Writing Journal
Entry 1:
When I was younger I used to collect many things, but, two things I used to collect and remember very vividly are seashells and rocks. I first started collecting seashells when I was around 3-4 til I was around 6. I collected seashells of different sizes, shapes, and colors. I had even tried to “hear the ocean” from the shells. Once in a blue moon, it would work but not every time. This was primarily due to the fact that they weren’t all conch shells. I only collected them at my great grandma, “grandma grandma”’s, house. I remember one time I wanted this one specific shell that was further in the water than I should have gone and my pink croc got lost in the water. I had to run to my mom as quickly as possible to ask her to try to get my croc. She eventually got it, soaked and filled with seaweed. Seashells are now sentimental to me because my grandma grandma passed away when I was 6, which is also the reason I stopped collecting seashells. I haven’t seen seashells on a beach, or anywhere besides a store since I collected them at her house, until last year. I went down to South Carolina for my grandma and went to Myrtle Beach. It wasn’t crowded because it was January so I could see the whole beach very well. This is why I also saw the seashells all over the beach. I loved it and it made me feel at peace.
The rocks I started collecting the seashells too, from around 5-8. I also wrote about rock collecting in my A1 essay. They would call out to me, and I would pick them up to put in my pocket. Some would be dull in color and texture, and some would sparkle like a crystal, which is what I am into now. When I grew up, I stopped collecting rocks and eventually got rid of my collection because I thought it would seem weird but I think it is also what brought me to crystals in one way or another.
Entry 2:
Part 1: The person I have found who collects something weird is Karen Ferrier. She collects “spotty items”. These spotty items are dalmatian patterns. She has over 3500 items, from candles to toilet paper, even her car was painted with black spots to make it look like a dalmatian. The collection started when she got her, at the time, puppy Ditto in 1992. To no surprise, Ditto was a dalmatian. When Ditto passed Karen still kept collecting items. Back in 2009, her husband divorced her, forcing her to sell her collection of 17 years! I wonder how she is doing and if she is collecting anything now. When I first read about Karen I thought the collection was a little weird because it reminded me of 101 dalmatians but knowing she did it because of her dog is kind of sweet.
Part 2: Some objects that I can collect until the end of the semester off the top of my head would be rocks, pictures, or things of one color. The rock idea is because I used to collect rocks and they are all over no matter where I walk, so they would be easy to collect. I could say I will collect one rock every time I am walking somewhere with my best friend, which is usually three times a week. For the pictures that would also be easy because everyone has a phone. I could take one picture every time I feel ecstatic, or a picture every time I see something beautiful, no matter if it is nature related or a hidden gem. I used to take pictures of random sunrises/sunsets and flowers so that would be fun to do again! Lastly, I said things of one color. What I mean by this is if I see something light green, I pick it up to collect. This last idea would be the most fun to do but it is also the most impractical too. This is because I don’t usually see FREE things of light green, especially not during winter so I would most likely get only a few things from this collection. With that being said, I have some thinking to do about what to start collecting!!!
Entry 3:
For this week’s writing journal, we had to choose a fetish object to write about. I had trouble with this prompt because I did not know what to write about. I finally chose the Yoruba dance staff. I picked the Oshe Sango dance staff to be even more specific. This staff has the double ax blades of Sango and is, “representing the Neolithic stone ax heads that the god is said to hurl to Earth during thunderstorms” (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/181742/dance-staff-oshe-sango#). The god they are referring to is Sango. Sango is the god of warfare and thunder. Under the ax blades is a woman with twins. This is also related to Sango because when he creates thunderstorms twins are with him. It is said that women who have twins, “frequently become devotees or priestesses of Sango” (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/181742/dance-staff-oshe-sango#). As I mentioned before this is a Yoruba dance staff. The people of Yoruba are a West African ethnic group. The Oshe Sango dance staff was made in Nigeria anywhere from 1900-1940. It is made of wood and “sacrificial material”. Since this staff was made specifically for Sango it was used to honor the god.
Dance Staff (Oshe Sango)
Entry 4:
An example of a kitsch item I researched about this week is fluffy dice. Fluffy dice can be dated back to World War 2. Dice were used for the American fighter pilots as a sign of good luck. The tradition kept going as more and more planes were getting struck down. In the 1950’s fluffy dice were now being used, as a decoration for cars, hanging from rear view mirrors. In the 50’s the dice symbolized recklessness, like fast and furious. Since we are still talking about our projects in class I would like to relate fluffy dice to a sub-theme I used a lot for my items, individuality/expression. While picking what dice to hang from their rear view mirrors, the drivers would pick colors and dice that matched their cars. Fluffy dice died down in the 1980’s and pretty soon after some states had made it illegal to hang ANY object from a rear view mirror. You can now see that fluffy dice came back a little, just like any fad does. You can but them for ten dollars on amazon. The prices vary depending where you go but from what i have seen it ranges from five dollars to about twenty dollars. I find it interesting because I never knew fluffy dice had such a meaning and history behind it, I thought it was just a cute decoration for peoples cars.
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Entry 5:
A cultural icon that I thought about while reading this week’s prompt was the four leaf clover. I started writing a prompt for this but then reconsidered since I do not know if this could be considered an artifact. So I have changed the icon to be a person who I am sure we have all heard about before, Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was seen as a sex symbol in the 50’s and 60’s. She was an actress, singer, and model, sexualizing her and targeting her to a male audience. Monroe was first discovered while working in a factory, by a photographer, this led to her modeling carrer. She is a cultural icon because of her being labeled as a sex symbol and because of her fashion. This has led people still to this day to follow her fashion. For example, Kim Kardashian, has worn dresses that were made for and worn by Marilyn Monroe. Although the cultural icon part of Marilyn is to be seen as a sex symbol, there were many layers to her that I think are important. She was a smart and kind soul. She read complex books like philosophy, advocated for equality, and was said to be, “the second woman in U.S. history to own her own production company” (Bagai).
https://www.crowdstaffing.com/blog/marilyn-monroe-lessons-in-cultural-fit-diversity
Entry 6:
For this weeks writing journal I chose to write about the 1990’s. The first half and the second half of the 1990’s are different. In the beginning it was still bright colors but by the second half it was more grunge style clothing, with slip dresses and denim overalls. Some people who helped to shape this time during fashion were J-Lo, TLC, Aaliyah, Biggie, Tupac, and many more. Some things that they helped to show up in fashion were low rise jeans, crop tops, oversized jackets, and sportsware. Some sub themes of the 90’s were grunge, punk, and preppy. The grunge look could be made up by flannels, ripped jeans, and combat boots. I actually really like how this style looks. An example of this look being showcased by famous people would be the band Nirvana. The punk look could be made up by leather jackets, ripped jeans, chokers, spiky hair, and more. A person I think showcased this fashion trend could be Winona Ryder. Lastly, the preppy look could be made up of high waisted jeans, blazers, oversized shirts, and “Sperry boat shoes” (MasterClass). A person I think represented this style of clothing was Brad Pitt. These three themes helped to show how clothing created identity. Some of these clothing items that made up the 90’s have even come back today, for example doc martens and grunge fashion.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/1990s-fashion
Entry 7:
One aspect of Bernays’ work that I find interesting is how he used his own uncle’s work for “evil” in a sense. He did this by manipulating the masses. Bernays linked massed produced goods to people’s unconscious desires. One example of his work being used was when he persuaded women to smoke for the American Tobacco Corporation. Cigarettes were a symbol of “male sexual power” before women started smoking. Bernays staged an event at an NYC parade and made “rich debutantes” march in the parade with cigarettes under their skirts and dresses. When Bernays gave the signal they would light the cigarettes dramatically. The photographers captured this moment with the phrase “Torches of Freedom”. The next day this was in the newspaper, not just in New York but across America. This made it “socially acceptable” to have women smoking cigarettes. Making them think it made them too, more powerful. This made Bernays see how objects can make for powerful symbols for how you want to be perceived. The implications of Bernays’ work impact our consumer culture every day now. We see commercials that, although do not explicitly say “Hey buy this and you’ll be cooler than your friends”, instead through hidden messages. For example, off the top of my head, I remember commercials that would poke fun at the competitor’s objects, like Samsung VS Apple, or two different beer companies versing each other. I can relate this to my own consumer relationships because I used to care about what others thought of me so I used to get objects that were “popular”. I had an iPhone, at first, because I thought that was what would make me fit in better. I then switched to a Samsung in high school because I thought it would be more efficient. Lastly, I switched back to an iPhone. Not because I thought it would make me look cooler but because it is what I actually liked better. This can also work in the sense of getting objects that are uncool. Most people do not want to be seen with something that is “uncool”. Vapes can be a great example of an object. The damage vapes can do to you, with the most devastating effect being death, can make you seem uncool, or a “loser”, at a certain point but when it was around 2017 they were all the rage, and lots of people wanted one which led to teen smoking. My reaction to this is that we almost limited smoking to a certain age group but once vapes came out it appealed to younger age groups so tobacco and nicotine corporations could still make their money. This documentary was interesting and really helped me to see how we have moved from necessity-based objects to desired-based products.
Entry 8:
For this writing journal, we had to pick an object/material that man is obsessed with and investigate the destruction this object causes. I knew right away what material I wanted to talk about. This material is oil. Drilling oil brings many disasters with it. It hurts our habitats which also hurts the animals in those habitats; brings along climate change; ruins our wildlands; causes pollution. As if this is not enough there are also oil spills which can be deadly to animals.
By disrupting the habitats this disturbs animals communication with each other and can make them stop the breeding process. While talking about pronghorn antelope and mule deer the Wilderness Society noted, “recently, animals making this age-old trek have faced a series of obstacles, notably, intense activity in major natural gas fields. The pronghorn have to navigate past enormous well pads and noisy compressor stations to find what forage hasn’t been bulldozed”.
Climate change is not any better. Since we are letting fossil fuels get out there we are having warmer weather and causing disasters like wildfires to happen. I personally have not heard of a bad wildfire recently but I remember back in 2020 and 2021 they were happening a lot which is really scary to think about. The Wilderness Society said, “ The year 2020 was one of the warmest on record, wildfire season in the West is longer and hurricanes are more dangerous.”
Facilities built for oil and oil drilling sites ruin the wildlands. By doing this it takes away vegetation that animals and humans use and need. Even once they are done using the places there (the facilities and drilling sites) the wildlands usually do not fully recover. For them to recover the Wilderness Society says, “would require human intervention and a bundle of resources.”
Pollution can come from many different things, like cars, facilities, and power plants. Pollution is deadly. It “can lead to respiratory, cardiovascular and other diseases and is responsible for more than 13 percent of deaths in people aged 14 and older in the United States.”. Not only this but cause liver damage and cancer (among other things) because of fossil fuels getting leaked into things like our water.
I would like to end this journal entry by bringing up the Willow project. This is an oil drilling project in the Northern part of Alaska. It has been approved by the POTUS. This can have drastic measures like omitting more fuels into the air, melting the ice caps, and hurting the wildlife there like polar bears. It will be a big contributor to climate change. It is very controversial.
https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/7-ways-oil-and-gas-drilling-bad-environment
Entry 9:
For this writing journal, we had to find a female inventor who invented a small object that ‘changed the world’. I have chosen to write about Maria E. Beasley. She was born in 1847 and died in 1904 at the age of 57. Maria had invented many things, like the barrel-making machine, but the object I will specifically focus on is the life raft. Her innovation of the life raft had made it, “safer and more reliable” (https://peoplepill.com/people/maria-beasley). Before Maria’s, life rafts were not easy to store and were made of wooden boards. After Maria’s life raft was flexible and, “included metal floats” (https://peoplepill.com/people/maria-beasley). Since it was more flexible it also was safer to put in the water and would not cause harm to the boat because of this. She also added things that were not in the first life boats, like guard rails. Her innovation was important because it was safer and more reliable which in turn saved more lives. A fun fact I read from the article is that Marias life boats were used on the Titanic and, “Although there were not enough lifeboats on board to save the 2000-plus passengers aboard the Titanic, the 20 lifeboats that the ship did carry saved the lives of 706 people.” (https://peoplepill.com/people/maria-beasley). Marias life raft had started the base for other life rafts to use things like nylon to make them waterproof. Laslty, I have included a youtube video that is short and sweet (only three minutes!) that talks about Maria.
Maria Beasley and her Life Raft
Entry 10:
For this last journal entry, we were prompted to collect something since the beginning of the semester. I collected sauce packets. Not just any sauce packets but specifically sauce packets from Chinese food places. This is because my family usually orders lots of Chinese food for people when we hang out and also often so I knew it would be something accessible to me. It fluctuates how many sauces you are given but I didn’t know I would end up with this much in the end. There are three kinds of sauces, soy sauce, the black one; duck sauce, the orange one; spicy mustard, the yellow one.
I kept them in a food bowl that I do not use. I got the bowl from the vet when I first got my dog, which will be three years ago in five days. I am sure some of the sauces have gone bad at this point but I feel this was a good object to collect because I am saving the sauces I didn’t use and can use them later on if needed; instead of just wasting them and throwing all of them in the trash. As this semester comes to an end it is a bittersweet feeling. Now while the reader(s) grade my projects I will go through these sauces to see which ones to keep. Have a great summer!
