This introduction marks the end of an era. This is the last time I will type welcome back to My Dog Ate My Blog. You know why? Because this is my last blog post. This marks the day that my dog has ate my entire blog. Gone. Done. We have come a really long way, being that this is my 83rd post, from this:
My very first post when I thought I had to recap every single detail of the project we were working on. Well, if you are a consistent My Dog Ate My Blogger you would know that I have grown and changed a lot as a blogger (and person) since then. Kind of. I definitely still write a lot in my blog posts but all of it (most of it) is meaningful and has purpose. So with that, let’s start with the first meaningful/purposeful thing that my blog posts contain: a little intro to the latest and greatest project. This project is called Cray Cray! Yay Yay! I know, weird name is what you are probably thinking. I definitely thought that at the beginning to but then we watched this video which pretty much sums it up:
This project focused on the Crazy Ones of the world, whether this be very large and significant or smaller scale. That’s your teaser, that is all you get until we discuss the project more in depth so on to the driving question:
“What makes someone a community impact maker?”
The answer to this question should surface by the end of this post (which sometimes I successfully remember to do and sometimes not so much) so let’s get started with unpacking each piece for this final My Dog Ate My Blog Post as I cry on my keyboard.
HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEW WITH ANNE
So, I will be jumping around the timeline of the project a little bit in this post to describe my highlights and not-so-highlights so be prepared for that! We are going to start in the middle here with my first highlight.
The Community Impact maker that I decided to focus on is Anne Bethune, the president of Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports. Of course, to get more information after doing a few quick google searches, I had to interview Anne over zoom.
This was by far my favourite part of the project because Anne is a very interesting, passionate person with lots of stories. I made a list of questions and then I was off to asking Anne!
This interview really put a face to the person I had been researching for two weeks and revealed to me more reasons why Anne is a community impact maker. She explained to me her connection and VASS’s connection to and effect on the community and VASS students, told success stories of some adaptive skiers, and even helped me out with planning my visual which I will explain more later. Every time we do a project that involves interviewing an actual real life person, I remember how beneficial it can be to research and learning. These interviews are inspiring and I always learn so much more than I would have with just secondary sources. Although it can be scary to talk to someone in person or on the phone who you don’t know, I have learned the importance of it and how much more exciting it can make learning.
BUILDING MY PORTRAIT
After all of this research was done it was time to create something to represent Anne and everything she has done for the adaptive ski community and North Shore. No, I did not build skis although it may look like it in the photo above, I built a frame out of skis with my dad!
I constructed this frame to represents Anne’s (and my) love for skiing and the love for snow sports that Anne cultivates through VASS volunteers in each of her students. But there was more to this representation than just a frame. Our task was to portray how our community impact makers impacted the community through a portrait, basically a piece of art that includes Anne’s face and other symbols that show who she is in the community.
I decided to layer all 3 local mountains (Grouse, Cypress, and Seymour) in the background because that is where VASS runs it’s programs. I then layered on top a photo of Anne that I felt really represented who she is: a truly passionate, kind, influencing human being which is obviously reflected in her smile. I did all of this in an app called SuperImposeX and then got the photo enlarged so that people could actually see it. Finally, I (hesitantly) painted pink hearts all over the photo because, as I learned in my interview with her, pink and hearts are both very important to Anne and a big symbol for her. The one aspect of Anne that I wish I could have included in the portrait is that she rides a motorcycle which is so cool!
This part of the project really allowed my creativity to flow. I love the hands on aspects of projects because they allow me to do really abstract and imaginative things like build a frame out of skis. This part of the project also involved taking some creative risks. I only had one photo developed and was very determined to include mixed media in my portrait so decided after to paint on it. I must have sat there for ten minutes with the paint brush hovering over the photo. I was so worried that the photo would be ruined but the hearts are such a crucial part of Anne’s identity so I risked it and it turned out great in the end!!
NOT-SO-HIGHLIGHTS
WATCHING THE MOVIES AND SOCRATIC SEMINAR
I only have one low light for this entire project which says something about it! Usually I have at least 2! As part of building our knowledge, we watched movies that focused on crazy ones including Hidden Figures, Amadeus, and Gandhi. Although I loved the movies, I found it very difficult to take the information from them and process it, ultimately making it the Socratic seminars very difficult. In these seminars, we discussed questions that focused on crazy ones and tried to come to an answer or conclusion. My struggle with making connections and insights from the movie mixed with feeling very very nervous created a perfect storm for poor participation in the seminars. The first one was definitely the worst but from there, I believe I improved immensely. I started out by hardly speaking at all, to speaking a bit more, to being one of the main speakers in the third and final Socratic seminar. I really learned the importance of doing extra research and taking the time to let texts sink in (by reviewing and thinking about them) in preparation for these seminars. My goal, if I ever get to do one again, is to ask more thought provoking questions to the seminar.
EXHIBITION
Not only is this my last blog post, I also just participated in my last PLP exhibition. *more tears* I won’t talk about this too too long but it definitely was an important part of the project because this is when I got to present my research and learning to the world!
And Anne! Anne lent me her PARALYMPIC TORCH to share with the exhibition-goers as well as a photo book with photos of different VASS events. I was in the service section of the exhibition and this is what our room looked like!
Of course set up and take down were chaotic but the exhibition was a amazing and I loved having the opportunity to share all that Anne has done for the community. Enjoy these other exhibition photos 🙂
CONCLUSION
Now time for the conclusion of all conclusions. The conclusion that will close my final post on My Dog Ate My Blog. The conclusion of My Dog Ate My Blog! So, what makes someone a community impact maker anyway? A community impact maker is someone who changes a community, does something that is a little bit outside of the box (with passion), and who isn’t afraid of a challenge or adversity. If you read through my research and my interview with Anne you can see just how much of a community impact maker she is. Ok now that that conclusion is done, let’s conclude My Dog Ate My Blog. Let’s shut it down. My driving question for this part of the blog post is “What have I learned from My Dog Ate My Blog?” First and foremost I have learned that writing can be fun and creative! I have really found my writing voice through this blog that I have been keeping for the last five years and used it (in variations) for so many different kinds of writing. This blog has showed me the importance of taking the time to reflect but also the importance of recording. I get to look back on five whole years worth of work and projects that I am proud of! I get to look at these processes and learn from them both as I write and as I look back at them years later. With that, I want to say thank you so much to anyone who is reading this blog post or anyone who has read my past blog posts. I have loved loved loved my time writing for My Dog Ate My Blog and maybe I will come back to write a post every once and a while about what I am learning in post secondary but don’t get your hopes up! This is Jordyn Eyton, the writer for My Dog Ate My Blog signing off for the last time.
– Jordyn Eyton the children’s book author, the producer, the conceptual artist, the scientist, the politician, the detective, the podcast writer, the actor, and the blog post writer 🙂
Leave a Reply