Mask Project
In the project, We were instructed to create an essay that we could use to guide our project further into the mask project. The mask project is the project that we recently finished. In the project, we had to make an essay as mentioned before and we also had to construct a mask that explains adolescence in teens and how that is seen in our daily life. So we showed that using masks and our essays that we made. For my project I wrote about my personal experiences and how that has impacted me a lot as well as now and how I could change my overall perspective on things.
Down below, you can see my mask that I have constructed, it looks terrible as I didn't work on it as much as I did with the essay.
Down below, you can see my mask that I have constructed, it looks terrible as I didn't work on it as much as I did with the essay.
Adolescence Essay
In this part of the project, we were instructed to create an essay that would fit with the mask as seen above. I made my essay about how adolescents hide behind a mask. I did this mainly because of personal experience that I have with this type of topic. Down below you are able to see my adolescent essay that I have created for the mask project.
Adrian Tyler Behind The Mask
Growing up as a child that has many curious ideas, I have learned that through my life so far that when people talk you down into a dark hole, you end up leaving it with a mask that you can’t escape. Everyone that has made it through adolescence is a hero. So... What is adolescence, what makes you an adolescent? Adolescence is a time in which you are learning to seek who you are while you grow. While growing as an adolescent myself, I can tell you that it has been a rollercoaster. Learning who I am is hard enough, as I have gone through a lot to get to where I am now. However, trying to learn who you are over the time that you have as an adolescent can be difficult. Given the time that you have as an adolescent, you can expect to see massive changes physically and mentally as you grow as an adolescent. When saying that you grow mentally and physically, I am talking about your mental and physical capacity thus leading to a newer version of yourself.
Furthermore, an experience that arose to make me the way I am came through at the end of 8th grade, when I was just about to start high school. Through the massive transition, I had lost every single one of my friends, my friend group didn’t seem to care about me anymore, I later just shrugged it off as I thought that I would make new friends. My friends were very good people, they would literally do everything even the most stupid things that you normally shouldn’t do and to just lose all of them just from a simple transition was horrible. I became very sad, not depressed but sad, I didn’t really care much about it after a couple months that had passed. I thought that everything would go back to normal however it didn’t, as covid arose things got worse. However, this wouldn’t be the only loss that I would take.
Through this long struggle in the days of covid, I didn’t get very much in-person human interaction, this is what makes me a very antisocial person. Later in the year, around November my grandma had gotten covid. On the first day of December my grandma passed away due to the virus, just four days from her birthday. The following weeks my uncle would die of the same fate as my grandma. At this point I hated my life due to the fact that I looked up to my grandma. My grandma was a super special person in my life, she used to give me life advice and talk about random things that didn’t seem important but they were such as saying “Go chop some wood!” which she lived in Arizona. She also motivated me to do things in life that would make me an overall happier person, losing her made life way worse and I nearly became depressed, feeling the pain and agony that had come upon me, it didn't stop me from achieving what I thought was important.
After these two incidents I was very demotivated and didn’t want to go to school, I didn’t care anymore about anything. This is when I started to hide behind a mask, a mask that on the outside is caring, friendly, and kind, but on the inside it is a very broken, dreadful person that feels that they have no purpose in life. This has affected me for all my life so far, I hide because it is easy to hide your inner true authentic self rather than showing it. Growing in this way I have learned that through adolescence you start to realize who you really are. Erik Erikson was a psychologist that came up with the development theory. This theory is most relevant to today’s society because when you become an adolescent you are growing mentally as you are physically. This is a time where you are learning who you are as a whole, so while going through my adolescence I am truly figuring out who I am by putting the pieces together.
As it affects me now, however, it doesn’t change the way modern day society sees adolescents. We can see changes in the adolescents as they interact with each other differently. Adolescents these days seem to interact with electronic use, meaning they mainly interact using electronics such as through text, calls, and emails. The way that adolescents interact with each other is by using their social emotional states. When they use this type of structured state they are able to interact with each other rather easily with no problems at all. However there is this real life in person connection that they have with each other. Communications such as using groups, these groups can be large, small, or even just two friends. The groups are known as cliques, crowds and friendships. Small groups are cliques, or also known as friend groups, larger groups of people are known as crowds with multiple different types of people in the group and a one or two person friendship. Some of these groups are able to allow adolescents to interact with each other using in person interactions, these interactions are essential for building strong relationships to support each other. Support is one of the main counterparts to helping someone come out of their mask.
As an adolescent myself, I have hid behind a mask for years, however this is only because those that interacted with me were rather rude then nice, they would always say “Why don’t you speak up, you have a voice don’t you? Over time as those people were mean this soon built up to a point which made me quiet, being quiet made it easier as I wouldn’t have to deal with rude people as often and using this I became this super quiet antisocial person and having few friends that were almost identical to me. Seeing different social aspects or groups we obviously know society sees us differently. They see us as the bad type of people, adolescents are seen as criminals to an extent. Why? Adolescence is the time in which we learn about ourselves and our physical growth such as puberty, society sees us differently because we approach the world in a different way, when we see adults doing things that are interesting to us, we find that fascinating which can get us in trouble. The average teenager is mostly viewed as people that use drugs, drink, and stay on the phone 24/7. So coming back to how my adolescent years, I can say that I am not like that however some are and most of them have a deep, darkend place that they have in their life so they decide to hide behind a mask, a mask that shows their happy self on the outside but on the inside they are truly broken, just like a turtle shell. Of course not everyone is like this, but to view this type of person is truly depressing. So like I mentioned before, support will be the real true help to those like me that hide behind a mask.
Seeing though as I haven’t initially tried so far of taking the mask off, I do try my best to hide whatever negative mental state i'm in, however I have tried in the past to take the mask off and when I did it didn’t go as well as expected. People just thought that I was awkward and annoying. They just walked off and ignored me as if I didn’t exist so I decided to stop and ignore people. Coming off as a person that hides behind a mask, we can see that through all the topics that I have covered, that those who have had a bad experience with something or something has happened to them. Looking back at my experience, It may not seem as bad as some other experiences from other people but it shows that even the smallest things that have happened can still affect someone. However, my mask shows this clearly, I feel that it is necessary for parents and guardians to acknowledge, because for those that have a hard time speaking up or making their voice known, just as myself, their parents are now going to be able to help their child in whatever thing that they need support in. However, knowing how I hide behind a mask, how am I able to come out or take this mask off? What does it take? Motivation and Support are the only things that I feel that I need to actually have a conversation with someone. We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing our skin.
Cited Evidence:
Cherry, Kendra. “Understanding Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial development2541.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 18 July 2021, https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-2795740.
Growing up as a child that has many curious ideas, I have learned that through my life so far that when people talk you down into a dark hole, you end up leaving it with a mask that you can’t escape. Everyone that has made it through adolescence is a hero. So... What is adolescence, what makes you an adolescent? Adolescence is a time in which you are learning to seek who you are while you grow. While growing as an adolescent myself, I can tell you that it has been a rollercoaster. Learning who I am is hard enough, as I have gone through a lot to get to where I am now. However, trying to learn who you are over the time that you have as an adolescent can be difficult. Given the time that you have as an adolescent, you can expect to see massive changes physically and mentally as you grow as an adolescent. When saying that you grow mentally and physically, I am talking about your mental and physical capacity thus leading to a newer version of yourself.
Furthermore, an experience that arose to make me the way I am came through at the end of 8th grade, when I was just about to start high school. Through the massive transition, I had lost every single one of my friends, my friend group didn’t seem to care about me anymore, I later just shrugged it off as I thought that I would make new friends. My friends were very good people, they would literally do everything even the most stupid things that you normally shouldn’t do and to just lose all of them just from a simple transition was horrible. I became very sad, not depressed but sad, I didn’t really care much about it after a couple months that had passed. I thought that everything would go back to normal however it didn’t, as covid arose things got worse. However, this wouldn’t be the only loss that I would take.
Through this long struggle in the days of covid, I didn’t get very much in-person human interaction, this is what makes me a very antisocial person. Later in the year, around November my grandma had gotten covid. On the first day of December my grandma passed away due to the virus, just four days from her birthday. The following weeks my uncle would die of the same fate as my grandma. At this point I hated my life due to the fact that I looked up to my grandma. My grandma was a super special person in my life, she used to give me life advice and talk about random things that didn’t seem important but they were such as saying “Go chop some wood!” which she lived in Arizona. She also motivated me to do things in life that would make me an overall happier person, losing her made life way worse and I nearly became depressed, feeling the pain and agony that had come upon me, it didn't stop me from achieving what I thought was important.
After these two incidents I was very demotivated and didn’t want to go to school, I didn’t care anymore about anything. This is when I started to hide behind a mask, a mask that on the outside is caring, friendly, and kind, but on the inside it is a very broken, dreadful person that feels that they have no purpose in life. This has affected me for all my life so far, I hide because it is easy to hide your inner true authentic self rather than showing it. Growing in this way I have learned that through adolescence you start to realize who you really are. Erik Erikson was a psychologist that came up with the development theory. This theory is most relevant to today’s society because when you become an adolescent you are growing mentally as you are physically. This is a time where you are learning who you are as a whole, so while going through my adolescence I am truly figuring out who I am by putting the pieces together.
As it affects me now, however, it doesn’t change the way modern day society sees adolescents. We can see changes in the adolescents as they interact with each other differently. Adolescents these days seem to interact with electronic use, meaning they mainly interact using electronics such as through text, calls, and emails. The way that adolescents interact with each other is by using their social emotional states. When they use this type of structured state they are able to interact with each other rather easily with no problems at all. However there is this real life in person connection that they have with each other. Communications such as using groups, these groups can be large, small, or even just two friends. The groups are known as cliques, crowds and friendships. Small groups are cliques, or also known as friend groups, larger groups of people are known as crowds with multiple different types of people in the group and a one or two person friendship. Some of these groups are able to allow adolescents to interact with each other using in person interactions, these interactions are essential for building strong relationships to support each other. Support is one of the main counterparts to helping someone come out of their mask.
As an adolescent myself, I have hid behind a mask for years, however this is only because those that interacted with me were rather rude then nice, they would always say “Why don’t you speak up, you have a voice don’t you? Over time as those people were mean this soon built up to a point which made me quiet, being quiet made it easier as I wouldn’t have to deal with rude people as often and using this I became this super quiet antisocial person and having few friends that were almost identical to me. Seeing different social aspects or groups we obviously know society sees us differently. They see us as the bad type of people, adolescents are seen as criminals to an extent. Why? Adolescence is the time in which we learn about ourselves and our physical growth such as puberty, society sees us differently because we approach the world in a different way, when we see adults doing things that are interesting to us, we find that fascinating which can get us in trouble. The average teenager is mostly viewed as people that use drugs, drink, and stay on the phone 24/7. So coming back to how my adolescent years, I can say that I am not like that however some are and most of them have a deep, darkend place that they have in their life so they decide to hide behind a mask, a mask that shows their happy self on the outside but on the inside they are truly broken, just like a turtle shell. Of course not everyone is like this, but to view this type of person is truly depressing. So like I mentioned before, support will be the real true help to those like me that hide behind a mask.
Seeing though as I haven’t initially tried so far of taking the mask off, I do try my best to hide whatever negative mental state i'm in, however I have tried in the past to take the mask off and when I did it didn’t go as well as expected. People just thought that I was awkward and annoying. They just walked off and ignored me as if I didn’t exist so I decided to stop and ignore people. Coming off as a person that hides behind a mask, we can see that through all the topics that I have covered, that those who have had a bad experience with something or something has happened to them. Looking back at my experience, It may not seem as bad as some other experiences from other people but it shows that even the smallest things that have happened can still affect someone. However, my mask shows this clearly, I feel that it is necessary for parents and guardians to acknowledge, because for those that have a hard time speaking up or making their voice known, just as myself, their parents are now going to be able to help their child in whatever thing that they need support in. However, knowing how I hide behind a mask, how am I able to come out or take this mask off? What does it take? Motivation and Support are the only things that I feel that I need to actually have a conversation with someone. We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing our skin.
Cited Evidence:
Cherry, Kendra. “Understanding Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial development2541.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 18 July 2021, https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-2795740.
Poetry Project
Here is the Poetry Project, in this project we were instructed to make a poem using various poetic devices. The goal of the project was to write about ourselves or just anything in general. For my poetry project I wrote about how it feels to be stuck, and what I mean by that is generally how I felt being stuck when I first came to Animas as a 9th grader at the time. I made this poem focused on what I experienced and how I felt during that time having to lose my grandma and a family member weeks later. Down below is my poem.
“Stuck”
Sometimes I'm Stuck,
Stuck like a bug weaved into a
Spiders web as the lightning strikes
In the thunderous night
Stuck,
Stuck remembering the blank expression
Of those who saw me as a forgotten memory,
Saying to my face “Who are you?” like I was nobody
Stuck,
Stuck in the dirt going down in a deep depression
Like I'm locked in a cell behind bars in the
Darkness, a darkness that can’t be escaped
Lost,
Lost in the dreadful pain and despair
As I desperately try to repair the bullet
Holes of life using the finest knife
Stuck,
Stuck in sorrow that I borrowed
From those who don’t have sorrow,
Having a glint of light, that I'll soon have to fight
Having a glint of light, just like the tunnel of the night
Knowing that there’s no way out of this
Unbearingly fight, just like sadness,
There was only that one candle of light
The one light that gets devoured by
The absence of the blaze, the shadowy shade
Of that seamless night eating away
The only hope of luminosity
Death arises
Like the darkness of the evening,
The foul smell of a cruel world, a world
Without acceptance
Sometimes I feel as if I’m stuck.
Sometimes I'm Stuck,
Stuck like a bug weaved into a
Spiders web as the lightning strikes
In the thunderous night
Stuck,
Stuck remembering the blank expression
Of those who saw me as a forgotten memory,
Saying to my face “Who are you?” like I was nobody
Stuck,
Stuck in the dirt going down in a deep depression
Like I'm locked in a cell behind bars in the
Darkness, a darkness that can’t be escaped
Lost,
Lost in the dreadful pain and despair
As I desperately try to repair the bullet
Holes of life using the finest knife
Stuck,
Stuck in sorrow that I borrowed
From those who don’t have sorrow,
Having a glint of light, that I'll soon have to fight
Having a glint of light, just like the tunnel of the night
Knowing that there’s no way out of this
Unbearingly fight, just like sadness,
There was only that one candle of light
The one light that gets devoured by
The absence of the blaze, the shadowy shade
Of that seamless night eating away
The only hope of luminosity
Death arises
Like the darkness of the evening,
The foul smell of a cruel world, a world
Without acceptance
Sometimes I feel as if I’m stuck.