Broken Gymnast

For my final project I decided to try a new material called plaster bandages. I did a full body cast of myself. When I was younger, I was a competitive gymnast which inspired the pose for my project. This project was very special to me because I can no longer do gymnastics anymore, do to a medical condition. It was a medical mystery to my doctors. I've been through multiple surgeries to try to fix my feet/ankles, none of which have been sucessful. I was very excited to do this project because it let me "relive" my gymnastic days, if only for a short time!
As I've stated before, I used a new material called plaster bandages. These bandages were originally used for medical reasons, but many artists find it to be the perfect material for molding.  It can be used in sculptures, collages and reliefs, even in conjunction with other materials. Naturally it can be used for making masks in large numbers and this is very popular in schools. I started off by cutting strips of plaster bandages. Then I dipped the cut strips into water and molded it onto a part of my body. After a few minutes I peeled the molded strips off. Lastly, I molded all the pieces together with more strips of the plaster bandages, making a life sized sculpture of myself doing a gymnastics leap.

Research on Music = AWESOME!!

Writing a paper on music and videos was great. This was one research paper that I wasn't dreading to write. I chose songs by Adele. To do research for this paper, I just had to listen to Adele's music and watch some of her videos. It doesn't get much better than that. I love music and I believe that it can change your life. I also believe that there is a song out there made for everyone. A person has at least one song that they can relate to and know why that person wrote it. They know what they were going through when they wrote it. This was my favorite paper to write. Music is a very strong tool, and can describe many different things and have many different meanings and moods. Comparing music and videos was a great research topic for this paper

Research Writing

When I hear the word research, I start to panic. I think, twenty page paper on a boring topic. I have recently learned, that that is not the case. Research isn't meant to be scary, it's to be interesting. It is also to be a new learning experience. When researching, you are doing so to learn more, and to benefit others. It's not a scary thing at all. It's even sometimes fun. Research can also be in different forms than just papers. It can be in videos, music, movies, and lots of other different things. I'm not saying research is my most favorite thing to do, but this class has definitely made it more eventful.

Intersting Topics

When choosing a research topic, make sure it is one that you will be interested in. If it does not interest you, then you will not be able to get a "feel" for the paper. It will be boring and hard to research. You also want to make it interesting because when researching, you are always learning new things. If it is not an interesting topic, you will not be able to remember the facts being shown to you. It also make writing a research paper more fun if you're writing about something that you enjoy. So when picking a topic to research or even just write about, make sure it interest you as well.

Writng to your audience

When writing a paper, you always want to keep your audience in mind. For example, you wouldn't write a paper on the ten greatest movies when a group of scientists would read it. When writing, you have to have a connection with your audience. Make sure that they won't be bored with your paper, or that it is way over their heads. Think the way they think. Always keep them in the back of your head.

With the argument of how Pixie Dust is made, (slaughtering pigs),I think that we should ask ourselves, what do we do with pigs normally? We eat them, well at least for the most part. Why not use them to help people grow back limbs? It's helping other people. I love animals to death. I hate seeing them in pain, and I can't kill an animal. But I also have to remember that God put animals on this earth for a reason. He put them here to help us humans. If it came down to being able to save a pig or saving one of my limbs...the pig is going to be dead.

Fads

The 4th paper that we wrote was about fads. It is so strange how things catch on. Like the iPod, dance moves, and songs. I little device makes huge sales. Almost everyone has a portable music player. Learning how to dougie is a dance craze that is still popular and eager to learn. Songs are becoming more popular then the next each and every day. Such small things turn into fads in a matter of seconds.