User:StephanieH

=Freshman Seminar=

Always Wanted To Schedule

 * Topic

"Coming out of the Coffin" "Voice of Vampirism"
 * Research Component

My research will include but the history and modern day transitions of vampirism. Also by doing this I will be able to do what I always wanted to do, come out and explain what the condition is by explaining what I am. Explaining the difference between fact and fiction and settling the fear which seems to spread with the unknown.
 * week 1

Begin gathering the history of vampires from ancient tribes to the Bram Stoker Era.
 * week 2

Research on the evolutionary stages of the vampire from past to modern.
 * week 3

All about modern day vampires. Vampirism (Real Vamp)
 * week 4

This ties into Hollywood, research on how the world reacts towards the media and how it influences the world of vampires (roleplayer, Fanatic fans and Lifestylers).
 * week 5

Go over all the material I have and make sure it flows together.
 * week 6

Two famous vampires who came out to America. Little info about them.
 * week 7

Coming out Section
 * week 8

Finalize my presentation.

Midterm Assignment 1: Taste & Aesthetics
Schubert Sonata By Mark di Suvero

Walking through the park really didn’t turn out like I expected it to. This project made me think that I’d be angered by how disturbingly bad some of these sculptures could have been. But actually most of them weren’t that bad, even if they were abstract, you could understand what it meant (in an abstract way) or respect the talent that went into it. But even with this mindset I did manage to find a sculpture that rubbed me the wrong way. From a distance, it made no sense. Ok, maybe a closer look at it will shed some light on this….this sculpture. Even after walking around it five times, the only reason I figured out what it was because someone told me it was a fish. “Schubert Sonata”, and a fish, someone please tell what the heck is with this sculpture. Plus to top that off, the description is “Steel painted and unpainted”. It’s painted and also unpainted but yet it just looks like rust on a pole… Well, there you go; I found a sculpture I hate so let’s see some background on Mark di Suvero’s work. It seems that this sculpture is in a series that honored music composers including a sculpture called “For Handel” in Western Washington University in Bellingham. Now looking back at the title “Schubert Sonata” I know it’s reminiscent of music. This sculpture was also originally outside of Benaroya Hall, Seattle Symphony. But here’s the special part, being that Seattle symphony is near the Puget Sound, the artist said it reminded him of flying fish (kind of clever). Eventually when I found the time to go back, I just stood there and looked at it. Even though you have to be at a certain angle to actually see the fish shape, standing in different angles produces a image of weird musical notes to me. With my love of music and experience of playing in a concert band, I found an unexpected likeness for this sculpture. It was made to honor what I love, and in a way, like music, you have to listen and interpret it in different was to truly love it. This sculpture is the same way, I would have never understood it until I took the time to research it and interpret what it meant.

Midterm Assignment 3: Always Wanted To Progress Report (100 words or so)
My progress so far is pretty good. I stumbled across trying to sum all of the information together and found out it was too broad of topics to restrain in the PowerPoint that I have set up. So I decided to shrink some of the information I found and also reduce a few of my topics so that it will fit together. Also, citing this information is going to be an annoying issue for me meanly because this information is so controversial. Even some of the stated facts about what makes a vampire this or what method is done and how, it doesn’t always mean that everybody falls under that category. I’ll just have to take the information that’s broad enough to cover the majority and maybe focus on the outliers if any of those types of question are brought up in the question section of my presentation

Final Presentation

 * Topic (10%)

Coming Out Of The Coffin and explaining vampirism to the class.


 * Research (20%)

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 * 1) Internet site: "DrinkDeeplyandDream.com - The Reality of the Modern Day Vampire" :: Real Vampire information, support, and interaction. Forums, Chat, more! Web. 30 Nov. 2009. >

"Sanguinarius.org for Real Vampires, Blood Drinkers and Vampiric People". Web. 30 Oct. 2009. .
 * 2) Book: "Belanger, Michelle. Vampires in Their Own Words An Anthology of Vampire Voices". First Edition ed. Minneapolis: Llewellyn Publications, 2007. Print

"Belanger, Michelle A. Psychic Vampire Codex A Manual of Magick and Energy Work". New York: Weiser Books, 2004. Print. "Russo, Arlene. Vampire nation". Woodbury, Minn: Llewellyn Publications, 2008. Print.
 * 3) Scholarly Journal:
 * 4) Other (interview, TV show,etc):


 * Your accomplishment (20%)

I reached my goal by being able to pull it off. I manage to stand in front of the class and say that I am a vampire and explain to them what the subculture is and give a little information on how it started and how it grew.


 * Project Review (50%)
 * 1)What went well

I was able to gather the information in a way that was presentable, even throw in my personal opinions and thoughts and the topic. I even had support from friends and a few family memebers that I thought was really cool for what I was trying to go through with.
 * 2)What went poorly

I sort of bit off more then I could swallow at the time I started. Alot of information couldn't make it to the final presentation given our limit of 10 mintues. I could have focused on one of my weekly research topics and covered over more then 30 mintues.
 * 3)Future strategies

There was videos I could have used and a lot more media, also i'd rather do a more question based presentation to get the audiance more involved. It was very un-nerving to just stand and talk over people about a topic like this and not know whether they understand it or even care so to speak. I really want too be able to help shed the light on this culture, there's so many people that either don't know it exists or think we just live in a fantasty world. I definitely gonna move further with this in the future.

Self-Assessment
What have I learned in this class…? Well it took me awhile to completely understand what the class really was about. The projects never fit together and I always questioned myself, why are we doing this… But if I looked at it in a way of it being a form of psychology or a class that made you think about things you wouldn’t normally think of, that satisfied me to the point where it started to make sense. I mean I was able to change my mind about a sculpture I really cared nothing for; I also was able to bring myself to come out to the class of people I hardly know that I am a vampire. Both lead me down a road of research and understanding that brought me to a conclusion that either changed my point of view, or got me to do something I always want to do. Which in the long run will help me down the line with the other classes I’m going to come across in this school (especially psychology apparently). Either to put yourself out there on the line, question why you really feel that way about something or simply research a little more to cover all you can. But what do I have left to learn…? Honestly, whatever I can, I really see no limit for an answer for that.