Junior year was a year of loss, of growth, of reflection, of change. It was a roller coaster in the truest sense, full of failure and achievement and more failure. I learned about myself in the classroom and out. It’s time move forward with my fourth, final, and senior year at Agnes Scott College. But first– a look back.

I entered the 2017-2018 academic apprehensive yet hopeful. I completed the Women’s Bridge to Business program at Georgia Tech, I was an intern at Green Worldwide Shipping, and I was eager to get started with my double major in History and Business Management. However, there was a horrible, looming shadow casting doubts over my abilities; BUS-211, Financial Accounting.

A mandatory class for the Business Management major, I tried my best to face my fears head-on and enter the lecture with a positive attitude. As someone with Dyscalculia, a math-based learning disability, I have never had an experience with math that wasn’t inherently traumatic. Still, my father is an accountant by trade, so I knew that if I put in the work, I could manage.

I could not manage.

Financial Accounting drove me to the brink of mental breakdown, and during the midterm exam, I turned in a half-blank test, left the class in tears, walked to my advisor’s office, and dropped the class, thereby withdrawing from the Business Management major. While I instantly felt better, I had to grapple with the fact that I was now a History major– just a history major. Only a history major.

At Agnes Scott, that is rare. Most students double major, major and minor, or double minor. Here I was, with just one major. I felt like a failure. I felt like a slacker.

However, I couldn’t dwell on these thoughts for long; my grandfather passed away in October.

The rest of the semester seems like a blur; I struggled to attend class, I struggled with finals, I struggled, I struggled, I struggled. I pass/failed two classes, allowing me to save my GPA. On a whim, I quit my internship of 18 months, hoping to find an internship in the spring– I did not. I entered winter break feeling like a failure, full of regret and anxiety.

Then, I went abroad to Israel. I wanted to come back excited and refreshed for the semester; instead, I came back, and I immediately felt like I was drowning.

I missed the first week of class due to being in Israel, and I came back without books, unprepared, without reading, and not ready to be thrown into the most challenging semester of my academic career.

I tried to keep up, but the longer the semester went, the more I felt like I was drowning– like I couldn’t manage the work. Still, I worked hard. I threw myself into research for my research project on the Enlightened Pirate, I excelled in my nonfiction writing class, and I had my play, Pathways, published. 

I started to thrive as a tutor at the Center for Digital and Visual Literacy. I was selected as a lead for marketing and development for the center, as well as to join a visiting professor from CNN to be a teaching assistant for SUM-400, and helped develop curriculum.

Still, I struggled in classes. I was told by a teacher I was in danger of failing (I was not), and a week before finals, I left campus, went home, and spent a week recouperating from a mental breakdown. My mental health is incredibly important to me, and without this week away from class, I knew I would have become dangerously close to harming myself.

I finished the semester maintaining my 3.5 GPA, with a research plan in place for my senior thesis, and with an internship for the summer at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

While this may seem like a story of triumph, it is not. I may have ended the year academically unscathed, but I lost friends. I lost family. I lost hope.

I enter this next school year with my two closest friends graduated. I enter after a long summer internship. I enter with no idea how to approach the subject of grad school or the GRE.

Still,  I am cautiously optimistic. After this year, how bad can it be?

Senior year, here I come.

After deciding to invite pirates and philosophers alike to my salon, I decided it was integral to the evening to discuss the topics of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, as well as Democracy, Human Nature, and Authority. While Kant, Locke, and Rousseau discussed their beliefs on the matter, the Pirate guests would offer their input as to best actualize the philosopher’s theories, as Pirates put ideas into action.

Finally, I was tasked with putting my salon online in digital format, so that it was easily accessible to not only those in my class, but to anyone who is interested in Enlightenment history, or Golden Age Piracy. The Agnes Scott College History Department loves digital history and this project correlates with the Summit curriculum and the development of our digital portfolios. Below is my methodology for my project, and a link to view the final website!

Introduction

As a Digital and Visual Literacy tutor, I knew that I had not only the training but the resources to create an engaging and dynamic digital salon. That, coupled with my love of Enlightenment history and my interest in piracy, I threw myself into my research and creation of, what I believe, is my most comprehensive and well-designed website to date.

The Frontispiece (Home Page)

I spent a lot of time working on the frontispiece, or home page, of my digital salon. As the landing page of my subdomain, I wanted to make sure it was eye-catching, informative, and provided suitable navigation for the rest of my website. I wanted to include the quote that formed my thesis, the Yoke of Nonage quote from Immanuel Kant. That, contrasted with the image of Blackbeard directing two men underneath a yoke, provide a direct correlation between the Enlightenment and Piracy that I continue throughout my website.
I first selected my template because it allowed for video as a header. The first piece of media created for my digital salon was the header video, which shows images of the Golden Age of Piracy with an overlay of a waving black sail. All photos, including the pictures in the video, were either from Wikimedia Commons or sources otherwise.

As the reader scrolls through the Frontispiece, the reader comes to a series of text boxes that link to three critical areas of research, the thesis, evidence, and analysis that make up the backbone of the website. The images included in the text boxes are ornamentations from Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates. As this text formulated much of my research, I wanted to include the beautiful ornamentation that I had come to know and love in my readings.

The reader then comes to a miniature “about” section, preceding the more in-depth separate page with navigational links. These sections allow the reader to quickly learn about the class, as well as the creator of the site. If the reader clicks on the links, they go to my digital portfolio or the Agnes Scott History Department website. These links allow the website to function not only as a research project but as an advertisement for Agnes Scott and myself as a content creator. Throughout the Frontispiece, as the website logo and icon, I have an image of the Jolly Roger, Calico Jack Rackham’s flag and the most enduring symbol of the Golden Age of Piracy.

About the Project (About Page and Scope)

I chose to include a page introducing the history of the salon, as well as the purpose of the digital salon. The project is not typical, and therefore, the average reader might not understand the reasoning behind the project. I further chose to include the methodology essay, albeit differently formatted, on the about page, so it is readily available to my classmates and the reader.

The page that introduces the scope of my project is when the research behind The Enlightened Pirate is introduced. I begin the page with a quote from noted pirate historian, Phillip Gosse. It was impossible to research the entirety of the Enlightenment, the Golden Age of Piracy, or the connections between them. As I explain on the page, I chose to narrow the research scope for the project based on coursework, primary source documents, secondary source research, as well as geographic range. I also included an image of an engraving from the 1772 edition of Encyclopedie, again, via Wikimedia Commons. After defining the scope of research, I was able to write my thesis and begin researching The Enlightened Pirate.

Research (Thesis, Analysis, and Evidence)

My thesis, as presented on the thesis page, went through several revisions. I wanted to create a thesis that adequately stated what I was attempting to argue but also provided sufficient information for someone casually reading the project. I chose to accentuate the thesis page with a quote found in a valuable secondary source, Bandits at Sea: a Pirates Reader, that informed my research but did not directly make it into any analysis. I also chose to include one of the more complete images we have from A General History of the Pyrates, an engraving by Benjamin Cole that depicts Bartholomew Roberts, and his flag.

Next, I have a category of posts that summarize my research, or, what would be my essay, if this was a traditional research essay. I wrote six posts, three about piracy and the enlightenment, and three about enlightenment philosophers, to best examine the evidence and argue my thesis. I chose to outline the philosophy of the Enlightenment philosophes attending my salon, that is, John Locke and the Right of Rebellion, Immanuel Kant and the Yoke of Nonage, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and The Social Contract. I then chose to synthesize my argument in three short essays; Enlightened Pirate Democracies; Piracy, Human Nature, and Autonomy; and Freedom, Liberty, Equality, and Pirates. Each post contains links to direct evidence, as located further on the website, as well as footnotes.

I also chose to create images for each post, by combining an image of Enlightenment art, or a portrait of an Enlightenment philosopher, with an overlay of a pirate flag, in the same motif and design style of the video header.

Like the categorical organization of my analysis, I chose to organize primary source evidence in one category, with each piece of evidence having its own post. This system allowed for an efficient tagging and categorizing and allowed me to link back to direct evidence with ease. While I did not upload every piece of evidence utilized, I thought that uploading the primary sources that I found showcased my research abilities.

The Salon

While the Salon page precedes my scope and research on the toolbar, as it was the most in-depth page, I decided to leave it to last in my methodological essay. On this page, I showcase the guests of the salon; with the guests being three Enlightenment philosophers and six pirates. For each guest, I show a portrait, and give a brief biography, alongside essential arguments or accomplishments. For the Philosophers, I link to the posts that further outline their arguments.

I chose Kant, Rousseau, and Locke as guests for my salon because of the similarities in their arguments about autonomy, the human condition, and social contract theory. While each offers a different argument, and in Locke’s case, one that precedes the other two by a century, all of the philosophers chosen created a cohesive base argument for my research.

In regards to pirate guests, I chose the most famous, most successful, and most notorious. This was difficult, and I had to leave out many notable pirates (Edward England, Emmanuel Wynn, Henry Every, Mary Read) to create a concise guest list. I also chose pirates based on the availability of primary and secondary sources on their lives. For instance, while Mary Read may have been more ruthless than Anne Bonny, I chose to showcase Anne Bonny because there were more resources about her life and her actions.

Beneath the guests of the salon, I included one of the most famous images of the salon era, Madame Geoffrin’s Salon, painted by Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier in 1812, again with the imagery of the pirate flag. The text is what would have been my conclusion if this were a traditional research essay. It summarizes the topics discussed at the salon and leaves the reader thought-provoked and interested in learning more.

Biography and Links

The bibliography is separated into primary and secondary sources, just as they would be in a research essay. To keep the dynamics of the rest of the website, I decided to consolidate the bibliography into a file-like widget, which allows the reader to view the full citation of a work, only if they wish. I think this allows the page to be less cluttered, and it also is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

Finally, I included a link to my digital portfolio and the Agnes Scott College website, to continue to promote my work and the college.

I really enjoyed creating my digital salon, and I am incredibly proud of my work. I hope you enjoy looking at it and learning more about the Enlightened Pirate!

View The Enlightened Pirate here!

Realizing the Future: Bridge to Business Analysis and Reflection

When I first arrived at Agnes Scott College in August 2015, I knew what my future held. I was going to study International Relations, with a double minor in History and French. I was going to get a 170 on the LSAT and receive my dual J.D./M.A. in International Affairs from my dream school– Georgetown.

That dream abruptly ended when I realized how much I hated the methodology of International Relations, how little I wanted to be a lawyer, and maybe most importantly, how much I despised the thought of spending four years in grad school. But I had this dream ever since my ninth grade Honors Government class– what was I supposed to do now?

My advisor gently reminded me that I was working in a social media job, I was the social media or marketing chair for several organizations on campus, and my mother had her MBA in Marketing, my father, the same advanced degree in International Business. Maybe, she suggested, it was time to stop avoiding the obvious, and enroll in a couple business courses.

I immediately knew I made the right decision, even if I did feel like I was selling out. But how could I know for sure a career in business was right for me?

I had been interested in the Women’s Bridge to Business since before my first year at Agnes Scott– I received a pamphlet shortly after a visit to the campus in my junior year of high school. But as a Sophomore at Agnes Scott, I decided that it would be the final test– a confirmation of whether or not I was sure I would study business.

The good news is, I am now positive that I want an MBA. The even better news is that I want to receive that MBA at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business (or Chicago’s Booth School of Business, like my dad). Opportunity is in Atlanta, and that is abundantly apparent after my three weeks in the Bridge to Business program.

It was hard to choose which functional areas I was most attracted to over the course of the program. I think my favorite was Marketing because I feel as if I have a natural affinity for it, but I was also fascinated by Project Management and International Business. I think this may lead to a future in Brand Management, something I have always found interesting and a natural progression within my future career.

Within these modules, I was able to relate to the content and the skills being offered by professors with a wealth of knowledge. I could imagine myself, in their shoes, after years of experience working and learning, teaching to another young Scottie. I believe I enjoyed these areas because they required creative, critical thinking, and I aspire to have a career where I am creatively challenged and learning every day.

However, even though I enjoyed these areas of the program, it was the modules more tailored to our careers and futures that I found most rewarding. The modules spent with Catherine Neiner provoked me to ask questions about my future that I hadn’t considered. She was frank and honest about the future of working as women, and I appreciated that– often times at Agnes Scott, we live in a bubble where we think the future will tailor itself to us, and that is simply not the case, especially in the business world. It was incredibly refreshing to hear a powerful woman say, “you may be called brazen, bossy, or bitchy. Here’s why you should be proud of that.”

Similarly, I found our session with Gail Evans to be, quite frankly, the most rewarding three hours of my academic career. She encouraged me to think of myself, my personal brand, and my future in ways that I had never before. I was taught why ‘hardworking’ is a bad word, and that if I want to promote myself, I need to tailor my language to my own success. Instead of referring to myself as hardworking, driven, and creative, I will now refer to myself as productive, promising, and passionate. Because, as Ms. Evans said, that is how a CEO refers to herself. I have already engrossed myself in the book she gave to me, and I plan to make my mother read it as well.

While I immensely enjoyed my three weeks in the Bridge to Business program, there were some things that I definitely knew weren’t for me. My father is an accountant, but staring at financial statements, fiddling with Excel, and pulling my hair out over ratios and vertical analyses just wasn’t for me. Still, I gave it my best effort, and I was pleasantly surprised at the rewarding feeling I felt when all the numbers equaled 100.

I also was very frustrated with the Strategic Management Simulation, Minnesota Micromotors, which was disappointing, as I found the Strategic Management module fascinating. I always love to focus on the big picture, and I felt I did well in the ‘strategic plan for Agnes Scott’ activity. However, after I got fired three times, I figured that I can still think big picture and focus on the future of an organization– I’ll just leave the customer service, price management, and research & development to the experts.

I think I was fascinated by Strategic Management because it closely relates to Marketing and Brand Management, two things I see in my future. In marketing and brand management, you must think creatively and anticipate what the customer wants to see, and needs to see, in the future. I think Strategic Management combines all those things, and maybe, is the culmination of many different aspects of a business.

Another module I struggled with was negotiating– kind of. It wasn’t as if I didn’t do well in the activities– I did extremely well. I just felt so unconfident– which is very unlike me. I love to speak publicly, argue, and get my way– negotiating comes naturally to me. However, afterward, when thinking about the future and negotiating my future salary– a topic discussed with Dawn Killenberg– I felt worried.  What if I’m not worth the price I ask for? What if I’m laughed at? What if my job is taken away from me?

All these questions may seem silly, but I called my mother, and she confessed that she has the same fears. She has negotiated dozens of salaries and raises from dozens of employers over her incredibly long and successful career. And yet, she fears what I fear. Is she worth the money? Is she asking for too much? Too little? What will they think of her?

I wonder if men experience these fears as women do. I wonder if, by-product of more and more women entering the workforce and negotiating for themselves, these fears will slowly become less ingrained in our minds. I hope so because I never want to make any less than a man, especially if he is equally or less qualified than me. But before these past few weeks, I hadn’t even considered, nor confronted, these fears that now seem ever present in my mind.

Maybe that is the real reward of the Bridge to Business program– learning valuable life skills that will help me in my future profession, like being able to confront my fears over negotiation, or balance a budget even though the black and white numbers make my vision swim and my brain hurt. I know I will be successful in marketing, or brand management, or social media, or whatever my specialty may be. But I know I will have to confront what I am less excellent at– that’s life, and that’s business.

The Bridge to Business program taught me that, and those lessons are valuable– more valuable than being assured that yes, I’m good at marketing and more valuable than reassuring me that I want an MBA. I knew those things before I enrolled in this program. But to learn to face your fears and try something new, and at the end of the day, still want to dress in a suit and go to work in an organization, trying to change the world or the marketplace, is something unique. And it is definitely unique to the Bridge to Business program.

Ma grande famille

J’ai une grande famille. En plus de ma mère et mon père, j’ai deux sœurs, deux frères, deux nièces, un neveu, et deux chiens! Décembre Dernière, toute ma famille a visité pour la fête des Lumières, Hanoucca! C’était bon de visite avec ma famille.

Pour Hanoucca, mon frère, Douglas, a voyagé de New York avec ma nièce, Ashley, et mon neveu, JJ. Je n’ai visité pas Douglas depuis longtemps. Il est plus âgé que moi. J’ai 21 ans, mais Douglas a 34 ans. Nous avons visité plus souvent avant j’ai quitter New York. Ma nièce, Ashley, a treize ans. Elle est très intelligente et elle aime écrit. Mon neveu, JJ, a sept ans. Il est un petit comédien!

Ma sœur, Bethany, visite de la Virginie, avec son mari, Tommy, et son bébé! J’aime visiter avec ma sœur parce que son bébé, Ava, a un an et elle est trop mignonne!  Elle est très amusante à regarder. Ava apprendre à parler et à marcher. Elle a de grands yeux bleus et des cheveux blonde. J’aime visiter avec Bethany, Tommy, et Ava beaucoup. Ava me rend très heureuse.

Mon frère, Harrison, a 24 ans. Il vit en Atlanta avec son chien, Max. Il a conduit d’Atlanta pour Hanoucca. Harrison travaille avec les ordinateurs, et il est très riche. Je l’aime, mais il me met en colère. Toutefois, il me fait rire aussi.

Ma petite sœur, Frances, a quatorze ans. Elle habite avec mes parents. Elle est une gymnaste. Dans son école, elle est très populaire. Elle a beaucoup ses amies. Elle est très dramatique. Nous nous battons, mais je l’aime.

Nous sommes restés à la maison de mes parents. Je vis avec mes parents quand je ne suis pas à l’école. Mes parents, Alan et Laura, sont très intelligents. Alan a son MBA. Laura a sa MBA aussi. Alan travaille pour l’institut de technologie de Géorgie, et Laura travaille pour l’université de Géorgie. Ils vivent à Athènes, en Géorgie.

Mon père, Alan, est juif, et ma mère, Laura, est catholique. Nous célébrons Noël et Hanoucca. J’aime quand nous sommes tous ensemble. Parfois, nous célébrons Hanoucca ensemble, et parfois nous célébrons Noël ensemble. Quand nous sommes ensemble, nous sommes bruyants et fous. Nous sommes comme un cirque! Ma famille m’énerve de temps en temps, mais je les aime!

I’m a proud Center for Digital and Visual Literacy tutor!

I was hired at the end of last school year to teach my peers and professors about all things digital and visual. This includes video software, photo manipulation software, graphic design, blogging, coding, and more! I couldn’t be more thrilled for this opportunity.

My first assignment for my new tutoring job is to answer a few questions– so here we go!

What is your major/area of academic interest?
I am a Business Management/History double major. Specific academic interests of mine include Marketing, New Media studies, Creative Leadership (for business), and Renaissance and Religious studies (for history). Thanks to the Summit program, I’ll graduate with a certificate in Global Learning!

What are your post-graduate goals?
I want to be the Marketing Director of the Pittsburgh Penguins! I am fascinated by sports marketing, and I want to use my education to take sports media into the future.

I would also love to work for Women’s professional leagues, such as the National Women’s Hockey League, the National Women’s Soccer League, or Team USA! Empowering women through sports is something I’m passionate about, so that would be an amazing opportunity!

What excites you about working in the Center for Digital and Visual Literacy?
I am excited to have specific time devoted to working on creative pursuits. Photoshop, documentary making, writing– I’m an extremely creative person, but I have trouble setting aside time to relax and express my creativity, which leads me to feel tense and stressed out! I’m excited that I’ll have a job where creativity is mandatory, and I can work on my other passions that aren’t school!

What specific or unique skills do you bring to the CDVL community?
I think my creativity is unique. I think of things as if I’m directing a movie or writing a play– two things I’ve done! I’m all about the aesthetics and functionality of a project. I also have a lot of experience coming in– I work in Social Media/Marketing for my real, actual job, and that’s taught me a lot. I can’t wait to share my knowledge with others!

For extra credit in my BUS-202 class, I wrote a short paper about the communication exchange in a scene from Mean Girls. The paper is short, sweet, and well-written, as well as fun!

Mean Girls and the Breakdown of Communication: an Analysis

In the 2004 film Mean Girls, there is a famous scene in which the Plastics: Regina George, Cady Heron, Karen Smith, and Gretchen Wieners conduct a four-way phone call rife with gossip, name-calling, and faux-friendship of the most famous frenemies in cinema history. The film, written by comedy queen Tina Fey, was created to highlight the complex relationships between teenage girls in America’s school system. The film draws inspiration from the book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boys, and the New Realities of Girl World, a psychological self-help book written by Rosalind Wiseman.

The two-minute scene begins with a conversation between Regina and Cady, gossiping about their friend Gretchen. The film reveals that Gretchen has been listening to Regina gossip about her. Gretchen, leaving Cady listening on the other line, then calls Karen to expose what Regina said about Karen. However, before she can talk to Karen, Regina calls Karen to ask her to go out, even though she told Cady she was going to bed. Gretchen then reveals to Karen that Regina called her a slut, to which Cady responds to the ‘harshness’ of the revelation. Karen, offended by Regina’s comments, tells Regina that she can’t go out with her because she’s sick, leading Regina to respond with the now-famous quote, “Boo, you whore.”

This scene is an example of a dense, decentralized communication network. No single member of the foursome dominates the network, and because they can call members of the network independently of another member of the network, this scene is an example of an All-Connected Network. The density of the network supports this example: there are any number of potential connections between the four, as demonstrated in the scene when they call various members independently of a single, information-knowing member.

Additionally, this scene is an example of informal interpersonal communication through both gossip and rumors. The four girls are not communicating effectively, and there are many individual barriers to communication within this exchange. First, the girls all have differing perceptions of each other. Gretchen and Karen believe that Regina is their friend, while Regina’s actions prove otherwise. Regina also believes that Cady is ‘on her side’ so to speak, and doesn’t know that Cady is acting as a middleman to the rest of the girls. Second, there is a myriad of status differences between the girls. Regina is perceived to be the leader, thus making her word law to Gretchen. However, Cady does not see Regina as the leader and sees herself as outside of the network. This outsiderness allows her to be objective to Regina’s gossip and allows her to pass the information on to others without fear of retribution from Regina. Finally, there are different levels of self-interest within the exchange. Gretchen wants to know if Regina is mad at her, while Karen is interested in pleasing Regina until she learns Regina calls her promiscuous. Cady is attempting to sabotage the Plastics with her other friends, Janis and Damian. All these combined lead to a breakdown of communication between the group. However, no one in the group is interested in overcoming the individual barriers to effective communication.

This scene and the rest of Mean Girls is a fascinating look into the exchanges between teenage girls, and the effects they can have on the individual. While the film is a comedy, it shows the misunderstood behavior and communication of one of the most complex organizations in the world: the teenage girl’s clique. While this film may not be viewed as a ‘serious’ topic, the book it is based on certainly is serious, and I believe much can be revealed about organizational behavior and communication within larger, professional organizations if we continue to analyze the relationships and exchanges between teenage girls.

References

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., & Colella, A. (2011). Organizational Behavior: a Strategic Approach
(4th ed.). Chichester: Wiley.

Michaels, L., Fey, T., Waters, M. S., Lohan, L., McAdams, R., Meadows, T., Poehler, A., …
Paramount Pictures Corporation. (2004). Mean Girls. Hollywood, Calif: Paramount. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hVN7TJRRskQ

Wiseman, R. (2009). Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World (3rd ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press.

As an International Relations/French double major with a minor in Religious Studies, I will spend the next four years at Agnes Scott in a myriad of history courses. Coca-Colonization, a class led by Professor Blaich, is not only preparing me for this future, but is enriching my interests and my skills. This class is helping me further my skills in analysis, discussion, and critiquing. It is both fascinating and powerful– in the discussions we share, the films we watch, and the essays we read.

It is by far the most important class I am taking this first semester of college. I am excited to see the ways in which this class shapes me and forms me for the future.