Hi there!

Hi all,

Also new to EP, my name is Erica.. It's incredible to read through the past posts and even just about the kinds of things you all have done together. Crazy that I can read someone's thoughts from Bahrain at 12:51 AM while I'm in Boston at 3:22 on a windy afternoon. :)
It's so difficult not to rely on stereotypes or media images when thinking of other cultures that you don't have any real contact with... The majority of people have no point of reference, and seeing as how we tend to like to classify things in order to know where they stand - sort of like tucking them away in a neat package - it's easier to pick up a readily-available label. Everything that EP is about is really what we need more of though, I really do believe that. These true viable ways to connect with names - and even with videoconferencing, with faces - so that you don't just think of the obsolete word "Bahrain" or "Iran" when you read about some certain issue, but of people who you've actually spoken with..

I was looking through the "A Day in the Life" videos, and it struck me how simliar some of the images were, even across the globe. Not to borrow a cliche, but it makes you wonder whether fundamentally we're more the same than not. Do you find, among your peers, that the majority of people are up to date with current affairs? I go to Boston College, and along with a lot of our country, more people would be able to tell you about Britney Spears' latest fiasco than any happening internationally. Is it that celebrity gossip is just easier to take in - sort of a nice junk-food to indulge in apart from everything else that is going on in people's lives - or that people actually don't care? Celeb buzz certainly is sexier -- don't get me wrong, I'll flip through an USWeekly or People as quick as the next guy. But what is it about our craze to know the rich and famous, and turn the page to something happening in another continent? I wonder if this trend is purely American, or if you find the same in your culture.

I like to think that people actually do care, that instead they just don't really understand. Reading about a country or a catastrophe in the paper doesn't bring nearly as much texture to the issues as much as a face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) interaction. So when I think about what role my generation will play as we're the ones who make decisions and all that (oof, us as adults, really?), I think it's going to be crucial for us to use things like the internet, videocasts, whatever technology we have, to make those viable connections. It's easier for us to do that than other generations.. and so somehow seems like a responsibility/necessity that we do.

Mm that's all I've got for now -- hope you are all well.
Cheers from the 8th floor in Boston --

Erica