On Saturday, February 23rd students of the 2008 Positive Psychology program visited the EMP—or Experience Music Project—and Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. Our assignment was to identify real-life examples of concepts learned in class.
Our three vans left the Evergreen bus loop at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning, and arrived at EMP at around 10:30 a.m. An EMP employee gave our group a brief overview of the museum’s layout and suggested activities that we might find relevant to our assignment.
Once inside the museum, we broke up into smaller groups to explore. My group consisted of: Brandon, Jill, Lisa, and Lisa’s daughter. We decided to begin with the “On Stage” activity, in which participants pretend to be a performing rock band. As we waited in line, we were joined Taurell—who added a much-needed cowbell to our stirring rendition of I Love Rock n’ Roll, by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.
After we finished our performance, I opted to explore the Latinos in American Music exhibit, while the rest of my group visited the Sound Lab to play instruments. We planned to meet for lunch before heading over to the Science Fiction Museum. In the exhibit I recognized several examples of positive psychology concepts; like community support, creativity, and perseverance. Some of the performers’ histories really exemplified these qualities. So many of them came from disadvantaged—or even traumatic—backgrounds and were able to turn that into captivating music.
It was around 12:30 when I met up with my group at the Sound Lab. We all agreed that it was time for some lunch; so we walked to Buca di Beppo. Over the course of two hours, we enjoyed a very lively, family-style meal. This was my favorite part of the trip. Having the opportunity to engage with everyone outside the classroom was a really special experience. I appreciate being able to do academic work with a group of such smart, dedicated, fun people. Several times throughout the meal, I just sort of sat back and thought, “Wow. This is really great. It is so awesome that were getting credit for having fun!” The two hours flew by.
Many of our fellow diners seemed less than pleased about sitting near such a large, jovial group. Had they taken a positive psychology course, they would have been impressed by our dynamic social interaction and seen us as the emotionally intelligent individuals that we are. They would have marveled at our kinetic energy and congratulated us for our contribution to building positive communities. But, sadly, they had not taken the course and were instead irritated that a noisy group of jerks had ruined their lunch. Their loss.
It was a little bit sad that our extended lunch break had ruled out the possibility of visiting the Science Fiction Museum. I had been looking forward to it all day and I was quite disappointed, but Brandon promised to come back with me at a later date. This was an example of compassion and altruism on his part because he doesn’t care for science fiction at all.
Despite missing the Sci-Fi Museum, the trip was a success. I enjoyed spending time with my classmates, and I got to see many instances of Positive Psychology in action.