Inspirational Kit
- This class really opened my eyes and allowed me to see the true definition of a constructed environment. It does not necessarily mean a literal constructed environment. Everything around you is a constructed environment. From analyzing different spaces, and learning about ethnography in union square, to reading a text by Joan Didion about keeping a note book. This type of contracted environment was all within her notebook; she constructed her lifestyle and different stream of thoughts all in her writing. “ A person who is most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper.” She is constructing a relationship with herself. This was actually my favorite piece that I read throughout the semester as I understood it very well, and it was so interesting how she created her environment all within a notebook, and she carried this thing everywhere she went, to put in her thoughts, feelings and emotions.
A website about On Keeping a Notebook
http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/11/19/joan-didion-on-keeping-a-notebook/
- What I have learned was that everything can be linked in one way or another. For example after writing about misuses in union square and observing all the different ways people handled the environment. All that wasted space that could be used for something a lot more interesting, efficient and aesthetically pleasing. This links very well with our formal analyses as after observing so intuitively I managed to see things that I would not have been able to see on a regular day in Union Square. That is exactly what one is supposed to do when writing a formal analysis; observing all the different aspects and trying to figure out what they could symbolize. This eventually came in very handy when writing my research paper. It taught me how to do “empirical” research (another term I learned in this class). Which essentially took a large role in my final paper.
- The two biggest things I took from this course are how to manage time, and how to write an outline, not just for essays but for presentations too. I came in January not knowing how to write an outline, and my papers would always have a really bad structure, as I could never organize it properly. Not only that but I would be up all night the night before trying to finish it off on time. Now I cannot write a paper without at least having a couple of words that resemble an outline to help me structure my paper. And the best way I learned how to write my outline is through the sticky note process. Throwing all my information out into the open, every idea on a different note then trying to link all the similarities and putting it into different paragraphs. Not only that but I now I finish my essay a couple of days early because the outline technique allowed me to write my paper a lot faster than I usually would.
Another good way for writing an outline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCujEU6xZS0
