Um...

I'm not really sure what to put up since I feel all written out. I've stopped writing my PCM blog for the last several weeks because I've been so busy, but before that I was posting once a week. I also just finished researching and writing a grant proposal (literature review included) that we're hoping to submit to the Knight Foundation. I also made a dummy website as a visualization for it (in other words, I don't know how to use WYSIWYGs, so I laid it out in InDesign). We're hoping to target both the immigrant population and young people, the two fastest growing demographics in Portland. Not to mention that while everywhere else in the US baby boomers are the majority, Gen Y is the majority here.
What have I done in the last couple of months (can this field report count as two entries? :D)... I've gone to:

  • Portland Zine Symposium
  • Portland Grassroots Media Camp

I unexpectedly helped out with a digital storytelling class (which I had never done) that was a partnership between Progressive Communicators Network, PCM and the Center for Digital Storytelling. I took a digital storytelling class about a month after and have discovered the frustrations of anchor points in Final Cut. I'm currently taking a field class in shooting/production and a class in multimedia digital storytelling (read: Flash and Photoshop)...
I taught my first class last Tuesday called "Distribution Beyond Borders." It was a class focused on personal branding using social media tools to draw people to self-produced creative content. It was really fun to teach, and I got Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce as a present for having taught my first class. :)
Overall, though, things at work are slowing down now that I've finished writing the grant proposal. It's not dragging at all, but I guess I'm feeling paranoid about the possibility in the future. I guess now is a good time to learn CSS and Drupal...
In non-boring news, I recently went to a pig party where they roasted a whole pig on a spit for a couple's bday. Connie, the hostess, put some lipstick on the pig.
I got to see thousands of swifts fly into the Chapman School chimney in mid-September. The Chapman School in NW Portland is one of the biggest swift congregation points on the West Coast as they migrate for the winter.
I went on a disastrous backpacking trip (my first) in which I ended up with huge welts on my hip. One disappeared while the other turned blackish-brown and is still on my right hip more than a month following.
I went to my college's 35th reunion; every 5 years they have a huge reunion from the first graduating class of my college.
I've also decided recently that I really enjoy roasted garlic and I like Joe Biden. My thoughts on the vp debate: Probably the majority of immigrants can identify with Joe Biden better than Sarah Palin when it comes to self-broadcasted image. Palin is constantly talking about "Joe Six-Pack" (slightly offensive) and "Hockey Moms," which may appeal to the middle class, but a very specific middle class: the general white middle class. I think most immigrants who come to the States are looking for a better future and educational opportunities for their kids. That's an everybody-value. In my parents' case, they worked toward getting American degrees so they would have that threshold credential to do as well as they could for themselves. However, becoming a hockey mom, a soccer mom, a band parent, &c. organized sports and such aren't necessarily something immigrants value or would think to expose their kids to. So in terms of relating to one image or another, I personally relate more to Joe Biden and not because I'm rich (clearly, none of us are right now). I suspect that to some groups of people, Joe Biden and the rest of those politicians from low-income, middle-income backgrounds radiate the "I made it" vibe. For me, personally, I think the only thing Joe Biden was broadcasting about himself in the debates was critical thought and reflection. Sarah Palin pandered more to a specific group by selling a specific image.
Last of my recent likes, those of you with connections to people who have NetFlix or if you have it yourselves should check out Flight of the Conchords.


Comment from Elizabeth Goussetis on October 7, 2008 - 5:46pm

WHAT!? You went all the way to Oxford and you didn't tell me! Boy, Denise, do I have some words for you!

They are all very gushy, affectionate words, of course :) Hope you had fun! I haven't been to Oxford yet since moving to Cincinnati, but I do like it there. It kind of reminds me of what Athens might be like if Athens were slightly less awesome...

Comment from Denise Cheng on October 7, 2008 - 7:32pm

I totally thought about it, too. I was in OTR, and I walked by Media Bridges!! I peered in, thinking maybe on an off-chance I'd see you working furiously at your desk as the last slivers of sunlight faded into the evening (poetic, no?). Of course, it was also a Sunday.
Unfortunately, I hardly had anytime to see anyone. I think my one friend is still pretty pissed at me; due to certain traveling mishaps (my other friend drove us all the way to Indiana in her attempt to get back to Oxford from Dayton Airport), I didn't have time to see her.
And I'm sure Athens is a thousand times cooler. Walmart, Qdoba, Coldstones, popped collars, J. Crew, paisely purses... not very original anymore, that Oxford...