Big Story 3: My COVID Experience

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BHZPS5jNDTdBqTikCziotLmHKd_x5Vfx/view?usp=sharing

By Kiana Kitchen

From my home to work, I see the city lit up with heart signs. The Fairmont hotel, the hotel that captured the eyes of Austin locals and non-locals alike with its bright, colorful nighttime displays, had shut down due to low customer traffic, leaving other buildings to take its place and light up with hearts, for all the workers and everyone impacted by COVID-19.

I was living on campus when I heard that St. Edward’s was shutting down. I was worried for what the change would mean for me, but I realized that it was all necessary as COVID-19 gained more victims, even being fatal to teens and young adults. Since then, I accepted the move from on-campus to home and online courses, but it came with having to adjust to a lot of new procedures.

When I heard about St. Edward’s switching to online classes, my mind immediately went to many issues with the convenience. Such as how I could get up 5 minutes after waking up straight to class, or how many people would attend class in their pajamas. However, I quickly found that the whole attending class shortly after getting up wasn’t fun, and left me low-energy. I also found myself with the distraction of home. All of my favorite games, my TV, my off-class projects, my little brother, and my artwork supplies were at home, and I found myself sidetracking a lot. But home wasn’t the only thing that worried me during COVID-19 and online classes.

I work part-time at a Starbucks nearby campus. I make the commute from home with my dad, as the city buses from where we lived became dangerous and unreliable. At work, we were, as of April, required to wear face masks, and gloves when helping the customers. Starbucks became drive-thru only for sometime, leaving many cafe-only stores shut down for a whole month. We were busy for the longest time due to this; despite the call to stay home, many people, mainly non-essential workers, refuse to do so, hence we have had many long lines throughout the breakout. My store was shut down for one week, as one of my coworkers, who works an opposite shift from me, had gotten sick. She is alive and completely healed; after almost two months of not seeing her, I’ve worked a shift with her recently!

Besides work and school, I have play a lot of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Minecraft. It was the best way to keep in contact with a lot of my friends, since most of them had to stay home. I would also use some time to spend with my mom and dad while they were off work; since they didn’t have to go out other than for work, they would stay inside and watch TV during their free time. I’ve went out once, for a reason besides work, at the beginning, as seen in the video, to see how 6th street looks. It was eerie to see the usually busy and hectic street so empty, but peaceful at the same time.

I’m hoping that people will eventually take the right steps to, “flatten the curve”.  One thing I share in common with many people my age is wanting to go out for summer vacation and celebrate holidays. I’m looking forward to being able to eat and shop somewhere besides work. Also, did you know this year’s Halloween has a full moon and is on a Saturday? Most people hope to celebrate it! While new cases have appeared by the thousands, I have hope for the rest of 2020, especially since my friends and family have all done so well!

Big Story II: Katherine Wood: Her Education

Kiana Kitchen

April 8, 2020

Katherine Wood, a Spanish major at St. Edward’s University, is often found focused in her studies. Wood has travelled some distance from home to find opportunity in Austin and study Spanish. While she had to take a break in school, she found usefulness in Spanish, especially when away from home. She makes the best of herself while away from home, gaining new skills while balancing a busy life. 

While there are personal uses for her Spanish major, she finds usefulness in Spanish as a job opportunity. “So I wanted to find something more immediately practical after school,” says Wood, “I was originally a sociology major, but I left school a few years ago… it gave me some skills, but Spanish was immediately practical.” Practicality wasn’t the only thing she found in studying Spanish either. “The other thing is that, when I was away from school, I realized how useful it would be, like with the area of Austin I live in, Riverside…” 

Wood got her start in Spanish from a language center. “I took one Spanish class outside of school…it’s called Freestyle Language Center, it’s like a language place nearby, and I really enjoyed that. So I decided to do that, to come back and finish a degree. I kind of miss that style of class, because we talked in Spanish…over specific subjects, more everyday to day conversation.” Wood uses the language a lot with her boyfriend, Hose’s, family. Wood also uses the Spanish language when she visits her boyfriend, Hose’s, family, who lives down in Mexico. “She has full conversations with my family, [especially] with my grandma, and loves going down to Mexico whenever we can,” Hose said. While she enjoyed learning day-to-day conversation, she still finds usefulness in the academic language she learns, specifically for future jobs. 

Despite being far from home, she has no worries about the distance. “I mean, I’ve been here like…6 years now? I’ve kind of established myself here now, and I’m glad to be away from my family. So, I don’t know, it’s a far enough drive that they can’t just drop everything and show up here, but if I want to see them, it’s not like I don’t have the option to.” From here to home takes Wood 3 hours, which isn’t much of a concern to her. “I miss friends, though. [One of] my closest friends is having her wedding in April…She had her first kid, and I haven’t seen her since she was, like, super little!” 

Wood, as well as Hose, still find themselves busy outside of school. “I consider ourselves very busy outside of school. I’m always meeting and coming up with artsy garbage, while she works with many people and pet sits,” Hose said. 

When asked about any plans for future use Spanish, Wood said that she wanted to use it for both personal and work-related reasons. “I feel like if you’re not using it in literally every context, personal and professional, you start to lose aspects of your vocabulary.” When asked about travelling opportunities, she had no long-term plans for such other than for family and friends. 

Wood continues her studies in order to grow and improve in her vocabulary. “Her overall skills have improved. Her Spanish, though…has improved a lot as well!” Hose remarks.

Big Story 2 Idea Map: An Interview with Katherine Wood (WIP)

Katherine Wood

5W’s

Where: Austin, TX; St. Edward’s University

Why: To complete college, with Spanish major

When: Current day

What: Maintaining a busy life, overcoming barriers with Spanish

 

Interview Questions (work in progress):

  1. What was your first thoughts when coming to Austin?

2. What were your original inspirations?/Did you expect to pursue what you do now?

 

Idea Map

Big Story I: St. Edward’s Must Choose

Kiana Kitchen

February 10, 2020

A mixture of alumni, professors, and students came together to discuss if colleges should focus on cold, hard truth, social inclusivity, or if both can be achieved.

“This university has a mission…an old fashion mission, to pursue the truth,” says Jack Musselman, the host of the event. 

Colleges Must Choose: Pursue Truth or Justice event happened on January 30, in Fleck Hall at St. Edward’s University. The fusion discussion, held over lunch, covered the ongoing controversy of whether colleges should prioritize challenges and giving the truth, or pursue inclusivity, even if it means turning away these challenges. Input was crucial from any and all of the 15 people in the audience. Most of the audience had an agreement that the school can stick to pursuing the truth, but can offer inclusivity to its student body. This event was based on this article, focusing on if a school can achieve diversity in colleges while still retaining the same amount of free speech.

One of the alumni who had the view that social justice and truth can coexist explained that social justice cannot come across without challenges and learning. “Social justice is limited by lack of knowledge,” said the alumni. This was a part of the topic of controversial speakers, and if we should allow people with slightly conservative views on campus to speak to students, to approach them with the intent of gaining knowledge on their views. 

“We don’t want students to feel uncomfortable, but it gets in the way of learning and reason,” mentioned another alumni, supporting the pursuit of truth.

Pursuing the truth comes with some challenges, including having to hear things that may make students feel uncomfortable, for the sake of gaining knowledge. However, a point was made that students may not always see it this way.

“Isn’t it [a college’s] responsibility to help a student feel safe?” says a retiree in the audience, “Let’s not invite that person, but put their views in perspective.” 

With the use of past examples, such as the controversy over author Julie Bendel, a feminist who had views against the transgender community, giving a speech on campus, the conversation became very engaging, with the students inputing their own views with controversy on campus. The question is still open, however; should we keep students safe, even if we have to avoid sensitive topics, or pursue truthful challenges, even if it means coming out of that bubble?

This discussion is part of a series of community-based events by the Center of Ethics and Leadership, for more information on events, check out their website.

Design Mind Map/End of Semester Thoughts

Mind Map of Kiana Kitchen — My personal flow chart of how I approach design and my work.

What I think Tuan wonders about me is why I choose to go with more cartoonish or joke-like themes in my work, and why I stick to them. I figure this because I feel that my main focus is way different from my other classmate’s in that I tend to do more illustrative stuff, as if I want to entertain people. Although, I focus on this mainly because this is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a child. Even my more serious stuff tends to be more on the colorful side. I have seen other graphic designers who do illustrative work, so I wish to take that example and develop from it, so that I can also focus on my illustration skills, which I also wish to use in the future.

Mid-semester Update

From my experience hours, I would say I have gained an average of 8 hours a week, that being 4 hours from being in class, the additional 4 from outside of class. Most of the hours came from working on my Typography II project, the Power Report, though some of mine came from doing my drawing on the side. I feel like my accumulated hours are not enough for me, as I wish I could work on the Power Report a little more to improve it.

I feel like my definition of sophisticated work has only changed slightly from last year. With the Power Report, I realized that typography goes beyond print, and it is important to learn about how to animate it, especially for using it in animations or films in which you want to catch the viewer’s attention, so now, this aspect is added to what I think sophisticated work can come out to be.

The way that the Power Report has connected to my previous knowledge from before this semester is my use of type to help the message I am trying to convey. With my project, I tried to make it about body-and-mind-positive feminists, and I needed type that was softer, and sans-serif to show that it is a more modern situation. 

One thing I am unsure about is how to make a focus on certain facts. I had some trouble with where I should draw people’s attention, with some of my key frames pointing to two different points or making it hard to focus on one thing. 

While the Power Report taught me a lot that I could hold valuable to my graphic design career, I did not enjoy this project as much. My favorite projects which I have done before was a Dead Mall shooting I had done before and the development of a “kawaii” character set, both which were personal projects. They both also target my direct interests, while the Power Report focused on a more serious topic, something I had to think up of almost on the spot. (I am not particularly good with pop culture)

Overall, what I think is responsible for my creative growth is about 50% of what I grew up (cartoons I watched, toys I had, etc.), 30% of what I enjoy now, 10% of my day-to-day life (work, school), and 10% of the people in my life. Most of my creative growth is based off of my experiences, as outside of that, I have a hard time drawing inspiration. I feel like I have bought a lot of my experience, as well as myself, with me, and I will especially put whatever I can think of in my projects. Out of the people that influence my work, most of it is with my friends and peers, like my classmates and co-workers, who I know a wide array of information about. My professors have helped with guiding my professional process in my creativity, so I feel that my work is at least more refined.

I guess the question I have for so far is, even if I’m far behind on my project, if I can ever reach the “desired” level of completeness, or if it would be the same as an on-time project, where the project is never complete until the person themselves decides it is complete. I believe that I just had to take a long time with this project to make it better for me.

Current Expert Hours & Projected Fall 2019 Type II Expert Hours

With my current accumulated hours, I believe I have ~850 right now.  About 200 came from my first formal creative experiences back in high school. I painted signs and different word styles with paints (I’ve only ever sold one) and I did photographing for a few sports events at my school, and had even gotten some published.  The remainder came from projects that I have done in class, as well as outside creative works I have done, many being for personal growth. I feel that from this semester, I’ll get somewhere between 10-15 hours per week of creative work, having to not only work on school projects, but my own personal projects that I wish to complete and that fit into my portfolio. I feel that the expert hours goal of 10,000 hours will take me a long time to complete, but I definitely wouldn’t accomplish it within this semester, which is okay as I have many things to learn with my major.

Blog Post #11

Part 1:

The faculty gave presentations to show us what our PechaKuchas would look like. They showed a few of their works and presented with a short amount of time. One thing that was interesting to me is that all of their works are based on significant aspects in their life, such as the first one being about his love for video games, the second one about her children, and the third one being about photographing his family. It shows how your life can affect what you do your works about, mainly with inspiration.

Part 2:

When I first started going to this class, I thought it would be boring and that we would do nothing but sit around and here lectures we’ve heard about art 100 times. Instead, I was given a more interesting take on the topic. I was shown examples of artists working in all of the visual fields provided by St. Edward’s and what they do after college, taught how I could start, and what it takes to bring out yourself in your works and life. The professors were also very engaging, and every time I got to talk to them was fascinating. I was glad to get more than just a boring, re-lecturing class.

Blog Post #10

Part 1:

We had speakers, Nate and Anne, come to speak about their game, Wildermyth. They talked about how they developed their game, how they found their team, and made their own developer name. I learned some new things, like how much it usually takes to get things done, and that it just takes time to find the right team and make the right decisions about the game, such as the genre, art style, and what codes and animations to put into it.

Part 2:

If I were to ask a question to the faculty, it would be “What gives you the confidence to make your works?”

Blog Post #9

Part 1:

The alumni presentations were about how they evolved their work and got into the work place with the skills they have developed. Each one was interesting, with their stories of how they evolved and found out what they love to do and making their own living, with a couple making it through advertisement and another starting with advertisement but going on to doing her own projects and selling through creativity. It gives me a good image of what I could look forward to after graduation.

Part 2:

Possible Internships:

Barefoot Student, Graphic Design Internship: https://www.barefootstudent.com/austin/jobs/internships/graphic_design_internship_1920297043

Tenderling Design, Graphic Design Internship: https://www.helpwanted.com/7af4bce36b3a4-Graphic-Design-Internship-job-listings

C3 Presents, Creative Design Internship: http://edmjobs.com/job/creative-design-intern/