30. Choosing a topic for my research paper

For my Texas Politics class, we have to write a 15 page paper relating to a Texas system relating to what we learned in class.  Choosing a topic that I want to write about it quite difficult.  I can choose writing about the poor public school system in Texas or the political culture in Texas.  Heck I could even talk about the death penalty.  How the heck am I suppose to decide what I want to write about?  It is a research paper so it must contain facts and I have to talk about them. 

If I decide to talk about the educational system I need to likely talk about why the system is lacking and how it can be fixed.  What are topics I am knowledgeable and passionate about that will make this paper enjoyable?  I don't currently have a answer for that.  As I continue to brainstorm about topics, I will have to decide what to talk about.  I only have about ten days till the paper is due and it was just assigned last week.   

29. Politcal drawings with my non dominant hand (4/4): Ted Cruz

This is my final drawing of the candidates.  All four of the drawings have been with my left hand which is my non dominant hand.

I absolutely stick at drawing and actually feel more proud of my work with my left hand because I feel less judged.  In my classes, many people are very talented at drawing and making art.  I lack a lot of the creativity others have but I am trying to expand on my abilities.

In this drawing of Ted Cruz I wanted to poke fun of him being born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and running for the U.S. President.  Most people would think he can't do that but his mother was born in the states so arguable that makes him a naturalized citizen.  Also a very random side note, Ted Cruz reminds me of the original Chuck E. Cheese rat so I tried to make him somewhat look like that with the big ears.   

28. Politcal drawings with my non dominant hand (3/4): Donald Trump

The most hated or most loved man in America, according to who you talk to. Here is Donald J. Trump, the GOP front runner.  I think I perfected his hair and made him represent a mean troll.  Also he is wearing one of his signature collection Donald J. Trump ties. 

I wanted to give Trump the appearance that he is on a mission to stop anyone in his path.  The next drawing will be his GOP opponent Ted Cruz.  

27. Politcal drawings with my non dominant hand (2/4): Bernie Sanders

Here is part two of four.  This drawing is of Bernie Sanders with my left hand.  He reminds me of a hippy but he lacks the long hair to the shoulders look.  I considered giving him some longer hair decided to stay as realistic as possible with my non dominant hand.  I added the peace sign because of his hippy socialist views.  I thought this was my best drawing of the four. 

26. Politcal drawings with my non dominant hand (1/4): Hillary Clinton

Here is my fantastic drawing of Hillary Clinton.  I drew her with my non dominant hand which is my left hand.  I doubt I could draw her much better with my right hand even.  I am making a series of these drawings and will also include Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Ted Cruz.

I feel like I have less to be ashamed of when I draw with my left hand because I am less judged on quality.  I have never been a successful drawer or doodler.   

25. Walking Along the River

 

I grew up in St. Louis and still call it home even though I go to college in Dallas and my parents moved to Seattle last February.  The St. Louis region is my home and when I think back of home, I immediately think of two things.  I immediately think of the rivers and beer.  The Gateway Arch doesn't come to mind much.

In high school, I loved sitting out on the banks of the Missouri and Meramac Rivers.  I took these photos during Thanksgiving break of the Missouri River.  This spot was about a 3 mile hike one way to get to in the middle of nowhere.  There is not a single person for 3 miles on this side of the river.  As you can see in the top photo, we would sit on these dikes that extend far into the river.  The last photo is me on the dike in the middle.

Landscape photography is my favorite and just observing the beauty of nature.  I absolutely love the beauty in being away from the city and other people so you can be left alone to think and to explore yourself.  The rivers are my creative place.  There is very little traffic on the Missouri River so it is very quiet place to take in life.  I would learn about the meaning of life here and find out what my objectives in life are.  

24. My Favorite Foods Masterpiece

Today I made a creation from some of my favorite foods.  The eyes are made of chicken, the nose is plain white bread, and the mouth is running fried egg yolk.  This is the second time I have played with my food and its quite strange when you play with your food in public.  This time I was eating at the SMU dining hall Arnold and I felt very insecure.  I am not sure if it was because I was worried people thought I was wasting food or because I was acting immature, either way I was out of my comfort zone.  I think of that as a good thing thought.  It is just a part of the creative process.  People need to do things differently to standout and that is what creativity involves.       

23. Response to Exit Through the Giftshop

Exit Through the Gift Shop was a fantastic documentary.  I personally love documentaries and I am very surprised I had never heard of it before.  The film was nominated for an Oscar.  I am not very into the "arts" more or less so that is likely why I had never heard of it or Banksy.

From a film critics perspective, I was most impressed with the turn of events in how the film was more about Thierry Guetta (Mister Brainwash/MBW) who was the person who was suppose to make the documentary in the first place about street art and Banksy.  Bankys said, "It's basically the story of how one man set out to film the unfilmable. And failed."  This was so true.  The very end leaves the whole story of what you think about Thierry Guetta and the purpose of main street artists and why they do it. 

I believe Guetta was a disgrace to the arts community when he was more motivated by the profits than actually embracing the work.  I personally am more a businessman though so I see him as a genius too.  I am jealous and I believe many of the legitmate street artists are too like Banksy and Invader because they are incognito and have to avoid publicity if they want to continue doing their street work.  Like I said though, many people have different opinions on the whole subject.     

22. Sunset on Naples, FL

Here are two photos I took of the sunset in Naples, FL.  The bottom photo of mine is my favorite of the two because of the people watching the sunset, it helps set the mood of the photo.  Only a few people were out on the beach that night and it was extremely peaceful.  Many of the people are lucky enough to watch it every night.  I intentionally took the photo with the couple sitting directly inline with the sunset.  

21. Hollywood in the Sand

I tried to recreate the Hollywood sign in the sand.  I collected a bunch of shells and pieces of wood to respell the letters.  This was actually quite hard because the sand kept collapsing.  The original mound was three times as large but I had to scale it down to make it all stay.  

20. Bars of Soap as Air Fresheners

Love it or hate it Irish Spring Soap is strong and I personally believe it smells amazing.  Over spring break I just get back from being outside in the heat and my tennis shoes stink.  They have a horrible odor from being so old and worn.  I had to buy extra soap for my hotel and store only had packages of three.  I decided to take the extra bars and place them in my shoes.  After just a couple hours I removed the bars and the shoes don't stink anymore, even after wearing them for hours. I previously had bought a spray for my shoes a couple months ago but the thing was junk, the soap works much better and I have continued to use it the last few days.

19. Car Camping

For spring break I am getting in my car and either driving to Phoenix, AZ or Jupiter, FL.  I will flip a coin that morning I get in my car to see where I will be headed.  I am going alone to one of those places to watch spring training baseball.  To prepare, I have an inflated air mattress and I created curtains to cover the windows as you can see in the bottom picture.  I will just be sleeping in my car on the way there.  Depending on where I go, its about a 16 to 18 hour drive nonstop.

Therefore I created the curtains by taking binder clips and attaching them to the roof lining and to the extra bed sheets hanging.  I only have half of the curtains hanging because I took them down so I can see out the rear view mirror more easily while I drive.  I will rehang the curtain while I pull into a rest area and sleep for a few hours.   

18. Tortilla Snowflake

Here is my attempt at trying to make a tortilla snowflake.  I folded the tortilla four times then randomly munched on the tortilla.  I then unfolded it and here is what I ended up with.  I got the idea from the paper snowflakes which little children make.  I bet any seven year old kid could have made a better tortilla snowflake than me.  I will practice and see if I can make a better snowflake sometime. 

17. Abstract Cookie Stains

I took half a sugar cookie and placed it on a piece of paper and kept moving it every hour till I came up with this.  The grease from the cookie stained the paper.  I was intending to make a penis and balls but I think it looks like something else.... I think it looks like a baby attached by its umbilical cord.  That is far from what I intended to create.

16. Spitting My Name

My last post was made of whole sunflower seeds.  This time I took spit sunflower seeds and spelled out my name.  It was pretty gross moving the slimy shells.  The first two letters I literally spit the shells into the "S" and "T".  The following letters I just reorganized them with my fingers which was much easier.  I got spit all over the place.  I wonder what my parents would think of this masterpiece.  Would they brag to their friends about my artistic talents?  I doubt it.