While designing my portfolio I really wanted to promote my writing so I chose the Pieria theme because, in the description of the theme, it said it was for displaying text. I wanted the homepage to be simple so then on the blog posts, I could have a lot of creativity with the design. I had a lot of fun reworking my essay about music because adding Spotify links that can play within the blog post made the essay super visual. That paper just worked really well within the blog format because I could also add the quote block to show the song verses.
I liked creating the blog because although it’s supposed to be a place for other people to look at our work and possibly connect with us for a job or career, however, it acts as an archive for myself. I think the website shows the abilities I have as a writer and how I can write about many different subjects well. I chose pieces that demonstrate my academic writing ability, journalism work, and my creative writing. I wanted to show a wide variety of subjects that I am familiar with, such as films, music, and social justice.
I wish I had more time just to play with the website and come up with the best possible way to display my work. The mechanical aspects of the website are what I wish I had more time on. But overall, I think I did a good job of demonstrating the different types of writing I can do and what my plans are for the future.
In the pursuit of understanding ourselves, we often embark on journeys outward—exploring different fields, meeting diverse people, and seeking varied experiences. Yet, as I delved into the “Flower Exercise” from Richard N. Bolles’ What Color Is Your Parachute?, I found that the most profound and clarifying knowledge isn’t found in the external world; it resides within us. This second field report, focused on self-inventory across seven key areas, revealed layers of insights and challenges, ultimately bringing me closer to understanding my own multifaceted being.
The first petal of my flower, representing the kinds of people I prefer to be around, unveiled a tapestry of traits I value. I realized I am drawn to individuals who exhibit social intelligence and perception, those who warmly embrace inclusivity and welcome diverse viewpoints. Through this exercise, I recognized the importance of surrounding myself with visionaries in social change and innovation, individuals who challenge the status quo and inspire growth.
Moving to the petal concerning workplace conditions, I was confronted with my ideal professional environment. Guiding mentorship emerged as an essential element, as well as working alongside a diverse team and in a performance-driven culture. The image of a relaxed attire policy and the option to bike or walk to the office painted a vivid picture of a workplace where creativity and comfort converge.
The skills and competencies petal brought forth a realization of my strengths and areas of expertise. From motivating others towards common goals to developing strategic plans, I acknowledged my proficiency in critical thinking and problem-solving. However, the challenge lay in recognizing the importance of ongoing learning and professional development, reminding me of the ever-evolving nature of success.
As I reflected on the knowledge petal, I embraced my passion for cultural and historical understanding, alongside staying informed about global events. Creative writing and storytelling emerged as a central theme, highlighting my desire to engage in philosophical and ethical discussions that shape narratives and perspectives.
The settings and geographies petal took me on a visual journey, envisioning an ideal location. Close to family in Charleston, near water, and within a medium-sized town’s vibrant downtown, I found a sense of rootedness and vitality. These elements, coupled with an easy commute, formed the backdrop of an environment where I could thrive.
Considering the money and responsibility petal, I grappled with the balance between financial stability and meaningful contribution. While recognizing the need for a fair compensation structure, my sense of purpose emerged as a guiding force. To help others, contribute to good in the world, and advance humanity became the compass directing my choices.
Finally, the core of my flower, my sense of purpose in life, illuminated the essence of my existence. Through this exercise, I articulated my deep-seated desire to contribute to kindness in the world, fostering a sense of empathy and compassion in all endeavors.
This intensive self-inventory was both illuminating and challenging. It allowed me to peel back the layers of my being, revealing intricate details and guiding principles that shape my choices and aspirations. The process was not without its struggles; confronting areas of growth and acknowledging vulnerabilities required courage. Yet, in this journey of self-discovery, I found empowerment and clarity.
As I invite you, the audience, into this reflective space, I share the essence of my flower—a symbol of my inner landscape. Each petal represents not only facets of myself but also aspirations for the future. The challenges faced in this exercise mirrored the complexities of navigating life’s choices and priorities. Yet, through introspection and reflection, I stand rooted in a deeper understanding of who I am and where I aim to go.
Intimidation doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt looking at Robert Boyles’s ‘Flower Exercise’ from his book “What Color is Your Parachute?” Besides intimidation, I began with a positive attitude; I wanted this exercise to achieve something. I wanted to be able to unfold myself and benefit from this experience, but it was hard to have to sit there and think about yourself and eventually describe who you are.
A large portion of my alumni profile interview was very helpful and personal to me specifically because I felt like Mary Alice Miller understood the fear of graduating as well. We talked a lot about the plethora of options there are once school is over, and how overwhelming it can be. I’m afraid of missing out or choosing wrong (what could be wrong? Who is judging? Only me, really.) I care about so many different things and concepts. I want to try so much, but it’s hard to narrow down what I’m exactly looking for.
Beginning this exercise, there were a few petals that were easier for me to do such as ‘Geography,’ ‘People’ or who I would like to work with, and ‘Work Conditions.’ I’ve always known that I would thrive in a city; I enjoy the buzz of life. Since I’ve lived in South Carolina my whole life, I’m ok with the idea of moving and expanding my horizons for a job. Petals 3 and 4 were a little tougher for me to do because I felt as if my transferable skills were very limited. Even though we’ve worked throughout this Capstone to give alternative names to the skills that we’ve acquired as English Majors–specifically looking at “You Can Do Anything” by George Anders–however, I still feel like mine are all very academic based and limited.
Either my skills or my experience, I felt, is all limited to the academic field, but what else is there? I have been in school for the past 16 years, so it makes sense that a lot of my projects and activities are centered around school. Or my skills felt random or out of place. I spent three summers in high school as a summer camp counselor at Camp Gravatt in Aiken, SC. Parts of me feel like this time was silly, but realistically I learned so many leadership, organizational, and teamwork skills.
My campers and me, circa 2018
Part of Boyle’s methods for the job search and finding a career for ones’ self is practicing kindness toward yourself. “…feeling helpless is a state of mind that you can change. It starts by recognizing that if anyone has the power to make changes in your life, it is you” (27). Realistically, I have just started my career journey and I am not the perfect candidate right now. I cannot expect myself to be. Reading this book was a reminder that I have to be gentler with myself.
I expected to not have a good time doing petal 7 “Purpose in Life,” but I was pleasantly surprised by this part of the exercise. A large portion of the petal felt very grounding. It was like a reminder of who I am and what I believe in. It was nice to be reminded of the values that I appreciate and look for in life, even if I have a hard time incorporating them into my career. The questions and values Boyles brought up were extremely helpful in centering me and what I want out of life.
Similar to petal 3, petal 4 “Knowledges” made me feel silly, despite it being something I could easily fill out. At times I felt like the things that I know about such as Pop Culture and TV and movies aren’t necessarily transferable skills, but they’re what I love.
I, 2023, work with kids, even though I don’t plan on pursuing a career involving kids.
We talked a lot in my literary publishing class about how working in the book industry is about apprenticing and learning while on the job. Publishing, editing, and writing are some of the last jobs where apprenticeship is extremely important and it’s one of the best ways to learn. A lot of my early career might be waiting and learning. Doing this exercise has shown me I need to have faith in what I know and all my experiences have given me useful skills. This next chapter of my life will be a practice in patience, but I’ll be rewarded with knowledge.
Blog Post 4: My English Story: Personal-Professional Narrative
As I reflect on my college journey, I am struck by the myriad of challenges and opportunities that have shaped my path through the humanities, particularly English literature, during the tumultuous years of the global pandemic. These past few years have been a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the enduring importance of literary study in navigating the complexities of the world around us.
My journey into English literature began with a passion for storytelling and a curiosity about the human experience. Each course, from delving into the works of 18th-century British writers to unraveling the complexities of postcolonial literature, offered me a unique lens through which to view the world. Engaging in critical discourse, dissecting narratives, and analyzing language became more than just academic exercises; they were gateways to understanding the intricacies of society, culture, and identity.
In my senior year, I took a course in British Gothic Literature, where I read Diane Long Hoeveler’s book,Gothic Feminism: The Professionalization of Gender from Charlotte Smith to the Brontës. I wrote a paper exploring how gothic feminism evolved under the creative achievements of female gothic writers and considered how their literary work contributed to the modern definition of feminism. Female gothic articulated women’s dissatisfactions with patriarchal society and addressed the problematic position of the maternal within that society. This journey provided invaluable insights into the evolution of contemporary roles, concepts, and anticipations, drawing parallels between historical models and current societal debates. By immersing myself in the historical context of the female gothic genre, I recognized the enduring legacy of these literary works in shaping our understanding of gender dynamics and power structures.
Furthermore, the interdisciplinary exploration of British Gothic Literature, particularly through the lens of Gothic Feminism, illuminates the enduring relevance of the English major in contemporary society. By delving into Hoeveler’s examination of the professionalization of gender in the works of female gothic writers, I gained insights into historical literary movements and a deeper understanding of societal norms and challenges. This immersion in thick data allowed me to grasp the evolution of feminist discourse and its impact on modern definitions of feminism. The interdisciplinary approach, integrating literature, history, and gender studies, exemplifies the versatile skills cultivated through an English major. Through the analysis of how female gothic writers navigated patriarchal challenges and articulated women’s dissatisfactions with societal norms, I developed a nuanced understanding of the complexities inherent in our cultural fabric. This understanding equips me to engage with current debates and anticipate future issues, underscoring the practical applications of the English major. Thus, this research journey contributes to a shared understanding of feminism’s historical roots and reaffirms the English major’s capacity to foster critical analysis, synthesis of diverse perspectives, and effective communication of complex ideas in navigating contemporary societal challenges.
In Christian Madsbjerg’s book, Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm, the first principle of sensemaking, “culture–not individuals,” highlights the fact that understanding human behavior requires cultural intelligence. This is because “our reality–and everything we perceive as meaningful–is highly contextual and historical.” This principle articulates the value of understanding historical and social contexts and the importance of cultivating cultural intelligence to gain insights into human behavior. Furthermore, this concept of “culture–not individuals” contradicts the prevailing assumption of our algorithmic age “that human behavior is based on individual choices, preferences, and logical structures” because, as Madsbjerg argues, humans are defined by the society in which they live, and understanding human behavior requires a demanding form of cultural engagement.
As an English major, I have regularly engaged in sensemaking. Resilience, adaptability, and the enduring significance of literary study have been foundational to my growth and development, particularly amidst the challenges posed by the global pandemic. From the outset, my fascination with storytelling and the exploration of the human experience propelled me into the realm of English literature. Through critical discourse and the analysis of language, these academic pursuits transcended mere intellectual exercises, serving as gateways to deeper understandings of society, culture, and identity. In Grobman and Ramsey’s chapter titled “Beyond Jobs and Careers: The Enduring Value of the Humanities,” the authors contend that the humanities “emphasize critical thinking and imagination while helping us remember where we’ve been as well as visualize our future.” The breadth of the humanities equips students with “higher-order” thinking they take into their careers and communities. Higher-order thinking and cultural understanding “are as vital as technological expertise in a world of big data and algorithms” because humanities perspectives are needed “to help steer technology to help us do what is valuable and good.”
As I look towards my future in English, I am filled with a sense of optimism and purpose. I envision a future where the insights and skills honed through my humanities education are not just valued but embraced as essential pillars of a sustainable and equitable society. Whether pursuing a career in academia, publishing, or public service, I am committed to leveraging my passion for literature to effect positive change in the world around me.
In conclusion, my English journey amidst the pandemic has been a testament to the enduring power of literature to inspire, challenge, and transform. As I embark on the next chapter of my life, I carry with me the lessons learned, the connections forged, and the unwavering belief in the potential of literary study to shape a more just and compassionate world. Another quote taken from Madsjberg’s book Sensemaking is that “Instead of attempting to reduce that complexity of all of these layers of humanity — like a journey determined by the reductions of a GPS system– the sensemaking practice follows that North Star.” We learn “to navigate through the rich reality of our world, developing a finely honed perspective on where we are and where we are headed.” In times of crisis and uncertainty, it is literature that lights the way forward, illuminating our shared humanity and reminding us of the boundless possibilities that lie ahead. Much like literature, “sensemaking allows us to determine where we are. And, most important, sensemaking puts us in touch with where we are headed.”
In my spring junior semester at the College of Charleston, I worked on a paper that helped a great deal with broadening my skills as an English major for my future. The class that this work was for was focused on how literature relates to nature, more so how man interacts with nature in specific texts, like Robinson Crusoe and The Tempest. Like most of my English finals up to this point, there were various topics that I could write on, but I chose one that centers around a reimagined Robinson Crusoe, where Robinson is actually a woman instead. With this topic, I had to write numerous scenes of the woman Robinson interacting with nature and how it differs from how the male Robinson treats nature. I then had to write a paper on the background of my woman Robinson, and how the story differs from the original, nature- and character-wise. While at first it seemed easy, it was the semester I had decided I wanted to become a writer, so I was desperate to write anything in any form. But as I delved into the character development of my woman, Robinson, I found myself hitting a pretty big wall. I had no experience in this type of world before.
This was the first time I had ever encountered Robinson Crusoe; I had never read it before. So while the material was fresh in my mind, I felt intimidated because I had never written any fiction that took place in a different period before. I decided that I would reread Robinson Crusoe, and in the middle of my rereading, I realized I really did not have to connect to the setting at all for this paper to work; I had to connect to Robinson. Through Robinson, I could see how he interacted with the world around him and how that would change to see a woman in that setting. I wouldn’t call the project easy after that, but I had a solution and now knew what I was looking for. From there, I created a whole new character by the name of Jane, who was shipwrecked on an isolated island in the middle of traveling from England to America after being forced into an arranged marriage.
From this paper, I utilized the skill of encountering worlds and interacting within that setting with this work, as I created an original character within this world. While the shipwreck on an island is the same, the circumstances surrounding it are completely different. I took an already-created world and got introduced to a new one within the aforementioned world in the process of this project. The second skill that I built up and maintained through this paper was how to have a good perception of our world, as that is essential to understanding how other worlds work too. Because this course had a lot to do with nature and how man treats it, that allowed me to be more grounded in the nature of this planet. Helping me better understand how to treat it in a healthy way and open broader horizons. Like if, in the future, I would try to write a story relating closely to this world’s nature that I could portray sensibly.
But how did I acknowledge that I even had these skills in the first place? Because humanities-trained people harness this method of thinking called “sensemaking,” coined by Christian Madsbjerg in his book titled Sensemaking: The Power of Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm, The term revolves around “practical wisdom grounded in the humanities” and focuses on the deeper meaning rather than the wider. I feel like I did not know how to put the true benefit of an English major into the correct words until I read about this term. Each one of the five principles that make up sensemaking I consider to be an essential skill that I will carry with me as I set out on my career journey. The main issue that I have been grappling with, though, is which one will be the most viable for me when I go forth on said journey. As you will soon see, my answer has changed from my previous blog posts, but it is the fifth principle called “The North Star—Not theGPS.” This prioritizes interpreting the facts and signs given to us in life instead of relying on our advanced technology to do the work for us. As Madsbjerg states, “The tools of navigation have always been available to all of us. But we must take responsibility for interpreting them.”
I believe this skill is the most viable for me at the moment because I would not say I have this certain principle in me. I hate to admit it, but I do rely on technology to interpret the signs of my life for me instead of making my own brain do it. I focus on what the internet would think, not what I would. I feel that to excel in my career, whatever it might end up to be, I will have to read opportunities in many different fonts, be able to recognize them for what they might be, and then take them.
I have found that in this short amount of time that we have been in this class, I feel my opinions changing from my previous blog posts. I have found that I like that my perception of English as a major will always progress and shift as I dive into my career path. For me, my opinion on the skill of empathy and how my opinion has grown in the way that I feel it is because of being an English major is that I have grown immensely in that specific skill. In the article, ‘Does reading fiction make us better people?’ by Claudia Hammond, she talks about how people who read more fiction have better empathy. Before, when I covered this article in Blog Post 1, I criticized the fact that empathy should not be the only emotion taken into consideration when judging the morals of a person, but I see now that the article’s purpose was not just to point out how empathy is more common among fiction readers.
For this course, this article was to show how empathy can be a great skill I can harness as an English major when I go forth on my career path because empathy is truly diverse in where it is needed in jobs. As seen when Hammond brings up an example focusing on how empathy can be essential to the medical field, she writes that multiple doctors firmly believe “that reading fiction results in better doctors and has led to the establishment of a humanities programme to train medical students.” (Hammond). I feel this quote emphasizes how much of a necessity the skill of empathy is in the general career field instead of just one section of it.
It is because of this course that I have allowed myself to think about all the genuine skills that being an English major can bring to the career field. I am able to connect with other periods and times, to understand the characters in them, and to care about them. I saw from my paper that I genuinely cared about Jane and her character arc, even though I only wrote a few pages of her story. It is definitely a project I want to return to some day, as it taught me so much about myself as a writer and student. Being an English major has taught me how to prepare for my future, from allowing me to connect with people I have never met to allowing me to recognize any sign that is in my way. While I am still learning to utilize these skills, I can see how helpful and essential they will be.
I remember the first time I was embarrassed by my emotions. It was second grade, and I was crying, because I couldn’t play the recorder correctly in music class. I sobbed and sobbed, getting snot all in the reed, while everyone else played “Hot Cross Buns” with semi-proficiency and I failed, even after the third attempt. It wasn’t that devastating–it’s just a plastic recorder–but I wanted to be good.
I never seemed to grow out of my emotions. Or grow into them, as they always seem too big, too much for me and the people around me. My emotions affected everything I did and surrounded myself with. All I felt was loud and would be felt by everyone around me which became embarrassing and made me more upset. I found solace in books like most introverted, emotional people do. I loved feeling the emotions of a character; stepping into their life and nesting in their brain. As I grew those emotions turned into stubbornness, something I could use.
George Anders’s book “You Can Do Anything” asks you to not limit yourself when thinking about a career path. He has many statistics to prove that you can get a very ‘unconventional’ job with a humanities degree or the plethora of new jobs being created. Anders uses the Hamilton Project to show that in a lifetime, English majors are in the top ten highest earners.
But because there’s so much to choose from as an English major, I don’t exactly know what I want. Sometimes I think to myself, Am I too stubborn to pick a career? Am I afraid of missing out in another field? Everything seems important and impactful and seems like something I could see myself doing. So how do I choose? “Employers start with an unusually elastic sense of what skills and past experience they might want…employers become much more willing to hire on the basis of passion and potential” (Anders, 83). There are times when being emotional is not a good thing to be, but more often than not, it’s one of my greatest strengths.
In my junior year at the College of Charleston, I took a class on significant American film genres-the Western, screwball comedy, and the musical. During this period, I started to wonder about the pirate film (I wanted to know if this subgenre would be considered a type of Western).
I later learned was actually called the Swashbuckler genre and it puzzled me that the only popular pirate films were the Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2017). I quickly learned that there was a long history to this genre, yet there was very little research done on the subject. My professor even gave me the option of switching topics, but there was enough information out there to inspire and drive me.
The Ice Pirates (1984), one of the most 80s movies I’ve ever seen.
It would be a lie if I said that the idea of an under-researched genre being my paper topic didn’t excite me, but I was simultaneously terrified; what if I just set myself up for failure? Had my ambition gotten the best of me? This is when I felt as if my emotions worked against me.
As I worked on the project, I had to establish priorities of what questions I could answer with the research available to me. Writing this paper was more about strategy compared to previous essays I had encountered. Any embarrassment or insecurity about my unfamiliarity with the subject had to disappear. My confidence in what I could do was far greater than my uncertainty, and yes, I feared I was in over my head, but I could still use my tenacity as a positive force.
Though a lot of the time it isn’t an asset, my stubbornness and grit will aid me in the future with more difficult projects, people, and situations. Some would say I’m too passionate about what I like and am interested in, but it makes my passion bleed through the page (or at least I hope it does.) When I’m approached with a challenging project, my passion drives me through it.
Richard Bolles said in his book “What Color is Your Parachute,” “The difference is enthusiasm and passion. Yours. You’re much more attractive to employers when you’re on fire” (73). If employers want passion I’ve got it; it’s just a matter of finding where to apply myself. Although the project I used as an example is English major-oriented it taught me that you can do a lot with a little.
In the end, I was extremely proud of what I did for my film class. I synthesized so many ambiguous pieces of information and still made a clear and substantial argument. At times, my emotions feel like a waste of energy, but when I can channel them into a project I can actually create something. Even though I consider myself a creature of habit, I completely changed my strategy and approach to this project, using my stubbornness to enable flexibility and I still met the deadline with these challenges. I was very uncertain about working with so little and so much unknown, but Anders points out, “Your liberal arts education has taught you to move forward as a researcher in the face of ambiguity…you can adapt to a changing environment” (109).
My ability to chameleon to what is needed was something I had in myself since I was young, but I think it’s been honed by majoring in English. A lot of this is due to my effortless empathy. So many of my skills are not specific to what we do in English classes, but malleable to multiple careers and it’s taken all four years of college for me to realize that. My passion and want to pursue life is my greatest strength; it’s fed by all the literature I read, the ideas I absorb, and my need for creation and connections between people. I still can’t play an instrument to save my life, but if I ever do I’ll probably cry yet this time I won’t be embarrassed about it.
Part I: Why English Will Me Viable For Me Professionally
English is a very broad major, so much so that there are various specifications on which type of English a person wants to study. I chose English mainly because I liked to read and write, and none of the other majors seemed to jump out as much as English did. My previous perception of the English major included a lot of writing and analyzing over the simplest of sentences, which I was fine with. But little did I know how viable the choice of English as a major would be for my career path. English is rooted in sensemaking, an idea introduced by Christian Madsjerg, described as “a method of practical wisdom grounded in the humanities.” (6, Madsjerg). Sensemaking has five principles that make up the idea, and I find myself needing all five for my career path, but there are two that I feel will be the most viable for me as I transition into my career as a writer.
The first one being called “Thick Data—Not Just Thin Data,” with Madsjerg defining thin data as the facts we use to “understand us based on what we do” (15, Madsbjerg). He prioritizes thick data, explained as our knowledge of the world and “the very way we deal with the world.” (14, Madsbjerg). This will be practical for me professionally because fiction authors write about characters and how they interact with the world around them based on the author’s knowledge of how people interact with each other. Authors use thick data every time they create a whole new world or write a scene of dialogue between characters.
Another principle that shows why English will be viable for me in my profession is titled “The Savannah, Not the Zoo.” This principle relates to the previous one in a way as it pertains to human behavior. To show the natural human experience, we have to study it out in the wild and not just be interested “in what is extraordinary, but what is ordinary and common for all” (Madsbjerg, 17). Allowing authors to relate to the readers as they see themselves in the mannerisms of specific characters and how they experience the world around them.
Part II: Three Projects
The first project that I remember giving me a sense of what kind of skills I could have outside of the English major was a paper that I had written my sophomore year. The class was British Lit since 1800 and our final project was a paper with various prompts. I chose the one that focused on relating two works of fiction, one of them being a text that we had discussed in class that dealt with the theme of science vs. nature. I chose to focus on the similarities and differences between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. My paper argued how similar both creators were, as Frankenstien and John Hammond were both inventors of their own demise, both demonstrating unethical uses of the natural world for scientific reasons.
Through this paper, I focused on the skill of analyzing the human experience, immersing myself in both worlds, looking at the interactions between the characters, and delving into a character’s psyche by analyzing the minutiae details of said character. This project really made me think about the human experience by looking at two characters closely in their natural habits and being able to point out the differences and similarities. To see how the human psyche and experience can be portrayed in two different ways but end up having similarities. Showing how the knowledge of the human experience differs based on whatever universe or society is written up, but the creator’s human experience seemingly gets woven in with the character’s, creating these interchangeable traits.
The second project that I worked on that possessed a sense of viability was a short story assignment that I had to do for my Fiction Writing course last semester. Our main project for that semester was that each student would write two short stories that we would then have to workshop. It was nerve-wracking for me, but I loved it. Everyone’s feedback was super essential, and it made me want to continue to write more short stories, as I found them to be fun to write in general. It was definitely a lot less daunting than writing a whole novel. The professor gave us total creative freedom as well, allowing us to write whatever our minds could conjure up. This truly allowed me to dive into my creative writing abilities, allowing me to connect with my characters as I was writing them.
I was surprised at how the nerves went away when I was writing, almost as if I was nervous that I could be writing a two-dimensional character. What I learned through this project was how to not do that. So when I work on this piece and there are heavy dialogue scenes or scenes with multiple characters, I try to do so in a public space. If I felt myself hitting a wall, I would look up and take in the people around me and how they interact with the space that they’re in. Soon, I would find myself making up backstories for these coffee shop people, and suddenly, I was back with my head glued in front of my laptop screen. I found that knowing how people interact in the real world, with other people and in specific spaces in general, helps me find realistic inspiration for my work.
The third key humanities project that I have worked on was a final paper that I had to write last semester for my Studies in American Film: Hollywood Genres course. For the final, our professor wanted us to write a paper on genres dealing with American films; we could narrow that broad topic down to our own one. I decided to focus on the horror director, Mike Flanagan, and how his filmmaking differs depending on the subgenre he works with. I spent my time closely examining Flanagan’s choices and exactly why he made them. I analyzed how his characters interacted with the world he created and why Flanagan decided to portray characters differently in a stylistic light. I was able to recognize patterns and find similarities in the works that differ in subgenres of horror.
From these stylistic patterns, I can see what they symbolize for the film as a whole. This project has allowed me to dive into other worlds and be able to understand them from only the stylistic elements, making me see the human experience through the eyes of another. While similar to my first project, to me it is different. For this project, I knew I wanted to work in the film industry after I completed it. Because it did not feel like a project, it just felt like I was doing something that I genuinely enjoyed.
