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Origin of the Cookbook as a Form of Technology

My project is a modern environmentalist cookbook filled with ethical recipes meant to inspire steps to take action and highlight important youth figures in the movement. Cookbooks have existed as a form of expression for thousands of years. These sources of information that for centuries were exchanged and shared between relatives, friends, and total strangers. While cookbooks are traditionally known for featuring recipes, many times they contain much more than food. Cookbooks give background behind the cuisine and culture, but also about the person who made the recipe, and what their reason for making it was. In the modern era, where so many recipes can be found for free online, cookbooks continue to be popular because they give the reader more than just a recipe, but something to aspire for. Cookbooks, to an extent, were the original form of sharing information, or the original smart device. People would pass them on to friends with their own comments, edits, and thoughts. In addition, they would add their own recipes. In a sense, cookbooks became a form of community.

Julie and Julia: Cookbooks in the Digital Age

One of the quintessential examples of cooking in the digital age was depicted in the 2009 film Julie and Julia. The film, which is based on a true story, shows the lives of two very different individuals: Julia Child in the first few years of her culinary career, and 20-something New Yorker Julie Powell, who creates a blog where she chronicles her efforts to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. Powell gained a following on her blog so significant that she ended up publishing a memoir that the movie itself was based on. She had been seeking something to write about, and felt inspired by Child’s cookbook so much that she decided to write about it through her blog. At the time that the real Julia Powell wrote on her blog, the format was new. She used it to not only detail her cooking efforts, but also the hardships of juggling her difficult job and her relationship . Readers of the blog, and later, watchers of the movie, became so ingrained in the movie that they ended up taking up the task on their own, calling it the “Julie and Julia Challenge.” To this day, people on the internet will share photographs of themselves cooking meals, either from Julia Child’s cookbook or the cookbook of their choice, on their blogs or Instagram pages, along with information about events going in their lives that are important to them. In this way, the physical form of the cookbook has become interconnected with technology, and can consequently be used to raise awareness for specific causes.

How Social Media is Used to Advocate For Action Against Climate Change

Since Julia Powell first published her blog in 2002, Internet technology has expanded drastically, and now people do not just voice their opinions on blogs, but on social media websites like Twitter or Instagram. These platforms allow users to reach a larger audience than they traditionally would through other news formats. People can engage in discussion, and elevate the threads that they believe are important. One activist gained popularity through social media is sixteen year old Swedish student Greta Thunberg. She was notorious for taking part in strikes from school to advocate for climate change, but the school strikes were not her idea at all. She was inspired by the student survivors of the Parkland shooting like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez who used social media to call for gun control under the hashtag #MarchForOurLives. The climate change movement has become a wild force over the past few years as other teenagers, such as Ugandan activist Leah Namugerwa, took the fight to their own countries. With a simple “retweet”, teenagers can endorse and share the messages that are important to them.

Social media activism has become so relevant that 2020 presidential candidates have begun to talk about steps they will take to combat it in more depth than ever before, including Bernie Sanders with his proposed Green New Deal. With millions of young activists around the globe teaming up to exchange resources and call for change (ex: 16 young people around the globe filed a lawsuit arguing the carbon-polluting countries are violating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), the urgency has become more stressed, and activists are more empowered than ever.

How would Henry David Thoreau react to climate change on social media?

In modern times, activism in America is heavily supplemented by posts online. In governments without a free Internet, activists face the issue of censorship. But what about in times before the Internet? Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalist and father of the environmentalist movement was known to spend his time in solitude during his visit to Walden Pond. At the same time, he was passionate about respecting nature as an activist, and other topics such as abolitionism and civil disobedience. It is easy to assume that Thoreau would stay away from social media, but if he time travelled to the future and saw the troubles America is facing today, with its national parks losing federal protections and reported water pollution at Walden Pond, the site of which once boasted crystalline water, his opinion may have changed. While there is no way to know what his opinion would have been if he was alive for social media, it is interesting to consider the kind of posts that he would make on his account if he used it as his general form of communication as opposed to books and journals.

Below is a collection of some hypothetical Henry David Thoreau social media posts put together to gather consideration on how a social platform differentiates from a physical medium.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HARFqABOi/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HDNjogCsH/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HFk1nAtgm/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HItRsglHp/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HNGd2geOo/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5IrHz4gChX/

The ever expanding evolution of technology has equally benefited and harmed humanity over the last few years. In the last three decades alone we went from giant brick cell phones and pagers, bulky desk tops and the beloved start up noise, to tiny smartphones that can fit the entire world into our pockets. Not only has this allowed great strides into our understanding of the capability technology holds (not to mention much convenience to the common citizen), but it has also opened us to a brand new world of danger. The boogey man that stalked the dark street corners for your children is now hiding behind a childish persona to groom them. The bullies at school or at work can now follow you back home through direct messages, comments, and vague tweets along with the other millions of people online who can target you just for the fun of it. The creeper in the shadows following you as you rush to your car at night, keys between your knuckles, now follows your every move through your social media and scares you with unsolicited nudes and threatening messages.

“Street View” explores the danger that the new technological age puts us in through by demonstrating how technology is tracking us everywhere we go, whether we realize it or not. This constant surveillance can be used at any moment by people with less than innocent motives and more than a little determination. The online aspect of this project shows pictures (taken both from surveillance cameras and stolen from the victim’s instagram account) and google maps that track the life of a young college student from August to November of this year. The markers on the google maps correlates to the locations of the subject in each photo. The book aspect is in the form of an unassuming marble notebook filled with the links and code-like writings for each of the pictures used. The book is meant to relate the technological to the human. Technology itself is not a danger: this is not a message saying that robots are going to take over the world. Technology is a wonderful thing and we should not see it as a separate entity from the humans who continue to build it and the ones who use it. The people and whatever they choose to do with it are always the ones to hold accountable.

The prevalence of social media has made us less wary of the information we share online. The age old phrase of “you never know who lurks behind the screen” is still very relevant today. We have to stay vigilant on what we post online and how others could be using technology. This piece aims to show just how dangerous social media can be.

My artist book is a story about a stuffed animal puppy named Piddles. I was inspired to write this book because I have had Piddles since I was six months old and because travel is extremely important to my family. It helped shape who I am and what I value in life. Piddles came on every single trip I have ever gone on, no matter how far or long. Piddles was my “safety blanket” or “pacifier” and made me feel comfortable no matter where I was in the world. 

My artist book focuses on a touch and feel aspect, as well as an interactive play aspect. I collected many different elements to include in my book. I found the actual book I am using in a Marshall’s clearance section. The first page shows Piddles getting on a plane. The reader must buckle Piddles in. I tried to use as many found items as I could. I found fake grass samples from Home Depot  and sample swatches from when my mom was trying to pick a new couch. I raided Target’s dollar section for anything and everything I could find. I planned a total of twelve different locations for Piddles to travel: Florida, Canada, California, Arizona, Iceland, Ireland, Peru, Africa, Australia, Hawaii, China, and Amsterdam. The last stop Piddles goes to is home. 

The Florida page is going to focus on the Daytona race track. I set up a mini race course for the reader to play with and have a hot wheels car for them to use. For Iceland, I set up a similar racetrack except this one is more like a slide format and is going to be used with the sled in the luggage. In California, the reader can play with the kinetic sand located on the cover of the book. In Arizona, Piddles will see the Grand Canyon and feel different pebbles. Piddles will travel to Canada next. In Canada, Piddles will see a narwhal and will get to feel their sparkly horn. When Piddles travels to Ireland, he will feel the green grass and see a castle. In Peru, Piddles will feel the fur of an alpaca and see Machu Picchu. Piddles travels to Tanzania, Africa. Here, he sees animals on his safari. The reader can feel the different animal textures. In Australia, Piddles is surprised by fake spiders that jump off the page! The last three stops are Hawaii, China, and Amsterdam. Piddles sees jellyfish, pandas, and rides his bike around. Finally, Piddles returns home and ends his journey. 

Making my book was definitely challenging. Between every page was an unnecessary cloudy sheet of paper. This was useless to me and I had to remove it from every single page. Because of this removal, the bind of the book got weaker. The book I used has many pages, giving me the flexibility to seal them together and adjust the thickness of the pages as I need– Mod Podge became my best friend in this project. I had to rebind the book three times to make it as long lasting as possible. Another challenge I had was the bulkiness of the book. To solve this problem, I created a luggage on the cover that Piddles could carry around his extra toys in. This allowed me to keep the kinetic sand, fidget spinner, and more in the book. This also helps keep the novel organized.  I am really happy with the finished result and I hope the reader will be, too. 

I hope that by writing this sensory touch book, I can help children feel more comfortable in my classroom when I am a teacher. I want to inspire my students to feel comfortable going out into the world, open-minded and yearning to explore. I also wanted to include a “sensory” element in it so my students could read it to relax or reward themselves after a busy day.

Everybody has their addictions, certain little things that they can’t leave home without. Things thats absence from your pockets will make you feel naked. The idea of having small pocket sized objects that bring you comfort throughout the day is a concept that has been around for a long time. In my artist’s book “Pocket Sized Addictions,” I document some of the most prevalent of these comfort items and explore how they have evolved over time. I would wager that nearly any person who reads my book will find at least several of these “little addictions” that apply to themselves. These addictions span across history, some of which have faded from relevance and others of which are very common in modern society. 

Each page of my book has a different item that would be common to find in someone’s pocket. Each item features the time period it was first seen as well as a brief description of the item’s historical significance and other facts about its use, conception, and social impact. Along with this, each item also has a corresponding picture and is labeled with a number. The number corresponds to its placement on a WordPress which can be accessed through a QR code in the back of the book. On WordPress, an advertisement for each item is featured. These advertisements act as the original conveyers of the book’s addictions to the masses.

The book itself was made of cardboard and wrapped in leather to give it a professional feeling. The book documents things similar to the style of an encyclopedia and I wanted its exterior to reflect that. The title was burned into the cover with a wood burner. The pages inside were bound together with glue, with the first and last page glued to each cover. This process resulted in what looks like a legitimate book.

Addiction is a topic that has always been very meaningful to me, and I hope that this book can help people take a look at themselves and identify just how many things they need to get through the day. 

Though I am not an “artist” so to speak, my academic career has taken me in a number of abstract and creative directions that have all seemed to underscore the existence of hierarchies in the world created and reinforced by the hyper-prevalence of currency in our globalized economy. This topic has always interested me because, growing up in a conservative white town, the dialogues surrounding income inequality in the world were very different than what I now believe to be the truth. My artists book Foundations seeks to discuss the effects of global capitalist economics in the developing world where groups of people predominantly responsible for the production of raw materials like petroleum and gold are continually exploited by their economic superiors. 

Foundations will tell the story of illegal gold miners in Columbia and will discuss the binary opposition between the quality of life of producers and the value of their products. I would like to demonstrate the way that cell phones, the product most often credited with fueling the illegal gold mining industry, have a tendency to produce many levels of ignorance within their users because of their great importance in our society: we need them, so we must be ignorant to their harsher byproducts. I want Foundations to come off as absurd and existential. Written from the perspective of a young child laborer who is as ignorant to the process as the average consumer is, Foundations hopes to demonstrate how massive and disjointed the process of globalized production really is. I would also like to focus on the value of gold as a motif to juxtapose against the hardships that those who extract it are put through, and how this wealth of natural resources was turned into a detriment for those unlucky enough to have settled upon the object of the corporate world powers’ competitive pursuit.

Much of the contextual information in Foundations was collected through the reportage of journalists like Brent McDonald, who stated in an episode of The Weekly by The New York Times that “The growing demand for gold as a conductive metal used in phones and other electronic products has helped spawn a deadly illegal trade that’s harder to track than other black-market commodities like blood diamonds or drugs.” This exploration in The Weekly contributed a great deal to defining the connection between Apple and illegal mining, a connection that is otherwise quite ambiguous. Likewise, reporters like Dominic Parker for The Property and Environment Research Center heavily criticize the ineffective regulatory legislation put in place to reduce the sale of conflict minerals, showcasing the endemic nature of this issue as one not so easily solved by the stroke of the legislative pen.

In terms of medium, the artwork Foundations is done in cut paper to resemble the silhouette-style iPod advertisements from the 2000’s and 2010’s. The images which accompany each page of text are corresponding scenes of mining or subsequent abuse traced and cut from black paper, set against a colored background. This style is meant to connect the negative effects of illegal mining with the capital interests of Apple, who in marketing their products focus on the aesthetic value of their products and advertisements rather than the regulated humanity of their processes.

English-Project

If you have reached this page, presumably you have seen my book, Life: It Sucks Sometimes. I apologize, I know that must have been a bit of a bummer. If it helped you, I am sincerely grateful to hear that. If that healthy dose of sadness wasn’t enough for you though, I’ve included some content below to satisfy that itch. Below are some line graphs to correspond with my book. I figured using smooth line graphs would match the path along which the physical book takes place. “Board Game Path Inspired by Mental Illness” meets “Mathematics Based Path Inspired by Mental Illness”.Pretty neat, huh? That’s right, not only does the book incorporate chronic depression and ruining childhood games, it also features statistics and Microsoft Excel. Please, try to contain your excitement.

To preface these graphs, I’ll go over some quick things to note. Each of them uses a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the highest, 1 being the lowest. For example, in the graph below, the highest peak is at year 1, where my Academic Success rating is at a 5. This means that in year 1, this was my best year at school. Pretty straight forward, yeah? Good. Next, you might be confused as to why the graphs start at “year zero”. This was just the easiest way to make each line start at the same point. I apologize if this is not traditional statistical protocol, I just wanted to make an aesthetically pleasing depression graph for you guys. Don’t flood my mailbox with hate letters, I’m trying my damn best.

The purpose of showing these graphs and their varying paths is to show that your journey with mental illness is an unpredictable one. It will take you places you aren’t prepared for, places that will challenge you in ways that words would fail to describe. But no matter how far downhill you go, you’re only building momentum to shoot right back upwards again. I’ve never been fond of the “why are we here” debate, especially in college, because everybody is desperate to prove how smart they are that the conversation becomes increasingly cringeworthy and annoying. However, if I were to provide an honest opinion as to ” why we’re here”, I would say that our purpose is simply to grow. All we can do is grow, and when it comes to mental illness growth is the best thing you can strive for. Unfortunately, there are no cures for the things people like me suffer from. The best we can do is learn, persevere, and grow. Never, ever give up, no matter how hard things may seem. If you reach out, in every direction as far as you can, eventually you’ll find the hand that lifts you up. We all eventually get to where we are supposed to be. For some that journey is longer than others, but it’s all worth it in the end. Persevere, my friends. Never stop trying. Your story isn’t over yet. Your journey is just beginning. Keep growing.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline- 1-800-273-8255

My book, Life: It Sucks Sometimes, is an autobiographical story of my life over the past four years. The book covers two simultaneous journeys, both of which have shaped me, for better or for worse, into the person I am today. One journey is an academic one, a story of the “college experience” that, like the American Dream, is a wonderful goal to strive for, but most of the time it doesn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would. The second journey, an internal journey, is that of mental illness. Given the growing discussion around mental illness, especially amongst those in our age group, I would be remiss if I didn’t share my story, to remind those who feel alone that there are people just like you, in all walks of life, and if you reach in all directions you will eventually find the hand that guides you to the happiness we are all meant to have. 

The book itself is forged from components of a board game; The Game of Life(see what I did there?). The book’s cover and spine are made from the box itself, along with other miscellaneous materials, while the pages inside are both made from paper as well as actual segments from the game board. I thought the juxtaposition of a game-board would help balance out the more grim content in the book. In a way the book itself mirrors the life of somebody like myself. My exterior is in no way indicative of what is actually happening in my head, or what I feel. It’s only when you look deeper that you see the darker reality of life with mental illness.