Spring 2015_Adventure One: Who are you now, and who do you want to be?

By the time you arrive to begin this leg of the journey, you will have already completed, or you will be working on completing three tasks, all of which will help you and your peers come to terms with who you are now and who you may want to become: 

• Via Character Survey
• 3 Significant Items
• Six Word Memoir

But how do we really decide who we are?  Identity is a complex array of experiences (good, bad, and in-between) along with a variety of relationships and networks, and like snowflakes, no two are alike, and they are ever-changing.  

So who do you think you are, and who do you want to be?

Going further, are you really who you claim to be?  Do you see yourself through "rose colored glasses" or do you perhaps have a harsh perspective of who you are?

After watching the above video, read a little about Hetain Patel's work below, then respond to the two prompts at the end of this post.

Hetain Patel's surprising performance plays with identity, language and accent -- and challenges you to think deeper than surface appearances. [This is a] delightful meditation on self, with performer Yuyu Rau, and inspired by Bruce Lee. In his compelling stage works, Hetain Patel uses powerful imagery and storytelling to examine questions of identity. "What determines our identities anyway?" asks Hetain Patel. As a child, Patel wanted to be like Spider-Man or Bruce Lee; later, he aimed to be more like his father, who displays a much different kind of bravery. From these ambitions, Patel's new show Be Like Water examines shifting identities of all kinds, using dance and bold imagery to power a story of self-examination and self-creation. As a conceptual artist, Patel has used photography, sculpture, installation and performance to challenge cultural identity. For his work, he has grown a mustache exactly like the one his father wore when he emigrated from India to the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and remixed the practice henna tattooing to incorporate English words and comics books. Patel's conclusion about identity: that it is an ever-shifting game of imitation.

Step One: Think about a time that you gave someone a pretty bad impression of who you are.  Perhaps their judgement about you was unfair, but that's not important for this exercise. Just pick one.  

>In 100 words or less, narrate how this person would describe who you are to others.  Be honest.  This might be a little painful, but it's important.

Step Two: Think about how you would liked that person to have "experienced" you.  (Remember, you are thinking about an experience where someone walked away with a bad impression of who you really are above).  If it would be possible to go back in time to change their perspective about you, what would be that perspective?  How would you want them to see you?

>In 100 words or less, narrate how this person should describe you, ... once they simply had the opportunity to know you better.  Be honest here too, and don't be shy.  Have this narrative "sing your praises".

These are two ends of a constructed identity, and the truth of the matter is that you are probably somewhere in the middle.  ... And, the middle is always shifting from left to right, or from up to down, sort of like a radio dial.  

In this exercise, you will begin to understand who you are now, and you will begin to identify who you want to be, so have some fun with this.

Be sure to complete this prompt (and feel free to write more) before the second lesson on the Better Place Project, Adventure Two.