Are We Who We Really Are?

“Is it who we really are? Or who we want to be, or should be?” 
 

This is one of many questions Ms. Thandie Newton asked her audience in July 2011 on Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself.

She explains her journey, “the journey to that place of understanding and acceptance. The self’s struggle for authenticity and definition will never end unless it’s connected to its creator with awareness of the reality of oneness and the projection of self-hood. Imagine what kind of existence we can have if we honor inevitable death of self, appreciate the privilege of life and marvel at what comes next.”

When hearing her speech I was in awe.

I would never have the thought that an actress would be so educated.

Thandie made me ask myself, “Do I appreciate life? Do I follow cultures standards on how we view each other? Have I lost my own self of self?”

I have found that I myself have lost my own sense of self. I would never think that all of our opinions on how we view our own life have been formed by others opinions and thoughts. Because of this I have been thinking of my own self and I have discovered I have been following cultures standards on how I view others.

I need to learn to form my own opinions and thoughts on subjects and enjoy or appreciate what life has to offer more.

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Mickey Ending Hand-Drawn Animation

 

Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Pinocchio. Each are examples of classic Disney films that were each hand drawn frame by frame known as traditional animation or cel animation.

Announced Wednesday, chief executive Bob Iger revealed that it’s shutting down any remaining 2D hand drawn feature animation facilities left and will only be committing to 3D rendered and animated films from now on.

"To my knowledge we're not developing a 2D or hand-drawn feature animated film right now," said Iger. "There is a fair amount of activity going on in hand-drawn animation but it's largely for television at this point. We're not necessarily ruling out the possibility [of] a feature but there isn't any in development at the company at the moment."

The studios last hand-drawn animation The Princess and the Frog, the traditional musical, based on the Brothers Grimm story the Frog Prince but relocating the action to 1920s New Orleans, was well-reviewed by critics but "failed to mirror the astounding success of Pixar at the box office with a middling return of $267m (£178m). Another hand-drawn animation – 2011's Winnie the Pooh – drew praise from critics but pulled in just $33m across the globe. Meanwhile, Disney CGI efforts such as 2009's Bolt and 2010's Tangled grossed $310m and $590m."

"Unfortunately 2D became the excuse for poor storytelling," said John Lasseter, the Pixar boss who also became Disney Animation's chief creative officer in 2006 and who pioneered the CGI animation revolution with Toy Story in 1995. "The general consensus was that audiences did not want to watch hand-drawn animated films, which is of course completely ridiculous. The day I stepped in we got in touch with these guys and set about bringing back the artists that Disney had laid off."

In honor of those whom drew our favorite characters, here are three of my favorite Disney films and their animators:

 

 

The Little Mermaid (1989)

“I heard Part of Your World, Jodi Benson singing that, and it just captivated me. I had to do that. And I went to the directors and said, ‘I really want to do Ariel.’ And they said ‘Well I don’t know. This is supposed to be a pretty girl. Can you do that?’  I said, ‘ Look, I have to do Ariel. I mean, I can feel it in my heart." - Animator Glen Keane

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

 

Fred Moore rose to prominence at Disney very quickly in the early thirties due to his great natural talent and the tremendous appeal of his drawings, which is still greatly admired by animators and animation fans. He had animated some scenes of the White Rabbit.
 



Beauty and the Beast (1991)

 

"Having been lucky enough to work around James Baxter for a number of years (someone who I consider to be the greatest living animator around), I can tell you that that is his ultimate weapon. He doesn’t check emails. He doesn’t compulsively surf YouTube. He doesn’t keep a blog. He doesn’t read blogs. He doesn’t watch TV or eat or sleep or do anything that resembles a sane modern life. All he does is animate. And that’s all you have to do." - Jim Hull

What is your favorite traditional animated Disney movie?

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The Difference Between Extrovert and a Introvert

As I walk down a busy street to get to my destination I can not help but glance at people who are walking right past me. I can tell their human from their facial features, how the carry themselves as they walk past me. We all have the same features that make us human for example, having our bright eyes below our bushy eyebrows; they are almost identical on each side of our face. We are human so we must all be the same? No, every human on earth is their own self.

Some being’s love monkeying around the television with their friends with tortilla chips and salsa in different, bright, colorful bowls on the small, wooden, brown stained coffee table right in front of them, shoving chips in their mouth while watching their favorite team makes a touch down, while others would prefer snuggling up into their soft blue couch with smooth jazz softly playing in the background while reading their favorite novel. They both are human but they enjoy doing different things. How do we identify with what we enjoy doing and whom we like to befriend with?

We identify with our personality. Our personality is our identity, it makes us who we are and every single human being on the planet earth has in fact their own personality that makes their identity. Some people are outgoing and enjoy conversing with random strangers down the street while others would much rather keep to themselves. I for instants am an extrovert. What is an extrovert? Well it is a certain personality trait that makes the individuals personality. Ok, I understand that portion but what exactly is an extrovert?

An extrovert is “a person whose interest is more in his environment and in other people than in himself; a person who is active and expressive.”For example, they are usually those annoying people who try talk make conversation with you while our trying to do something important, perhaps waiting impatiently in line at your local Starbucks to get your coffee before work and an individual tries to make conversation with you and even after getting the warm, steaming cup of coffee that you ordered, the insist for you to sit down with them and make conversation. Extroverts tend to use a lot of hand movements they talk to you, as if there is an fly circling around your head as you two make conversation or it may seem as if they are making up some new dance moves and not even paying one attention as your speaking about your dog getting into the garbage can, again.

Being an extrovert, I tend to constantly annoy my own self. I tend to talk a lot on pointless useless topics on the weather, clothing, or even how fresh the crisp breeze feels as it brushes against my clothes. I tend to annoy any introverts around me.

An introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. While I am trying to socialize with an introvert and talk about how the building is dark brown but when the suns rays hit the side of the building it looks like its in a different shade of “toffee brown,” they tend to stare at me going on and own about this brown building, thinking to themselves, “Why is this person so desperately trying to point out this brown building to me? What is the point of this conversation?” An introvert tends to keep to themselves and usually have a small circle of friends as extroverts tend to socialize around them and talk to anyone within five feet away from them.

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What Do You Want In Life?

Diane Edwards had given a presentation on Harnessing the Power of Your Thoughts and Visualizations.

She asked that one important, a main question one tends to ask at one point in their own life:

What do You Want To Acheve in Your Life?.

After asking the question she then gave us five minutes to think and write down what we desire or want more in our life. I did not hesitate as I started pushiing the pen against the lined blue paper, "Happiness and Success," I wrote down. 

Most of my life I have been in the darkness, I have been mostly in a lonely place, not wanting help from everyone and with traumatic life experiences, made me plunge further down into the darkness. The last word I wrote down was “success.”

I have been lazy for most of my life s well. I would wait last minute in order to do things and if I were to complete the task, which sometimes I would not even finish what I would have to do,

I would finish it in the most sloppy and unorganized way.

I did not care about my life!

I felt that I can have everything handed to me in a single planter that did not require for me to put in much effort.

Years have past and I have grown.

In order to reach my life goals, I have to put in the effort.

I want to be successful.

I want to be successful in my marriage;

I want to be successful at my dream job, to teach and make an impact to people, to be an elementary school teacher.

I want to be successful so I can set a role model for not only my children, but be a positive role model for others that have influenced me and my personality.

How can I get to that point of my life?

Time plays a big role in this of course but having positive thinking will help me accomplish my goals. Our cognitions shape how we communicate to our self and how we communicate and interact with others.

Cognitions, being positive.

What do you want to acheve in your life?

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The Goat Says "MEH!"

The turkey goes "GOBBLE! GOBBLE!"

The horse goes "NIGH! NEIGH!"

The dog goes "WOOF! WOOF!"

From monkeys, to sharks, to lions, there are different species that call planet earth home.

All animals living on earth look different from the light brown fur covering their whole body, keeping them warm as they creep up and tackle sick, hopeless animals for their next meal, or blue and green scales covering up their small, slimy body as they uselessly swim around in their own filth however, when we see them, we can tell they are animals. It is the same with human beings.

When we look at each other we see different colors, shapes, and sizes but if you put us behind an x-ray, and view under our skin, our bones are the same, we would not be able to recognize each other. But under our skin and bones, contains our soul, a personality; our mind in which we contain our own thoughts and feeling about not only ourselves, but of each other.

We gather these thoughts and feelings from when we were very young from family, friends, and society that surrounds all of us by what we are taught and what sounds and images we hear everyday. What we learn from others, these sounds, and images we hear and surround ourselves with everyday, build up one on top of each other and soon they build our identity.

On September 7th, 2012, the Bayan Learning Community went through different activities to become comfortable with one another and to get to know each other. One activity was called “Wagon Wheel.”

As a class, we were told to pair up in partners of two, each facing one another and other surrounding in a circle.

Once the partners faced one another the individual on the outer circle had to ask the person sitting on the outside of the circle question that was provided.

When the questions were asked and time was up the person sitting in the inside of the circle had to move over two places to the left, leaving their old partner and taking the questionnaire with them.

Once with their new partner, the people sitting in the inside of the circle passed the questionnaire over to their new partner and the person sitting in the inside of the circle was not being asked the questions.

I was able to ask the questions to my partner, whom I forget their name, the questions from the handout first but when it was flipped over to me to answer them, I hesitated.

“When did you first realize race could be problematic?” he asked me.

"Uhhh," I responded.

I have never thought about this before, let alone had someone question me.

He started to look impatient with his arms crossed as he asked me the question again, “When did you first realize race could be problematic?”

I thought about it a little more. Flashbacks of my childhood came flowing into my mind, kids making fun of my English accent, teasing me for the color of my skin. 

My partner gave me a blank glance and grumbled "Well?"

"Looking for work." I lied.

I realized that my race would be a problem for me since I was a little girl. I am the only person in my family that doesn't look Mexican. I did not fit in. I will never fit in, they would tell me. When I started preschool children would ask me, "What are you?"

"I don't know." I hesitated.

"Your not a real person, your an alien!" they would laugh.

"Hello?" My partner waves his hands in front of me, "You ok?"

"Yeah, sorry, whats the next question?"

“Describe the first time you consciously first realized you were a member of your race/ethnicity.” looking disinterested. 

"I don't know, I never felt like I belonged with an race or ethnicity."

"Never."

"Yup."

Race and ethnicity makes someone who they are. It is embedded in part of their personality, their identity but I always felt like I have to prove my race and ethnicity to others.

Is it because I am not a "stereotypical" Mexicana?!

Is it because people always mistaken me as a white girl?!

 

I will never know.....

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