This project was slightly difficult for me, I feel fairly sure in my beliefs but explaining them together as a form of personal trajectory made it a pretty high pressure task. I began by writing some of my core beliefs in a note on my phone.
After writing these notes, I discussed the formatting with my teacher Amy. She mentioned that she couldn’t easily see me in the words, which was a bit difficult for me to grasp. I regularly read non-fiction, and my most practiced writing is theoretical so it made sense to me that the words would seem almost academic. But I did see her point, there is not a lot of room for personal expression inside of these words, and it mainly demonstrates a single part of me. Ultimately, I decided to build off of this note, bringing some of the words into my journal and then defining what they mean to me.
Bringing the thoughts into a safer space, where I am more used to personal expression and reflection, was helpful for me. I never mean to be inaccessible and I can see how plain, almost theoretical, text does not help in that attempt.
My manifesto is very much centered on being open and accepting of the self, of others, and of all of the potentials that circumstances can arouse. Openness leads to flexibility, and flexibility means growth.
I love learning and being able to add new parameters to my understanding: learning a new, small fact can change the outcome or understanding of a whole story or person. I like to push myself to be open and it was important to me that my manifesto demonstrated that.
Branching off from the manifesto, I designed my t-shirt to look like cells, more specifically amoebas. I have had a fascination with this type of cell for a weirdly long time. I’m always excited to watch videos of amoebas growing to accumulate nutrients, literally changing their form to continue living. I find that my mind most resembles this. I cannot be confined to previous beliefs because that doesn’t allow for the consideration of any new thing. Life is malleable and the amoeba represents that importance.
I screen printed the t-shirt, designing first on mylar and building the layers of colors around one another. I enjoy the way the print turned out but I would probably add another medium, such as embroidery or weaving, if I had more time.
For my token, I decided to make ceramic pipes. I had originally planned to shape them as cubes, but making 17 identical cubes out of clay quickly became difficult. I then started playing more with the clay and realized that rolling it between my hands made UFO like shapes. I really enjoyed the extraterrestrial and intangible feel that this shape brought so I made the rest of the tokens using that method. 
