This week we took a deeper look into illustrations in letters. We also took a look at stamps, and how they have been come to be a great value by collectors. We discussed how the errors (usually printing errors) sometimes made the stamps even more valuable. I was really surprised to see how much these stamps were worth. The most valuable “Once Cent Magenta” goes for 8,300,000 dollars, which is insane. We also looked at some stamps from Roald Dahl’s famous children books, as well as Schulz’s Snoopy Gallery of stamps too. These arts were really cool to take a look at, in addition to signatures that include art, such as Walt Disney, John Hancock, Vincent Price, and Kurt Vonnegut. I think this is a very interesting artistic outlet. We additionally looked at the Father Christmas letters, along with the illustrations. I really loved these illustrations, the style was very calming and the colors very vibrant. I think that it is also very interesting how there is kind of a story to go along with the illustrations told within the letters, as well as different characters such as the polar bear.
We will also be writing our Final Process letters this week. It is crazy how fast this semester went by, I feel like I just wrote my Midterm Process letter. In my final process letter, I wrote that I think my final grade in this first year seminar course should be an A-. I have completed all of my work for the entire course, and have put a ton of effort into everything. The only reason I should potentially receive an A- is because sometimes my ideas are a little disorganized, as well as occasionally lacking analysis. My goal when I was writing my midterm reflection process letter was to get my work up to an A from when I thought my work deserved a B. I feel that I have done that and really put even more effort into my critical thinking and writing work in the course for the second half.
Overall, I really enjoyed this first year seminar are would definitely recommend it to the next incoming class of freshmen.
