Brainwashed

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

1.) Acknowledging the Lizard: There is a part of the brain that is mostly concerned with safety, anger, and its greatest fear is being laughed at.  This fear causes our art to shut down.  It's called 'the resistance', and it keeps you from expressing yourself but makes you follow instructions instead.  We have to acknowledge this 'lizard brain' in order to ignore it.

2.) Connect: It is up to you whether or not social media is actually worth using.  It's not for keeping score of how many followers, comments, or 'likes' you have.  You can use it to make real connections and interact with people you would have never been able to without it.

3.) Learn: School used to be very different than it is today.  You would go to learn a trade, and then grow up doing that trade for the rest of your life.  Now, it's is about experiences and the constant failure of shipping and learning.

Essay:
There are many connections that can be made from the layers I summarized above, to the blog I am currently writing this essay for.  I think that many of the assignments for this class are 'lizard-brained' in a way.  With all of the word count requirements and strict grading criteria, we are more concerned with meeting guidelines and following instructions than we are with actually expressing ourselves.  We have to write a certain amount of words, no more, no less.  So we don't really care about writing what we truly feel or want to say.  We're only worried about whether or not we're going to lose points because we didn't write enough words.  If an essay accurately responds to a prompt, it shouldn't matter how long it is.  The 'Acknowledging the Lizard' exercise seems like an incredibly useful tool in becoming a more creative, artistic person as it teaches you to create original works, but these assignments are doing the exact opposite.
There is clearly a connection between the 'Connect' exercise and the blog we are working on for the course.  Blogging is an example of social media, and is one of the things that connects us with the rest of the world.  The assignments we've completed are now on the internet, and can be accessed by anyone with a computer.  We are now able to receive criticism or praise from people we have never met and probably never would have without the internet.  I think this an excellent exercise in gaining experience, as it creates the opportunity of doing something influential and gaining power in the process.
The main connection between the 'Learn' exercise and this blog, is that blogging is one of the many tools that make the learning process of today's society so much different.  School is now more about experience and experiments, like blogging.   This a very useful tool in becoming a better student, as it shows what learning is all about.  It's about improving after failure, and gaining insight into what you want to do with your career.  This can help you with becoming a better artist as well.  You're no longer doing the same thing over and over again, instead you're trying new things for the experience.