The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself:

I fear a lot of things. Why, I cannot exactly explain. From my last blog post you can see how deep my fears run; so deep in fact that I had to stop the post and go draw my attention to something else. I hesitate even now typing this blog because it once again has to do with the topic of fear. In yesterday's class we began our expirements with fear as our subject. The idea was to figure out what people fear, and to use it to make them as uncomfortable as possible. A lot of student's though did not come prepared.

One student stood out to me in yesterday's class. I say this because this student irritated me to the point where I really wanted to say something. However, I resisted in hesitiation of starting an ugly debate. This student thought that fear was controllable. Well, that is should be. He thought it was odd that it is the one emotion that no one seems to have control over even though he strongly thinks it is controllable. He thinks people have the concious ability to not go into a state of fear.

However, when asked what he feared he could not answer. This leads me to believe this student has never been in a true state of fear. Fear is not controllable.  Being uncomfortable is. When I am truly afraid my body temperature increases, I cannot concentrate, I feel very nauseated. The only way to get myself unafraid is to distract myself. However, I do not find this a means of 'controlling' fear. To control fear it must never start in the first place. Fear is a primal state of vulnerability and your bodytakes over your concious will and overpowers you to protect you and let you know it does not like its environment. This is not your willpower of control.

What they will feel:

UNCOMFORTABLE

The Subject of Fear

Today in class we played around with the idea of fear and how we draw ourselves out of the state of far itself. We had a ferret running around the room and holiday lights to try an detour us from the subject the class was discussing. It worked to say the least. Most people were too focus'ed on the ferret above all else. Let's face it, when you throw something cute in the middle of a bunch of immature young adults, no one really manages to pay attention.

Nonetheless, the subject of fear is something I do not neccessarily enjoy thinking about. This is mainly due to the fact that my fears are severe and go hand in hand with eachother. I am 1) terrified of enclosed spaces (in other words I am clausterphobic) and 2) death scares the living daylights out of me. Let's explore the idea of why I say these two things go hand in hand. The mere thought of being stuck in a box with very little moving room, let alone squirming move, with a significantly low supply of oxygen frightens me. Now, let's imagine me in a coffin. Despite the fact I am dead, the thought still resides in my living mind at the moment. My dead body would be in a very tight box, stuck 6 feet under the ground with no way to escape. Now the mere fact of me being dead and even if I could escape it is impossible because I am..well..dead. Now death has it's own scarity to me. When I actually focus on the thought I go into an instant state of panic. My face flushes white, my stomach turns and the only way to focus on something else is to get into an activity or do something productive. I do not like the idea of no longer being, well, a being. No being is being, yet by being they are. One of my favorite quotes. No person can be living without living, but by living they are alive. I don't want to not be alive. I don't want to just one day not wake up and not be...

I am actually stopping this blog now because thinking about this is getting my stomach flustered...

I sense a change in the wind.

Our capability to experience the world around us is highly resulted because of our senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. With these five senses we are able to interact with our environment whether that particular experience be good or bad. Now our assignment in Seeing Sideways was to somehow design a new sense. Not only do we need to come up with some kind of new ability, but to have an actual usage for it and describe what other senses it would appeal to.

I will admit I was lost on this assignment at first. I did not know how to make up another sense considering I already believe we have more than five. Everything our body is capable of doing is in someway a sense. However it is an assignment and I must complete it.

My mom and I had watched the movie Erin Brocovich the other day and we got into a discussion about the subject of the movie. For those who have not seen the movie it is based off a true story. Erin gets a job at a law firm as an assistant to a lawyer and along the way makes startling discoveries after speaking with various people about water contamination. A company called PG&E (which still exists today) had been dumping their waste into water pools which then was transferred into the public water systems. In so doing, people around the area were developing deadly and cancerous illnesses by drinking and absorbing the water. Of course no one knew this, but Erin found all of this out after she does mounds of research. She and the victims take the company to court and won their case and PG&E had to pay the victims millions of dollars. At the end of the movie we see Erin still doing research on this subject and even talking to people in other areas of the state, but if the movie ends here, why would they show this?

If you recall in recent news another state has published information on water contamination and people developing deadly illnesses. This water contamination was caused by PG&E. That’s right, the same company doing the same thing they were sewed for. PG&E has done this same act all across the United States and how they are still in business is beyond me.

Anyway, onto the assignment. My idea for a new sense would be Radiosensory. This new sense would allow people to be able to sense radioactive chemicals and fields in order to prevent such issues like PG&E. For instance, say you poor yourself a glass of water and begin to take a drink. A signal in your brain would send a sharp intense message alerting you of the danger. Now this can technically already appeal to the senses of smell and taste. Of course the point is to not internally absorb this chemical in the least bit so sniffing or tasting the radioactive chemical is not in the best of interest; nor is touch because skin can absorb radioactive material as well as cause harm to the exodermises.

This sense would definitely be beneficial to mankind seeing as how this problem with PG&E alone has been going on since the early 80’s.

Senseless Senses

So this week in the wonderful world of Beth, we began by discussing details on our experiences walking backwards. I am going to be honest when a lot of the students cross-mentioned to me that they did not really do the project, which I find a real shame in all honesty. The point of these exercises to allow you to see things in a way you have not before and if you allow yourself to be stuck in the 'norm' of things simple because you are lazy, uncomfortable, or just do not care, then it is a waste to even be in the class. The experiences help enlighten a person to a feeling of more than self-embodiment. By shedding a layer of skin that has been gritted a knarled on by this world and it's sense of normality, then we are truly able to experience something new and different. When you shed a layer of skin, the fresh layer beneath it is much more sensitive.

We then revisited the EGG assignment. I was actually pretty jealous of the other girl who used blood on her egg simply because her blood looked better than mine haha. It is a petty thing to be jealous over, but I loved how she did the splatters and cracked the egg, even the photo was well taken with really nice lighting. I did not really care for the eggs drawn on at all. Do nto get me wrong, it was my original intent, but I declined on it as it did not seem very creative. I think the first thing everyone thought was to draw on it. I think the next time I see someone DRAW on an egg, I better see the Mona Lisa on it. That would impress me.

We then moved on to talking bout our sense and how they enhance our life on this planet by protecting us. Our assignment is actually to come up with an imaginary sense, but I will be honest, I am lost. I can not imagine any other thing that could possible become a sense. I plan on sleeping on it for a few days and just keep my mind open to observation around campus. I am detirmined that if I pick something to become a sense, that I want it to truly be useful and something that could protect a person, rather than just be there to use in general.

AVL Inspiration

I went to the mall the other day just to do some meaningless shopping. You know, to buy things such as incense and makeup. In my opinion the mall is a little bland. It is the same thing every time I go with maybe a few stores moved around. I basically walk into the mall, go to the store, get what I need, and leave. I do not really pay attention to shops not on my list of to do’s. I also noticed that a lot of people had problems finding places and a lot of people talking about current sales. How could this be fixed?




Part of this assignment is to take a product we saw in the AVL and find a way it could be utilized in a common location of public use. The large panel screen, in my opinion, would be actually visually and actively appealing. Confused? Let me explain. Can you imaging walking through the mall and as you walk, have a large panel television along the wall. This wall could even be touch paneled where you mall goers can find a location, see advertisements, and other miscellaneous information. The interactivity is one thing malls need more of. They already have all of our favorite stores in one location, why not boost the excitement and get it more hands on. A high tech mall is a thing of the future.



The only drawback to this massive touch screen monitor is the maintenance. With so many people touching the monitor it could be a hassle to keep up with repairs. Money is also an issue. However, the revenue brought to the stores because of what the unit could do would help boost sales, I think. If customers had a more interactive way to find places that have moved or that are new ( a digital directory), or can see the sales ads as they are walking through the mall so they know there is more than one option, it would increase spending and the footprints through stores.



Obviously the pros and cons are there, but the main objective has its key functions. If it can be worked and developed it could become a key asset in marketing and not just for massive online computer chatting and screen sight as it is used for now. I think people never really know what they have truly created until others start finding more than the original usage for it to be utilized.

Backwards Sightseeing

Walking backwards is not neccessarily something we do on a regular basis, but if you ever have a chance to explore the idea, I would suggest it. I will give a brief warning however, please do not attempt this if you have vertigo or a chronic habit of losing balance as it could result in critical injury. Granted, we were told to use a buddy system to have someone guide you, but even then I do not recommend it.

When walking backwards there is a feeling of lightness, a free falling feeling that makes you see things in a different way. There are certain aspects of the world you do not normally pay attention to when walking forward, and while I hear people say to put the past behind you I will say this in return, "sometimes things that have been past are the most beautifull.

The world is a three dimensional living organism which numerous sides, angles and colors. It is impossible to see everything always looking infront of you. To me the purpose of walking backwards is to see things all around you even though you are headed in a generally directon. Get to whre you are going by all means, but next time you do, look around. There may be something new and exciting you have never noticed before even though you walk the same path every day,