Blog #8

Seth Godin’s article “Brainwashed – Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself” describes how our culture has lead us to believe that we are average and illustrates how we have the ability to change our ways if we so choose. Godin suggests seven different ways to pull ourselves away from what we have been brainwashed with over the years and to revel in these new ideas to transform ourselves: connect, be generous, make art, acknowledge the lizard, ship, fail, and learn.

ACKNOWLEDGE THE LIZARD - The suggestion “acknowledge the lizard” that can be used for reinvention immediately caught my attention because of the odd name. The lizard brain as Godin likes to call it is the prehistoric brainstem that all of us must contend with. Basically the lizard brain is his way of saying that people have never and will never enjoy being laughed at – embarrassed, and initially scared to try new things. Because of this “lizard brain” we lash out in anger and prevent ourselves from creating art.  It is essential that we acknowledge this voice in our head and that we break down this barrier and have the courage to create and challenge the world. 

FAIL - Another layer, one that I find to be very important, is to have the ability to fail.  The reinvention of yourself demands the ability to fail, over and over again and not be set back by it.  You must take risks to succeed, and in taking risks there is a large chance of failure.  It goes back to "Acknowledging the lizard," where you have to ignore the part of you that is safe and not be afraid to take risks.


MAKE ART - Godin explains that art “is an original gift, a connection that changes the recipient, a human ability to make a difference,” and that it is not simply the ability to paint or write poetry, but rather the ability to create something new. Art is something that we all can do, and simple interaction with others is the only platform we need to make art. Godin continues to explain that art isn’t like math or science, and I really like how he defines art as “the very human act of creating the uncreated,” something that does not need instructions or a manual. Godin concludes this layer by saying how in order to create art you have to take risks; there is no other way around it. But these very risks are what lead to great rewards.

I feel in someway that Godin’s three layers above are directly connected to this very blog. Through this blog, I am creating a form of art. Though following instructions (something that Godwin explains art does not need), what I post on this blog is my act of creating something uncreated before, something that truly unique to me. And I feel throughout this blog, I am taking risks by posting things that I don’t know if others agree with, may laugh at, or is “right” (if there even is a definition of “right” in art). This also relates to the lizard brain. I am often hesitant while writing or doing a project, and often hear that resistance in my head trying to limit my creativity and prevent me from taking risks by writing or creating what I feel is right. But as Godin explains, artists need to acknowledge and ignore this voice so that we can successfully take risks and create art.

I feel that the assignments we are doing are not completely useless but I also feel that we could do different projects and exercises that we could benefit more from.  The blogs and projects do a good job of introducing us to media that we will and should be exposed to for our major, but they don't allow or create the incentive to put forth great effort in our work.  I think that doing fewer projects, ones that have more weight and that we are given more time to complete, would increase my interest in actually putting forward my best effort towards this class.