Creative Juices

In a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she talks about the importance of stories. She is a writer from Nigeria that tells about things that are significant to her. She encourages others to share their stories too, adding to the understanding of diverse experiences. In another TED presentation, Brené Brown tells several stories about human connectedness and vulnerability. Learning of the experiences of others helps foster empathy. She says that in order for connection to really happen, we need to be vulnerable, we have to really let ourselves be seen. Sharing our stories allows for this.  The telling of stories has been around since the civilization of man. “Story has always been the way we explain our relationships and who we are,” (Forbes 2). For me, I find great importance in sharing my experiences, and the experiences of those close to me. Life is full of inspiration and information to be used and shared. I try to let life inform my creative processes and works. It ...

Miscegenation is defined as “the interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types.” Up until 1967, miscegenation was illegal in most of the United States. In the ground-breaking case, Loving v. Virginia a white man fought for the right to live with and love his African-American wife in his home state of Virginia. However, despite the legalization of such relationships, many stereotypes and stigmas are still associated with interracial relations. Stemming from a long history of separation and discrimination, the mixing of two races was seen as a pollution or desecration of one’s gene pool and ancestry. Individuals in other countries, especially under Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa, were harassed, incarcerated and sometimes killed for trying to live with the people they loved. Despite steep consequences, there have been brave people willing to fight for the right to love whom they want. Over the past several decades, archaic sentiments have dissipated and a sh...

Welcome to our Geo Game,  Murder Mysteries of Provo . This game uses a combination of media and geo-location technologies to explore rather less well-known issues right here in Provo, Utah; specifically, murder. We chose to focus on all the homicide cases discovered in the area in approximately the last 10 years. Although, manslaughter is the uniting theme, the correlating causes are diverse; including but not limited to, domestic and child abuse, aggravated burglary and assault, suicide, human trafficking, drunk driving, and drug usage. The game is meant to increase awareness of these dangerous situations, provide resources to people involved in them, and facilitate social change. Players are required to go to the location (hopefully not at night!) where each murder was realized, read information about the victims and cases, and then participate in a related challenge. The challenges range from visiting websites with more information on prevention and resources, to identifying pe...

Within this twine poem, I choose to focus almost entirely on text. The poem is an original, that is best read out loud. I deliberately choose not use sound or image so as not to pull the reader from the textual experience. The words are what create the image and meaning. I intentionally choose specific words as my linking words so that the programed blue link color would draw attention to that specific word. I wanted those highlighted words to serve as anchors for the meaning of the poem. The pacing of the poem is also regulated by how much text appears on a page at a time and when it appears on said page. I purposefully selected descriptive and visual simulative words so that the reader could easily identify and visualize the poem without having to actually see anything it describes. Overall, I tied to use the built-in function and design of Twine to create a simple piece that holds its weight in the words more than anything else. My decision to do so drew from several of the oth...

Telling a story through Gifs was an interesting approach to narrative. It forced me to really think about the key points of the story and how I might represent them simply and concisely. When I approach narrative normally, I include great amounts of visual detail to really flesh it out. However, by telling a story only through a few specific moving images, it requires a lot of my typical detail to be cut out. The Gif cinema allowed a little more freedom than only still images, but also complicated it. I not only had to choose the most important story points, but also the ones that lent themselves most to the looped, repetitive nature of the gif. Creating a narrative in this way was challenging, but instructive. Gifs were created in 1978, However they in recent years have increased in popularity immensely. They have become the new and trendy way of self-expression and creativity. In some ways, they can be considered a modern form of art. In a keynote presentation my James Bridle, ent...

Music Mosaic

Here you will find many of my creative endeavors. Creating is part of my being, my motivation, and my identity. I try to find inspiration and art in all around me and seek to create it.