Medium Post:

After watching the movie Inside Out with her three year old daughter Gabriela. Courtney; the author of the article, starts reflecting on her own feelings she had as a child. At the age of nine Courtney’s relationship with her own mother started dwindling away due to adolescents and she fears that her daughter will follow her foot prints and will lack affection as she grows. She goes on to talk about how she became emotional while watching the movie because, “I was watching a colorful playback of my own childhood.” Courtney then mentions her own mother and how it took 37 years for her to rebuild the bond she took advantage of when she was young and that she is saddened that it took her such a long time to realize that. She thinks of her own daughter and doesn't want to think of the day that’ll come where she wont be as affectionate but for now she is happy to be Gabriela’s mother.

Link to Article: https://blog.chloesfruit.com/the-toughest-question-my-daughter-has-asked-me-so-far-78bedf6a6a38#.ceqzj3xk7

Medium Post

"I am not solution-oriented. I don’t see a problem and get giddy at the idea of solving it, patching it up and sending it on its merry way. I want to poke it and ask it questions. Where did it come from, what is it doing, what’s its story? I want to take it to tea and hear about its life and understand it to its core. And if, at that point, I’ve come to a wholistic understanding and am able to solve the problem, by all means, let the problem-solving commence! But my instinct is never to solve, but to understand."

This article highlights how Saron Yitbarek, after plenty of self reflection, realized that her personality didn't align with that of a programmer. So what is a programmer personality? The Saron described the ideal attributes of a programmer by outlining those in which she lacked, such as a thirst to problem solve and take analytical approaches to life.  This article can relate to many individuals in the DMD program and in this class since the DMD is very design and art centric. Most students who realize they don't have the "programmer personality" after giving it a fair chance can take it as a learning lesson by partaking in some self reflection. Accordingly, when one realizes programming isn't for them they've been given the marvelous opportunity to index what exactly doesn't resonate with them about programming, and move forward with that knowledge to a more suitable discipline. What set humans apart from animals is the ability to think rationally, therefore, we have the innate capacity to learn anything. But sometimes it can be the less stressful and many times wiser decision to quickly identify that something just isn't "your thing."

MEDIUM: "How I Detect Fake News"

After his Trump-supporting brother sent him a photo allegedly comparing the 2016 election results to a government released crime map of 2013, Tim O'Reilly decided to go find out for himself if the image circulating the internet was real or not. The upper map showed the red areas as republican and the blue areas as democrat. The lower map showed the red areas as having lower crime rates and the blue areas as having higher crime rates. The color correlations showed the republican areas as having lower crime rates and the democratic areas as having higher crime rates. O'Reilly first became skeptical when he found out that the image was created by a right-wing media source. After a quick search on Snopes, a fact checking source for internet hoaxes, he found out that the lower map was actually an image of the 2013 election results.
O'Reilly states how many people on the internet trust the reliability of FaceBook, Twitter, and other social media platforms too much. He suggests the many ways of deciding if an image like the one mentioned is fake or not such as whether it has a source listed.

RE:Men Dump Their Anger Into Women [BTW This Was A Medium Article I Found After Registering & Joining (updated title 12/5)]

After reading Emma Lindsay's article and hearing what she had to say, I got a broader understanding of society and the gender-social construct we've confined ourselves in. The stereotype 'men can't express their emotions' is not so much that, but more of a sad reality. When we think of how much women do for men, it's a miracle that they can put up with it. Men don't realize, according to Emma's article, that women do a lot of the emotional processing for them because men unconsciously expect it. Without a woman in their life, the main feeling guys get is anger most of the time because, like Emma stated, they can't process their emotions. Since this is the case it makes me question the roles that have been in place for women in the workplace and how those positions were made simply to cater to men. Overall, men need to learn to process and digest their emotions so that they can rid themselves of their dependence on women to do it for them.

The Guide to Living Creatively - Jon Westenberg

As a modern day artist, it's hard to keep the creative juices flowing with social media, politics, and television everywhere we crane our necks. But also as an artist you need to find a way to keep the paint from going dry. In this article Jon has some very easy (and 'duh') ways of keeping creativity in your life. He makes you think about things: Where is your time going? What is surrounding you? Are you challenging yourself? Are you pushing yourself?

It pushed up a lot of thoughts into my frontal lobe but the most significant one to me was wondering where my time was going. When I was younger I used to write poetry and stories. I used to carry a sketchbook everywhere and put my daydreams on paper. Now in my spare time I crash in bed and watch netflix for hours on end because the real world and adult life has been successfully stealing away my inner child. So what can I do to fix it? I already make up stories in my head while I'm working at my *real world* job, I just need to note them. I have so many ideas daily, I just need to rainbow vomit them onto pages of blank paper and force my fingers and a pencil to cooperate again.

Something Wrong

"I think there is something wrong with us," began the article I read tonight. What followed was a thought-provoking perspective on entertainment technology.

The most moving aspect of this article for me was the author's idea of the medium's future: a diverse world of creative realms and social spaces not limited by the restrictive norms of today (i.e obsession with violence, sexism). She brings up that while innovations are made, who are they being made for? Where are the innovations that seriously address problems of people of color, women, and other minorities, and not just pander to "male power fantasies?"

"But to whom have we been promising possibility? Whose future is coming, and with what will they be armed?"

Link: https://howwegettonext.com/its-time-for-a-new-kind-of-power-fantasy-a5ff23b2237f#.s13t4jyjk

MEDIUM - Minimalist Lifestyle

"How Practical Minimalism Helps Me Focus" by David Kadavy talks about Kadavy's experience with giving up his possessions and living in Colombia with only a few of his belongings.  A strong point that Kadavy brings up in his article is "if you let your possessions pile up, they will begin to cloud your thinking."  That quote resonated with me because over the past few years I have realized my lack of desire for an abundance of material objects.  I remember growing up as a kid an always wanting the latest video game, or toy that came out.  And while I knew I wasn't always going to get it, I still had the desire for it.  But as I have matured into a young adult, I have realized that I only desire a few essential things, and the rest does not really interest in.  The experiences I make with the those around me are much more impactful than the so-called pleasures derived from material possessions.  Not only do I appreciate the time I spend with friends and family which can't be bought, but I also appreciate what I do have more than if I were to became oversaturated with expendable merchandise.