Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

     In class we did these blind contour drawings of a partner.  After we completed a timed session of the drawings, we gave the pictures to the person we where drawing.  Now we are supposed to come up with something that represents us to answer the questions, "who am I" and "why am I here", based on what we got about ourselves from the drawings we received from our partners.  Personally, I think it's hard to attain any real information about myself from a blind drawing of myself that's been generalized to fit someone else's perception.  For this particular project, I wanted to focus on both general and personal information about myself and why I am here.  I put together a little bag of different things that are meant to represent some aspect of who I am and/or why I am here.  My name is Arianna, which means silver and holy one, depending on the culture an individual is in.  I personally like the meaning of silver more than holy one, because holy one seems impossible to live up to and silver is a very lovely color.  I chose to represent my name with a silver gel pen and for the holy one aspect of my name I used a painting of the goddess Aphrodite, because I am not religious person.  My favorite color is green. I represented my favorite color with some green ceramic tiles and a green gel pen.  I put pennies and dimes in the bag to represent my financial growth.   I love to read and write.  I chose to represent this aspect of myself with the author and book that started it all, In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater Rhodes.  I come from a poor family, but I work hard and have the money to show for it now.  I started out at Ivy Tech Community College, because it was the only school I could afford and they offer a great curriculum.  I had trouble parting with Ivy Tech, so now I work there as a public safety officer.  I represented my close ties to Ivy Tech with a picture of their logo, that I received on an academic achievement award.  I am a bit of an overachiever and I chose to represent this aspect of myself with a StrengthsQuest top 5 strengths quiz.  I was not the least bit surprised to find out that my top five strengths are strategic, commanding, input, individualization, and context.  I am good at taking charge in any situation,  I like taking in other peoples ideas and assessing them compared to my own, I see people for who they are as opposed to who they want you to think they are, and I reflect on the past to find better solutions for the future.  The last thing I put in the bag are two pictures of works I did during this semester with the help of my Seeing Sideways class.  This class has inspired me to be creative in ways I never thought possible and helped me to achieve some of my best work since coming to IUPUI.  I wanted to show this work as a representation for what I will during my time at IUPUI, but also how the creative innovations will continue long after I have settled into a career.

 The picture to the left is an 80's pixel character that I created recently.

The picture below is a photo I took of the gem stone at IUPUI. This photo is special because it inspired a short story and storyboard called Serenity and the Crystal of Destiny. 

 

Who Am I?

I am Arianna. My name means holy one and silver. I love the color green and its many shades.  I am an overachiever.  I am good at taking charge, thinking strategically, accepting input from others, seeing people for who they are, and looking to the past to make a better future.  I am extremely strong willed and stubborn. I love to read and write.  I started college off at Ivy Tech Community College, graduated last May, and transferred with my Associates degree to IUPUI.  I actually wanted to go to IU Bloomington, but IUPUI is closer and cheaper, aka the more reasonable choice.  I love my area of study, Media Arts and Science with a focus in Game Development.

Why Am Here?

I initially wanted to get my degree in Criminal Justice, so that I could become a criminal analyst.  In order to be a criminal analyst an individual is required to obtain top level government security clearance and I could not do this because my father constitutes as a foreign national.  Without the ability to pursue the career I wanted I decide to pursue the next best thing for me, which is Media Arts and Science.  I naturally have an innovative personality, so this field is a perfect fit for me.  I come from a poor family, so I am using my time in college to get a degree and save back money for the future.  I don't want my future family to suffer the way that my parents and siblings did, simply because we where too poor.  I am here to build a better life for myself and the people I love.