Brainstorming--Intersections

Brainstorming Part 4

Brainstorming Part 3

More Brainstorming....;0)

Brainstorming for my final project

My hot link to My Map on google

My Maps

My Maps

So I've learned a great deal about how to navigate Google maps, and although I'm by no means a professional at it, I certainly am proud of myself for being able to figure out as much as I have. I think what amazes me the most is the fact that all of my markers or tags are along the eastern coast of the United States, other than one which is Minnesota. I don't think I actually realized how few places I've been outside of this one vicinity within the U.S., until I mapped it all and saw for myself the limiting scope of my geographic experience. In a way this is exciting because there are so many places left on this enormous globe that I haven't even touched. In another way this is a bit disheartening because I see how small I am in comparison to the world. I literally, from a great distance, look like a dot on a map, one tiny little dot in reference to the entire globe. It's frightening to look at I must admit. I noticed a theme though in terms of what places I found to be relevant enough to map, and they revolved around my family, yoga, parks/recreation, boyfriends, major life events, and habitual places I frequent. This to me denotes a certain sense of security that I personally find in remaining connected to the local versus the global and how my own life revolves around people and events and things that relate to me as an individual and not necessarily to the greater picture of the world. This mirrors to a certain extent, the place in life at which I find myself currently, because I do have this sense of sheltering about my life and yet I want to break free of that and move beyond the physical, emotional, and mental boundaries formed throughout my past. But, it is very true that that literally and metaphorically has not happened, but it certainly is in the process of happening, which is why I can now look at the world and say 'I want more, I want that, and I want to explore", instead of saying "Oh, well, my life is here and that's all that I need, and that's all I'll ever want', because this just isn't true anymore.

In turning my discussion over to the reading, I wanted to bring up a quotation that stuck in my mind:" The map is not the territory, but rather a representation of it"--I think that it took me a while to realize the significance of this statement because not only is my map not the whole story in terms of mapping my life, but it does not do justice to the places themselves, and the territories are simply tagged on this symbolic representation that is supposed to encompass all my experiences at each of the locations all at once, but it doens't, and really can't do that, b/c it is after all, just a map. Sorry if this run-on is a bit confusing but I wrote in in the stream of consciousness in which it came out.

I think that the reading is useful for beginning to think about mapping in a more creative way, because I've always thought of mapping as one dimensional, but in fact I am realizing that it is not. The reading about Introducting cyberspace made me consider the ways in which spaces/places are marked and recognized. They can be recognized based upon their relation to another space/place, or perhaps they are tagged by a memory such as was the case with my map. In terms of the google map I made, all of my places are located within the globe and are thus confined to this singular space so to a certain extent that can't extend physically beyond the world itself. But they do extend metaphorically beyond the map and its confines because my map is not just of spots, locations, or time markers, it is a map of all of these things plus the memories, pictures, and such that I associate with these places. This in a way makes the places unique to me and my experience b/c no one else is going to go to Minnesota and have the same exact experience in the same exact place and time as I will. Likewise, I cannot match anyone else's experiences in any of the locations they choose to map, even if I go there too. Htis is what makes mapping so interesting, because even if at a glance two maps look the same, they in fact, never can be because the people behind the creation of those maps don't come to those maps with the same life experiences.
Comment if you please:0)

I Straddle the Line

The Hare Krishna Ashram that I visit in New York city is, to me one piece of the puzzle in terms of the line I'm walking or the crack I'm ping-ponging over in order not to 'fall in' and by enveloped rather than learning and growing from the things I've discovered about myself and my emotions.

Another piece of the puzzle is my place at home, in nana's house in particular, because I spent a lot of growing up years there and now have come full circle to living at her house once again, but yet I'm trying to eventually break free of this space, not leaving it behind, but also not 'falling into the crack' and just sallowing myself to lose myself rather than trying to grow.

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This all being said, if I had to confine my emotionl experience to one location and place my 'emotional body' there, it would, hands down, be at OMEGA. For it was truly at this place that I began my journey into my emotional body, spiritual body, and began to make use of my experience as a yogini to further learn about, teach myself about, and develop my SELF. I choose to locate my body at this particular place at OMEGA, the pond outside of the sanctuary, because this was a place where I came to day after day, just laid in the sun, and reflected upon myself, what I was feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually at that exact moment in time, and did a lot of growing as a result.

My Emotional Geography

I'm actually going to bring my 'emotional map' into class on a poster that I've laid out instead of using it as a picture collection on my post. I'm a very visual and hands-on learning so I felt like this type of presentation best represented me the best. It's based upon the 7 Chakras from Hindu philosophy/religion and the yogic tradition. Just to give you some background information, the word 'chakra' is a Sanscrit word meaning circle or wheel. Therefore the idea behind the chakras is that each is a spinning, changing, moving, and circular energy channel that represents a specific region of the body in correlation with a specific type of energy and certain emotions/thoughts/characteristics. Of course it varies from person to person which actually makes this template so awesome in utilizing it for my emotional map. I definately have a strong mind/body/spirit connection that I am continually learning to develop and making this map has helped me to hash that out on tangible terms which is definately a challenge, but also really interesting for me to see. Hopefully when you see my project you'll feel the same.

Here is a link if you want to find out more about the CHAKRAS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra

My room change Part 3

View of my spacious floor now that my room is cleaned and things have been moved around.

View of closet that is the closetto my bed, next to my book shelf which now has no books on it, and you can also see my desk with my OM symbol picture, and a few other nick nacks

Room change - the after shots- second set of photos

Here is my bed as

seen from the floor up.

Here's the wall next to my 2 closets.

I noticed that I lined up everything on this wall to face everything on the wall opposite it, including my bed. Very Strange because I'm not usually that linear. And quite frankly it seems kinda strange that I did this, I think it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, but at the same time I do appreciate the extra space I now have for yoga.

I do really enjoy the fact that I have so much more floor space for yoga now (and I know I keep saying this). THis is wall #1 and part of wall#2 and my hardwood floor with my 1 yoga mat instead of the 2 yoga mats and lots of junk I had cluttering the floor before. That's probably the best part about this move, aside from the fact that I can actually find things in my room now which I have to admit is something I could really get used to.

My room change Part 2

I changed my bed to be up against walls 2 and 3
It's so weird to sleep in my bed like this. I'm not
used to it at all! I also acutally made my bed for once, which seems strange for me to look at because rarely is my bed ever nicely made. I feel more comfortable when things are strewn about I think, but when it comes to my yoga space, that's the one place where I like there to be enough room for me to practice.

Here you can see I moved my desk to be next
to the window and also next to my bed. I like that I now can look out the window if I'm sitting at my desk, b/c before I never used my desk b/c it was in such an ackward spot so now maybe I'll actually use it!

There used to be a nightstand next to my bed,
but I took it away which is going to take some getting used to. I usually write in my journal beofre I go to bed and then place it right next to me on my nightstand. Obviously I'm gunna have to sleep with it or really reach if I want to do the same still.

Also, I organized all my clothes and folded them (which I never really do!) So my clothing shelves actually look nice and neat. This is definately an upset to what I am used to because my clothes are typically piled, some folded some not, on the shelves.

Re-Arranging My Space PT. 1

Navigating the space of my own....
THE BEFORE PICTURES OF MY ROOM

I tried to cover all aspects of the room as best as I could, and with the second set of photos you'll hopefully see the changes I've made and the things that have been changed/added/removed.

Entering.... Door from inside.... Wall #1 next to door

Wall #1 Meets Wall #2-as you can see, lots of things piled up including a chair I don't use with clothes strewn on top of it.

Wall #2 Meets Wall #3 with

bed and window and lots

of stuff cluttering about.....Next pic. is: Wall # 3 near my other closet with my desk I don't use or sit at, it basically just stores stuff.

Here is my mirror, tv, dressor and another chair I don't use.

Wall #4 coming back around to closet neares door to inside of my room

View as I leave my room-notice bed is on a diagonal coming out of walls 2 and 3's point of intersection............this is how I normally sleep which is soon to change..... I'm not sure why but I just feel more comfortable sleeping on a diagonal coming out into the middle of my room. I guess I just feel to crammed when I'm up against a wall or something.

*ThE sItUaTiOnIsTs*

Hello all;0)

I find it interesting after reading up on the Situationists online, that they promised that their architecture would one day revolutionise everyday life and release the ordinary citizen into a world of experiment, anarchy and play lying dormant within all of us already. This might mean different things to different groups, as there were/are many diff. groups of situationists, all with different motives and aspirations. But still, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Situationists in general. I think the idea that a group of individuals has this abstract concept of 'making' a new urban space and totally disrupting our own contemporary conceptions of what this space represents is pretty awesome. It's like taking a totally artistic stance on urban planning, which is also kind of what this course is about.

"At the heart of Situationism is the notion that, under the surface of everyday life, is a numbed human energy which, however dormant, is ready to be awoken. It is dormant because the forces at the heart of capitalist society - the relentless circulation and fetishism of the commodity, the violent catatonia of the spectacle, the need for alienating labour (alienating because one works solely for the profit of another) - have smothered it. All that is required is a stimulus, an alarm-clock, to rouse people from their slumber : in other words, a revolutionary act. The Situationists describe various techniques which might be employed to create such a situation..." see the following link from more where this quote came from:http://awopbopaloobop.blogspot.com/2007/04/live-without-dead-time.html


Here are 2 pictures of work by the Situationists:

Situationist artist and architect Constant Nieuwenhuis created his 'dream city' sketch


This is called the 'Naked City' found on the following web site:

http://www.intelligentagent.com/archive/Vol6_No2_interactive_city_sant.htm

Drifting-Robert Long

I just wanted to comment on one of the works created by Robert Long that I found to be particularly interesting when I was searching through his works online. This is a picture of 'Earthquake Circles". He uses archetypal geometric forms to create original works that are cylindrical or spherical in nature (generally speaking). I find it interesting, like in Joyce's work for our class, how Long chose circles as his shape of prefence, while Joyce chose straight lines. I think it shows a lot about Joyce's personality and how she has an element of control exhibited through the creation of straight lines in her patterns. Long on the other hand, uses raw materials to make a closed shaped with no definite beginning or end, which makes the path all the more intriguing, if that is you choose to see a circle as a path or, maybe it is just a route with no destination that repeats itself over and over again. What's funny is that Long's pieces do actually represent actual paths he walked, he just represented them in a less conventional and less obvious way than say Joyce did, or I did even, by literally tagging the site where the path was walked, instead of taking it out of context. These are simply some ideas that have been running through my head...feel free to comment if you wish....