WRD 110 Project

This is a picture of my closest group of friends. We call ourselves the nerd herd. This was taken during graduation while we were all waiting in the gym to walk to the field to start the ceremony. This picture makes me question the origins of the graduation ceremony. Graduation ceremonies have been going on for 800+ years starting back in the 12th century when universities were established. Caps and gowns are the official attire of scholars. This is because in the 12th century when they were established the universities didn't have heating systems so the graduates had to try to keep warm during the ceremony. They adopted the long gowns for this reason. The hats became more popular on about the 15th century and symbolize intelligence. The throwing of the caps became popular in 1912 after the Naval academy started the trend. They were the ones to start this because when they graduate they receive their officer hats so the hats they were wearing before no longer have any use to them so they tossed them into the air. This tradition continued on to symbolize the end of a chapter in a persons life. On the cap there is a tassel. Until about 40-50 years ago this was just seen as a decorative piece but now we have a tradition of moving the tassel over to the other side to symbolize the transition from student to graduate. In conclusion, the traditions that are found during graduation ceremonies originated in the 12th century and have evolved and changed slightly over time. I think that these traditions will stick around for a while and they will be respected and help people feel like their graduation days are special.

http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/graduation/grad-history.shtml

This is a picture of my brother, Adam, and my cat , Tinker bell, laying down next to each other while on face time with me. This is one of the things that I look forward to while here in college. Bell gets really excited when she sees me. She purrs a lot and rubs her face against the camera. It is really cute the way animals act around the people they love. With dogs it is said that they act the same as their owner so that they will fit well into the family. The University Of Texas in Austin did a study where the owners took a quiz to say what their personality was and then they did the same for their dog. The results were that both the dog and the owner shared similar personality traits. Cats on the other hand love their owners in a different way. They will sit with them and will purr. Cats get attached to their owners the same way that dogs do. There was a video I watched for on of the other pictures on here that was a cat freaking out when their owner left and it was the cutest thing that I have seen so far. Having a pet is good for your health as well. They may adorable and share personality traits with you but they also reduce stress levels. Just petting an animal can make you feel calmer . They also promote a feeling of wellbeing. In conclusion haveing a pet is good for your health and it also is fun to have a pet that loves you.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201308/do-owners-and-their-dogs-have-similar-personalities

http://www.purina.com.au/cats/behaviour/cat-love

This is a picture of one of my closest friends, Tanner. He is my self proclaimed husband. I miss him a lot. This is one of my favorite pictures of him because of the face that he is making. This was taken right after we went to Relay for Life. This picture always makes me think of Relay for Life and what it stands for. Relay for Life is an event where communities can come together and raise awareness for cancer. It honors survivors and loved ones with different things. The first lap of the Relay is walked by the survivors while the whole track is surrounded by paper lanterns that have the names of lost loved ones on it. Relay for Life also has a lot of activities that raise money for cancer. The Relay can last up to 24 hours because, “Cancer never sleeps”. Every year they also give out awards for those people that have helped them get to where they are. They also work with a lot of different organizations to help out with the fundraising. Each year they make about $400 million in fundraising money. I personally really enjoy this event and the activities that they have along with it. Its a large place where people can come together and hangout for a good cause. I remember last year we danced around the track. We were there and walking for about 8 hours but it was well worth it.

This is a picture of my best friend Yareli. I call her Reli or Relish. She is pretty much my second half and we have been friends for over two years now and I hope I never loose her. I really dont think I could get along without her. Aside from being my best friend she also has been my support system for the past two years. She has been there for me through my mom and two awful boyfriends. She is probably the wisest person I know. Thinking about her leads me to thinking about a persons other half or “soul mate”. The definition of a soul mate is, “A person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner.”. This means that your soul mate can be your best friend or your lover. Relish and I definitely fit this description. The Huffington Post has an article titled “The 10 Elements of a Soulmate” which in some aspects describes our relationship. For example, some of the elements are you just get each other, you fall in love with their flaws, its you two against the world, and you feel secure and protected. All of these elements are true with Reli and I. It is said that soulmates are brought into your life so that you can become your better self. With Reli I can be me and she doesn't judge. I can talk to her about all of my problems without worry. I am so glad that I have her in my life. She is one of my favorite people on this planet and Im so thankful to have found my soulmate. :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-carmen-harra/elements-of-a-soulmate_b_3595992.html

This is a picture of my aunt Shawna. In this picture it is my birthday and we are at Olive Garden. She has become one of the people who are like a mom to me now. She has helped me through a lot especially through having to take care of my brother and applying for college. This leads me to think about my time caring for and raising my brother after my mom passed away. When this happened and I started to take care of him it was like I was being forced to grow up. It was difficult because at the time I was a senior in high school and I wanted to be able to do senior things and I couldn't because I had to take care of him or drive him somewhere. My dad was still around but he was( and still is) kinda lost in his relationship with my soon to be stepmom. I am still very worried about my brother because it is said that children without a proper parent unit can have a higher chance to turn towards drugs or alcohol. My brother also doesn't really have a role model to look to any more. I think he still looks up to me but I'm not around the house much to make sure that he isn't doing something that could endanger himself or others. The good thing that came out of all of this is that while I was in charge of my brother it taught me a lot of responsibility. It also taught me a lot of things that I would need to know in college that a lot of freshmen don't know. Like time management, money management, and even little things like how to do laundry. Looking back it was a very hard time in my life and my brother didn't really make it any easier but I feel like, in the end, that it helped me out.

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/165494944/when-older-siblings-step-into-parents-shoes

This is a picture of my orchestra group my senior year of high school. Throughout my four years of high school the people that I met through this organization have changed my life. My orchestra experience is what has shaped me as an adult and what has made so passionate about what I do. The friends that I made in my time in orchestra are some of the closest people to me. They are my orchestra family. They are now and always will be. This trip down memory lane makes me think how important music is in children lives. I know that I would be a totally different person had it not been for the music in my life. From piano when I was little to the cello I've been playing for 8 years, I've never been long without music. Music in a child’s life has been scientifically proven to help out a child in life. It can lead to easier language development and lead to higher IQ. Music also leads to stimulation of a children’s brain. This is true for both listening and playing music. Music is something that stays with a person for their whole life. It motivates people, calms them down, and puts a smile on peoples faces. Overall music, in what ever sense, helps people out in what ever situation they are in.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/

This is a picture of my dad and my brother Adam or as I like to call him Am. This is one of my favorite pictures of Am because he is making a funny face. Thats what he is known for in my mind. This is also one of my favorite pictures because this was one of the first times we had dinner together after my mom passed away. This was one of the first moments where I felt like my little family was being pieced back together. This event makes me question how important meals together with a family are. Most people are so busy that they don't have a lot of time to spend with their family. Having dinner together is a good way to catch up. It is even said that families that have dinner together are in better spirits. The children of these families have lower rates of substance abuse and higher GPA and self esteem. It also adds a sense of togetherness and helps children learn healthy eating habits. Personally I wish that I had more moments like this with my family. Some families eat together every meal but for my family it was a rare thing. I remember all the fun times we had at the table and the stupid arguments we had. I miss those times even more now that I am in college.

http://thefamilydinnerproject.org/resources/faq/

This is a picture of two of my closest friends. Meagan and Matt are apart of a group of friends we call the nerd herd. I met them at different points in my life and through very different ways. Matt I met my freshman year of high school through a game named “Minecraft”. At the time I was apart of a community online and we all played together. It wasn't until the next year that I realized that he and I went to the same school, and it took me even longer still to finally talk to him. His best friend turned girlfriend, Meagan, I met my freshman year of high school in my orchestra class. The way I met Matt, along with many of my other friends, brings up the question of how well do communities, either online or not, bring people together. I know from experience that the Living Learning Programs on UK’s campus has helped me make some new friends. Joining a community means that those in that community have mutual interests and usually want the same thing. This is true through all communities. Joining any community will help you meet new people and experience new things. Being in communities also helps you build a group of people that will want to help you during bad times. I am also apart of the Podrealm community. This is a online community of gamers that play different games together. We don't really have a game genre that we play like the community I met Matt on did. We enjoy each others company and help each other through bad times. They were one of the big people that helped me when my mom passed away and they are also a big part of helping me keep my sanity on campus.

Sources: http://www.uky.edu/housing/undergraduate/llp/overview

This is my mom. She taught me a lot growing up and I miss her everyday. Last august I lost her to terminal cancer. She fought a long hard fight and I was there with her everyday. I dont regret anything after she passed away. I know she was proud of me then and she is still proud of me now. After everything that happened with her fight with cancer, It makes me think about how cancer forms. Through my research I discovered that we are made up of more than a hundred million cells. When one of these cells, or a group of them, start dividing uncontrolled they form a tumor. This is usually the start of most cancers. Cancers can be placed into different stages depending on how far it has progressed. These range from stage, one being the tamest, to stage four, being the worst. There are three main ways to treat cancer. They are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment. While all of these treatments are difficult the main goal is to try to keep as much of the undamaged tissue healthy as possible. Scientists are getting closer to a cure. Something called immunotherapy is what scientists are working on. This new procedure paired with the other already established types are helping those with cancer Live longer. The dual treatment has already had a huge effect on some of the deadliest types of cancer. It has already stopped these cancers from spreading for almost a year.

This is one of my family pets. Her name is Tinkerbell and she technically belongs to me. I got her when I was five and she and I have been together since then. While I am away here in college, I think of her often. Many times through out the years she has helped me through rough times. She is one of the main people that is able to calm me down when I am sad or distressed. Any time that I am sad she is usually there at my side trying to make me feel better. She sometimes lets me hold her when I am really sad although I know she hates it.This makes me think about our relationship and brings up the question do all cats act the same way my little Tink does when their owner is in distress. Through a little research I found that cats and humans both have a similar genetic makeup. They can express and fell different emotions the same way that humans do. I also found out that while cats can seem like they don't care most of the time that their owner is around, once their owner leaves they panic and may end up walking their house meowing for 35 minutes looking for their human. This proves that cats can feel the same way about their human as dogs do. They don't just see their owner as a source for resources they actually care for them. This is why cats act the way they do towards you when they sense that their owner is sad or in destress.

Therapy is a term that is used quite often in recent times because it has slowly become socially acceptable to have a mental illness. Unlike in the olden times where people were burned at the stake for having schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Therapy has now evolved from that time and is know literally now as  the treatment of physical or mental illnesses. This can be seen as a sort of mending of the mind. Like placing a bandaid on the brain so that the scrape will heal faster.

Ancient Greece had a type of therapy called milieu therapy. They would take people out of their old environment and place them into a calmer more simple place so they could heal. When they were better they would be brought back to their old environment to continue on with their lives. This type of therapy is a lot like the type of therapy used today. Today Psychologists take about an hour or two out of a persons week to take them out of their old environment and make sure that they understand what is going on. This strategy allows for the modern person to have a short break from their hectic world. This short break is like a vacation from the stress they experience everyday.

Even after they leave the office a person can continue to feel stressed as their hectic life takes back over. This can be solved by the recent development of drug use in psychology. This use of drugs as a form of therapy is both good and bad. It can help people but it can also lead to other problems like addiction.

A very important discovery in the field of Psychology was the Psychoanalysis theory. This theory was developed around 1885 by Sigmund Freud.  He is known now as one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. He spent over a period of about half a century perfecting his theory of psychoanalysis. He thought that by people recognizing their subconscious thoughts they can understand their motives and gain insight into why they are who they are. Freud say that the mind is like an iceberg. Most of it is hidden and unseen. From this idea psychoanalysis therapy was born. Psychoanalysis therapy explores how the unconscious mind effects how a person thinks and acts. Psychologists take into account events from early childhood to see if they had any affect on the persons life. By doing this psychologists hope to give the person in therapy the answers that they are searching for. This type of therapy is considered long-term because it can take months or even years to get answers.

Psychoanalysis is a very complex type of therapy. it is supposed to offer the patient change by examining their past and helping them understand it. A psychoanalyst will look for patterns in what the patient talks about to try to see what their concerns are. They believe that unconscious feelings and childhood events play a key role in behavior and mental distress. They will use many different ways to spot these patterns. Some of these include free association which is where the patient goes into the office of the psychoanalyst and just talks to them about whatever comes to their mind as they come to them. With this type of technique there should be no editing what you say or in what order the events come to you.Therapeutic transference is another technique where you talk about what feelings you relate with certain people or things and why that is. The last technique is interpretation. This is very important in psychoanalysis because thats what the analyst are there to do. They are there to read in-between the lines for the patient .

Another thing that freud was known for that goes along with psychoanalysis is the idea of id,ego and superego. Id is the most primitive part of our personality. It basically just seeks immediate gratification. Ego is different. Ego keeps the Id in check because it is mostly focused on reality and the concerns that go along with it. This acts as the control center of the personality. Then there is superego. Superego represents the values and standards of a persons personality. It strives for perfection. It is the internal judge. It passes good or bad feelings to the id or ego depending on what it feels is right.

To wrap up, Freud developed psychoanalysis around 1885. This type of therapy is all about understanding a persons unconscious thoughts and using these thoughts to help the patient find the answers that they are looking for.  

Citations: http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/freud.htm  

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html

http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/psychoanalytical.html