Greetings, Dega people! My name is Ryan Edgington. I am 18 years old and hail from sunny Los Angeles, California. I am currently a first-year film making student at the UNCSA School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, which if you've got a knack for geography, is on the complete opposite side of the country. I have always had an interest in Art, and actually began making movies before I even entered grade school. My parents gave me my first video camera when I turned six. I have one sister, Megan, who is 20 years old and attends a 4-year college in Arizona. You won't meet here but you shouldn't fret about that Degas, you're acquainted with the better half. Culturally, our family is kind of a mixed bag. My father's family tree is of English and Irish descent and has been in the United States since the early 1800s. My mother on the other hand is Greek and Italian and for lack of better phrasing just "left the boat" about 100 years ago. They go by the last name "Kridos" because their original name "Kridostopolous" was rendered too difficult to pronounce by the customs people at Ellis Island. If you are unsure what Ellis Island is, it is a port in New York City that many Europeans use to immigrate to the United States. My Mother is the executive producer of a local news show called "Good Day LA" back home, while my Father is in law enforcement. If their jobs are any indicator, they don't often see eye to eye politically. I know you guys all have families, so I thought I'd use this blog to talk about what it is like being raised in this country. If you haven't already guessed, your children are going to be exposed to things that will be completely alien to them. For starters, we are a generation of multitaskers. We as a teen culture text, peruse the internet, and accomplish classwork simultaneously. How did we acquire such a skill set? Well, we didn't. In fact, multitasking gives us marginal results in everything that we are doing. Sure, we get it all done, but don't expect bulletproof proficiency. Don't be surprised when your kids are the cellphones 24 hours a day. It's a part of our culture. Also, know that we are a much less self-serving group of people than people in your country are. Unless you are a farmer, chances are you don't spend your afternoons going out and gathering food. I for one have never been exposed to it and I cannot say I know a whole lot of people who have. I think it is a very admirable quality to your culture, and something that is underutilized in this country. As a teenager in this country, I would advise that your children learn about the concept of "peer pressure" as it is something they will face almost everyday throughout their high school years. As children get older and begin experimenting with drugs and other vices, they often want to bring their friends along for the ride and it is important that they are able to make their own path. No one should be able to talk them in to something then feel uncomfortable doing. Unfortunately, I don't know what it was like in Vietnam because I have only ever lived in the United States. However, growing up in Los Angeles exposed me to one of the most culturally diverse areas in this country. Now I've moved to North Carolina where I attend art school in the hopes of being a film director. That's my dream in life and I know that I will see to it to make that dream come true.
3/30/11 Update: Howdy, Degas! If you want to see my ancestral homeland Italy, here's a picture of me in front of the Colosseum in Rome! While my father's side is of Irish and English descent, my mother is Italian and Greek and has families who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. I picked the Colosseum because it is the epicenter of ancient culture in Rome which during its glorious reign was the most important city in Italy, and arguably, the world.
4/1/11 Update: Here's a mosaic I made based off the work of the Vietnamese writer Thich Nhat Hahn. Hahn writing brings to mind pictures of clouds, water, grain and various other ecological images. In the mosaic, I've included all of these plus images of eyes and other religious symbols that are brought to mind when reading his words. Enjoy!
