The Arboretum at Penn State

My first trip to the Arboretum started off hectically as I was running late from my class that is on the other side of campus. I had just made it to east halls around 12:25, the time we were supposed to be there, so I went into a full on sprint trying to make it there as fast as possible. Luckily, I was not the only one running late but given that I am not a nature lover, I was not off to a good start. As previously mentioned, this was my first trip to the Arboretum so I had no idea what to expect. I have been to Penn State so many times but had never heard of it. I knew it was a big garden that would have many interesting trees, bushes, and plants but I did not know how vast or unique it would be. Most gardens I have been to are very simplistic and ordinary in their design, consisting of only the basic plants.  Well, I do have to say I am very surprised I had not heard of it before because for a non-nature lover it was actually pretty neat and had something for everyone. From the numerous purple flowers to the stone by The Hosler Oak tree, the Arboretum intrigued me and helped me appreciate gardens more so than I usually do.

The abundant, bright, purple flowers that lined one of the walkways of the Arboretum, grasped my attention immediately. Its bold color and pure originality came in bundles, and it seemed as though this group of flowers could go on forever. The sun glistened off the crisp, bountiful petals, making me really appreciate their beauty and how these types of things can put your mind at ease and just make you appreciate the little things in life.  Purple was the color of my high school and is one of my favorite colors which is one of the reasons why these flowers stood out in the midst of all of the other beautiful things in this garden. It brought back a lot good memories for me from playing sports, meeting amazing people, and having a great four years there.

Something else that caught my attention was the large stone by The Hosler Oak tree. I had never seen anything quite like this which is what made me stop and take it in.  Its hard, large structure, isolated from the tree and surrounding bushes, softly nestles against the mulch. It just lies there, probably being mistaken for an animal such as a turtle quite often due to the similar characteristics and the fact it is not near the tree. A curved outer layer that directly blocks the bright sun and shields the mulch underneath it is another key feature of this stone. The majority of the stone is a worn out gray with a slight touch of light red stripes near the bottom right of the stone.

The Arboretum was definitely a great, peaceful place to go to. It allowed us to relax and just let our minds wander which was really nice considering how hectic the start of college has been. I am surprised I had never heard of the Arboretum before because it was pretty cool and definitely better than I thought it would be. Every student should make sure to check it out at least once during his or her four years here. 

Palmer Museum Visit

Artist: Unknown

Title: Stirrup spout vessel

Year: A.D. 200-500

Materials: Earthenware

This stirrup spout vessel features a person with large, circular eyes, a white hat, and a flat grin. The person is looking straight ahead, holding some sort of writing in its hands. They’re engraved into the front of the stirrup sprout vessel, blending in well with the variety of brown, red, white, and orange on this piece of art. There is a good amount of white marks on it, including several around the person’s eyes.

This piece of art was created in A.D. 200-500 by the Moche culture, a South American society located in Peru. This was a society that stressed community over the individual. Some activities that show this idea are that they lived in the desert, and the rivers nearby them were dry for mainly the entire year. Being in the desert and having limited water sources meant that no one person could make it on their own and everyone needed to work together to survive. Their main food sources were fishing and farming which also required people to work together, further showing how this society stressed community over the individual. Another key aspect of the Moche culture was that they used art as a way to communicate with one another because their lack of a developed writing system.

After viewing this piece of art, I started to picture myself living in A.D. 200-500 as part of the Moche society and realized how different it would be from the world we live in today. It made me feel extremely fortunate. One reason it made me feel fortunate is because communicating in today’s world is so easy with cell phones, Facebook, Twitter, and email. I cannot imagine having to use things like art, symbols, and other signs to communicate because it would be much more time consuming and a lot more difficult than it is today. Another reason I feel fortunate is because the world is much more highly developed than it used to be. You can tell they lived somewhat of a poor life by just looking at their art and how it looks worn-out and dirty. I also felt curious after viewing this stirrup spout vessel. I wanted to learn more about the Moche culture, what their art meant, and what it was used for.

The artist of this stirrup spout vessel is unknown. However, it still creates credibility through the time period that it was created in. A.D. 200-500 was a time period that art dominated culturally as it was the main source of communication. The people of the Moche culture created art all the time and in many different forms such as ceramic pottery, textiles, and ceremonial centers decorated with murals. These different pieces of art all had a common goal of conveying their own, unique messages, all while showing how credible the Moche culture’s form of communicating was.

Although this piece of art can be interpreted in many different ways, I believe the claim it is making is to really think about your own life and how it compares to those of earlier generations. The figure is holding up a writing and looking straight ahead. In my opinion, the figure looking straight ahead is not just a coincidence. I believe it is looking at whoever views the stirrup sprout vessel and trying to send those people a message. It is saying to all future generations to never take things for granted and never forget the people before you. I believe this because life was an everyday struggle for people of that time period. Everyday was a new adventure and people did not know how much food or water would be available to them. Also, I believe it is saying never forget the people before you because as a general life lesson you should always be thankful for the people who contributed great things and paved the way for the world we live in today.

Overall, I enjoyed my first visit at the Palmer Museum of Art. I am definitely not a museum-goer but I thought it was cool to be in a new environment and see things that I have never seen before. I saw several that I liked, so it was actually kind of difficult to pick one I wanted to write about. I definitely could see myself going back because I did not see everything and I feel like every time you go to a museum you can find something cool that you did not encounter the first time.

Arts/Cultural Blog Post #1: What We Talk About When We Talk About Blogs

Template:  I wanted a template that allowed for both my blog posts and a picture of myself to be seen at the same time. It took me awhile but I finally settled on an Awesome Inc. template because it shows both my posts and the picture of me in front of the ocean that I really wanted to use all along. I wanted a picture as my background because I figure most people will have just have a color or design and I wanted mine to be different. The reason I chose this picture is because it relates to my freshman year here at Penn State. Being on my own and at an out-of-state school, especially a school as big as Penn State, is somewhat of a daunting task. You don’t know many people and you don’t have your family around telling you what to do anymore. It’s like the “real” world is finally beginning and you feel like you can do anything if you put your mind to it. This picture relates to the beginning of my college journey because as I was standing in front of the ocean in Aruba I had the same feelings as I do now. It makes you feel like you are ready to take on the world and bring on whatever life throws at you. It’s a very powerful image to me because it looks like I am holding the ocean in my hands. It shows I have control and can do whatever I want. College is the same thing. The world is yours and now it’s time to finally go out there and take it.

Title: I wanted a unique and interesting title, something that would capture the mind’s of my readers and make a good first impression with them. I like to have confidence in everything I do because I feel like that is the only way to be successful. No one is going to believe in you if you don’t even believe in yourself. By my title being “The Bodacious Blogger” it shows that my hope is to be an excellent and admirable blogger. I feel like there is a greater chance people will read my blog knowing I have confidence in my writing because if I didn’t, why would they?

Color: Given that my entire background is a picture of myself, I wanted to select colors that would stand out and still make it easy for people to read my posts, about me section, etc. I chose a light blue for the tabs’ background because it fit in well with the ocean and sky while also being a bold color that will make the different pages of my blog visible and easily accessible.

Font: I am not particular when it comes to fonts so this was a very easy part for me. I wanted something easy and simple because that best describes me when it comes to fonts. I chose Times New Roman which fits the bill of a simplistic font perfectly. Although there are many simple fonts I chose Times New Roman because that is what I always use and like they always say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I chose yellow as one of my font colors because I like bright, bold colors and it is easy to read on the background. I chose green for the font color of my posts because it goes well with the white.

Pages: I have two pages as of now but plan on adding more in the future. Right now my two pages are the “Home” page and the “About Me” page. I put these two tabs at the top so they are easily accessible.

Sharing/Finding: I included a blog archive for easy access to all of my posts. This will be much easier than having to scroll through the entire blog to find them.

About Me: I tried to include many different things in this section to give people a good idea of who I am. I feel like I am a pretty well rounded person with a ton of interests so I wanted to share as many as I could. I talked about where I have lived, my family, interests of mine, my favorite food, sports I play, my favorite sports team, etc. I made it rather extensive because it is hard enough as it is to learn about someone, meet them through the internet so I figured I would try to make it as easy as possible!

I am satisfied with my blog and think it accurately reflects who I am. I am looking forward to blogging, meeting new people, and having a great first semester here at Penn State!