This Past Week

This last week of final project presentations did a few things for me. First, it affirmed my contempt for technology and all things related. Second, it renewed my faith in people. Regarding technology, I could digress for a while. Instead, I want to talk about some of the wonderful and surprising things I learned that machines cannot and hopefully will never do.

1. Fend off the Flu
I don't care what the Scientific American Journal says, blogging does not help reduce the symptoms of a cold! When Abdul Rahman referred to this in class, I pictured the editorial cartoon: a sniffling schlub staring at a laptop, sitting at his desk in a dark room. Meanwhile, outside the sun is shining, people are interacting, exercising even. I realize this is a stretch, and people can very easily sit outside, be social, and blog all at the same time. But really? Blogging? Anyway, Abdul Rahman's presentation, like his work the rest of the quarter, was a thoughtful, comprehensive, and surprisingly comprehensible look into the blogosphere that we've all been warming up to (or avoiding) over the past few months.

2. Do horrible accents
Was that supposed to be French? Brazilian? Despite their acting abilities, Josh and Ben's presentation on 242 was an insightful and thorough examination of the history behind the highly contended resolution, and more broadly, of the power of words. While iMovie and PowerPoint did come together nicely for the visual presentation, my favorite part was the simple parable and the final, spoken image of scattered feathers. Whatever the cliche about pictures and words, I tend to think the opposite.

3. Speak like a child
So many things to say about Ghada, Chris and Lindsay's presentation... about music and imagery, editing and crafting. But I want to stick with the most simple and non-technological: the kids. What a great way to end a project that started with bitter fifty-year-olds and continued with disillusioned twenty-year-olds-- by ending with hopeful five-year-olds and their profound one-word answers to interview questions that we would sit and cringe over. Do you have Jewish and Christian friends? Yes. Are they different from you at all? No. Of course, all that will change eventually, but isn't it nice to know it exists somewhere?

Kudos, friends. Projects well done.