Our outward identity is very easily changed. I think especially as high school students, we want to fit in and be liked more than anything. This means that a lot of the time, we try to change ourselves to fit the boxes our peers and society create instead of shaping the boxes to better fit us. I learned so much about my classmates from their identity vessels. A lot of people really put care and time into their projects and some of them completely changed how I view their makers. Since I am me, I obviously knew that what other people can see of me is not my whole identity, but I think something in me forgot that that is the same for everyone else. There were vessels that I looked at by people who I didn’t really know or didn’t think I would like to know, and they held some much meaning. Some people’s projects even completely changed my perspective on them. It showed me just how easy it is for people to be pushed into certain categories because of their outward appearance, with said categories simplifying & often ignoring who they really are. I thought this really tied into the poem “Identity” by Julio Noboa Pollanco, in which the first few lines say, “Let them be as flowers, / always watered, fed, guarded, admired, / but harnessed to a pot of dirt. // I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed, / clinging on cliffs, like an eagle / wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks” (Pollanco 1-6). I think Pollanco excellently expresses the theme I saw across all of the identity vessels—the want to move past the strict role society assigns us & be oneself, as opposed to fitting the mold, but being confined. Many people know that the labels we are given limit how much we can really be ourselves, but it is almost impossible to express oneself without them since, most of the time, categorizing things is how we are able to interpret the world around us. This project really made me realize that there is so much more to people than what you can see on the surface and a lot of the time, if you take the time to get to know someone, the things you learn about what really matters to them are impossible to tell from the outside.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 3
LTQ Vessel Response
As I looked at various classmates’ vessels I noticed several common details about ourselves in how we view the identity we give off to others. Things like ethnicity and appearance were by far the most common, followed by activities that people tend to know them for, like in my case, songwriting and music. Personal and social identities tend to be things like this as I’ve noticed that people like myself tend to have an image of themselves that they want to bring to the world. As for whether your identity is changeable, it depends which part - you can of course change your hobbies, where you live, where you work, although you also can’t change a lot of your identity - with things like ethnicity, birthplace, and your family being things that you can’t change. Society also can prevent said growth and change of that identity, with many people falling into social norms and being afraid to change so that they don’t embarrass themselves. From my own personal experience I’ve been reluctant to change before. When looking at my peers’ vessels, I realized how a lot of us have similar feelings about our identity. We tend to put a version of ourselves out there for everyone to see, while also having a version for those close to us and a version of ourselves that only we can see. Interestingly, I find that a good way to explain this is through social media, given that as said by the Nausicaa Renner “New technology—especially the smartphone—allows us to produce a narrative of our lives, to choose what to remember and what to contribute to our own mythos.” (“How Social Media Shapes Identity”, 2). This quote is one I definitely agree with, as most of my classmates have an Instagram accounts, where on it we tend to post a filtered version of us, the identity that we want show to everyone else, meanwhile, many of us, including myself, have other things on Instagram that are exclusive to our close friends such as close friends stories and spam accounts, where we post things stuff we would only want to share to those we are comfortable with. Many people also have several things that we don’t share on Instagram, as many, including myself, have several images on one’s photos app that aren’t posted.
Boston, Massachusetts , US
Posts: 3
Identity Vessel Reflection
Through the creation of my vessel and upon reflection on my classmates' statements, I’ve realized the extent to which our identities can reach into our personal lives and that we ourselves define what makes us who we are. Despite one’s innate attributes, we as people decide what makes up our identity and how we decide to share it with others. I drew similarities between this conclusion and Khalil Gibran’s poem, “Fear” which describes the fear of growing and changing as a person through a fearful river running towards the ocean. Gibran highlights that rivers cannot go back and that we all will eventually flow into the vast ocean. Additionally, I really admired the vulnerability in my peers’ vessels and statements, in which they described significant events or personal experiences that have shaped their identity. The creativity of my peers’ vessels was inspiring such as a lantern and a bag which were decorated with pictures, pins, and other personal items. Furthermore, the use of many shoe boxes with words on the outside and personal objects on the inside was a clever feature that demonstrated the contrast between how others perceive a person versus how that person perceives themselves.
Identities are flowing and shifting as one grows and becomes shaped by one's experiences and values. There may be unchangeable things about ourselves, however, we have control over certain aspects of our identity. This makes identities semi-malleable and allows us to shape our identity to some extent. Certain social pressures created by society may force some to change aspects of themselves to fit into some group that they identify and desire to belong to, which can change how others perceive them and their perspectives. Growth is natural throughout life and inevitable so our identities are also inevitably evolving.
Dorchester, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 3
Vessel Reflectiom
Tracing the corners of the Seevak room, and seeing the colorful displays of boxes, booklets, paintings, and more, I had never expected to grow so fond of the projects in front of me. The truth is, I don’t know everyone that takes Facing. I don’t even think I know everyone in my class. But it was beautiful to see how in some form, some way, our identities all became one in that room. I am usually a skeptic, but today showed me that even if we feel now that our identities are finite and can’t be changed, we have always been constantly changing without even knowing. Looking at the baby photos of my classmates, and reading the stories that accompany them, I realized that not everyone knows themselves in the way they think they do. The outside perceptions were filled to the brim with “smart”, “shy”, “funny”, and more simple words, -- probably reiterated by their friends -- but the insides mainly had photos or songs that everyone liked. Not to say that these things do not matter and cannot form an identity, but I found myself wondering more about the complex adjectives people would use to describe themselves, had there been no filter.
Claude McKay explained it best in his poem “I Know My Soul”. Namely, one of the stanzas that stuck with me was:
"And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole."
I found that many people didn’t explain their identities further not because they didn’t know what to say, but rather because they may not have wanted to dig in to their personal identities in that way. We are conditioned to be proud of the things that society thinks are good attributes, and shun the ones that they don’t. This inadvertently splits us from our true identities, and it becomes our job to want to do something about it or succumb to the expectations placed upon us. We as teens may be young, but it is bittersweet to realize how much we don’t know or wont accept about ourselves. It calls for change, but also reserves some of the best parts of our beings. Nevertheless, I feel as though I understand the people around me, the spaces they make up, and the decisions they make a whole lot more now that I have essentially “seen” into their brains, and I applaud everyone for the bravery to do so. Overly-personal or not, opening up to not only so many students but in a school where it isn’t usually appreciated over academic achievement, is never an easy task.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 3
I learned a lot about my classmates and even people I have never seen before. I was very surprised by many of the vessels, as I have seen some of these people but have never talked to them and I honestly had my own perceptions of them as a person. Some people who had seemed very extroverted or popular to me actually saw themselves differently and they all had very unique interests. I realized that many people felt that others viewed them negatively, but in their accompanying statement, it was evident that they were all just their own people who live differently, and enjoy different things. In the text “How Social Media Shapes Our Identity”, the author explained that many teenagers and even children spend hours on social media now and that can have important impacts on our identities. I agree with this, social media allows people to put themselves out there in any way they want and that can often mean just posting things that are popular and hiding the unique or “weird” things about themselves. This can really negatively affect the people who see that media, as it can often make them feel like less, because they start to think their lives aren't as good as others and this can change a lot about their identity. However, I can see a universal sense of belonging in at least some part of a community just like we learned in class, whether it be religion, a sport, their work, their passions, etc. I noticed that on the outside of many vessels, the things that defined them were more group oriented while on the inside, it was more individual and personal things.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 3
LTQ Identity Vessel Response
As I was looking through others’ vessels, I found that identity is definitely malleable and shaped by our environment and the people we want to group ourselves with in a way, but our core beliefs can’t be changed as much. For example, in terms of how you’re perceived, you might be racially perceived differently outside of the US than inside. You might dress alternatively and have that be more normal in Boston, but if you went to Texas, people would think you’re weird. In Claude McKay’s poem I Know My Soul, she writes, “If I can comprehend but not control, I need not gloom my days with futile dread,” which I interpret as her saying that she cannot control how others perceive her, and letting go of caring about that brings her more happiness. I think that process is an incredibly important part of growing up, because at the end of the day, you’ll never find fulfillment in pretending to be somebody you aren’t.
In a lot of ways, society inhibits our ability to grow and change, but it can also help us grow. In my experience, I know as I have met more people from different backgrounds and with different experiences, I feel as though I’ve grown a lot and become a better person. On the other hand, I remember seeing somebody’s statement that they had changed their identity to try and fit in at BLS, by ignoring the part of them that loved to read and Star Wars because they didn’t want to seem like a loser. I think the need to fit in with society definitely hinders your ability to grow, but getting out into different social groups helps you grow.
Some of the vessels definitely surprised me because people got really vulnerable in ways that I didn’t expect. This assignment definitely reminded me that everybody holds so much depth and is so unique, and it’s important to not box people in mentally.
Somebody else shaped their vessel as a tree to symbolize how we never stop growing. I definitely believe this to be true, and in my experience, I’ve grown a lot and considered myself differently especially in the last couple years. I also noticed that a lot of people put pictures of themselves as children. That definitely shows that although you change a lot, there’s some part of you that has stayed from your earlier years, part that you can’t get rid of even if you want to. Identity is malleable in some ways, because the things you like/dislike, the people you surround yourself with, your ideas, and your values will change over time, but other parts of you like culture, nationality, and the way you were raised will always stay with you.
Boston, Massachusetts , US
Posts: 3
Identity Vessel Response
The things that shape how we see ourselves, how others see us and how we see others is influenced by the interplay of our and other people's social and personal identities. Our individual identities impact our personal and social choices as they shape and influence how we move and navigate who we are both as a person and someone in society. Personal identities and social identities are connected as they both influence how we take in experiences and societal expectations. Berverly Daniel Tatum mentions this in his writing “The Complexity of Identity:“Who Am I?””, when he speaks about how, “Which parts of our identity capture our attention first?” For example, someone who is deeply connected to their personal and cultural background would choose something that would benefit or expose their heritage more to society rather than not. On the other hand, they are different as one helps with expectations while personal helps interpret our societal roles.
Our identity is indeed extremely malleable, changing and taking into the people and events that happen around us and applying that to who we are as a person. Society today limits our ability to change and grow throughout our lives as it gives us different identities and roles that we need to conform to or in some worse cases, label others with negative terms just because of one thing that has caught society’s eye. An example of this is brought up in Nausicaa Renner’s Article, “How Social Media Shapes Our Identity”, where she mentions how one single accident could cause the downfall of others, “The persistence of certain images is more of a problem for some than for others. There are moments, elevated not by the fact of being recorded but by the impossibility of being erased, that become traumatic. These situations—in which a naked photo or an offensive tweet destroys a person’s public life—are unfortunate, and widely covered (for example, in Jon Ronson’s “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”)”. Social psychological theories impact humans’ willingness to view and accept the identities or the growth of others as its human nature to conform and submit to a group to feel accepted and get a sense of belonging. It creates a space where in order to become more of that group, they must bury the rest of their identity and solely focus on that one connecting behavior that ties them to the people that they want to be accepted to.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 3
LTQ 1: Personal Identity
Identity is shaped by many of our own personal experiences and personal cultures. Our own self-perception, or how we view ourselves, and how we view others are linked. While viewing and reading classmates' identity vessels, I noticed that our external identities are often the aspects that stand out or are highlighted by others. Across many boxes the external identities were less full then the internal. Often times it is easier to express our internal identities because we have our own thoughts, feelings, and intentions, which gives us a perceived identity. The internal perspective allows us to express what we enjoy and shows the experiences which have shaped us. On the other hand, how others perceive us is based on others and their observations, which might not always align with our self-perception. External perceptions can be filtered by biases and interpretations, making them less clear to the self. Furthermore, for those who tend to view themselves in a more favorable light, it blinds us from how others might see us because we focus on positive traits and rationalize our negative behavior with cognitive dissonance. Our internal identity and self perception is also weighed heavily on our values.
Our personal identity is malleable and it can also be influenced by societal norms. Social norms and expectations can limit our ability to express our identities freely. For instance, societal prejudices and stereotypes impose roles which make it challenging for individuals to grow away from pressures. Furthermore, we may be reluctant to challenge or change identities due to fear of rejection or discrimination. Beverly Daniel Tatum writes on internal Identity in “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’, stating, “Common across these examples is that in the areas where a person is a member of the dominant or advantaged social group, the category is usually not mentioned. That element of their identity is so taken for granted by them that it goes without comment. It is taken for granted by them because it is taken for granted by the dominant culture”.