We are fortunate to live in a time of great choice - compared to other times in the history of the world, our world today offers us great freedom.

While certainly not a utopian system, and not discounting the constraints still imposed on us by our society, our government, and even our personal histories and heritages, in America today we enjoy great liberty both in choosing our destinies and in our creation of self.  I’m not saying it’s easy -- but it’s possible.

This is supported by great technological advances, exponential growth in the sciences, particularly in the knowledge base of human physiology and an ever-deepening understanding of human psychology.  These advances are only strengthened by our new technologies that afford us the ability to gather, analyze, and communicate knowledge in a quantum way that is truly unprecedented and were unimaginable even 100 years ago.

Current advances, coupled with increasing societal fluidity, makes today an exciting and wondrous time to be exploring and defining “the self”.

However, despite all these freedoms, there are still may instances where the transitions and transformations we make are not of our own design -- they are not our own chosen actions, but are more a re-action to forces beyond our control -- to actions imposed upon us.  This is the focus of my project.