I cannot say that social media is destroying the bonds of friendship and really mean it. People are more connected than ever—finding long lost family, or friends from elementary school you thought you would never see again. But there is a difference between a Facebook friend and an actual friend. You know, a friend—someone you trust. Someone you actually talk to and know.

The interpersonal touch is obviously missing. You can’t shake hands with someone online. While social media offers many means of communicating, the intimacy of talking to a single person at one time is lost.  Facebook pages and Twitter accounts share information with everyone all at once. It’s all public. Even posts on friends’ pages are visible to anyone with access. People may be connected in a more vast and efficient way, but the intimacy, by which I mean the attentiveness, focus and honesty that goes hand in hand with one on one conversation, is all but lost in such a fast and efficient method of communication.

The epistolary form—letter writing—is a far more personal way of communicating with a good friend. People express themselves differently in written form than they do verbally or in a brief post on Facebook. Writing letters to friends opens up a whole world of expression that is otherwise buried by the concise methods of expression in virtual communication.

I write letters to some of my friends, mostly to those who live in other countries or on the Pacific side of the United States. These are friends I no longer get to see or talk to on any kind of regular basis. Writing letters to them enables me to tell them everything I want them to know—the kind of things one confides in good friends—in a space I choose to dedicate to them. And only them.

Sitting down to write a letter can be an arduous task sometimes. One of the reasons I use letter writing to communicate with my far away friends is because I can’t tell them directly what’s going on in my life on Facebook without telling everyone, or sending a long winded email. A letter carries with it the connotation of being long correspondence and of being personal. Still, the actual act of writing a letter requires a similar effort to writing a paper in that it requires a particular kind of uninterrupted focus, not to mention time. When I write to a good friend I have to focus only on that friend and what I would say if we were alone on a porch or by a fire drinking a bottle of wine. Letter writing requires honesty, focus and time, three things that are hard to come by in a world that insists on instant communication. But once the habit is established, writing letters to friends becomes a consistent way to speak truth to those who are too far away for a few beers and an afternoon chat on the porch or the stoop.

When you put your words on paper, you are creating a record. A record of a thought process, of an idea, or of a moment. And when you take the time to attach your words to a page and send them to the intended audience, you will have said everything you wanted to say, but couldn’t because other people were around. That friend now has a record of a moment in time in your life that he or she can read over and over again, if only to hear your voice.

Whenever I know I am to receive a letter, I wait anxiously for the mailman to come. I rush to the mailbox after he leaves and sift though it as if I’m searching for something of more value than a hidden treasure. For that reason, the mailman has always been one of my favorite people. I love expecting something other than bills to come for me. And the mailman is always the guy who gives me the good news.

There is something to be said for the anticipation of receiving snail-mail correspondence. The world of social media has undoubtedly spoiled us. Now, instant gratification is an every day thing when it comes to communicating. Waiting for a letter takes too much time in a world obsessed with efficiency and speed. But with efficiency and speed running the world of communication, how much substantial conversation can really be had? Already the deterioration of the English language is underway. Text messaging alone has been the biggest culprit… cuz like i luv like talking to u w/o actually speaking, u kno? Because of our abbreviated methods of communication, no one really seems to be talking or writing at length anymore. No one has the time because we’re all too busy trying to keep up with the pace of this virtual world.

But, how great a feeling is it to get a birthday card in the mail—the thought that someone actually took two seconds out of their day to think of you (and maybe help you out with a check or some cash)! They actually bought a stamp for you! How awesome is that? I mean—who buys stamps anymore?

But what would happen if we couldn’t buy stamps anymore? Or get birthday cards in the mail? What would happen if the Post Office died? Well, the answer is the same as it always is when a government service is diminished or disappears: the private sector takes over that entire market. UPS, Fedex, and DHL would be in charge of making sure your correspondence or package would be taken care of logistically! But at what cost? Soon you would be spending dollars instead of cents to RSVP to a wedding or mail a college application or send a ‘thank you’ note.

The Post Office is our last hope for paying a reasonable price for anything! While we’re paying four dollars per gallon for gas, you’re still paying less than fifty cents to mail a letter, less than a dollar to mail a letter anywhere else in the world. It’s easy to take advantage of a service like the Post Office because it has been around for as long as the United States has been a country.

The Post Office has this illusory aura about it, that it will always be around because it’s an American institution. But like most illusory things, this is untrue. Because communication has now exceeded speeds that the Post Office can maintain, its potential disappearance is now a real threat, as evidenced by the hundreds of Post Offices that have recently closed, and the thousands of postal workers who were consequently laid off.

We will lose more than jobs if the Post Office goes out of business. Listen to me… If you don’t write to your friends, then the most inexpensive service known to American society will die. And with it will die your last chance to really correspond with someone in the last intimate form of quality non-verbal communication.

__________________________

Photo courtesy of vocabulary.wordpress.com

(http://vocabulry.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/epistolary/)

Part I: The Struggle

I have often heard people joke that the only jobs for college graduates these days are barista positions at Starbucks. Though this remark is often made in jest, it rings true to my ears as I have met many of my fellow young people who complain about their crappy low wage jobs. They should complain. They—we—have every right to be upset. The MAY Generation has incurred debts from either college or credit cards, or both, that near the cost of a car or even a small mortgage. Many have taken on this debt for the sake of higher education—an education that supposedly ensures better job opportunities upon its completion. There are several articles available to read on research that states that those who have a college degree will make more money in their lifetime because the work offered at that level pays significantly more than not having a degree would earn.[i] Under more stable economic circumstances, this assertion would be true. With growing debt and few prospects for a reliable income, many among the MAY Generation are questioning whether the college degree was worth it in the first place. Many of us are angry or may feel betrayed because of the lack of employment and the ever-rising cost of college. ‘What am I supposed to do now?’ is a question I often hear. So what are we doing? How is our generation coping with the unfulfilled promise of higher education?

The truth is that instead of competing with other college graduates for entry level jobs, today’s college graduates are competing not only with each other, but with others among our generation who have not completed a college degree, for minimum or middle wage jobs. This competition in turn only adds to the unemployment issue.

However, beyond the competition for barista positions, the MAY Generation is seeking out ways to defer or pay down debt or to gain job experience through unpaid internships or community service oriented opportunities. One such path is Teach for America. In 2009 around 35,000 applications were received for 4,100 possible positions. Last year the number of applicants increased by 11,000 to a total of 46,000 applications for only 4,400 openings. Back in 2006 there were only 19,000 applicants for 2,400 positions. The number of applicants has more than doubled whereas the number of available positions has yet to do so, even though there has been a noticeable increase in Teach For America opportunities.[ii] Others among the MAY Generation are joining the Peace Corps or partaking in other long-term commitment community service programs like Americorps or City Year in order to stave off debt or to wait for the job market to bounce back.

More and more I hear of recent graduates who are leaving the U.S. to teach English in another country (many to East Asian countries like Korea where the demand for native English speakers is high). The ‘Teach English Overseas’ gig is growing very popular from what I’ve gathered. It’s an exciting prospect for many because of the traveling and the ability to renew terms in case one chooses to stay longer. A large number of recent graduates among the MAY Generation are also going back to school almost immediately in order to not only continue to defer debt, but also to wait out the job market and try again to find a job when yet another degree has been earned and even more debt incurred.

Still—many among the MAY Generation are stuck in dead end jobs, continuously exploring the barren wasteland of entry level job opportunities. Discouragement spreads quickly when so many have so little hope. But this is no time for despair. This is a time for self-betterment—a time to get creative. With spare time building up between applying for jobs, or the lingering hours after a day at some in between job, or the time spent traveling—all this left over time breeds uncertainty.

I say, embrace the uncertainty. Harness it. Channel it towards something positive, something creative, something that exemplifies those parts of yourself that lay in wait while you do the things you must. Unleash those parts of yourself that a world built of hopelessness would aim to crush. Our generation has an opportunity to reach out to one another, to forge a connection because of our shared struggles. We have an unprecedented opportunity to come together and make our place in society and in this world—to show everyone what we’re really made of. The MAY Generation is smart, resourceful, creative, spirited, and adventurous. It’s time to harness those traits and put them to use in order to realize our collective social power and cultural influence. It’s time to start the MAY Movement.

Part II: The Movement

When I say ‘movement’ I do not mean marching in the streets with signs chanting “Employment Now! Employment Now!” We are not a labor union. But we cannot sit idly by. Inaction is not an option. Our movement is not a political one, but rather a social and cultural one. Consider what the MAY Generation is already doing to occupy their time: community service projects and teaching stateside and overseas. These pursuits are altruistic in nature and have a positive social and cultural impact. We have already started the movement; what we need now is to make our efforts widespread. One of our greatest assets is the fact that there are so many of us. Power in numbers, right? But like any movement that aims to be successful, we must first have goals and a sense of direction. What are those goals? In what direction are we, or should we aim to head?

The greatest obstacle that we face in pursuing this movement is not imposed upon us like the forces of nature or of the economy. Our greatest obstacle is overcoming the uncertainty within ourselves that has built up as a result of our uncertain place in the world. The first goal of the MAY Movement is to embrace uncertainty. What do I mean by that? How does one embrace uncertainty? The answer is remarkably simple: to embrace uncertainty is to accept it. The only way to accept it is to understand that our uncertain place in this world is actually a tremendous freedom. The author Andre Gide said “to know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one’s freedom.” For us this means that to realize our freedom is the easy part; it’s what we should do with it that poses the real challenge.

The second goal of the MAY Movement aims to meet that challenge. As I said previously, this is a time to get creative, to exemplify what you’re good at; this is a time for self-betterment. How do you do that? You find ways to keep up with the things you want to do. Let me say that again, keep up with the things you want to do. So often I hear people our age say, “I work at blah place doing blah, but what I really want to do is this…” “What I really want to do is…” Don’t talk about wanting to do it. Do it. Make it a personal project. Maybe you’re an artist and you’d like to put your work out there: find a blog or an organization or a publication that needs some artistic know-how. Maybe you’ll write for a blog or for a free subjective publication like the Johnsonville Press—who knows! The point is to gain experience doing what you want to do. It may not be paid, but it’s a way to get better at what you want to do, to practice, to help out someone else who needs what you can offer. Let’s say for example that you speak a foreign language, but you can’t afford to travel: you could offer yourself as a private tutor at a local high school or middle school (perhaps even your old high school if you live at home). Many cities also have embassies and cultural centers that offer events, courses and various opportunities to meet and converse with people who also want to maintain their language. Whatever your trade, hobby or area of interest, you should seek out places where you can put them to use. Maybe you can make a little side money from these projects. You can even start something of your own creation and become an entrepreneur.

Just think for a second about the skills that our generation has that don’t even come from the education system. The MAY Generation is on the up when it comes to social media. That is a marketable skill. Just think about how many small businesses lack good social networking, like a Facebook page, or even a maintained website. You can help them with that while at the same time gaining valuable experience and building a network of people you’ve helped. The goal of these suggestions is to show you that there are many ways to keep up with the things you want to do.

By pursuing these personal projects you are opening the door to the third goal of the MAY Movement: networking. Networking is about mingling. It’s about conversing with people, giving them a sense of who you are and what you’re about. It’s about reading people and learning to understand the dynamics of professional and socially professional situations. If you want to be successful at networking you need to be a good observer. Good observations lead to good talking points in a conversation. You should also definitely get business cards that tell people who you are and what you do. Keep it simple; you can even design them yourself if that’s your trade. The exchange of business cards is always a good conversation starter. Networking helps you develop your conversational skills so that you become really good at telling people who you are. This is a particularly valuable asset in a job interview. Some people call it “knowing how to sell yourself,” but I’d say it’s more like “knowing how to confidently talk about yourself”. You are not for sale. Anyone who tells you that you are, you should avoid. If you can show someone that you know who you are, if you can assert yourself like that, then people are going to notice you. Confidence stands out.

Ultimately networking not only helps you develop your conversational skills and build a network of like-minded people, but it also leads to the fourth goal of the MAY Movement: Build a community. When pursuing these personal projects, I implore you to reach out to others in our generation. We can help each other and we can help other people. The most important thing to understand about this fourth goal is it’s meant to bring us together as a group—put us all on the same wave length so that we’re in tune enough to knowingly steer American culture. That is our power.

I say this to you: Don’t expect the world to give you what you’re looking for; a lot of the time you have to make it work for you. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. There will always be haters and appreciators. Put that aside. This is our moment. You can choose to commit to it or not. You can choose to do something creative for yourself or not. Embrace your freedom or let it pass? It’s your choice. I choose to embrace it. I will continue to do so here at the Johnsonville Press. And the Johnsonville Press will continue to be a space for the free exchange of ideas, a platform for anyone who chooses to pursue their personal projects in a public setting. We are already a part of the MAY Movement, and I invite you to join us.

More than anything, I implore you, the MAY Generation–my generation–to pursue your passions, to create opportunities for yourself, and to assert yourself in this world. Only then can we take our place in society as the social and cultural powerhouse that we truly are. Finally, you must remember that you are not alone in your pursuits. We all share these struggles. Lean on the people around you. The MAY Movement will be the most successful if we help each other out. For that reason, I am personally available to any of you who need guidance, advice, suggestions, or just someone to bounce ideas off of. Write to me and I will write back.[iii] I want to see this happen and I will do everything in my power to see that our generation finds success in the pursuit of our passions. Good luck my friends. I look forward to hearing from you.

[i] Benefits of College Education: 1.http://www.collegetocareers.com/10-benefits-college-education-2/; 2.http://education.yahoo.net/articles/college_degree_benefits.htm;
[ii] Teach for America:http://www.teachforamerica.org/newsroom/documents/PressKit_Overview.pdf;http://www.teachforamerica.org/admissions/;http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/28/national/main5046901.shtml
[iii] Please email me at: johnsonvillepress@gmail.com. I sincerely hope to hear from you.

Photo courtesy of davidmusingsthoughts.blogspot.com
(http://davidsmusingsthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/03/generation-y-characteristics.html)

RU Photography Club: Still Segues

Gallery Hours Friday 3-10pm Sunday 6-10pm

NEW BRUNSICK, NJ – Collaborative Arts is pleased to present Still Segues, a two-month exhibition that features the emerging artists of the Rutgers Photography Club, which is curated by Skyla Pojednic and Theresa Francisco. Our Opening and Second-Look Reception will take place on Friday April 22^nd and Friday April 29^th from 7-10 PM at coLAB Arts (49 Bayard Street, 3^rd Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901). The open receptions will feature wine and food and music by Alex Denman-Brice, Jeff Deppa and Damian Kulikowski. Normal gallery hours are Fridays 3-10pm and Sunday 6-10pm.

Mary Kate Riecks and Ceaphas Stubbs both use illusion in their work to create exaggerated or surreal scenes of movement.  Mary Kate focuses on the concept of kinetic energy by physically spinning, shaking, and dropping the camera to impose a forced movement. In other instances, she reworks her photographs by dragging colors, blurring or layering images. While Riecks focuses on physical movement, Stubbs creates optical illusions using patterned fabric that plays with the eyes’ ability to focus. He employs vibrating boundaries to create a confused space, which makes an otherwise static image appear to move on the gallery wall.

In contrast to Riecks and Stubbs, who both use the human figure as a supporting feature in their photographs, Samantha Kelly assigns people as the main characters in her images to elicit strong, spirited emotions from the viewer.  These moods are caused by her images of humans actively experiencing the world in a way that is very visceral and relatable.

Skyla Pojednic, Pablo Ruiz, and Matt Drews present movement within nature itself. As active members within the world, all three have gathered a great deal of images throughout their travels. Each has captured ethereal, otherworldly, or exclusive pictures documenting their journeys. Pojednic’s photos deal with gravity’s powerful control over the elements. The dynamic composition of her work not only shows literal movement, but also helps the eye travel harmoniously around the image. Ruiz creates epic and unfamiliar nature photographs.  He implements a single, central line to command movement through his pieces like a line across a page. Drews simulates the line through long exposures and slow shutter speeds, which clearly demonstrates his clever and resourceful techniques.  His patience and interest in meteorology are very evident in the rare images of a 9° and 22° lunar ice halo, which can only be captured when the clouds begin to move.

Emily Kohl-Mattingley sums up the show with her affirmation that life would not exist without the existence of energy, which supports all movement.  She captures many movements that the eye is too slow to see. She examines the relationship between a world filled with energy and a world in which the very movement and energy, which makes life possible, can so easily cease to exist.

Collaborative Arts (coLAB Arts) is a non-profit organization located in New Brunswick, NJ, dedicated to the development and presentation of emerging local artists. coLAB Arts’ mission is to cultivate a hip, mindful, and inclusive Hub City community of artists, audiences, and critics, empowered to create inspired and inspiring art.

But before I get ahead of myself, let me boogie on back to the beginning: Boston, the night of October 28th. I left work at my normal time and rode the train home as I usually do. When I got to the station in my town I ran over to my already packed car and drove directly to New Brunswick. Nothing like a four hour race to Jersey after a long day of work with Issac Brock, Jimi Hendrix, and the Eagles of Death Metal for company. I slept soundly that night after splitting a bottle of chianti with my hosts, who always put up with my silliness whenever I come to New Jersey.

The next day, a friend and former writer for the JVP met me at 8am. We visited the bank to exchange a bag of coins for cash, grabbed some pancakes at the Palace Diner, then hit the road by 9:30am. By the time we got to Baltimore, the party music was already bumping. We arrived at Alex G’s apartment around 1pm. The drive was shorter than I had anticipated. Somehow Alex managed to get us a serious hookup for parking. My little Masshole Jetta sat by itself in the half circle in front of his huge apartment building for the entire time we were in D.C. Thank you Alex.

After catching our breathe, resting our feet, and snacking to the tune of Nas for two hours, we set off on what would become a twelve hour drinking marathon. The only word to describe the nature of our situation during that time other than belligerent is excessive. Perhaps youth is cruel after all, or is it whiskey?

Regardless, youth is what got us out of bed the next day, armed with breakfast sandwiches, coffees, waters, cameras, film, and, of course, my press pass. While my driving buddy survived the twelve hour marathon, he did not make it to the Rally in time to meet up with Alex and I, so the two of us embarked on our mission to find a good spot at the Rally.

This endeavor proved to be most difficult. There were, literally, hundreds of thousands of people descending upon the National Mall for this Rally. When we realized that planting ourselves with a good view among the enthusiastic crowd was not going to work, we made our way outside the designated areas for the public attendees, and up toward the stage (which was about 5 blocks away). We took turns leading the way through the swarms of excited people; there were tons of young people, many in costume or carrying signs. I could say that young people made up the majority of the crowd, but I’d be lying to you. So in the interest of truth, I’ll tell you what I really saw. I saw babies– yes, infants– and their parents, and their grandparents, and their aunts, uncles, neighbors, their teachers, their preachers, and their future college professors. Every kind of person these babies will meet in their lives was at the Rally– except for Glen Beck, of course. I didn’t see him there, except on the giant TV screens when Jon and Stephen showed us what the platform of fear in the media looks like.

After forty-five minutes of weaving through the largest and most diverse collection of people I have ever seen or been a part of, Alex and I finally made it to the Press entrance. A press pass goes a long way, let me tell you. The security official inspected my pass and waved me to enter. I told him that my camera man (pointing to Alex) was also with me. The guard let us both through to the spacious, guarded press section, which came equipped with its private selection of portable potties! We were not only in great audio range of the stage, but our view was direct and close to it as well. We could actually see Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osborne perform together. We could really see Kareem Abdul Jabar come on stage to prove a point to Colbert on behalf of Jon Stewart: that he cannot make generalized statements about all Muslims hating Americans because it is simply false. We actually got to see Tony Bennett sing “God Bless America”; and we, or at least I, sang along with him.

Alex and I were lucky. We did not have to climb a tree, or climb on top of portable potties (even collapsed ones), or sit on each other’s shoulders to get a good view. We were not those people who tried to jump a guarded fence to find a better place to stand.

When Jon Stewart came out to make his speech, he thanked us all for coming out, and appeared to be humbled by the size of the crowd that had responded to his call. If I had to wager a guess as to how large the crowd was, I’d say there were at least a few hundred thousand in attendance. Still, that feels like a modest guess. After having been in that crowd, and having had a good enough view to see the magnitude of it, I would even go so far as to say that half a million people were there. Look at this shot, which was taken after the Rally had ended and we had walked several blocks away from the National Mall:

Consider this: the crowd you see in this photo is only a fraction of the people who attended. This is just one boulevard going off in one direction away from the Rally.

As soon as Stewart started talking, the crowd quieted down immediately and gave him their utmost attention. The level of respect for the man that I witnessed among the crowd was grand. More than anything, it was uplifting to see, to witness in real life how one person can reach across generations, ethnicities, religious backgrounds, and states, to peaceably unite an enormous group of people. There was an electricity in the air as he talked to us and grew more passionate. He talked about how every day in this country people find a way to take care of their responsibilities while working together; the only place this spirit of ‘working together’ does not occur is in government. He talked about how the outlet for people to express their grievances and their discontents with our government, the media, is the system that is broken. As Stewart talked to us, he moved around a lot on stage, gesturing with his hands as he grew more passionate. And while his passion was obvious, it was not overwhelming. It was just right, in fact.

Not surprisingly, when I got back to Massachusetts, people had hardly heard anything about the Rally, only what they’d heard prior to the event taking place. The question about the Rally that I answered more than any other was some version of this: “Was it really like Woodstock where everyone was… you know… (puts pointer finger and thumb to mouth to mimic smoking a joint)?” My answer: “No. It wasn’t like that at all. Not even in the slightest. People were there for the cause, not for music or for drugs. The spirit and energy of the crowd alone made that obvious.” What can I say really? People were attentive, respectful, eager to listen, and generally speaking, in good spirits. They really were. And as a result I felt connected to the people around me, even though I quite obviously knew none of them (except for Alex of course). For the first time in my short life I experienced that feeling of connectedness on such a large scale. The feeling is non-replicable.

But now reality settles in again. The media will (and did) treat the Rally as they see fit, not as it was. And while I felt inspired and empowered by Stewart and the atmosphere of the Rally, I find that at present, I have never felt more discouraged or powerless. Why the contradictory feelings, you might ask? Because here I am, sitting at my desk, writing this article, and I know that the connectedness is gone. Why is it gone? Because now, a week later, when the Rally has been successfully buried by the mass media, all I can feel is ignored. I feel belittled. And more so now than ever, I feel like change is neither imminent, nor possible.

Perhaps this is the great downfall of all political movements: what to do when the Rally is over. What do we do after we disperse and return home? How do we keep the spirit alive when our platform to do so, the media, refuses to acknowledge it, refuses to cover it, as if it never happened at all? A tree did fall in the forest. I was there to hear it. Hundreds of thousands of people were there to hear that tree fall. And yet, here we are, a week later, and no one knows that tree was there in the first place. It is a sad day for America when thousands of eager voices come together to be heard as one and someone turns the volume off.

_________________________

Original Publication Date: 11.08.2010

What brought you to Rutgers?

What brought me to Rutgers? Well… to be honest, a random decision that I made during my sophomore year of high school is what brought me to Rutgers. Back in 2004 Myspace was all the rage. I got a Myspace account… you know, trying to fit in and all. After putting in a huge list of books I’d read in the “Books” section of my flashy new profile, I decided to see what would happen if I clicked on one. I clicked on the most recent book I’d read, which at the time was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I was taken to a page displaying seven Myspace profiles of people who had also read the book. I noticed there was only one person my age, a girl from Sayerville, New Jersey. Being the dork that I am, I sent her a message saying, “Hey, I read that too!”. She responded with: “I love random strangers who read!”. After that we had a correspondence that would last for a few years.

When it came time to apply for college, I only applied to one school: the University of Chicago (Early Decision). I waited and waited, until finally, on Christmas Eve I received my rejection letter with a little note at the bottom that said “Great essay”. That was nice, but I was devastated. I wrote to my New Jersey friend that day explaining my devastation: I had not only been rejected from the only school I wanted to go to, but it was also the only school I had applied to, so my seventeen-year-old self was convinced that I’d just screwed myself out of going to college. She wrote back to me a few hours later and suggested that I apply to Rutgers. She had told me how her boyfriend went there and that it was a good school. I considered her suggestion for a few moments, then stuck my head out of the computer room and shouted to my parents: “Hey, is Rutgers a good school?” My mother said: “Oh yea, that’s in New York. Great engineering school.” That didn’t seem like enough information so I went to the Rutgers website and did some research, which included discovering that Rutgers is the State University of New Jersey. Rutgers looks good on paper, let me tell you, so I decided to apply. I wrote the optional essay and submitted my application a day or two after Christmas. Not even two weeks later I got an email that exploded into confetti the moment I clicked on it: Rutgers wanted me.

However, I was still not convinced that Rutgers would be the best fit for me, even though I was elated that I had been accepted. My parents and I drove down to New Jersey for the Open House. The moment I stepped on campus I knew that Rutgers was where I was supposed to be, in spite of the fact that there were torrential downpours for the duration of our visit. If anything, the rain only made me fall in love with Rutgers and New Brunswick more. Walking around in the rain is one of my favorite outdoor activities. However, in the end, what brought me to Rutgers was a combination of my need to leave home and the desire to go to a school that wanted me for my brain.

How did you decide on your majors?

In choosing what to major in, I considered the practical route, which would have been studying in a field that would be useful in the future job market. I did not want to be practical. I have always considered college to be a time for personal enrichment; my choice of what to study most certainly fell under that category. I decided to study what I love: books. The English Major option was almost a given. In high school I took, almost exclusively, History, English, and French classes. I only fulfilled the bare minimum of requirements for Math and Science (for example, I didn’t even make it to Calculus, and I quit science before I got to Physics). Normally this sort of skipping around wouldn’t have been allowed at my high school, but being the dork that I am, I had more friends on staff than I did among the students. Of course, studying English, although mentally rigorous, was still within my comfort zone as a student, and would not contribute as much as say, a French major, to my goal of personal enrichment. I had been taking French since 7th grade. I decided to take a couple classes at the college level to see how I would do. It turns out I was a lot more prepared for college-level French classes than I expected. What’s more is I absolutely adored my classes, even though they were grammar courses. I got to know the French department better and started taking more in depth courses. By the time I was a sophomore I had chosen to do a double major and study French literature in addition to English literature. As a result, I am practically fluent in French, I’ve already lived in Paris, and I can read any French writers I want in their native language. That makes me happy.

What sort of aspirations did you have growing up and which of these, if any, are you putting the most effort into making a reality?

When I was growing up I wanted to be three things: an astronomer, a movie director, and a writer. Today I still aspire to be all of those things. I have made great efforts in my life so far to make all of them into reality. Out of the three, I have thus far only succeeded at becoming one of them: an astronomer, albeit a recreational astronomer. I have a telescope… a big one… which I lug outside on clear nights to study the sky, or just to gaze.

My aspirations to become a movie director and a writer have not wavered. I write all the time. I carry two moleskines, two legal pads, two pencils, one blue pen, one red pen, and at least one book everywhere I go. I’m serious about that. I carry those exact things with me everywhere I go, even when I know it’s highly unlikely I’ll need them. You never know when inspiration will strike. I like to be prepared.

As far as making those aspirations into reality… well, I’d say I’m off to a pretty good start. I am currently working on a screenplay with a friend and fellow writer. I have a few other ideas for screenplays in the works, but I prioritize my projects, so those are less pressing. As far as my other writing is concerned, I am working on my first collection of poetry. I am writing a science fiction novel, which is, at present, the most complete storyline I have yet constructed. In addition to those two big projects I am also working on a short fiction piece, which will probably become a novella, as well as a collection of short stories, and one play. I also have a writer’s exchange going on with my poet friend Stacey Balkun. We mail our work to each other for the purpose of critique and betterment. In a sense, we are doing our own Pound-Eliot Exchange. I also do editing with my good friend Starky Morillo; we edit and critique each other’s works of fiction. Starky and I have been exchanging work for almost three years now. And finally, I am the Editor-In-Chief of the Johnsonville Press, a paper which I’ve been contributing to and editing for since its inception. This position above all others has allowed me to become more comfortable with expressing myself as a writer and as an editor. I had never considered being an editor before the JVP, at least not outside of the editing I do on my own work. However, the Johnsonville has shown me that in the event I fail as a writer, I might just have a career in editing, and that’s not so bad because at least I’d get to hang out with writers.

How did you change over the course of your time at Rutgers?

How did I change? Well, physically I didn’t change much. I probably got smarter after reading as much as I did. I am definitely a better writer. I’m pretty much fluent in French now, which is awesome and incredibly useful for slipping out of awkward or uncomfortable situations, and for traveling around Europe. I am less shy than I was when I was eighteen years old. I have mostly overcome my fear/inability to share my work in front of a group of people. (I’d like to thank Susan Miller’s creative writing classes for that). I am a far more confident person. Rutgers challenged me intellectually and socially, and though I’m a little bruised, I’m no worse for the wear. Over the course of my time at Rutgers I’d say that I went from a timid and smart girl to a confident and intelligent young woman.

How did you fall in love with reading and writing?

How do any of us fall in love? It’s hard to say why or how I fell smitten over these common activities. When I was growing up I was not allowed to watch TV except for Mr. Rogers or a parent approved movie. I was never allowed to possess or to play video games. My mother said to me: “If you want to have fun, then go outside and play, or read a book.” As a result, many of my fun seeking habits revolve around going outside (i.e. star gazing with my telescope, nature walks, walking in the rain) or books. Reading a lot as a child most certainly had a direct affect on my writing. In fact, I have no doubt that my reading probably instigated a lot of my early writing. For example, the first screenplay I wrote was an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is one of my favorite stories of all time. I suppose that when I got to a certain age where reading stories was no longer enough, I started writing my own.

No TV except for Mr. Rogers?! What was that like?

Oh it was fine! I found ways to entertain myself. My mother used to tell me that TV would fry my brain, so I shouldn’t watch a lot of it or else I’d become a couch potato, a vegetable, or a zombie. None of those things sounded appealing to me, so I just didn’t watch that much TV. My parents made sure that I watched films with them. It was almost like they had a schedule for my life about when to introduce me to certain things. For example, when I was seventeen, my Father told me that it was time for me to watch A Clockwork Orange, so we sat down and watched it together. I was appalled, so I went and read the book, and was about a thousand times more appalled afterwards, but still appreciative that I’d been told to wait until I was old enough to understand what I was watching.

Instead of TV, my parents wanted me to have a strong background in the arts. My Mother brought me to Shakespeare plays as a young girl, to the Boston Pops, and to nearly every museum in the Boston Area. And I loved it all. She taught me about the Impressionists, about Da Vinci, about baseball, about how to appreciate classical music, and all before the time I was in Junior High. My Father is a musician. He gave me my first piano lessons, taught me how to read music, how to maintain tempo, and how to play the blues. He turned my piano education over to his old piano teacher when I was in elementary school and from there I was jazz trained on the piano. My father was also the one who taught me how to play baseball, how to ice skate, and how to lace up my hockey skates (I couldn’t wear figure skates because I always tripped on the toe-pick.). I really can’t say enough about how well my parents raised me. They did a good job with my sister and I. I can only hope to be as competent a parent as mine are.

How is speaking French useful for slipping out of awkward or uncomfortable situations?

Have you ever been on an elevator or on a subway car when some people sitting near you are speaking in another language and you have no idea what they’re saying? Being able to slip in and out of French at my convenience gives me that sense of privacy those people on that train or that elevator might have. It’s also a safety net. And it’s also a fun tool for fucking with people.

Let me give you a few examples as to how and why my French is so useful, or rather, why speaking another language in general is so incredibly useful. Last summer after having lived in Paris for a few months, I got on a bus and traveled around Europe for a couple of weeks by myself. My first stop was Amsterdam, which is not exactly the easiest city to visit alone, especially for the first time. As a female traveling alone in an unknown foreign city, I knew I would have to take certain precautions and that I might have to adjust what time of day I went out. I decided to speak French for the duration of my stay in Amsterdam, knowing full well that not a soul would understand me, as the population speaks Dutch, English, and Flemish. In Amsterdam, speaking French acted as a safety barrier; I could pretend that I didn’t speak English, therefore avoiding unpleasant encounters or dealing with people I didn’t want to talk to in the first place… which proved more useful than you might think. Although I value modesty, for the sake of explaining my point, I will put modesty aside for a minute and tell you that as a pretty girl, I knew I’d be hassled a lot, especially because I was alone. Falling into French got me out of every sticky situation of that sort. My French made me feel a lot safer. It also gave me an opportunity to fuck with people. Whenever I would go into a store and ask a question I would start off in French, then break off into really bad English with a heavy French accent. It’s amazing to see what kind of reactions you get when the person you’re talking to thinks that you don’t understand them.

How is it that you got involved with the JVP and what have you learned from your experience thus far?

A few months before the JVP started up Alex and Mike showed up at my apartment with a clipboard. They were not soliciting random people. Alex and Mike are my friends and I had known them for a little while by the time the idea for the JVP came around. They explained that they were trying to start an independent paper for the New Brunswick and Rutgers communities and that they wanted to know if I was interested in writing for it. I said yes. A few months later the JVP launched and I was a resident poet. Before long the Creativity Section got going, and not long after that Mike moved to Colorado and Alex asked me to take over as Managing Editor. I was ME for a year and then when Alex left for law school, I inherited the paper. So in terms of my involvement with the JVP, I was there during the planning, the launch, and beyond.

There are many ways to approach the question: “What have you learned from your experience thus far?” Three big things come to mind when I consider this question. The first is that I’ve learned how to better accept criticism and withstand negative feedback on my work, even when it’s rude or just plain mean, or even if it’s so constructive that it hurts. Second, my grammar skills are at an all time high and I find that my eye for errors, redundancies, diction, syntax, etc., is getting sharper by the minute. I’ve learned not only how to identify these issues in the work of writers, but I can offer multiple solutions to fixing those issues as well. As a result, I’ve developed a distinct style of editing (the third big thing) and a distinct voice as an editor. Above all, my experience with the JVP thus far has been very rewarding for me. Mostly, I hope that the work I do for the writers’ work helps them to improve their own styles and voices, and that they become better writers.

How did you meet Mike and Alex?

I’m not sure I can answer this question without incriminating the three of us in nefarious activities. However, I met Alex and Mike through my friends. We three belong to the same group of friends and only realized that fact after attending a few parties and spotting each other over and over again. Luckily we came to that realization early enough in our college careers to have become good friends now. Alex and I are particularly close because we have been working side by side on the JVP for a long time.

As a final note, unrelated to this last question, I’d just like to say that if you want to know me, then just talk to me. I’m a people person. I’m a conversationalist. I’m all about the face-to-face.

_____________________

Photo provided by Mr. Brendan McInerney. All rights reserved.

When I came across Chris Guillebeau’s blog this summer,“The Art of Nonconformity”, I found someone who did not fit my former naïve definition of non-conformity, but rather a fully-realized adult version that made perfect sense to me. In a phrase, his philosophy is: “You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”[1] From this seed the whole site flowers. Initially I got lost in a maze of links from one idea to the next, reading more and more about Chris’ thoughts, ideas, and travels. I challenge you not to get excited when reading about his quest to visit every country in the world before his thirty-fifth birthday.[2]

To begin, I recommend reading his manifesto— A Brief Guide to World Domination.[3] From there, you can decide if Chris’ message is relevant to you, and if reading his blog any further would be of service to you. Ultimately however, the reason why I am sharing this with you is because I think the people who make up Johnsonville Press— both the readers and the writers— will understand what he is trying to say. We provide for ourselves a forum of subjective experience and intelligent discussion because one has not been provided for us.

I will leave you with some questions and answers from my email correspondence with Chris.

There’s a shared feeling of alienation among the student body, especially with a frustrating bureaucracy, long since dubbed the RU Screw. How did your college and graduate school experience compare to this? What was your relationship with your school(s), and did this have any effect on your world view?

I didn’t get screwed, but I wanted to take ownership of the process as much as possible. I spent a lot of time studying the course catalogue to understand all the requirements of my program instead of relying on an advisor to guide the process. Then I looked for alternatives I could use to complete the program as quickly as possible.

I also didn’t have a lot of career expectations from my years in college–I didn’t assume that some kind of career office would help me get a job after graduation. I like what Erica Jong says: “When you take your life into your own hands, a funny thing happens: you have no one to blame.” So I took my life into my own hands, and that turned out to be a very good decision.

In what ways did your academic experiences help you in life? What did you study and why?

I studied Sociology in undergrad because I liked learning about how people interact in groups. I had a few classes in that subject that stimulated my learning in a way that most of the others didn’t, so I stuck with that. In grad school I studied International Relations, broadly speaking, and more specifically looking at development and governance in Africa.

Overall I was happy with both programs, again because I didn’t have too many expectations in terms of career with them. Both of them have helped me understand interaction and motivations, and I think both programs helped me become a better writer. But both of these benefits are indirect or secondary, in the sense that they helped with life but not so much with a traditional career.

What advice would you give to students who are studying something because it is useful not because it excites them or makes them happy?

Not everything has to be useful. If something excites you, what’s wrong with studying it? So my advice would be to think very carefully about what excites you and makes you happy. It’s very hard in the long-term to do something you’re not excited about.

Finally, I just wanted to know if or how your life has changed since you graduated high school or college (whichever seems more relevant). What kind of person did you envision yourself becoming as you became an adult? In what ways have you fulfilled that vision? In what ways did you become a different person?

It’s changed quite a bit. After I finished undergrad I moved overseas to West Africa for four years. That experience was much more helpful than the college degree, both in terms of experience and also worldview. I don’t think I had much of a vision for my life when I was twenty years old (I finished college early) and looking out at the horizon. It was only as I stepped out of my comfort zone and found something bigger than myself that I began thinking about vision. When you do those things, you naturally become a different person.

These days I spend my time writing, traveling, building projects, and connecting with people. It’s a great life that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

1http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/unconventional-ideas/

2http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/places-ive-been/

3http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/a-brief-guide-to-world-domination/

___________________________

Photo courtesy of http://samwellersbookstore.blogspot.com/2010/11/art-of-non-conformity.html.
]]> http://johnsonvillepress.com/blog-spotlight-chris-guillebeau-and-the-art-of-nonconformity-by-marlana-moore/feed/ 2 http://johnsonvillepress.com/inside-jvp-an-interview-with-dan-bracaglia-by-ben-kharakh/ http://johnsonvillepress.com/inside-jvp-an-interview-with-dan-bracaglia-by-ben-kharakh/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:55:00 +0000 BenK http://johnsonvillepress.com/?p=5120 If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then a prize or two wouldn’t do their quality any justice. Although I doubt that sentiment makes Dan Bracaglia think any less of all the critical praise and awards his photography has earned him throughout the years. Whether it’s with the Targum, his photoblogs, or elsewhere, Dan’s web and print presence makes an indelible impression: this guy is going places. And in this Q and A, JVP’s former photography editor looks back on where he’s going, where he’s at, and the path he’s been on along the way.

What brought you to Rutgers?

What brought me to Rutgers? Well I guess I was technically brought to Rutgers by my Mom’s minivan on a rainy August day back in 2006.

For real though: I went to Rutgers because it was the first school I applied to and the first school I got accepted to.  After that I said to myself, “Fuck it, I don’t want to be bothered filling out any more of these bullshit applications that ask me to sum up my aspirations and life”, I mean fuck I was eighteen years old, I don’t have a clue what I am doing with my life now, how the fuck did they expect me at eighteen to know that shit.  Not to mention the fact that I put in absolutely no effort (ok maybe a little effort) in high school. Well, I mean, I got by with straight B’s, but in high school, that’s no effort, regardless of whether it’s an AP class or not. So, Rutgers was pretty much my best option; and I sure as hell wasn’t going Ivy League (my parents told me my choices were a state school or Ivy League).

Also it should be noted that my mother attended Rutgers and dragged me to the college tour.  All I remember from it was that Cheese Whiz had been invented at Rutgers. That was enough for me; I was sold.

How’d you decide on your major(s)?

I knew I was going to major in journalism before I applied to Rutgers.  I always loved story telling, especially through visuals. It was a no brainer.  Funny story: I almost didn’t make it into the journalism school because I got a C in the very first journalism intro class that I took, which was also a prerequisite to applying to the school.  You needed a B in the class to apply. I had to take a Library Studies course instead.  I wrote some b/s paper about how the Segway was a complete failure (not sure now how that was related to the study of libraries).  However, I never got anything lower than a B+ after that class in the journalism major.

When and how did you develop and interest in photography/politics/journalism? How did you explore these interests growing up?

Photography is my passion.  I am lucky that I figured out what makes me happy at an early age.  Unfortunately what makes me happy isn’t exactly the most lucrative thing in the world.  As for politics, both my parents are lawyers and I was raised to, naturally, be political.  I minored in political science at Rutgers and actually only needed to take one more class to make it a double major, but refused to because it was some garbage intro class.  My parents think that was a bad decision; I think, who the fuck cares what you majored in? As of recently I have temporarily written all things political out of my life, including voting.

As for photography, I started a badass monthly “Zine” in high school called Dan’s Zine (yeah I was pretty vein).  To this day I am still trying to relive the glory of my high school days.  All I did every day after school was go out skateboarding with my friends, shoot photos, write obnoxious stories, and interview bands.  The zine lasted three years and we published 35 issues.  I had a sandwich named after me at my local town deli.  Like I said: the glory days.

What sort of aspirations did you have growing up and which of these, if any, are you putting the most effort into making a reality?

Growing up I wanted to be a rock and roll star.  I wanted all the girls to throw their panties at me when I walked down the street.  I wanted all the guys to be like, “I wish I was him”.  This is still my dream.  I want to be Bob Dylan.  He is a god to me. He is the most unexpected, shot in the dark, shit on your head dude ever.  I would love to shit on everyone’s head.

For real though, my dream is to own my own highly successful, highly controversial, super cool company, which I have complete creative control over.  I do well when I work for me.

What am I doing to accomplish this?  Gaining experience and knowledge and waiting.  I am like an assassin waiting on top of a building patiently until the moment is right to go in for the kill. That was fucking corny and untrue actually.  I am more like a dude trying to live his dream and make the right connections and gain the right knowledge first.

I just want to have complete control over my own destiny and be able to do positive things in my own way without anyone telling me what to do.

My real dream growing up was always to win a Pulitzer Prize for my photography.  If I could do anything with my time, I would photograph things that matter and change public opinion for the better through my images.  I feel I was born a slightly better than average photographer.  Photography was the first thing I realized I was good at (there were probably about 500 things I learned I wasn’t good at before discovering photography).  It would be a shame to not use my talents for positivity.  I truly believe in the power of humanity.

How did you change over the course of your time at Rutgers?

I changed a lot at Rutgers, although many of those changes are not ones I want to publish on the Internet, like the copious amounts of drugs I ingested—kidding!

My experience at Rutgers did exactly what a college education should do: It expanded my mind, taught me a lot about mysely– my strengths and weaknesses, the world around me, and the people around me.  I am very grateful for my education.

What have you been up to since leaving RU?

Since leaving RU I got into grad school, withdrew from grad school and took a job as the Associate Online Editor at Popular Photography Magazine.  I am currently working on nearly a dozen personal creative projects.  I have a live stop action short film in the works that I am real excited about.

How’d you become involved in the JVP?

Mike Stu got me in JVP way at the beginning when it was still a concept.  Despite my long-term affiliation, I have let JVP down far more times than the amount of times I did worthwhile things for it.  Although the photos that appeared with my Chris Dagget piece did win a New Jersey Press Association General News Photography Award (although they won for the identical images printed in the Targum).

In closing, follow your dreams. You can do anything you want, as long as you’re not a total bum.

Sincerely,
Matia Guardabascio
Editor-In-Chief

How is it that you decided to become an Art History major?

It was unexpected, but I really should have known better. Coming from high school, I thought I would be an English major and eventually a writer for sure. But upon taking art history courses, I realized that academically, my heart lay elsewhere. And it is kind of ironic because I am a habitual planner, and I spent time and energy making sure to be Well Read for my English Major, all the while ignoring that I come after three generations of artists on my mother’s side. And all of those books were read in my 1894 Victorian home, possibly spurring my interest in architecture and preservation.

What is your major? And what has inspired you to pursue it?

I’m a philosophy/English major.

As to what inspired me: I ran into the mother of an elementary school classmate and when I told her I was a philosophy major, she said, “Well, you did always like to argue.” At seven? What about? Ice cream? The good life? Doesn’t matter, really, because what I like about philosophy isn’t the arguing but the understanding. I figured that out when I was taking a Russian for Russian speakers class. I was practicing writing the Russian alphabet when I noticed that I was trying to break down every character into its component strokes and re-articulate what the strokes were like using my own terminology. I was trying to understand the alphabet! And that’s what philosophy’s all about to me. Maybe that’s what the mother meant, but argument seems more confrontational to me, as opposed to understanding, which seems collaborative–working to understand things together rather than trying to convince an opponent that I’m right and they’re wrong. But already I’m trying to convince her of something, so it seems like, at least in that way, she was right.

And I choose English because I like to write.

Even though you’ve written about a variety of things for the JVP so far, what held all those articles together is that your personality was visible in them, and that’s what the JVP’s all about–subjectivity. Something about your pieces also struck me as very writer-ly. How long have you had an interest in writing?

Well, I have been interested in writing since about the time I entered high school. My high school best friend and I spearheaded the creative writing club and the literary magazine, and we really worked hard to try and pull out some nice work. I still love writing, but I am a chronic un-finisher. The last substantial piece I have written is a year and a half old, and not very solid in its beginning or end. I am glad you think my pieces are writer-ly, because I put a lot of work into (most of) them. What kind of writing interests you the most?

I’m interested in writing that exposes me to the unfamiliar and unpredictable–showing me new ways of understanding things or providing me with experiences that are unlike those I’ve already had.

What sort of artists were in your family?

My great-grandmother has since passed away, but she, along with my grandmother who makes a living as an artist, and my mother who doesn’t have the time she’d like to paint, mostly paint beach scenes. My mom grew up on LBI, and so the beach and ocean provide much of her inspiration. My aunt is a tattoo artist on LBI and my cousin, well she does whatever the fuck she wants. Have you found that your family has an influence on your interests and world view? I would have denied it all through my teenage years, but it has taken a lot of reflection to realize that they have.

My family has influenced my interests and worldview, but besides exposing me to particular cultural artifacts, activities, and behaviors I can’t really say how it is that they’ve shaped me. I think they took a hands off approach to a lot of things, allowing me to explore different ways of making sense of the world. It’s only more recently, for example, that I’ve come to learn what sorts of beliefs my family members actually hold. As a result, the world remained full of mystery to me for a long time and had they been more active in telling me what to think about things I might not have turned out to be as curious as I am today. It seems like it’s been more up to me to come up with or acquire ways of making sense of things. Maybe that’s a reason why I gravitated toward interviews–they’re a quick way to find out what other people think.

But I also wasn’t as actively seeking answers to questions when I was growing up– nor was I posing questions often. For the most part, I was off in my own little world coming up with little sketches and stories to amuse myself. So they might have been trying to teach me things, but I was thinking about sentient houses and mummies instead. One thing I do know is that my family’s always been encouraging of my creativity and exposed me to a lot of creative things; and when they reached the limit of what they could share with me, they supported me when I began to seek things out on my own.

What sort of writing interests you?

Reading and writing of course go hand and hand. Unfortunately, the stupid TV and internet tend to suck my brain away leaving me with little motivation for either. When I move from my big screen 500 channel TV to none at my apartment, I hope to dramatically increase my time for both (though, unfortunately they will end up being academically related). Ultimately, I think I am still finding myself as a writer, and JVP has definitely opened up another side of writing that I am glad to explore. Though I usually read fiction by way of novels, I try to read everything, from the National Review articles nudged at me by my dad to the left wing equivalent by my boyfriend.

I am intrigued that you can speak Russian fluently. How’d you learn Russian?

I are an ESL student. And by that I mean that Russian was my first

language. My parents emigrated from Russia in the mid 80′s.

Which of the 500 channels do you find yourself watching most often?

Wow! I am always impressed by people who speak two languages so well, which is mostly out of my struggles to learn Danish while I was an exchange student.

I have been trying to wane myself off of TV, but HGTV (Home and Garden TV) and Law and Order marathons always hook me. What are your guilty pleasures?

I’ve been known to eat cake in the parking lot of grocery stores, but

I try not to feel guilty about it. HGTV and Law and Order? Are you a handy/crafty person or aspiring detective?

Well, I am not really gearing up to be MacGyver. I just like to watch Lenny Briscoe (the late, great Jerry Orbach) as a streetwise cop and ADA Jack McCoy get justice anyway the legal system allows him to. I also love that there are such compelling characters with strong personalities, but it is still the case that gets you through each episode. HGTV indulges my interior decorating/furniture interests. Do you think your TV interests reveal important personality traits about yourself (like how you analyzed mine)?

I wasn’t analyzing your TV interests as much as I was playing Gotchya Interviewer. Years of doing Q and A’s have trained me to hone in little things to ask more questions about.

My TV interests are the occasional Comedy Central program. Although, Comedy Central can be tricky since they love showing terrible movies that I can’t imagine anyone having any interest in seeing, or at the very least seeing more than once. “Shred” with Tom Green? “Coneheads”? Come on now!

Does your interest in the criminal justice system go beyond that of Law & Order?

I don’t have much of an interest in criminal justice, actually. I always thought I would be a Defense Attorney if I were to become a lawyer. But I am not going to become a lawyer, so I guess I don’t really have much to consider after that. I think I am more interested in the philosophical issues behind each case. When is it just to kill? Under what circumstances is one culpable for another’s death/murder? Is it always ethical to seek justice by any means?

If not a lawyer, what would you like to do?  What sorts of roles have you imagined yourself performing in the past?

When I was in high school it was my ultimate dream to be a novelist. Now, I am thinking a little more realistically. Or at least, in a different direction… I don’t know if I have the dedication to write novels for a living. I am looking into the field of historic preservation, mostly because I think it is important, interesting, and can help people. There are many different sides of architectural preservation. You can advocate and save buildings from the wrecking ball, be a historian and explain the cultural and historical significance of the building, i.e. why it shouldn’t be torn down, actually work in the field of restoration and then after it has been restored, someone has to keep the building important and relevant. I’ve always been interested in architecture, especially having grown up in a 19th century Romanesque revival house. Everyone I have talked to in the historic preservation profession has explained their day to day duties as something I have always imagined, as an exciting, ever-changing and intellectually demanding.

What are your future, grown up plans?

I’d like to consistently make enough money off my writing so that I can live off it. I’d also like to be photographed rolling around in a pile of puppies. Is your house haunted?

My family jokes about my house being haunted from the not so joke-worthy story of a WWI soldier committing suicide with a gas lamp in one of the bedrooms. Whenever there is a creaky door that flies open (which happens actually quite often), you know it’s him. Dun dun daaahhh

How long did it take to do the re-innovating?

Well, the renovation is on-going after at least twelve years. There are always things that need to be fixed in old houses, and ours is especially in need of constant up-keep. Most of the major things (electrical repair, flooring, carpeting, drywall) was done by professionals. I didn’t help too much, being particularly young (eight years old) when the renovations were done to make the house livable. I have done my fair share of minor things, such as painting, cutting, using the screw gun, sanding, etc.

It seems like you do a lot of learning! What sort of stuff have you learned while working with the JVP?

I have learned a lot so far. The more experienced JVPers were among the first to help me navigate Rutgers and New Brunswick, and I will always be thankful for that. I have become a little more fearless when approaching and talking to people I don’t know, and I have most definitely become a better critical thinker.

And how’d you get involved with the JVP in the first place?

I got involved in JVP because I met Matia at a party around this time last year, and she gave me her number. I came to symposiums and I enjoyed myself, so I came back.