So what did I miss? Ah, right, THE APOCALYPSE.
I stopped writing my blogs and look what has happened! I thought, what else could 2020 have planned for us? Surely everything that could have gone wrong has done so already! (Do we even remember the Australian Wildfires and the almost-WWIII crisis now?)
The universe has clearly shown how much of a fool I am. Nothing new, to be completely honest. In all of this nonsense, I want to give you a bit of an update on what I have been up to and why I disappeared from the virtual world. (Yes, I am Italian and yes I did disappear at the time of Coronavirus, so I can see why I could be seen as a suspicious subject).
Basically, the time had come for me to actually try and graduate.
Dan very subtly made me realise I was completely out of it, and essentially gave me a forced holiday. I am just joking, I really needed some time to focus on finishing my degree and most of all to finish my dissertation.
And guess what? I did it. After a lot of sweat and tears, I have handed in my biggest piece of work. It could have been better. In fact, if anyone wants to rewrite it, please step forwards. I have the presumption to think that it was a brilliant idea, but badly executed. I can talk about it in this blog mainly because I believe it to be (mildly) related to the work we do at 448 Studio, and because it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want.
My dissertation is an enquiry on whether social media can be considered a decolonising tool and, to cut things short and avoid you to read my 12.000 words, the answer (well, my answer) is yes. I believe Social Media to be one of the many technologies employed in the fight to decolonise indigenous spaces. My oldest source was probably from 2012, and that was the beauty and the struggle of the research.
All of this is not just to toot my own horn, but to broaden your ideas regarding social media. Ever so often we undermine the power and influence of new mediums and technologies, or just overlook the impact they can have in completely unexpected environments. In the ongoing fight to contrast dominant ideologies, it is necessary to use all the means possible to push for a shift in the public’s opinion. And that is the ultimate goal of every activist group.
So yes, I do believe social media is an interesting field of research. And maybe once I graduate (by receiving an email and many thanks), I will gain a bit more credibility!
In the sadness of not being able to have a graduation ceremony, not having said goodbye to my coursemates nor those lovely, Glasgow University rooms, I have found refuge, as the good Millennial as I am, in numerous activities. I will list them here for you to take inspiration from:
1. Crying. As simple as that, we are a generation of snowflakes.
2. Buying pointless stuff online. I constantly wait for the bell to ring to get my deliveries. In the last 2 months I have bought:
3 balls of yarn and 2 macramé ropes to decorate my room. I ordered them from Wish about 5 weeks ago and still have not received a single item. It was also my first time using Wish and I might not ever use it again.
A set of makeup brushes. Believe it or not I still used my fingers.
A wig - YES, I KNOW.
Glue spray for the wig. Gotta commit.
3 posters from independent indigenous artists. Also have not arrived yet.
An Ice Cube Tray - Ordered it for those two sunny days we had. Also has not arrived yet, so might have lost my occasion to sip a cocktail looking out of my front window.
3. Tried to take up some new hobbies. Mine include colouring books, cooking and reading Agatha Christie books. I must say I am succeeding at all of them.
I love to destress colouring my cute books (another one of my pointless buys, together with 48 - YES FORTY-EIGHT - sharpies).
I am one of the classic procrasti-bakers, so if I have got anything important to do, I will definitely try a new complicated recipe. My experiments have however been so good, I decided to open a cooking channel.
I am finally reading books in English after 4 years of living here. What a girl.
4. Tried (and failed) to exercise quite consistently
I want to do Yoga every day and end up doing it once a week
I go and walk in the park (bit like a dog)
I give myself pep talks in the middle of the night to motivate myself to do abs and squats and every day I fail.
5. Gained new skills and started new projects!
I got myself a brand new german grammar book and after page 2 I wanted to cry (go back to point 1.)
Started constructing a very complicated alter-verse for a TV series I will never write.
If you can relate, please let me know. It’s great to be back.
Laura