Maddie Alvstad Hope Toolkit

–Mother, created by Maddie Alvstad using prompts in ChatGPT

My icon of hope is my mother. I selected her as my icon because she has always had an optimistic outlook on life, not just for herself but for those around her as well. Her hope for life exceeds herself and her family, it includes her students and basically everyone that she has ever met. She has the ability to have a meaningful impact and is able to brighten the days of all of those around her. She has some conformity to my definition of hope as she pushes people into a hopeful environment by hoping for them. She gives me reasons to keep trying to have hope even though hope has let me down before. In light of the other exemplars of hope, her role as an exemplar is to bring joy and hope to those around her. 

The medium that I used to create my perception of my icon of hope was AI, specifically ChatGPT. I wanted to encapsulate my mothers energy and vibe but am unable to personally do that due to limited artistic ability. When I think of her vibe and energy all I envision is a Van Gogh painting. I couldn’t properly find a way to show this properly without the use of AI. I think Van Gogh’s style of whimsical shapes has the same vibe as my mother and I tried to include more vibrant colors, especially orange as that is her favorite color. I did this because my mom is a very whimsical person who would love the knowledge that her vibe shows Van Gogh energy.

The shapes of the hearts, spirals, and flowers are symbolism of happiness and the light she brings into people’s lives. The vibrant colors show her optimism and energy. She is overall a very bright presence in the lives of others which is why I prompted for many vibrant colors. I asked for orange to be included not only because that is her favorite color, but because while her energy is bright it is also a nice warm presence. It is a presence where you feel comfortable talking to her about everything and she won’t judge you and will comfort you when you need it. The background environment shows the movement of daily life but the presence of comfort, and joy that my mother brings is consistent. Her being the center focus of the picture instead of a side piece shows how big of a presence she is in everyday life. 

My mother gives me a view on hope where I can rely on the people around me to help me get out of the horrors of life. This is why she is my exemplar, and models hope for me. She gives me reasons to fight to get out of the bad things in my life instead of just wallowing in it and seemingly just getting by. She gives me my reasons to live my life instead of just trying to get by day by day.