Hailing from Randolph, New Jersey, Ryan Choi just began his freshman year as a Gallatin student at NYU. A man who knows his way around Facebook’s privacy settings; all that one finds under his About tab is an unsourced quote describing his hard-nosed, no-nonsense approach to work:
He keeps his online identity to a minimum by pledging his allegiance to only five Facebook groups, including his high school’s orchestra and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) chapter.
In addition, he appears to have been a staunch supporter of Austin Joseph in the 2012 elections for Junior Class President at Randolph High School:
Since moving into university housing on August 24th, Ryan appears to be integrating himself well. He’s added about a dozen new friends on Facebook, all who attend NYU, in the last two days. Not that he isn’t popular already; he has almost 400 friends on Facebook. He’s also a part of the NYU Play: the Games club which recently took over UHall’s lounge area with a swarth of gamers for a meetup:
Coincidentally, Ryan shares his name with fellow gamer and renowned League of Legends player, Ryan Choi. This bestows upon him one of the coolest logos ever made for a name:
Ryan’s computer prowess and congenial nature will no doubt serve well any group he works with over the course of the semester. I look forward to getting to know Ryan more well when he comments on this post and as we progress in the seminar.
Armed with a relatively common name and a healthy lack of enthusiasm for social media, Francesco o’Brien spends his days not frequenting Facebook or Twitter. His theoretical Instagram account contains neither filtered landscapes nor pictures of brunch. He seems to agree with the commonplace notion that Google Plus accounts are a waste of time, and opts not to comment on youtube videos (at least under his real name).
Whether by distaste or indifference, Francesco doesn’t partake in the social arenas of Pinterest or Steam. Myspace and Linkedin shed no light on his mysterious life, and don’t get me started on Ello. Be it Vox or Gawker, The New York Times or Whiskey Media, Francesco is nowhere to be found. Perhaps he prefers physical press, or maybe he silently observes the goings on of media dispersed through http. Regardless, Francesco’s online footprint is a slight as one could expect of a child of the 21st century.
Scarlett Curtis is an exceptional individual. Her life story is unlike any other I’ve come across. And I follow Humans of New York.
Originally from London, the road that led Scarlett here to New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study is longer even than the name of the aforementioned school. When she was fourteen, Scarlett had a back operation that caused much more harm than good, leading her to spend many of the following weeks and years at home and in pain. School became difficult and then impossible, and the time spent alone would cause mental anguish that continues to plague her even now, months after the pain has subsided.
When all of her friends were moving off to college, she was stuck, all she wanted was to get out of London, and even though by age seventeen the pain from the operation had left, depression kept her from staying in school. However, Scarlett had a goal, a dream, “a Narnia”, and after months of studying and catching up and testing, she’s finally here.
Taken on a visit to the city and the school in 2013
Thankfully, the road here was not without its bright spots. In the time following the operation, Scarlett was able to find solace in the little things life offers, in baking, knitting, and the joy that is lego construction.
In a wonderfully written article for the Daily Mail she stated that, “I’ve learnt a lot from baking. I’ve learnt that banana bread is the best thing to make if you’re feeling really angry because you get to punish a lot of bananas.” Insightful though this may be, her blog takes things far deeper.
With the subheading of “Cooking – Crafting – Living – Reading – Coping”, the site is wonderfully charming and filled with personality. From discussions on baked goods and knitting, to music and depression, Scarlett proves to be both witty and thoughtful. In addition, the blog has eight-hundred fifteen (now eight-hundred sixteen including yours truly) e-mail subscribers.
Just a sample of some of her delightful creations
What makes the blog so special is that it’s much more than a place to learn fun recipes and and laugh at witty anecdotes, it’s about learning to cope with and overcome depression, it’s about finding those activities that bring us joy, it’s about learning to make life worth living.
After reading only a few posts on the site I was struck by Scarlett’s clarity and honesty. Depression is a difficult subject for many to talk about, an especially nasty quality when talking about depression itself is one of the few things that seems to help the most people. In this respect I cannot extol her posts on the illness enough. I only wish I had the courage to do so myself. Again, from the Daily Mail: “If I’m going to be sharing a new recipe, I also want to share what it feels like to have a panic attack. Because, in my opinion, they’re both very important.”
In addition to baking, Scarlett is also an avid reader (and always looking for more book suggestions), her favorites include The Great Gatsby, of which she has eighteen copies, followed by The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Saga (number of copies unknown).
When it comes to music, her favorite song is “Summer Girls” by LFO, though recently “I Wanna Get Better” by Bleachers and “A Better Son/Daughter” by Rilo Kiley have been staking claim to her headphones, so much so that she wrote a blog post about them.
Scarlett also has two utterly adorable animal companions, Catsby and Posy.
toO cUtE
It should further be noted that Scarlett has a very interesting and illustrious family as well. Her father is director Richard Curtis, and her mother is renown English broadcaster and cultural commentator Emma Freud. Yes, that Freud. Scarlett is the great-great-grand daughter of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.
Famous family aside, the reason that Scarlett’s story carries such weight is that it shows all those lucky enough to find her blog that though the hour may be dark, the sun will rise. Even though she was at times trapped by both mental and physical pain, she was able to find those things that brought joy and peace, and even though at times it must have seemed that the world was slipping past, she made it here, 3,358 miles away from home to study at one of the world’s premiere universities. Her story matters because she is not alone, we, are not alone, and every post about how cupcakes helped her overcome her inner struggle, every song posted that helps her through rough times contributes to a community that needs all the help it can get.
Adam Schulz is a freshman at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. He originally hails from Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of the Chicago area. He attended Highland Park High School and now writes for Earmilk, a music blog in which contributors are able to share their latest music discoveries, hits, and news. He often writes about musicians such as Skizzy Mars, Jon Waltz, Towkio, and Trey Palms
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In August, Adam attended Lollapalooza, a music festival in Chicago. Here he ran into Joey Purp (a musician). He has a Twitter account where he follows mostly musicins ad has 58 followers. His love of music may stem from the fact that he played violin as a child.
Besides music, Adam likes the Green Bay Packers NFL team, The Shawshank Redemption, Die Hard, and appreciates designer clothing.
Alexandria Hanson, also known as Alex, is a very talented and creative individual hailing from somewhere near Manhattan Beach, California. In fall 2014 she started attending New York University as a part of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
A budding filmmaker and photographer, Alex has been involved in several film projects, many as a part of the Mira Costa High School’s media arts program.
One of said projects is a visual personal essay, documenting her growth and challenges as a filmmaker.
Alex was adorable as a young girl, as you can see in this video, which includes several home videos of her at various ages. As a child she also liked Harry Potter, and was in the process of reading (or re-reading, as I often do) J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone one morning at 5:30 AM while accompanying her father to his workplace.
On this day, she learned about skyscrapers and decided that she likes big buildings. She certainly is in the right place now.
Alex’s cuteness has over the years evolved into a distinct beauty, and now she is quite ravishing.
This may be why she so enjoys using herself as the subject of her photos.
Being a photographer, she has a very distinct aesthetic, which carries over to her many creative pursuits. It also extends beyond said pursuits, and into her life of Facebook. Alex enjoys poetry, and regularly posts poems, often as captions to photographs. The following poem was devised as a “thank you”, following her receiving a purple bouquet from her friends.
Friday night flowers Gifted from my awesome friends. Thanks guys, I love you!
Her normal Facebook posts are also very poetic following with her artistic nature.
On September 6th, Alex posted an introduction of fellow Gallatian Varsha Prem, in which she ponders the meaning of a Facebook post the other girl posted some years ago regarding “cactus love”.
she will continue to ponder the meaning of this phrase for many years to come.
Also her prom date was named Drew Dates. And he was the best date ever.
Karen Kandelman is a freshman at New York University from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was born on October 19th, 1995. Karen visited NYU five months ago and gave Madison Square Garden a five star review on Facebook. Back home, Karen worked at the Central Galeria de Arte in Brazil (http://www.centralgaleriadearte.com/), which showcases many artists from Nino Cais to Sidney Amaral. Karen enjoyed getting dressed up and putting make-up on to go work because it made her feel professional. Sometimes during work Karen would go to the largest and cheapest lunch in São Paulo where she would eat everything from eggs to tortillas with rice and vegetables. Before working at the gallery, Karen worked as a camp counselor at Ashdot Ya’akov Ihud, a summer camp in Israel. As far as volunteer work goes, Karen participated in a Habitat for Humanity build in 2010.
Karen has traveled to many places including, but not limited to, China, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, Paris, and Amsterdam. In 2011, Karen traveled to Hong Kong and other parts of China with her cross country friends. While there Karen went on many adventures from rafting on a wooden raft to a day at the beach with friends.
Kelly, Karen’s beloved boxer, was unable to accompany Karen on her world travels, which made Karen miss her dog.
Karen enjoys card games, watching the world cup, dressing up as a zombie for Halloween, and drinking out of her mug that says “diva.” In Brazil, Karen participated in Model United Nations with her school. After Mario Gotze scored a great goal in the world cup, Karen liked his page on Facebook. As far as her taste in music, Karen thoroughly enjoys Daft Punk, Florence and the Machine, Leighton Meester, Colton Pack, Restless Road, and Shira Evenchen. Karen likes two movies on Facebook: American Pie and Secret Cinema. She also likes the TV show How I Met Your Mother. She participated in “Grab an ass day” and “International Skip School Day” in 2010. As far as her more recent events go, Karen participated in “PS I Love You Day.” A member of the “Youth Journalism Network,” Karen hopes to network with other people who are passionate about journalism.
Another one of Karen’s passions is photography. She thoroughly enjoys Steve McCurry’s photos of Afghanistan, including his most famous and award-winning picture, Afghan Girl.
Josh Melnick is from Lexington, Massachusetts ans was born on May 8th. He went to Lexington High school and has worked in camps like URJ Eisner Camp. He also has experience as a freelance writer.
When Josh is not listening to Race Against the Machine or Tupac, he is rocking out with friends.
Josh enjoys a variety of movies, and his favorite movie character is Squirt from Finding Nemo.
His character does not end there. Judging from the books and authors he is interested in we can see that Josh is well-read.
Josh is many things. He is an avid gamer, a Firefly fan, and follows the NY Knicks. The most important thing to draw from him though is that he loves having fun with those around him.
Nicholas Sanchez is a freshman at Gallatin, whose birthday is on July 17. He has had an active Twitter account since September 2010 in which he posts “BLUE COLLAR TWEETS 4 REAL WOMEN”.
He also posts random but hilarious tweets regularly:
His ‘favorite’ TV show is Gilmore Girls and really likes ‘The Lego Movie’. He recently attended a comedy performance by Hari Kondabolu at the Skirball Center and absolutely loved it.
Nic also created a new twitter game called #History of Dans, in which he posted weirdly funny tweets:
He has also come up with a creative solution for the war in Gaza:
As far as I know, Nic does not have a Facebook account, so I could not find personal details and make this post even remotely creepy.
Kasrah Ghobadi is a first-year student at the Gallatin School for Individualized Study at NYU. Kas, Kasrah’s preferred nickname, is from Vienna, Virginia; a small suburb outside of Washington D.C. This year Kas graduated from George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Virginia where he ran for his schools cross-country team. Competing in races during grades 10 and 11, Kas ran 6 races for George C. Marshall.
Kas, a man with many interests, has liked 213 pages on Facebook ranging from animal conservation pages to pages about NYU.
This summer Kas was nominated for the ALS ice bucket challenge but never posted a video to confirm that he did indeed dump a bucket of ice water over his head. We can only hope that Kas has chosen to only share this video with a select few… The rest of Kas’ summer was spent at Burke Lake Park in Fairfax County and celebrating his birthday on June 20th by liking his friends Facebook wall posts.
Kas is a popular guy as he lets his friends post pictures about him on his wall. Kas rarely updates his Facebook status, or creates Facebook albums.
Since arriving at NYU Kas has had a seemingly great time! A fan of Maroon 5, Kas camped outside of NBC Studios to see Adam Levine play at the Today Show. In addition, Kas has enjoyed the scenic views of Washington Square Park at night with a friend.
This semester Kas is a part of the Gallatin First Year Writing Seminar Thinking and Writing Through New Media where he, along with his classmates, will seek to find out more about the technology that surrounds us. Want to learn more about Kas? Keep checking this blog for the duration of the fall semester for more postings from the man himself.
Varsha Prem is a first-year student at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. On August 29, 2014, she turned eighteen years old. This year she graduated from West-Windsor Plainsboro High School South, where she was a member of the debate team. In her senior year she was a semifinalist for National Merit and a U.S. Presidential Scholars candidate. During her high school career she took an honors physics class, for which she contributed to this project about holograms:
This summer Varsha’s family moved from Princeton, New Jersey to Mount Laurel, New Jersey. On July 18, 2014, she and her mother found free parking in New York City.
Varsha listens to Michael Jackson and Paramore. She also enjoys the movies Toy Story, Batman: The Dark Knight, Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Inception. Some of her favorite television shows are Air Gear, The Nonsence Box, and Katekyo. She is a fan of the manga pop-culture genre.
Varsha has 192 Facebook friends. She likes three different Facebook pages related to the Harry Potter series character Bellatrix Lestrange. She has not made public posts since 2011, but her public profile still hosts some mysterious topics. On April 23, 2011 she asked the people of Facebook, with no context, to promote a very specific lifestyle:
On August 10, 2011 she wrote a public, cryptic goodbye to an unknown target audience:
The mysteries of Varsha continue in the fact that one cannot find any photographs of her on the Internet. The blue, black, and white piece she uses to represent herself on Facebook is mystifying:
Varsha Prem is a student of the Thinking and Writing Through New Media first-year writing seminar at Gallatin. She will be posting to this website throughout this semester. Until then, the web will be left wondering what she looks like, what exactly cactus love is, and who or what Varsha said goodbye to in April 2011.
NYU Gallatin First-Year Writing Seminar, Fall 2014
