Richard Berry_Reflection#1

Slide Show Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dZta7GuQP6Y-QH38x1yQJ3bfm1cAnAzRu_iCqnpW0o8/edit#slide=id.g1bea81ebe9_0_205

Reflection #1: 
    Ok, let me just start out by saying that today’s working period went a million times better than what I expected. After one day of solid team work, communication, and strategy, the labyrinth looks amazing. All we need to do now are add the doors, which in my opinion should be easiest part of the whole project. When the class period started out, I had pretty low expectations. I knew we had a strategy, but we would need to execute it perfectly for the labyrinth to turn out well. Fast forward to me somehow getting nominated to use the spray paint cart. I practiced doing circles with the cart (without spraying any paint) while the class laid down the string for me to trace. Someone suggested I did a real practice run over the already preexisting lines made by James and the handheld sprayer. These first steps were like an outline to a paper. A writer shouldn’t just jump into a paper without planning. It won’t have a good central idea or be concise just like my lines wouldn’t have been straight or crisp without the practice runs. For the next few circles, I followed the string. I had practiced but I still didn’t know all the tricks. With each circle, my lines got better and better. I learned to look out for potholes that force the cart off its path. I learned to pick up the back two wheels so the cart turned better. I asked a friend to clear the leaves, pinecones and large sticks from the path so I didn’t spray over them leaving a mark in the line. But this was taking awhile for the class to lay the string and then have me trace over it so Mr. Rasputin suggested I just freehand it without the string. I was nervous because the pressure was on me and only me not to mess up the circle. But, my class had my back, they positively reinforced me yelling out all types of supportive phases like “you got this Richard!” Eventually, after completing circle after circle I got really good at doing it without the string. One thing was consistent throughout the entire work day was my class’s support and belief that I could do it and that we could do it. This whole project day could be used as a giant metaphor. In the beginning I did some dry runs and made some outlines. Then, I put on the training wheels and worked with the string, improving my skills with each circle. Then, I took off the training wheels and was on my own. But as I know now, I was never actually on my own because of my supportive class. :)

Quote:
     “Siddhartha learned something new on every step of his path, for the world was transformed, and his heart was enchanted. He saw the sun rising over the mountains with their forests and setting over the distant beach with its palm-trees. At night, he saw the stars in the sky in their fixed positions and the crescent of the moon floating like a boat in the blue. He saw trees, stars, animals, clouds, rainbows, rocks, herbs, flowers, stream and river, the glistening dew in the bushes in the morning, distant high mountains which were blue and pale, birds sang and bees, wind silverishly blew through the rice-field. All of this, a thousand-fold and colourful, had always been there, always the sun and the moon had shone, always rivers had roared and bees had buzzed, but in former times all of this had been nothing more to Siddhartha than a fleeting, deceptive veil before his eyes, looked upon in distrust, destined to be penetrated and destroyed by thought, since it was not the essential existence, since this essence lay beyond, on the other side of, the visible. But now, his liberated eyes stayed on this side, he saw and became aware of the visible, sought to be at home in this world, did not search for the true essence, did not aim at a world beyond. Beautiful was this world, looking at it thus, without searching, thus simply, thus childlike.”

Refection #2: Today we couldn’t work. It was raining and the field paint does not work when the grass is wet. But I think the rain can kind of be used as a metaphor here (if metaphor is the right word). This is the first time an english class has tried something on this scale for a midterm and this is the first year in like ten years it has rained this much. What are the chances?

With big projects or just with life in general there are going to be bumps in the road. For us, the bumps come in the form of rain. Just because we could not work today does not mean we should just give up and quit.

Faced with the obstacle of rain we are going to have to plan when to finish the labyrinth. At this point in the project, we just kind of need one person and the green spray paint to spend like 15 minutes making the door ways. We are so close but so far! I think once it is done it will be a great resource for stressed students to use during midterms.  

Quote: “The only thing that matters is the enthusiasm with which the workers set to ruining their health in search of a few meager crumbs that barely provide their subsistence.” Page 78 Che Guevara

-This quote really relates to our labyrinth.  Putting effort is one thing, but having a good mindset is a whole other thing that is equally as important. Going into this project we had to have an optimistic mindset because we were facing quite a challenge. It would have been much easier to just give up and not build the labyrinth but we stuck with it and stayed positive.

Reflection #3

1. How did the labyrinth project and today's trip to the Peace Awareness Center help you approach or understand your personal pilgrimage in a new light?

The whole labyrinth process reminds me of the book Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. I wrote about the book in one of my college supplements. It talked about senior year and how life becomes quite stressful and complicated. We are studying for tests, managing college deadlines, taking standardized exams, and balancing our extracurricular activities. As seniors, we spend too much time focused on the future of college and miss the excitement of the journey we are experiencing right now.

Dr. Seuss gives a poetic and funny overview on his interpretation of life. He discusses the endless possibilities and outcomes that life offers. However, he is not naive. He mentions there will be bumps in the road.

The book is short and can be reread easily when a student is stressed or overwhelmed. It is a great way to nudge a student back onto their path and help keep them grounded.

The labyrinth re-grounded me. It brought me back to what mattered; the journey. My focus wasn’t on test scores or upcoming midterms. Instead, I focused on nature, the people around me, and the labyrinth. And similar to the book, the labyrinth we made can be walked anytime to bring students back to reality whenever they need it.

And that is why I love cars and choose this as my project. When I’m driving, or doing anything car related I’m distracted from the stresses and pressures. I focus solely on the journey and the joys that come with it.

2. What insights can you share about your own process, discovery, challenge, or success in connection to your project? This whole journey was almost like an excuse

for me to read, watch, and learn about cars. With this project, researching about cars was my homework and that was like a dream come true. I struggled a little but with the bigger projects that would talk my whole day (like the museums or drives). I learned to not really think of excuses and to just go out and do it.

3. What ideas in the course were most meaningful to you? How you were so flexible and

listened to our input. You really sculptured the class around the students, and I think that is how it should be.

4. What will you take forward from here? I would basically like to continue with the same goal that I started with: to learn more about cars and to be more involved in the car world. I will keep going to car shows and car meets. I will keep watching car videos, car shows, and car movies. I want to keep being an active member of the car community.
5. What quotations, images, or examples can you share to symbolize your greatest insights? Just to enjoy the journey and to take in the view.

“On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.”

― Ayrton Senna

“And suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.”

― Ayrton Senna



Midterm Reflections: 

My first reflection was all about my goals, what I planned to do, when I planned to do, and how I planned to do it.

My goals were pretty ambitious. I had a lot of ideas I wrote down that I found out weren’t really possible (like taking a test drive of a sports car). But in general, I was content with my progress. This semester was overwhelmingly hectic. Looking back on my whole pilgrimage, I am honesty impressed that I was able to even complete half of what I have done.

I also added a part about my experience at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan over trips week. We went to Michigan to visit schools and my dad flew us out a day early to surprise me with a trip to the museum. The museum was so awesome because I wrote my junior year research paper about Henry Ford: the world’s greatest innovator. I don’t know how to describe my experience. I was shocked. To write about a man and know so much about him over paper, and then to see all these objects you have only imagined come to life was breathtaking. Like to seeing his farm where we experienced with soybeans to seeing a model T with my own eyes just blew me away.

Every morning the museum takes apart a model T and throughout the day they have random visitors put a piece of the car back together. I was fortunate to get chosen. In my presentation there is a picture of me screwing on the flywheel which helps with steering the vehicle.

I would recommend going to the museum even if you are not a car person because most of the museum is not related to cars but all the things Henry Ford collected which ranges from entire houses and buildings to trains.

My second reflection was mostly about things I had completed during my busy application process.

I was checking Car Throttle daily and reading all of their articles (which is around six to ten per day). I was watching the weekly youtube videos from Petrolicious. I was watching Motor Trends two to four videos a week which are mostly series based. My favorite two series of theirs are The Racing Line and Head 2 Head. The Racing Line is hosted by Randy Pobst, a famous racing driver, who talks about tips and tricks to a faster racing lap. Head 2 Head compares two cars on the street, track, and drag strip.

I also included what my favorite thing I had learned from that week were. From Car Throttle,  I learned about the difference between a V6 and a straight six. These are two different types of six cylinder engines. The pistons are positioned in different ways creating different effects.

From Petrolicious,  the channel reviewed an Alpina A110. The owner talked about how you do not drive the car, you wear it. This is because of how small and snug the interior of the car is.

From Motor Trend, Randy Pobst talked about what to do over humps and bumps on an off road track. This week they compared a Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport to a Porsche 911 Carrera.

I also included my goals for my bigger projects like going to a car meet and going to the LA Auto Show with my father.

Lastly, I talked about how busy I was with completing both my common app and my UC app which was why I could not start those bigger projects now.

My third reflection was about the LA Auto Show and the Peterson museum.

The LA Auto Show is surprisingly a car show I do not really enjoy. There are multiple reasons for this. The LA Auto Show is basically car companies advertising their new cars and trying to get buyers. So the show is filled with all of these new Toyotas and Kias which are good cars don’t get me wrong but cars I am not really as interested in seeing because these are the cars you see driving on a day to day. In other words, the cars are boring.

A positive thing about the show is that you get to interact with the cars, sit in them, and see what they feel like. However, all the fast/cool new cars that I am interested in like the Acura NSX or Mercedes Benz GT-R (seen in my presentation) are roped off or locked.

The part I like about the LA Auto Show is the basement level where all the super cool modded out exotics (like the Ferraris and Lamborghinis) are located. The basement level is filled with car modding companies and not car companies. So the car modding companies, in order to draw the crowds attention bring their most expensive and nicest modded cars.

While I mostly talked about the negatives of the LA Auto show, it is actually a very nice car show for the public and car companies who are trying to sell their cars. Also, it was a nice way to spend time with my dad.

Now, I will talk about the amazing Peterson Museum. I found it so interesting, that I actually went twice (first with my girlfriend and second with my dad). At the Petersen museum, I felt like a kid at a candy store. I was literally running around, dragging my girlfriend throughout the entire museum. I didn’t know where to start and when I found a place to start I saw another car I loved and ran to it. I was so overwhelmed in the best way possible. It was awesome. The museum had so many legendary, historic and rare cars. It has to be one of the nicest car museums in the world. I personally cannot think of a better car museum. If you love cars in the smallest way you have to visit this museum. It was like a dream come true.

My fourth reflection was all about my driving adventures.

I took 3 long driving adventures for my pilgrimage. The first was to Palm Desert. The second was on Angeles Crest highway. The third was to Arrowhead. In my reflection, I talked mostly about how I got to know my car better and how much I enjoy long drives. Arrowhead had the best roads and the best views. I would go up there again in a heartbeat. Palm Desert was the least enjoyable because I had some traffic which is the fastest way to ruin any joy ride.

My Fifth reflection was super short and was a journal entry about how my friend Julia popped her tire on the freeway and called me to help her. I took it as a compliment because she called me over AAA, her dad, and any other person she could have called. Long story short, I explained to her how to change her tire and then had my friend Nico go help her because she was all by herself and struggling. I would have personally helped her but I was all the way in downtown LA.

My final reflection why I like cars and why I choose cars as my pilgrimage.

Well I just kind of talked about this in my labyrinth reflection. So I am going to paste what I said there.

“The whole labyrinth process reminds me of the book Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. I wrote about the book in one of my college supplements. It talked about senior year and how life becomes quite stressful and complicated. We are studying for tests, managing college deadlines, taking standardized exams, and balancing our extracurricular activities. As seniors, we spend too much time focused on the future of college and miss the excitement of the journey we are experiencing right now.

Dr. Seuss gives a poetic and funny overview on his interpretation of life. He discusses the endless possibilities and outcomes that life offers. However, he is not naive. He mentions there will be bumps in the road.

The book is short and can be reread easily when a student is stressed or overwhelmed. It is a great way to nudge a student back onto their path and help keep them grounded.

The labyrinth re-grounded me. It brought me back to what mattered; the journey. My focus wasn’t on test scores or upcoming midterms. Instead, I focused on nature, the people around me, and the labyrinth. And similar to the book, the labyrinth we made can be walked anytime to bring students back to reality whenever they need it.

And that is why I love cars and choose this as my project. When I’m driving, or doing anything car related I’m distracted from the stresses and pressures. I focus solely on the journey and the joys that come with it.”

I am really glad we did this whole labyrinth project.  It really helped me figure out why I like cars, why I like driving and most importantly it helped me understand myself better.

I like cars because I love the way that it combines art, engineering and technology. I like cars because it brings people together (from random strangers on the street to me and my dad hanging out more). I like cars because a car is an expression of their owner. I like cars because cars are an example of what humans are capable of.  

I could go on for hours talking about the specific reasons why I love cars but instead I would like to use this time to thank you. By letting the students choose their own topic for our pilgrimage journey, we got to pick something we are actually passionate about. This not only made the project more fun, but helped us grow and understand ourselves better.

Thanks for one fun semester!