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”

The thought of college (as a high school senior) is one of immense weight and pressure. The source of the pressure is hardly whether or not to attend college, as I fully expect to, but rather where to attend college. 

…but not for tacos.

I want a taco truck because of the nice shop window, and the abundance of space inside. I want to convert it into a mobile art studio.

The Zedaph plush to me represents creativity over efficiency, and that having the best things isn’t always the most enjoyable. Sometimes you just have to be a bit wacky to have a good time.

Now how do you host an “art” camp? Are group projects the answer? Is it a large collection of demos by various artists? How do you get the students to soak in all the strategies in such a short time?I feel the IWU Art + Design department has the process down beautifully.

Some preliminary research reveals that June 25th is National Catfish Day (I’m assuming the actual fish) as well as Strawberry Parfait Day, Color TV Day, Log Cabin Day, and Global Beatles Day. It was also the day North Korea invaded South Korea and began the Korean war, and was the day of the Battle of Little Big Horn (a day that left us questioning if it was just a medium-sized horn).

But it’s also the day my Instagram account will be deleted. On purpose.