Final!!

         So with finals in progress, preparation was a must. For this composition class things were a bit different for a final, but held a lot of meaning.

For our last day in class we spent our time creating origami cranes. Why? Well it’s not just for fun rather we did this in regard to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. We do not want to forget April 19, 1995 along with many other people who have used the cranes as the way to remember.

     This semester has truly held a lot and given our class something that many of us have not experienced. This is outside history. Yes, we are all familiar with the history of the Confederacy and the Civil Rights Movement, but we were given the chance to see history from another standpoint and that standpoint broadened the idea of how to each person different events hold the same importance as the other.  

We Will Remember

4/19/1995

To Dr. Hessler and OCU students:

Okay through this semester there would be a large missing piece if a particular group had not been willing to spend their time posting and responding to our blogs.

Of course this is obvious, but I just feel the need to say how wonderful this semester has truly been because of you guys!! I never thought that I would be the blogging type but this class surely makes me want to explore this side of communication and sharing thoughts. It’s honestly like an open book. Raw, unedited (unless more formal) thoughts.

Dr. Hessler, I didn’t know that there would be another professor that would be willing to take a class outside of the normal box and stretch the limits of brainstorming and the writing process. I am so grateful that you agreed to partner with us and not only help stretch our learning, but you gave us an oppurtunity to obtain a piece of history that we may have not run into, at least in this format. THANK YOU!

Now to the students, I am so happy our class actually got to meet you guys and put blog names to faces. Particulary, thanks for not being half-hearted in the class and being involved in the class which made the trip to Oklahoma that much more enjoyable because we felt welcomed.

I say THANK YOU to each one of YOU!

THANK YOU!!

 

So as the semester is wrapping up, I just want to say thank you to Professor Nobles, the Director of the Honors Program for giving us, the students the incredible opportunity to learn from an amazing teacher, but to travel and gain some observational knowledge along with the book knowledge that we are commonly given.

This semster I can honestly say has been like no other. Even though this class wasn’t”easy” I had a wonderful time because it stretched the way that I think about brainstorming just from the way that this class was formatted. I am really thankful that Professor Nobles arranged something like this for the students because it truly gave so much depth to the idea of Lying With Maps. Don’t get me wrong I believe strongly that this course was wonderful whether we went on the trip or not but I don’t know if we would have came out with the same perspective if we had not had an opportunity like this. We were able to see and experience part of the history of the world that we had not seen before. Specifically the Memorial of the April 19th bombing in 1995.

Thank You So Much!

My Line!

I’m from Oklahoma and the Red Tails, and Red Velvet Cake and Dr. Preggers veggie burgers.

Source from Raleigh NHAA

The Search for Curiosity

Sooo about this wonderful map called What Do You See that I received from Finding a Neverland and Charting the Stars. I’ll probably have to say that this is one of the most interesting and creative map ideas that i have seen. The creators picked a section of Oklahoma City to share and placed pictures in the locations with numbers so that the reader could follow the descriptions. As the descriptions are small flip-able pages there is first the “title” of the image and then an abstract photo, and then exactly what one would see when they passed by the chosen places.

I feel like the bright yet seldom colors along with the urban handwriting give a lighthearted fun appeal to the part of the city that they zoned in on. The images are clear and draw attention for instance picture #3 The Bean Stalk as it is seemingly amazing on the paper, the reader has no choice but to imagine that it is 20 times more captivating in person.

As this map shows the highlights of the city, maybe it lies in the fact that there are only cool things on the map rather than the things that well you know!… that are rather less attractive things in sorts.

As I got to meet the map makers and talk to them for a little bit while our class was on campus I guess I could go far enough to say that the map really does reflect who they are in some sense. By this I mean lighthearted and vibrant. I would love to hear the story behind they chose some of the things that they did personally, like if any of the places evoke different emotions, or are important because of personal reasons.

I have to say that I am really excited that I got this map as I had fun looking through it as it was simple, yet very informative to me as the reader.

Emotions High

Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.

A total of 759 persons sustained injuries, 167 persons died, 83 survivors were hospitalized, and 509 persons were treated as outpatients.

Walking through the memorial and museum of the April 19th, 1995 bombing, emotions ran high. As I walked with my classmates and teacher there was no smile or gaze not caught by the simple sight of pictures and voices heard of the survivors and victims. Even though I was only two when this bombing occurred nor even encountered the true feeling of the horrific day, my heart was gripped and my eyes fixated on the memory that was caught by the pictures and the actual objects.

One of the places that captured me the most was the site of the portraits of the victims and their personal and descriptive objects that were placed in front. Something about that just took me in. The thought that not only innocent bystanders, businessmen and women and many more but small children and even the unborn were killed made my mind struggle. There is something about it that just sits uneasy. How? Why? and What? are always the question but even if an answer was given there is something that will never be gained back. That is life.

We seem to take life for granted, it is merely but a vapor. Really.  Do you know when your last day on this earth will be? Do you know the last thoughts that you will have towards individuals will be? Do you know what will happen after you take your last breath? No. The answer is simply no. People can play around with these ideas but when it all comes down to it there are some important things to think about because if we are unsure of things now, what makes things easier when the foundation of our beliefs are shaken.

I don’t know something about this whole thing makes me think what happened to these people after they died? Such a horrible event, taking the lives of people who were just going through their normal routine, not expecting that the very walls of their surrounding building would cave in after a man chose to bomb their place of work. Mmmhh not everything is emotional and for some they may not understand why I ask these questions or why I am more concerned about the souls of the people who died but that is something that seems like the most important thing. Life is so precious and to get life we had to be given it somehow and from something. I don’t want to live my life the way that people or society tell me. I want to live it in a way that is Holy and acceptable, just because it is my reasonable service. The least I could do for the one who gave me life is, give him it back. No restrictions for fun rather keeping me safe.

After all, Hell is freedom from God’s presence. So why would a just God try to snatch me out into Heaven to spend eternity with him when I didn’t want to be bothered with him on this earth?

OKCU Encounter

Sooo what can I say, after being here for two days, only, I encountered some very friendly students on the campus of OKCU.

I have to admit I was a tad nervous to see what to expect, but more than anything I was excited. Don’t get me wrong it did take a couple, long, minutes for the initial warm up.

As I sat at the table with the authors of the blogs Something, Someone and Will Maps we discussed the different aspects that we focused in on and the ideas of visual rhetoric, and the truths versus the lies of each map. I noticed that each person had a different perspective and way of going at the maps which was a very interesting and intriguing part of the whole project. After a little mingling and looking at all the maps, we were given the pleasant gift of receiving a randomly picked map out of a Easter egg. The one I received was made by the authors of the blogs Finding a Neverland and Charting the Stars. I really like the way that they set it up and put time into it. : ) But this wasn’t the only thing that us AUM-ers did during our visit to OKCU. We toured the campus (which is outstanding) and ate lunch with a couple of students, actually the same ones that I received the map from. It was nice to get to put the face to the blogs, though I have to admit it was much different (not in a bad way!!).

I hope that we will stay in contact with the students as, looking at this whole year has been a big part of my freshman year in college. We have all been looking forward to this trip and now that I’m here I’m glad that I was able to be involved with this wonderful experience!