A Day in the Life

An Original Publication by Kristen Conti

-visitflorenceal.com

An Insight into the life of an average college student seeking anot-so-average future

Snipets of her journey to college, intentions for the future, and views on current comu-nicative interaction in our modernized 21st century

A Day in the Life

Welcome ALL! Here is an exceptional look into my life; the life of an average eighteen year old, freshman college student.

Born and raised in Scarsdale, NY, I decided to embarck on an entirely new journey as I began attendance at Marist College in the fall of 2017. Deciding on which college to attend was not the easiest decision for me. I had several options I was stuck between, finally deciding on Marist, not only for its divine views of the Hudson River, but more importantly, for its incredible communication program. I knew I would begin college studying communication, speciafically journalism, because of my love for writing ever since I was a young girl. The ability to communicate through words is something I have always had a great appreciation for. In the grand scheme of things, there is something so valuable about being able to write everything down; every idea, every thought, every feeling. There are just some things we cannot bring our-selves to say out loud, so writing is our backbone to all intended expression. It is our safety. Although I have yet to begin my classes in writing that will correspond to my major, I am enjoying college greatly. I am currently enrolled in core classes like Philosophy, and a first year seminar, as well as Italian, Digital Toolbox, and an Intro to Communications class. And though these are not in my field of interest, these are the foundaiton of my education here at Marist.

My experience at Marist so far has been really great. Aside from my wonderful professors, amiabl peers, and in-credible friends, I have been able to involve myself in all of my interests due to the amount of extra curriculars offered at the college. For instance, coming from a high school deeply focused on athelticism and sports programs and being a three sport athlete for all four years of high school myself, I decided to join four intramural sports teams. I used my interest of communications and media to join the Red Fox Network at Marist, where I and other students crew Division 1 sports by filming and editing games on a weekly basis. In addition to my athletic interests, I have always been an advocate for service and assisting the less fortunate. As a result, I decided to join Campus Ministry where I attend weekly community service at a local catholic school in Poughkeepsie playing with pre school to eighth grade stu-dents. I am also part of the Food Recovery Network; a club that collects and distributes food leftover from the college’s dining hall to local institutions in Poughkeepsie, like the YMO and the Outreach Center for families. So far, deciding to attend Marist did not necessarily change me, but rather strengthened the person I was into the person I currently am. Only

-brittanickel.tumblr.com

three months in, Marist has given me countless opportuni-ties to become the best possible version of myself. With a hard work ethic and a keen eye for creativity, I continue to strive to learn the necessarily skills required to attain success in my near future, in correspondence with my communications major. I continue to build on the re-lationships I have made and strive to stay open to creating new friendships every opportunity I get.

-maristcircle.com

The Near Future After recently declaring a double major in Psychology, aside from my original concentration in Journalism, as well as devising my schedule for the Spring 2018 semester at Marist College, I have embedded myself into more ad-vanced classes, truly aiming to sculpt my future. I’m sure you’re wondering why I chose Journalism out of all possible majors. It’s definitely not exactly in high de-mand, and the competition for jobs is very cut throat in a world where the media controls the perception of basically everything. However, I don’t desire to become a Journalist to necessarily strengthen the media’s corruption, though that comes with the job. The reason I am pursuing this track is simply because I love to write. Whether it be writ-ing a letter to a friend, writing an essay for english class, songwriting, or creatively writing poetry and short stories, I spend most of my free time writing. There is someting about being able to say what you think in words, especially in a day and age where expres-sion is so limited out of fear of unintentionally offending someone in the slightest. It is unsatisfying how sensitive our society has become to politial correctness.

A Day in the Life We are emersed in a reality where our opinions are subject to impartiality because we are afraid to be seen as dissent-ing or different. Difference is “bad” in today’s age. And that, to me, is disgusting. We are programmed to keep what we feel inside and to prohibit ourselves from speaking what we truly think. How is that a way to live? Writing is the only way we can express ourselves. I mean we can definitely keep it all inside, but that will drown us. We will saturate in over analyzation and begin to go crazy if we do not express our perspectives in some way, shape, or form. Writing is the only way we can display our indi-vidualism nowadays. And individualism is so significant in finding ourselves. How can we be satisfied with ourselves if we do not even know who we are? And how can we find who we are in this world if we are not able to express ourselves or how we perceive things that surround us? We need to be able to speak; literally. And if not literally, then figuratively. We can speak through our words. We can speak through writing. That is why I want to spend my near future writing. That is why I am choosing Journalism and to enhance my pro-fessional and creatie writing skills at Marist College. I want to find myself, and to do so, I have to be able to express myself. And what better way to do so than writing?

- pexels.com

The Future Future What I mean when I say the “future future” is the more distant future in my career. While I don’t know exactly where I want to be in ten years, I do know what I want to have done by that time. I intend to travel; hopefully to many countries, preferabily less industrialized, impover-ished countries. I want to make an impact on people in any way that I can and to gain experience with a myriad of different people, cultures, and lifestyles. I want to exert myself in efforts to help the less fortunate in as many ways

-signupgenius.com

The Unwavering and Often Unidentifiable Significance of Communication in Modern Society

We often fail to realize just how corrupted our society has become due to the use of media. Communication of course is important in its essence, however the type of communication that we have resorted to as a result of our moderized media, is inhumane. As we continue to fall down this ironically downward, yet progressive spiral, we begin to see ourselves emersed in technological contact

as I can. I also intend to use that world experience to write, and to perhaps find a purpose for my writing. Writing is something I love and intend to do for as long as I can, but the act of writing comes with a cost. In order to write, I must first know what to write about. After all, for every good story, there must be a good topic. Obviously, if I begin working in an environment where professional writing is necessary, rather than creative writing, I will have topics that I will be obligated to write about. However, until I reach that point and until I have a steady job where a higher authority is assigning me what to base my writing on, I have to come up with the groundwork of my compo-sitions on my own. One day I hope to write a novel. I’m not sure what it will be about nor what genre it will be, but I know that one day I do want to put my ideas down on paper and bound them into some sort of work that I can call my own. I want people to see my ideas and relate to them. I want to be published.

rather than face to face transmissions of thoughts and ideas. Our means of interaction have become drastically different as the years turn into levels of communicative de-velopment. There is a greater demand for communicating indirectly through screens than there is an urge for direct, person-to-person confrontation. The benefits of communication often overshadow the detriments because of how technology makes people’s lives easier. People find the good in the media and in society’s advancements, however I see through the cracks. I see that there are a myriad of issues concerning today’s means of communication. For instance, one issue that I have witnessed first hand and recently researched for my communications class here at Marist, is the effect of social media on relationships. It is extremely difficult to understand and intepret emotions through a screen, despite the invention of emoticons and the ability to text. Calling someone or videochatting them is better, however, face to face contact is the absolute best. There are so many ways in which technology can restrain proper communicating and can catalyze major miscom-munication within relationships. Take a long distance college relationship for example; if you do not talk to your significant other enough due to your academic obligations and extra curricular activities, your partner might take it as you don’t want to talk, when really that is not the case. You simply might not have the time to talk, which is perfectly fine but until you explain that to your partner, he or she is stuck in a sea of naievty and confusion, perhaps assuming that your relationship is frighteningly taking a turn for the worst. There are so many ways in which we as humans have succumed to technology and its advancements in society. And though I do agree that progression in this field is integral in some aspects, a major part of me continues to see and urge the significance in not letting go our basic and foundational means of communcating to our fellow humans. We must not lose ourselves in this ever-changing and unrelenting society that continues to grow and change with each new iPhone and computer. We must recognize our changing environment and remember to stay true to what we have always known, direct speech. We cannot lose ourselves in a society where humanity is constantly threat-ened and overseen. We cannot forget about the physical value of our voices. And most importantly, we cannot forget to speak.