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At the back end of my room are two double doors that lead to a balcony. This balcony was utilized almost every weekend from eighth grade to present by myself and  my friends as we shared countless stories, memories, and had fun. I thought of all the times it was a beautiful sunny day, or raining and I had to hide under the umbrella, or so cold that I could only bear to be out there a few minutes. The balcony overlooks Lake Austin, an essential piece of my not only my backyard, but my life in my second childhood home.

When taken through the exercise of meditation at the beginning of class, the soothing and nostalgia sparking process took me back to my balcony because of the mindset I was put in. I often realized my place on earth on that balcony: on the second story of my home in the hills of Austin, Texas. There was almost never a time where tranquility and happiness didn’t engulf that space which makes it so special to me. There, I realized the special opportunity I have to be alive and the importance to utilize my existence.

My name is Mitchell Stanford and I’m from Austin, Texas. I came to New York to study Strategic Design and Management, a broadly applicable business degree. The first time I realized my talent had been inside was when I was three or four, playing with my grandfather’s art supplies, Last year, I started designing and making clothes for the annual fashion show that is hosted by the fine arts high school I attended. This ultimately solidified my interest in art and specifically design. In one semester at Parsons, I have discovered new technologies and methods of writing and creating art. My transformed understanding of art has revamped my creativity and helped me grow into a more knowledgeable creator.   

In my Studio course, we made a zine that addressed a social issue within a movie of our choice. My zine was narrated by a boy named Chuckie, who defended Spider-Man as a hero and not a vigilante. For the design aspect, I had previously made a zine and found that taking up the entire space was a successful design decision. I used Photoshop to turn my hand drawings into digitized designs and Indesign to make the booklet’s final layout. Using programs like these inspires me to keep designing and creating. For the content of the book, I had to research more about Spider-Man’s hero arc. In later Spider-Man movies, he does possess greater and unlimited power, but in the movie I watched, he had just acquired his powers and used them only for good. I told this story of the zine in the present setting of the movie to argue his heroism. I feel that the most successful part of the zine was that it relayed as a comic book, which was my intent.

When translating the material in the zine to a complete research paper, I had to tweak my argument: I couldn’t debate whether Spider-Man is a hero or vigilante. Instead, I wrote about how power can be used in many ways; whether it is for good or bad depends on who exercises it and their objectives. To supplement my position, I included how masculinity is a factor for how rulers run their government. I pointed to the definition of a hero from the Romantic Era, information about the lifecycle of a hero, and an excerpt discussing complex masculinities. From my research, I learned that superheroes and leaders alike possess more traditional masculine qualities and their behavior is based on their intrinsic character.

During my research, I stumbled upon an interesting article about how Spider-Man 2 was a movie made in response to the 9/11 attacks. Due to the scope of my research, I did not delve into this topic, but I am interested in exploring Spider-Man 2 and other Blockbuster films that were made in response to other important contemporary events. Movies are huge undertakings that often have a larger meaning than the plot, so it is important to be able to research and understand the complexity of the meanings of these productions. Through using the library and Writing Center for help, I learned how to use The New School’s resources for better researching methods.

For my final project, I created a business concept that advertises sustainably and locally sourced lifestyle products. The capsule of products features a water resistant hemp face mask, a mycelium wall mount bottle opener, and more. I targeted people in their teens to thirties as my demographic to appeal to, as the design of the booklet and the content appeal to the group. Below are my initial sketches of each design:

Through the course, I learned about different sustainable materials such as bamboo, cotton, and wool. It inspired me to use the materials in my capsule and create simple and interesting pieces. The project was inspired by another project I had where I made a zine. To relate the project to my major, I wanted to create a business catalog. First I created a business poster that could break down my business to it’s simplest form.

From this, I organized my products into the sub categories and could delve further into the specificities. I came up with statements for the respective departments within my business and implemented them into my catalog.

For the video aspect of the project, I created a How-to on how to make a bowl from a disposed vinyl record which was one of my products. As seen previously in my trash haul video, I am not a professional Youtuber or English speaker, so please excuse that. Below is the link to the video:

 

Below is my final presentation:

sustainable-systems-final-12-10-17-1wol9fi

My home and maturation is something I think back to and will keep with me for the  rest of my life. For my final project I wanted to create something that would help me visualize my memories and images through my eyes during one of my favorite times in life. I was inspired by my old lookbooks from American Apparel and Urban Outfitters to create a zine of a similar style; Smaller in size and newspaper-y texture with grainy pictures of ordinary moments.

During my research, I considered making a short film and thought to what I could do on my trip home to Texas. Being too busy with the holidays, I opted to make a  zine and capture a night with my friends over (a common thing that happened throughout the last five years). I needed to first make a draft on photoshop of pictures to decide a color scheme and style for the booklet.

I wanted to capture places such as my home, my ranch, my art work, and my friends in the final draft and portray them in grainy photo edited setting the aesthetic for my home and environments. I played with making some of the images taking up more space than a single page and learned from other inconsistencies within the project. The final project is as follows:

final-zine-home-12-3-17-wjruy9

 

In the scene where Peter Parker brings the best and only pictures of Spider-Man to the daily bugle, Spider-Man’s heroism is questioned  by chief editor, J. Jonah Jameson. Chuckie, a fanboy, explores the controversy of whether Spider-Man is a hero or a vigilante in the 2002 movie Spider-Man by.

During my research, I compared the qualities of both the Green Goblin and Spider-Man. The Green Goblin is the obvious antagonist while Spider-Man is a historical hero in comic culture.

I first looked to define what a hero truly means; “A hero is defined as an exemplary figure who, as an expression of an achievement, represents a collective dream of self transcendence.” (

Christie, William. “Hero.” In Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850, edited by Christopher John Murray. Routledge, 2003.)

Below is the project:

My neighborhood of focus was Harlem. Upon visiting the upper Manhattan neighborhood, my group and I observed people, landmarks, and traits unique to Harlem. As instructed, we generated a map that reflected the culturally rich area.

My first concept included landmarks like the City College and Columbia University, places where some native Harlemites found success in their education. I included the Apollo Theater, The Cotton Club, and Marcus Garvey Park, places that have historically been centers for entertainment and and socializing. I also included the nine police precincts and areas that marked tension amongst the neighborhood, considering the very real experience people in Harlem face regarding police brutality, hustle, and local economics.

Our joint conception was constructed with paper, markers, ink, and paint:

Harlem is a culturally rich neighborhood with backgrounds from the Caribbean, Italy, Africa, and more. It is universally known as the Black Mecca of the World. Although violence and crime is prevalent in the area, if given the opportunity to redo the project, I would leave out that aspect of the project that we chose to include because it came with a negative connotation even though it wasn’t specifically noted. Harlem is home to a multitude of music, food, and entertainment that is commonly overlooked.

I documented my trash output for seven days for my sustainable systems course. Upon receiving the assignment, I thought to when my roommate did the project a few weeks before me and had a lot of trash stowed under his bed. Thinking back to it, I didn’t want to have a load of trash under mine, so I attempted to use as little trash as possible. I cooked most of my meals and used dishes because I found that most trash comes from food. After the seven days, I found myself with very little trash, all recyclable and compostable.