Reference no: EM133753457

Question: First, identify a theme and discuss how it appears in your essays. Look over your previous essays find some idea that appears in many of them (it does not have to appear in all of them, but at least in 3 or 4). Again, stay away from themes like "my family" or "love" or "nature" because even though they are important to you personally, your manifesto will look like everyone else's on a topic like "family bonds" or "nature in my backyard" (trust me, I've seen enough of them to know!).

For example, let's say I notice that I analyzed an abstract painting with jagged lines and sharp angles; my playlist featured songs like Wham's "Wake Me up before You Go-Go," and Eminem's "Stay Wide Awake"; my photo series featured shots of my favorite coffee cups and my running shoes. I realize a unifying theme of stimulants/stimulation, so I write "The Stimulist Manifesto" (it's ok to make up a term, as long as it's one that makes sense in its context, just like Andre Breton did in his "Surrealist Manifesto"--in this assignment you can be creative, have fun, and still be analytical). In classic manifesto-style I might begin such a document, "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!!" then demonstrate how my essays reflect that feeling.

Don't merely repeat the posts, but instead weave the artifacts and your thoughts about them into the larger structure of your manifesto's point, showing how they fit into this bigger analytic picture.

Second, identify what your manifesto opposes. With "The Stimulist Manifesto," I would write about things my manifesto opposes: sleeping in, snowbird drivers, sloths (they're cute, but I mean, they are slowwwwww), letting your hair air dry. This list might seem silly at first, but they are all representations of actions or objects that are the opposite of a "stimulist"! Talk about why your manifesto opposes one or two of your examples in depth.

Finally, present a "platform for action" that your manifesto suggests we can all take.

With your theme, what do you think the rest of us can do to live up to your idea? If I write "The Stimulist Manifesto," I might suggest on my platform for action things like: go outside! try something new! stop at a coffee shop! think about a new idea! talk to someone who is different from you! put down your phone! Give me some concrete actions that you think I can take to live out your manifesto. Tell me why those actions reflect your theme and why they will help me to look at life differently.