IE Chris (FA20)

  Time Strategies I've always had an interesting relationship with time management strategies. I'll do them and be productive, but then neglect other aspects of my life. I read the "The Myth of 'Too Busy'" and that article gave me a really nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. As someone who, in my sophomore year of college, would be at school from 8:30am to 10:00pm or later on some days, this was frustrating. Because while I was certainly productive, I was incredibly unhappy, which in turn made me feel worse overall. This whole "grind culture" is toxic. It's almost like a necessary evil to be deemed "successful" in this world. Particularly in America, we have a nasty habit of equating self-worth with our productivity output. That's a harmful mindset. I understand the ability to manage your time and its importance but I think that it's also good to watch out for yourself.  I've done enough time management with lots of c...

  Technology I'm pretty familiar with most of this technology. Chrome makes spell-check, word count, and bookmarking pretty easy. The Canvas page and class wiki are both easy to navigate (especially the more you do it). Blogger is also getting easier to use as I do it. I've got experience with Wix, Canva, and I seem to recall dabbling with Twine a while back. Overall, I think I'm all set for the course, tech-wise. (image: computer with yellow theme screen - credits:  AJ from OpenClipArt )

  Assignment: The explanation of the six core assignments per week really helps understand from a breakdown perspective. This class seems to take smaller bites of engagement throughout the week, but that the idea is to take them more frequently. This is unlike most other classes I've done, as a lot of the work is assigned in a lump sum. This format for smaller but more frequent makes me a little hesitant since I'm not used to this style of learning but I suppose that it's something I will adapt to. I think that the storytelling assignments will be interesting to research and present. (image, hand holding a card that reads "assignments" - image credit  Nick Youngson - Blue Diamond Gallery )

Growth Mindset * have you heard of Carol Dweck and/or the growth mindset before? how did you learn about it?          - I had definitely heard of the growth mindset, though I had never heard from Carol Dweck in particular. Our director for the Pride of Oklahoma has a similar growth mindset in his teaching philosophy * how do you see yourself on the spectrum of growth-fixed mindset in your school work? what about in other aspects of your life? (for example, if you are an athlete, can you relate to this from a sports perspective? music? traveling? cooking?)          - for schoolwork, it's important to have growth mindset as we become exposed to subjects we are less familiar with. We may not get something at first, but it's important to keep attempting to understand (or reach out for help if you don't). From a musician's perspective, this almost feels like a given. We are constantly focusing on growth and the "what's next?" target. It becom...

  Introduction Post What is your major? What is the coolest thing about your major? I am a Music Performance major, and the coolest part about my major is that I get to train to play in professional ensembles while developing my musicianship. What was the best class you took last semester? Why? The best class that I took last semester was Advanced Orchestration. It was a fun class because we got to analyze a few major works and understand why they work so well for orchestra.  What were your biggest accomplishments last semester? Between my senior capstone and honors research, I wrote about 60 pages and worked up two famous concertos. Favorite books, movies, TV shows — Best movie you saw recently? Best book you read? My favorite TV shows are Bojack Horseman, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and the Legend of Korra. The best movie I saw recently was Bandersnatch and the best book I recently read is Dragon Rider. Favorite music — you might even even embed a music video if you want! th...

  Vali Stories Reflecting on this story, it really is tragic. You have two brothers, Vali and Sugriva, who eventually end up directly in opposition to each other. The motivation for why Sugriva turned on his brother is even more tragic. Realistically, it boiled down to a matter of Kali's wife and kingdom? These matters ended up splitting up brothers who were nigh inseparable earlier on in their life? Perhaps the most interesting part is that Sugriva knew about the power that Vali held, especially with the boon that allowed Vali to steal strength from his opponents. This was demonstrated when Vali slayed Ravana when Sugriva was wrongly captured by Ravana. Vali seemed to have no problem defeating the evil 10-headed demon king Ravana. So Sugriva had to resort to tricks and get Rama, one of the Four Avatars of Vishnu, to side with him to take down Vali. It just seems so sad that material possessions and envy can cause a brother to hate his own blood so much. From the blog itself, I lik...

  A particular place that I have always felt drawn to is Laramie, WY. A lot of my family is from here, so we go out to visit them frequently. The climate and scenery have always been a nice contrast to hot and flat Oklahoma. The mountains in this area have always been a place of peace and calm for me. Peace and calm are rare these days, so it's times like this when I miss Laramie all the more. Particularly, Medicine Bow Park is a great source of scenery and fresh air. The view from the top is just simply majestic, and it's well worth the effort. Downtown Laramie by itself has its own charm as the state's college town, but the nature in and around Laramie has always been one of my favorite parts of the trek. (image: Medicine Bow Park near Laramie, WY  photo by: Photomnt) credits: Goodfree Photos  

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