Archives for January 2019

Well, it is about that time where most individual’s New Year’s resolutions have not stuck or were never feasible in the first place. If that includes you, its okay it happens to the best of us.  Just because you fell off of the bandwagon of New Year’s resolutions, doesn’t mean you need to wait until 2020 to get motivated and stay on track with your academic goals. Read below if you need some tips for motivation this 2019.

Create a vision board/goal list.

This isn’t some Youtube trend. It really works. Pick a day free day you have, print some pictures of the goals you want to obtain and plaster a piece of paper with them. If you are pressed for time (or the arts and crafts way isn’t for you) old school pen and paper will work. Just having your goals written/put down is the most important part. After finishing your goal board/list, post it where you can see it EVERYDAY! Looking at why you are working hard in the first place will remind you of what is to come after putting in all of your hard work. The reminder of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow will provide a motivating boost as you when you become unmotivated to work/study.

Watch motivating videos.

As a borderline beginner to intermediate musician, I constantly feel as if I need to be better yet cannot find the motivation to practice most days. What has encouraged and motivated me to work was watching videos of other musicians, particularly those detailing their musical journey. Every time I watch other musicians, I think,” Well, if they can do it, why can’t I?” This habit has encouraged me, without fail, to practice. If you feel as if you are in a runt, watch a video of a person from your future profession. Imagine yourself in their shoes. Watching them achieve and do your dream job will encourage yourself to continue working hard so you can do the same.

Prioritize

There are times where you will have to say no to a lot of things (be it another scoop of ice cream, staying out late, watching another Netflix episode/season) and some of them will be very fun things. But as young adults now, we have to be responsible for our own success. In the end, we will only have ourselves to applaud or to blame for our future lifestyle positions. Thus, make your decisions wisely. Do not over burden yourself with work but do not go out so much so that it hinders into your academic life.  Most of us are not playing $70,0000+ a year to not graduate.

Get back up

You will fail. It is impossible to succeed without failure. That doesn’t mean to say you should back down after every failure. Failing is a great way to reroute your goal plan and challenge yourself. If you don’t fail, you will never be able to unlock your potential and push against the limits you set for yourself. Remember, failing is opportunity.

I hope these tips will aid you in academic adventure.

Future & Past, Then & Now

If you’re in need of a creative caffeine boost this stressful midterm season, check out the Fine Arts Gallery located on the Peabody Esplanade, right here on our Commons home shore. This gallery is a hidden gem encased in the floor-to-ceiling marble antiques sanctuary that is Cohen Memorial (directly beside North House—my dorm!). You can get hands-on with student-designed, 3-D printed models of ancient Mediterranean artifacts and a mini zen garden-like archaeologist’s sand box that harkens back to simpler days. These items are from the Digital Futures, Archaeological Pasts exhibition displayed in the gallery’s far room, coming to a close THIS Thursday, the 31^st, so get in there now!

If you can’t make it to Cohen by Thursday, the Then & Now: Five Centuries of Woodcuts exhibition will be open until March 1^st. You can view woodcuts—an old printmaking technique by way of carving designs into wood—as old as a pre-Columbus print on paper and as recent as a 2007 short animated film on the Christian Creation Story but subverted, full with tarot cards, Jack-in-the-Box, and a God named Nobodaddy.  

1. Use a personal dry erase board. You can purchase these online from Amazon or at Walmart along with some dry erase markers. Dry erase boards can be used to practice problems, foreign vocabulary memorize equations and more. Plus, they prevent paper waste! Go green!

2. Handwrite your notes. If your lecturer speaks fast, try to print their PowerPoint slides with the 3 slides per page option that’s has the set of lines next to each slide. You can take notes as you go as well as mark the important info on the slides. If no Power Point is available, mind map your notes. Even if you write your notes sloppy, you can still rewrite them later. The more times you write and expose yourself to your notes, the better you will retain the information.

3. Complete practice problems ASAP. Especially in STEM courses,  the more you test yourself after learning the information, the better you will retain said information, which will help in the long run.

4. Find other teaching materials. Search the internet for other notes/problems. YouTube is free and full of helpful instructional videos.  If you want more practice, find a video solving a problem, pause it before the demonstrator finishes it, solve it on your own, and compare your answer. Also check VU’s library catalog for online practice workbooks such as “Chemistry for Dummies: 1,0001 practice problems.” 

5. Review material as if you are teaching a class/student. Convey the material you just learned as if you are the instructor. Go somewhere free of distraction and speak out loud, explaining the concepts you have retained. Use the dry erase board hack as your “chalk board” to write and explain equations/examples. Take note of sections where you feel you need improvement on as you continue to speak aloud.

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Featuring Christine Zhou

Hi, my name is Christine Zhou! I call Nantong, China my hometown, and I’m planning to major in Neuroscience and Computer Science.
I’m a first-year photographer currently residing in Sutherland House.

Hi, Christine! Could you tell us about when you first started taking pictures?

I first got a DSLR when I was in 8th grade. It was from a free raffle my dad got. He didn’t really use it much, so I took it for my own purposes. Obviously I was very trashy then, but I was just captivated by how good it is to capture the beauty you see. Sometimes, I wish that my eyes are the cameras, so that I can capture moments without people noticing, because there are a lot of moments where I wish I had a camera.

Some photographers like to take a break from the camera every once in awhile to let life pass by naturally. Do you ever feel the need to do that?

I definitely agree that sometimes taking pictures is very interrupting to your experience. I did go through this period where when my friends and I went out, I kept ending up bringing a camera. Sometimes, I’m just too focused on what I can capture on my camera. And it’s as if I’m seeing the world through the camera alone, and that’s not healthy, because a lot of people live their lives perfectly fine without this recording device. I just think of photography as an outlet for my needs. It’s almost like I need to ensure that I have a beautiful life. Or that the people around me are beautiful. So, from this perspective, I think photographers are subhuman, not that they are lower, but a lot of people think artists are super, because they can create, but I think a lot of times, it stems from a need that is not always controllable and might be dark.

You’ve done a lot of beautiful landscape photography. Is that your primary focus?

I’ve been doing a lot of landscapes, because I had trouble finding real humans to shoot. But I’m definitely more interested in capturing humans and animals–basically any moving things. It’s more challenging and more interesting, because it’s an interaction between you and the model, versus landscapes that can sometimes be one-directional. The chemistry between you and the model can be very interesting. You have to devise how they look, how they’re willing to perform in front of you, and how they treat you. So, it’s also a practice of interpersonal relationships.

Who do you want to take portraits of?

Beautiful people.

What makes someone beautiful?

It’s not the look. It’s the posture. It’s how you are inside. Even if someone has really good facial features, if their inside is not as good-looking as their outside, it can have some very interesting effects.

This is a human to human interaction. And I’m not in it for money or anything. For me, it has to be genuine. I feel the connection, so I want to portray the beauty out of you. I think the most beautiful moments are the humane moments, like the beauty of humanity, kindness, and understanding. It’s like having good bones. You may have good skin, but if you don’t have a good skeleton to support it, it’s just creepy.

Is there anyone you’ve met recently who has inspired you with their humane beauty?

I’ve met people that I want to take pictures of, but, if I’m honest, a lot of times, they turn out to be different people than I thought. But there is this one girl named Jesse: she is really pretty, and she is really kind, and she really takes me as a friend.

I just try to picture the beauty of people around me. I’m sure there are lots of beautiful people out there with beautiful insides and outsides, but if they don’t contact me, and I don’t know them how the hell am I supposed to take a picture of them?

You heard it from her, folks! If you would like to spend time with a rad artist and genuinely cool person (plus, get a sparkly new portrait in the process!) let Christine know at:

siqi.zhou@vanderbilt.edu