10 Websites/Links

http://dbem.ws/SP%20Theory.pdf
http://dbem.ws/SP%20Theory%20Cognitive%20Dissonance.pdf
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1976-07163-001
http://www.humankinetics.com/JSEP/viewarticle.cfm?aid=9252
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1994-29636-001
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=7229991
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1130725
http://neuron4.psych.ubc.ca/~dellab/RESEARCH/SDR/JP98withJohn.pdf
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a785830965~db=all
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/freud/freud02a.html
http://www.psychologistworld.com/bodylanguage/self_image_formation.php

Literature & Songs

Dreamland
by Edgar Allen Poe

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule-
From a wild clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE- out of TIME.
Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the tears that drip all over;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters- lone and dead,-
Their still waters- still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.
By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead,-
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily,-
By the mountains- near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,-
By the grey woods,- by the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp-
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls,-
By each spot the most unholy-
In each nook most melancholy-
There the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past-
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer by-
White-robed forms of friends long given,
In agony, to the Earth- and Heaven.
For the heart whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful, soothing region-
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'Tis- oh, 'tis an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it,
May not- dare not openly view it!
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.
By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.


"According to self-awareness theory, seeing
oneself on videotape induces a state of self-focused attention,
which heightens awareness of discrepancies between what one believes
one is like and what one wishes one were like. The self-focused
state leads to a drop in self-evaluation because attention is focused on
one's failure to meet internal standards. Thus, the general positivity
bias should be reduced or eliminated when subjects evaluate their
behavior on videotape. Self-awareness theory also predicts that selffocused
attentioD will improve the corre.spondence between selfreports
and behavior, implying more accurate self-perception"
http://www.simine.com/240/readings/Robins_and_John_(10).pdf

Books:
You Dont Know Me by David Klass

"I am afraid as I walk to school. Every time I see a member of the secret sorority of pretty fourteen-year-old girls I look the other way.
I walk past Billy Beezer’s house and see no sign of him. Besides his being suspended and grounded, it would not surprise me if Mr. and Mrs. Beezer have also chained him up in the basement. They have high hopes for their young Beezer. They believe that he will graduate first in his class from our anti-school, go to Harvard, become President, and also discover a cure for old age."

Who Are You?: 101 ways of seeing yourself by Malcolm Godwin

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

"This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing: The pit of your stomach freezes fast, while your legs go to jelly. There's one single, blue-bass thud of your heart. The shape of her name, sharp as metal filings, gets caught between your teeth even as you try to force it out in a shout. Fear breathes like a monster into your ear: Where did I see her last? Would she have wandered away? Who could have taken her? And then, finally, your throat seals shut, as you swallow the fact that you've made a mistake you will never be able to fix."

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

"Sometimes Josie thought of her life as a room with no doors and no windows. It was a sumptuous room, sure -- a room half the kids in Sterling High would have given their right arm to enter -- but it was also a room from which there really wasn't an escape. Either Josie was someone she didn't want to be, or she was someone who nobody wanted."

Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer
I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont
The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Self-Love by Robert H. Schuller
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb




Songs:
So what by Pink
Anna's Song by Silverchair
Everybody's Fool by Evanescence
Innocent by Our Lady Peace
Stupid Girls by Pink
Don't Let Me Get Me by Pink
Bleed Like Me by Garbage
One Girl Revolution by Superchick
Get Up by Superchick
Hero by Superchick
Skinny by Filter

Critique #2

When glancing at Dali’s Soft Self Portrait, the viewer is instantaneously puzzled. There is the fragile face of a human, held up by prongs with a piece of bacon located below; ants crawling on the bacon and the face. The only parts of the face that are present are the skin and everything located on the skin. There are no eyes, no ears, and no face structure. There are no bones lying beneath the skin to hold it up on its own. When looking deeper, the viewer notices the intricacy of the shading of the face, and the natural tones used in this composition. The composition is very interesting; leaving the viewer pondering about the reasoning for the choice of subject matter.
The eyes are generally drawn in the direction of the base as the focal point because it is the most vibrant part of this painting. However, every viewer sees things in a different light and may set their eyes on a different section of the composition. For instance, some may set their eyes on the dark, murky eye sockets. The extreme dark and light hues in this painting create an immense amount of contrast, leading the eyes of the viewer all over this painting; while the shades of yellow create a sense of unity. The composition is incredibly mysterious in Soft Self Portrait; the viewer asks themselves what Salvador Dali might possibly mean by it.
This self portrait is an example of painting inside out. Instead of showing the viewer who Dali was as a person, he is showing the venire of himself; he paints solely the appearance. By putting the bacon and the ants in his subject matter, Dali--being generous--sacrifices himself to be eaten. Only some parallels can be drawn from this strange composition, but the accurate importance of this composition lies with Dali himself.

Short Story #2

Standing here, waiting for the news, my heart is pounding. The earsplitting sound fills my head. A sharp pain shoots through me; I tense. A thousand questions rush through my mind. Where did it go wrong? How did we get to this point? When did it turn for the worst? A woman goes by on a stretcher… was she the other driver? The last thing I remember was two headlights staring me right in the face, heading in our direction; my thirteen year old daughter screaming. I tried to swerve… then, I was submerged into the unknown; everything went black.
Another shot of pain travels through me, this time its worse. I did this. This is my fault. I chose to pick up the six-pack that I downed on the way to pick up Erica. I haven’t been able to stop, ever since the split. She doesn’t deserve this. They rushed her into the OR without a word to me, she was unconscious. My heart is racing. The physical pain I feel doesn’t compare to the everyday pain.
‘Thomas?” I hear my ex wife’s voice. “What happened? Is Erica okay? The hospital said that there was a drunk driver?” What do I say? I haven’t seen Laura in weeks. I just look at her. Tears start to roll over her cheeks. She knows; she has always known. My eardrum pounds, and then comes my heart... thump, thump, thump. I feel hot; something in my stomach is aching. The doctor is walking towards us. He takes off his cap, and looks down. This is not good.
“She is a very lucky girl. She lost seven liters of blood; we had to do a complete blood transfusion. She had internal injuries to her stomach and liver. We had to do a surgical operation to repair the ruptures. She will need to be sedated for a couple days so that she does not feel the pain, but your daughter should be just fine, she is a fighter…” he trails off. I hear nothing. I see black and white. I am on the ground. I open my eyes; four strange faces. I close my eyes, nothingness consumes me. I am plunged into the unfamiliar. I hear nothing, I feel nothing. A bright white light guides me. I can’t hurt anymore.

Dialogue Poem

With every breath, my bones break

With every slight movement, my body aches

I laugh, I smile, I breathe in the fresh, crisp air

I run around outside, this life is unfair

When I asked to have children, my body said 'No'

My husband could not care for me, he left long ago

I am a mother, a daughter, a doctor, and a wife

I would never want anything in exchange for this wonderful life

She dances, she sings, she glows when she smiles

Why couldn't I experience this for a short while?

She hurts, she suffers, her face shows pain with every slight move

I would give up my life for hers to improve

A twist, a bend, I feel no pain

I am loved, I am happy, the sun shines through the rain

Short Story #3

The movement consumes me. With another twirl of her auburn hair, the scents of apple and pomegranate fill my senses. I will never forget this smell, her smell. I lead, and she follows; this is the moment I have been waiting for. I do not notice anyone else in this instant, my attention is focused on just one thing; us. Living in this minute is all that is current in my mind. I wish this melody could last forever; eternally intertwining our figures to the rhythm of the piano.
She is like a drug to me; no matter how many moments we share I am always left wanting more. She does not normally notice me as I notice her. She looks at me and my heart automatically skips a beat. I feel my face flush as if she can hear my thoughts. There is a moment when I make myself believe that she feels the same. Her gaze into mine, I think of what could be, what should be. She looks away again. The trees are moving around us. This will be the last time; the last time I allow myself to be revolved around her. She eats away at me as termites do a log. The reality begins to enter gradually into my mind. The music is beginning to fade. I see him, and the way she looks at him. She looks at him the way I look at her. She looks at me with her anxious eyes; eager to dance with someone other than me. I feel the lump in my throat beginning to form. This will be the last time I allow her to control me this way. We embrace and then we part. I walk away for the final time. I walk away into the world that has been distant from me for a while. I pass the people as they stare. The cool breeze grabs my straw hat and throws it behind me. She gave me that hat and there is no need for it now.
“Excuse me… you dropped this!” I hear a soft voice yell behind me. I turn; a young woman with blonde angelic hair and porcelain face stands by me, holding my hat. Suddenly my pain flushes out of my mind and a new melody begins to play.

Community Involvement

For my community involvement I am going to have friends and family draw self-portraits of themselves. It doesnt have to be actually of themselves but anything that makes them who they are or how they perceive themselves. I will also have them fill out a questionaire about how they perceive themselves and how they believe otheres perceive them.

I AM

I Am

I am authentic and ambitious
I wonder what the future will bring
I hear the waves crashing on the beach
I see the sun setting over the sea line
I want to be successful
I am authentic and ambitious

I pretend to fly
I feel the wind in my hair as a soar
I touch the fluffy clouds
I worry that the summer will pass by too fast
I cry about everything
I am authentic and ambitious

I understand that I am weird
I say who isn't?
I dream about interesting things
I try to make people happy
I hope that I will make a difference
I am authentic and ambitious

Narrative# 1 - John La Farge's Portrait of the Painter

The sweet smell of spring tulips filled my nose instantly. Unconsciously, it brings me back to the fearsome day of my childhood that will haunt my dreams forever. Walking on this trail, in this familiar place, I can remember the day perfectly. I can see the bright sun and the clear, blue sky of the morning. I can smell every smell and hear every sound. I can even taste the crisp air that surrounded me before it happened. I can see Russell and Michael running through the woods as I chased them. The memory is so vivid in my mind that it seems like it was only yesterday. I tagged Michael first, so he was it.

“One…two… three… four… five… ready or not, here I come!” He shouted.I had the best hiding place. I hid in the tree closest to the trail because Michael never expected me to be so close to where he always counted, by the rock. I could see Russell hiding right behind the tiny bush and I could tell that his foot was visible from Michael’s view. He started running, full speed towards Russell when it happened. It all happened so fast that it was hard to believe it was real. Seeing poor Michael lying there, helpless. He did not even see it coming; no one did.

Back in May of 1940, I was a ten-year-old French boy who did not know much about war. I knew countries went to war but I never thought it would affect me directly. I think most people hear about tragic events happening, like what happened to France on May 10, 1940, without ever thinking that it would happen to them.

My lungs filled with hot, thick smoke. The burning sensation pierced through my chest, giving me the feeling of instant suffocation. I did not understand why it was happening or where it was coming from. All I knew was that I needed to run. I still remember my heart racing in my chest, as fast as the wings of a hummingbird. I can still sense the ringing in my ears from the loud, deafening explosion. I jumped from the tree and ran as fast as my legs would let me. My lungs were ripping through my chest trying to obtain any bit of oxygen that was possible. I could hear them coming, yelling in a language I could not comprehend. Suddenly, there was a whole group of them in the field past the trees where we had been playing. I did not know where Russell was. When I jumped down, he was not behind the bush anymore; I thought that maybe he ran too.

“Alexandre!” I could hear my mother screaming my name. There were aircrafts shooting through the sky like comets; I kept running. Finally, I could see my house through the last few trees. Mother was outside, looking everywhere, hoping that her only son was not at the root of the horrifying booming coming from the woods. There was still no sign of Russell. When I reached my mother, she was frantic. Father was gathering things into a small case. Where was Russell? Would anyone ever find Michael? Those questions still loiter in my mind. We left without ever looking back.

Now, I have returned for the first time since then. I can smell every smell, and hear every sound. Even the taste of the fresh air lingers on my tongue. I can still see Michael and Russell running as I chased them. However, I see something now that is new to me. A large stone carved and placed in his spot, by the rock.

Declaration

I declare my concept to be Self-Perception, or the way people view themselves. I will mainly be focusing on self portraits, however that does not necessarily mean that every piece will have the artist themself in the composition. If the composition is depicting the artist, or telling more about them and their personality then it is a piece that i can use in my concept. I chose Self-Perception because I find it interesting how people view themselves. Some people may view themselves exactly how others view them, however most people see themselves completely different. I will be looking further into the minds of others to determine who the person really is.

Mind's Eye Critique

Looking into the depths of Todd Kefor’s Still Life painting, the viewer’s eyes instantly take in the complex, contrasting composition. Consisting of a variety of different subject matter, Still Life is done in acrylic paint creating a smooth texture that creates a sense of unity throughout the entire composition. With the content of a composition consisting of skulls, one would think the viewer would feel the piece to be dark and ominous. On the contrary, the chiaroscuro is extravagant, using hues of green with accents of red creating a warm composition. Seeing this painting, the viewer feels a sense curiosity and understanding, and is automatically drawn in, wondering what is in the hope chest, or what is lurking behind each cinder block.
At first, the viewer sees the composition as a whole, and does not place their eyes on an exact focal point. However, when considering the entire piece, one might find their eyes lingering on the monkey, whose bold, red background creates a lot of contrast sending the viewer’s eyes immediately in that direction. Otherwise, the viewer could set their eyes on the human skull, whose highlights are done in a brilliant hue of red creating a strong emphasis. Another object in Still Life which the viewer could be drawn to is the hope chest; curious to what the contents might be and wondering what the deeper meaning is.
Perhaps the importance of this composition is hope. Along with the flowers in the background, the chest may signify hope or happiness. The ominous, dark cinderblocks are set in stone in this piece. They are the building blocks of this composition. On the other hand, perhaps the entire meaning of this composition is life itself. The cinder blocks possibly illustrating the stepping stones of life; solid, stationary. The monkey could be the soul, revealing their inner world to the viewer. The hope chest and flowers possibly representing joys and hopes in life, where as the skulls depict death. As a whole, Kefor’s Still Life captures the viewer, leaving them wanting a more in depth explanation.

Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ, Post-Impressionism

Looking at the venire of Paul Gauguin’s Self Portrait with Yellow Christ, the viewer immediately notices Gauguin with two strange objects behind him. When looking deeper, the viewer then notices Gauguin’s painting Yellow Christ behind his right shoulder, and a deformed gargoyle behind the left. The interesting use of color creates an immense amount of contrast but at the same time the intermingling of the similar hues cause the subject matter to flow. The intensity of his eyes draw the viewer in, noticing first the interesting texture the brush strokes give this entire painting. At that moment, looking deeper into the separation of Yellow Christ and the strange gargoyle, the viewer begins wondering what Gauguin is trying to portray. It is an interesting composition, unconsciously leaving the viewer inquisitive to who Gauguin was as a person and what this painting could be showing.
A focal point is always different to every viewer. Some may say that part of the background of this piece draws their attention first. Maybe Christ and the bold, intense colors he is created with, or the viewer possibly will see Gauguin’s face first. The different values of this composition create a lot of contrast bringing the viewer to set their eyes on specific aspects of this painting. For instance, the purple tones used in Gauguin’s clothing are also placed in the background of Yellow Christ and in the nooks and crannies of the gargoyle’s shape. This, subtly creating a sense of unity, also renders contrast with the hues of orange and yellow strategically placed behind Gauguin’s face. The viewer begins to notice the expression on his face shows no emotion. The emotion and personality of this piece is shown in the objects that surround him. He tells a story in this painting, depicting his personality for all to see.
One might say this composition is Gauguin’s perception of himself. The gargoyle is most likely portraying the evil, ‘Hyde’ side of him, shown every time he lost his temper, and Christ portraying the good, ‘Jekyll’ aspects of him. The self-portrait uses hints to what Gauguin is genuinely saying about himself. The viewers can only speculation to the real meaning of this painting. Only Gauguin himself knows if this presumption is true.