Service Begins At Home: Service Project

For the last project in my Five Faces class we all had to complete our own service project following certain requirements. It was kind of hard to make the service convenient for me, let alone following requirements along the way, but I pulled through and delivered a nice video. This service project was a lot different than most. Lots of people wouldn't even consider this a service, but this was service in my eyes. If you're using your own blood, sweat, tears, and money then it's definitely service!! I cooked for my great grandmother and it made me feel AMAZING. I cooked things that she would usually cook to make her feel at home! She invited people over and so did I and it was all a success. It was truly a magnificent experience. As you will find in my video, she even shed a tear. That's the very first time I've ever seen her cry, it was really something special. Tears of joy are the strongest liquid to me.

Using my Seer face, I visualized my success before my service occurred:

"Before" DNR Jan 9

"During" DNR Jan 9

"Post" DNR Jan 9

Using my Observer face, I detailed my project to perfection! I made a table to help me organize what I needed and what I had to do to make this service successful. I needed to buy the food, I needed 10 guests, and I needed seasonings and silverware. The cooking took roughly 2 hours. The meat and potatoes took up most the time. We also had salad, bread sticks, broccoli, and macaroni. 

Thanks to the Alchemist face, I used my love for Pineapple Pop and Orange Juice to mix them together and serve at dinner. I also used my great grandmother always making us nice meals as inspiration for my service.

Using my Fool face, I flipped the script and cooked for my great grandmother as she is always cooking for me!

By taking advantage of the Sage face, I made everything traditional and simple. I had everything laid out and detailed. I also utilized simplicity and created a crafty title that summed up my project: "Service Begins At Home: Service Project".

What Face Are You?

In my second action project this term, the second unit, "Understanding the Five Faces," was all about learning the five faces of genius and who they apply to. We researched an assortment of famous people who displayed distinct features of each face. For example: Chance The Rapper is an Alchemist because he loves to mix different genres to create his music. I now look at people differently because of learning these faces, I like to just sit and observe and it has been a fun experience. This project was slightly easy because it’s mostly opinion-based, like how you can pick the famous people you want to review. It’s also really fun to analyze some of your favorite role models to see how they think.

There are five faces of genius. These five titles are given to certain types of people:

1. Seer: A Seer is someone who uses visualization in everyday life, like picturing things and visualizing the past and future. 
2. Observer: An Observer is someone who is trained to look at all the small details and then come to a conclusion from them. 
3. Alchemist: An Alchemist is someone who is normally inspired by something and likes to combine two things to create something, sometimes even more beautiful.
4. Fool: A Fool is someone who doesn't look at problems as serious or simple. They like to mix things up and are inspired by absurdity.
5. Sage: A Sage is someone who uses simplicity and history to think about things. 

Earlier in this course, I took a survey that helped me define who I am. I definitely agree with my five faces survey. My more dominant faces are based off absurdity, which should not be much of a surprise to those that know me in real life. For example: whenever a problem occurs, I usually say something ridiculous and my friends just ignore me. This happens a lot. This can very well classify me as a Fool. My second face is Alchemist, for example: I use my characteristics of absurdity to make up ideas, one of my ideas was mixing Pineapple Pop and Orange Juice to make a Pineapple Orange Pop which is delicious by the way. My least dominant face, that I scored 0% in is the Seer face. I'm not really surprised since I am always denying my ability to be visual and also because visualizing things isn't the first thing I look to when in a situation.

I interviewed TC, a student from my school. I asked him a question that I found interesting. As all my questions were yes/no, I felt like this was one of my more dominant questions that identify Sage: Do you find simplicity as a benefit to society? He answered yes to this question, which definitely could classify him as a Sage. Also TC answered all my Seer questions yes, identifying him as a Seer.

“Do you find simplicity as a benefit to society?”
"Yes"

Me And TC. Interview, December 10. 

Adora Svitak is a 12 year old that believes adults should embrace “childish” beliefs and that adults should be more willing to learn from kids. She shows signs of Fool and Sage. She uses absurdity because kids don’t teach adults and this is quite crazy because it elaborates on the fact that she is one of the more educated children in the world. She also uses Sage techniques because of the simplicity of her thinking, it may sound crazy, but how simple would it be to just reverse the roles of teachers and students.

I love the quote below because it's stated in a sarcastic way and it makes me smile because I can definitely relate to being called childish:

"Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish."

"Adora Svitak"  Wiki. Web, December 13th. 

Chancellor Bennett, also known as Chance The Rapper is one of the most inspirational people to me. He displays characteristics of a Fool and Alchemist, as do I. He likes to make music using different genres like jazz and R&B. Also if you really follow Chancellor, he displays Fool techniques in plenty of his personality. He loves to have fun and make people smile and laugh, and he is definitely absurd because if you know anything about him, he is always making statements that are rather peculiar and unreasonable in his music and in his personal life. Maybe this is why I follow him, we think alike!

I love the quote below because it defines how I think about the world. The man who created the iPhone is no different than the man who created Peanut Butter, “we just people with ideas” 

“In the real world, we just people with ideas.”

"Chance The Rapper" Wiki. Web, December 13th. 

These are some ways I can implement the five faces in making my service project effective: For Seer I could make it look nice and presentable, I could also use Seer techniques to envision my own success and make my goal easier to reach because of my confidence in succeeding. For Observer I could make sure everything is in the right spot and things come together nicely. Also for Observer, I could use small details in my art to create a better experience for my local Chicago people. For Alchemist I could mix things up and create things using two ideas, such as: using quotes from real celebrities that people look up to or follow and making their quotes useful to my cause. This combines press and art, or trends and art. For Fool I could use absurd thinking to create problem-solving by maybe implementing abstraction to my art. I feel like abstract art can make a very nice contribution to my piece by attracting more attention. For Sage I could keep it simple, understandable, and relatable. As far as these three aspects go, I think they make things feel real for the viewer. I feel like making things simple and relatable, it will make the viewer understand me more. It will feel like I'm there in person presenting it to them. I was thinking about raising awareness for resource distribution problems by leaving a mural or some art in a public park somewhere because I feel like we have the food and resources to feed millions but these things are being wasted because we aren't sending them to the right places! I could also make stickers that say Don’t Shoot to contribute to that cause because I am growing really interested in that campaign. Or maybe even put "Don’t Shoot" on napkins around the Chicago area! The "Don't Shoot, I Want To Grow Up" campaign is something related to the violence and shootings in Chicago, and I want to join the cause. 

"Hands Up Don't Shoot" Flickr. cactusbones. Web, December 17th. 

References:

"Top 10 Dopest Lines" Vibe. Web, December 13th.
“Adora Svitak” AS. Web, December 13th.

If Only We Could Define Creativity: Chance The Rapper

In my first action project this term, the first unit, "Life Genius," helped us define what being a creative genius means. We looked at multiple people around the world that were seen as creative geniuses and we even picked our own. This project opened my eyes because I now know creativity is everywhere. Life itself had to be created and many fail to realize this. I found little difficulty completing this project because it's more opinionated. I had a fun time speaking my mind, though!

By personal experiences, I have observed Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, and Eminem create their own styles of music through different inspirations and genres. Some geniuses create things, like how Jonathan Ive created the design of the iPhone. So wouldn’t creating your own style potentially classify you as a genius?

After doing some research, I have learned that Kobe Bryant, Dr. Seuss, and Jerry Lewis all grew up in high middle-class or upper class families. They start off in a pre-made background so they have the resources and connections to do what they want to do easily.

The last pattern I found was that Eminem, Chance The Rapper, and Kanye West also had a hard time getting their careers off to a good start. Since they were so passionate about music, the coming up part was a piece of cake for these three because they kept on grinding and ended up being REALLY famous.

Dan Hyman. "Chance The Rapper." (2014)

Chancellor Bennett (Chance The Rapper) is a Chicago rapper from the South side. He grew up as an average kid with a mother, father, and 3 year younger brother, Taylor Bennett. At the age of 9 or 10, his significant other, Ramie Bonds’ mother got him “College Dropout” for his birthday, the Uncensored version, which later was confiscated by his mother because it was too “dirty.” Later it was returned to Chance as the clean version. This was the first album Chance ever listened to, so Kanye West was Chance’s first inspiration. Years later, attending Jones College Prep, at the age of 18, he released his first Mixtape, “10 day.” This mixtape was inspired by a ten day suspension he received from smoking marijuana outside his school. Not too long after that, Chance released his more popular album, “Acid Rap” in 2013. Following his “Acid Rap” album, his younger brother released his own album called, “Mainstream Music.” As his younger brother gained some recognition for his music, he was arrested for the assault of a college student at a party. Chance the Rapper is currently working on a new project called "The Social Experiment." I think Chance is someone to learn from. He came from less than I did, now he’s sitting on millions, doing what he loves to do. The message is clear: stay dedicated and inspired, and good things will happen. He continues to tour the world and live out his dreams of being a big star, reppin’ his city.

I think Chance brings a lot to the table in terms of uniqueness, variety, humor, flow, talent, and a raspy voice. Chance excels in the music industry with these traits & attributes. In the past, Chance has struggled to catch the eye of someone of any importance. This hurt his chances of having a fast start to his career. Even now that Chance has the fame and the money, many people still continue to say he's "weird" and "not good enough." Chance's music is directed towards certain groups of people. He isn't a drill rapper like a Chief Keef or an R&B Singer like a Jeremih or Chris Brown, but he uses all genres of music to create his own genre that is less appreciated in the industry by those who are used to more "mainstream" tunes. As he did in the past, Chance continues to make the music he likes to play for his fans as he blocks out all the hatred. 

"I think creativity is something that lives in the heart of a person, it can’t have any true definition. It’s just what’s inside of you, how you see the world," said by SJ in my interview with her. Her definition is very relevant to mine because I believe creativity can't be defined as well.

I believe I show three very positive traits: Determination, Skill, and Intelligence. Determination and creativity are two things that could potentially drive each other. For instance, you could be determined to do something creative. You can be determined to do anything. Skills usually define what you might be creative at. If you are skilled in basketball, then maybe a crazy shot or different way of scoring might be interesting or creative to you. Intelligence is the key to creativity. Intelligence means expanding your range to thinking outside the box. 

Sometimes I fail and then don’t learn from it because I am not very crafty with a lot of things. I am determined to work through things and find ways to bypass my problems. The world lacks the knowledge of Resource Distribution. We have the resources but, they are not going to the right places. If I am determined enough, I could definitely help the world, or at least raise awareness of the bad world distribution of resources.

References:
"Nardwuar vs. Chance The Rapper," iamOTHER. Web, November 16th.
"Chance The Rapper," Chancellor Bennett. Web, November 16th.
"Chance Facts," Craig McCutcheon. Web, November 16th.
"Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap," Evan Rytlewski. Web, November 16th.
SJ. Interview Over Phone. November 9th.