An Introduction

“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful, an endless prospect of magic and wonder.”
                                                     -Ansel Adams

This is my first blog using the written word as my text.  I have blogged previously using my personal photography to express myself and tell part of my life story, share part of my identity. Seeking various mediums for self expression has always been a part of who I am. That is precisely how my life path has led me to where I am now, and evidently, to this blog...
                                             

Photo Taken by Nicole Muchowicz, New Mexico, 2009

Early Life & Interests:
I was born in Chicago, IL on an October day known as “Black Monday”- the day the stock market crashed. By the time I could make facial expressions, I was using them to communicate.  The expression I used most as a child was a smile.  My earliest memories conjure desires to help people, make them happy, make them smile (perhaps with my own) and in return validate my own smile.  This desire had led me to be a young performer. As an only child, I would hold performances for my family or anyone who was watching. I directed plays with my Barbies,  recreated and rehearsed scenes from “Beauty and the Beast”, often making my cousins my scene partners, and would lead “one-woman” parade routes from my hallway to the downstairs kitchen while singing and dancing. I would write books and poems for my family members so that my self expression would translate into the early formations and exhibitions of my own identity.

By the time I was in high school, I was a member of the International Thespian Society, I played the lead in many school and recreational plays, and was a student at Second City, Improv. in Chicago.  Throughout my young life, the places I found myself the most at home in were at home, on stage, in books, in school, or outside. I had a passion for theatre and writing and a curiosity for academics and humanity.  Expression of all sorts intrigued me because I found it a way to access my own identity and relate to other human beings.  When I discovered the French language, I began to understand communication and language as a part of thinking and relating on a whole new level. This also made me think of my own first language, English, in a new and exciting way filled with idiosyncrasies that whispered the secrets of the culture all around me. Reading and writing exercised this excitement. Another formidable discovery for me was the art of manual photography. I took dark room photography courses and found yet another passion. Finding meaning in life for myself by writing with language, light, and performance eventually led me to New York City.

       

                                        

Photos taken by Nicole Muchowicz, New York City, 2007 

 University Experiences:

As an undergraduate, I attended New York University, where I majored in Comparative Literature and minored in French. Towards the end of my junior year, a family tragedy called me back home.

Once I was home, I began to work at a book store, then a nursery, and enrolled in Columbia College Chicago's Theatre Program. It was during this time I fell in love and my love for the arts and humanities persisted, as well. Soon, I had received my Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a concentration in Acting from Columbia College Chicago. 

Following my graduation, I wanted a career that included the confluence of all of my passions. I wanted to maintain my involvement in both the arts and academics. I wanted to help people and show them the evidence of beauty in humanity and life through books, plays, film, music, and photography. I wanted to become a teacher.
After this decision, I enrolled in the Master's Program at Dominican University's School of Education with a concentration in Secondary Education and endorsements in both English and Theatre.  While attending graduate classes, I am also a substitute teacher for grades K- 8th and a grant researcher/writer for the University.
                               
             

Photo taken by Nicole Muchowicz, Dominican University, Illinois, 2013

Thoughts on Technology:
It is my hope that this blog will help me understand the value of technology and the potential it has as a reflective resource for the humanities and how to communicate the human experience to others.  This philosophy will transcend into my teaching practice.

Teaching Philosophy:
I want to help students find their own passions by sharing mine. I want to communicate to them the artifacts of humans who came before us and left pieces of themselves and their human experience in their art: literature, photography, film, theater, music, etc. I want to provoke and enlighten students with inspiring texts of all mediums, just as I was provoked and enlightened when I was exposed to meaningful art.

Photo Taken by Nicole Muchowicz, Illinois 2014

Other Links:
Until my next post feel free to explore my photography blog:
Nicole Muchowicz's Photoblog