Learning Walk Ignite Talk

The Learning Path, Where Do I Pass Go?

We had examined an image in class of a learning pathway ( here is the link http://www.thinglink.com/scene/303158536047689729 ). Yes, we have passed some of these markers in our lives or you shall, but personally, learning did not start at sixth grade not did I accrue much knowledge from something like the SAT. In fact, I disagree with the whole notion that learning is a singular path, rather I see it as a series of paths, a web even.

So where is the start? Where do we go? Well to answer the first, I'm guessing birth. For the second, wherever we decide and life takes us. Lets refer to one of my past posts: Truth Is... In this post I pointed out that truth is whatever you want it to be by gathering experience/evidence and these are found by simply looking for it and gathering it as you go along. This is a lot like the learning web. Like the learning walk, we choose somewhere to go, a path to take, and just go. On the way we learn and gather experience. We then can choose to continue that path or go on a different path for different knowledge. This is the web, full of different alternating routes even with the possibility to take paths leading to ones you thought were already taken ( we all need refreshers or just another look ). This class and blog is one path on my web and a path for others. I've picked up a new outlook, knowledge on identity, on truth, and the relevance of writing on all aspects of life. But its only one path, I have a long journey ahead of me. Where will I go next? Well, most likely my next classes but outside of that, I have no clue, but my past paths have prepared me with knowledge and I'm ready to pick up more.

My Process, If It Could Be Called One

One word that would describe my writing process perfectly is PROCRASTINATION. No matter how hard I try to complete assignments early or at a decent time, its like my brain has a mind of its own. This may have some truth to it because often times I cannot keep up with my brain kind of like how a big dog ends up dragging the owner when he or she tries to take the dog for a walk on a leash. Regardless of all that, I do complete my assignments. At the very last minute, the combination of guilt and adrenaline put me in a sort of hyper mode that mass produces work. Maybe its magic or perhaps its just a snowball effect of simply writing and working with it.

The little planning I did end up doing (and I rarely do plan) helped extremely, especially with the paper on how emotions are made because I made the note cards in class about that topic. Planning helps connect all of my sporatic ideas because another word that can describe me and my writing is sporatic, and also distracted, yes distracted is a big one. Even silence distracts me and puts me in a sort of trance where I don't really do anything but think. Sporatic is perfect because I do not dictate my ideas they come and go, pop in and pop back out. In a way planning is a method of counteracting this, but then I procrastinate with the planning as well as the assignment. The whole process is a struggle until the last minute when everything just seems to fall into place.

Go With The Flow Silly... Putty That Is!

The most recent make I have completed, as well as others in my class, was a Toy Hack which is basically taking toys and doing something funny, unique, interesting, or just different with toys. However, our task was to propose a serious question with our hacks. Well, with every great creation comes a beginning and personally I had NO clue what to do. If you are anything like me, toys were put on the back-burner of my mind for I have bigger fish to fry... like school... or video games. The one thing I did remember is my obsession with Silly Putty as a child.

 

After this, everything fell perfectly into place. The concept of identity constantly pops up in class and is something that is important to me. But, contrary to popular belief, we didn't just "pop out" at birth and start to tell everyone our beliefs and our names, etc. No, we were given a basis and from day one our so called "identity" is morphed and formed int what we see it as today. Gee, what else is molded and shaped... Silly Putty, duh! That's why I loved it as a child, I could make it into anything I desired. There we go, I then knew the theme and the toy, and I already decided on a stop motion video because it seemed popular among toy hacks. Here is the product:

The question I raise is "Who/What are you?" but more importantly: "How did you become that way?" The correct answer is along the lines of experience and antagonists. Generally people equate antagonists with evil, which can be true, by all means. However, an antagonist is someone or something that changes the protagonist which, in this case, is you. The problem here is that we tend to avoid things that are different or even hate them when in reality we would not be the same without them. I am the antagonist to the silly putty because I shape it. It's time we recognize our antagonists and welcome differences rather than shun them, after all, we kind of owe them. Then again, I can't tell you how to live your life. You do you, I'll do me.

What The #$@! Am I Looking At?

Greetings person who has generously decided to take a gander at my blog. You may be looking at this and thinking "this is a kid who has started college and is taking a class/classes that are causing him/her to experience new things and think outside of the box". You, sir or madam, are an intuitive observer because you are correct. I am no philosopher or some other fancy name, but I am a maker (hopefully correctly expressed in my posts). But above all, I am me, and this is my blog.

Each post is solely purposed as food for thought because that's is what and everyone is myself. I frame them by making a funny/ interesting title and then just talking, or "metacognating", about a subject or something I have experienced. Heck, my last post was about truth, something that isn't new to us but we rarely think about it. I try to throw some links, photos, quotes, etc to make it look like I know what I'm talking about or simply to break up the monotony of reading paragraphs. That's it, no big strategy or high end theories, just taking an experience and looking at it for a bigger picture or, again, some food for thought/brain snacks.

I guess what I am trying to show is that you, yes, you reading this post, you do not have to be a scientist or philosopher to make connections, experience science, or think deeper on a subject. It's an adventure. Life doesn't have to be monotonous as many choose to believe. That's okay, to each his own. But for those with a curious mind, join me in this journey of life. You don't have to be someone special, after all I'm just a regular college student. Lets break the chains and let our minds run loose. I am Lukas Lakes, a thinker, a maker, a friendly peer, a gamer/gaymer, a photographer, an uncle, a son, a goof, and I approve of this message.
Also, here is the song I was listening to while writing this: Royals by Lorde. I thought it was fitting because its okay if we aren't royals, we don't have to be to experince life and go on adventures.

Truth Is...

Truth is.... well... if you think about it.... truth is whatever the heck you want it to be. Alright, hear me out before clicking away or getting flustered. Truth, to an individual, is something they hold as real and factual. I can truly believe the sky is purple or maybe that the grass is magenta, but I don't think that in real life, why? This is where evidence comes in to play. if war were to break out, the side with the best support wins, this is the exact same case with truth. The more evidence or proof a truth has, the stronger it becomes and allows it to be more easily accepted by others as true. hence, the sky is blue and the grass is green.

Now, how does one find the magical evidence? You look for it of course! For my make cycle #2 for my English 1103 class I made a video of me and my friend Maria exploring the Discovery Place museum. The point of this project was to express the importance of adventure. Going out and observing the world for yourself fills the mind with the evidence you find, and in turn forms the truths specific to you. A great example in the video is the butterfly towards the end. The sign asks, "Is the butterfly blue?" We look at it and automatically establish that the truth is that the butterfly is in fact blue. But what happens when the light is turned on? By simply exploring the subject we soon find that the butterfly is actually a different color.

After learning a little of maps, I consider evidence as a map of sorts. This Is American Life brought the point that "maps have meaning because they filter out all the chaos in the world". This is why people can change what they hold as truth when provided with this all powerful evidence. Giving evidence is the equivalent of giving maps that filter out all other thoughts, theories, opinions, etc. and to lead to the truth. Just a little food for thought. Here is the link for the This Is American Life: Mapping radio talk: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/110/mapping

But in the end it is what we think that is most important to ourselves. I found in the Bible that it says "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." If religion isn't quite your thing, then consider this, Roger Ailes said "Truth is whatever people will believe." So, what is your truth, and can I see its map?

Through Week Three, A Reflection Spree

This past week, our learning experience was kick started by They Might Be Giants' "Science is Real" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty33v7UYYbw). Despite the "childish" exterior, the song brings about one simple fact that is even stated in the title: science is real. However, our jobs is to ask why, and dig a little deeper. Why is it real, or rather, what makes it truth? Of course this is open to interpretation among people, but considering that we are in a English class, could it be that writing makes it real? Writing is a way of making abstract ideas concrete and tangible. On top of that, writing allows for the communication of such things.
The class then browsed quotes along the walls of the building. Christopher Hitchen's quote stood out the most to me stating, "That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." Alright, if writing makes things true, then simply writing something else can disprove the first. Evidence, evidence is the key. But what qualifies as evidence. To me, it could be as broad as experience. For example, take the drawing of the cat in the top left of the image. What makes it a cat? Yes, it's drawn/written out but, put simply, it looks like a cat and we know this from our experiences of seeing cats.

As a side note, we created our Make Cycle #1! We (English 1103) made individual representations of our histories as writers and science explorers. Good job to everyone! Mine, of course, involved failure because I mean come on, everything I do is plagued with failures to learn from.

Survival of Week One: We Saw the Light

Survive may have a harsh connotation since week one of English 1103 (and college in general) was a complete success. We have been introduced to the Makers Movement and the concept of making as writing and writing as making. This is a cool and new subject but encompasses such a basic idea: when we write, something is made and when we make something we can write about it.
This week, some of us attempted the project titled Light Scribbling. Basically we drew with flashlights. This is accomplished by slowing the shutter speed of a camera, turning off the lights, and drawing in between the shutter clicks. While sounding basic, my mind was thoroughly blown. The time in between shutters allows the camera to capture as much light as possible, making whatever you drew with the flashlight into a neon image. And would you look at that, we made something new and used creativity resulting in writing. Making as writing people.