Mastery Journal

My adaptation of The Gift of the Magi is titled The Exchange which is a family sitcom about two stepbrothers whose parents divorced and now live in separate homes, who after getting word that they will celebrate their first holiday together at their grandmother’s house, seek to go through drastic measures to reunite their parents. After reading the original story and then crafted my own, I was able to create an entirely different storyline that still maintained the essential elements that brought the original story to life. For example, I utilized siblings as oppose to husband and wife to draw on a different type of relationship dynamic. The age differences from the original characters also allowed for a more youthful tone and energy that could translate to a younger crowd and still be enjoyed by an older audience. The act of giving a gift in my adaptation was still present, however, the act of giving regarded a more selfish ambition from the protagonists compared to that of the Gift of the Magi. Additionally, neither one of my characters had to indeed sacrifice anything themselves but sacrificed the very items that were held dear to their parents instead.

Completing the adaptation piece was an eye opener which allowed me to see that I could draw on inspiration from an original work and still make it my own. My goal as a writer is not to only write authentic pieces, but to gather inspiration from others and always provide a unique experience with the story adaptation that can be appreciated across generations. I believe this is a big part of brand building and carving out your exclusive lane in the world of creative writing. I thought the process would be much more complicated, but I actually found it very easy to create the adaptation, whereas creating something from scratch seems a bit more challenging.

One adaptation I would love to tackle in the future is the play called For Colored Girls. This play translates themes of strength, unity, and women empowerment across cultural lines, social, economic statuses, and generations. It presents a riveting message that can be understood by all women, in my opinion.  No matter what adaptation I choose to do in the future, I learned that adaptations can deviate from the original story as much as you want as long as you maintain critical themes of the unique piece that drew in audiences in the first place. I am truly grateful for all that I have learned throughout the Multimedia Adaptation course and can’t wait for what lies ahead.

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In today's technological era, it is quite difficult to keep the attention of students focused on lectures or so-called “boring” material. Therefore, many educational professionals seek to motivate their students by incorporating gamification in their homework assignments/lectures. Most students love to be rewarded for their efforts as a form of continued motivation. However, can such rewards be detrimental to the overall experience of learning? Some may think this method of teaching creates a more competitive attitude in students but doesn't necessarily mean for the sake of mastering a learning objective but more so for bragging rights. Either way, the educational system is adapting to the way this new generation of students learn and stay motivated. If test scores are increasing, then I say why not keep the train moving by including gamification in the schoolhouse setting?

Netflix is a great example of technological convergence because it caters to the on-demand needs of customers who expect instant gratification to social media entertainment in many ways. All it takes is for the customer to have internet capability to have access to thousands of movies and television shows that one either had to have cable for or visit a local movie theater for access. This convergent technology utilized by Nexflix has now esxpanded to a global scale where customers in third world countries now have access to view its content. The benefit of such a platform allows for convenience due to its multiplatform capability and can be used as a great marketing tool to promote diverse content through its customers.

As a current military member, I find these advancements to very beneficial not only for the officer core but for the enlisted as well. The Department of Defense (DOD)  has long strayed away from traditional methods of educating and developing their force utilizing the textbook method. Now the DOD seeks to incorporate technology as a means to train on readiness objectives. I have personally utilized these toolsets for professional development courses and to complete annual training requirements that are quite immersive and interesting.  I also believe that it is important for our forces to advance and shift with our changing environment to include gamification strategies to maintain its power and lethality over enemy forces. 

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Creative writing inspirational visuals for Script Analysis & Criticism course 

Detail three ideas of things that you could do to use your creative writing skills in your current workplace or community, right now, to start building your writing resume. 

Your Creative Writing Idea #1: One of my main jobs as an administrator is to update/process official documents. Moreover, I always have my hands in the pot when it comes to proofreading or making recommendations for memos, letters, draft documents etc. I would like to host a professional writing class that caters to professional writing for the Department of Defense. 

Your Creative Writing Idea #2: Higher ranking officials/officers are always writing speeches due to the nature of their job. I would love to assist in this area, especially because the messages they present are so vital to the military mission. Therefore, the presentations need to be conveyed in the clearest most concise manner. I think getting my degree in creative writing will be such an asset in this respect seeing as though I have to attend a lot of briefings where I have to listen to boring speeches most of the time. I always think to myself, “Man I wish I could write for these people to live-in up their presentations yet still get the point across.” 

Your Creative Writing Idea #3: Most military bases have local newspapers or a publications office. I’m not very experienced with journalism but I wouldn’t mind developing skills in this area. 

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Protagonist Pinterest link.

Antagonist board

Art of Visual Storytelling Meme: The Creative Writing Process

Sometimes you feel like giving up when you hit a brick wall. But the important thing to remember is to remain optimistic. More importantly, we must keep our expectations realistic, because everything doesn’t always happen when we want them to or how we want them to. But when it does happen, its always at the perfect moment. But in the meantime, get back up and dust yourself off, the fight may be done, but the war isn’t over. Defeat is a mindset, not a reality.

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This photo/quote reminds me to trust the process and be patient with myself as I travel through my mastery journey to becoming a creative writer. I feel encouraged to never give up even when I meet roadblocks, because ultimately they are just stepping stones towards success. Once I reach my goal, I will be able to reflect back on my journey and feel like the struggle was all worth it. 

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