Cassie's Semester Recap

This semester in class I got the opportunity to work with more platforms than I have in any other course. Some readings that really spoke to me were "How to be at Home" and "Bad Feminist" by Roxanne Gay. I thought both of these pieces embody what creative nonfiction really is- sharing a personal story in the medium that best gets the reader to understand the author's perspective. I enjoyed each piece's humanity and written style. Overall, my favorite project was probably the Humans of New York interviews. I really liked the simplicity of the interviews and how much potential an interview has to be meaningful. I had never heard of Humans of NY before, so I was really interested in reading through such a passionate and thought-provoking series. This impacted our next unit and how we talked about VR and empathy. My favorite VR experience was watching "Clouds Over Sidra" and getting to see a world so different from my own seemingly first-hand. This concept of watching something and being impacted made me think differently about "Agence." Although the movie/game is just that (a game), I don't want to have a negative effect on the world I'm "in charge" of. I think VR should continue to be used as an avenue to spread empathy and awareness for others' conditions, and serve as a reminder that everyone's life is unique and easily impacted by others, whether we are a little robot on a made-up planet or someone legitimately struggling half-way across the globe. We can also use these platforms for endless creative means, such as V(R)ses. Although I didn't fully understand some of the creative projects or videos on V(R)ses, I could tell that the projects took a lot of work and were meant to tell a story that was special to the creator. This opportunity to share through a new technology changes the way in which we tell modern stories. Finally, I thought Motto was interesting because tons of people take videos to commemorate something special or simple every day. I think videos are a good way to view someone else's first-hand experiences. I'm extremely grateful that I got to hear all these personal accounts this semester and got the opportunity to view them in all different sorts of ways. We worked with a lot of immersive and interactive software that allows the audience to be part of the story. This inclusion of audience makes the world feel really small and really big at the same time. You are a part of someone else's project while at the same time you might not get to hear all the participants of such a huge global project. Being a part of something, however small your part is, is gratifyingly and exciting. Overall, I really enjoyed this course.