Big Idea Questions

What is beauty to me?

Beauty is all perception. We all have our own ideas of what is beautiful because we are all attracted to different things. And i find that everything is beautiful. Every ounce of our being is beautiful, however flawed we may be. And not just being, but our surroundings. Like the buzz of a bee. Or the sound of rain. 

What is beauty to others?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yet society has influenced us and told us what beauty is. We think beauty is a bunch of skinny white model purging themselves so their rib cages show. Beauty is imperfection and finding beauty and the perception of who is finding the beauty."--Trevor Lewis

Are we still as human as we were centuries ago, or has time changed our behavior?

I think we will always be human, but as time progresses, people learn to hide who they are. Its the product of society. To stop what is natural and do what is unnatural to us in order to be accepted.

What little things are there to appreciate in life?

Every moment that we regret, every moment of pain, every moment of despair. Those moments are those least appreciated. It makes sense though...why would anyone want to appreciate unhappiness? But looking back, those are the moments we should be most thankful for, because the only way to go is forward, and those vulnerable moments make us who we are.

Do we take these things for granted?

Yes. We dont appreciate the natural beauty of the Earth. This Earth was put here for us, why not appreciate its beauty?...not take advantage of it, as others would say. We dont appreciate elders, or "wise ones". We dont appreciate the wisdom the world has to offer. There's so much to this question.

Do we neglect being true to being human because of societal standards? (speaking at free will, pursuing our passions, nurturing our families etc..)

Yes. There are expectations to be met, but interestingly enough, these expectations are set by others. The line of being human and being a puppet is crossed when our dreams become fantasies and our lives resemble a glass ant hill where the people in most power look in at us and laugh because they can get so many people to conform. Being human is dreaming, thinking our own thoughts, and working towards our own destinies. We each have our personal paths, and it is our duty to follow it. 

What is the difference between the stereotypical beauty and the word beauty itself?

Stereotypical- skinny, piercing eyes, high cheekbones, small feet, small waist, muscular, nice teeth, clear skin etc.
Beauty- good heart, good intentions, genuine-ness in all forms (personality, appearance), intelligent but humble, giving, innocent

What are really important things in peoples' life/what do people live for?
Family, religion/faith, money, acceptance, love, peace, destruction, power etc.

Is there a limit to our thoughts, beliefs, feelings?
Not unless we let there be.

How free are we? Mind, body, and soul
Our minds are as free as we let them be. Oftentimes we forget to protect them from others (society). I think mind and body both connect, because we let our minds control our bodies. So if our minds' are controlled by society's wants of a perfect image, our bodies reflect that. Our bodies reflect how we treat ourselves. So our bodies are as free as we let them be. As for our soul, we are capable of immense freedom. Freedom incapable of understanding. We work on OUR lives, OUR people, OUR problems, but to be soulful would be to be free of all limitations. We would nourish every connection. But the hardest part is finding and connecting with our souls, and realizing that the world we live in has nothing to do with our souls...our souls are forever. So basically, our souls are as free as we let them be. Catch my drift? We are the key to our own destinies.

Big Idea brainstorming

A.
Big Idea: Observing the beauty in life/things that make us human
Examples: laughter, bare skin, smiles, tears, music, heart beats, hair, long car rides with the windows down, sunlight, wind, clear blue skies, rainy days, expression (angry faces, surprised faces, sad faces, happy faces, humorous faces), loud busy city, tranquil country side, holding hands, unexpected jestures of kindness, food, talking about life with a wise elderly, lips, collarbones, religon (buddhist temple, mosque, church etc.), protesting, rock concert, dancing carelessly, running around, water, swimming, hugs, sobbing, sound of a creek, singing....

B.
What is beauty to me?
What is beauty to others?
Are we still as human as we were centuries ago, or has time changed our behavior?
What little things are there to appreciate in life?
Do we take these things for granted?
Do we neglect being true to being human because of societal standards? (speaking at free will, pursuing our passions, nurturing our families etc..)
What is the difference between the stereotypical beauty and the word beauty itself?
What are really important things in peoples' life/what do people live for?
Is there a limit to our thoughts, beliefs, feelings?
How free are we? Mind, body, and soul

C.
Things that make us human:
love
freedom
emotion (fear, anger, happiness, surprise, pain, jealousy, craziness)
thought
lying
conforming
growing
how we make ourselves a home
art (music, painting etc)
writing
living in an alive world (grass, trees, animals etc)
making alive things dead (wooden tables, paper, cooking etc)
destroying what's beautiful in the eyes of others/disrespecting eachother
pride/believing in something passionately
spontaniety (screaming out a sunroof, climbing things, tickling, weirdness)
being strange and different from eachother, yet being the same
words/language
chaos/violence
pain/injury/blood
time

Intervention Rubric

In your own words, what is intervention?

Intervention to me is going out of my way to present an idea or thought to someone else. Its sharing that idea or thought in hopes to reform their views on the matter, or just to make an impact on them in general.

- What was the purpose of this exercise? 

The purpose is to break social norm or what is "normal" and make a difference to someone.

- Why did you choose to intervene the way you did? I’m looking for more than “I thought it would be funny” or “no one would expect it.”  What social/personal/human issue did you intend to comment on? Why? How?

Well, i had many ideas i wanted to do. But to be quite honest, the idea i chose was the most simple but also the most personal of my ideas, since i knew the person. My intervention of ordering a pizza for my favorite teacher answers the question in itself. I just wanted to appreciate my teacher for putting up with my class and i. I also knew the class took advantage of that fact and would sometimes disrespect him, but i wanted to show him we do appreciate him even if we dont act like it by buying his favorite pizza.

- Why did you choose the location? I’m looking for more thought than “lots of people would be there, so I went there.” How did the location play up your specific idea?

The location of his classroom is where i have class with him, and at that time of day, so it would only make sense to order him the pizza in the class i have him in.

- Name three specific examples, ideas, artworks or statements you observed in class that helped you plan for this project.

1. I liked the simple idea of doing something nice for someone else. I wanted to do something that would mean alot to me as well as the other person, not just something silly.

2. But i also liked random, spontaneous things, that people would not expect. One of my ideas was to take bed sheets and hang them over hallway entrances. Something like that that would almost freak them out- i would love to see the reaction.

3. One idea i liked that i wished i did was keeping the idea anonymous. I liked the idea of keeping the intervention a mystery. It makes the intervention that much more effective if its unknown to the person being intervened.

NOT DONE WITH VIDEO