Tag: Inspiration

Make It Count

courtesy: goandshoot.com From Casey Neistat's commercial for Nike.

courtesy: goandshoot.com
From Casey Neistat’s commercial for Nike.  

I like when minds are different. I like when one person looks at a piece of abstract art and sees their mother in law on the Eiffel tower, and another person sees bacon falling from the sun.

One mind that looks at the world differently is filmmaker Casey Neistat. He was hired by Nike to make a commercial about their new wristband that counts steps. More specifically, he had to show the world in one commercial what it means to “make it count”.

Neistat is known for his risky approaches. In this particular film he starts out by telling viewers “Nike asked me to make a movie asking what it meant to make it count. Instead of making their commercial I spent the entire budget traveling around the world with my friend Max. We’d keep going until the money ran out. It took ten days.”

A quote that shows up on the screen is: “life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all,” said by Hellen Keller. The camera lenses capture Neistat’s journey through footsteps. He goes from his New York apartment to the airport, to the Eiffel tower, the pyramids in Egypt, the Buckingham Palace and Big Ben in London, the rainforests in Zambia, the Vatican in Rome, Bangkok, and back to his New York apartment. Whether if he’s running, walking, jumping, or flipping, he is always in motion.

No matter how many times I watch this film, I always feel inspired at the end. There are several quotes throughout the video. The ones that I take with me to Élan are “Do one thing everyday that scares you” said by Elanor Roosevelet  and “Action expresses priorities” said by Ghandi. I entered Élan this year as Art Editor. Like anything else, it can be scary taking a new role, but I’m here because I’m passionate about art.

In Élan I get to surround myself with art and writing, and it’s as if I’ve traveled all over the world, through different concepts and different minds all by staying foot in one place, in this one classroom, where Élan’s literary pages come to life. To me, that’s what matters, that’s what counts.

-Kathleen Roland, Art Editor 

Watch the commercial here! Follow the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfZkMm3wcg&list=UUtinbF-Q-fVthA0qrFQTgXQ

Do What You Love

Madison BP picGoing into this year I was extremely excited to get back into the swing of things. At the end of last year the staff had a really good routine of updating the blog, laying out the book and creating a brand for ourselves and was on the road to launch the new and improved Élan! I have to say that this year has been nothing but good. We have made goals for ourselves and now we are well on our way to accomplishing them. As a senior, I feel like that leaving the staff at the end of the year will be bittersweet. Of course it will sad to leave but I will feel very proud of what I am leaving behind.

Taking a lead in both Homecoming and Marketing this year has really inspired me to look into careers like Marketing and Public Relations as well as Event Planning. Mrs. Melanson always says that being on the Élan Staff is like having a job without getting a paycheck. But, being so heavily involved in the planning of Homecoming and really jumping into the Marketing process has made me reconsider my possible career choice.

Having marketing meetings, planning and executing our ideas is something that I look forward to and receive extreme satisfaction from. I get a little adrenaline rush when I get to sit down at a table with my agenda flipped to the notes section, my pen in hand.  I think that being on the staff has inspired me to do what I love and what makes me happy. I love the global idea of branding, planning, and being able to work in a team. I look forward to going to Élan and to pick up right where we left off the previous day. I feel that I accomplish a lot personally as well as working with the rest of the staff as a whole.  There is always a sense of true appreciation after leaving second period every day and it’s something that I am going to miss next year.

-Madison George, Social Media Editor  

Hispanic American?

Courtesy: havanatimes.org

I have read countless quotes, excerpts, and lines of poetry that have inspired me. But, no line of poetry, no paragraph from a fiction piece, no “quote of the day” has ever resonated with me the way Richard Blanco’s poem, “América,” did.

This poem discusses a Cuban family’s struggle with balancing, and accepting two cultures. I have a strong attachment to this idea because I often find myself in the same situation. I, like the characters in Blanco’s poem, am Hispanic. My mother was born in La Habana, Cuba, and my father in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. I was born in Jacksonville, as an American, but my parents raised me with their Hispanic customs. We celebrate Hispanic holidays like Three Kings Day and Hispanic Heritage Month the same way Americans celebrated Veterans Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But we never celebrated them both. It was either Veterans day, or Hispanic Heritage month.

As I got older I began to reflect on my past and realized the significance in all of these differences. I began expressing interest in learning about my background as an American Citizen. I’d spend my entire childhood embracing the Hispanic side of me, so I never got the chance to explore the American. My family soon tried to adopt the beliefs. Simple things like having turkey on Thanksgiving, and putting American Flags on our lawn during Veterans Day. Studying American history and culture in so much detail that it became engrained within us in the same way Hispanic culture was. After this period of self-discovery, I realized that balancing both cultures was harder than I thought. My attempts, though genuine, did not feel natural. I could not be only Hispanic or American. I am a Hispanic American, and I’m allowed to be both.

The cultural resonance and applicability of this poem gave me justification in my realization. Blanco expressed to me, with excruciatingly vivid detail that is hard to balance two cultures at once. That it is impossible to rid of my roots. But that it is possible, to learn to accept both cultures for what they are, and how they play a role in my life. This poem completely captivated me and gave me a sense of self-realization that I had never experienced before.

Now, when someone asks me where I’m from, or what I am, I tell him or her, with pride, that I’m a Hispanic American. I embrace my roots and enlighten others about my Hispanic and American heritage, rather than hide it. I now celebrate all holidays not just “the Hispanic way” or “the American way” but both ways. I wear red white and blue to display pride for America, and also for Cuba and Puerto Rico as well. Cuba, Puerto Rico, and America all share the same colors on the flag, and I share all the same colors in the complex, layered concept of my identity.

-Briana Lopez, Junior Social Media Editor

Read it here! Follow the link:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/245318