My Dear Diary,
Morning as usual, Juan knocking on my door to wake me up, one liter of liquid before even opening my eyes (disclosure: Lipton Ice Tea. Diet. 100% daily allowance of antioxidants and vitamin C per 12 fl oz), saying hello to Rafi (the “Accident Attorney” from the billboard in front of my dorm window), chat on WhatsApp with my desperate students to coordinate on their final research paper (14 more days until they have to submit it, so help me, God!), morning toothpaste, cappuccino from Starbucks, thermal shock when opening the front door of ASU’s Taylor Place…
You know me very well, dear Diary, so I can’t hide it from you: today too was one of those days that I feel are especially designed for me and that I am really in the right place. It is the first day (with more to come) when our teaching activities at the Cronkite School focus on the study of dis-/misinformation and media literacy, the main reason why I applied for the 2022 SUSI for Scholars program. So, these are some very exciting learning activites for me! It has already been a fantastic opportunity to interact with the teachers of the host school and with fellow academics from the international group who take part in the program. Discussions about dis/-misinformation and sharing experiences with them have given me more ideas that will help me improve my course on online disinformation and fake news that I teach at the University of Bucharest. And much more is still to come, I just feel it; this is how you should read the big silly smile on my face these days. (OK, I admit, it’s a bit of a lingering Grand Canyon feeling after Saturday’s visit thing, too…)
So, today, I finally got to meet Dr. Kristy Roschke from the News Co/Lab. A few words of hers slipped in, maybe even unconsciously, during the warm-up discussions of the first session conquered me from the first moment: “I’m always centering on the user’s perspective.” What a great way to be as a teacher and a scholar! And, of course, it’s part of the ASU charter’s philosophy, one of the things I love most about this school. The discussions on the topic were, as we have become accustomed to, many interesting points of view, different perspectives via the 16 countries we come from and the time too short to take full advantage of all this. And it was just the introductory day on the topic! Big smile emoji! 😄
Finally, a very secret confession for you, dear Diary. I’d be lying if I said I dreamt about the Grand Canyon last night, but I’d be lying by omission if I said I didn’t dream of it all day long today. There is talk about love at first sight (blushing cheeks emoji 😳), but between the Grand Canyon and me it is definitely love at second sight (we first met in 2015). And you know what, with my return to Phoenix from the weekend trip, I can tell the weather here is not even as bad as it seems! What is the average rent in Phoenix? 😍
Yours truly,
Bo
