Challenging Your Beliefs

Sometimes it may seem that someone’s belief system doesn’t matter; sometimes it may seem that it’s all that matters.  Whether this means choosing a presidential candidate to support, what school you send your kid (or yourself) to, or who your friends are, belief systems always play a major part.  How could they not?  I don’t just mean religious beliefs (or lack thereof), I mean your whole set of morals (or lack thereof {haha}) and everything that helps you make decisions; this is a part of everyone!  And I think that a lot of people take their way of thinking for granted; they don’t question why they believe what they believe often enough.  I know I’m guilty of this…

Propaganda Feat. Nosferatu by Kadence Clark (based on a WWII poster). Propaganda usually succeeds when no one questions it.

But what would happen if we challenged our own beliefs?  Rethought our most sacred personal dogmas?  Just for a moment! I’m not saying, “just try seeing it from Charles Manson’s point of view” or anything like that; there are things that are perfectly acceptable to see as inherently evil, but what if we just decided to question ourselves a bit more?  My mom had a bumper sticker that said “Question the Answers,” which I didn’t understand when I was younger but now I try to live by.  Never blindly follow someone or something; truly think about it.  I’m going to take it a step further and apply it to myself.  I hope it does go without question that I’m not going to question why I think animals should be treated kindly or anything like that, but maybe I should question some other things (well, I guess I could think about it just to understand the source of my convictions).  Why am I rambling on and on about this?  I’m hoping that if you’re reading this, you’ll think about it.  Really think about it.  Maybe it won’t change anything, it’ll just be an interesting exercise.  Maybe it’ll really improve your life and the lives of those around you.  You won’t know ’till you give it a shot!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Last night I finished reading Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  I’m usually not one for fiction (though I just realized I’ll make an exception if it involves vampires), but I truly enjoyed this book.  As I’ve said, I love history and I love vampires, so when I heard the title I knew I had to give it a go, especially with the movie coming out this year.  I remember when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (also by Grahame-Smith) came out and I wasn’t too enthusiastic (I hate zombies and I’ve not yet read Pride and Prejudice), but I had hope that a vampire novel would come out in the same genre.  Ta-daa!  Here it is!  The book is a (fictional, of course) biography of Abraham Lincoln and an account of vampires’ effects on the president’s life and basically the entire history of our young country.  Maybe Abe wasn’t as honest as we thought!  I don’t want to give anything away, but in the book, almost everything we know about the president is the result of his unexpected involvement with vampires after his mother’s untimely death.  Seth Grahame-Smith does a good job of bending the facts enough to sneak in some magical realism and make it all seem plausible; leaving the reader with the question “What if…?”

And I’ll leave you with the trailer for the movie!  (If you think it looks as cool as I do, go read the book.  Seriously, it won’t take you long because it’s great!)

A New Discovery

The other day I finally found a use for some linocuts I made for a 2D design class!  Not being a printmaker, I found myself lacking any of the necessary tools to print my awesome carvings, but I remembered that I had some leftover fabric paint or ink, I’m not sure, from my Fibers class.  I grabbed the paint, a sponge, and some scrap fabric and went to work!  It turns out I really liked the result (although, it’s a little messy looking):

My Nosferatu Print on Fabric