Welcome to Chinaland

You know you are a white only child when you feel like China is an offshoot park of Disneyland. I’ve been in China for two days and feel like I’m visiting Epcot instead of China, or perhaps that I’ve been photoshopped into a video game.

Some people could blame the media, my lack of previous travel or my ignorant mind. I’m sheltered, so sheltered that when faced with a new experience which I’ve seen in movies and amusement parks, my brain assumes that the experience is also made up.

Poverty in China

While in Shanghai we stayed at Fudan University hotel--clean, beautiful and classic-- but when venturing into the heart of the city with Andy as our tour guide a different story unfolds. Beggars kissing the floor, laying face down on the sidewalk, a plastic Dixie cup set in front to collect acts of kindness. Women clutch screaming babies as they walk down the street jangling their cups at your face. Is this China? No, this is poverty. A man wrapped in a body bag, eyes shut, lips trembling, his convulsing in prayer kneeling by his side.

Rice, Noodles, Repeat

I started photographing everything I ate for ten days in Shanghai, China. Then I realized I was eating all the same things: rice, noodles and animal cartilage.

Perception is reality until you change it

Scott Bedbury and Stu Redsun, two U of O alumni, visited today to talk about problem solving. As I’ve mentioned before, I love Scott because he hates advertising. Instead, he’s about fixing problems from the inside out. Scott also supports my post graduation plan of fleeing to Mexico.

Scott and Stu asked us to fix America’s image in four hours. While we didn’t walk out of the room with a plan of action for Obama, we did talk about what America should be at its best.

We talked about branding. But it wasn’t about appropriate color pallets, exiling golden eagle statues or selecting a new mascot. Instead, we described our ideal America and asked what it will take to get there.

We tossed around words like transparency, respect, engagement, loyalty and education but it boiled down to the idea of humble empowerment.

What is humble empowerment? It’s taking pride in your actions without boasting. It’s doing what is right because it’s right and not because someone is watching. It’s respecting others and believing in the potential of life.

Let’s fix America.

Imagine what a cup can hold

Ricky Huynh and I started exploring flash to make a brand mood piece for Dixie cup. This is the product of two solid days in Allen Hall.

Hope, history and an ugly license plate

If I ever have kids, one day they will have a history assignment to ask their parents what they were doing what Barack Obama was elected president. I will have to tell my poor child that I was sitting on my bed in ugly, gray sweatpants pretending to do homework and waiting to make a quesadilla with my roommate.


Then I blogged about it.

Halloween as told by Facebook

School is kicking my butt, and I'm spending too much time on Facebook. Oh the vicious cycle of Facebooking, then blogging about Facebooking...