quiet really? We never truly escape the realm of modern technology, and when we do, we find nature to be overwhelmingly loud, whether its from the insects in the trees, or the more metaphorical form of sound when colors attacks you, which is why paintings are sometimes described as loud. But they do not make any physical noise. So on that topic, sound can be a literal interpretation, the vibrations made from an object that move through matter and trigger the inner ear drum, which then gets moved through the nerve passageways into our brain which then gets interpreted and connected to memories we already have, making the connection of which sounds we are hearing. But sound can also be non-litteral. Something absolutely lacking in sound production can trigger a feeling or memory that reminds us of something, and art is an excellent example of that. Art can be loud, and silence can be deafening. And sound is never just merely sound. It has so many interpretations and offshoots, that it becomes something else entirely.
After assigning all of us our tasks to document the line on our own individual basis, I completed the task, was not prepared for the hike, went by myself, and got lost trying to get out of the woods before dark. But i have some beautiful sketches from the woods and the areas of the line i also visited. I focused on sound and thoughts, as well as shiny objects (surprisingly, there are a lot of shiny objects on the line…)
We’re into our third week of foundations, and we’ve hiked 45 degree hills at 8:00 in the morning, drawn with our feet, been attacked by hornets, and started a blog where were supposed to share how we’ve hiked 45 degree hills at 8:00 in the morning, drawn with our feet, and been attacked by hornets.
These photographs above are documentation of day 12 in foundations, they show the fun some of us had, the irritation others of us felt, and the beauty of the world around our small little campus in the mountains.
As we’ve discovered, from our professors here at Alfred, there is a line that runs through the 4th dimension, stretching from the very end of Alfred State, to the wilderness behind our very small university. It’s in constant flux, for the line is never the same for each time a new set of students comes through.
Our task assigned was to designate where our sections of the line started, ended, and all the space in between (the sections were assigned in class), and to document them (the pictures in the slideshow above are my documentation of our trip). And it was fun, our legs were tired, we were out of breath, sweat lined our skin, and our feet were wet.
But the line exists, and documenting it was a lot of fun, and the photos are nice (Greg’s face is priceless in all of his), and it opened up a new interest into photography for me on a personal level.
Graphite and Other Supplies 