Dear students,
The Jan intake for IMMW experienced the end of their writing innocence. Using blogs as an online portfolio, most of them were gobsmacked by the realization that professional blogs are anything but easy. It was not about the writing, it was about the attitude towards writing. Writing for oneself can be done by anyone, but writing for the public, and audience remote to yours, or for the common man, is among the greatest challenge for a writer.
Charlie Chaplin once said, "To make a person cry is easy, to make one laugh, that's the art to life." And he went on to make history as the first comedian to humor and entertain audiences worldwide without using the human voice. That was a man who deconstructed, if not elasticated, the meaning of communication. Sadly, such visionaries are short these days, and so the future lies within the hearts and minds of the young such as the recent IMMW victims.
Another rude awakening was learning to separate their personal self from the professional. This act of depersonalization may seem like the hardest task to achieve today, but it will be as easy as switching the lights on and off. But like any sport, it takes work, passion and dedication. Just ask a surgeon. An editor once said, the art of becoming a great writer likens to an actor. Or getting drunk. You perform differently with each new calling. Sometimes you get serious, sometimes you get airy and sometimes it's tragically hilarious. But that's what makes it worth talking about.
I noticed some of the students asking themselves through their crumpled expressions: Does serious writing mean the end of joyful writing? Where is the passion, the freedom of expression, the fun of voxing? The answer is, it's all there. The pleasure comes in the art of arranging these pieces of work and moulding them according to their need.
To paraphrase Chaplin, "To write is easy, but to inspire audiences, that's the art of communication." And that should be stamped on every media student's bible. And forehead.
Charlie Chaplin once said, "To make a person cry is easy, to make one laugh, that's the art to life." And he went on to make history as the first comedian to humor and entertain audiences worldwide without using the human voice. That was a man who deconstructed, if not elasticated, the meaning of communication. Sadly, such visionaries are short these days, and so the future lies within the hearts and minds of the young such as the recent IMMW victims.
Another rude awakening was learning to separate their personal self from the professional. This act of depersonalization may seem like the hardest task to achieve today, but it will be as easy as switching the lights on and off. But like any sport, it takes work, passion and dedication. Just ask a surgeon. An editor once said, the art of becoming a great writer likens to an actor. Or getting drunk. You perform differently with each new calling. Sometimes you get serious, sometimes you get airy and sometimes it's tragically hilarious. But that's what makes it worth talking about.
I noticed some of the students asking themselves through their crumpled expressions: Does serious writing mean the end of joyful writing? Where is the passion, the freedom of expression, the fun of voxing? The answer is, it's all there. The pleasure comes in the art of arranging these pieces of work and moulding them according to their need.
To paraphrase Chaplin, "To write is easy, but to inspire audiences, that's the art of communication." And that should be stamped on every media student's bible. And forehead.
