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What's Love Got to Do With It?
As soon as I could speak, I began to sing! One of the first memories I hold is from around the time that I was two-years old: I don't know if it was given to me specifically, or if it was one of my sisters' toys, but we had a Fisher Price record player that I would play Tina Turner's single, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" on for hours at a time! The neighborhood knew how much I loved Tina, so they invited me to sing in our street parade. This connected me to community. -
Hello?
The advent of the cell phone greatly affected my family. My father's work required him to have easy access to a phone at most times and this made it difficult to go anywhere with the family. His pager aided in this transition at first, but the cell phone freed him from needing to find pay phones or having to cart the kids along to work when they called him in. We were able to spend more stress-free time together as a family because of the cell phone. -
Part of Your World
We moved to a new house, I got my own room, and was handed down a very dear boombox. I would sit underneath my desk, using it as a fort, and listen to the radio and play my tapes. I got a new soundtrack and wanted to learn some of the lyrics to my new favorite track. Back then, you couldn't just look the lyrics up online so I tediously transcribed every last word by pressing "pause" and "play." Being in control of my own music definitely helped me develop my individuality in a family of six. -
The Games People Play
When the family got a Nintendo my little brother quickly became the expert. My two older sisters didn't really care to have anything to do with the system, and I couldn't operate the controllers very well, but my brother was a master! He was the one with the technical proficiency and I was the strategist with the memory for passwords. Together we would put aside any fights we might have been having and sit and play the game as a team. I cherish that time with my brother. -
Where in the World...
The family had owned three computers up to this point. Mostly, they had been for word processing, but with this computer, we could play CD-ROM games. Again, my brother and I would play for hours. Carmen would travel around the world and in order to figure out where she was, you had to answer timed, geographical questions. We had a set of Encyclopedias and my brother and I would tag-team the question and frantically find the answers. It didn't feel like we were engaged in learning: just fun! -
The Waiting Game
In the summer of 1999, I attended a summer program in New York where I made a lot of new friends from a lot of different places. It was exciting to talk to them online when we all returned home, but I quickly began to resent the sterile quality of not engaging in real-life. It was hard to understand context and how my friends were really feeling when I couldn't hear the inflections in their voice or see their facial reactions. I stopped messaging and talked to my friends on the phone instead. -
The Dread
Applying to University was one of the most stressful times I had as a young person. I was applying to some very competitive programs all over the country, and the essays were one of my biggest dreads. The computer felt like this monster that was sucking every ounce of my soul. I was not very confident in my writing abilities and felt so much pressure to write something amazing to make me stand out from all the other candidates. I hated the power those documents held. -
Semi-Sweet Music
I got accepted into University of Michigan and moved there from Utah in Fall 2000! I lived in the dorms, made a lot of new friends, and learned about this new sharing platform, Napster. I could listen to any artist that I wanted and didn't need to buy the CD. I fell in love with all of the music my friends suggested and that I discovered through browsing. While enriching at the time, I didn't realize how piracy was making it difficult for artists to be compensated for their trade. -
(PRODUCT) RED
The Motorola Razr was one of the coolest phones you could ever have. It was equally amazing when it came out in my favorite color, red, and when part of the proceeds of this specific phone went to an organization fighting to end HIV/AIDS in Africa. This phone supported a cause I believed in. (Product)RED partnered with a lot of organizations; I even had a Starbucks card that donated 5-cents to the fund every time you swiped the card for an entire year. Technology with a conscience. -
My New Best Friend
I got my first iPhone for my birthday in 2011. It had been too expensive for me to justify getting a smart phone before this point. The first week I had it, I was literally quoted as saying it was "my new best friend." I was constantly on my phone. I got a Facebook account and downloaded a zillion songs on iTunes. I didn't quite understand how to use it and had to have younger friends show me how. I withdrew from face-to-face interactions because I just wanted to be on my phone. -
R.I.P.
Leading up to 2011, I had been watching a lot of television and Netflix. If I wasn't working, I was most likely at home on the couch. Slowly, I had stopped going out with friends and wanted to just stay home to catch up on all my shows. Some life changes at this time forced me to move and go without internet or a TV. My eyes were opened to all of the real-life experiences I had been missing out on because I'd been too busy being current with my pop culture. I haven't looked back since! -
Modern Times
This is my second year in the program at Sonoma State. Last year, I did not have a computer at home nor a laptop and it was very difficult to get my assignments done. I would try to do as much work on my phone as I could, but it wasn't always compatible with the sites I needed to use. This year, I knew I needed a laptop in order to survive. It is useful, but I wish it wasn't necessary. And I wish that I hadn't needed to spend so much money on an item that is probably already outdated.
