In all honesty, this was a step out of bounds for me. I think that's why I enjoyed doing this project, and all of the work that went into it, so much. I think that this project, actually, was just what I needed to renew my focus and get me thinking creatively--something I'm not incredibly good at usually.
Right off the bat, I can tell that I have started to learn from my mistakes that I have made in English as well as other classes this year. For example, I reviewed example mashups from students last year one day and allowed the concepts, aestheticism and methods of delivery of those projects to sink in for a day. I think, like the reporter for the New Yorker, reviewing exemplary works permitted me to get in the mood of working on this mashup. I felt more ready to begin this project than I ever had.
By no means was the entire process as simple or painless as that first step, but I eventually came to the conclusion that in taking that first step, (Kali and) I made the project a lot simpler and much less painful than it otherwise would have been.
This was all during the time when I thought: 1) I was a solo act and 2) Believed I was working on one theme while I ended up working on another entirely different theme when I conferred with my new partner. Having what I felt like was a solid background and feeling like I was "ahead of the curve" on this assignment, however, made me much more flexible when these big, sudden changes occurred.
As we really started to venture into the thick of things, so to say, I found that it was quite difficult. I also thought to myself throughout the project, especially while searching for evidence from Jane Eyre and other works which we have reviewed in English this year, that just because there was an additional person with whom I was collaborating didn't necessarily mean that there was more evidence to be found. Despite how whiny that sounds, I am glad, in retrospect, that I had to find more of these kinds of elements. I say so because I think it pushed me to delve further into Jane Eyre itself. More importantly, though, I strongly believe that doing so got me to take a fresh look at old work and material and allowed me to connect it back to Charlotte Bronte's work, thus allowing me to understand her work better and perceive the connections it has with what's going on today with greater depth.
Lastly, the composition of the project was an important aspect of the deeper understanding which the mashup was supposed to facilitate. I have always known that work that I can do which involves more of a stream-of-consciousness style is my best work. I'm not sure how Kali felt, but I was really excited by how the text and media depicted how I thought about the book and how it's organization opened the door for the readers and even me, a collaborator in the project's formation, to weave moments and ideas in the book together. While it's difficult to articulate, what matter is that it happens.
If I had the opportunity to change something, it would most likely be figuring out what theme we were going to work with sooner. Despite our resilience and ability to start working on our new project right away, I think time spent on the initial topic could have been used valuably toward our final composition and given us less of a panic/need to scramble as the deadline approached.
Kali--
I really don't think I could have asked for a bettter partner for this project. It really helped having someone to bounce ideas off of and have different perspective. Your creativity was amazing to watch in action. More importantly, your work ethic throughout this entire project was amazing:--as someone who has worked with others who don't work with nearly the same quality or care, I was extremely impressed and lucky to collaborate with you. Thank you.
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