The Internet Is Real

Every once in a while I run across one of those anti-internet/anti-social media people. You know the ones, they get a facebook or a Twitter but then delete it because it’s “fake” and you can’t keep in touch with “real people,” or have a “real relationship” with people. They just dismiss the internet like it’s an inferior form of communication. Well, that really irks me, because I’ve met some of the best people online. And sure, some forms of the communication are missing, like facial expressions, body gestures, tone of voice, etc. And admittedly, some people probably would ever be friends “in real life”  because of prejudices thinking, “they’re too ugly,” or, “they sound stupid,” that we usually use to sort people.

But on the internet, the words and the ideas are still there… that’s what matters. People who have just met, say in a chat room, can just dive into deeper conversations getting to the core of our person faster and know who we really are. Because, honestly, it’s easier to open up when you don’t see someone’s facial expression. We can pretend we didn’t cringe when someone types that they’re 41 and when you thought they were 28, and you can keep talking. Point here being, we can set aside any visual prejudice and just have open, raw conversations with anyone. And I’ve found that the internet is the place where I have some of my richest conversations, that last the longest. Not in one sitting, but in talking over months and years.

And now for a hilarious quote from an acquaintance I saw leaving facebook… his reasons were, “Because the internet is the most fake and illegitimate form of meeting people and maintaining communications, I’ve ever encountered. I could just be doing better things with my time.” Sir, if you ever happen to read this, I have met a countless number of worthwhile people on the internet, and it has been my strongest tool of maintaining communications. Especially with my friends across the country from summer programs. One friend in particular I e-mailed daily for a year and a half, and we still e-mail each other now at least twice weekly. Another I’ve been in contact with for nearly four years now.

Saying that, I want to ask those people, who dismiss the internet as a “real” form of communication then,  if they don’t read books, or have never been effected by a poem, because that’s the same thing. It’s the use of words for communication. As my friend Wil (@javajunky) said in our online conversation about this, “Text can convey a lot. Literature would be nowhere if it weren’t true.”

I fell that dismissing online communication is pointless for that reason. And if these people only want a “full relationship,” face to face with “real people,” then they better stop using phones, reading the news, and watching TV too, because those all dilute the full on experience you get face to face with another person. So, good luck, hypocrites. I’d like to keep all of my online friends right here. And who knows, someday I may get to meet them “IRL” as well.

Sidewalk Chalk Flood

I missed most of the Chalk Flood because I was taking pictures on campus for a class project making a stop motion video of everything “mine” on Vimeo.

I did get to take pictures of the end result of the downtown Grand Rapids Sidewalk Chalk Flood, organized by a 20 year old community college student, Rob Bliss. I hear it was a wonderful experience. I did give my own little contribution. My very own little Twitter bird with my Twitter handle beneath it. Hehe. Not sure if anyone found it. They were literally picking up the chalk pieces around me as I was drawing it and it rained the next day. But check out all my cool photos of the event here. Yet another busy weekend of photography for me!

Self Control, ftw!

Life is a hectic thing, and it only gets worse as the college student moves closer to final exams. That’d be where I’m at. Fortunately, since I’m in art, we don’t really have “exams.” But we do have lots of big final projects due. So I’m usually very busy the week before finals.

Right now, it’s two weeks before finals and I’ve already pulled an all-nighter in order to complete some homework on time since it’s been put off by my amazing procrastination skills, known well among all my peers. Not that I am bragging (although I am the best).

Anywho, that’s the lack of posting. This is to keep up with my one a week goal and as heads up. Haha. I have lots of photos to comb through from events the past few weeks, but I’m not letting myself get to them until my essential homework is done. Self control, ftw!

I Was A Childhood Swing Hog

Inspired by @JavaJunky’s desire to go sit on some swings, I was reminded of my own love for swings. I recall being quite the swing hog when I was in primary school (K-3). I would run out across the playground in order to get the best swing for me; one where my feet wouldn’t drag in the gravel nor would I have to jump up to reach the seat.

Once I had the perfect swing, I would spend the almost whole grueling 20 minute recess on that one swing. Usually I’d have a friend next to me and we’d race to see who could get the highest the fastest. And whenever two people got stuck swinging together at the same rate we’d shout, “Get out of my bathroom!” and other such childish things.

Other times I would be alone, or just in my own mind and I would just watch the clouds above, aiming my feet at them. Then I’d imagine being able to jump off at the very top of the upswing and fly over the football feild and over the trees on the other side.

This is one of my few childhood memories that let’s me pry into that child’s imagination I had back then. I savor these memories and still enjoy a good session on a swing to really remember them. Now, if you were also a swing hog, then you know the one funny downside to swinging for so long. When you finally jump off at the end of recess when they rung the bell, you land in a spray of dirty gravel and stand up and do that funny waddle back to the classroom because your butt has lost partial felling from the swing seat.

To all fellow swing hogs: go find a swing for me and go swinging again. :)

Why I Hate Spring

Most people like spring. It’s the end of all the cold snow and the beginning to a new, warm summer in temperate regions. But when I tell people I hate spring, and it’s my least favorite season, they are shocked and appalled. But it’s a simple and logical explanation having to do with where I grew up.

For one, I can never answer the question, “What’s your favorite season?” because it’s a tie between summer and winter. I always recall once when I was in preschool I was babysat by my best friend’s mom. So when we weren’t in school, I was with my best friend all day long! And I remember, standing at the big bay window at the front of the house, complaining about the heat of summer jumping up and down singing, “We want winter! We want winter!” in that generic child sing-song voice. But then after winter rolled around, we would get sick of being wet and cold from playing in the snow. We would go to the same bay window, where the snow drifted up to our chest level against the window, and sing, “We want summer! We want summer!”

That has basically stayed the same, and now I love both summer and winter equally. Now, why do I hate spring? It’s because of where I live. My house, which I’ve lived in all my life, is next to a steep, slightly wooded ravine with a stream at the bottom. It’s beautiful and we have huge windows in our kitchen that look out over it where we can watch all the little critters run around and birds eat at the feeders. But the thing with all the trees dropping their leaves in a temperate area, is they soon get covered in snow for a whole winter. That means, come spring, when the snow melts, all the dead leaves get soaked and start rotting under the sunlight. Rotting equals disgusting smell, not to mention the worms. Also, living next to a ravine with a stream means that there’s stagnant water around which is prime breeding ground for mosquitos. We literally get clouds of mosqitos by my house and as a kid I was always covered in mosquito bites in spring. I’m still shocked I’ve never gotten West Nile or Malaria or something. Haha! (I’m kidding about the Malaria, only half kidding about West Nile….)

It’s these events that have made me come to the point where I hate spring. I hope this is more understandable now and you can excuse my disgust for the season. I make up for it with enthusiasm for summer and winter, and even fall in the right conditions! :)

See videos of my ravine in late winter when the snow first melts and in late spring when its more bearable.