Reflections on the Philosophies of Craft
There were two major points that stood out to me in chapter 2 of David Gauntlett's Making is Connecting.
The first item that spoke to me while I was reading is the phrase that the Victorian thinker John Ruskin included at the end of his book Unto the Last, that "'THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE'" (Gauntlett 28). I interpret this quote as similar to the ever-common advice that money cannot buy happiness; the only true source of happiness and satisfaction comes from enjoying life itself.
The other point that I'd like to highlight is from page 41 of Making is Connecting and is taken from an 1884 lecture called "Useful Work versus Useless Toil" by William Morris. Morris states that there are three methods from which to derive pleasure from creation and they are as follows.
The hope of rest, or the pleasure one feels upon completing a labor of love.
The hope of product, or the satisfaction of the actual manufacture of a craft.
The pleasure in the work, which is essentially what it seems: the satisfaction one derives from the process of making.
These three forms of pleasure are interesting to me because I have experienced each of them firsthand in class. Each week, I enjoy the process of filming, editing, and completing the assigned videos. Upon finishing each video, I also experience the hope of rest and the hope of product.
Beyond what I took from the reading itself, I also took notes on my surroundings while reading. I do all my homework in my dorm floor's study lounge, which is where I read chapter 2. However, rather than reading at one of the desks, I chose to move to one of the couches where I could lay down and better concentrate (to no avail).
I started reading at 9:15 and there were four other people in the study lounge, all diligently working. In fact, my roommate and another friend were reading books for their own respective classes. Someone who was sitting on the couch next to mine, however, was diligently watching Netflix.
By the time I got to page 33, I started getting distracted, no matter how hard I tried not to. There was a crowd of people in the hallway making an unnecessarily loud din, while in the study lounge, the guy watching Netflix was incessantly clicking his pen. As if there wasn't enough noise already, one of the girls in the lounge began watching Vines on maximum volume.
I kept on reading, though, and a page later, the girl watching Vines left the study lounge. By the time I finished the chapter at 10:08, another girl had also gone back to her room. Upon concluding, I moved back to the desk where my laptop and textbooks were and begin this blog post.
I didn't listen to any music while reading, but while writing this post, I have been listening to the same 6 songs on repeat: What Would You Do and Laura Palmer (RAC Mix) by Bastille, The Man by Aloe Blacc, Step Out by José González, Do I Wanna Know by the Arctic Monkeys, and Reflections by MisterWives.
In total, my English 149 homework took me from 9:15 to 11:07 to complete.
