Well hello there! I am Alexis Anthony. I am currently a sophomore journalism major, but will be switching to public relations and minoring in survey methodology. I’m from Columbia, MD and graduated in 2011 from Oakland Mills High School. I love working with people (I just went through two weeks of team builders for my job training and I was in heaven) and problem-solving. I really enjoy writing, too, hence being a journalism major and taking this class. I’m very excited to expand my storytelling skills to different forms of media in the semester.

Hmmm, what else? I love to sing. I LOVE to sing. Probably too much, but that’s beside the point. Also, I love all of the colors of the rainbow; yellow has my heart, though. Therefore, my Avatar is an adorable little yellow bow, which symbolizes my bubbly personality and bountiful cheerfulness.

I fee like I need to expand this little biography more, but I really can’t think of what else to say. I am a Community Assistant for the Department of ResLife and I work at the Queen Anne’s front desk. I’m a human resources assistant for DOTS. I also spent my summer working for Merriweather Post Pavilion, where I have been working the past four years. I love all of my jobs; the people make the job and I adore all of my coworkers.

I like to go to the gym. A lot. And as a girl, you’d think I was intimidated by the big burly men lifting 400 lb. weights as I try to bench the 45 lb. bar,  but I could care less. The guys are too concerned about looking macho to judge my laughable routine. So I just keep on keepin’ on.

All right. I’m out of material. But by now I should have been able to paint some kind of picture of myself (which is necessary since my avatar does not actually look a thing like me. I mean, c’mon. I’m not a bow).

Hi! My name is Benjy Cannon, and I’m a sophomore government and politics major. My interest in digital storytelling actually started with a project I helped with at Spark Media, a film studio that was working on a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Spark had produced a documentary, Soul of a People, which told the story of the Federal Writers Project, a subset of FDR’s Federal works project. I helped them design a game, which put the player in the shoes of one of the writers in an interactive forum which sought to recreate the guidebooks written by FDR’s crew through the Internet.

I’m super passionate about memes and their potential for bringing people together. It strikes me as incredible that a supposed “inside” joke can be shared by so many people.

As my major may imply, I’m totally obsessed with everything political (aka everything at all, because everything is kind of political), and I absolutely love literature. I sometimes joke to myself that I would have been an English major in an ideal world, usually before realizing that my government degree won’t help me get much more of a job.

I used to own a copy of Microsoft’s 3D Movie Maker, which was a really cool tool for telling digital stories. It was definitely geared at kids, but it had some really fantastic creative uses.  It fed my need for creativity for the longest time, until it became incompatible with my OS (it was originally designed for Windows 95). Since then, I’ve been searching for a piece of software/a method to continue to apply that outlet, and am eagerly anticipating getting it out of this class.

Also I chose a cannon as my Avatar, not because I endorse violent imagry, but because my name is Benjy Cannon and tend to jump on the opportunity to utilize visual representations of my surname.

A self diagnosed technophobe, pathological truth-teller, and a creature of pure, unrepentant evil, Monica is an English major and plot enthusiast who was taken in from an early age by a wild pack of computer science majors and trained in the art of virtual war. While she has embraced their gamer culture and become fluent in their geekspeak, she remains a permanent duck out of water technologically, and takes great comfort in using stories and writing to ease herself into the digital medium. When she is not warring with computer science majors or plotting world domination, she attempts to write novels and draws webcomics in her spare time.

Monica is a shrewd but somewhat lazy plot predator, who is built for ambush and short bursts of speed rather than research sessions requiring stamina. As a result, she tends to lurk on Rotten Tomatoes and TV Tropes in order to supplement her own observations as she hunts down the elusive components that make stories effective at evoking emotion. Her latest interest is studying the horror genre. She keeps a diary documenting effective techniques, and is always on the lookout for more. She practically salivated upon noticing this class.

Hello all! For those who do not know me I am Tyreese. I am a sophomore here at the Univeristy of Maryland. I am a West Warwick, Rhode Island resident (for those who don’t know, that is about an hour from Boston) and have been all my life!  At the end of my four years here I hope to graduate with my bachelors in Civil Engineering and a minor in project management. I plan to continue my education and receive my masters and perhaps my doctorate in my specified field as well.

In addition to prioritizing my heavy work load, I am currently a member of the Digital Cultures and Creativity Mentorship Program here at College Park.  With the mentorship program, a few of my fellow DCC mates and I get the opportunity to spend time with students from local high schools.  In our monthly gatherings we plan activities/lessons to share with the students.  You may think its all work and no play, but that is not at all true.  After completing the planned activities, we continue to enjoy our time while playing games, watching movies and just hanging out.  We are simply here to help them in whatever we can.

With school aside, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, watching movies, listening to music, playing basketball, traveling and shopping!! I have been playing basketball since the age of five and continue to have the love, drive and passion for it to this day!  Because of basketball I have been able to travel more, make friends and meet new people.  One of the most important things this sport has taught me is how valuable hard work and dedication are and can be.  Without these values, and God in my life (I am extremely religious) I do not know where I would be today.

With all that said, I think I have covered it all. In the words of Porky Pig (Looney Tunes) : “That’s all folk!” #CLASSIC

Hey all, my name’s Kanga, (or rather, Justin, technically, but everyone calls me Kanga)

In all honesty, I don’t really know what to write about for this post, but we may as well start with the basics.

I am Peruvian / Pakistani, though I grew up mostly in Africa (in Kenya and Guinea to be precise), so I have some cool stories and strange perspectives. Sadly, I also miss out on childhood pop culture references often (I’m getting better, be patient with me).

I am an electrical engineering major, but I like to think I have a pretty diverse set of interests and facets and whatnot (don’t we all). I also do a lot of art/illustration, mostly digitally these days, but I do kind of miss actual paint at times…

I joined this class mostly because it sounded fun, and because I have toyed with the idea of writing/drawing my own webcomic a couple times. Its turning out to provide HL credit, and fitting fantastically in my schedule may or may not have possibly contributed to my interest.

I don’t particularly like the color orange, but I am a big fan of parentheses (except in LISP. That language has entirely too many parentheses), nested parentheses, and ellipses…

Peace out

(And yes I realize the shadows are wrong. This is the problem with hiding your layers while working. Also laziness… that is part of the problem)

Heyas. I’m Caitlin, a 19-year-old comp sci major, born in Pasadena, Calif. I moved to Minnesota, which is where my parents were originally from and where my sister was born, when I was three. Then we moved to St. Louis, Missouri when I was five, and to Maryland when I was 8. I think that’s when I lost my ability to connect with people face-to-face. See, when we moved here, there weren’t any kids around my age and school wasn’t going to start for another 3 months, so I basically spent my days inside playing video games all by my lonesome. Not trying to score any pity points here, but since then I haven’t been able to make friends easily, and I have difficulty speaking aloud (meaning not only do I not know what to say a good portion of the time, but when I do have something to say, I think of two different ways to phrase it and begin with one way and end with another so the whole thing doesn’t make any sense. And I have now retyped that sentence about 5 different ways). But I’ve finally reached the point where I actually prefer being alone, because with people, you’ve got all that awkward stuff going on, like what do I say now? What should we do? OMG I just had food fall out of my mouth when I asked them how they’re doing….

Anyway, I prefer to eat alone, and I don’t really like conversation unless it’s about one of my obsessions (listed in no particular order): Doctor Who, dragons, Gymkana. But I /do/ really like to play games with other people, especially Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon (both the video games and TCG), and Banagrams. My avatar is from a game I used to play, called Neopets, which I bet a bunch of you used to play, too. It’s a zombie cybunny. I picked it because it’s weird, ugly, but kind of cute, too, which is how I see myself. It’s also my Facebook profile pic, because I don’t really use Facebook and wanted to be somewhat anonymous, even though I used my real name.

As for why I’m taking this course: I love stories and this was the only DCC course this semester that sounded even remotely interesting to me, need I say more? I really /do/ love stories, though, even though I’m not really good at telling them. I’m not very good at coming up with original ideas, either. But, I do know how to code in HTML, Java, and make cool 3D objects in Google Sketchup, if that helps my case at all.

And, like everyone else’s posts, this one is getting kind of long. So….

Hello !

I am Ed! I suppose I’m a goofy guy. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m funny or if people laugh at my attempt at comedy. Nevertheless, I enjoy doing musical production in my spare time and hanging out with my other musical friends.  One cool thing about doing music is that it allows me to meet a lot of other like minded individuals. Most of the musicians i meet are interested in other studies (such as business or even engineering) so being friendly and getting your name around is always a good thing. I grew up in the Prince George’s county area of Maryland so this entire region is home for me.

I often find myself getting into conversations about anything from my cooking skills (which are nonexistent, but I do have a vivid imagination for new creations) to why I think I’m funny. Apart from this comical side I keep hinting at, I am also a business major here at the university and I am interested in going into the music business (or any kind of business that allows me to do some kind of production/be creative). I think the two most important traits about myself have to do with my creativity and interest into new things. That is why I am so interested in this storytelling class. I am currently thinking of how it is going to compliment my passion for musical media.

Now for my avatar.

According to everyone I meet, I act like an old man. Fortunately and unfortunately, they are all correct. Whether it’s my early self-imposed bed time, my out of date phrases ( like “snazzy” ), or my cracking back, I always seem to fit the part. Therefore, my avatar will have to be one of the coolest old guys I can think of.

My name is Kelsey and I’m a journalism major, potential french minor. I’m from Ardsley, PA, a town which is so small it is literally about 50% graveyard, it’s frequently grouped in with the larger town nearby, and its only claim to fame is that it’s the site of the “Historic Battle of Edge Hill,” which I had never even heard of until our town commissioner had the sign put up about 2 years ago. On the plus side, it’s about 15 minutes outside Philadelphia.

I like to make myself really busy, but when I do have free time I really like to read. I’ve spent the last 3 years of my life working on completing the BBC’s list of “100 books everyone must read,” because I was upset that when I initially checked the list I had only read about 6 of the books. I’m now through 36 of them (this includes several books that were over 1000 pages long, including the complete Les Miserables, Gone With The Wind, and an anthology of the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy series.) But I’ll really read whatever looks interesting that I can get at the used bookstores by my house.

I’m also really into music. I attend as many concerts as I can, which really depends on how much money I have at any given time. I’m going to be an arts and entertainment writer for Diversions at the Diamondback in the fall – and it will most likely be me writing about some of my favorite bands.

I also tumble, (as in use the blogging site Tumblr, not fall down) very frequently. Like way too frequently…

Anyway. I chose my avatar because it captures a lot of things that you can’t actually deduce unless I told you about them:

1. I’m wearing my favorite sweater. Come late fall/winter, I’ll be wearing it at least once a week.

2. I’m in my dorm building, Queen Anne’s. Which goes along with the third thing I like in the picture…

3. The horse. When I arrived at school to live in the very same dorm last year, I was immediately welcomed into a fantastic group of friends who, for my birthday, which fell during the first week of my freshman year, bought me a ginormous stuffed horse (which they made out of stuffing an an old kid’s halloween costume because they couldn’t find a big enough stuffed animal) and left it hitched to the door of my dorm room waiting for me when I came home one night, all because I jokingly said I wanted a pony for my birthday.

4. The fact that this picture was taken after I fell on the ground laughing with my roommate because we were caught by a random parent who happened by our room while we were having a mock photo shoot with said horse. Embarrassing… but that’s why I love my friends. (In my defense I had just gotten a film camera for my birthday and wanted to use it.)

This blog post is way too long. I’m going to cut myself off before I end up with a novel.

One last thing… No matter how much technology I own, and no matter how much I learn in this class, I’m never buying an ereader!

Looking forward to an awesome semester!

My name is Emil and I am currently studying as an Electrical Engineer.

I have always had a fascination with electricity and engineering alike, but in high school, my thirst for knowledge was never quenched in those fields. In fact my favorite DC superhero is Static Shock, while my favorite Marvel superhero is Iron Man (Electricity, Engineer, see what I did there?)

I think my favorite hobby would have to be playing video games. I don’t really have a preference to the genre of video games, but my favorite video game company would have to be Nintendo. They have been with me since I was four years old (even though my first console was a Sega Genesis when i was 2) The company in my opinion has shaped the world of gaming the most in its few decades in business.

Before college I was a television junkie. Nowadays, due to my busy college schedule, I can’t find a lot of time to watch a lot of tv. I think television is the main reason my eyesight is so horrible. When I watched television, like a lot of my nineties brothers and sisters, toonami was the best cartoon block to me. It was what got me into anime and a lot of the Japanese animation scene. My favorite anime was Rurouni Kenshin (which is what my avatar will be very soon). I liked it because it had action and remained very comedic throughout.

Being from Baltimore, Maryland, I am a very big Baltimore Ravens fan. I may not like a lot of football, or know the rules, but when it comes too the pigskin, I am a big Baltimore fan. I am not to big of a Orioles fan, but I can be a fan of the Baltimore Blast. Pretty much the two football sports interest me.

I find it hard to introduce myself through a blog post. Sometimes I find it easier to get to know me through physical interaction.

My mom named me after the main character of the classic novel Tess. However, the reason had nothing to do with the book. She just thought that “Tess” sounded nice.

I am not like the British farm girl at all. I’m quiet, observant and at this point still quite dependent on my family. I was born in Pasadena, Calif., but moved to Taiwan after finishing first grade. A city girl all the way.

After graduation from an international high school in Taipei, I came back to America for college. This time on the East Coast, where all seem new and fascinating to me, even the green trees and red bricks.

(My avatar is a picture of me taken in southern Taiwan this summer. The green in the background reminded me of Maryland, so while it is not directly related to this post, I picked it anyways.)

At the University of Maryland, an environment so different from where I used to live, I really hope to enrich my four years and acquire skills in various fields. The ability to tell stories via digital media is one.