This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I - I hardly know, Sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then." (47)
A new form of Alice
One of the first questions we confronted coming into this class was "Who are you?" I distinctly remember Professor Bump asking us this question in a deep, thought-provoking way, and looking very deliberately around at each of us. It was almost uncomfortable in a way. I've thought about this question before - who hasn't in high school? - but never to the extent that we have in this class. I also remember talking to a third year Plan II + Architecture student who had Bump, and he told me that after taking this World Lit class, we will never have a problem writing self-analysis essays.
Well. That's for sure. Considering we pretty much write about ourselves every week.
As if university itself wasn't all about finding out who we were and growing along the way, World Lit, or in particular, the Bumpster World Lit intensifies that process by condensing it into one year. We've almost had a focused process of self-discovery and pilgrimage. We've come into this class and been thrown into all manner of odd experiences that we had no way of expecting. We meditated every class, wrote personal stories on the internet, crawled under tables to be reborn as our spirit animals, discussed religious beliefs and the concept of speciesism, and tried to define love and compassion. We've acted out scenes from Alice in Wonderland, Gawain and the Green Knight (and learned to pronounce it K-nit), and Adam and Eve's fall from heaven. We've acted goofy, we've cried or been shocked speechless, and feasted. We've connected to animals at APA who haven't experienced the love they deserved, and I personally learned that there's a lot less to fear about animals then I'd initially thought. Or at least to be uncomfortable with. That's a kind of diversity - a diversity of experience. We've experienced a plethora of situations that we wouldn't have without taking the first step and leaving home.
All of these things have had a changing impact on us. This doesn't even mention the fact that we are away from home, learning independence for the first time and meeting all manners of diverse people and experiencing diversity in thought and philosophy and belief as well. I know I learned alot about myself that I hadn't known before - for example, I can go without a lot of sleep and still manage to somewhat function without being cranky. I've learned I'm a lot stronger than I expected. I learned how much I love to discover and explore. I've learned to look at the world with new eyes - literally, everything I learn in my architecture classes has taught me to see things differently. The patterns in nature can be a source of inspiration, and you can abstract bird feathers into a design for a building. Seriously. YOu can. World Lit has taught me not to take things at face value and to always always say yes to new experiences. My photo class has taught me to find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
I honestly feel like the Sadia who came here a semester ago is a very different person from the girl typing this blog right now. An actively changing, growing, evolving person. My roots are the same, but my branches are reaching.
Alice on the brink of another adventure.
Recently we all took the Meyers-Briggs personality test. I was so shocked and excited by its accuracy that I immediately told all of my friends in studio to take the test as well. I discovered I was an INFJ, which is about 1-3% of th population, and is in subcategory of Idealist. That's pretty spot on. That is even further broken down into The Protector. According to thepersonalitypage.com, "INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types."
As someone who lives in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities, I really loved the description of the Looking-glass world that Alice ventured into. I think we've all had that moment in this class (at least I think we have? Just through meditation maybe?) when the ordinary world develops some sort of hidden meaning. Some quirk that doesn't mean the world has changed, but you have. I know after watching Earthlings, I walked around in this wierd funk, feeling completely detached from everyone else, everyone who hadn't seen what we'd just shared in class. The world was wierdly colorful, people were oddly cheery, and the world seemed made of plastic.
This moment has come at better times too. WHen we first went to the Turtle Pond to meditate about nature, just the fact that we were outside on a gorgeous day enjoying the fact that we were outside made the environment and situation much more beautiful. The edges of everything glittered. Just learning about things I normally pass by without giving too much thought to can change the world too. For example when Professor BUmp pointed out the hidden meanings in the symbols that decorate the Tower - something that was just "pretty" before became meaningful. That was great!
As an artist, maybe this comes to me more just because I have this strange imagination that likes to make stories out of the randomest things and gains inspiration from the mundane as well as the magical. Whether that's just me being an INFJ or provoked through this class, I look forward to seeing where we journey to next.
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