Reading Response 8

Elisse Chow | November 26, 2023

The last one! It almost feels a bit sad now that I've finished the last chapters and now writing the final reading response. Just as a reflection on how it's made me feel, I think I feel content and happy. I know there's a few weeks left of the class itself, but the readings have been such a wonderful departure from the usual readings I'm used to for other classes. Each chapter has been full of little wonders that make me stop, think, and return to certain pages over and over again. At the beginning of the quarter, I checked out my copy from Braun Library, but I think I'll buy a copy of my own in the near future. :)

From these final pages, Chapter 8 and the Coda of Artful Design, I want to think on the following:

> Definition 8.13 The Humanist Engineer & Definition 8.14 The π shaped individual

These definitions make me wonder. I'm thankful for them, and I don't think I exactly make it into either definition just yet, but I can strive to live up to some of the principles. I only wish that I had come across these definitions a bit earlier in life—specifically around the time I entered high school. Would I have been able to reconcile my academic and artistic interests without having the need to sacrifice one for the other? Would I have been more confident that all those hours of training were worth it? It probably would not have been entirely life changing, but at least it would have been helpful to start to exit the mindset of needing everything in my life to have worth for the sake of entering college.

> Mantra 8.16 Worry, be happy

I think I've always been one to worry about a lot of things. And as I've gotten older, this has only gotten worse as I'm about to leave school and graduate. But despite all of the added responsibilities and concerns I may have, I will take this mantra with me and really try to stay positive and be happy just for the sake of being happy. I think after all these years of academics and striving for life goals, it's a bit hard to not have a justification for “why” I want to be doing things. Sometimes, I need a reminder that happiness can be an end in itself. Not necessarily that it needs to be, but it's good to keep it in mind.

small aside: definitions 8.7 and 8.8 would have been super useful to understand Kant when I took a class on moral philosophy last spring!