I teach media. I always tell my university students: “Create, create, CREATE. Produce something everyday, even if it sucks… to you. There are no excuses for why you can’t do something when they’re a thousand people who find a way. So, get up, move and and make.”
The worst thing for a media person? To be disconnected. And I have been disconnected. A week into my latest overseas trip, my MacBook stopped working properly. I know, poor me. There are people in the world who have never seen a MacBook up close. Though... as a university professor who was in the last 2 weeks of the spring semester, frazzled-browed, bun-in-hair, correction-pen-in-teeth and needing to get final grades out, I needed my 15-inch bestie to pay attention to me. My computer refused, and darkened its face for another week of silent treatment.
This produced a morning into night spent in a dimly-lit Athens internet cafe surrounded by 25 pre-teen boys smoking cigarettes while I, the lone adult in the space save the guy grinding away at the coffee bar, graded college papers. Me, not him. Be forewarned, these are some of the perils of digital nomadism. When traveling through and occupying spaces where mammoth Apple stores do not abound as they would in cities like London, Paris and New York, while in smaller less economically titanous regions, you may pay less for your almond milk latte, but you also may not have access to Apple retailers. Rather you will have to make due with authorized resellers. Be especially prepared to hit a hard wall, technologically, when in parts of Asia, Africa and South and Central America. Just when you thought slow WI-FI would be your only villain; so, too, can a broken Mac or iPhone.
What did we ever do before our favorite tech gadget became our best friend only to turn hideous foe?
As a result of not being able to use my computer properly for weeks whilst moving on from Greece to Indonesia to Thailand with a 4-night stint in Paris, I returned to NYC with a boatload of work. But… well hey, mama, likes to work. So, following my own advice, as I begin to throw myself into the catch-up game, in a moment of nostalgia, I found myself inspired to put together a little ode to Greece for reigniting my passion to create.
My hope is that it doesn’t suck. Too much.
