Self Portrait [edit]

Two decades have passed since I entered this world
A beautiful screaming mess of blood, mucus, and a beating heart.
Born into a family full of artists, cellists, pianists, and singers
Now spread throughout the country,
The closest being 300 miles from
My new found home.

I live the life of a college student
Pulling seemingly endless long nights
Leaving my apartment smelling reminiscent
Of the robust aroma lingering inside the corner coffee house.

When my hands are freed from those long nights,
The strong odor of turpentine numbs pieces of my brain
As I move my paint brush in sync with
The harmonious elegy of song that
Calms my endless sea of thoughts
And filters its way through my ears, into my brain,
And onto my canvas.
Music inspires my creative soul.

Just as my paint brush glides across its canvas
To the music I love so dearly,
My feet soar across the floor;
My ballet slippers
Have been tattered and worn in
So affectionately.

I thirst for knowledge, my mind always open.
A welcome mat at the foot of the doorway
Greeting the new thoughts or ideas that may
Wish to enter and
Enlighten me.

My nation is currently facing a dark economic era
And families are falling short of the American dream
While other dwellers of this Earth are destroying their world
Through bomb filled backpacks and exploding buildings.

They are tragic times
Yet my hope is not crushed
And my youthful spirit does not cease to resonate
Peace, happiness, and excitement
For what the world still has to offer me.

A Second Life

We had to watch a documentary in one of my Mass Comm classes about “Second Life” – an online game (then again to some, this isn’t considered a game, it’s considered an “other” life) where people can create avatars, most of themselves, and live… well… a second life. Here’s what I had to say:

“Second Life” was nothing new to me as I watched this documentary. It has been a part of discussion in another class of mine, and I’ve also heard of it prior to this semester (and for those of you who watch “The Office,” you may remember it from an earlier episode of the show). I do not partake in this online phenomena and I’m not exactly sure I agree with this “other” way of life.

I understand that some people are shy or insecure with themselves, so they find comfort in these virtual worlds; some even find their significant others through programs like these. But, is this what our world is coming to? Technology is growing at such a fast pace, will we begin to lose sight of REAL reality or a personal touch to things?

It’s an amazing thing being able to create a character as an image of yourself in “Second Life,” but when it’s done in a way we WISH we were because of insecurities with our body and personalities, it’s almost as if this is saying, “it’s okay that you don’t like yourself, because here – you can just pretend.”

I think advances in technology are great and important in our society today, but it’s also important to stop hiding behind your computer screen, get out of your house, and experience real people, real places, real trees, and real life.

Never Truely Starting Over.

You can leave this town.

Start a new life, leave everything behind.

Experience a new sunrise as the old sun sets behind you.

Leave everything behind…

Except for your feelings and memories.

You can go where no one knows your name,

But those feelings and memories can’t be erased.

Sometimes they aren’t as vivid,

But they’ll never completely vanish.

Did You Know 2.0

This video shares a number of interesting statistics about our growing technological world. I was honestly astonished at the numbers that were shared. I loved the statistic about myspace… if it were a country, it would be the 8th largest country in the entire World. This video is, however, a bit dated. Today, if you combined the users of facebook and myspace and gave them their own country, it would prove to have a population larger than that of the United States by more than 100 million give or take. That’s absolutely mind blowing.

• Social networking statistics

I feel quite optimistic about the future of our technological world. Looking at how far we’ve come with the Internet, text messaging, cell phones, and all just in my lifetime, I can’t even begin to imagine what the next generation will be like. It’s exciting!

As a student, I find the only challenges of this growth in technology is just keeping up on it. It’s so important to stay on top of what’s new and what’s going to help or hurt businesses, etc. As an Advertising major, it’s important for me to know this in terms of finding new ways to get my ads to reach the people. But even with it being a “challenge,” I’m ready to take it on! And I’m excited to learn new ways and means of communication.

We the Media II

In chapters 4-6 of We the Media, Dan Gillmor again stresses the importance and usage of blogging throughout the corporate world, with in politics, and for professional journalists.

In chapter 4, Gillmor urges professionals in the corporate and marketing world to listen to their consumers. That they can learn by listening to what their product users have to say about their product, company, and customer service. Blogging is also an important use with in any public relations department. Gillmor also pushes companies to pick up on RSS feeds and archives of their newsletters and information, rather than “blasting emails at people’s already overly cluttered in-boxes” (p. 16, ch. 4). I definitely agree with Gillmor on this. My in-box is FULL of newsletters and emails from companies, and most are marked as SPAM or unread.

Chapter 5 furthermore insists on need for blogging in today’s politics. With the use of campaign blogs, forums, content-management systems, and social networking websites, it has become easier for candidates in an election to gain support and $$$. Through campaign blogs, candidates can raise money for their campaigns via the Net. Gillmore predicted that the 2004 election would use “open source politics” (participation from people on the outside or “edges”). But we definitely see that today as we’re in the midst of the 2008 election. Obama makes use of SMS messaging to keep in contact with his supporters, and we see ads all over the Net for McCain and Obama.

I do agree with Gillmor in that we need not only a network of blogs, but single blogs with lots of readers in order to keep the “flood of valuable information” alive for everyone to learn (p. 16-17, ch. 5).

Chapter 6 further urges even professional journalists to get into the mix of blogging. By staying in contact with what the people have to say or what they know, professional journalists can make sure not only that their information is fair, accurate, and thorough, but their information and reporting can be enhanced through the knowledge of their audience. I do also believe, along with Gillmor, that it is very important to maintain ethics and core principles in all tools of technology.

It is in agreement with Gillmor, that blogging helps and enhances so many aspects of the Media today.

The Growth of Communication

The world of communications, mass communications, and journalism is a constantly changing phenomenon. Even in the past 10… no… just 5 years consumers have witnessed tremendous growth in means of not only technology, but in the ways we communicate as well.

With the rapid popularity of blogging, social networking websites, SMS, instant messaging, RSS, and other communication tools, it has become amazingly easy to communicate with not only people close to us, but to business partners, and to even strangers all over the world. A somewhat disturbing factor, however, is the growth of the Internet’s commercial use. Our magazine, TV news programs, and now websites and emails are bombarded with ads from every direction. What is next? Receiving advertisements in our text messages (although this would seem to be covered under, perhaps, something similar to the “do not call” list)? Perhaps with the growth of commercial use through mass communications, it will become more difficult to actually communicate as ads continue to act as noise interfering in the communication process.

As far and mass communications and journalism go, when at one point in time, print media and electronic/digital media were considered completely different forms of communications, today they no longer need to be considered segregated.

The technological and communications world is changing for the better for professional communicators. It has definitely made their work easier with the communication tools mentioned above. Anything and everything can be accessed on the Internet, making information readily available to anyone who needs it.

God won’t throw at us that which we can’t handle…

…apparently, I’ve got about 15 arms.

Or perhaps it should be “God won’t give us anything that HE can’t handle,” because if you are a believer, isn’t it taught that we can’t really do anything alone? Maybe this is why I’ve been going through so many terrible things lately… Perhaps it is a sign that God wants me back…

or has is just been a stroke of bad luck? There are so many different beliefs with so many different answers…

Luck (also called fortunity) is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person’s control. Luck can be good or bad.

This past few weeks have been a serious series of unfortunate events. Is my head not on straight? Did someone put some kind of hex on me? Did I break a mirror or walk underneath a ladder?

It’s times like these that I realize how strong of a person I really am. My happiness used to solely depend on others in my life – I didn’t truly know who I was. However, with making a recent transition in my life [letting go of certain people, moving away from home, living in a new city], I’ve come to realize who I really am at this time in my life.

[And I say “at this time in my life” because who we are is a continuously changing thing. Our beliefs change, our perceptions also change as we age and experience different life situations, etc.]

Just when I think I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I realize and come to understand I am in control [and perhaps maybe with the help of a higher power]. We have the ability to find happiness and peace within ourselves. When we think our worlds our crumbling around us, we really do just need to take the time to stop and breathe and grab control of the wheel again.

“No single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us.  To live is to be slowly born.”  -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942, translated from French by Lewis Galantière

We the Media I

This is a book that explores the evolution of the media and the impact it has on our society today. It’s simply amazing to read about how far technology has come and the advancements today that are expanding how quickly news travels.

As I read the first 3 chapters (and the introductory), I jotted down a couple of key points that I felt Dan Gillmor was making. All of these I agreed with and found to be completely relevant.

Firstly, the idea that talk radio “predated and anticipated the weblog phenomenon” (ch. 1, p. 11). Which seems to be true. Talk radio was the first and quickest way people could communicate and discuss hot topics, politics, etc.

From there, was a rapid movement forward with numerous tools of grassroots journalism. In chapter 2, Gillmor lists the most relevant tools, “email lists, to weblogs, to sophisticated content management systems used for publishing content to the web, and to syndications tools that allow anyone to subscribe to anyone else’s content.”

It’s amazing that today anyone can be a journalist today. We all have the ability to, but sadly as stated on p. 3 of ch. 2, “most people will remain consumers of the news.” Just as most people don’t take their own initiative to research candidates policies in an election to make an intelligent decision (instead, they’ll rely on the opinions of friends and family members, or what they may think is the “popular” choice), most will also not take advantage of our growing technological society, and not everyone will “blog.”

The mass media has a humongous effect and influence upon our society. However, it seems with the growth of grassroots journalism, “The spreading of an item of news, or something will occur – much more so than today – without any help from mass media as we know it” (ch. 2, p. 20). Perhaps the spread of gossip and news can easily get around with out the mass media, but the mass media has had such an effect on the changing and growth of our society, that I don’t believe it will ever truly vanish.

We live in an information age. A technology age. And with all of the technology we can get our hands on, no wonder word can spread so quickly. SMS – text messaging, camera phones, weblogging, RSS, and more, continues to shape the way history and our future is being recorded and formed.

It only hurts the first time…

So! This is my first post… I created this blog because of my New Media class at SJSU. So far it seems like it’s going to be a pretty good class…

Now, lets travel back a couple of years back into the time of Open Diaries and Xangas. Maybe it was just because I was at that same age, but I remember when blogging was a bunch of whiny emo kids complaining about how terrible their lives were and how their hearts were broken into pieces that no one could mend or young teenagers writing about their daily routines. Can we say… borrrring? I’ll admit, I followed the trend for a while. But now it’s on to something hopefully a tad more profound, intelligent, and interesting to read.

However, I can’t say how often I’ll post or what I’ll be posting about, but I suppose this is a start.

“We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art.” – Salvador Dali