After reading through what my classmates thought about this semester’s theme “What’s (Y)our Story?”, I think one big takeaway that most people agreed upon was that the theme is open ended.
I have come to a new conclusion that each person participating in this class and this theme will have a different take on it. The theme is so broad that each person can interpret it in a different way. Even if two people interpret it in the same way (for example “What’s (Y)our Story?” meaning tell your life story in chronological order) they will have things to say that are completely different from the other person because they are coming from a unique point of view.
I find the prompt to bring my classmates “ideas together” difficult, especially with this theme, because this theme is so open ended and everyone will have completely different ideas. The general consensus that I got from my classmates was that they think the theme is open ended for a reason, and leaves room for variation in the content each person is producing. I think that this is really important because no two people’s stories are the same.
Initially when I wrote my blog post on my thoughts about the theme, I was very straightforward with my response and I didn’t leave much room for variation or creativity. After reading what my classmates had to say, I feel as though I’m much more free to create things that represent me and my story, rather than just representing what I’m interested in and trying to make it appealing to others.
This is exactly the same conclusion I came to! In my initial thoughts on the theme I was the opposite of your approach toward it, I was thinking very abstractly and vaguely as to try to produce a much more unique take on the theme than I thought everyone else would take. After reading your part 2 thoughts on the theme, I feel as though I am not alone in the increased freedom I feel to create and discover things that explain and describe my story.