Metacognition: Creativity Essay

       When I sit down to write an essay, I used to always plan every single detail; from the attention-grabber, transitions into new paragraphs, ending sentences, order of paragraphs, and finally the conclusion. Lately though, I have found that I don't really plan like that anymore; I read the prompt, come up with a couple of ideas, and start typing what's going on in my head, onto Microsoft Word. 

       There are many things that surprise me about my thinking while writing an essay like the creativity essay. For one, the most random things go through my head and surprisingly more often than not, those things turn into some pretty great ideas. More than half the thoughts I put into my creativity essay were random things that popped into my head while writing it. Another thing that surprises me about the way I think now, is what I said before: I barely planned the creativity essay to be completely honest. I understood the prompt, picked a class I thought was really boring and just went to town. Ideas just seem to flow out when I sit down and write now- which means humanities is actually making me more creative than I was.

      The main thing I like about my thinking is that it has no limits. I think about the most random things. There is an unlimited amount of ideas in there. I can think about anything and everything. And yeah, I guess everyone's minds can have no limits, but I don't know that for sure. So, all I'm saying is, my mind can take in and come up with almost anything. Once you read my creativity paper, you'll know what I'm talking about; the different paragraphs in that essay show so many sides of my mind, especially the creative side that humanities has brought out. 

      I think it's really good that my mind is so open and expandable. It can basically adapt to anything. It really helps me stay open to new things. And it definitely helps me a lot while writing essays; my thoughts bring up interesting ideas that I use in my papers and it also brings forth interesting ways to communicate those ideas. 

       If I had to choose one thing that I would want to work better, I would chose my intellectual thinking. I find that I have a hard time finding math and science interesting, so I don't pay that much attention to those classes. They are classes I need to graduate and I would like to raise my grades in them. Creativity doesn't really play a big part in those classes so that doesn't help me a lot there. I just want my mind to be more intelligent I guess. 

        All in all, this is what goes on in my head, how I think and what I would like to work on. 

Blogging Around

Deena M: In her blog, she talks about her journey through switching from a private to a public school; the things she dreaded and the good things that came out of the change.

Deena, I could kind of relate to your situation because I grew up in New York and that's where I went to school before third grade. I loved my life there and that's the only life I knew, until one day my parents sat me down, too, and told me that we were moving to Glenview, Illinois, a suburb I have never heard about before. I was really young then and obviously I didn't have a huge say in it, so I packed my bags and moved with my family. I dreaded the same things you did: how much will my life change? will the kids like me there? will it be hard to fit in? so many questions ran through my mind. Looking back at it, I'm glad my parents made me move because I've have met so many amazing people here that I would like to stay friends with for the rest of my life. I remember meeting you in sixth grade and we became really good friends! I'm glad you and I moved because we would have never met each other and all our other amazing friends and we wouldn't have the incredible memories that we do today if it didn't happen.

Maria G: She brings up the question that Mr. Allen asked us all on the first day, "what makes you extremely happy?" and she says she knows that one day, some time in the near or far future, she will find what makes her happy, and that's what makes her happy.

Maria, I just want to start this comment off by saying that I honestly really liked this blog entry. When he asked us this question on the first day, I was going to say the same thing you did, but he said to say something else so I said vacations and Bridesmaids instead! After reading your entry though, I realized that I have been thinking about that question, too. I think the question came up at a decent time because if he hadn't asked it, it wouldn't be thinking about it now that we are starting to decide what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Just like you, when my relatives asked me what I wanted to do in college, I would always reply with, "I have no idea," but after exploring the majors at multiple colleges and seeing inspiration in the world around us, I think I've got my list of choices down to a top 5, but I won't go into that. Oh, and I also love to read and design! Those babies laughing videos are so great and they make me happy every time I watch one. I'm glad you found that by not knowing what your future holds, but knowing that one day you'll just know that you've found something that makes you mind-numbingly happy, makes you happy! Harvey MacKay once said, "find something you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life," and that's what I want to do.

Connection: Edward & Clara and Edward & Bella

          I am connecting Edward and Clara's relationship in The Shadow Catcher, to Edward and Bella's relationship in The Twilight Saga. Even though their stories are decades and worlds apart, I found multiple similarities between them.
          Starting at the beginning of their relationships, both couples started a "friendship," you could say, through an accident. A gun shot rang through the forest, startling Edward and causing him to fall off a roof and Clara ran to him to provide some care. Bella was in the school parking lot and had a near death experience when a fellow classmate almost ran her over with his car, but Edward came to her rescue, stopping the car.
          After these accidents, their "friendships" seemed to blossom. Clara talked to Edward about her life, she read him books and they bonded by talking about art and portraits. Bella and Edward also talked about their families and their lives while out to dinner one night, and the one special moment that bonded Bella and Edward was when Edward played Bella a song on the piano called "Bella's Lullaby," which is a form of art.
          Another thing I found that these two couples had in common was when the men left. Edward Curtis left Clara the morning after they slept together. Edward Cullen left Bella in the second book, New Moon, because he didn't want to hurt her anymore. While they both had different reasons, they both still left the women that loved them.  And of course, just like in every love story, even though they were left behind, both Clara and Bella went back to their men.
          Lastly, both couples took the next step in their relationships without a second thought: sex. It's a subject I won't get into too much, but it's important because it was a huge step in both relationships. It was the moment that helped Clara decide that she really did love Edward and it was the same way for Bella when she and Edward did it in Breaking Dawn.
          The one way I think that these two relationships inform each other is that one relationship lacks, what the other has. Edward and Clara's relationship may not be fully developed yet, but I can tell that Edward Curtis does not love Clara the way Edward Cullen loves Bella. At this point, honestly, I can't find something the Edward and Clara's relationship has, that Edward and Bella's relationship doesn't, but I guess we'll see what we find in the next chapter, Clara and Edward.
          This relationship provides an insight for me into two completely different relationships, yet I found multiple similarities. It was interesting to be able to look at a relationship between two people in the 1900's versus a relationship in 2008. It gave me two different perspectives on something that I don't normally think about.