Media to survive, Media to thrive
Every business owner and organization is aware –or at least ought to be– that their relation to, and usage of, the media can have a great impact on their potential for success. It is this point that is argued by Robert McCall in the article “Family Services and The Mass Media.” In it, McCall discusses how to take advantage of all the facets of mass communication for the sake of advertising, specifically with regard to small service agencies who are trying to publicize their research and/or preventative advice. His good intentions focus on training uninformed business owners to exploit the branches of the all powerful mass media tree for the sake of community well-being. Rather than a ferocious beast to be feared, he explains how media might be tamed, turning a potential threat into not just a benefit, but an indispensible tool for success.
This can prove especially so in the not-for-profit sector, where traditional means of advertising are less of an option. An example presented by McCall is adolescent abuse awareness, which, he explains, is far more prevalent than most people know. Such causes ought to take advantage of media exposure at every opportunity, such as hosting media-attracting events, encouraging public service announcements, etc. In the case of such causes, McCall explains that “some agencies are forever on the precipice of financial disaster, and community awareness of their services and accomplishments can be an important method of creating an image that the agency is contributing to the community and worthy of support” (McCall 1983).
A perfect illustration of this concept has just recently unfolded in the national media. The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker, began a series of programs to improve Newark’s standard of living through such means as city-sponsored health-care vouchers. Late night television host Conan O’Brien made light of the program, saying the vouchers amounted to bus tickets out of Newark. The crowd laughs, the show goes on.
A less savvy politician may have let the matter drop, or, perhaps much worse, taken offense and fired back less than diplomatically. Instead, Mayor Booker posted two youtube.com video outlining his plan in further detail while mock-lambasting the Late Night host. Using the initial jab as a springboard for publicity, Mayor Booker’s use of humor and viral media allowed him to inform his community –and the nation– of his plan. Robert McCall’s first observation, that “services are not terribly useful unless individuals in the community who need them know that they exist,” was therefore solved by the mayor’s positive response to television media (McCall, 1983). To date the videos have received over 300,000 views, tens of thousands more than the total population of Newark, New Jersey itself.
So effective were the viral media videos that the “feud” culminated with an appearance of by the mayor on O’Brien’s California-based program, an unprecedented accomplishment for a mayor (the last politician to appear on the program was G.O.P. presidential candidate and senator John McCain). Again, Booker was given the opportunity to outline his agenda to a national audience, this time through more traditional media of major network television rather than viral internet media. The mayor came off brilliantly in the interview and millions of people were made aware of his plans for the city of Newark. In addition to this exposure, Conan O’Brien presented the mayor with a check for $100,000 towards Mayor Booker’s city civic programs.
Even without the aforementioned donation, one must conclude that the publicity garnered from this exposure will only bolster support for Booker’s plans. McCall explains that “[c]reating awareness is probably the thing mass communications does best. It has been said that the mass media tell people less what to think than what to think about. Moreover, it has been shown that the media suggest to people how much importance they should attach to one issue or another” (McCombs & Shaw 1977).
In the case of Mayor Booker’s reforms, it is logical to assume that the citizens of Newark were impressed that their city was receiving national attention, encouraging a belief that his plans were important and beneficial. “While the media are not likely to change the minds of people who already have strong opinions about a subject,” this openness to exposure and skill in shaping it informed a great many people about services being offered by the city of Newark (McQuail 1969). The benefits from this exposure could be an increased usage and support of said services, investment in the city, as well as the increased profile of Mayor Cory Booker’s image.
With this same concept extended towards other organizations or small businesses, one can see the opportunity that can be taken advantage of –or lost– depending on how well one chooses to interact with both traditional and cutting-edge forms of media. Like the person who fears social exclusion as a result of not adhering to the rules of the dominant world of meaning, organizations and businesses will experience alienation and stagnation if they cannot remain on the cutting edge of communication.
Works Cited
McCall, Robert B. “Family Services and the Mass Media.” Family Relations Vol. 32 No. 3 (1983): 315-322
Shaw, Donald L. & McCombs, Maxwell E. “The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press.” The Emergence of American Political Issues (1977): 211
McQuail, Denis. “Sociology of Mass Communication.” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 11 (1969): 94.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
3 Abstracts
McCall, Robert B. “Family Services and the Mass Media.” Family Relations 32.3 (1983): 315-22.
In this article, McCall expresses how service agencies can use mass media for the betterment of the community and their own preservation. Despite the overwhelming fear of being misrepresented to the public, service professionals can use these guidelines provided by McCall to ensure their message and purpose is accurately translated to the people. Since the main concern of these particular service agencies is the welfare of children and families within the community, it is necessary that a primary objective is to give them as much information as possible, instead of trying to tell them what to do. McCall delves into the three types of information (events, feature material, and public service) which are all about keeping the public informed while still advertising the agency. This information can be shared with the community via brochures and pamphlets, which is targeted communication, or they can utilize local newspapers and television programs. Press conferences and interviews send your particular research through a translation process which is at risk for being distorted by the reporters and the editors. In order to avoid these misinterpretations, McCall explains methods on how to be brief and concise; he also admonishes any professional in an interview situation to stay within their own realm of knowledge and don't get pulled into topics in which you have little experience. Through the medium of talk shows, one doesn't have to worry about the distortion of his/her ideas but more the expression of complex thoughts in layman's terms; in order to ease this translation, McCall recommends having a number of examples on hand. In all of these situations in which your research is being passed through mediums, as well as people, to get to the source (the public), practicing with non-scholarly friends and preparing some powerful quotations are among the many suggestions McCall prescribes to the service professional who fears the manipulation that is inherent in mass communication.
Bhowmik, Someswar. “Politics of Film Censorship.” Economic and Political Weekly 37.35 (2002): 3574-577.
This article discusses the history of censorship of film in India and how the constant alterations to the Indian Constitution have changed the restraints very little. The three major areas of censorship (sex, violence, and politics) have put a leash on free speech since the British imposed film regulation in 1920. The perennial dispute emerges through additions to Indian law: How can we preserve free speech while assuring the protection of morality within society. The government claims that the welfare of the people is its motivation, but Bhowmik shows us the signs that reveal an underlining political agenda which limits film exhibition to numerous strictures. The press and the theater have found their way around censorship, while film is made subject to vague confines, making it simple for government to protest whenever they please. While articles created by the government actually forbid film censorship through the guarantee of Fundamental Rights, the government itself refuses to acknowledge the incompatibility of free speech laid down in the Constitution and the regulation of film. Bhowmik casts light on avoidance maneuvers of the Indian government; he unveils their methods of ambiguous terminology and exposes the continuity of the same old mind set by acknowledging the replacement of one censorship system with another system of a different name (but with no significant change in its function).
Razel, Micha. “The Complex Model of Television Viewing and Educational Achievement.” The Journal of Educational Research 94.6 (2001): 371-79.
The article by Micha Razel discusses the relationship between television viewing and educational achievement. Razel notices that no conclusive results have been published, and he takes it upon himself to gather information from six different studies that analyze the effect of television on the academic success of students ranging from 5 to 17 years old. The results showed that kids have an optimal viewing time in which viewing television is beneficial to their scholastic endeavors; however, this optimal viewing time decreases with age. For example, the optimal viewing time for a 9 year old is 2 hours a day while for a 17 year old only 0.5 hours a day would be beneficial. Razel believes that viewing time is the cause of achievement and it has an overall negative effect since the positive viewing range is so much smaller than the negative range. 55% of the students view 3 hours a day more than their optimal viewing time which lowers their grades by 0.26 standard deviation. These studies did not take into account the quality of the programming, which would explain why viewing is so beneficial for young children considering the shows they watch often promote educational development. Razel contends that the next step in this research would be to take into account the quality of the viewing.
In this article, McCall expresses how service agencies can use mass media for the betterment of the community and their own preservation. Despite the overwhelming fear of being misrepresented to the public, service professionals can use these guidelines provided by McCall to ensure their message and purpose is accurately translated to the people. Since the main concern of these particular service agencies is the welfare of children and families within the community, it is necessary that a primary objective is to give them as much information as possible, instead of trying to tell them what to do. McCall delves into the three types of information (events, feature material, and public service) which are all about keeping the public informed while still advertising the agency. This information can be shared with the community via brochures and pamphlets, which is targeted communication, or they can utilize local newspapers and television programs. Press conferences and interviews send your particular research through a translation process which is at risk for being distorted by the reporters and the editors. In order to avoid these misinterpretations, McCall explains methods on how to be brief and concise; he also admonishes any professional in an interview situation to stay within their own realm of knowledge and don't get pulled into topics in which you have little experience. Through the medium of talk shows, one doesn't have to worry about the distortion of his/her ideas but more the expression of complex thoughts in layman's terms; in order to ease this translation, McCall recommends having a number of examples on hand. In all of these situations in which your research is being passed through mediums, as well as people, to get to the source (the public), practicing with non-scholarly friends and preparing some powerful quotations are among the many suggestions McCall prescribes to the service professional who fears the manipulation that is inherent in mass communication.
Bhowmik, Someswar. “Politics of Film Censorship.” Economic and Political Weekly 37.35 (2002): 3574-577.
This article discusses the history of censorship of film in India and how the constant alterations to the Indian Constitution have changed the restraints very little. The three major areas of censorship (sex, violence, and politics) have put a leash on free speech since the British imposed film regulation in 1920. The perennial dispute emerges through additions to Indian law: How can we preserve free speech while assuring the protection of morality within society. The government claims that the welfare of the people is its motivation, but Bhowmik shows us the signs that reveal an underlining political agenda which limits film exhibition to numerous strictures. The press and the theater have found their way around censorship, while film is made subject to vague confines, making it simple for government to protest whenever they please. While articles created by the government actually forbid film censorship through the guarantee of Fundamental Rights, the government itself refuses to acknowledge the incompatibility of free speech laid down in the Constitution and the regulation of film. Bhowmik casts light on avoidance maneuvers of the Indian government; he unveils their methods of ambiguous terminology and exposes the continuity of the same old mind set by acknowledging the replacement of one censorship system with another system of a different name (but with no significant change in its function).
Razel, Micha. “The Complex Model of Television Viewing and Educational Achievement.” The Journal of Educational Research 94.6 (2001): 371-79.
The article by Micha Razel discusses the relationship between television viewing and educational achievement. Razel notices that no conclusive results have been published, and he takes it upon himself to gather information from six different studies that analyze the effect of television on the academic success of students ranging from 5 to 17 years old. The results showed that kids have an optimal viewing time in which viewing television is beneficial to their scholastic endeavors; however, this optimal viewing time decreases with age. For example, the optimal viewing time for a 9 year old is 2 hours a day while for a 17 year old only 0.5 hours a day would be beneficial. Razel believes that viewing time is the cause of achievement and it has an overall negative effect since the positive viewing range is so much smaller than the negative range. 55% of the students view 3 hours a day more than their optimal viewing time which lowers their grades by 0.26 standard deviation. These studies did not take into account the quality of the programming, which would explain why viewing is so beneficial for young children considering the shows they watch often promote educational development. Razel contends that the next step in this research would be to take into account the quality of the viewing.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Intellectual Bio
My interest in media studies can be expressed as a binary of social mechanisms. One mechanism being simply human interaction; as long as I can remember, I have gaged my life success on the depth and variety of my communication with others. The other aspect that ropes me in is the advances in technology that not only allow us to bring far off values and ideas into our homes, but also have begun to morph into a living thing that repeatedly defines us through the permeation of mainstream standards. Using our technology, I hope to explore and document differing cultures throughout the world, or at least a alternate option that makes me feel connected or like I’m making an eye-opening contribution. I feel like in America people can get so entangled in their own lives and forget about the rest of the world. We need to step outside the Order that rules our lives every once and a while, and see things from another perspective.
This earliest memory I have was an instance of me just wanting to be around people and experience the world with them. Unfortunately, those people happened to be my older brother, Nick, and his friends when I was 6. I just wanted to join in while they were riding bikes, but at the time, I was bikeless. So it basically turned into a game of chase until my brother, Nick, ran over my leg with his bicycle breaking my tibia in two places. I cried until my mom came out and picked me up off the ground. While balling my eyes out, I just kept saying the same thing over and over again: “I just wanted to play.” I suppose all kids just want to play, but I had some sort of obsession with always being around people and listening to any stories anyone would be willing to tell me. I don’t remember seeing Nick while I was at the hospital, but apparently he felt really bad about the whole thing. After this incident, my brother and I were no longer close. My mom thought it was dangerous for me to hang out with the big kids, and I guess Nick was tired of having his little brother tag along.
My family moved around a lot while I was growing up. From Louisiana to Michigan to South Carolina to Maryland back to South Carolina to England back to Michigan and finally to Delaware where I started 9th grade. Molly and Nick found it very hard to leave each place; truly, countless tears were shed in the back of my dad’s Subaru van while we drove several hours to our new home. For some reason, I never really minded our family expositions. Excited at the prospect of meeting new people in a new environment, I was usually eager to meet the next bunch of kids that would inevitably judge me by my clothes or the first couple sentences that came out of my mouth. It was also a chance to start over; every place I’ve lived, I’ve been someone different. I’ve been the 4th grade social butterfly who all the little girls fawned over, and I’ve been the quiet 5th grader who hung out with the smelly kid that loved professional wrestling. Taking numerous different perspectives really helps your social analysis skills in the long run. I’m the perennial new kid.
The first place I really felt a strong connection with was Lichfield, England. I only lived there for 2 years (from age 11 to 13), but the friends I made there will last me a lifetime. Now even though we speak the same language as the English, I must say that their lifestyle is so different to ours, especially when you’re 12 years old. First of all, as soon as I arrived at The Friary School I was some sort of celebrity just because I’m American (Lichfield, being the smallest city in England, doesn’t frequently encounter outsiders). And it seemed like everyone wanted to beat me up. Apparently that happens to all the new kids, but it felt like some serious Revolutionary War backlash was going on all around me (mainly because of all the “yank” insults). My second day I was confronted by a kid named Chris Hewkin who threw down the gauntlet to fight in front on a large group of students in the courtyard. This guy was about a foot shorter than me, but I had never been in a fight so I respectfully declined and began to walk away. The courtyard became so silent all of the sudden, as if no one had ever seen a spat end so peacefully; but the silence soon turned to the pitter patter of little feet running fast, and a jump kick to my lower back pumped the crowd up to a roar. Although it doesn’t seem like I won this particular battle, that was the year I signed up for the school’s peer mediation program; I helped settle disputes between students by rationalizing the situation. It was a great skill to learn for future encounters.
Luckily, despite the fact I was under constant attack by kevs (street hooligans) and still awkward with girls, I made some really close friends in my home room class. Matt Hale was the athletic, hilarious, good looking guy that sits right behind me; to this day, he is still my best friend. In the seat next to Matt sits James Lang, a skinny blond kid with a chipped tooth that is often called a “scutter” (meaning his family is somewhat poor) by the other kids. Sitting next to me is quite an eccentric little kid and his overbite is almost uncomfortable to look at; his name is Andrew Bird, but we all called him Birdy. The four of us were practically inseparable for the duration of my stay in the UK.
Most other 12/13 year olds in Lichfield were out vandalizing, scouting for girls, or trying to find alcohol, but we still played like children. I remember we had different bases all around the city; some were hidden and some were in plain site, but all of them had at least one tree we could climb. At our bases we didn’t really conduct any sort of secret business. We basically just climbed trees, watched other people, and talked. Amongst the many topics (favorite candies, what super power would you have, where would you go if you had to leave home, etc.), we often discussed possible future occupations. We were never able to convince James that he couldn’t be a fire truck no matter how badly he wanted to be. Andrew was very into computers and wanted to create video games (which he in fact ended up doing). My choice would change from base to base. I wanted to be a singer, an actor, a lawyer, a doctor, a professional thief, a priest, a psychologist, and the list goes on. Matt always joined in with our fantasy futures and weighed out the pros and cons of each possibility, but he never gave any specific profession that he would like. Occasionally, he would say he wanted to play professional soccer (which he actually could have), but he mainly just said he wanted to work with people. He wanted to help them, learn from them, and understand them. And as vague as that sounds, it really impacted me and changed my perspective from then on.
A lot has happened since then. I moved back to America, lived in Michigan for a year, went to high school and graduated in Delaware, and received my undergraduate degree in four years after attending three universities (Virginia Tech, University of Delaware, and Notre Dame). My media experience up to this point has consisted of recording music on a program called Acid, and in practically any instance in which a teacher would assign a project (in high school or college) I would make a video of some sort. My high school English teacher, Mrs. Kohl, always got a kick out of our videos and encouraged me to keep making them. Another major impact the helped form my ideas about my future was my first Communications class taught by Professor Giglio. When I realized that all the observations I had been making about human interactions over the years were actually an intellectual study, I knew it would be a passion of mine forever. Throughout the course of my college career, my major changed from Communications to English to Film to English/Film. I’m starting to see a pattern with my interests and I believe the media studies program will provide me with the technical tools needed to advance into the realm of intellectual creativity.
After college I didn’t have much of a direction, just an English degree and a few thousand dollars saved up. So I bought a plane ticket to England, stuffed some clothes in a big duffle bag, grabbed my guitar, and headed out with no real agenda whatsoever; with the help of my friends, I was able to book shows at music venues in England, Scotland, France, Spain, and Sweden. I had some great experiences that I’m sure I will tell in another essay, but for my purposes here, I will move on to the real reason I left Europe to come the New York and start my master’s program at The New School.
One Saturday night, I received a video message from my brother; he was drunk and asking me all about my foreign adventures across the pond. Then he talked about his situation; he’s working for Apple and he loves it. He graduated from Notre Dame with a film degree, but he works for 10 dollars an hour at the Mac store and he loves it. He spoke so passionately about wanting to be on the cutting edge of technology and how this is his way of connecting with the world. I remember he drunkenly looked into the camera and said, “I want to be IN the computer!” I laughed for quite a while as I watched it a second time, but then I realized that I wanted to be just as driven as he is. I’m having these great interactions on far off soil and meeting such interesting people, but I saw that I needed some more structure. The next day I booked a flight back to Delaware and as soon as I was home, I applied to a graduate program in New York City at The New School.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 am I found myself in Christiana Hospital standing next to my brother who was bedridden from stage 4 melanoma; I hadn’t been in a hospital with him since he broke my leg. I considered quitting my media studies program before it even started just to spend every moment I could with him. But after only 25 minutes of wiping sweat from his forehead, I watched him leave this place. But he left me with his drive, with his energy. I chose media studies because I like the theoretical break down of how with interact with each other using these different emerging and always changing forms of communication. I also love the opportunity to create, specifically documentary film on foreign cultures. I simply want to experience people, how the live and how it varies from town to city to village to country. And using mass communication, we can open up these other worlds and share these cultural values that are so precious to each community. Nick gave me a kind of ambition that I never thought I could have, and he’s the reason I’m here.
This earliest memory I have was an instance of me just wanting to be around people and experience the world with them. Unfortunately, those people happened to be my older brother, Nick, and his friends when I was 6. I just wanted to join in while they were riding bikes, but at the time, I was bikeless. So it basically turned into a game of chase until my brother, Nick, ran over my leg with his bicycle breaking my tibia in two places. I cried until my mom came out and picked me up off the ground. While balling my eyes out, I just kept saying the same thing over and over again: “I just wanted to play.” I suppose all kids just want to play, but I had some sort of obsession with always being around people and listening to any stories anyone would be willing to tell me. I don’t remember seeing Nick while I was at the hospital, but apparently he felt really bad about the whole thing. After this incident, my brother and I were no longer close. My mom thought it was dangerous for me to hang out with the big kids, and I guess Nick was tired of having his little brother tag along.
My family moved around a lot while I was growing up. From Louisiana to Michigan to South Carolina to Maryland back to South Carolina to England back to Michigan and finally to Delaware where I started 9th grade. Molly and Nick found it very hard to leave each place; truly, countless tears were shed in the back of my dad’s Subaru van while we drove several hours to our new home. For some reason, I never really minded our family expositions. Excited at the prospect of meeting new people in a new environment, I was usually eager to meet the next bunch of kids that would inevitably judge me by my clothes or the first couple sentences that came out of my mouth. It was also a chance to start over; every place I’ve lived, I’ve been someone different. I’ve been the 4th grade social butterfly who all the little girls fawned over, and I’ve been the quiet 5th grader who hung out with the smelly kid that loved professional wrestling. Taking numerous different perspectives really helps your social analysis skills in the long run. I’m the perennial new kid.
The first place I really felt a strong connection with was Lichfield, England. I only lived there for 2 years (from age 11 to 13), but the friends I made there will last me a lifetime. Now even though we speak the same language as the English, I must say that their lifestyle is so different to ours, especially when you’re 12 years old. First of all, as soon as I arrived at The Friary School I was some sort of celebrity just because I’m American (Lichfield, being the smallest city in England, doesn’t frequently encounter outsiders). And it seemed like everyone wanted to beat me up. Apparently that happens to all the new kids, but it felt like some serious Revolutionary War backlash was going on all around me (mainly because of all the “yank” insults). My second day I was confronted by a kid named Chris Hewkin who threw down the gauntlet to fight in front on a large group of students in the courtyard. This guy was about a foot shorter than me, but I had never been in a fight so I respectfully declined and began to walk away. The courtyard became so silent all of the sudden, as if no one had ever seen a spat end so peacefully; but the silence soon turned to the pitter patter of little feet running fast, and a jump kick to my lower back pumped the crowd up to a roar. Although it doesn’t seem like I won this particular battle, that was the year I signed up for the school’s peer mediation program; I helped settle disputes between students by rationalizing the situation. It was a great skill to learn for future encounters.
Luckily, despite the fact I was under constant attack by kevs (street hooligans) and still awkward with girls, I made some really close friends in my home room class. Matt Hale was the athletic, hilarious, good looking guy that sits right behind me; to this day, he is still my best friend. In the seat next to Matt sits James Lang, a skinny blond kid with a chipped tooth that is often called a “scutter” (meaning his family is somewhat poor) by the other kids. Sitting next to me is quite an eccentric little kid and his overbite is almost uncomfortable to look at; his name is Andrew Bird, but we all called him Birdy. The four of us were practically inseparable for the duration of my stay in the UK.
Most other 12/13 year olds in Lichfield were out vandalizing, scouting for girls, or trying to find alcohol, but we still played like children. I remember we had different bases all around the city; some were hidden and some were in plain site, but all of them had at least one tree we could climb. At our bases we didn’t really conduct any sort of secret business. We basically just climbed trees, watched other people, and talked. Amongst the many topics (favorite candies, what super power would you have, where would you go if you had to leave home, etc.), we often discussed possible future occupations. We were never able to convince James that he couldn’t be a fire truck no matter how badly he wanted to be. Andrew was very into computers and wanted to create video games (which he in fact ended up doing). My choice would change from base to base. I wanted to be a singer, an actor, a lawyer, a doctor, a professional thief, a priest, a psychologist, and the list goes on. Matt always joined in with our fantasy futures and weighed out the pros and cons of each possibility, but he never gave any specific profession that he would like. Occasionally, he would say he wanted to play professional soccer (which he actually could have), but he mainly just said he wanted to work with people. He wanted to help them, learn from them, and understand them. And as vague as that sounds, it really impacted me and changed my perspective from then on.
A lot has happened since then. I moved back to America, lived in Michigan for a year, went to high school and graduated in Delaware, and received my undergraduate degree in four years after attending three universities (Virginia Tech, University of Delaware, and Notre Dame). My media experience up to this point has consisted of recording music on a program called Acid, and in practically any instance in which a teacher would assign a project (in high school or college) I would make a video of some sort. My high school English teacher, Mrs. Kohl, always got a kick out of our videos and encouraged me to keep making them. Another major impact the helped form my ideas about my future was my first Communications class taught by Professor Giglio. When I realized that all the observations I had been making about human interactions over the years were actually an intellectual study, I knew it would be a passion of mine forever. Throughout the course of my college career, my major changed from Communications to English to Film to English/Film. I’m starting to see a pattern with my interests and I believe the media studies program will provide me with the technical tools needed to advance into the realm of intellectual creativity.
After college I didn’t have much of a direction, just an English degree and a few thousand dollars saved up. So I bought a plane ticket to England, stuffed some clothes in a big duffle bag, grabbed my guitar, and headed out with no real agenda whatsoever; with the help of my friends, I was able to book shows at music venues in England, Scotland, France, Spain, and Sweden. I had some great experiences that I’m sure I will tell in another essay, but for my purposes here, I will move on to the real reason I left Europe to come the New York and start my master’s program at The New School.
One Saturday night, I received a video message from my brother; he was drunk and asking me all about my foreign adventures across the pond. Then he talked about his situation; he’s working for Apple and he loves it. He graduated from Notre Dame with a film degree, but he works for 10 dollars an hour at the Mac store and he loves it. He spoke so passionately about wanting to be on the cutting edge of technology and how this is his way of connecting with the world. I remember he drunkenly looked into the camera and said, “I want to be IN the computer!” I laughed for quite a while as I watched it a second time, but then I realized that I wanted to be just as driven as he is. I’m having these great interactions on far off soil and meeting such interesting people, but I saw that I needed some more structure. The next day I booked a flight back to Delaware and as soon as I was home, I applied to a graduate program in New York City at The New School.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 am I found myself in Christiana Hospital standing next to my brother who was bedridden from stage 4 melanoma; I hadn’t been in a hospital with him since he broke my leg. I considered quitting my media studies program before it even started just to spend every moment I could with him. But after only 25 minutes of wiping sweat from his forehead, I watched him leave this place. But he left me with his drive, with his energy. I chose media studies because I like the theoretical break down of how with interact with each other using these different emerging and always changing forms of communication. I also love the opportunity to create, specifically documentary film on foreign cultures. I simply want to experience people, how the live and how it varies from town to city to village to country. And using mass communication, we can open up these other worlds and share these cultural values that are so precious to each community. Nick gave me a kind of ambition that I never thought I could have, and he’s the reason I’m here.
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