December 7 – Community.

• Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?
  (Author: Cali Harris)

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I have discovered community this year through my writing class. It is a freshman writing class with twenty people, only one of whom is actually a freshman. Partially because it is so small (for a CU class), and because my professor is incredible, we have been able to form a great community. We have gotten to know each other incredibly well, and it’s nice having a place where we can be comfortable talking about everything from military techniques to veganism to prostituion in the span of an hour. Unfortunately, Thursday is our very last day of class.

In 2011, I’d like to get more involved with what I call the “Boulder Tech Community,” although not everybody in this community is necessarily a technically-oriented person. It’s mostly just people I follow on Twitter who follow each other, and occasionally hang out. I’ve been watching this community from the sidelines for almost two years (does that make me creepy? If it does, I’m sorry), but I’ve always been intimidated because I’m a lot younger than a lot of the people in the community. However lately I’ve been interacting more with people in this community, through Twitter mostly. Participating in this project is another way I have been taking steps to join this community. These are people I truly find interesting (at least from the things they post online), and I would like to get to know all of them better.

AND IT’S 11:59 SO I’M GOING TO HIT POST

December 6 – Make.

• What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
  (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

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Part I: The last thing I made was a (still in progress) study guide for my Principles of Advertising class. So far I’ve just used our text, Glimmer by Warren Berger. Not gonna lie, I didn’t do the readings we were supposed to do, so now I am rushing to catch up. Thankfully this book is SO GOOD. It examines the key principles of design and how it can be used in transformative ways. It’s… dare I say it? Inspiring. I tend to think of myself as a problem solver, or at least someone who likes thinking up ways to solve problems. So reading about all these people who have solved various problems from the design of prescription bottles to the way kids hold their toothbrushes, is incredibly fascinating to me.

Part II: I really want to make more crocheted things. I love crocheting, but I don’t do it very much because I get distracted and just forget about it. BUT! There is a group on campus called Bitchcraft that meets weekly to do crafty things. I’ve heard it’s really fun and people can just hang out and do their thing together. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since last year, but I just never did. However, since I’m setting goals and manifesting for next year, I am going to set a goal to go to Bitchcraft at least twice a month next year. Hooray!

December 4 – Wonder.

• How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
  (Author: Jeffrey Davis)

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I think this prompt can best be answered through a few pictures, but for a little context I’ll just say I’ve cultivated wonder by visiting different parts of Colorado that are absolutely remarkable.

Steamboat Springs

Viestenz – Smith Park (between Loveland and Estes Park)

Black Canyon of the Gunnison (near Montrose)

Telluride

Mesa Verde

Ridgway

Gross Reservoir (outside of Boulder)

Summit of Imogene Pass (between Ouray and Telluride)

Mountain Village

December 3 Moment.

• Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

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6:20-6:30 of this video.

The video is the Mumford and Sons Take Away Show for La Blogotheque, a French music blog. I got into Mumford and Sons the beginning of October, and I fell completely in love with their music. Their harmonies, lyrics, etc. just make me feel like I’m flying, even the sad songs.

The ten seconds I refer to above show the band singing “réveille mon âme,” French for “awake my soul.” It is the moment when the whole band comes in for this second song, and it is the most beautiful and meaningful sound I have ever heard. I wrote on the 1st about how this year has crushed my soul; this song has definitely helped me wake up, and this particular version (the one in French) makes me briefly feel completely alive. Every time I listen to it, I lose my breath, my eyes tear up, and I can’t think of anything beyond réveille mon âme.

Mumford and Sons often sing about the soul, and I think most of their songs represent how I’ve been feeling and what I hope for my future (for instance, in “Roll Away Your Stone” they sing about a “newly impassioned soul” – I want that!!). No matter how dead I’ve felt this last year, whenever I play this band’s music, I feel alive.

December 2 Writing.

• What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
  (Author: Leo Babauta)

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The main thing that I do which doesn’t contribute to my writing is… not writing.  I post little blurbs on Twitter and add commentary to posts on Tumblr, but beyond that I don’t write much. If you backread this blog a little bit you’ll see that I at least intended to post often on here. As a media studies/journalism major I think it’s really important to write every day, but I just don’t do it.

I am making an effort to eliminate this by participating in this project. I think that by blogging daily, I will get in the habit and it will be something I just do. However, I’m concerned that blogging is easy now because Reverb is prompted and later on, blogging won’t be; however this project might also help me find a niche for my blog.

December 1 One Word.

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Soul-crushing.
I chose this word because 2010 has been very rough for me. It’s the year that I learned many things: who my true friends are (and not in a good way); that my school is not the super awesome university I spent so many years of my childhood imagining it would be; that I don’t know what I want to do with my life anymore; and that the people I looked up to didn’t particularly enjoy being considered role models. This year has, in nearly every aspect, crushed my soul, squeezing out a very large amount of the hope and happiness I had left.

Desire for 2011: Inspiring
After this year, I need inspiration. I need to figure out what I want to do with my life, who I want to be friends with, the type of person I want to be. I’m hoping that the semester I spend in Paris in the fall of next year will help me figure things out; Paris has always been an inspiration to me, from its architecture to its food.

Claire, E!'s Student Club Coordinator during event setup

The event nearly sold out, and thanks to the attendees’ and sponsors’ generous donations, Educate! was able to raise around $25,000! While I didn’t attend the entire event due to conflicts with school, I was able to be there during set up and toward the end of the evening. Even though I was only there for a short while, I still managed to have a great time.

One of the highlights of the night was a performance by the Boulder vocal rock band, FACE.  It was so great to see everyone dancing and singing along to such a talented group. Another special guest at the event (whose appearance I unfortunately missed) was Colorado Congressman Jared Polis.

FACE performs at the Educate! Ball

While the entertainment at the event was wonderful, my favorite part was watching everyone have a good time while helping out and spending time with my friends. I would like to once again thank all of our sponsors, volunteers, and attendees for helping make the event such a success. The money raised at the ball will help to empower so many excellent scholars in Uganda, which I know will have a huge impact on the future of Africa.  I may have missed a large portion of the event, but now I am even more excited for next year’s ball! I hope to see you all there.

Educate! at CU volunteers: Amanda, Elaine, me, Josh, Casey, and Shelbi!