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September, 1998
Its been the toughest week of my life, and one of the most important.
It started out woefully. The night before I was to leave for Ohio,
I accidentally plugged my Mac PowerBook 3400c into the wrong cable
to charge it and it was literally toast. I smelled something funny,
and it made a strange sound. So immediately I was without a computer.
I got up early the next morning to take off. It was a little sad,
but I was very excited about getting to Ohio and getting settled
in. It was a total of 12 hours from the door of my house to the
door of my dorm room. An hour and 45 minutes of that was just riding
the bus from the Columbus airport to the Athens, OH campus. The
campus is out in the middle of central Ohio, with not much around
it.
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Producer's
note: The education of a photo journalist takes many forms.
Some are formal, college based; others are self taught; some chose
an informal apprenticeship, learning from observing the work of
others.
We
have two perspectives of education from two "freshmen".
Tom
Hubbard, now a photojournalism consultant and recently retired
from Ohio Sate shares his last week at school, first week in the
world journal.
Joe
Jaszewski Behind the Viewfinder member, shares his journal from
his first week at Ohio University.
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| That first night was very strange, I was in this new place, with
all these new people, and I had never known any of this before. All
of a sudden I was in this strange place without any kind of familiarity
at all. It was overwhelming. The first few nights were extremely difficult,
as I was very homesick. That was compounded by the fact that everyone
else seemed NOT to miss home at all, but just want to stay up all
night making noise while I wanted to get some sleep from a long day
of travel. I was struggling with the conflicting lifestyle that I
had as opposed to what seemed like everyone else in that dorm room.
I didn't have a roommate (not sure why, but I was assigned a single)
so that made things a little better. The constant noise and stress
made it nearly impossible to relax. |
One
of the aspects I hate about college: binge drinking and abuse of
alcohol.
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Soon I grew out of my homesickness.
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Watching
McGuire hit his 62nd home run in the dorms.
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The first day of classes I missed home, sure, but didn't
have that burning desire to go home. My first day consisted of a Intro
to Visual Communications class and a drawing class. They went well,
and I liked them both. The classes were not that hard, and I enjoyed
them. Being a freshman I didn't have a great schedule, with classes
early in the morning and late in the afternoon and not a lot between.
But I met some other Vis Com majors, and we did alight. I still had
a very disturbing uneasy feeling, like something wasn't right, and
it wasn't. |
The next few days are a blur to me. I was so disoriented and overwhelmed
it was tough to get my thoughts together. I attended classes and socialized,
but I certainly wasn't happy. By the end of the week, I was ready to go
home for a couple days, recharge my batteries, and come back. I couldn't
deal with the constant living on campus with no break. The noise, the
people, and the stress of ALWAYS being at school was too much for me to
handle. I needed a place to get away from everything, and I couldn't get
that in Ohio.
I am writing this from Sacramento. After a week at Ohio University, I
am now home. I couldn't do it, I admit it. The combination of being in
rural Ohio with the nearest big city an hour and 45 minutes away, being
away from home for the first time, and not having an opportunity to get
away from everything was too much for me to handle. Psychologically, it
was enormously strenuous to know that this is where I had to be for the
next few months. Living on campus isn't that bad if I could get away from
it every now and then. But I didn't have that option.
| The visual communications school is excellent. I would
recommend it. The faculty, students, and courses are great, at least
that is my conclusion from my brief stay there. Some may say that
I should have stayed for more than a week, and I didn't give it enough
time. But it wasn't a matter of time. It was a matter of what I could
live with and what I could endure without a break. I needed a different
situation, one that wasn't so foreign and new. I really appreciate
all that Ohio U. and the Vis Com faculty did for me, but in the end
it just wasn't the right place for me. |
My
dorm room the night before I left.
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My plan is to go back to school here in California in the Winter/Spring
semester. I am looking at San Jose State University and San Francisco
State University. Until then, I am going to probably find a photo story
to work on and hopefully pick up some freelance work. I am really looking
forward to getting back in school.
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An
unseasonable rain kept me inside for part of the first week.
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Some people can go away at the age of 18
and never look back. I am not one of those people. I thought I was
one until I actually did it. I am happy for the experience, as I learned
a lot about myself. I need to ease into this moving-away thing more
slowly, but I am ready to do it just not with such a drastic change.
I know a lot of you who read these journals have an opinion or advice
for me, and I would love to hear them, no matter what they are. |
I am confident in my decision to change directions, and I am eager to
get back in school and into the swing of things.
Joe Jaszewski
September, 1998
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