James Baldwin quote "it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime."

Group of faculty, staff, and students gathered on the lawn in front of Macky Hall.

INFLUENCES: Writers on Writers, Makers on Making

Location: Influences: Writers on Writing course taught by Aimee Phan
Date(s): Spring, 2020
Creator(s): Romi Bales, Carina Espudo, Andie Gener, Ella Hormel, Moses Maynez, Joy Melancon, Alex Ramos, Zoe Thompson-Brooks, and Jose Ugas.

In Spring 2020, 12 writers, artists and designers embarked on a class project (WRLIT 4000-2/LITPA 3200-8) to research and explore the influences in their works. These juniors and seniors from majors across the college came together to read, research and analyze.

Their influences could range from a person, a movement, a culture, a history, or a place. There were no limitations to their inquiry or methods. These projects range from digital essays to podcasts and videos.

Who influenced you to first become a writer or an artist or a designer or an architect? Do you know who inspired them? This course was intended for students working on artists' statements or thesis projects, or seeking to pursue research on their own inspirations and influences.

In this class, students researched, read and discuss the inspirations of prominent writers, artists, and makers in order to understand their processes, choices, challenges and accomplishments. The readings ranged from academic essays and speeches to blog posts, video interviews and podcasts. The class also met with visiting faculty from every division of the college to discuss the impact of influences on their own practice. The class also collaborated with the CCA librarians to learn different research techniques and multimodal approaches to articulating their projects.

Students built a reading list/bibliography tailored to their influences, selected and pursued their own influence, wrote an abstract, to create a digital project through the workshop process with the class.

"Influence," definition (Merriam Webster Dictionary):
1: the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways : SWAY
2a: the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command
b: corrupt interference with authority for personal gain
3: one that exerts influence
4: an emanation of spiritual or moral force
5a: an ethereal fluid held to flow from the stars and to affect the actions of humans
b: an emanation of occult power held to derive from stars

Gallery

The Unseen Eye

Zoe Thompson-Brooks

What makes ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal so fascinating to us? Why do we fear the unknown, yet seem to be so enticed by it all the same? What are the components that make up folktales, scary stories, and urban legends? These are all questions I hope to dive into and attempt to answer in this podcast on all things regarding the paranormal and mythological.

Spirit Parts

Carina Espudo

Talks about influences & spirituality for Influences class.

Editor's Note: the link & embed are broken because this podcast no longer exists, the student creator may have deleted it.

Cloudbusting

Joy Melancon

Cloudbusting; a podcast that confronts societal issues and gives possible solutions as to how to heal from them.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Intentionality, and the Buddhist Storytelling Technique

Romi Bales

Avatar: The Last Airbender has had a profound impact on me personally as well as artistically. Its stunningly simplistic beauty and deeply rooted philosophical ideals have shaped my values as a person and as a storyteller. The writers of this show brilliantly utilized the teachings within Buddhist art as storytelling techniques. Every aspect of this story has been established with three main ideals in mind; simplicity, intention, and delicacy. These three ideals all help to establish the interaction of these pieces with the larger whole of the narrative.

My Inspiration is my Reclamation

Jose Ugas

This podcast is an exploration of cultural identity and how growing Latin American in one of the most pronounced Latin cities in the United States of America (Miami, FL) has inspired and influenced my artwork and life choices. Featuring interviews from up and coming illustrator Hannah Wong and new on the scene installation artist Leandro Barriga.

The Story of an Artist

Ella Hormel

I wish I could remember the first time I heard Daniel Johnston’s music, and I wish I could relive the feeling of listening to his album Hi, How Are You? for the first time. What I do remember is that I discovered Daniel Johnston sometime during my Sophomore year in high school and quickly became obsessed. I can picture myself laying on the dog-hair-coated floor of my baby pink bedroom (which I attempted to cover up with music posters and polaroids of my friends), staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars I’d stuck to my ceiling many years before, with Daniel Johnston’s whiny, child-like voice blasting through my laptop speakers.

Animal Crossing and Mental Health

Andie Gener

A look into a video game with one of the most wholesome reputations in the industry, and how it affects those who play it.

a still-life drawing of a peach: becoming an artist with fiona apple

Alex Ramos

I describe my work in filmmaking and writing as the result of a life-long admiration for women artists and what they have revealed to me: the intuitive, cathartic and mystical. On my left upper arm, I have the phrase “a still life drawing of a peach” tattooed. It’s a zinger in art school – like the conceptual opposite of The Treachery of Images. The lyric belongs to a song called “Valentine” by Fiona Apple – a musician whose body of work has informed my own, more than the countless Gibson Girls I’ve drawn ever will.

Better Together

Moses Maynez

I have not tapped my Clipper Card in over a month. I have not taken a BART ride in other a month. COVID-19 has changed a lot of my reality and not riding transit for that long has been hard. Transit was usually what I used to decompress and process my life. I love the feeling of movement through my city, it brings me great comfort. Although COVID-19 has changed a lot of our realities it has also served as a time to reflect back on what we were doing before and how we will move forward in the future. The future I am pushing for is one with a consolidated transportation network in the Bay Area that provides world-class mobility to all of its residents.