I am...

My name is Leah Van Dell and I am a twenty-two year old woman from Vienna, Virginia. I will be graduating from college in May of this year. I am majoring in Art History and hope to land a job in Washington, D.C. post-graduation. I would like to eventually work with evaluating and appraising artwork, either antique or contemporary, but I will probably have to start out any way I can in a museum to get my foot in the door.

I love all things nature, including hiking, cycling, and camping. Anyone will tell you I am a "tree hugger" and like to do things that help the environment. I see value in imperfection in people and things. I love finding objects at yard sales and thrift stores and fixing them up to be used for a new, innovative purpose, even if it is just for decoration. I appreciate things/people that are unique and things/people that are brave enough to be unique. This doesn't include things or people that (were) intended to be unique but wound up conforming to another kind of group.

I am comfortable being just myself, but this does not stop me from always trying to be a better version of myself. I try to find a balance between being indiscriminately kind to others but being a strong force that others can't trample over.

And More Thoughts-Project 3

I have established a location for my person; that is, where she grew up, where she goes to college, and where she is thinking about moving after graduation. I also put a point where she'll be vacationing over Spring Break. I put all of this information on a Google map.

I think deciding this information is helping me to get a sense of my person. I am afraid that my information will be flawed and a person from her college will figure out that she's not really a student there. This is why I am straying away from the idea of putting her on Facebook. If I do use Facebook, I will just put her on a network rather than her college.

I am looking forward to making a photo for her. Seeing some of my classmates' pics for their people got me thinking about the possible ways to make a photo. I think I will have someone take my picture in my car, so that the reflection of the window kind of blocks my face from clear view for the camera. I could also make some type of story about getting a new car from this photo. The story is coming together and I am getting more excited about doing it.

More thoughts on Project 3

I am planning on making a myspace account and a facebook account for my fictional person, mainly because making accounts for these websites are easy. After reading the article about the girl who committed suicide, I was reminded how easy is for people to make fake profiles. Fortunately in my case, I am not doing this to do harm to another person. However, I was wondering before how realistic I could make this person seem, and each discussion assures me that anyone who comes across this profile will think that the person in my fake profile are as real as they are.

Thoughts on Project 3

I am thinking about the type of person I will create for project 3. It will probably be a woman, perhaps in her senior year of college in maybe the performing arts program at some college. I think I'll just create her personality according to what I would think someone in the performing arts or music major would be like. She will probably be creative, outgoing, liberal, and generally a happy person. As an added touch I might make her the outdoorsy, tree-hugging type. Who drives a hybrid.

Reflection on Project 1

Once I got into the storyline of my narrative, I really enjoyed doing this project. I only wish I had left myself more time to complete it because I started coming up with a bunch of new ideas. This just demonstrates the flexibility of the web as a medium – there are so many directions to go with it. I really liked being able to use mystery in each page in order to keep readers captured enough to move on to the next stage of the story. If I had more time, I would make more options, similar to how I made the “My Options” stage of the story. I am overall pleased with the result of my narrative but would like to polish up some areas.

The Start of Another Exciting Day

Here is the start of another exciting day.

Looking for Squirrel

I know it's around here somewhere. I never see it move; it runs away when I'm not looking. Sometimes I find it peeking from under the couch; sometimes it will be right under my nose. Aha! And there it is, under the big table. Sometimes I try to get the people to play there, but they would rather eat. Eat. That sounds like a good idea. But first I have to show my person that I have indeed found Squirrel. I proudly run to her to display the torn and shaggy squirrel. I pulled the soft cottony insides out weeks ago. She wrestles Squirrel from me and holds it up high - too high for me to reach. But that doesn't stop me from jumping and trying to snatch it with my strong teeth anyway. I jump and jump and jump and jump... and HEY! Squirrel leaps from her hands and flies down the hallway. My determination tells my person, "Don't worry, I'll get it!" And off I go, retrieving Squirrel and proudly bringing it to my person again. I just wait for the thing to be brave enough to run away again, but I will go after it every time!