Blog 3: Question Draft 2 and Artifact Free Write

                                                                   INNOCENCE
1.) At one of my jobs last night, I discussed with my coworker Jane that I was taking this class, and some of the projects and course overview. One topic that came up was the critical question. I told her that I chose to write mine on health care and inevitable rights endowed by the constitution. She kind of laughed and said I was taking the easy way out by choosing something I already knew and understood. Being an economics major, and a politics buff, it was true, I had chosen a critical question, but it wasn't necessarily personal to me, other than it was something interesting. Although I am unsure of the process, however, I wish to change my critical question.

Do we as humans become more or less closed minded than as children, and how does this affect our happiness through life?

I apologize ahead of time for the last minute change. This question not only applies to all of society, it is something I have pondered but haven't explored. I have a personal experience that hit me like a ton of bricks that has to do with this. I don't necessarily believe it is too broad, but my analysis will become more specific, but generally, I don’t like to phrase my questions as too specific because it can be constricting.

 Make a list of 10 potential artifacts you are considering for this first project.

1.) old trophy
2.) Big book Jambooree
3.) Hershey kiss stuffed toy
4.) Pokemon/ Yugioh cards
5.) Bible
6.) Art
7.) Bikini
8.) Christmas lights
9.) Old diary with written life responses.
10.) Bow for my hair

Then select 1 to do about 300 words of free writing about

Christmas Lights, I remember as a kid in West Virginia, my best friend and I would pretend that all of the Christmas light bulbs were a place. We envisioned ourselves in Santa’s workshop. Each bulb could teleport you to a place in the world. I above anything, Loved having rainbow colored lights. Some nights I would sleep under the tree and see my skin changing colors, the smell of the pine and cinnamon, thinking about all of the places I want to go. I could touch the lights and feel the warmth coming off, and wonder if there really was a city in there. Christmas lights represent more than just a memory for me. It is an artifact from the time I realized I was being lied to, and the trauma that came from it. In my essay, I want to talk about the realization of a fake Santa Clause, but it is more an analogy of the story I will tell about later in my life when I really questioned adulthood.

This artifact relates to most of American society and childhood because of the years we grow up being lied to about Christmas. There still exists an innocent and sentimental feeling towards Christmas, but I find myself a little bitter (rhyme unintended). It makes me wonder that if a child is told the truth all of their lives, they would be a content adult, or if it would in the end, make them unassuming and cynical just as I have partially become. The thought that maybe it is adulthood that makes us close-minded, and that's why we’ve become close-minded, not because people have sheltered us. Like I said earlier, it is a universal question because most children don’t come out of the womb with obituaries to read instead of fairytale books, and watching documentaries on rape statistics instead of watching barbie.