Influential Person

Growing up with just a Mom, never planted our roots for long, had to look outside myself and my fractured family for the inspiration to strive for more. She was a strong, ambitious, glamorous, yet seemingly simple woman who kept herself grounded in one place for over 50 years. She traveled the world, took a year of just to photograph people and places that created poignant impressions on her during her youth. Now she has passed, so I reflect on the journeys she took during her sabbatical year. I occasionally ponder the meaning behind her fulfilled desire and the sense of achievement it must have brought her to travel and compile significant images. To honor oneself in such a a way is an eloquent nod, a consummation of the earlier stages of our existence. I will never know how deeply that affected her, not accurately anyway. I will continue to apply my perception of her experiences and the interpretations of others that knew her to grow as a woman. Her influence on me helped guide my choices as a student, young woman, and daughter. I aspire to become a better  woman, teacher, wife, and mother because of what I have learned through knowing her, my great grandmother Bette.

What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?

In my perception the word "free" can mean a variety of things. If I was free tomorrow afternoon of all my worries and troubles there would be an infinite amount of opportunities for me to take part in. I would begin by taking in my surroundings and witness the beauty's of the mountain, aspire to learn of the differing birds that reside there and become one with nature. To have a free afternoon means more than no plans, it means to release the troubles within and receive the surrounding innocence.

what does Play-Doh have to do with Plato?

Plato was a classical Greek philosopher. He thought that everything had an ideal form, and physical representations of the ideal form were actually poor representations. Similar to Plato's philosophy, Play-Doh   is used to mold images and figures with the dough. Although, the figures created with the dough are rarely an accurate representation of the ideal figure in the molder's mind. Play-Doh is ultimately Plato's philosophy in a tangible form.

Early Memory

I remember laying down in bed every night with my mother. She would read me the same three books every night, it was nice having a consistency with something since we always had to make drastic changes. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown was one of the books. I remember her always whispering when she read it, it created a calming mood yet I was always more eager to listen. The second book was A light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, we must have gone through each of the poems three or four times. The illustration by Silverstein is what inspired me to branch out in my artistic abilities, it also broadened my creativity.  I vividly remember reading Guess How Much I Love You written by Sam Mcbratney. This was the first book I memorized. It amazed my aunt when we would read it together because when she would ask me to narrate the book I knew the exact words. It wasn't the same reading that book with anyone besides my mom because we had created a significant bond over it. When the line "I love you from the moon and back" was approaching we would always glance outside to make the sure the moon was there.This is also when I learned all the phases of the moon . When there was a crescent moon she would tell me it was because all of the little boys and girls were reading the book at the same time with their parents and their love was slowly putting the moon back to its fullest (the full moon phase). I believed that until I was about five until she explained what really happens to the moon, that Reptar from The Rugrats keeps getting hungry and biting chunks off at a time. I dont know why I had to mention that, everyone knows that. Anyways, after we would be done reading Sam Mcbratney's book my mother and I would make up our own lines on how much we loved each other. Still today when she and I are trying to be cute or get our way we still make references like thos. I think the book has left such a strong impact on me because of the vibrant yet simple pictures and the simplicity of it. The fact that there are only two bunnies was symbolic of our connection with each other, putting emphasis on the theme of our relationship, that two people could still love each other as much as they possibly can even if they have no one else to fall back on. Looking back on my earliest memory of a book makes me realize how great of a mother I have.