Media Academia: Introductions

A Monumental Moment: The First Post

Hello there! If you don't know, my name is Cameron Barnard. I'm a 2nd-year university student and a lover of history, reading, and learning overall. This is the very first post on my new blog, Media Academia, where I plan to fill with posts about each of those subjects.

Writing my First Post

I find that when I set my mind on something, it becomes difficult to steer my attention towards something else. Additionally, I'll get so caught up in the details that THE POINT of my project is pushed aside.

An instance of this is right now: I was so caught up in the design of my blog page, the theme, the colours, and what I was going to write about, that I procrastinated actually writing this first post.

Not to mention that I've always found introductions particularly daunting, even though the most I did after a full year of university was introduce myself, my major, my hobbies. And every time I had to say "No" to the questions: "Are you from England?" "Are you from Australia?" "Are you from New Zealand?"

I'm from South Africa, by the way.

Nonetheless, I hope that a few of you scrollers get past my awkward introduction phase and enjoy my content.

(UNSPLASH: Image of a person writing in a notebook upon a messy desk)

Creating a Blog

I feel as if most people in their lives consider a blog at one point or another. You could even argue that the various social media websites people use are a sort of blog - one that captures moments of us on vacation, at a restaurant, or Coachella; or of us telling stories about graduating, protesting, or surreal experiences from childhood.

Yet, it seems very much like a leap of faith when it comes to writing your very first blog post. I am certainly experienced with putting my thoughts out online, I've interacted with many different individuals online, good and bad, and I've had separate social media portray me both as authenically "me," as well as a more polished version of myself.

However, I find there is a very intimate thing about blog posts. Personally, I find that this way of writing not only reveals a part of you to your audience, but also to yourself. Especially at the beginning, if you have any readers at all, there are very few interacting with your posts and truly absorbing your thoughts. I believe - that in a space like this - before a community can be built, you must get to know yourself first. As you'll get to know me, I tend to look too deeply into things; but for this, I like to think it's special.

Outing

If you've gotten this far into my post, I congratulate you. I am confident I will learn what is too little and what is too much as I gain more experience. And in doing so, I hope to excite people about learning and history and reading! Wish me all the best and until next time.