"This is a story about love. Not being in love, but the need for love as a necessity in life and development between families, friends, and strangers. Some describe it as a weapon, a feeling not to be trusted because love is dangerous and the desire for dominance overcomes the desire for love. Others describe it as a strand of truth that transcends distance and mortality that allows one to feel peace and comfort. In any interpretation, the existence of love is what gives character to life and the decisions we make comes from the love we receive or from the fear of love. My musical composition evokes personal emotions of intimacy and identity within the context of family and peers in the development of my adolescence.

The beginning of the piece (0:00 - 0:34) follows a pattern of arpeggios in a major key accompanied by a melody of light octave notes to represent the love and happiness that the beauty of new life brings. During early development, a baby learns by interacting with their parent and the environment through their sensory motor skills. Though it may seem that a baby’s needs are simply food, sleep, and poop, learning by the touching of skin, the sound of voices, and the sight of faces becomes nourishment as the baby began to associate their parents with care, comfort, and love. This part of the song embodies the nourishment I received since birth. The delicacy of the higher notes mirrors the softness of the voices with care, while the heavy running notes gives a hopeful feeling towards the future my parents are building for their children.

It slowly fades into the waltz-styled bridge (0:35 – 0:54) to depict the adventurous and innocent nature of childhood. Within early and middle childhood, developmental theorists believe that the attachment style and its influence carry over into adolescence and adulthood through the internal working model which measures the expectations on how one behaves within relationships. Therefore, it is important to receive the love from a secure attachment rather than anxiety from an insecure attachment. The section of the song carries my uplifting curiosity as a child developed by the support from my parents who didn’t discourage me from asking questions. The innocent carelessness of my personality is reflected through the melody, while the last chord strikes in as a means of peace.

However, it is short lived, and the heavy weight of chaos brought by the need for self-identity in the teenage years is represented through the loud chords in 0:55 – 1:10. The melody continues in a semi-cheery tune as my personality in childhood fights to stay relevant in a new school filled with different cliques and social crowds. The fortissimo dynamic is the loudness in my head speaking as my possible selves, developing into a low self-esteem and the lack of self-concept. It seemed that I couldn’t befriend people because I was too open and cheerful, and kids in middle school, who couldn’t wait to adult, deemed that too immature, so I had to watch as everyone grew up faster than I did. The isolated feelings are captured with a diminished chord at the end of this segment.

It quietly transitions into a state of tranquility and peace (1:11- 1:25) as one comes to accept themselves as they mature. The transition refers to my state from isolation into self-acceptance through music and art that aided in my development of identity and positive self-image. Suddenly, an accented minor chord is struck within the silence of peace as anxiety engulfs adolescents into adulthood, realizing that the future is unknown. Social pressures, academic pressures, at home pressures and many more begin to shape my behavior, and often times I start dissociating from anything that would cause stress. However, the conclusion of the song reminds us that at the end of the day, we are surrounded by those who love and support us, which brings motivation and peace of mind.  (1:26 – 1:48).

This was a story about love and the shape of a person’s heart. The sacrifices made to shape the heart, the desires held and the promises lost to shape the heart, the despair and the hope created to shape the heart. After everything ended, the only thing visible was the existence of love."

My old high school belongings reflect the identity I held with my friends. Throughout my adolescence, I had a strained and insecure relationship with my parents. As a result, I tried to build my identity through my friendships.

This artwork is a reflection of the person my friends knew, and the hidden parts of myself I was ashamed of. My friends knew me as an artist. I was someone bright and funny, whereas, I knew that I was incredibly depressed and lonely.

 I touch upon my tumultuous relationship with my parents and how that progressed over the course of my life. Like stated in our text, I express how “restricting my autonomy” caused me to feel depressed, angry, and jaded. I conflate a lot of their parental responsiveness and parental demandingness together because they went hand in hand. Their response of disappointment in me stemmed from me not turning out how they wanted or expected. I touch upon my sibling relationship as well, because I remember reading about how parental and sibling relationships usually go hand in hand, and I felt very validated in my experiences when I read that. 

As I progressed through these stages in my life, my emotional, behavioral, and cognitive autonomy shifted away from my parents and toward my own individual ideas, though some could argue that a lot of my individuality came as a result of my parents and their expectations. My understanding and acceptance of who I am also developed overtime as my relationship with my parents changed for the better. 

Best,

Juan

Titled: Fancy words

Subtitle: on uneven lines

-Gabby Rodriguez

For my Final Project, I decided to explore how family has affected both my identity and my achievements. The painting depicts a hand from each of my immediate family members, each contributing their own characteristics that have shaped my identity. Because of the values instilled in me, I've been able to achieve many things I never thought possible, breaking into the world of my own accord. Through this class and the past few years of early adulthood, I've come to understand how important family is, not just for the sense of love and security they often bring but in terms of their lasting effects on adolescents and what we carry with us as we grow.

As I became an adult and parent, I feared that the younger generations/ my teen kids would turn out like me, but I started to see how to break the chain and provide the structure of a family, the adaptability of autonomy and the importance of intimacy.

So I decided to use the medium of poetry for this Multi-media project

These poems follow a sequence that encapsulates the feeling of academic comparison that is inevtable amongst adolescents, and the ways it made me feel lesser, or inadequate.

Evidently, these cover the topic of school, specifically as it pertains to achievement and peers.

Thank you guys!

ACRYLIC PAINTING AND STORY

BY JULIA REYNOLDS

For my final I chose to paint an image that reflects the foundational moments in which my family shaped my identity and achievements. Although this project is focused on my time as an adolescent, I chose to depict myself in my slightly younger years because it was in those moments the seeds for a positive adolescent experience were planted.I was born with one arm and because of this there was a higher probability that I would face trials is self-consciousness growing up. Fortunately, my family always spoke of my arm in the most positive light imaginable. My parents in particular raised me with this outlook. They put me in every sport, every extracurricular and never once gave me the impression that having one arm was a problem.

The parenting style of my mother and father was “parental responsiveness”, which as taught by Steinberg, is when a parent responds to a child's needs in an accepting, supportive manner. My mother in particular had a talent for this. For example, she would let me choose my outfit every day for school, even when these outfits were slightly on the dramatic side, with long socks, tutus and bright mismatched colors. Another example is she would let me decorate my room anyway I’d like. Investing time and money into adding new paint, bedding, and posters to match my current obsession of the year.

These actions made me feel my mom trusted my judgment, valuing the things I loved, as well as the choices I made. Steinberg teaches that “adolescents who are permitted to assert their own opinions within a family context, that is secure and loving, develop a higher self-esteem and more mature coping abilities.”  This definitely was the case for me, this parenting style gave me space to express, explore, and build my identity as a person. I felt I could choose my own path of what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I felt that my worth was not dependent upon anything other than being me. This was a positive belief I had of my achievement capabilities . The intrinsic desire I had to achieve, or what Steinberg calls intrinsic motivation, shaped my achievement beliefs. The way I was born was not restrictive or even a disability to me, I truly believed I was capable of achieving anything I wished. This positive belief continued throughout my adolescence and held me up in moments of doubt when I began to compare myself to others.

Those intrinsic beliefs I had about my achievement abilities and the identity formed in my childhood, were truly the armor that protected me from comparison, self consciousness, and fear we all face in our adolescence and even adulthood.

That is why I painted that foundational moment in my childhood. There I am standing in the center of my living room, a little girl, born with one arm standing triumphantly in her armor, a pink tutu, a fire fighter hat and a lightsaber. That living room was my stage, my place to create, to choose, to be brave, to be unapologetically myself, and I knew I was always wanted. It would’ve been so easy for me to grow up and hyper focus on moments when my physical capabilities did not match those around me. Instead, I simply got to enjoy being me.  I am so fortunate my parents provided me that armor.