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September 2022

Topic 1 Interview: Bark

I interviewed an employee of Anima Mundi Apothecary in Brooklyn, NY. Sophia is a clinical herbalist who has studied at an herbalism school for three years.

Q: Can you tell us about yourself? How and when did you come to start working here?

A: From a young age, I was exposed to holistic healing from my mother. In my 20s, I dealt with a lot of digestive and hormonal issues and tried conventional medications and skincare but none of them worked. That’s when I started healing myself using herbs and I became passionate about helping others with the same method. I ended up going to herbalism school for three years and have been working at Anima Mundi Apothecary for the last year.

Q: What is the mission of this store? Who is the target consumer?

A: We were founded in 2013 by a Costa Rican herbalist, Adriana Ayales, who was passionate about bringing herbal medicine in New York City and having people reconnect with nature. She developed formulas that would help a general audience, but also created spaces for people who need more customized support as well. The shop’s name, “Amina Mundi,” actually means “one world” or “one soul” and represents the connectedness between us and nature. The goal is to combine traditional medicine with the modern world.

Q: In your opinion, what is the difference between herbal medicine and pharmaceutical medicine? What would you say herbal medicine is better?

A: The major difference with pharmaceutical medicine are the side effects that occur when used. For instance, taking medication for diabetes can often times raise your blood pressure. It can be really hard on the liver and kidneys, and people don’t realize that, and in a lot of cases, we’re overmedicating people. Herbs have been used for medicinal use since ancient times, and you can often take something that ends up benefiting another part of your body. Herbalism allows people to take back the power and knowledge of their medicine.

Q: What do you think is the popular opinion about herbal medicine, especially here in the US? Is it controversial?

A: I think nowadays people is more open to herbalism. People have said we are currently in a “wellness renaissance”. Back in the 80s, there was a shutdown of herbal medicine, but in the last 5-10 years there has been a resurgence. I think the big issue currently is the spreading of false information, especially though social media. It’s important that people go to school and learn through hours of clinical work.

Q: What kind of clinical work and training was taught at your herbalist school?

A: I attended ArborVitae School of Traditional Herbalism, which was taught by an herbalist who was previously a M.D., and learned about anatomy and physiology, different kinds of medicines from all cultures, bodily systems, etc.

Q: Do you think that herbal medicine is gaining popularity in America? Especially with the younger generation?

A: Yes, I do think it’s gaining popularity with the younger generation, who tend to be more open-minded. I think in the 90s and 2000s there was an extremely toxic culture around dieting and undernourishing ourselves in order to be considered beautiful. We are learning from those mistakes and as our society is becoming more progressive and advanced, people are coming back to holistic practices.

Q: Are you aware of any sustainability/ethical issues with producing herbal medicine?

A: Absolutely. When anything becomes popular, it’s important to be aware of the ethics around it. When growing and harvesting herbs, it’s important to be organic or ethically wildcrafted. Wildcrafting means a specialist will collect herbs that are in abundance in an area, and organic means that they are grown without chemicals or additives. There are certain herbs that are endangered, specifically the slippery elm tree. It’s known for healing gastrointestinal issues, but was being overly wildcrafted. A lot of herbalists are now working to grow their own slippery elm.

Interview Topic One

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I interviewed one of my high school classmates who is working in the airport as a “bird killer”. He is working in this position since the airport was established. When I wanna start my interview post he is the first person who pops into my mind.

Based on your experience How many will be killed by you per day?

Come on! I am not a real killer, ok? I don’t kill birds.Kill birds cannot make air-plane safe. we currently using different technology  now.

So, what is the standard that can make sure air-plane can get safe departure or landing process. 

Based on Chinese air regulations. have to make sure, (airport as the center) make sure within radium 3 km have no birds. when air plane take off about 100 meter height, when air plane during landing about 60 meter height from the ground is the most dangerous situation to get birds accidents.

What are the main strategies we are using right now?

Currently Biological control technology is the main method, any others like sound, or visual methods  just always stand by as plan B for us. but now people and goverment considering harms birds and environment system, so

Why can’t have birds around airport?

Because of the safety. every year there is over 10,000 cases air accident in the planet, about 20% are made by birds. Ok! like make a quick demonstration for you, if unfortunately the plane and the bird hit up when them flying on their regular routes. From the point of view of physics, if a bird weighing 500 grams hit with an aircraft with a speed of 370 kilometers/ H, it will produce an impact force of 3 tons. Such a huge impact force may cause serious safety problems, and the aircraft will inevitably be damaged. Big mess.

Are you feel guilty when you have to kill birds. 

Yes, of course, but this is my duty, also I can give up over hundred life to save a bird.

 

 

Topic 1 Interview

I asked a friend who is fascinated by astronomy, and he is an amateur in space and satellites.

Q: What do you think about the concept of satellite?

A: A satellite is something that orbits, or goes around, a planet or a star, and there are lots of different types. Some natural things are satellites – like the Moon, because it goes around the Earth, but usually, when people talk about satellites they mean the ones that were made by people. They’re sort of like spaceships moving around the Earth, and they’re usually made up of a computer, along with solar panels to get power from the Sun. Sometimes they also have cameras or other scientific tools to help gather information.

Q: What is the situation in space right now?

A: Junkyard…We’ve launched rockets and spacecraft into Earth’s orbit, but now thousands of objects from tiny screws and bolts, to dead satellites encircle the Earth. Transforming the space above us into a junkyard.

Q: What is space junk?

A: any man-made object in orbit around the Earth that no longer serves a useful function

Q: What is the damage of space junk?

A: It directly threatens people in space like ISS(International Space Station), which is in the crosshairs. ISS has already been hit by little bits of debris on a number of occasions and there are no guarantees that other substantial things might not hit it again in the future.

Q: What do you think about the future space environment?

A: Getting worse I guess? You know SpaceX plan to launch 12,000 satellites in space, but we already have 6,000 satellites in space right now and it has already been a junkyard, I think it will become more severe in the future.

According to the interview, I’ve learned lots of space environment problems and also concerned about our future. It’s a good direction to develop my satellite guide.

Assignment 1 – Guide Process

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This week, I did two things for the Guide. Firstly, I tried to see how to make a mini-booklet by using an A4 paper. And at the same time, I draft the contents and thought about how to distribute them properly .

1. A mock-up for ideation

 

2. Draft the contents of the Guide

    • Cover
    • What is Coat of Arms (P1)
    • It is from… (P2)
    • Its components are:  (P3&P4)
    • Bonus Info (P5)
    • Do you want to design one for yourself? How? (P6)
    • Back Cover: Design you Own One > Open

quilting guide progress

Guide draft:

I planed to make a game that player controls a character who need to gather leftover cloths and stitch them together. It would be a 2d top down game. Along with player collects more materials, the game image’s filter will turn from dark to bright, which indicates a mindset’s transformation. Also, the game’s flow shows the process of a patchwork’s sewing. 

Some game concepts image below: 

1: at the beginning, there are not too many materials been collected

2: some materials have been collected

3: all materials are collected

Form Analysis – Bark

The form that I intend to use for my guide is a pharmacy medication label.

  • Why this form? What are its features (stylistic, experiential)

Medication labels typically show how the medicine is used and consumed, what are its ingredients, and what are its side effects. It is very detailed and has a serious tone.

  • How is this form typically used, and what do you plan to subvert/imitate/utilize?

I chose this form because it relates to my topic of medicinal uses of cinnamon (bark). I think the pharmacy bottle and label will emphasize that cinnamon is directly used in medicines, which is something that people often don’t realize. Using typical western medicine packaging makes the audience reconsider whether organic ingredients should be considered medication at all. I also what to use the “side effects” portion of the label to describe the ethics and sustainability of cinnamon production.

  • What would change if you tried a different form? What critical lens does the form you’re applying emphasize?

Another form that I brainstormed for this topic were infographics on the production of herbal medicines. Initially, I thought I could draw visuals on the lifecycle of cinnamon production, but I felt infographics was too straightforward and that using the medication bottle would be a better metaphor to describe the medicinal use of cinnamon.

  • Is there a metaphor well-suited to your form (i.e. cooking with code)? Or, are there other metaphors you might employ?

It would be a visual metaphor, taking a spin on a commonplace item to describe my topic.

Metaphors We Live By Response

  • Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?

Since English is my first language, I found that all of the examples given in the text was directly relevant to the metaphors that are commonly used in my culture. I think that using battle terms or win/lose metaphors are very common in American culture, since our culture highly encourages competition. “Time is money” is a very common metaphor used in American culture, since we are a capitalist society and work around an hourly schedule.

  • Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?

A metaphorical system that I commonly use are orientational metaphors. For instance, I often refer to my moods as being “up” or “down”. When I speak in these metaphors, I envision my life and emotions to be on a graph, where the baseline represents my content emotional state. Also often times, I refer to “up” being good and “down” being bad.

  • What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?

For my topic, “bark”, metaphors are commonly used to describe its strength. For example, “…bark protect trees…” and “…bark is tough…”. While bark physically protects trees, we have found ways to use it medicinally, so I would I want to apply the metaphor of strength to our internal well-being also.

I started to work on the layout of how I wanted to present the guide. I began to do more research on the history of taxidermy with the Egyptians and the research being done within the museums. I now have a clear thought of what my field guide is going to be about.

Interview Canals

I interviewed a veteran of the U.S. Navy. While he spent most of his time on land as an intel officer, I thought his perspective provided an interesting lens on the topic of both expert and non-expert.

What definition comes to mind when you think of Canals?

A Connector.

How So?

The connector of bodies of water that flow into each other. Mainly in cities.

What do you believe is the main purpose of canals?

Vessel transportation of people and goods.

Do you believe there are any secondary purposes of canals?

Moving energy to an environment and allowing access to water for areas that may not have had it otherwise.

What made your mind go to waterways rather than bodily systems?

Being a coastal person and a veteran of the Navy, my mind automatically went to waterways.

To your knowledge, are canals man-made or environmentally made?

Both? [I then explained the differences to a canal and a channel that I have learned in my research]

Are you aware of the negative environmental impacts caused by canals?

I wasn’t aware and mainly thought of them as providing access and transportation and did not consider the ecosystem impact.

 

When holding this discussion, I realized I was not alone in my knowledge of the importance of canals outside of commerce to our environment and protection. Even when interviewing a Navy veteran, it was apparent that this is a lesser-known fact. In addition, realizing the broad range of the topic mid-way through my research between the waterway/transportation lens vs. the bodily lens (which was inspired by the Borderlands reading) it is not the first idea that comes to mind when discussing canals. Still, if you enter it into a Google search, you receive a different outcome, and the bodily canals are the first to appear in the results.

Form for Taxidermy

  • Why this form? What are its features (stylistic, experiential)
    • I will be using the field guide form for my project. This form is most commonly used as an educational guide for the very young and older generations. Most are used for plant and animal research. The style is very simple, with one side for information and the other for pictures or other graphics.
  • How is this form typically used, and what do you plan to subvert/imitate/utilize?
    • I plan to imitate the structure of the field guide. I do want to go through the history of taxidermy till now. Fill it with information but not overwhelm it with words. The graphics in the field guide are ways to keep the reader engaged and able to follow through with the guide.
  • What would change if you tried a different form? What critical lens does the form you’re applying emphasize? 
    • If I would try a different form it would be, a guided tour, typically used in museums. I would use this form to show people the idea behind taxidermy and the process of preservation of animals.
  • Is there a metaphor well-suited to your form (i.e. cooking with code)?
    Or, are there other metaphors you might employ?

    • I don’t think that there is a metaphor well-suited to field guides.