VALs

My VALS score listed me as Primary: Strivers 

"Strivers are trendy and fun loving. Because they are motivated by achievement, Strivers are concerned about the opinions and approval of others. Money defines success for Strivers, who don't have enough of it to meet their desires. They favor stylish products that emulate the purchases of people with greater material wealth. Many Strivers see themselves as having a job rather than a career, and a lack of skills and focus often prevents them from moving ahead..." 

There are some aspects of this that I agree with, but it sort of makes me feel lame too. "Trendy and fun loving" seems cool, but then going in to money, and requiring it to meet my desires.  This is kind of true, I do like having nice things and often can't afford them but will make myself afford new shoes and forego something more important so I can purchase fancy new things.   I can see this being super helpful to anyone trying to sell me something. 

I am in transition, back in college after graduating in 2006, so maybe that's why my secondary score was: Achiever

"With many wants and needs, Achievers are active in the consumer marketplace. Image is important to Achievers; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate success to their peers. Because of their busy lives, they are often interested in a variety of time-saving devices."

Now, I want to have a career, but I don't want to drive around in a Mercedes and have a personal chef...now, that does sound cool, and I wouldn't complain if I did have those things, but it's not a personal goal of mine.  I want to be comfortable and successful, but I don't need to be celebrity status successful. 

Copyright / Copyleft

As an artist, I believe that copyright laws, which protect the property of the artist, are very important and I believe that they should be respected.  I think that artists who create work that they are proud of and post on the Internet as their own work, should get full credit for the art and it's not right that they may run the risk of someone taking something they did and creating a mediocre version of an original.  This isn't to say that all reproductions and reworkings of original art is mediocre; artists such as Andy Warhol, and Shepard Fairey have run into legal troubles for utilizing imagery that was not originally their own. Perhaps it's not fair to say, only good artists may reproduce work, but I guess this is the only way I can imagine agreeing with breaking copyright laws - if the work is as good as or better than the original.   

This being said, I am a fan of communities where the artists AGREE to share their work for reproduction, and to be altered in any way.  Actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt hit the nail on the head with his website, hitrecord.org.  Hit Record allows artists, illustrators, writers, animators, basically creators from all walks of life, to take art, music, video, etc and work together to create.  This is the right way to approach sharing original works; and what's also great about this network of creators, is that if a creation of any sorts leads to monetary compensation, all the artists are paid for their contribution. 

In short, I believe that copyright laws should be followed, and that art may only be reproduced with the permission of the original artist. Copyleft is cool for programs and software, and I can get behind that; but sometimes I'm more inclined to get behind software that costs money, that came from a trusted source. 

Introduction

It's a pleasure to meet you; my name is Johanna and I like dogs and cheeseburgers.  I was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1984; I know this because I have documents to prove it, but I don't remember anything about the country.  I was adopted in 1986; I am a citizen of the United States. My first memory is if the stark whiteness and bright light of the bathroom in the airport where I was picked up on my adoption day.  I moved around a bit because my mother works for the government. People ask where I'm from, and I know they are nine times out of ten trying to ask politely what my ethnicity is; I tell them, Virginia and they say, "No, where are you FROM?" I find this amusing for some reason. 

Below is a photo of my mother and me the day I became a citizen of the U.S.A.