Writing

Goodbyes and Gratitude: June 6, 2021

By Emily Rice, Bluefield Daily Telegraph

This week's feature struck quite the chord in me. As Teri Crawford Brown and I discussed Blackberry Winter and all the help they give those who have no one else, no family to help, I was left overwhelmingly grateful for all the assistance, support, and love my parents and family give me.

With this thought in mind, I have bittersweet news my dear readers: this is my last column as The Bluefield Daily Telegraph's Features Editor and Associate Editor of Prerogative Magazine.

I have struggled with what to write to you, and Bluefield, as a whole. The cities, counties and people of Four Seasons Country have given me so much support in unprecedented times and I will forever be grateful for that. I am also endlessly thankful to The Bluefield Daily Telegraph for the past three years of opportunity, adventure and creative endeavors. As you may know, I started here as a Reporter in the summer of 2018. Within a month, my predecessor, Whitney Browning had given her notice that she would be pursuing full-time missionary work. After gaining some courage, I asked Samantha Perry and Charles Owens if they might consider me for the position Whitney was leaving, Lifestyles Editor and Associate Editor of Prerogative Magazine. Though I'd only been working here for a month, they saw something in me and gave me the promotion I'd been looking for since I'd graduated college: feature writing.

I would not be the writer, editor, designer, or even the person I am today without the past three years I have lived and worked here. I would not be the journalist I am without the tutelage of Samantha Perry. With her assistance, and that of the rest of the newsroom, I was able to make magazines, sections and stories come to life in ways I'd only imagined. For that, and so much more I am so grateful to The Bluefield Daily Telegraph. But the time has come to go home.

I have a wonderful family waiting for me back in Charleston, W.Va. The importance of being close to family was brought to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic when I was separated by only a couple hundred miles that color-coded maps of county infection rates made an impossible distance. In isolation, I learned a lot about myself, some of which I have shared with you. One lesson I learned was the importance of priorities in life.

Just last week, I wrote about how the problems and stress of youth hold a nostalgia once you've experienced a bit more life. Now that I have experienced a global pandemic, my priorities are to spend as much time with my family as possible. I want to be there for them, physically, not digitally, as they have been there for me all of my life.

So, by the time you are reading this, I have accomplished everything that is worrying me at the moment. The Uhaul, boxes, packing tape and deposits will have been settled, and I will have learned more lessons about worry by then, I am sure. I write to you from my very last day here, boxes in the back of my car await the contents of this desk I've called a second home for three years. However, by the time you read this, I'll be settled in my new apartment, with my loyal companion of 13 years, my dog Zooey by my side. The day you read this will be the day before I start my new job.

That's the magic of publishing schedules, I suppose.

We have so enjoyed our time here, and sharing pieces of our life with you through this column. Zooey and I have been recognized by readers in public, and to them, I want to say thank you. Talking face to face with someone who genuinely enjoys what I write enough to approach me and my 85 pound dog, has been a humbling experience. The hours I've spent bent over a keyboard, staring at a blank screen contain so much more meaning with every interaction I've had with readers, whether that be through mail, in-person, or over the phone, thank you.

I'll be honest, this is a weird move for me. As long-time readers will know, I have moved a lot. However, this move is bittersweet. Of course, my initial move away from my family, to Colorado was the most difficult. But, I have been sharing the news with coworkers and friends with tears in my eyes over the past two weeks. There have never been tears when leaving all the places I've left. You are quite special, Bluefield.

The first to know were Bernice Allen and Michelle Gill, the queens of our Circulation Department and masters of difficult paper routes, but most importantly, my friends. After a few years of supportive "futon talks" in her office, with just a look Bernice knew the news I needed to tell her before she left for the day. Her first question, "How far?" I answered, "Back home, to Charleston." She responded, "As long as it's not across the country again."

We laughed, cried and hugged.

Bernice is right, I won't be too far away. Just back home, in the capital city, but I will miss pouring, perhaps too much, of my heart out on these newsprint pages once a week.

And now to you, my loyal readers. As a child, I dreamed of writing just those words, "my readers." I've wanted to write since I knew how to hold a pencil. I have had stories to tell, and the honor of helping tell others' stories as well. I want to thank everyone who has spent a few minutes or a few hours on an interview with me. Oftentimes, those heartfelt stories I get to write, come from someone trusting me enough to hold their trauma, their pain, and turn it into something beautiful. I will never forget that trust. I will also never forget seeing my byline the first, second, third, or 5,000th time. It is still special to me that people want to read what I write.

While I am leaving the newsroom, I am not leaving writing behind. I will continue to write, and hold the same reverie and gratitude for my byline on a page as I do now. Thank you, readers, thank you, coworkers, thank you, friends, and thank you, Bluefield.

Keep an eye out for my byline or my big brown dog, we will see you around.

— Contact Emily Rice at erice@bdtonline.com and follow her on Twitter @BDTrice



Source: https://www.bdtonline.com/news/lifestyles/...

Book Review: Digital Storytelling by Joe Lambert

Digital Storytelling, Capturing Lives, Creating Community is a book by Center for Digital Storytelling founder, Joe Lambert that outlines many of the techniques they use in their workshops to teach people how to tell stories. In the book, Lambert gives a short summary of his life, as well as the life of the tradition of storytelling. He highlights the fact that storytelling has evolved to be an “outsider celebration of the ordinary,” (Page 10) which is why we relate to it so much. The two play well off one another and peak the interest as he delves into techniques for creating story. The last few chapters are an interview with the founders of the Center for Digital Storytelling. Reading the author and his coworkers’ direct quotes after a polished book was a beneficial resource that also helped the reader feel like they were actually a student at the Center. Something that I found interesting in particular at the beginning of the book was the description of how our brains work differently when we are hearing or telling a story. This set up of biological reactions to a seemingly arbitrary concept, gives the reader a sense of the important place that story can play in our lives. Conceptual illustrations aside, Lambert gave very practical advice to storytelling, and digital storytelling specifically. The book is a mixture of his and his student’s creative writings, alongside his heartfelt advice, and instructions (even bulleted lists). He gives seven components or categories of a digital story: Self Revelatory, Person or First Person Voice, Lived Experience, Photos more than moving images, Soundtrack, Length and Design, and Intention (Page 38). This book is useful for seasoned storytellers and beginners alike. A refresher for some, and a starting point for others, the book contains a little something for everyone with real-life examples. Lambert encourages his authors to “participate in the narrative” (Page 60) in order to connect to their audience. On a more practical note, he also discusses how to choose an image for a story, and why storyboarding is important. In addition to his “digital media” advice, he also gives advice for authors in general. I found the chapter with storytelling prompts and advice on connecting most useful. This book could be used for an aspiring writer, a seasoned professional, or a freshman journalism student. It’s advice seeks to stand the test of our ever-changing times as well as incorporate their website for tutorials and help.

 

This book taught me a lot about storytelling, something that I have been studying for the past few years. I chose this book because telling story is something that I feel I struggle with. I still have trouble recognizing when I have a good story and when I don’t. I think many of the instructions in this book will help me figure out my place in the story telling world. Something that I already knew, but not in so many words is that, for a story to connect to its audience, it must connect to their emotions. This is not just because we, as humans are emotional creatures; it is a biologically sound fact. On page 8, Lambert describes the process in this way:

 

“As it turns out, if we have an affective relationship to the sensory information – if that information is connected to the part of our brains that processes our emotions – then the pathways become even stronger.”

 

To read more about the research that has been conducted in this area, the findings that are cited in this book are available online as a PDF of Eric Kandel’s book, In Search of Memory.

These findings relate to my projects in that, I knew that I wanted to create an emotional story, I just didn’t understand why the more emotional the story example, the more successful they seemed to be. Now that I understand the biology behind it, I will be able to make more successful stories.

In my time at Marshall University, learning about storytelling techniques, there has always been a disconnect in my brain between the “story” element and how to transcribe it to a “digital” element. Chapter 4, in particular in this book gave me a greater understanding of this broad term.

This is the chapter where Lambert gives the “seven ways to define digital storytelling,” but that is just the beginning. He goes on to talk about what the definition of story itself is, and he came to the conclusion that, for the most part, everything can be a story. Everyone has a story to tell, and they should, because that is what most of our society is built on (Page 42). On a more practical note, the Center for Digital Storytelling or, CDS, has something they call a story circle. The story circle allows the author to categorize the story they are trying to tell, simply. It begins with “Me Story” and ends with “No Story.” That is, every story in your brain begins with you, but if you expand it out too much, it loses its validity. This is further illustrated through the two very broad types of story described on page 59: “1) ‘A stranger came to town…’ or 2) ‘We went on a vacation.”

Lambert also discussed how to “see your story.” I love this line on page 60:

“Finding the moment of change in your story and describing it within a scene is the starting point to telling the story as a story.”

This “moment of change” analogy really solidifies what makes or breaks a story. I will be sure to use this quote to curate my stories to fit my audience’s wants and needs. Outside of the world of text in a story, lies imagery. Lambert discusses at length, strategically using of imagery and its benefits, but simply put, he wants us to consider our audience. Would they be able to understand the story without the image? (Page 62). This is another point that I will take into creating my story. As a photographer, I tend to use imagery too much. But even if I have 15 great photographs, if I chose five to include, those five are going to have a much greater impact than if I had diluted the story with all 15.

Lambert also gives some practical tools for finding inspiration for story that I will definitely be using. My favorite is his use of the 4×6 index card (Page 88). To escape “blank page syndrome” he will give his students an index card, a prompt and a time limit. This gets the creative juices flowing, without overwhelming the student. He gives many other prompts throughout the book, but specifically in chapter seven. Some of the prompts are practical, some are emotional, but all could lend a hand to me at some point of my process when I am staring at a blank page.

The last thing I found helpful in this book was Lambert’s encouragement to “describe images that aren’t seen” (Page 108). This means that, while you may show your audience a photo of a car with meaning to the story, they don’t know what the interior smelled like, or how the owner felt when they bought it, or the memories made in it. These small, emotional details bring the audience in in ways that a simple photograph cannot.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in storytelling in any capacity. The guidelines given in this book could be useful to any number of creative outlets. Even a medium so seemingly far removed from journalistic storytelling as painting, could benefit from this book in telling story through what the painter paints. I also think that even people who are not necessarily interested in “creating story” could benefit from learning the history of story, why it is important to society and what goes into telling a really good story.

What is Storytelling?

Storytelling has always fascinated me. From a young age, all I ever wanted from my parents was for them to tell me stories. Still, in interactions with friends, I don’t just want the “gist” of what happened, I want them to tell me what led up to whatever they are talking about. Professionally, story and storytelling is my life and livelihood. Whether it is in a straightforward newspaper article, a more in-depth “life” style piece, or fiction writing, I live for telling stories. I believe that telling stories well can change things. I also think that it would be hard to argue with that statement, but you are more than welcome to. Most of the changes that have come about in our world, that have saved lives, places and tradition have come from someone telling the story of those people or that place. We, as humans are built to empathize with one another, so hearing about someone else’s struggle strikes a chord in us. But if the story is told in a certain way, it can not just strike a chord, it can also inspire action. I relation to JMC 465: multimedia storytelling, my capstone and last class in my discipline, this means that I want to create a piece that inspires action. I no longer want mediocrity in my projects. Not one shred of it. I want to find and story and get so into it that it is all that I can think about. I am currently looking for that story of social injustice in our area if anyone has any ideas.

Shooting as a Key Word

Courtesy of The Associated Press

Type in the word, “shooting” into a google search bar and you will get approximately 503,000,000 results. At any given time, in some part of the world, a country or state is “reeling from the effects” of a mass shooting. When did it get this bad? How did it get this bad? Why are we still arguing about gun control? All three of these questions bounce around my brain often, but I don’t know the answer and honestly, I am not sure that anyone else does either.

Right now, the world is still dealing with the Paris terrorists attacks of November 13th as well as the Charlie Hebdo attacks of January this same year. Meanwhile, two mass shootings have taken place in Colorado. I listen to NPR every morning and I learn of a new shooting or more insidious details of the most recent one. I open my CNN or NYT app while I drink my coffee and nearly every morning there is a headline containing the word, “shooting.” All four of the most recent cases have different speculative motives, but the same outcome: people are dead or seriously injured and all we can do is fight about whether or not every single person in the world should be allowed to carry a gun.

I do not know where I stand on this issue.  The only thing that I can equate the “self defense argument” to is this: I have lived in the two largest cities in West Virginia. I work late nights and I do not feel safe walking to my car without my mace, which I have had to pull out a two times. But here is the thing about my mace: I didn’t kill anyone with it. In fact, just seeing me pull it out in conjunction with my phone dialing 911 has scared both predators away. Now, this is WV, and perhaps these predators would have backed off either way. I do not know, and I hope that I never have to find out, but I do know that had I been holding a gun, and they wouldn’t have backed off, I may have fired. Had a fired my mace, they may not be incapacitated enough to leave me alone. This would not have been the case with a gun. In the moment, in a setting of high adrenaline, my judgement may have been foggy. Here is another difference between those situations and these mass shootings: mass shootings are pre-meditated attacks on specific groups of people. My experience has been purely self defense, which is most everyone’s argument in favor of the second amendment. Like I said earlier, I am torn in many directions, have no personal experience, and so, I continue to research for answers to why mass shootings continue to happen more frequently at an alarming rate. 

Since I do not know where I stand on the issue, I would like to outline reasons for the increasing rate of mass shootings and allow my audience to decide their stance on gun control, based only upon what I have outlined. I hope that by deciding the cause, we can search for a solution. This type of research is integral to my job in the world as a journalist. I must be informed, in order to report fairly and justly. Look at this blog as a practice run for laying out the facts as an impartial party in a very controversial issue. I will not be including terrorism as a reason, because that is a different topic entirely and requires it’s own conversation. 

Here are the most convincing reasons, in my opinion:

Mental Illness and Media Coverage

Mental illness is the determined culprit for many mass shootings. However, in an article by Stephanie Pappas on LiveScience.com, she argues that many times we blame mental illness, when in reality, it is a desire for fame that spurs the shootings. She also argues that America makes guns too accessible, but that is another argument in itself. In the article, published on August 26, 2015, she said:

“The possible association between mass shootings and a desire for fame is particularly eerie, given the nation’s latest high-profile killing. Early this morning (Aug. 26), a former employee at a local news station in Virginia allegedly killed a reporter and a cameraman on-air, while filming the shooting with a GoPro camera. He later posted the film to social media. Because there were fewer than four victims, the event does not qualify as a mass shooting, according to most definitions. But the apparent desire to broadcast the crime places the killer in the same company as many notorious mass shooters of the past decade.”

This argument holds a punch in today’s society because of accessibility to this type of media. The first high profile shooting took place in 1999 at Columbine High School. Since that time, a type of underground cult following has formed around its perpetrators, so much so that Eric Harris, the architect of the Columbine shootings has become a hero to this subculture. To understand this idea, many compare mass shootings to a theory developed about riots by Mark Granovetter and cited by Malcolm Gladwell in a recent New Yorker article. In an interview with Gladwell by NPR’s Steve Inskeep, he said, “The first person who throws the rock is a lot more radical than the 100th person.” He says that the earlier shooters were “textbook psychopaths” and that they have made the behavior seem normal to certain people in the population who aren’t nearly as psychopathic as these original shooters were. According to the interview, after a shooting in Seattle last year, the shooter told police that “Eric Harris was in his head, talking him through it.” This statement itself makes the idea of mental illness immediately come to mind. Gladwell also said that yes, limiting access to guns could help the problem, but the problem is much much deeper than that in our society and that the availability of guns is a small part of the larger picture. This metaphor of riots to shootings, helps us understand a bit of why the incidents may be increasing, but it does not explain the motives. Those are, of course, for the police to decide, but it would help to prevent them if we knew more about the perpetrators’ motives and an argument could be made to monitor their mental health in relation to their access to guns. But, as Gladwell said, it may just be a small part in a larger picture.

Access to Guns in America

At this point in the argument, it is difficult for even the biggest gun enthusiasts to argue against a certain amount of control in who is able to obtain a gun. America is one of the only 1st world countries where a majority of its citizens are still in favor of gun rights, according to a Washington Post Article. In this Washington Post graphic, you can see that most guns used in these shootings were obtained legally, through the current pathways required by the government:

Washington Post Infographic displaying how guns used in violent crimes were obtained by the perpetrators.

In a study done by the Pew Research Center, cited by Max Ehrenfreund and Zachary A. Goldfarb, authors of the Washington Post article, 11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States, they said, “Pew found that gun ownership is concentrated among older adults, rural residents, and whites, especially white Southerners. Whites in the South are more likely to own guns than whites in other regions.” Citing another study, the article said, “The Harvard Injury Control Research Center assessed the literature on guns and homicide and found that there’s substantial evidence that indicates more guns means more murders.” So what do all of these facts have to do with mass shootings? They help us have a greater understanding of how the shooters are obtaining their weapons, and how law enforcement may be able to predict and prevent future attacks based on where the guns are. So, where is the argument against more restrictive gun laws? It lies in the self defense argument. Most in favor of the second amendment say they want their guns because they want to be able to protect themselves and their families. They also argue that other countries with more strict gun laws like the UK and Germany, still have their fair share of crime and mass shootings according to this article. The last argument most commonly cited is that even if we eliminated the right to own a gun, criminals do not follow laws, so why should they start once owning a gun is outlawed. This argument can be quickly dismissed by the above chart which demonstrates that most mass shootings that occur are carried out with weapons that were legally obtained.

Violence in the Media

The public is quick to dismiss this theory: increasing violence portrayed in the media has direct correlation with violence being enacted in real life. However, in a New York Times article debating this theory, they, after citing eight scientific studies conducted on this topic, made this statement:

“The bottom line: The weight of the studies supports the position that exposure to media violence leads to aggression, desensitization toward violence and lack of sympathy for victims of violence, particularly in children.”

This conclusion is supported by the trends of violence in the media increasing directly coordinate to the findings in the last decade, as demonstrated by this Washington Post graph:

Washington Post Graph depicting the rate of increase in violence over more than a decade.

We, as a country, appear to be on a steady increase in active shooter situations, according to the above study. According to studies by psychologists George Comstock, Haejung Paik, Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman, researchers Lindsay A. Robertson, Helena M. McAnally and Robert J. Hancox, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, all conclude that media violence exposure a risk factor for actual violence. So, with this overwhelming finding of research, how can we stop the influx of violence? According to a position paper by the AAFP,

“Children and adolescents in the U.S. spend an average of about seven and a half hours a day using various forms of entertainment media, such as television, video games, the Internet, and recorded music. Research suggests that the time they spend interacting with various media surpasses all other activities except sleep…Moreover, studies have shown that by the time young people living today reach their 70s, they will have spent the equivalent of 7 to 10 years of their lives watching television.“

This much exposure, with this amount of facts backing the idea that said is exposure could be in part responsible could be part of the problem.

The title of this essay is “shooting as a keyword.” By breaking down step by step, facts about mass shootings, the media and statistics I hope to have made the word shooting less than a key word, and more about the victims of the crimes and what we, as a society can do to deter them. I also hope that I have helped those, like me understand the meaning behind the headlines and take a critical look at this worldwide issue.

The Intentional Creative

The Accidental Creative is a book written by Todd Henry to help creatives be more productive and for people who don’t consider themselves creative, to find their inner artist. The book is a mixture of self-help, inspiration, tips, and guidelines to become a better creative. I chose this book to read because I already considered myself a creative person. However, I often struggle to find my niche. I am a photographer, a reporter, a news writer, a fiction writer, a graphic designer, all of these things, while they may look good on a resume can be extremely overwhelming in all actuality. Whenever I have free time, there is something that I should be doing in my mind. There is always something that I should be creating. I can’t take a lazy day to read a novel, I have to write, or read complicated articles and learn something. I can’t just take photos because it is a passion of mine, my portfolio is always in the back of my mind. So, I read this book to try to help myself organize who I am as a creative and be more productive.

One of the biggest things that I learned in this book was to stop multitasking. When I did, I realized how much more productive I was. When I just focused on writing, instead of checking my email every five minutes, and trying to watch a documentary or listen to a podcast at the same time, I not only wrote more, but it was better content. In hindsight, this seems like an obvious solution, but in today’s busy world, taking a second without distraction is incredibly refreshing. In an article on health.com  the author discusses why multitasking doesn’t actually work at all. They describe the feeling of doing one thing at a time as luxurious, which is exactly how I felt when I tried it. In the article, they give twelve reasons that multitasking doesn’t actually work. One important reason is that it doesn’t actually work, is that our brain only have a finite amount of attention and productivity level at that level of activity according to Guy Winch, PhD. Another point that the list makes is one of the same as in The Accidental Creative. In this section, on page 69, Henry points out that,

“If you want to thrive in the create-on-demand world, you must develop the capacity to focus deeply.”

The article on health.com also pointed to how multitasking can dampen creativity,

“Multitasking requires a lot of what’s known as “working memory,” or temporary brain storage, in layman’s terms. And when working memory’s all used up, it can take away from our ability to think creatively, according to research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.”

All of these reasons, and more convinced me to try to multitask less, and barring a few sick days, I have been more productive.

The next important thing that I learned from this book was that isolating yourself is not helpful to the creative process. Now, I will admit that I have not put this particular tip to the test yet, except for maybe asking for help or insight a few times when I usually wouldn’t, but Henry argues that by isolating ourselves by working, we are cutting ourselves off from a lot of helpful brain power. On page 95, he writes,

“the slippery slope of introversion for the creative is that we may isolate ourselves more than we should. We sometimes begin to see the act of maintaining a relationship as an obligation that pulls us away from our important work, rather than an opportunity to stretch ourselves, explore new possibilities and take advantage of collaborative opportunities within our team.”

I do not often work with a team, however, most of my friends and collegues have similar interests or professions to me. I tend to isolate when I work. I don’t want distractions of other people. If I am in starbucks, even with my boyfriend, I will put headphones in so that he knows I am focused in. Now, on one hand, this relates to the previous point; not multitasking, and I still believe in that method in many ways. But, Henry argues that if and when you are stuck on something, or even if you aren’t, carve time out of your schedule to discuss your current projects with family, friends, or collegues and inspiration may come from the most unexpected of places. My headphones in starbucks thing is just stupid though since the only difference between my boyfriend and I’s professions is that he works on the advertising side and I work on the journalistic side. So, I’ve opened myself up to allowing him to help on projects because I am very controlling about my work. However, Henry has an answer to this too. On page 97, he writes,

“When we obsess over getting our own buckets filled, we not only find ourselves disappointed with the results, we also regularly disappoint everyone around us.”

So, when I isolate myself, I am not only missing out on opportunities for myself, I am taking away insight that I could give to others on their creative projects. In addition to this, people who are introverts can miss out on opportunities simply because they didn’t ask for them. In an article on Business Insider this concept is discussed; that not only do introverts miss out on personal relationships, but opportunities in work life as well. The article sites that people who are introverted (to a certain degree) could be overlooked for promotions. According to the article, this is because they have a harder time playing up their good deads.

The last broad concept in the book, and the title of the final chapter is “Cover Bands Don’t Change the World.” This phrase is very important to Todd Henry. He not only titles the chapter with it, but writes that he surrounds himself with it, in his office, in his home, etc. Henry is constantly reminded to be original, motivated and challenged. He writes,

“Comfort is frequently the enemy of greatness. When you choose to default to comfort, you are choosing to be less effective in your life.”

Through this quote, Henry is telling the reader that putting yourself out into uncomfortable situations or challenges, is the only way to improve. So, creative people cannot be introverted to such a degree that they are mindfully crippled by unforseen circumstances. But, even if you are an extrovert or somewhere in between, allowing yourself to become comfortable making the same things, doing the same things, and working on the same projects, which create the same content is the worst thing that a creative person can do to his or herself. We must be open to opportunities given to us, to gather inspiration to create new things. The way that all of the information is laid out in The Accidental Creative as well as the corresponding steps to improve your creative output really resonated with me. The book taught me much more than is mentioned here, but these are the three main points that I think will really stand out to me months down the line. They are already helping me create better content, from a better perspective, more efficiently.

Does “wandering” prepare storytellers better than education?

I am a planner. This should come a no surprise to anyone that knows me, but to those who do not, every activity during my day is planned down to the hour if not the minute. I have a tedious calendar on my phone, which syncs to my computer, and both are color-coded to my planner. Yes, I do sound insane when I put it that way, but that is just how I’ve found I am able to function with two and a half jobs and a full course load. In short, according to society, I am doing everything right. I pay attention to my credit score and savings account, I went to college after taking the ACT as many times as it took to get all of the scholarships needed to pay for my degree, and I even have a plan to pay off the debts that I do have. So why as graduation crawls closer and closer (194 days, but who is counting?) do I seem to encounter more and more people and stories of people who are successful outside of a degree in the field that I want to be in, and had no intention of ending up in my dream position? For example, Natalie Fobes, an unbelievably successful photographer who had no intention of becoming one. She has worked for National Geographic, and is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Scripps Howard Meeman Award and the Alicia Patterson Fellowship. Now, just for fun, she’s dabbling in portrait photography, something that I do on the weekends to make ends meat. However, she was a bit of a wandering soul at my age of 21. So here’s my question: is all of my planning holding me back? Most would consider me successful for my age. I am involved at school, am on the deans list, have studied abroad, and have a growing portfolio (that I obsess over) that just recently grew to include “photographing President Obama.”

 

So, will I be as successful as I hope to be just because I didn’t fall into a passion, but that I knew from a young age that this is what I want to do with my life? Call it the “senior jitters” perhaps, but this fear has been in the back of my head for a while.

I have a friend, let’s call him Joe. Joe is an incredibly talented videographer and script-writer. He started out at Marshall University in 2013, my sophomore year. He excelled in journalism classes and at his internship with a local film company. The following summer, after some fall out with friends and family, he moved to Germany, where he filmed and wrote, and cultivated his passions. All at once, a little under a year later, he reappeared with hardly any notice. During this time, he visited me at my apartment in Huntington and we talked about life and “finding ourselves” and careers. A few months later, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky where he planned on studying medicine (like his family wanted him to), but took an internship with a film company there and excelled there as well. Fast-forward a little bit, he couldn’t stand the medical program, so, he moved to Colorado. From there, I haven’t been entirely clued into the details, but his camera and laptop were stolen. Poor Joe. Next thing I hear about him, he has moved to Colorado, his profile photo on Facebook changed to a photo of him on a cliffside overlook. As far as I know, Joe is living in Colorado, working for the postal service and gets to hike and adventure on his days off.

I envy him, obviously. The question is, will he be more prepared to tell stories for a living by living stories, than I will be from a college education? I’ve come to the conclusion that in many ways, we’re equal and entirely different at the same time. It is like the saying, “apples and oranges;” to compare the two is to compare two completely different people and lives, and that is not fair to either one of us. I chose to believe that passion and drive are what really make or break careers. It’s not about the specifics of how a person learns, whether that is in a classroom, or on the road. I don’t regret going to college; I think this was the right path for me, and I think Joe has chosen the right path for himself. To not follow after our passions would be the real problem.

The world is flat, and how it happened.

It is amazing to see how much the world had progressed just between the tapings of these two discussions. Charles Leadbeater spoke in 2005, and many of the things he predicted had happened by 2008, the time of Thomas Friedman gave his talk on his book, The World is Flat. Both speakers discuss how the way the world creates and interacts with one another was changing and continues to change even now.

Leadbeater discussed how some of the most innovative inventions of our time (i.e. the mountain bike) came not from big corporations, but from the consumer seeing a need, and creating a solution. He spoke about the traditional idea of a creative person, and how that perception should change, because our world is changing. New ideas don’t just come from this niche group of people, they come from collaboration made possible by the Internet. The consumers and readers don’t just want what we can give them, the Internet gave them the desire for a voice and a dialog with the professionals who produce the content. This new technology, according to Leadbeater, turns users into producers and consumers into designers. Passionate amateurs are using new tools to create products that companies cannot.

Fast-forward three years, and Friedman gives a talk at MIT about the third edition of his book based on this very concept. He sites four key “flatteners” that created the technological and working world that existed in 2008. The first of these flatteners was the release of the PC, which gave individuals the ability to author content in the digital world. The second was the company, Netscape going public. This company gave us the browser which gave us tools to bring the Internet to life. For the first time everyone was everyone else’s neighbor; everyone could send, receive, and share content. The third “flattener” was when everyone’s PCs actually became compatible to one another. Before, their was the potential for connection, after the programs were given the ability to talk to one another, everything changed.

“When the world was round, you downloaded as an individual. Now that the world is flat, individuals can upload and globalize their own content.” 

The fourth “flattener” came in the form of convergence. Now, everything that could be done, would be done, and traditional media and companies were left reeling in the consequences of this open market.

So, seven years later, how flat is the world? We would probably venture to say, as flat as it could possibly be. With the addition of countless new platforms in the form of social media and more. Not to mention, the addition of smart phones on the market. That invention took the freedom to globalize our own content mobile, something that would have been unprecedented when Netscape went public in 1995. However, while we may think that the world could not get any flatter, I’m sure that the minds of 2008 thought the same thing. So, who are we to say that we are at the top of the technological ladder? No one. We are no one. Everyday, new technology is released from countless sources. Who knows where the world will be in seven years. For us as producers of content for the web, this simply means we must keep up.In he is horizontal, rather than vertical framework,  have more opportunity for success than ever before, however, the downside to this accessibility is the countless number of people who also have access to this technology who are just as good and better than you at what you do. In relation to this class, we have to be the best we can possibly be, and follow all of the rules of SEO and beyond to be noticed in this privileged, flattened world.