In my eyes, this project was a way for students to take the lens off of others and instead turn it on themselves, looking inwardly on their special concepts about the world. I took this project as almost an opportunity to look into what I was really thinking, for I never think about existentialism and the greater picture. It was chance for me to sort out my ideas and the scattered thought I had about my existence into a cohesive statement.
"The purpose of human life is to explore and understand, on a physical and mental level. Humans are curious thinkers and explores, it is in our nature to roam the land around us. From the accent men who discovered lands, to pirates looking for treasure, to a team of builder working on an apartment complex, to a historian locking himself in a library to read. All these situations and people have one thing in common that is the base to my philosophy. Human purposes lies in the things we create externally and the knowledge, witt, and imagination we create internally. You can be at peace once knowing that both are important and go hand in hand with each other. To learn and grow your mind, you must do actions. Either exploring a new land and finding out about the creatures that live there or going to a simple college lecture. Both are actions, one being a more conventional type of learning than the other, but both are physical things that give you mental ideas. School isn’t the only way the world teaches you. You learn from experiences you had, and relationships you discover. You might find growth within yourself by going through a tough situation. There is another side to this. Without knowledge of the world, we would not know how to act. By learning from these experiences and situations, you will gain the knowledge to apply further down in your life. Imagination in your mind can create beautiful pieces of art in the physical realm, just as seeing a beautiful piece of art could inspire you in the mental realm. ~ The world is a puzzle meant for life forms to solve. From building houses from the wood around you to solving difficult math equations that explain why planes can fly. Your mind is a puzzle, and the world around you will help you solve it by the experiences you have. "
The ideas I am and was having were very abstract, so abstract that I did not even know what I was thinking about for the half of it. I was trying to find something that wasn't there, almost. I was mostly trying to explain and convey a message that I follow by and explaining that a human's purpose is to explore inwardly and out. Within me, under my skin and behind my ears, lie a mind full of thought. It was a challenge to group together the mess of sticky notes within my skull and pull together a statement and project that didn't just come off as "Everyone is great, everyone is connected, love love love!"; yet something that described me and had to due with issues I had faced (and had been facing while this project was going on). Learning from experiences and growing inside just as much as out as I grow older. Over the course of this project, I truly got to see how connected each of peers' philosophies were, even when it was not intended. One of my fellow students had a project based around running out of purpose and the chain reaction of history on the modern day. I felt as if my philosophy had a lot to do with the endlessness of purpose and the exploration of ones purpose and world; which almost seemed like the opposite of her's yet also acted at the other hand to her idea. No purpose verse endless purpose. I liked to take new insights mostly from the students around me to see the beautiful diversity yet coinciding aspects of each person's philosophy. Jaylnn had a philosophy that was just what I needed to hear to get through a rough time, it was nice to feel like I could relate to someone's meaning as much as I did in that moment. However, the insights and sources I had used within my project came from the music I listen to. When I create art, I like to listen to music. It allows my brain to flow and my imagination to run rapid. This is why I chose to include lyrics and song as my intertextual piece within my short story. I tried to find lyrics from songs that really touched my soul in a way, songs that passed the goose bump test, and songs that imbibed my philosophy. The song I picked the most lyrics from was "I Won't Hurt You" by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. This song both includes aspects of ethereal description (perfect for what I was writing about) and tells a story that I can relate to; losing a relationship, walking a path alone, then returning to the relationship but both people are now different and things aren't the same, yet they both were excepting that. Although this is not exactly what my philosophy entails, it is a song that I myself relate to and feel as if it embodies things I have gone through. Just as this song made me look within myself, this project did the same. It opened my eyes to new insights about the world around me and just how important experiences are. Everything we do is an experience and it is our choice whether we learn from them or not. After this long project, taking up months of time and lots of learning going into it, I have walked away with new insight from both the texts we learned from and even the students around me. As I had said previous, Jaylnn's personal philosophy really struck a cord with me, leaving me deeply impacted. It was not only the teachings we learned that give us knowledge, but also the peers we surround ourselves with. I walked away with an understanding that my peers and I are not so different after all. She spoke about not letting her happiness and life be effected by another feelings or something that is out of your control. This is something I struggle with daily, I almost feel like the root to my anxiety is based off things I cannot control: others feelings and emotions. Not only did I learn the importance of peer connections through beliefs, but I also walked away with a good idea of what my human purpose is. Although I am young and my purpose is still yet to be discovered, I do know what I WANT my purpose to be. I wish to live in a way where happiness is all that I radiate. From keeping myself happy and having self love, to spreading that same happiness to others and the ones I love. From this point on, I wish not to give myself a strict life purpose or goal to achieve, but rather live, love, and learn in the moment. Experience the world just as I said, and learn from the world just as I said.
How Can I Leave a Positive Impact With My Words? Do All Teenagers Face Existential Crisis, Small or Large? Is It Okay To Have An Undefined Personal Philosophy?
The Story of She and Her Hands Raimy Sporl
The Ethics and Chemistry of Food and Cooking - Raimy Sporl
Project Description and Reflection
In this unit, students took a deep dive into the world of food in America. Although that might seem like a simple task, it was much more than expected. The purpose of this project was to look into the world of the food industry, organic food industry, and local food; all of which are prevalent in the Unite States and are what keep citizens fed and money in the pockets of the big men upstairs; in order for us as students to form a personal ethic or moral surrounding what we buy and eat. Food is much more complex than just an apple in City Market or a meal at a restaurant, it is a chain of events. Behind that apple there is a truck, miles of open road and transport, a large industrial sized orchard, and a company running the cogs that makes it all happen. Of course not all food is industrial, that is where the food ethic portion comes in. After learning about the different ways food is transported, grown, processed, presented, or killed, there was a lot to think about in the sense of what we are putting into our mouths. The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book written by Michael Pollan, is a tale of food that was one of the main texts focused on in the Humanities portion of this project. While the chemistry side focused more on applying our ethics to an experimenter of our creation.
Working on this type of project was something new for me; I have never done an interdisciplinary natured project before so it was almost a step into the unknown when I learned the junior chemistry and Humanities classes would be colliding. Although it was something I wasn't used to, I took on the job of trying my best to mix the subject matter in a meaningful way. However, I will say, after the unit was over, I was left a stressed out empty bag of my prior self. In theory, having a common theme between classes seems much easier than not, but my difficulty came in the form of the projects. It was slightly overwhelming to have three (four if you count the discontinued dinner party project) large projects going on at the same time. It was hard to make time for both my two projects in humanities and my project in chemistry. Even though it was stressful for me, it did teach me how to multitask and opened my eyes to the reality that adult life was a lot like that. Balancing many agendas at the same time and completing all on a deadline.
This unit ended up being one of my favorites over the course of junior year, food and the sigma around the industry is a topic I am really interested in so of course having almost an entire semester to focus on it was amazing. What made this study so special to me is how much it expanded my mind on the world around me. I was rather ignorant to what was happening in the food industry in America, and even in the world for that matter; so learning about the corruption, the industrialization, and the conditions of animals was very eye opening. Walking into this, I already had a good idea of my food ethic, that being that I did not really care what I ate. If Lays potato chips sound good, I'll eat them. If I want a burger, I'll go to McDonald's. I did not put much thought into what I was putting in my belly, and I liked it that way. It really disturbed me to think about the abuse of farm animals and the big corporate companies sitting behind the burger I was eating; so I just ended up ignoring it, pushing away the thoughts that made the Big Mac less appetizing. This is the main point I discuss in my Food Ethic Essay, an assignment given to us to relay what our thoughts were about this topic. I talked about the blind folds of both comfort and ignorance that American's wear when it comes to the river of food flowing to their plates and the hidden world that most to not see...or choice to ignore. I felt as if this unit was a chance for me to finalize my thoughts on food and my eating patterns, for before I really had no way to explain how I felt. My thinking has greatly changed after this project, mostly in the meats I consume. I used to eat a lot of fast food, not understand (or just blatantly ignoring) the horrors that go on behind the scenes. After read The Omnivore's Dilemma and watching countless videos on the abuse of farm animals, my mind set slipped from not caring, to putting in all efforts to only buy "happy meat" products. All the beef my family buys is from James Ranch, for we know those cows had a happy life and were fed the correct meals. It is more comforting to me now knowing that I no longer have to support the abuse of animals now that my eyes have been opened. Even after all this change, I still find myself acting the same old ways. Meaning, I still tend to ignore the strange concepts of the big food industry, I still don't buy organic only, I still drink milk here and then; however, I do feel like this project gave me a bigger purpose than I once had before. I used to think I had zero impact in the world and that even if I stopped eating meat, cows would still die. Yet, I know realize if we as a society come together and buy local, stop the fast food demon that has pledged the Earth, and take a stand, we can deeply impact that world.