About

I am a critical thinker, a creator, an evolver. I aspire to push boundaries, innovate, and translate creative approaches of design and new media into socially responsible and compassionate action. I believe in moving forward and wholeheartedly believe that we must constantly examine ourselves and our surroundings.

I embrace the positive changes resulting from an evolving digital culture - the effect the internet has had on weakening cultural, geographical, and academic borders. Additionally, I strongly believe that fluid borders exist within individuals themselves and hope that digital culture allows people to branch out into new areas of study, drives discussion and facilitates critical thinking, as well as ignites a desire to collaborate with others.

This space is meant to serve a variety of functions. I would like it to be a sounding board for ideas, a safe and experimental space for words, a growing collection of inspirational from other creatives. Overall, this is my digital laboratory for expression through new media and old, finding ways to rediscover the old, explore the new, and a constant quest to mix a lot of expressions together into innovative and thoughtful creations. I am inspired by nature, technology, science, and art. These areas are strong independently and I feel that strength can be amplified with some careful mixology. Trial and error.

Once you can begin to develop a vocabulary of design, you can

I would like to learn a new vocabulary to explain why I find beauty in the things that I do.

I also believe that technology is only as powerful as the individuals who employ it.

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Point A to Point B (via Point Q)

I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a pristine and sparsely populated environmental oasis I have come to love and truly appreciate. I spent my entire childhood and adolescence as a midwestern and made the decision to drift urban coastal upon encouragement from my mentor and <em>intro to graphic design</em> professor at the local university. This might have been the only formal design course I have ever taken, but it has also been the most influential course I have ever taken. In addition to becoming familiar with principles of effective layout and typography, I learned a new way of approaching the visuals. My entire way of viewing myself within the context of graphic design, as both a consumer of design (via advertising and marketing) as well as a <em>designer-in-training</em> myself became my own conscious knowledge and became accessible for development. My sojourn lead me to the England (London) and eventually to the East Coast to attend Wellesley College, where I graduated with a degree in medical anthropology in 2005. I have remained an honorary New Englander, more or less, having the opportunity to work and continue studying at Harvard. Interestingly enough, none of that study was related to web development or graphic design, rather a postbacculaureate to prepare for admission to medical school. I became hooked on principles of design and technological development about ten years ago although it is only over the past year that I have been actively pursuing these fields, absorbing programming languages and developing an extensive knowledge bank of digital editing and multimedia applications. Indeed, the path from my first (and arguably, only) design course and today hasn't been the most direct. But that lack in pace remains well compensated with wisdom and passion.

Connecting Dots and Diplomas
I believe the reason I didn't take uninterrupted path into new media is my curious nature. I am not restrictive and am constantly finding passion in a range of seemingly unrelated areas.
And I ask myself a lot of questions.

A lot.

How can technology facilitate collaboration and creativity?

How can I use my interest in new media, design, and medicine to create sustainable, intelligent, and compassionate meaning in both my world and the larger world in which I exist?

I do not have solid answers to these questions. I don't know if they exist. Instead I continually find ways to mark relationships and intersections. Like playing a never-ending game of "connect the dots" with my life. With every new connection, the answers to my questions progressively enhance.

Lately, I have tackled these heavy questions with visuals. I have created images to work out my emotions and struggles and to find reason and sense of purpose in my life. The act of creating has permitted a sense of calmness in the midst of a chaotic world. It has become an invaluable tool in the quest for self-discovery. I aspire to push boundaries, innovate, and translate creative approaches of design and new media into socially responsible and compassionate action. I believe in moving forward and wholeheartedly believe that we must constantly examine ourselves and our surroundings. I embrace the positive changes resulting from an evolving digital culture - the effect the internet has had on weakening cultural, geographical, and academic borders. Additionally, I strongly believe that fluid borders exist within individuals themselves and hope that digital culture allows people to branch out into new areas of study, drives discussion and facilitates critical thinking, as well as ignites a desire to collaborate with others.