So this week, we needed to start exploring midterm ideas. A bunch of us met on Monday to brainstorm ideas and see what we’re interested in and we had awesome conversations and came up with a TON of topics everyone was interested in.

From there, we worked on narrowing them down and putting them into buckets, and after that, we just went around the table to say what people were interested in working in, and if someone had overlapping interests… for them to partner together.

As people kept saying topics, great conversations started happening and some really good discussions evolved. A lot of people left the brainstorming session with a clear idea of what to do (like Corbin) or left with the same idea they came in with but more solidified (like Skylar and Olivia). For me, I think I narrowed it down to two topics that are very interesting to me…. but I’m still not sure which way I’m leaning towards.

For my first topic idea, I’m very interested in the idea of CULTURAL IDENTITY.
Especially now that travel and being a “global citizen”is becoming more of a thing with the younger generations, I’m very interested in the stance ex-pats have on their home country, new country and everything in between. With issues such as terrorism, politics and religious differences overwhelming the media these days, the need for cultural awareness has become more important and I’m interested in how people are retaining their cultural identity, and how other people respond to it.

Another topic idea I had was the issue of HUMAN TRAFFICKING / SEX SLAVERY.
A couple of years ago I read a story about a girl that was basically being rented by her parents for their uncles, friends, and eventually strangers to have sex with. It wasn’t the usual story a la “Taken” of girls abducted and being forced into sex slavery (although that still happens) but, to me, was so much worse because this was 1) a girl that had this done by her actual parents–the people that are supposed to look after and protect her, and 2) the fact that it happened in the US. The story stuck with me.

For the purpose of this assignment though, I went down the latter route, keeping my first idea as a plan B. Based on the Agile Human-Design Approach, here is how my Midterm would be broken down if the focus remains on sex slavery:

• Goals
  • to educate people about how this is still a very prevalent issue in the world, and happening right under our noses
• Vision
  • Still TBD.
• targeted audiences
  • people in the US
• communities
  • women and people that can move the needle (?)
• unknowns
  • so many

I started talking to Andrew Lazarow (the “Nothing” and “Designing for Live Performance” prof) and he’s done some work with the FBI regarding human trafficking. For now, I’m kinda just reading more on the subject–apparently Atlanta is the main US hub brining in around $290 million a year in illegal sex industry dealings–to get a good grasp on the subject and how I can make something from  it. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with this or where it’s going to take me. It feels MASSIVE, so I just need to figure out how to narrow it down and break it down into digestible bits so that I can get through this and have something great by the end.