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Breaking up with social media, Kat Lee

I have a love-hate relationship with social media, but as a blogger, it’s almost unthinkable to not have social media. I mean, it’s all part of the job, right? It’s all about connecting with our readers, with our community, creating a wholesome experience from Facebook to Instagram to Pinterest to Tumblr to Twitter. Blogs that blog about blogging blog about how to use social media. People hire coaches to learn how to create an image (brand) across their different social media platforms.

Then I read Alexandra Franzen‘s post about why she doesn’t use social media anymore and her follow-up post about how it’s possible to run a business without using social media, and I realized that breaking up with social media could be a possibility, even with a blog to run.

Six weeks ago on Wednesday, February 24, Kat texted me and said she’d deactivated her Facebook and handed her Instagram account over to a friend who changed her password, which left her only with texting and Snapchat. And if you know Kat AKA Bryn Mawr College Instagram Queen, you’d know that this would be a big change for her. But it’s been six weeks, and I’m happy to report that she’s alive and well and here on the blog today to share ten things she’s learned whilst away from social media.

I also have a little announcement at the end.

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52

Strolls, jam, chocolate milk – 14/52 :)

The weeks really are passing by too quickly! There are only four more of them until the last day of classes, six more of them until the end of the school year, and then I’ll have completed half of my undergraduate college career! I’m looking through my secret Tumblr of notes I write to remind myself about what I’ve been up to for these weekly posts and looking through my planner, but I haven’t written too much down in either of them this past week. Looking back at my previous Happy Lists, I notice that the majority of my happy things come from the weekend, but the five days in between pass by in blurs.

Because as good as kissing feels, nothing feels as good as the anticipation of it.
-John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

I remember how excited I was for this Spring 2016 semester, in which I’d be taking two computer science courses and two linguistics courses, a course schedule devoted solely to my double major, to my areas of interest. But since, the excitement has definitely plateaued, squashed down by stress. As preregistration for the Fall 2016 semester is upon us, I am anticipating the next semester of classes, figuring out what I need to take, scheming with my newfound friends so that we get in the same class.

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Chihuly Garden and Glass

After a productive morning hiking up to Kerry Park and cooling down at Cederberg Tea House, my dad and I spent the rest of the day at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum.

Art is something I appreciate, but I never know what to say about it. Last year I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art with my dad, and I also saw the Art of the Brick (Lego) exhibit at the Franklin Institute Science Museum with Victoria and Georgina. Neither trips made it to the blog. For this one, I considered just editing a few pictures from the museum and sharing it on Instagram but leaving it off the blog because I didn’t have too much to say, but this is quite a collection of pictures.

So here it is, a quick “read” for your viewing pleasure. I’ve copied down (word for word) as many artist statements for each exhibit (eleven) as I managed to capture. It’ll be like walking through the museum yourself, but from the comfort of wherever you are reading this blog post. Though I’ve got to say, art is meant to be felt and experienced. Getting up close to Chihuly’s work in real life and truly grasping the immense scale and incredible detail of his work is something I cannot capture in a tiny little blog post.

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52

Ramen, jajiang myun, snow ice – 12/52 :)

Yesterday was the first day of spring, so how could Philly welcome it any other way than with snow? Now I’m extra thankful for the stellar weather I had over spring break, during which I spent most of my time out and about in the city. Speaking of spring break, UC Berkeley’s is coming up, which means that Poonie is here to visit me! In fact, when this post goes live, she’ll have just arrived a few hours ago. Hopefully the weather will be forgiving enough during her short time here.

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bmc

Neue Design Collective

I didn’t fully realize how exceptionally talented and skilled my high school friends were until I came to college. They were the first and second generations of quite a few art/design-related club/projects, most notably UNIT-E Magazine and Draxonic Design Studio. Unit-E Magazine is a student-run magazine distributed to 10~ international schools across Beijing. Everything from finding sponsors to fund printing to creating their own content, they do it themselves. They even have their own service project! Draxonic Design Studio is my high school’s design club, and they design posters, banners, tickets, brochures, logos, apparel, and more for our school’s clubs and events. I was mostly in the periphery of all of that, instead focusing on my niches of Habitat for Humanity, Impromptune (honor choir), and Varsity Swimming, but I’ve always been involved in graphic design to some degree.

I had planned to further explore my interest in graphic design in college, thinking that a liberal arts college must have an abundance of artistic opportunities, but no. There’s a niche for poetry, crafts, creative writing, and more, but not one for graphic design. I thought about starting my own design club like my friends did with Draxonic, but I didn’t believe I was experienced or capable enough. Compared to my friends, I’m an amateur (at least in this respect; we each have our own specialities).

If it’s still in your mind, it is worth taking the risk. -Paul Coelho

But a year later, I’m still thinking about it. Its reach has been permeating into my everyday conversations, and I’ve discovered that yes, there are other people who have also noticed this creative gap and are interested in filling it too. We’ve talked the talk, and now it’s time to walk the walk.

We knocked it out in one day. Today I’m so happy to introduce… *drumroll please* *even though there is no surprise in this because of the title of this post* Neue Design Collective!

Co-founded by me and Miranda, Neue Design Collective is a Bryn Mawr local collective of graphic designers, here to satisfy your #aesthetic needs and design your apparel, banners, logos, and posters! (We don’t do photography, although you could hire me personally for that ;)) We want to keep our design service accessible and affordable, so you can expect the pricing to be at the low range of $5-$10, but as a special startup promotion, we are offering our services for free until the end of May.

Though we are made up of members from the Bryn Mawr College community, we are not a campus club but a local business that serves as a hub for customers (both clubs and individuals) to refer to if they are looking for a designer, and for designers to find and take on projects with customers.

As this is a local business, we would probably better reach our target audience on Facebook, as there are more Bryn Mawr students I’m friends with on Facebook than that read my blog, but I just wanted to share this here to document my creative journey, so thank you for being here for it!
Need a design? We gotchu.
Want to be a designer? Contact us!

tl;dr– Introducing Neue Design Collective, a Bryn Mawr local collective of graphic designers. Free service until end of May.

Hey there!

Catch me burrowed in a book with some boba on hand. My life is pretty average, but it’s the little things that count, right? Thanks for stopping by! -Audrey

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