I am a Film and Media Studies major and a Writing minor. When I came to Lafayette, I instantly knew that I wanted to be a FAMS major. Film and Media has always been my passion and I am so excited to pursue it. I would say that I see the world in many different ways. I try to keep an open mind in life because I truly believe in the quote “everything happens for a reason”. I think that something good comes out of situations. I also like to live life to the fullest, because no one knows what will happen in the future. I love making people laugh, so I try to always bring joy into other people’s days. Before I approach issues, I try to think about it first. I am the type of person who has to think before they speak sometimes. I try to play out situations in my mind in order to generate ideas. I love the news, so I honestly love any news story. However, my favorite kind of stories are on crime. I love shows such as 20/20 and Dateline. I find it so interesting and always feel like I am kept on my toes. I am really interested in exploring the different crimes that go around in the Lehigh Valley area, and how they are affecting our community. I believe that crime documentaries are filled with so much information that interest tons of people, and would make for a great story.

I would definitely describe myself as a documentarian. However, in a different way than someone who is a short film or feature film documentarian. I am obsessed with social media. I truly love every aspect of it. Not to show off, not to label myself as someone, but the aspect of it allowing me to express myself and show my creative side. My two favorite social media platforms are Snapchat and Instagram, because I get to create, photograph, and film some of my favorite events that go on in my life. Taking pictures with my friends and family at fun events is so exciting to me, and I love posting them on Instagram to share my experiences with the world. I try to Instagram at least every week, but sometimes it turns into once every two weeks or multiple times in one week. I also love to snapchat story. I Snapchat story multiple times in a day, depending on what I do in that day. Whenever I am at a cool restaurant or with my friends, I tend to snapchat story because I like to play with the different filters and stickers that one can use. I like to experiment with all that snapchat has to offer. I also really enjoy looking at other people’s Snapchat stories and instagram posts too, because it sparks ideas in my mind for future ideas. However, I don’t usually get my ideas from anyone besides myself. I really enjoy coming up with ideas to post, even if it is a plate of cool looking food that I ordered at a restaurant.

The exercise that we did in class was beneficial because I was able to meet someone who I previously did not know anything about. On Monday I met Ricky, a senior who goes to Lafayette. He lives in D.C. and is an Africana Studies major. His fun fact is that he taught himself how to design tattoos on himself and other people. He has some really cool tattoos that he showed me on his arms which mean a lot to him. I decided to take a picture of him holding up his favorite tattoo which is in memory of his mom. It was really nice to meet Ricky and I am glad that this exercise introduced me to someone new in the class.

As for my picture, Ricky decided to take a picture of me taking a picture of him. When I am older, I want to work in television, so Ricky believed that this would be a smart picture to take because it represents my future aspirations. Also, I interned at the Discovery Channel this summer, so this photo of me represents the experience I had. I had a great talk with Ricky and I look forward to meeting more people in class!

Here are my five still images that tell a story. I decided to choose images from my trip to Ocean City, New Jersey. I went with many of my friends and I had such a great time. The five images show pictures of us driving down, us at the beach, all of us cooking, and the two final products. I had a ton of fun and I’m glad I get to share these pictures with the class!

For the framing assignment, I made my frame out of an index card (the size of the frame was the size of an Apple charging cube. I chose to make my frame small because I wanted to get a smaller perspective of my environment. Having such a small frame, I could only use one eye to see through it, which means that I was squinting a lot. Ayana and I, walked down 22nd Chew Street, past the Farmer’s Market and into some other areas. The 30-minute walk with the frame was a new experience because I was being forced to see the world from a new view. I couldn’t see my environment in full view, but rather in bits and pieces. However, it was interesting to still be able to decipher the things in my location because of the universal usage of certain symbols; such as, the stop sign. Also, seeing my surrounding through small frame forced me to slow my pace of walking. It took much a longer to register with my surrounding because I had to adjust looking into the frame. I had to look at all corners of the frame and move my head in more degrees than normal to be able to process what I was seeing.

My major is Media and Communications and Sociology. More so, Sociology has been the academic lens through which I form my perspective of the world. Because of the sociological imagination, I am able to stop and think more about my life (and those around me) in relation to the intersection of the larger forces of social life. Thus, I see the world as interconnected parts. All in all, Sociology as open my perspective to seeing the world around me beyond the surface level and to question things to understand why things are the way they are. With this perspective, I want to highlight issues of race and its effects. Using documentary will be useful in representing race issues by bringing them to the public’s eyes. Since documentary aims to represent the truth, it would be a medium that aids in my objective to uncover the underlying truths of society in regards to race. If I were to tell a story of a specific place in the Lehigh Valley it would be in the Allentown community. I would tell a story about Allentown because there is still much that I don’t know about the community that I live in while attending Muhlenberg. Furthermore, when I came into Muhlenberg, there were these negative notions about the community that hindered others and me away. I want to tell a story that combats the negative notions; thus, highlighting the community of Allentown as no different from other places.

I, as a documentarian, try to document the things around me that I find intriguing. For example, as a visual artist, I like doing works of art that deal with realism. In realism, I try to represent my subject matter as truthfully as I can. Trying to capture a subtle emotion or a mood in my works of art is what I seek to document. When I document those subtle emotions or mood, I like to share it with others to see what reactions my work of art elicits. I appreciate the emotions that my art draws out of people because they are able to take the time to see and ponder about the subtle realities that we overlook.

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I think a story that would be interesting to delve into in geographic borders of The Lehigh Valley would be the how equitable cities/towns in the Lehigh Valley are for migrants and immigrants from the Hispanic-Caribbean and South/Central America.

The number of Hispanic and Latinx identifying individuals in the Lehigh Valley continues to grow each year as does this number grows for the United States as a whole. So, why are people migrating here? What makes this area much more appealing to those coming from warmer climates, Spanish-speaking lands, and people who identify the same? I challenge the Lehigh Valley to these questions because maybe places such as Allentown and Bethlehem are very hospitable and equitable to those migrating or immigrating to the United States, that other cities may lack.

I also would like to question how does the Lehigh Valley respond to the influx of Hispanic and Latinix communities moving to these cities? Does this mean more equitable solutions? Or does this mean a gap between those born and raised in the Lehigh Valley and those who have just moved? Do the politics of these cities engage with these new community members? How are they fulfilling their needs?

This would mean following a family and their journey from their homeland to Pennsylvania. It would mean talking about their experiences in the Lehigh Valley both positive and negative. Perhaps even more than one family could be followed and see how their experiences compare. Also, filming areas around Allentown that assist in the hospitality for these new communities would be necessary. Interviewing different Hispanic and Latinx associations would be key as well. Above all, this would mean finding answers to how we can make the Lehigh Valley better for everyone.