Paris, France

     One week ago, I journeyed to Paris to visit my friend who was studying abroad in the city. I only stayed for two days, but I recognized something during my short time there.

     After arriving in the city at 7:45 am, my mom and I could not check into our hotel room until noon, so we decided to explore the area our hotel was in (we stayed at the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Center on 17th Blvd. of Saint-Jacques). Since the day was a Saturday, the morning Farmer's Market was in full swing, and there were varieties of seafood, vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, and flowers along the whole block. As everyone stood in long, slow-moving lines, I did not see anyone on their black-berry or iPhone attempting to kill time.
     Come noon, we settled into the lobby, waiting for our key cards and a nap. I look to my left, and I see a couple of guests taking pictures with rocker-type men wearing low-hanging trousers and 80's hair-band hair. Sitting on the opposite couch, a techy Asian man was wooing an attractive, hopeful song artist, taking turns comparing music styles and interests. In town was a SM Entertainment conference. This was the only time I saw people religiously clicking on their gadgets, looking for the latest updates, or killing time until their lectures.

     Around 5 pm and on to the next day, my friend, my mom, and I visited all the tourist-y sites. From the Eiffel Tower to the Musee de Louvre and from the Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe, we scoured the city, trying to squeeze in every site in our two day visit. Of course, we had to stop and enjoy the fine cuisine of the city as well. I feasted on roasted chicken, rack of lamb, chocolat croissants, cafe au lait, baguettes, macarons, and chocolat mousse. We were taking pictures on our phones of each other and our food, enjoying the company of our Facebook notifications showing us the jealousy of our friends. At the sites, people take pictures with their cameras, but what seem to be locals are nowhere looking down at a screen.

     One week later, I am in Fort Wayne, running in the park, and I see a deer creeping along the woods, eating shrubbery. I stop and watch, cautiously, the delicate animal. It doesn't move, but it acknowledges me by looking at me every so often. I sit down to stretch and see how long our affair will last. A few people walk past, quickly looking at the deer, but continuing forward with haste. Then, a father and daughter walk across the way, see me and the deer, and stop. The dad says, "Hey, I think it's looking and you." I chuckle, but don't want to scare the deer away, knowing the slightest movement could make it so.

     The father and daughter, then, both pull out their phones and snap pictures of the deer, instead of taking nature in. Of course, if I had my phone on me, I probably would have snapped a photo, too. But that's just it. We, as Americans, seem to be obsessed with recording our interactions with each other and nature. We have our technologies within reach at all times. On the other hand, it seemed, at least in my brief time in Paris, that the French took in their moments, not needing to record each experience.

     I was filling myself with the moment. I wanted to take this experience with nature for myself to get to know who I am in nature. At the moment, I did not care what the father and daughter were thinking of me, but I wanted to get to know what I was thinking of myself. Without my media, I could more easily do so without worrying about the lighting in the picture or zoom technology of my camera.

     I have heard that France is where inspiration begins and stems. Paris is the city of love. In the past, all artists, creative people and the like would gather together, sharing their experiences face-to-face, immersing themselves in the city's beauty.
   
     With our media these days, much of that is transforming into something new--uploading pictures, tagging people, and commenting on what we see online. It's not good or bad, it's different. But I feel as though, we as humans, parts of nature who may have lost track of our natural existence, need to stop on occasion to view the beauty of our lives without the help of our technologies. It is the experiences we immerse ourselves in  that shape who we are. It is the media existence that shapes what others see us as, and while this is important, we must see our individual selves before we can take in what others think of us.

Thoughtful Present, Media-ful Future

 I have never been a person who would choose to exert energy to run around. I enjoy watching television, and figuring out the plots and characters of my favorite TV shows. The most energy that I exert while watching TV is whatever amount comes out of flipping the channel.

Now, I attempt to get out and run the track at one of my local parks at least 3 times a week. Unfortunately, I only last about 1 mile before my desire to sit down creeps in. This new routine of mine, wake up at 10 am & eat breakfast & watch television, now includes getting off the couch and out of the house to sweat and gasp for air. The thing is, I love it.

I have heard from others that running allows them a time for themselves to think about personal problems, school, & life. In "What Women Want," the character which Mel Gibson portrays pitches advertising ideas to Nike, and his pitch (actually, Helen Hunt's character's pitch) to Nike is a woman running in the early morning. The ad says that the road does not care if you are wearing makeup or don't call or visit often--just that you pay a visit once in a while. The tagline is "No games, just sports." It is sacred, alone time on the pavement that allows the runner to concentrate on oneself without worrying about "games." In my opinion, running is about struggling through something that I dislike, only to come out above it and know that I've done something for my future self. It is not me in the moment that is important, but what is to come--that is what gets me out of the house and running.

So much of what people pay attention to is the present moment, which is dandy and important, but sometimes people forget about planning for the future. These past two weeks, I purchased a new netbook (sidenote: I'm typing this post on it, and I love it), an XBox360, and a 500 GB hard drive. I need a netbook for my classes, and since netbooks do not have internal optical drives, I bought the hard drive so that I could back up my files. This XBox, though, I purchased because of a present moment.

When I was younger, I had all the latest and greatest video game technologies, and I kicked ass at SSX Tricky, Tony Hawk, and Mario Kart. Now, I can barely keep up with my 11 year old brother, because I stopped keeping up with consoles when I entered 7th grade, and I became a cheerleader, and I had other things I wanted to concentrate on.

After buying the XBox and getting the shipping notification, I came to a realization that I should not have bought the console. What was I going to do? I'm a college student and I should be concentrating on writing papers, working my way through college, and hanging out with friends, not concentrate on playing video games. After hours of racking through my brain and figuring out if I wanted to keep the console or not, I realized that with an XBox, I will be able to bond with others over technology and keep up with the technological advances into the future. If I put a little concentration and focus into new technology, I can focus on myself and my future. It may sound strange, but for what some use running, I will be online, multi-player'ing.

Of course, playing Call of Duty: Black Ops will not help me get in shape or ace any exams, but what it will do is keep me informed about media and the way that people use it to interact with others and focus on themselves, for both the present and the future. In games, there's you.

2011 Multivisions Conference

This year, I am a sophomore studying Telecommunications at Indiana University. I was sitting in one of my telecom classes when the professor told us about this unique networking opportunity held right here on campus. He urged that everyone should go, and I was worried that I would not know anything, because I was only a sophomore. I had never had any networking experience, but I decided to go, because what I wanted to experience Multivisions firsthand.

Multivisions is a yearly conference held by students in the Telecommunications department at Indiana University. Alumni who work in the Telecom field come to IU to speak as panelists, meet with students, and mentor the current Telecom students. People from all different areas of media including, but not limited to, television, film, radio, advertising, and social media attend. 

On the day of Multivisions, I dressed up in black pants and a business shirt, to look professional, and I walked to the Radio/TV building. The day before, I had signed up for two informational meetings with professionals in the Telecom field. I had my first meeting at 11 with Catherine Ruby, and I was nervous. She gave me some tips on how to pursue a career in production, and I was beginning to feel comfortable at this networking event. After my meeting, I went into Stanley Nelson’s lecture, and we got to see clips from some of his films, including the new “Freedom Riders.”

Then, I went to the networking luncheon held in Studio 6, where I met one of my friends, and we sat eating lunch next to an invited guest, Alana Salatta. We didn’t talk to her, because she was busy with other people, but it was still great to be in that environment, which I had not experienced before. Then, I went to another meeting, this time with Ann Rysenga, and she told me that I would eventually find what aspect of Telecom I am really interested in, which helped me settle my nerves. Lastly, I attended the "Script to Screen" panel, where the panelists answered questions about the process of production. On the panel was a publicist for Universal, an executive producer from New Line Cinema, the director of "Ruby," an editor for TBS, and a screenwriter (Catherine Ruby).

I am happy that I went to Multivisions, and I do not regret going. While Multivisions is full of professionals, they are there to be mentors for students’ futures in Telecom. I was nervous at first, but the environment was not as painful as I thought it would be, and I felt comfortable after 5 minutes. If you are thinking about attending a Multivisions conference, I would strongly suggest it. Don’t worry about not fitting in. If this is your first networking event, don’t sweat it, because you can always go again next year. Multivisions is a learning experience.

 For more information, visit www.facebook.com/MultiVisions

I introduce... myself. And my blog.

       As stated in my "About Me" section, I am a student at Indiana University, majoring in Communication and Culture (CMCL) and Telecommunications. I will graduate (most likely) in May 2013. My freshman year, I was a Math-Education major, but decided to switch majors at the end of the year, because I wanted expand my knowledge and not stay in the school context for the rest of my life. I respect teachers for their hard-work, perseverance, and determination. Without the teachers in my life, I would not be where I am today, and I would not be the person I am today. On a less-deep level, I try to live by what Pablo Neruda's wrote, "A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terrible."
      I created this blog in order to reflect on things that I am presented with in life. I have been interested in blogging for quite some time, but I have not been able to think about what I would even blog about. Until recently, I didn't think I would ever blog, because I have a wide-range of interests. After pondering about what my blog would be about, I decided that I would create a blog to think. There is not too many places where I can reflect or think-through concepts, ideas, or thoughts, so I made one. Of course, I could have just bought a journal, but I want to be able to share whatever I write, and I want this to be more than "Dear diary, today I went to class. etc., etc., etc.."

       The classes that I am taking are basically centered around rhetoric, film, and media. These classes present me with a wide variety of concepts to learn and writing a blog will help me learn. I encounter ideas on a daily basis, so this blog will allow me to present ideas and reflect on the world around me. I am one who has always had a different way of thinking, but never able to really answer questions. I want to improve, and so writing a blog will be a practice to help answer questions that I ask myself and others ask me.
        In a world where technology and life constantly overlap, I want to develop into a person who can keep up. What I want to accomplish with this blog include developing skills that will help me professionally and really learning, or at least reflecting upon, what I am presented with as a student, thinker, and person.