Finals are this week for my first semester of college, and my Ideation and Interpretation class is taking ours in a way I think fits perfectly with the class, and I might as well talk about it:

We were given three questions to prepare for a one-on-one 30 minute conversation between the professor and each pupil. There is no final essay or big test (the professor said he didn’t even know what he could put on a test) that wouldn’t make sense. Instead—because IWU is a small enough school it’s doable—Prof Soderstrom will conduct an official dialogue with each of us reflecting on the semester and how we have learned and grown as artists and people. We also will construct a detailed portfolio and answer a question regarding the joining of creativity and the kingdom of God throughout, but as a Human Communications Major the conversation is the portion I’m most excited about. (I will post the portfolio pdf on this website following its completion)

I’m writing this post in two parts: The first part (what you’re reading right now) is my form of preparation for the conversation…

I’ve written all about how “I want to pursue art for fun, not as a career.” and yet proceeded to attend Indiana Wesleyan for their art program. An incredible program it is, that I will continue to be involved in… but no longer as a major.

I want to continue to be as thrilled as now about every aspect of college I am and will soon be experiencing. The food, friends, and faculty that make Indiana Wesleyan University what it is.

I'm going into college with a refined mindset, thanks to my experiences in highschool. I call it the "try everything… specifically" mindset. 

In it, I keep an overarching goal such as "I want to improve at verbal communication" when choosing activities, and then jump into as many relevant ones as I can find.

To take initiative is to do something even if you don’t necessarily want to do it.

I want to clean off my shelf, but these deck boxes that I made (I think) months ago, are still there trying to prompt me to write an Instructable about the process and the result. I even wrote a draft… that now I can’t find… of course. I titled it “How to make anything is 6 steps” and it went through how I idea….

wait.

I did write that Blog Post. and titled it “Downloading a Virus to make a Cardboard Deck Box” a little over a month ago. What a wild month it’s been that I would forget.

I guess I’ll continue with the idea of initiative. And pair that with spontaneity.

So I was trying to figure out a way to turn cereal boxes in convenient deck boxes for Magic the Gathering (and other card games) but none of the templates I found were what I wanted. And believe me when I say I really LOOKED. Every site that showed up with a deck box template I clicked on. (Not my best move-hence the title). But I did figure out what design I wanted, and set to work drawing up templates. 

From the whole process I have found a six-ish step process for making most things:

…is a children’s book I am quite familiar with. The story goes something like this:

There is a sweet old couple who lives on a farm and is getting their picture taken with one of those old throw-a-black-sheet-over-the-photographer cameras. But each time, right before he takes the picture, they think of another and another and another thing they could put in it. Eventually, they have their whole hat collection on, produce selection in their laps, and cats by their feet… and then a bull gets loose and blocks the entire picture when it finally does get taken. “Simple pictures are best” warned the photographer.

Recently I’ve been writing for several scholarship applications, and I’ve seen a trend in the prompt questions. It goes something like, “Why do you want to go to college? What are you going to gain from it? How is a post-highschool education going to further your career?”

And it’s a good question.

Maybe less so for future Doctors and Lawyers and Engineers because their answers are obvious: “I’m going because it’s required for my career to have an education beyond high school.” For an artist the question is really fun.

I can’t for the life of me remember what the events (that already exist) are called when a group of people gather, often for a business-induced workshop, and come up with ideas for a day. Plenty of incredible ideas come out of this, and have led to some of the big-name companies of today. I know that much.

I’d like to do that with a big group of teenagers and cardboard, and call it “The Thought Box”.

When I started this blog post, I had recently been tasked with writing an “Original Oratory” speech for a class, and I chose the topic: “Audacity”.

This post was initially going to contain my process of brainstorming for that speech, but the semester is now over and I’ve both written and performed the speech. So instead, here is the speech, and afterwards, some relevant thoughts and takeaways.

I highly doubt this concept is new, but it doesn’t have to be for me to use it and make something cool out of it.
What is an “Idea Box”? It’s a box. With ideas. inside on bits of paper.

It is human nature to pursue purpose. People dedicate their lives to different things, and do those things well because of intention behind their actions. For example: a person has to have something beyond motivation to choose running as a sport, and be competitive in it.

Our cross country team has a motto this year, and that motto is one word:

“Purpose”