Blog synthesis.

This class has changed me forever. First as a person, then as an educator.

The module projects required "all of me." I felt as though I had to take myself to a place far from “myself.” It was very philosophical. I thought this blog helped with the much-needed release of reflection and synthesis of ideas. Here is my final synthesis.

Particularly for a distance degree program, I think a blog is brilliant. The blog's "analogical bridges" fascinated me. I tried to zoom way out and take them to a very abstract level to challenge myself, because I felt "safe," very assured and convinced, that Dr. Wong knew that zillions of possibilities were out there for us to find. (HOW EXCITING IS THAT? Way exciting for me!)

CEP 882 would be a very thrilling class “live.” Would it have provided me even more daily "refreshment," possibly. But it did the job long-distance. Yes, it consumed my entire mind/body, each and everyday, since January 10, 2011.

My husband received a lot of my pontifications and free thinking, since I craved "live" discussion through the journey. He, too, has been touched and changed by CEP 882. My daughters, as well. To hear a 9-year old go on about "compelling this or that" in advertisements, food prep, stores we shop in, is simply a gas! (How to wean the children off WNTW though! Right now, it's the number one program in our TiVo queue.)

Most of the weeks, prior to the module projects, I just sat with some tea, thought about my topic and the multimedia experience and stared out into space. Empty, then full, empty, full, letting myself zoom out and back in. Reading and re-reading the project requirements. Printing them out, highlighting key ideas, reading and re-reading them over. I carried around our project requirements everywhere- in my purse, my satchel, found them in my Doritos bag, under the car seat, in bed, the fridge. Each pass, I discovered another bit that Dr. Wong was gently handing to us, to guide us. I found that if one just read Dr. Wong’s instructions once through, on the surface, one would never truly grasp the meaning. So, I read and re-read, finding hints, humor and handshakes from Dr. Wong to us, his students, many key things simply implied. CEP 882 is its own "microcosmic" example of the NDCE. The course is a “little world” representing its very own title. “A community or other unity that is an epitome of a larger unity,” (Merriam-Webster dictionary.)

The TV / film compelling experience required going very deep inside of myself. Before I had a handle on my TV/film “foreboding” video, I found myself living with a great puzzle inside of me. I couldn’t sort out the pieces, nor find a fit for them. It was really, really eating away at me. I had said this in my “Director’s Commentary,” but it really wasn’t until I decided not to take it all so seriously, as Dr. Wong suggested, that my head was able to wrap itself around the puzzle. And then, boom, I was in control of it. Everything started to flow, but up until that point, it was uncomfortable, really uncomfortable.

The WOA final was the same. I may have taken Dr. Wong too literally when he asked for the following: “amateur,” “highly visual,” “highly mundane” and “personal.” I wonder if I got it with my “nametagging?” This was one of the most difficult, yet absorbing projects. I think it ranks as possibly THE most demanding in its "thinking" requirements, of anything I’ve done in the MAED program thus far (with 40% of my degree left.) I’m proud of my final project though, and I think I may have been on the right track. I say this because it was extremely touching when I viewed my own video experience. I cried for a moment there when I first layed down the acoustic “Hey Jude” on top of my self-interview. It's the segment where I make some pretty raw comments and speak about my daily strife of “being artful”. I meant it, and I hope it came through. The demands of these projects were so great that they yielded very visceral reactions in me, when I took them in, over and over again.

I often think about being done with my Masters and how through the process of “detoxification,” I might, on some level, begin to feel irrelevant. Sounds strange, I know. But as this class winds down, I’m getting that feeling. It’s allowed me the abstract and creative thinking through a wonderfully “safe” set of modules that I could tell Dr. Wong had honed over time. They were each an unforgettable adventure allowing me to forget the war in Egypt, the earthquake in Japan, bad news, daily mundane tasks, and on and on. The class touched me way deep down in all ways- both intellectually and viscerally- “dealing with crude or elemental emotions.”

I esteem it to have been a privilege.