"Understanding several media simultaneously is the best way of approaching any one of them." - Marshall McLuhan
I have 162 text messages in my cell phone inbox. I am sitting on the couch with nine tabs open on my Firefox browser on the Mac laptop to my left. There is a Miriam Makeba vinyl playing on a turntable hooked up to a 3-CD changer, tape deck and radio combo receiver. In front of me are four bookshelves full of DVDs, VHSs, books, and magazines. On the coffee table by my feet are more magazines and old newspapers scattered around. The television is off, so I can concentrate long enough to write this. My life like many others is totally saturated with messages and forms of communication, which affect us more than we are conscious of, for better and for worse.
My intellectual development heavily coincided with the U.S.'s involvement in many national and internationally illegal undertakings. Early on in my undergraduate study my knowledge of the field of politics mortified and disgusted me. For this reason I decided to try Poli-Sci 101 and fell in love. In my studies I learned that there were many people fed up with the military industrial complex, the abuse of labor and land, the lack of transparency and accountability and the resulting pain around the globe. Dedicated members of the independent press and nonprofit organizations have devoted a large part of their lives towards progressive change. Early in my undergraduate studies I decided that I too, would work towards those same principles. At that point, I was not sure in exactly what capacity I would be working for that change.
At the University of Massachusetts at Boston I had earned a 3.8, interned at State Representative Louis Kafka's office, completed a Senior Honors Thesis, and studied abroad to Cuernavaca, Mexico. I also completed two minors, one in Spanish and the other in Economics and the Certificate Program in International Relations all while winning three academic awards (see Curriculum Vitae). In my International Relations Seminar the class had only four white Americans, and something like a dozen students from the African Diaspora, three or four students from the Middle East including a Muslim Arab and an Israeli Jew, and a handful of students from everywhere else but Antarctica. International Relations debates were never so gritty for me as they were in that seminar or on that campus.
Originally, I wanted to go to the New School's program in International Affairs. I was attracted to the school's fusing of intellectual elements and it's non-traditional approach to its subjects. The school and its program appeared excellent, I however, was unsure about pursuing an advanced degree in International Affairs.
In the two-year period after school I worked in bookstores, restaurants, and for temp agencies so I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life without too much professional pressure. With all the spare time I had being chronically underemployed and eventually unemployed, opportunities arose for me to develop my many outside interests. In 2007 I lived with students from Mass College of Art and Design, who through osmosis taught me that communication could also come in non-linear and creative mediums and not just “The Ten Page Essay”. I spent a lot of time with students from the Studio for Interrelated Media, as well as from the Photography and Glassblowing Departments. Their creative energy had rubbed off on me.
The following year, I moved to Somerville, the other side of the city, where I joined the Community Access TV station and learned how to communicate via digital media and learned to utilize software like FinalCut Express and PhotoShop. I helped many members and the station produce programs and began my own live weekly TV call-in show, “The Soap Box” (http://scatsoapboxtv.blip.tv). On the show, my co-host and I discuss topics that we feel are missing in mainstream TV discourse and periodically bring in knowledgeable guests to enhance our discussion. Our latest episode, Soap Box 17 featured human rights worker and author Nadejda Marques. She came onto the show to commemorate the 60th anniversary of International Human Rights Day.
My interest in media led me to a Research Assistant position with Dr. Bill Baker at the Hauser Center for Non Profit Research in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Together we are examining the size, scope and reach of nonprofit journalism throughout old media and new in hopes of finding the next viable formula for journalism. My amateur media activism is hopefully the beginning of a dynamic and growing media career. I look forward to learning what the Media Studies program has to teach me about production and media philosophy.
Media is in a deeply transitional phase. Print newspapers are losing readers and turning heavily to a web platform. Millions of Americans get their news from shows such as the Daily Show and Colbert Report, both of which first aim to entertain and then inform. Meanwhile, cable news programs that claim to inform appear to have entertainment as their first priority. Infotainment as well as the conglomeration of media outlets threatens the informed debate and diversity of voices needed in our democratic forum. At this critical point in media's evolution, I want to be a part of the next generation of creative communicators that bring critical information to the public in a scrupulous and engaging way.
I am very enthusiastic about the curriculum and class offerings at the New School. The integration of philosophy, art, media theory, and politics into a program that thoroughly teaches multi-media production is ideal for being a conscientious media producer. The unique and creative intellectual culture at the New School and the fact that it is located in New York City, the media capital of the world, is the perfect setting for me to contribute to and enhance the media community. After graduating with a Masters in Media Studies from the New School I hope to continue my media activism throughout many different media platforms. In the distant future I see myself working in community media and teaching media literacy and production.
Finally, I hope that you will consider me for admission to the New School Graduate program in Media Studies, as I will enthusiastically bring a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to the changing field of media.
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