Metacognition: Cleaning Out My Closet

At my dad's house my closet is an absolute mess. It's the one place I do not clean and organize as much as all the other things in my life. The clothes are all mixed up on the shelves, and all over the floor along with other random things and garbage. I don't care that much about it because its not my real "room" and I don't really keep the clothes I wear in it when I'm at my dad's. So I let it get messy and just never clean it, but now I have a good excuse to. I can make it look really pretty and then just never touch it so it stays that way. Before I started, I was just like, ughhhh I do NOT want to do this. But if I just put myself in the right attitude I can kind of enjoy it. So I plugged in my ipod, and just ripped all of the clothes off the shelves and out of the closet. I categorized all of the different types of clothes into piles, then neatly folded them and put them in stacks onto the shelves. Then I finished off with straightening up the shoes and throwing away trash, all of those finishing touches. I really felt like I was getting a lot done, and it was fun because I usually enjoy these types of things. Just only if I have nothing else to do. Afterward I got that amazing feeling of accomplishment. It is seriously my favorite feeling to know you got something done and its just past you. It made me feel really relaxed and also more tired so I could get a great night sleep. My mind went from being more clustered and having to think, like where does everything go?....to being completely clear and free of worries. I wish my mind could always be like that. Also cleaning out things and going through all my stuff really surprises me sometimes because I never know how much clothes I have until I clean out my drawers or closet. And there are so many articles of clothing I've never even seen before! Everytime I clean something, I find something new I didn't know I had.

Carry It Forward: Maya Lin Documentary

In class last week we watched the documentary of Maya Lin and her design of the Vietnam Memorial. She designed it as just a long black wall with all the names just listed in chronological order. This was very simple, but yet very complex. You just get the memory and the intensity of that moment just by standing by and staring at tall of the names in awe of how heroic they were and how MANY names there are.But that was surely her intention. So she liked to use the idea of simplicity but also how simple can be complex, and that gives great meaning to a work of art. There was nothing crazy about the memorial, just plain black background, names written in white normal font. But it still gave off the same feelings and intensity that it needed to. Just that simple design made a huge impact. Thats the idea I plan to use for our 21st century human project. We focus on the idea, and the message were trying to send. Not the display and the colors and how "pretty" it has to look. So make the art as simple as it can be, but with a deeper more intense meaning. Less is more, and simple is complex. That is a very easy idea to follow in this project and I see myself using it.

Best of Today: Cigarette Addiction

Today we had a very interesting conversation about Cigarettes and how the addiction is a really sad thing. Im surprised it took up just about the whole class period, but it's serious matter and such a big topic, that there is a lot to say about it. A majority of the class could relate to it, and we got to hear the stories of some kids who have been through it or grown up with addiction around them. I really got to see how some people were affected by this, and its really unfortuante. I mean for me, my parents NEVER smoked, no body in my family smokes, so I was never around it as a kid. I guess it was just a friend influence or a rebelious stage when I started. But the best part of the conversation was when Mr. Allen said that if he had one wish, it would be to get rid of addiction. That is a very thoughful idea, knowing that it would make so many lives better. He also talked about how basic logic and reason should be enough to stop an addiction, or atleast get people to not start. It really gets me thinking. Like why not? Why cant all people just think the way that we do? Why can't they just understand how terribly gross and life-threatening it is, and have that be enough to stop it?! It just upsets me, and it is really sad, because that is something that will never be achieved. Except it will work for some, like I said, it worked for me and I hope it works for others too.

Best of Today: Two stories making connections

Today, we were talking about Sophie's World in depth. It was described to us how there are two stories going on at once in this book. We have the story of Sophie, just a regular student, living with her mother and who's father is always away at work. Than we have this other story about philosophy and how she is learning this course from a complete stranger, and is really fascinated with it. We also talked about how this connected with Shadow Catcher. There was the one story about Marianne Wiggins and her father and all of that, then there was the Edward and Clara story. These also are similar because both stories in both books did or are going to make a connection to eachother in the end. I thought this was interesting because I like how the books we read have these connections and similarities. It really makes me think that it was planned, and thats why were reading these books. I'm sure that the following books we read will also connect to these books somehow. This really examplifies peoples ways of thinking and knowledge, because I feel everyone is always trying to make connections, or similarites to help us understand things better. That is definately something that will help me if im trying to understand one thing, I'll see where that idea has came up before.