Month: May 2012

Identity At Camp Magic MacGuffin

Getting in the spirit of camp has not been hard. I’ve loved watching my fellow campers get into the Daily Creates and other various assignments.

One problem I have run into is that of identity. I have so many blogs, social media sites, and spaces that are mine that it is hard to find a way to make them more cohesive. Most of my accounts are “shauser” or go by the nickname of “Shannon” (I hope you can figure out that one) but, on umwblogs (where my main site for ds106 is hosted) I adopted the moniker “Neo-Rev”.

WWJGD?Here is the quick backstory on that. Back around 2008 our beloved Reverend, Jim Groom, temporarily left us on a missions retreat. In his absence I took up a bit of the identity of “Reverend” but put my own new spin on it, hence the “Neo”. Under those circumstances Neo-Rev was born.

So, I’ve got numerous names going on in comments and on posts. At the moment I’ve adopted a style that I saw Alan Levine do where he puts his name then @cogdog in parentheses.

I think this is where we see Gravatar coming in handy. It can be a central point for various e-mails and blogs by unifying them all under one account and having a picture for that account. If you haven’t signed up for one I’d recommend it. It is a good way for people who don’t like feeling they have multiple personalities find a way to unify them all.

I’m still debating about the name I’m going to stick to for camp but, for now you’ll have to put up with my indecisiveness. Also, recommendations or ideas are encouraged 🙂

Creativity Abounds: First Letter Home

Dear Kitty,

It has been a great week at camp! Glad you have been patient with me while I work on all my new things for camp instead of playing with you. Perhaps I’ll craft you a new cat toy for all your patience.

This has been a banner week for my creativity and I feel an excitement I haven’t felt in awhile. I took pictures, made videos and made some drawings. I think the face trace I did inspired me the most even though it was the create I looked forward to the least. It got me drawing again and inspired me to start a collage wall in my room to get myself creating.

I had fun watching my friend’s like Jeff and Jerry get right in there and start creating too. It is very cool to see people jump out of their comfort zones. I look forward to getting know the rest of the campers.

Well, I have more art to make so I’ll sign off for now. Hope you aren’t too lonely and please stop throwing up your food in protest.

Your Best Buddy,

Shannon

The Wall

I’ve lived in my apartment for two years and I have yet to put anything up on the walls in my room. I tried to hang to some frames on the wall with those adhesive hooks but, I think the combination of the old plaster walls and paint led to nothing sticking very well. So here I am, going on my third year at the apartment with empty white walls.

White WallA few days ago the Daily Create prompt led me to tracing my face using some paper and pencil. I enjoyed the process of drawing so much that I kept on drawing. I’ve always been a doodler (just take one look at my notebooks from classes) and I like drawing but, I’ve never been in the habit of consistently drawing. It is one of my regrets when I was younger that I did not pursue taking art lessons. I had some talent and interest but, it was never in the cards that I would pursue it. So what does this have to do with my blank walls? Well, I decided that I would use one of my walls as a collage wall of sorts. I’m going to start drawing and making things and hanging them up. The desire to see something on my walls will give me the push I need to start creating and letting things flow. Also, there is something about being able to see work and progress sitting in front of you that you just don’t get by viewing it on a screen or only in your mind. I consider the wall a temporary cork board of sorts, a place to get messy but, it doesn’t have to be permanent. So, lets make art dammit! I’ll post thing as they progress (and actually as of this post there are already new things up) and maybe if some of you have some wall space of your own you can follow suit.

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