February 6th

Breezing through February.  It's funny because at the beginning of the semester I promised myself I wouldn't be the person that puts off posting.  Too bad I knew my personality and knew that there was a good chance I would be that guy and had to promise myself not to be, just to end up being. It's tough thinking about the motivations of a completely different character and even worse when the character lives in a different time.  Thinking about our 2nd assignment and trying to come up with a believable protagonist and antagonist, all the while an interesting story to place them in is straining on the brain.   Oh, I got it!  Wait that's been done.  Frustrating.

February 4th

I've always been one to observe things slowly and think things through.  My mom told me a story one day about me and my brother and how we differed from each other.  If she went on a walk with my older brother Code, she knew that they would get from point A to point B in a relatively quick manner.  Me, on the other hand, she knew it would take much longer.  She said I would stop every two steps to look at something.  Take two steps, pick up a stick, and study it.  Take two steps, get on my belly, and watch an ant cross the sidewalk.  I usually pick up and read something I want to buy three or four times before I finally buy it.  How could I have missed how much preparation goes into a story and how much a 3-act structure benefits the effectiveness of said story?  Maybe, it's because I think things through but they never make it to a pen in hand.

February 2nd

If someone wrote a story about my life, and wanted to make it believable, they would have to come up with a compelling way to tell it without motivation.  Case in point, I just happen to be motivated enough in mid-April type out my blog.  I do know who my antagonist would be, and what my internal conflict would contain; homework and the fear of missing out on life by doing it.  Genre=?

January 30th

I'm still in the Dominican Republic.  Physically I'm in Kansas City, Missouri.  Two statements resinated with me more than the rest in class today: the greatest character flaw is self, and the key to successful characters is humanity.  It seems to me that we place a lot of importance on self-esteem instead of others-esteem, and maybe thats why these two principles work.  We can connect with the character who has a flaw within himself, because we too have the same problem with self.  And vice versa, those who act in benevolence are characters we admire.  Maybe we should teach more others-esteem and have more successful characters in reality.

January 26th

It's crazy coming back from a country less wealthy than the United States, and be able to see Maslow's Hierarchy of needs in a different perpective.  The people of the Dominican Republic, especially the children, seem to appreciate life and love more than kid inside the red, white and blue.  Just spending a couple of hours with them to teach them baseball, and about the love of Jesus Christ seemed like the world to them.  The smiles were genuine, and they did not want to let go of your hand.  Looking back, I can see all the things they probably found in our embrace.  Someone to make them feel good about themselves, because we wanted to be with them.  Someone to love them, because we showed kindness to them.  Someone to care for them, because we held their hand.  Someone to make them feel important, because we included them.  Do we ever really climb Maslow's Hierarchy or do we just think we do?