Jerome Unplugged events are meant to get students to disconnect from their phones and try something new.
For the March meeting, the theme was origami, and the Unplugged session was taught by First Year Experience Coordinator and Reference and Instruction Librarian Rob Snyder. Snyder is also a published expert on origami.
“It’s a common belief in Japan that if one folds 1,000 peace cranes, their wish will come true,” Snyder said.
This was just one of the many facts and history lessons Snyder provided his audience with. Origami is used in Japan as a form of art; however, origami has spread through many other cultures, too.
“I liked all the ‘additional’ information about the history, background and art of origami. It really brought the activity to a new level for me,” said visual communication technology sophomore Allie Godfrey, who was one of the nine people who attended the Jerome Unplugged meeting.
Snyder taught the audience multiple origami creations. He started with two one-fold creations: elephant and triceratops. At first glance, the audience seemed confused as to how these creations looked like their real life counterparts. However, Snyder pointed out the body parts and the audience members appeared quite surprised.
After some of the more simple folds, Snyder wanted to challenge his audience a little bit more. He moved on to multi-fold creations, which required a little more patience from the audience. Some of the multi-fold creations included a swan, penguin, sailboat, fox and the most common fold: a peace crane.
The Jerome Unplugged events are hosted monthly by Curriculum and Outreach Educator Joseph Prince.
“I get a little freaked out when I look around and see people staring at their phones instead of at the world around them. I’m, of course, guilty of it myself, but sometimes it feels like we’re living in a world of mesmerized zombies,” Prince said.
There are a variety of activities that Jerome Unplugged offers on a monthly basis. Students can set down their phones and pick up some dessert at the next meeting’s cupcake decorating night at 7 p.m. April 24 in the Pallister Conference Room.
