Lessons in Contradiction

Coming to the end of a long, long education inevitably inspires thoughts of the future. It’s frightening to imagine beginning something completely new and I can’t help but wonder if I have done enough to prepare: learned enough, read enough, taken enough of the right classes.

The world has changed with the advent of the Internet and our field has changed immensely as well. Though I came into this class with this understanding - to an extent- this point has truly been driven home as the course is wrapping up and I think of all that we've learned, discussed and debated.

More people are writing the news than ever before, whether they are actual journalists or not. The everyday person is contributing to the media in ways few ever imagined. That media constantly surrounds us and we find our society with an entirely new set of issues, having to now debate the rights and uses of media that not long ago weren’t even a consideration.

Ironically, I actually feel more prepared and yet less prepared, more confident and yet more frightened all at the same time. I am grateful for my experience with Flash, iMovie, Photoshop and Dreamweaver, but feel like there is so much more to learn and wonder if perhaps I’m stuck in that infamous Alanis Morissette song?

I have been inspired by the work of others, Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon and Angela Grant in particular, who have been down this same path - but intimidated at the same time.

The one thing that could have enhanced this class for me would have been more time to explore the different medias we were merely introduced to. But, in theme with the theme, I simply can’t imagine a longer semester!

I’m excited about continuing to learn more and experiment more but scared sh…well, you know how that ends.