Undergraduate / UT issue of importance/ Multiracial Couples [6]

Prompt:

Choose an issue of importance to you - the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope - and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

I know I have a lot to improve on in this essay and would love any feedback. The essay cannot exceed a page, and so I have cut a lot and it seems rather short. However, anything helps.

Please and thank you :)

The sun rose in the morning and warmed the hotel room as my boyfriend and I put the coffee on to start the day. It was to be an exciting day as my brother was to walk the stage to receive his high school diploma. It was also the day that my boyfriend, Vinod, was to meet my family after a year of us being a couple. We sat down to the complimentary breakfast before heading to my mother's house where we would meet before the ceremony. He and I talked over our breakfast of fruit and cereal about my family. I kept telling him how much they would love him and how excited I was for my brother to be graduating and moving on with his life.

After the ceremony we all reconvened at my mother's house where much of my family and my mother's friends came to eat and congratulate my brother. Everyone ate well and gave their well wishes to my brother. Family members talked of how much everyone has grown and even sometimes exchanged embarrassing memories of one another. It was a great time and everyone seemed to adore Vinod. When the gathering died around eight o' clock Vinod and I decided to stay the night there at my mother's and drive back home in the morning. As we exited out of the house through the garage door to retrieve our bags from the car, we stumbled upon a conversation I wish we wouldn't have. When we stepped into the light on the pavement we heard "Shhh, here they come." It was too late - we had heard everything. My mother's friends who had stepped out to have a cigarette gathered closely outside to tell racist jokes about Vinod's Indian race and say vile things about us as a couple. My heart sank as I could only imagine what went through Vinod's mind and the horrible feeling that must had washed over him at that moment.

I wish I could say that was the only time he and I have experienced anything like that. It wasn't. Some places we go we receive disapproving looks and whispers. We are sometimes treated differently at places like the grocery store, the airport - even sometimes in restaurants. At the end of the day, no matter how much it bothers us, we have to shrug it off. We cannot dwell on the fear and ignorance of some people. If that were the case, we would never leave the house. The reality of it is that people's fear of multiracial relationships affects couples everyday in a society where the existence of multiracial couples continues to grow. I do not know exactly what it is that gets people's blood boiling about people of different ethnicities coming together. Nothing is different and we learn from one another. I feel my life has been enriched as I have been given the opportunity to learn about his Indian culture and as well as getting to know his family. Together we complete a beautiful life that others can either embrace or turn away from. They suffer from the fear of change from they know as the ordinary. Yet, to us nothing is out of the ordinary. To us, we are just people.

Undergraduate / Fine Arts for UT/ Personal interaction with objects essay/ A powerful painting [9]

I am trying to get into UT's Fine Art department.

This is what I have, but I am working on the last sentence/conclusion. Please feel free to give me any advice or corrections. Thanks!

Growing up, creating stories from my imagination was my preferred entertainment. There was something about drawing the action from my mind onto the paper that intrigued me. I could channel my imagination through my crayons and create vivid and lively pictures that I could build from. At an age where I was too young to write such elaborate stories, I created them visually. No words - only drawings.

I entered Austin Community College three years ago with art as my chosen path. I began to be doubtful as many people would ask, "Art? What are you going to do with that degree?" I hadn't thought about it because there are so many different things you can do with it. Eventually, my mind began to wander, and I decided to try a different road with art in mind. Going into the middle of my second year at school, I decided to try out the Visual Communications Department for graphic design, and soon found that it was not for me. I wanted more hands-on interaction with the art. I wanted to sculpt. I wanted to draw. I wanted to get my hands dirty, but I was now a little worried at what job I could hold upon leaving college. I constantly struggled in my mind about what kind of degree I should pursue and if I should even keep on going with my aspirations of an art degree.

This state of mind would change rapidly during the summer of 2009 when I travelled to Paris, France. I had been exploring the city until the last day came when I realized I had not made time to visit the Louvre. After hours of walking around the immensely beautiful museum, I came across a painting that jolted me to immediate attention. A French neoclassical painting by Hippoltye-Jean Flandrin called Nude Youth Sitting by the Sea took me surprise and left me in amazement. The circular figure's bowed face was shadowed and increasingly drew me in. I could not help but to marvel at this sensual, yet reserved man. The pieced conjured many thoughts as I asked myself, "What was he thinking? Why was he so isolated?" I enjoyed the mystery and beauty of this painting so much. Then, I thought - "That's it! This is what I want to do!" As an admirer the human form, seeing this delicate and rather intimate painting moved me back to where I needed to be. The power that a piece can hold and the thoughts and feelings it can stir within a person is one of the most exciting aspects to being in the presence and a part of art. I had come to sudden realization that my passion for art hadn't left me at all. It was still there and it was stronger than ever. I wanted to create right then and there.

Immediately after returning home from France, I enrolled into an art history course and took it from there. I began to explore how to model figures in ceramics. I began to study the human form more in depth with the aid of books and a life drawing course. I could now see why my professors were so animated and passionate about their work which has inspired me to look into teaching art. With integrity and love for what you do, the job possibilities are endless and I no longer worry about what will happen once I graduate. Experiencing that moment at the Louvre opened up a door in the world I knew I belonged to but just hadn't seen yet.

Since then, I have taken more art courses as well as recently enrolling in a monotyping class at the Austin Museum of Art this spring to further pursue a new interest I have developed in printmaking. Although I have only worked with a few different art mediums, I have found pleasure in each one of them. I see the University of Texas as the place I want to be to grow and explore my full potential. Whether it be in a museum or in a classroom I hope to one day be able to evoke the same powerful feeling I received that day.