I was Amish for a week. As part of a school project, I decided not to listen to music for a week. The assignment consisted on documenting how not using the chosen technology affected our lives and the lessons learned from the exercise. The most common choice among my classmates was TV, Smart Phones, or…
I grabbed one of the 20 volumes of the encyclopedia, put it on a backpack and climbed the tree in my backyard. I sat on one of the branches and started to read. I can close my eyes and feel the cool breeze, the smell of gardenias, hear the sound of the wind sipping through…
It took me 10 years to come back to college because I was afraid of Math. When I finally got the courage to do it, I had to take 4 remedial classes before I could be at college level. The first Math professor I had, was a horrible professor. He would come one hour later…
We were on our way to a restaurant and my friend was telling me all about her new ordeal at work. She had a bad day and I was trying to be supportive. During our waiting time at the restaurant, she continued sharing how tired she was of the situation at work and that she…
At the beginning of the semester, my Politics of Latin America professor presented different theories on why Latin America (LATAM) has not been successful in having stable democracies. At one of his lectures, he discussed how LATAM fail to transition from an agrarian to an industrialized based economy and a naive thought crossed my mind:…
Last summer, the professor of Digital Media introduced Google Glass and opened the floor for discussion. I was shocked that even my digital native classmates were as apprehensive about this new gadget as I was. Google Glass is a hands-free wearable computer mounted like a pair of glasses that allows you to take pictures, record…
The first big purchase I made when I moved to the US was a computer. As a graphic designer, the investment on a powerful computer was not a want but a need. Since I had no credit, I paid for it cash and was left with no money for software… very expensive software. I was…
We were so excited to go to St. Petersburg. We left early and planned to stop in Naples for breakfast. An hour into Alligator Alley my friend nervously announced that we were almost out of gas. As any good copilot would do, I pretend to be calm and collected despite the fact that I knew…
In a split second, the screeching halt of the tires, the pull of gravity towards the windshield, and the memory of my mothers’ advice: “never ride with a drunken driver” converged, sucking the air out of my lungs and the drunkenness out of my system. I don’t remember how the eight of us got out…
Just in case you have not noticed, you are living in two parallel worlds – planet earth and the digital world. Your identity on the first one might include many labels such as: Hispanic, white, baby boomer, and female. The only demographic that counts in the Digital World is being a digital immigrant (DI) or…
Swiftly Digital 