Creativity vs Cuts .

2 blogs in 2 days? Yeah I know, this is my attempt to keeping my word on completing this blog.

 These proposed budget cuts have been the topic of discussion for the last few weeks on campuses, in homes, in barber shops, just about everywhere. I will admit that I do not know all of the facts when it comes to what will be affected exactly, but I do know that as a freshman now, if these cuts go through I will be highly affected. If you do a Google search on these budget cuts, so many articles come up. But I have been paying close attention to the updates that they post on the KU website, and frankly it just pisses me off that this was even proposed. I cannot understand the logic behind cutting funds to public education, and in the long run cutting my future. Jobs will be lost, and the academic setting in not only KU but all the other state colleges will be destroyed. It is to my understanding that to bridge the gap, many faculty members will loose their jobs, and programs and possibly some majors will be cut. This is just horrible.

Now, I understand that I am just one person, and blogging and complaining isn’t going to help any. But I started to think about what we as a campus can do. There is strength in numbers, and a lot of students that attend state colleges. Doing a semester long project on focusing on problem has really taught me a lot about persistence, and innovation. 

I was really disappointed that I couldn’t make the rally in Harrisburg but I had two tests that day.  I do know that there will be a lot more efforts, and all its going to take is a little hope and a lot of creativity.

After participating in the English department’s video on how these budget cuts will affect our school, I started thinking to myself about how big classes will so be our reality if these cuts go through. I hate big classes they are just so impersonal. I mean they are fine for general education classes of psychology and sociology, but what happens when we get into our major work? How can we really learn in a class of 200 students?

The video that I was a part of today really had me thinking about creativity and how at first I was a little skeptic to the idea of creativity being beneficial to solving problems but now I see how it can really be helpful and effective. I think that not only Kutztown but every state college should start putting their creative ideas together, and work to prove our point on how harmful these budget cuts are really going to be.

It amazes me how day after day, the simple things I learn in a class as bland as composition is really starting to change my outlook on life, issues, and the way I handle different problems. Its really amazing how whether if it’s a small problem such as getting a extra shuttle or as big as our proposed budget cuts how creative thinking really does start to seem beneficial.

I guess as a student, and individual I am learning every day.  As I take on the simple tasks of completing homework, or even just being a good listener for a friend in need, creativity is starting to dare I say , change my life . . .

i sat down to write a blog and . . .

this is all that comes to mind ;

And just like that we have merely five weeks left in the semester. Seems like things were just getting started, and I was finally getting the hang of this college thing. And just like that my freshman year is almost over. With the semester ending I have so many activities and assignments that I need to start working on and preparing for. 

For example, this blog assignment.

At the beginning of the semester I planned to stay on top of things, blogging at least every 2 or so weeks, just so I wouldn’t be rushing at the end, but ofcourse that plan failed. But I have still a decent amount of time so I decided that I needed get my blog together.

 Actually blogging isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, I actually enjoy writing my feelings down and it helps me gather my thoughts at times. My only problem is when it comes to “blogging for a grade” it doesn’t exactly come as natural as I would like. Its hard thinking of class related topics and making connections. Not to mention having a specific amount of words to write. If I could blog about anything I'm sure my blog would be way past completed. Or maybe I’m just not looking deep enough into my creative side....

Yeah, that’s probably it!

So this blog probably wont be one of my most creative blogs ,but it does directly relate to class. This blog shall just be about my feelings about our semester long project.

First, doing a semester long project isn’t my cup of tea. In my opinion it leaves barely any room for mistakes. However our semester long project is in a way different, and leaves plenty of room for mistakes. Running into problems and making mistakes is driving most of our ideas to fix our selected problems. I don’t have a issue with semester long project, they are easier to focus on. My main problem is that our project is a group project.

I  H A T E group projects.

There's no other way to put it. Group projects are the most annoying projects to me, and it just so happens that this one is semester long. My main issue with group projects is the fact that you have to depend on other people. I hate having to wait around for other people. I wish I could just do everything by myself and get it out the way. But I know that would take the group out of everything. 

Now, I have to take into consideration that we are in college and unlike highschool everyone pretty much cares about their grades and education. Everyone in the group is dedicated to working and completing the project. I think my bad connation comes of “group work” comes from my highschool.

  My highschool might just be one of the worst in the world. Our graduation rates only started rising because our district lowererd the amount of credits we need to graduate, not to mention we haven’t passed a standardized test since they’ve been administerd. Only about half the student care about their education, and even less make it to college.

So imagine trying to do group in a highschool like mine. You can understand my fusteration. As I mentioned before college is a lot different then highschool. However , differnt difficulties still arise. Meeting around everyones schedule is extremley hard, and getting to undertsnad everybodys personalities and work ethic doesn't help either. But I guess, challenges and group work are a part of college and a part of growing up.

I sat down to write a blog and this is all that came to mind . . .

my skin ; my story

As of right this very minute me and my lovely boyfriend are sitting in the computer lab, rushing to complete assignments so that our mid terms grades will be up to par. I was telling him how about our blogs and how they are kind of a pain in the ass, but how I am actually getting something out of it. He asked what they could be about and I told him anything, he then told me that I need to stop complaining because it is the easiest assignment he’s ever heard.  I guess he’s right, but that still didn’t give me any ideas.  

However we are the type of couple that actually talks about how our days went, and the things we learned in class. For some reason he remembers me telling him about the time in class were Nicole showed us her tattoo, and based off of her location and the words we had to describe her. It does make sense to me why he remembers this story because he is one of those Philly boys, who has tattoos all over the place. I remember that day because after I told him about my day, he proceeded to explain all 7 of his tattoos to me.  And when I asked what I should blog about he said “tattoos” so I started….

He and I are both into the tattoo thing, and even though I only have two, I have a lot more planned, but I’m a broke college kid. But as he started to explain each tattoo to me, I started thinking even though he doesn’t see it how I see it, all of his tattoos tell his own creative story. Whether it be the hood that he has come from, or his grandmother passing. Every tattoo has its own story behind it.

Both my tattoos have their own stories, and both have personal meaning behind them that I rather not share at this point in time, however I started thinking about my naked body. Not in the sexual way. But my naked body as an empty story book, and I have all the ink in the world to fill it up with my own tattoos and stories.

The first tattoo I would get would be “unbreakable”. I would get that right over my heart.  I have been exposed and experienced to so many things in my life, and I could have cracked from any of them. I have been hurt and my heart has been broken but here I am 19 years still standing, and my heart beats on.

My next tattoo would be all the people that have ever done me wrong. I would get them on my feet, because honestly the people that have hurt you the most are the ones that made you the strongest and have taught you the most lessons. All my ex boyfriends that have cheated on me and teachers that have made me feel like I wasn’t good enough, remind me to take one step at a time and things will get better.

Another tattoo I would get would be all my best friends, my parents and my boyfriends name on the outline of my ribcage, because they are the bones and pieces that keep me together.

I’m sure I could go on and on, about where I would place other tattoos. But I am still young, and my naked body has a lot of more people to encounter, a lot of more struggles to overcome, and a lot of skin left waiting to be inked up . . .

everybody has a little something in Common . . .

          Thinking about topics to blog about isn’t the reason why I haven’t updated my blog in what seems like forever.  The thinking about my topics is the easy part; in fact I even have a list of all the things that I would like to blog about. But to actually sit down and gather all the incomplete thoughts, and all the untapped feelings that you have inside your head and construct a piece of writing that seems worthy of someone else reading , can be a little overwhelming. This blogging thing is kind of new to me. I love to write, but I never really write about myself. If I do I use other characters to portray my most inner thoughts. So what do I write about exactly?

The theme of my composition class in "creativity".  Writing a blog about creativity would be taking the easy way out. There are so many different parts to creativity, and everyone has their own take on what creativity means to then. Most people agree that one of the biggest forms of expression and creativity is music. The other day Grammy winning hip hop artist Common came to Kutztown University to talk to students. I had no idea that he was coming, and wasn’t particularly interested in what he had to say. But it was free and what else was I going to do on a Tuesday night? So my boyfriend and I attended this event.

As a hip hop artist creativity is something that you work with on day to day bases. No one likes an artist that raps or sings about the same thing over and over. Common was very intriguing, because before he even started to talk he asked someone in the audience to pick a word. Someone from the audience shouted out “skills”. He paused for about 2 seconds, and then started to freestyle. Now, he could have free styled about pretty much anything, but he did one of the most creative freestyles I have heard yet. He started to free style about how you need skills to go far in life. But then his freestyle took an interesting turn.

He started to incorporate things about Kutztown. He talked about using his claws like a “golden bear’, he alluded to being hungry and going to grab a slice at ‘Mama’s’, he referenced hanging out on ‘Main Street’, and even started talking about thirsty Thursdays. At that moment the morale in the audience quickly changed. Everyone started cheering and laughing, because we felt a connection with him. It’s not every day a famous artist comes to a campus as small as Kutztown, and indulges his self in our culture. I was touched that he knew so much about our campus.

Throughout his lecture he used his creativity to give us examples, and tell us stories that we could relate to, but the main theme that he wanted he conveyed was ‘greatness’. Greatness is so broad of a topic, but he was trying to give us the message that in order to make it through life you can’t just be good, you have to want to be the greatest. This part of the lecture , caught my attention because I am going through a lot of self issues myself.

When I first came to college I knew what career I wanted and what I wanted to do with life, but things have changed. I have went from being a secondary education major to undeclared in not even a year. I feel lost and overwhelmed. Everybody reassures me that ill be fine, but I cant just take ‘gen ed’s’ for the rest of forever.

Common's speech really gave me hope, and really encouraged me to look deep inside and figure out what it is that I want to do. Greatness takes time, and work ethic , and I'm just looking for a passion of mine. Hopefully I find it, hopefully I can squeeze something out of the creative bones in my body , and discover a path worth venturing.