This class is one of the best classes I've had so far. I absolutely adored Jeanette and I'm sorry that I'll never be able to take a class with her again. Each week we had readings to do but only two assignments for the week- a word and a project. The word assignment was simple- pick a word and define it, explaining how it related to the class. I loved those, because I love anything relating to thinking about language. There were 8 projects or stories, all in different areas of storytelling. We told stories, wrote them, made poetry, drew, took pictures, designed games and maps, and more. Most classes were spent discussing stories, readings, and visual art. But each week on the Thursday we would go through, one by one, and share our story of the week. I've never had the chance to see the work of other students before as much as I did in this class and I loved it.
I've chosen to show three of the eight stories here. Above is Story #7: mapping. The assignment was to create a map and explain what it meant. That week our readings had been about the different ways maps can look, and she challenged us to create something outside of the traditional western notion of what a map is. The map I created shows my relationship to Seattle, connected by all of my experiences with its water. It faces south because that's how my dorm room faced. The icons describe those experiences and they're oriented to show their relation to me. I grew up on an island and I see Seattle like it's an island too. This assignment really got me to think about how many assumptions we make about the world based on how we're taught to see it. Who says birds eye view, north-south maps are the only way to see the world?
The second story is Story #6- Multi-Frame Art. The assignment was to create a comic of any sort and tell a story in multiple frames. I chose to tell the story of something magical I had just experienced earlier that week. The story isn't as important to me as the act of choosing to paint it was. I've never seen myself as an artist, that's always been my sister. But because I was working on Good Person, I had been painting for a few months and I realized I'm actually pretty good now. So I took that newfound confidence and used it to create this comic.
The final story is Story #8: Past and Futures Imagined. I chose to imagine some of the possible futures I may face in my life and place them in apartment windows. I grew up in an apartment and I've always been so amazed at the sheer number of lives happening simultaneously in a single building. It seemed an appropriate way to convey the idea of multiple futures existing at once.