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In August 2018, I traveled to New York City and visited The New School. By the end of the month, I had transferred, registered for classes, and began studying Creative Writing full time. When I consider how far I’ve come since withdrawing from UC Santa Barbara, I am blown away. It took a lot of courage and trust in my own process to be true to myself and grow more comfortable with the unknown. During my freshman year of college, I knew I wanted to transfer to The New School. While at UCSB I completed a Certificate in Fashion Industry Essentials through Parson’s and loved the classes so much. Once I was home, I immersed myself in my work at museums and art galleries, I made new friends, and I started to take classes at UC San Diego where I completed my Certificate in Children’s Book Writing this year. When I had the opportunity to visit The New School, I instantly knew that this program would be perfect for me.  As I reflect on this past two semesters, I feel so much gratitude for the faith I have had in myself and for the endless support from my family, friends, professors, and peers. Today I am sharing a few lessons I have learned during my junior year.  #1: Register for classes early. #2: It is always better to register for an extra class in case a course gets cancelled or turns out to be something different than what you had anticipated. #3: Take chances and register for classes that you wouldn’t normally think of taking. This year I took “End of Art” which was an Art History class focusing on a theory that art ended when Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box’s were created. I never would have signed up for this class based on the course title, so I am grateful that my academic advisor recommended it.  #4: It is important to accept opportunities to travel while in school. Fall semester was greatly enhanced by my unforgettable trip to London. While learning about Andy Warhol, I got to see his work at the Tate Modern. Plus, I got to pick up some new school supplies at the Muji Store on Oxford Street. #5: Taking screenwriting classes completely changes the way you watch TV and film. #6: Seek out interesting jobs or work experiences that may be available to you through school. I found out that UNiDAYS was looking for guest bloggers and after applying for the position I got to write a few posts for their platform.  If you’re interested in learning more about my college experience, be sure to check out these blogs posts below!! Happy summer everyone.
 © Annie Fay Meitchik. All Rights Reserved. All content on anniefay.com is my own or credit is given when applicable, please do not use any of my images before contacting me above or @ anniefaymeitchik@gmail.com. The Final StrawIt’s funny how crazes just happen and then just as suddenly they vanish. When they begin people act like whatever the newest thing is has, in fact, always been a thing. Take straws for example. All of a sudden plastic straws became a point of contempt. Why not all plastic you may wonder? Maybe because that’s too large a scope. They felt that people weren’t ready to give up the convenience of plastic water bottles and plastic food packaging (though farmers markets generally continue to use cardboard crates for strawberries and other fruit). So let’s target straws. Do we even need them? Probably not. We could manage without them. So let’s say those are the worst thing ever. People can certainly change their habits around straw usage. Maybe a boycott against Fiji water or Whole Foods pre-cut melon containers would make a real impact, but straws, that’s something people can really give up. Yeah, let’s say straws are the reason turtles are dying. Let’s ignore climate change. Let’s just dismiss the fact that people throw trash into our oceans. Nope, it isn’t bleached coral reefs that are causing turtles to go extinct, it’s that green plastic straw protruding from your Pink Drink from Starbucks. So straws have been around for decades upon decades. Why are we just suddenly hearing all of this? Why now? People will ask you how you could be so ignorant. How they stopped using straws years ago. As if this were a major phenomena years ago. How absurd. So you buy into the trend. You go onto Amazon and order a set of six aluminium straws with a cleaning bristle. You even prime the order. You can’t risk going even one more day using plastic straws. You start to wonder what to do with the random straws you keep in a drawer inside their white paper sleeves from times you ordered in food. It seems a lot of people are wondering the same thing...a quick Google search: "What to do with plastic straws" auto-suggests: what to do with plastic straws, used straws, unused straws, and old straws. Googling "What to do about" yields even more interesting auto-suggestions: constipation, depression, low blood pressure, high blood pressure, anxiety. These are the things people are wondering. It takes you weeks to really research each of these topics. What to do about anxiety peaks your interest the most. You were already anxious enough before all of this straw stuff. Time passes and you go out with a friend to get a smoothie. Smoothies are still trending, right? Your friend is wearing black Lululemon yoga pants and carrying a bag that probably cost her more than your rent. She orders first. You go up to the counter and order your smoothie contemplating whether or not the $1.50 charge to add almond butter is worth it. The cashier asks for your name and you absentmindedly reply, “Good, how about you?” He looks at you with the kind of cynical confusion you’d expect from a college student working in a smoothie shop for minimum wage. He doesn’t try to make you feel okay about misspeaking but simply repeats himself. “What name should I call?” “Eleanor.” When he does finally call your name, you go up to the counter with your friend to retrieve your smoothies. You reach into your bag and pull out your shiny aluminium straw and put it into the plastic lid of your plastic smoothie cup. Your friend reaches for a plastic straw in its white paper wrapper and looks at you dubiously. “You’re kidding me right? The turtles are fucking fine.”   Illustration by me 
© Annie Fay Meitchik. All Rights Reserved. All content on anniefay.com is my own or credit is given when applicable, please do not use any of my images before contacting me above or @ anniefaymeitchik@gmail.com. In a sense, I like to think that my blog started years ago. As a child, I would fill notebook after notebook with short stories, poems, and descriptions of my travels and findings in the world. As an artist, I always looked for ways to promote my work in public and online. With these passions for writing and art I knew that eventually I wanted to create a platform dedicated to illuminating my thoughts. Eventually became January 2017, and I officially made my blog public in March of that year. Over the past two years, blogging has motivated me to continue to grow as a person, a writer, and an artist.
In hindsight, this year went by so quickly. Yet, I know that there were days and weeks where everything felt stagnant. I’d frequently interrogate myself, questioning if I was doing enough, pushing myself hard enough, or wondering when I’d figure out what makes me happy. Blogging gives me the space to reflect, and when I do so, I realize how much I have accomplished. After a year of hard work, I earned my certificate in Children’s Book Writing at University of California San Diego. I documented my travels to New York and London. Both trips were transformative in different ways. While New York jump started my education at The New School, London reignited my passions and reminded me of what I love in the world. I turned 20 this year and shared the lessons I’ve learned along the way.
One thing I’m always learning is that creativity takes courage. Genuine writing, personal writing, takes bravery. Blogging continues to be an endeavor in vulnerability and raw authenticity. Each week I present myself with the challenge to share a new aspect of myself through my writing, my art, and my photography. And for the past 104 Sundays I have taken on that challenge. With hundreds of blog posts behind me, I know there are hundreds more ahead. I hope to continue to figure out who I am and what I want as I simultaneously synthesize my life experiences through art and writing. I plan to continue to take classes that inspire me at The New School, especially in Screenwriting. I plan to practice comedy writing, digital illustrating, and finally get around to learning how to make woven wall hangings. I plan on submitting my projects to literary agencies and gain representation so I can begin having my work published. I want to visit more museums, I want to travel more, and I want to continue to seek adventures with the people I love. I want to be filled with ideas. I want to be filled with inspiration. I want to be around creative people who talk about what ignites them. I want to have deep conversations and write about them. I want to dream up new concepts and make them happen. And I want to interact more with my audience and create content that YOU want to see.  One of the paintings I sold at Art N Soul
If you have supported me over these past two years, thank you. If this is your first time visiting my blog, thank you, I hope you come back soon. If you check in every week, thank you. If you have contributed or collaborated with me in any way, thank you. And if you would like to work together, please contact me!! To everyone who has shared my writing, messaged me saying that something I wrote helped them, and contacted me with words of encouragement, I appreciate you each endlessly and I hope you know that none of this would be possible without you. Here’s to celebrating my second year of blogging and many more to come!! Cheers, Annie Fay
 © Annie Fay Meitchik. All Rights Reserved. All content on anniefay.com is my own or credit is given when applicable, please do not use any of my images before contacting me above or @ anniefaymeitchik@gmail.com. |
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