Social Imagination

“We all have our social imagination: the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in our deficient society, on the streets where we live, in our schools.”

Everyone has their opinions on how we should live life and how society should handle us doing so. Furthermore, everyone’s opinions have different aspects that make them their own. These opinions are what makes us who we are and how they affect other peoples' opinions is how we make our impact on the world. So, yes, I agree that people are allowed to have their opinions as long as they use them to help, not harm.

Past, Present, and Future: Path to the Truth

When you are making a decision on whether or not to do something, you rely on past experiences, right? Say, in the past you ate sushi and the next day you were sick and couldn't stop throwing up. Obviously, you wouldn't eat that sushi again, because you had a bad experience with it. In this, you learn from the experience and shape what you do in the future around those good or bad experiences. This is what we do. It is human nature to learn from our mistakes, making certain that we not repeat them in order to survive and/or make our life the best it can be. Doing this can help us to set us on the path to what we really want to accomplish in our lives, instead of repeating the same mistake over and over again until that path had so many kinks and grooves that we are unable to fix them and have the original, correct path. Sometimes, however, this is a good thing.

Sometimes, people have several different truths and if one doesn't work out for them, they have others that may go towards instead. I like to think that everyone has multiple paths they can travel down, but that the amount that are open to them are determined by what they experience throughout their life. This may be in career, relationships (platonic or otherwise), et cetera. As they have new experiences, new doors are opened, therefore revealing a new option with every door. This is what gives us those multiple paths to follow. The key to opening these doors is to do as much as you can and find out what interests you the most so that you can have as many doors open to as you can.

Oedipus Rex thoughts

I honestly feel sorry for Oedipus. It wasn't his fault that he made all the mistakes he did, he just didn't know. Yes, he was ignorant of the warnings he was given, but I think if I was in his shoes I would make about the same choices as he did. Most plays, tragedies in particular, have a message in them. I think that this story is to teach a lesson, saying that you should pay attention to your surroundings and not be ignorant until the last possible moment.

1920's

I was a woman living in the 1920's. The thing about the 'Roaring 20's', as they called it, was you only had it good if you were a rich, white man, of which I was not male. Sure, I went to parties, hanging off the arm of whichever man my father presumptuously chose as my suitor. And I can't say I wasn't happy. I had a roof over my head and food to eat, but I was not satisfied. Speaking up only got me a disappointed glance and the listener assuring me that I was selfish.

Was Richard Parker Real or Not?

Trauma can cause the brain to cover up important things. When something that may cause damage to the person in question's psyche, the brain will do this. It will cover up things such as, I don't know, losing all your family members and getting lost at sea. This is what I believe happens to Pi on his journey in the book, "Life of Pi". I believe that Richard Parker was real, but only at Pi's family's zoo, not on the boat. My thinking is that when Pi lost his family and was alone on the boat, he began to hallucinate, and believed that the animals from the zoo were with him. This would make him feel like he wasn't alone and would help with staying sane on the very long boat ride.

About Me As A Reader

People read for entertainment, information, and sometimes because a grade depends on it. Being a reader can mean that you read something, which could mean reading books, newspapers, or blog posts. I don't think you really have to do anything to earn the title of "reader", everyone reads, just some more than others. I think of a good reader(in other words an avid reader) being someone who reads a lot, and gets enjoyment from what they are reading. These are not the people who say, "Oh, I'll just see the movie when it comes out."

I personally have a lot of favorite authors, but most of them come from my favorite series. Usually I read more of these authors after I read one book by them, because I like the writing style and how they describe things, and I want more. I do consider myself to be a reader(at least of books), because I read more than just when I am asked to. I learned to read like most other people did, by going to school. But, I think I read more than some other people do because when I was younger, my mother would read stories to me. This instilled into me a love of reading.

Choosing from the words I was given, I would have to say that I am a passionate reader. I read because a lot of authors have the ability to make you feel as if you are in a foreign land or standing alongside the characters in the story. They can make you feel as if you know those characters and become very attached to them. I would like to widen my scope of genres. I generally stay in the Sci-fi/ Fantasy/Supernatural genre area, and I would like to try and read more Crime novels, or even Non-fiction. I have a lot of trouble focusing on reading non-fiction books.

I liked talking about my feelings on reading, and felt that it was a fun and exciting experience.

About Me As A Writer

People write for many different reasons: sharing experiences, entertainment for themselves and others, to give information, et cetera. In my mind, everyone can be and are writers, the only thing they need is the ability to read and write. Being given those simple abilities opens doors for people, both figurative and literal. The only real difference between a regular writer and a "good writer" is that the aforementioned "good writer" is able to capture the attention of the reader, and keep it until the end of the book/series. These are the authors of the books that had you on the edge of your seat the entire time, holding your breath in anticipation. 

The books that made your mind reel with the possibilities. In my personal book of favorite authors, I would have to say my top four would be Rick Riordan, James Patterson, J.K Rowling, and Scott Westerfield. Honestly, I am unable to tell why exactly I like those authors, I believe it is just a combination of the plot of their stories and the way they wrote the characters and scenes. I personally consider myself to be a decent writer, I think if I was on the other side of the screen or page reading the story instead of writing it myself, I would find it just as interesting as people have told me it is. 

I do believe that being a writer is part of your identity, just like being a singer, an artist, or a musician. These are the building blocks of your personality and who you are, thus making them a part of your identity. I think that I learned to write by reading. Reading how authors put their thoughts into words helped me formulate my own thoughts and words. I believe that I am a prolific writer, because I have a big imagination and many thoughts that I need to put down on paper. When writing I would like to get better at giving readers the bigger picture, and enhance my vocabulary. I enjoy writing fantasy and sci-fi stories the most, because that is what I read the most. Also, I am better at molding a new world with my hands and escaping into it than writing about the world around me. 

In this self-study, I think I have learned more about myself and had fun sharing this information.

A Snake That Ate an Elephant or A Hat?

I believe that the images could be either a snake that ate an elephant or a hat, depending on how you look at it. It reminds me of the type of optical illusion art that depending on if you see the black space as positive you would see one thing and if you see the white space as positive, you see another. I think that the first picture would definitely be the better story because it's more interesting. I mean, a snake ate an elephant? That's pretty interesting in this generation's mind. More interesting than a hat. The question most people would ask is, 'What did the hat do? Did the hat do something cool?' The answer to that question would be no. Meanwhile, a snake ate an elephant. Elephants are pretty big compared to snakes. People want to be entertained. A lot of people would find something being eaten by a snake than an old hat.