Category Archives: JM13D

First off, I’m extremely excited to be making a digital essay for class because I’ve always wanted to create my own video and never really had any motivation to go through with it. But now since its mandatory, I finally have a legit excuse! When I first heard about the digital essay I was overwhelmed with how many ideas I had in mind, and I still am. There are several themes that I’ve been focusing on such as, happiness deriving from acceptance and self-realization, and society’s impact on the happiness of individuals. I don’t necessarily know how to narrow down what exactly I want to depict in my digital essay, partly because I’m still not sure as to what I will want to use as my literary evidence and poem.

When looking at the selected poems by Audre Lorde we discussed in class, as well as a few others that she has written, I didn’t exactly draw any personal connection which makes it very difficult to choose any of them as my focus. I am more on the verge of perhaps choosing a poem that I have come across in the past or maybe some song lyrics. I’m clearly nowhere near making a decision. I just have a whole bunch of things jumbled together as of now.

The poem that I chose to work on is “The Electric Slide Boogie” by Audre Lorde. Probably, the main reason that I chose this poem is due to some sort of resonance I felt with its tone. From the lonely/nihilistic vibe in the beginning of the poem to the “when you fall get back up” feel at the end of the poem all appealed to me, albeit probably in a different sense from the way that Lorde had thought of it. I’m saying this, of course, because her and I live/d in completely different worlds, both had completely different struggles. During my research, I read a basic overview of her life, and found out she had breast cancer, which she struggled with for 14 years until her death in 1992. “The Electric Slide Boogie” is actually her last poem. In it, she essentially asks “What’s the point of living”. Her answer is “existing bonds” and preoccupation. My answer to that question is similar yet focuses more on purpose and “living for the sake of living so as not to regret”. As such, I would like to compare and contrast our respective view points on this matter using the poem as a medium.

With regards to the digital essay, I don’t really have anything in mind just yet. I don’t have any idea on how to make one either. Though I’ll depend on Luke to help me with that one. As for being in a group, I don’t think anyone else in the class will have such a morbid topic. Though I could luck out if someone else chooses the same poem as I did. So feel free to post any comments and criticisms that you may have.

Anything can be regarded as creativity, but there are obviously different types of it. They form the different branches of creativity. For example, you have the topic of dance and there are different types of dancing; tango, salsa, breaking. Much like the topic of dance, there are different types of creativity. There’s an artistic kind, there is an inventive kind, there is a limitless amount of types. We cannot pinpoint what creativity exactly is just like happiness. Creativity exists when one does something out of the ordinary that others have never seen. I feel it is like that because there seems to be only so many movies Hollywood can make with the same plot. Here’s how a superhero movie breaks down; there is a hero, there is a villain, there is a devious plot from the villain to do harm,there is then the hero and villain fight, hero loses, hero comes back stronger and wins. The end, yet Hollywood producers always have new movies coming out with. If the director of the movie creates something new that has never been seen by the public before, he will be deemed creative, much like the movie Avatar. Many claimed it has the same plot as Pocahontas but technology used in the movie’s production boggles viewer’s minds. Creativity is essentially everywhere and you can call something uncreative if it is repetitive to the point it is the norm. Anything that stands out draws attention and makes people wonder, “What the hell?” it would most likely be counted as creative. Take for example Picasso’s paintings. No one really knows what he’s drawing but the abstract and ambiguity of his paintings causes a stimulation of thought in the viewer that they find creative.

Creativity… “Create”, and “vity” mixed together. Well for starters, the first word that I see in “creativity” is “create”. Create is defined as to “Bring something into existence”. When I think about creativity I think of doing everything except what someone else is doing. For me, there are levels of creativity. Either something is mildly creative, or some is extremely creative. A paper mache can be considered something that is mildly creative in my sense. Something that I would consider really creative is the creation of a theory, or an engineering marvel. However, there has been something else that has been in the back of my mind ever since our last class; lesbians. I have to admit, these guys (excuse me, females) are so creative! The very idea of loving another female is very interesting. For men, I think it’s another story. If you see a gay couple (men) it just feels like “hey, there just two homosexual men”, however, when it comes to a female couple it’s something different. The human body is design to attract, or be attracted to the opposite sex (and that is a fact). Going against one’s nature requires some skill and well…”creativity”. When I had this discussion with some friends of mine over the weekend (both male and female) they mentioned a phrase that was quite funny, but upon further thought it stood out to me. The phrase was “the power of the penis”. Not to be extremely sexual or anything, but I think it’s safe to say that most women well… likes penises. And according to my definition of “doing everything except what someone else is doing”, lesbians fit that paradigm perfectly. In fact, on my levels of creativity I would place them in the extremely creative section where all the people who created engineering marvels are. I really commend them for the creativity; it must have taken a lot to resist “the power of the penis.”. Wait, I think I used the word creativity so many times. Perhaps I need to work on my creativity.

PS: Professor, it would be really cool if you could invite a lesbian/writer speaker to class one day.

When I think of the word ambiguity, I often find it to have a negative connotation, simply because to me, it connects itself to the idea of confusion. But another part of the definition can be “unclear”, which is an entirely differently. As applied to the story “Forgiveness”, ambiguity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ambiguity gives leeway to different interpretations, opinions, and ideas. Based on each different person’s prior knowledge and experiences, we each come to our conclusions when reading the story. Some of us can come to the same conclusions, and some of us won’t. I didn’t realize the story would possibly be about two women rather than a man and a woman. And I’m glad we talked about how the gift of the arm didn’t have to be literal, and that it could have been a representation for something else, because that honestly freaked me out quite a bit. The meaning behind the gift of the arm was very profound though, and it really did make me think. Would I give up my arm for someone? I don’t want to say, and I’d probably have to wait until it actually happens to know the answer to that question. But another question that was asked: How much would you be willing to change for someone else? My answer: As much as they needed me to while still being happy with myself. Everyone’s answer to this question was different, which just makes the idea of ambiguity that much more appealing, that everyone could have such different ideas, just because there is no set point to understand.