This was the final week of our Origins seminar. In anticipation of the Celebration of Research, we were asked to prepare and present a draft of our poster about our research topic to present to the afternoon seminar.

Lightly workshopping the class’s posters during our longer afternoon seminar was especially nice, as I got the chance to see everybody’s posters (something which was not as easy later in the evening as I found myself rather occupied with my own poster). Although we had been discussing our research with each other throughout the semester, it was rewarding to see the culmination of each project. Many of the class’s projects took on an entirely new dimension when presented visually and to their full extent.

I was particularly enthralled by two students’ projects: Ronnie’s artistic presentation of various origin stories and Benard’s research into the origin of his tribe.

Beginning with Ronnie, the first thing which caught my gaze was the exuberant use of color. For each of her pieces, she had selected a vibrant palette of primary colors which seemed to both clash and harmonize at the same time, which I would have had a rather tough time achieving. I’m glad that there was a talented artist among the group to make up for absolute lack of creativity which I contribute. Beyond her use of color, she had managed illustrate a number of different origin stories (each with unique plots) in a cohesive style; perhaps an homage to the notion that we all share the same ultimate origin, but each maintain our own descriptions and philosophy on how our world came about.

Benard’s extensive research into the origin of his tribe frankly blew me away. With limited written resources, he had managed to compile an extremely far-reaching history on the origin, movements, conflicts, and tragedies of his tribe. His project, to me, really exhibited the power of strong traditions of maintaining oral histories (a concept which interlinks somewhat strongly with my own research topic). He had provided excellent visuals with informative annotated maps and pictures from the region. Benard was enthusiastic about his topic and excited to answer questions. His project really exhibited the effort that he put into it.

We would go on to revise our posters last-minute before the evening’s activities.

During the evening Celebration of Research, in the brief amount of time in which I was not discussing with Walker or benefiting from the generous buffet, I ventured over to the Zine tables to view the artistic compilations of our sister-class. Having used a number of resources allocated to them through the new MuleWorks Innovation Lab, the students had assembled a variety of projects which displayed their poetic abilities, creative vision, and perhaps an element of rather cynical self-awareness. One of the zines, made by Will Gross, included a strike-anywhere match annotated with the caption “Make this zine useful”, implying that the notion that the work might be better suited as a fire starter. I wouldn’t agree with that notion, as the content was perfectly apt, but I appreciated the humor.

Throughout this semester, this series has provided me with weekly material for contemplation. It has been an exciting experience to interact with such brilliant and enlightening guest speakers so consistently, something which very few undergraduates get to do in the way we do.