By: Ben Magder

Photo Credit: Marlayna Demond

Meet Michael Berardi: a UMBC graduate from the class of 2019. He is the current General Manager for OCA Mocha: a coffee shop five minutes from UMBC, by car. The acronym in its name stands for “Opportunities for Community Alliances”. Michael co-founded the organization with Deep Patel - another UMBC alum - in 2019. The store celebrated its 3-year anniversary at the beginning of this month, on November 4th.

In our interview, we discuss Michael’s time and experiences at UMBC as an MCS alum. I was grateful for the opportunity, and thank Michael for his time.

This interview contains answers that were edited for time and clarity.

First, do you mind telling us about you and how you’re connected to UMBC and MCS?

I graduated from UMBC in 2019 with a degree in MCS and a minor in Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

What were the most memorable parts about being a student at UMBC?

Being able to work on “real world” problems and taking our education outside of the classroom in very real ways. 

How important is maintaining a connection with UMBC and the surrounding area/s?

I found a true sense of community at UMBC and that ultimately has driven me to stay connected. Through OCA Mocha I found a way to help continue cultivating that sense. Since graduating I have stayed in the area and have now been a resident of Baltimore County for nearly 8 years. I still feel this sense of community and have witnessed how the connections are continuing to deepen and strengthen. At the end of the day I operate with the belief that we are stronger together. 

Did you see yourself doing something similar to this, or is this a different path from the one you envisioned?

I wasn’t sure exactly where I would end up. I knew I didn’t want a classic 9-5 job, and I wanted to do something that contributed to positive social change. I wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like but I had envisioned it being tied to the creative world. For a long time I was planning on joining the Peace Corps after graduating. To this day I don’t envision myself building a career in any particular field, but rather continuing to stay open to opportunities that present themselves while working on learning and growing more in my personal interests. 

Were there any specific parts of MCS that have aided you in accomplishing your goals or another significant aspiration?

I still use what I learned in the MCS department to this day. Whether that’s the practical skills taught about design and software, or the philosophic questions posed about how/what content we consume and produce. MCS helps prepare you for a broad range of work.

If you could tell your past self anything, what would it be?

Don’t worry so much about the future. Have trust in yourself, focus on what interests you, and stay open to opportunities as they present themselves. 

Do you listen to any music?

All the time. I couldn’t pick an all time favorite song. I love all things funky and filled with soul. 

By: Ava Sekowski

Photo Credit: Amanda Ly

Ryan Gordon graduated from UMBC’s Media and Communication Studies program in 2016. Now, he works as a producer for Overtime Elite, a Brooklyn-based social media production company that covers grassroots basketball leagues. I spoke to Ryan about his professional life since graduation, his favorite parts about sports broadcasting, and what he gained during his time at UMBC.

Q: What have you been doing since graduation? 

A: I worked a couple of retail jobs and landed a remote government job at one point through a family friend. The work that provided me with the most value, however, were the freelance gigs I did on the side in the sports media world. Making highlight tapes, telling stories of local athletes, etcetera. Those opportunities I carved out for myself ended up leading me to where I’m at today. 

Q: Where do you work now? What are your job responsibilities?

A: Currently, I am a producer for Overtime Sports, Inc, a social media company based in Brooklyn, NY that built an enormous following off of being the first to market with grassroots basketball highlights. Last year, they launched the first ever American Professional basketball league that pays high school athletes to play. Each athlete gets a minimum of 100K and an opportunity to take an alternate path to the big leagues. 

Before the league began, I was flown around to different parts of the country filming day-in-the-life videos with up and coming athletes like Paige Beuckers. But when this league popped up, my role shifted a bit and I became responsible for filming scenes for a docu-series that we were producing about the entire operation. Additionally, I would help film our live games and continue to produce and edit one-off storytelling pieces. 

Throughout the first couple of months, I decided to start vlogging my experience at the league to give my personal audience a much clearer picture of how the whole endeavor worked. The chief content officer saw this and gave me the opportunity to launch my idea on the company’s YouTube channel. So now my responsibility is to grow the league’s second YouTube channel (that focuses on off the court content with an all-encompassing vlog), to give our social team content that they can use for the various platforms, and to develop personality pieces that can be featured in our live broadcasts. 

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: The best part of the job is being able to wake up every day and be myself. I set my own schedule, figure out what stories I want to tell, and build strong relationships with the young players and staff members in the building. I always say that the toughest part of the job is feeling like I’m not being creative enough, and if that’s the only issue I have, I’ll take it. 

Q: Tell us about the "ref cam" you're developing as a new addition to sports broadcasting.

A: The beautiful part about working here is that the focus is always on innovation. The executive producer for our long form content asked if I’d be interested in this new idea that was brought to the table and it was a perfect fit. The goal is to be able to interview players, refs, coaches, and more while the game is in play. It’s really cool. Our chief content officer is all about giving our fans access like they’ve never had before, and what better way to do that than by giving them insight on what players' thoughts are during a free throw! 

Q: What has been your process for developing this project?

A: Due to the nature of my job responsibilities, I’ve been able to build solid relationships with the players. So, I try to keep my questions succinct and as casual as possible. As a hooper myself, I don’t want to disrupt the flow of the game so I try to balance comic relief and asking questions that articulate what I feel they’d be focused on in that particular moment. As I walk around the court, I’m always looking for holes I can fill in to provide that high-level access. 

Q: What do you hope this project will contribute to sports broadcasting?

A: My hope is that this will spark a revolution within the sports world. I’ve always wanted to be as close as possible to the game and this is about as close as anyone in the world can get. If I could be a pioneer in this regard and help other organizations get their version of this up and running, that would be amazing. 

Q: What are your future plans for this project?

A: Ideally, I’d like to take this show on the road. There’s a lot of money and opportunity in contract work. More importantly, it’s a unique niche that could build up a heck of a social media following! As a husband and a father now, if I could get paid a substantial amount of money to be a personality - count me in!

Q: How has studying Media & Communications prepared you for your career?

A: Being granted the flexibility to be very creative in my assignments. Also, the history of the media landscape is always interesting. Learning what people did before you is always a great way to anticipate what’s coming next and how you can innovate. Joining a program that allows you to flex that creative muscle played a large role in my approach to the corporate world. I’ve found that nobody really knows the answer and the best ideas always win. 

Q: How has attending UMBC shaped you, either as a person or as a professional?

A: Being that it’s a commuter school, UMBC really helped me accept who I am as a person. I was a bit of a loner and relied on myself a lot to navigate from day to day. There’s a lot of smart people there and the folks you rub shoulders with are the people that may be able to help you down the line! It’s an honor to have a degree from there and I hope to be one of those people that can pull up the next kid that needs a boost. 

By Ben Magder

Photo Credit: Ben Magder

Meet Colin Grayson: a senior majoring in MCS. Colin began attending UMBC in 2019, and is expected to graduate this year. He is the current marketing assistant for CCBC's HVAC Department as part of the Johnson Controls grant. The job duties include creating marketing content, in addition to the promotion and recruitment of Baltimore County Public Schools students.

Colin is particularly interested in feline iconography. I had the privilege of taking a closer look at this topic in an interview. He talks about everything feline-related: from the connection between cats in his life and concepts from MCS, to cats as an institution, to some of his personal outlooks for the future of cats. This conversation highlighted the importance of media literacy, as well as some of the science and history behind the furry pop culture icons.

This interview contains answers that were edited for time and clarity.

Why did you choose to highlight this specific topic?

So I'll be honest, I am a cat person. I've owned cats all my life and I was always obsessed with them because I have a marketing background. I was obsessed with images and what they symbolize which we talked about in MCS 101. With that knowledge of liking cats and liking images I thought, “okay, what do cats symbolize in our culture?” About 14% of all content streamed on the Internet is feline related. It must have been CNN but yeah I looked it up and that means 14% out of 7 billion internet users at 600 million. So that's a lot considering the internet is no longer just a computer, it's now tablets, smartphones, and everything.

Can you take me through how feline iconography came into your life?

So I first got my first cat - her name is Mels - in 2008. And after that, for a while I was dating a girl and I thought dogs were better: that's what she told me. Eventually, we broke up and then I realized, “why should I long for a dog when a cat is so prevalent in our culture?” The Egyptians used to worship cats, the Chinese used to have the Siamese cats guard their temples, and so on and so forth. It's just amazing that this creature, the small circle with two triangles on top, controls about 14% of the world's population.

Are there other areas in your life where you see feline iconography or anywhere you didn’t expect to see it?

So this is the weirdest one, but when my friend sent me pictures of Paris, all around Paris there was a smiling cat: this little graffiti Cheshire cat. It's supposedly a statement about American and French relations post-9/11. This cat is supposed to represent French paranoia against Americans post 9/11. There's actually a documentary of it at the UMBC library, I've been meaning to check it out there.

So this is a cat image that is as old as us that, for some reason, there's a whole mural for it: it's all concentrated in France but Paris is the most frequent place.”

How would feline iconography benefit from an increase in general awareness? What if more people knew more about/paid attention to the concept of feline iconography?

Well the most obvious answer is obviously adopt more cats, but actually there was some psychology book I read where if you take an animal, it can sell and convince people to do things more than a human can. I believe the reason is because there's something a little bit better to look at. I feel (if) you take a cute puppy and or cute kitten you're like, “oh, I want to learn more about that.” You take a normal person you're like, “oh he's just a guy”.

So, if you wanted to, you can have a sports team; just use a cat as the mascot and people will go nuts over the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, Nashville Predators… there's even branches of banking that have their own mascots. So it can be mostly any animal in place of a human, right? They just automatically get the attention of everybody.

What are some ways that people interested can get involved with feline iconography?

The way I started was I adopted a cat. You can go to a museum and you'll see plenty of cats. The most direct way is just simply go on the street here at Arbutus: you would be amazed at how many stray cats there are just running around. You can even go to a grocery store and you can look at some of the brands: frosted flakes and see feline iconography. But I believe the best way is to get out: just don't stay at your house and just look at the wall. You have to get out and you'll notice some patterns in life. The best way to learn is by observing.

For an additional online resource, looking at certain images or something like that. I don't have a specific source; I would say maybe TikTok or YouTube. But, for a physical source - I'll have to look up the title - there was this book I read from the 1950s : it was on cats in their early development and the development into big cats, and ruling society. Oddly enough, I found it in a bookstore in Cumberland. I opened it up, and then right at the first page I turned to, there was an adoption paper from the 1950s. 

They also used to say cats love to eat grass, which is true: you see cats eating plants all the time. The theory behind that is that early feline predators would see their prey in grass and think if it's good for them it's good for me. Since cats are carnivores, it was not true.

How would you respond to criticisms of feline iconography?

Out of all the topics, if you're getting upset about iconography, specifically pet iconography - especially in America, where we spend on average $1 billion a year on the pet industry for all kinds of pets, cats around 6 million dollars… I don't know, I would say I've been called worse things and I'll probably be called worse things, so it is what it is.

By Alexandra Hulett

Photo credit: Joe Lambert

Dr. Bill Shewbridge, a Media & Communication Studies Professor, teaches courses in digital intercultural media, television production, and documentary filmmaking. He is the driving force behind the Digital Storytelling initiative at UMBC. He frequently collaborates with Maryland Traditions, the state’s traditional arts program, documenting Maryland folklife for the past decade. Dr. Shewbridge holds a B.A. in History from UMBC, an M.S. in Instructional Design from Towson University, a Certificate in Environmental Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a Doctorate in Communication Design (D.C.D.) from the University of Baltimore.

Professor, thank you for your time. I was introduced to you through MCS 495, Video Ethnography. Can you tell me more about the class for students in our department who may not have taken it or know about it? And what do you personally hope your students take away from the course?

Video Ethnography is really telling the story of others in a very collaborative way, which is how I approach it. I see the folks we work with as collaborators and authors as much as we are in that situation. In the class, you get a chance to produce your own work; you do a semester-long project and focus on getting the piece right. You also have opportunities for going out and working on these broader pieces that are more community-based integration that get us off campus and working with folks in the community.

I understand you were working on a documentary about songwriter Ola Belle Reed last semester. Can you let me know how that project is coming along?

Yes, the Ola Bell Reed project, which you can look at on www.olabellefilm.org/. We're still working on it. This was my pandemic project, initially when I got into it. I'll give you a little background on that. Ola Belle was a folk-country musician based in rising sun, Maryland, from the 60s into the early 90s. She passed away in 2002. Ola Belle has been an influential female songwriter in the folk revival. She transitioned from being a traditional country musician to being a folk icon. We've wanted to do a short film on her for a long time, and it's just been a rich experience. I'm working with her family. We've found archival material and folks to interview. We're wrapping up by next spring and curating an exhibit at the library gallery on Ola Belle and the migration of Folk from North Carolina to Maryland in the 1930s. They will include a film screening as well as a concert. We're still arranging that now. So, lots of things are happening with the Ola Belle project.

Have there been any teachable moments in this documentary that you can transfer to your students at UMBC?

The most teachable moment throughout this project has been just allowing students to listen and respond and dialogue through the medium. It's a great practical exercise for the students. We talk about it in the classroom and how to conduct an interview. You go out in the field, write 20 questions, and ask 10 you didn't think you were going to ask because what you're really doing in an interview situation is listening.

Curious to learn more about your background, I’ve learned how you you’ve spearheaded the digital storytelling initiative here at UMBC? Can you elaborate more on your position?

I've been working at UMBC for a long time. One of the reasons I've stayed is that I get these great opportunities to reinvent myself along the way. It's just been a great place for personal growth, and I've never felt stifled. In the early 2000s, I was director of the New Media Studio, a Television studio. We were doing a lot of web development. This was when digital video was just starting to come into its own, and it was becoming practical to do projects entirely on a computer. We became aware of the work of the Center for Digital Storytelling at UC Berkeley and Joe Lambert and his group. They had a workshop model where they would bring folks in to do a three-day process in which they would come in. They would write a personal story, tell them about themselves, and develop it into a short video. Back in the 90s, this was a big deal. Technology has evolved, and the focus has moved more toward writing. It's an excellent opportunity for folks to amplify their voices through media they might not have otherwise. We brought them to UMBC to do a series of faculty workshops. We did that for a couple of years. And that really started a community of practice at UMBC. And beyond that, it was an excellent opportunity to form these interdisciplinary collaborations across the various departments. A lot of them are still going on today. And it's the story work that I've embedded in my teaching, and many other folks have, and it's continuing.

We're active in the broader community of practice, centered around the story center. There's a series of international conferences that have been going on. We just had one in the United Kingdom this summer. But we're going to have it here at UMBC next summer. That's a big deal. We're really focusing on making the most of that. We're doing it in collaboration with the Smithsonian Museum and Montgomery college next year.

You and your students worked on the documentary called A Place Called Poppleton about Sonia Eaddy, leader of the Save Our Block initiative to preserve her home and community from demolition. Are there plans for more additional work on the project now that Sonia was successful in saving her home?

We are still planning doing some more additional work. We have funding for a project on the Arabbers, the horse cart vendors. They are probably the only ones still operating on the East Coast. Two of the stables are in the Poppleton area. We will go down there through our partnership with Maryland Traditions and shoot some additional interviews, probably working with Curtis Eaddy, Sonia's son. His grandfather was also an Arabber that ran a stable down there. Curtis is on a fellowship with the Baltimore field school, which I'm also involved with. That's the great thing about what I love about what we do is that you don't know what the story will be. And then, when you go there, you get embedded, and it becomes part of the story.

 I think we often lose hope a lot of the time. This shows that the story isn't over yet. It is possible for things to work out if we try. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.

You use the word hope, which I think will be one of the themes we have for our story conference next year. This work really resonates with that theme.

Are there any other projects you're working on now that you're looking forward to?

I got to work on an enjoyable project this semester. We're working with Susan Sterrett in the School of Public Policy and doing something on composting. It's a series of videos for the sustainability website at UMBC. It's also got a community component that we're working with the South Baltimore Community Land Trust to advocate for building an industrial-scale composting facility for the city of Baltimore and the surrounding areas, including UMBC. We ship what little composting we have to a facility in Prince George's County. That's what we're working on in that one particular class this semester. It’s been a fun experience so far.

What are your plans as far as your career at UMBC?

I've been at UMBC long enough that I could retire anytime I want, but I've always said I'll stay as long as I'm having fun. I enjoy contributing to this organization. There are other hobbies I could take up as well, but I feel like working at a university like UMBC is the greatest job in the world because you get paid to be curious.

Yes, definitely. As someone who is transitioning careers, I get to work with people like you, which is rewarding. I appreciate the opportunity to work on my craft with guidance from my professors.

A great thing is that the means of production have become more ubiquitous. I would never have said five years ago that you could create quality work with your cell phone, but you absolutely can today. It's more about the message than the means of production. It's just about being able to tell a good story, and that's how you stay relevant as technology changes year to year. The job I'm doing now didn't exist when I was in college. It's impossible to completely future-proof yourself. Still, I think what you really get out of college is learning to be a self-guided learner,

By: Ava Sekowski

Photo Credit: Terra Miley

Chloe Grant has been following the mental health non-profit To Write Love on Her Arms since she was in 7th grade. Then, in 2021, she applied for their internship program but did not get accepted. Chloe did not give up, she saw a Linkedin application for the position two days before it was due, applied, and got the job. 

Q: So Chloe, tell me about your work with To Write Love on Her Arms.

I am the fundraising and donor development intern with the mental health non-profit To Write Love on Her Arms. I am in charge of getting in contact with our donors if they have any questions. I help set up fundraising pages and reach out to people if their donation doesn’t go through all the way. I'm in charge of canceling donations and thanking all our donors. 

Q: Why did you choose To Write Love On Her Arms? What do you like about the company and the work they have you do? 

They're a company that practices what they preach. If you are having a bad day, they don’t treat you like crap. They genuinely treat you like a normal human being. They let us have the time to heal because the content we’re working with can be some very hard stuff. It's nice to be able to have a company that is going to support you through your highs, but also through your lows.

Q: How has it been working while also being a full-time college student?

The nice thing is they give me flexible hours so I'm able to work anywhere that I have my laptop. So if it's between one class or another or if I have a break, I can hop online and start doing work there. So it's not like I'm set to such strict hourly boundaries. I have more time to pick and choose my schedule.

Q. How have your MCS classes helped you with your internship and what class has helped you the most? 

I think my public relations class had the most effect on me. Since I am in charge of reaching out to donors and thanking them and communicating with them, I think it helped me have a better sense of how to represent my company and the best ways to do it. 

Q: What advice would your younger self, or a younger student who is in the process of applying for internships? 

I think preparing for rejection is hard, but that's something that you have to recognize as you apply. There are going to be other candidates who may not know as much as you, but then there are going to be other candidates that know more than you. So it's understanding that if you do get rejected, it's not because you are bad, it's because there's someone that might be more prepared for that position and you should apply again. Don't ever stop applying, it's okay to be rejected, to have that setback. And then, once you show that you're still interested, they're going to take you more seriously. 

Chloe Grant Music Recommendation: 

Bleach

By: 5 Seconds of Summer

By: Zerubbabel Abiy

Photo Credit: Kristen Anchor

Dr. Tracy Tinga has been a part of the Media and Communication Studies Department here at UMBC since 2019 as an Assistant Professor and educator. She teaches 399 Methods in Research and 334 Media and Globalization. Today we've had time to sit down and speak with her about her research and her experiences at UMBC.

So what classes do you teach? What do you enjoy about teaching them?

I teach MCS 334 and 399. I enjoyed teaching both for different reasons though, so for example 334 (Media and Globalization)  I enjoy teaching because It's my research area, and it comes very easily to me to teach the class. I enjoy talking about my experiences (with research), and also just learning from the students as well. For 399 (Methods in Research) It's always very interesting to see the kinds of research projects that different students are interested in and to sort of guide them and help them to navigate the research process which can be challenging, but at the very end of the semester, when they have it figured out, you can see …the excitement and they're glad that we did all of this work and it all makes sense now. 

What are some highlights of your time in the MCS department?

So I joined in Fall of 2019 and then, obviously, in Spring 2020 that was still in my first year. I was still in the process of transitioning to the institution and then COVID-19 affected my transition. We switched to online learning and then the switch back to campus but, I would say despite the challenges I think my transition into the institution has been smooth. One of my highlights is the department in general, how people are always willing to support you and help you. I enjoyed working with students. Having different MCS students tell me they enjoy taking my classes. That has also been a highlight.

Your research involves how African nations are represented in transnational institutions. How did you become interested in that subject? 

So a lot of scholars have talked about the negative representation of African countries and so I kind of felt like that has been overdone. When I started this project, as part of my dissertation, I was interested in how African nations are represented in transnational media institutions  and then I discovered the Africa rising discourse where there are these institutions that have been framing African countries as rising. So, I got curious about that because I hadn't seen that before. All I've had was the negative stereotypes and so I got curious and I started reading to see what exactly they mean. One of my main research questions is, what do these transnational media institutions mean when they represent Africa as rising?

You're working on a book right now, could you tell us a little bit about that?

I'm currently working on my first book which is going to be based on the Africa rising discourse. In my research I found development organizations, transnational corporations, and Afrocentric digital platforms, which are these online sites that have come up in the last 20 years essentially depicting African countries' cultures, identities as rising. And so my book will look at all of those media texts analyzing them and think about what exactly does it mean when these institutions portray Africa as rising and also look at who are the social actors within the African rising discourse, not just media institutions.

If you could create a course for the MCS department what would it look like?

So apart from the Africa Rising discourse, one of the things I'm interested in is environmental communication so I think I could teach a class on Media and the Environment . I'm also interested in media being used for development and social change so I would like to design a course on Media and Communications for social change. 

Last question, What motivates you/?

I'm a very goal-oriented person and so whenever I accomplish big and small goals that makes me feel good, My family is a huge motivation for me. Different family members of mine have been educators in different levels so it’s always motivating to look at what they have done and now I know I can accomplish that as well. Another motivation is the department here and looking up to my colleagues. I also have two dogs I need to feed so that's another motivation. 

By: Alexandra Hulett

Photo Credit: Adedamilola Olateru-Olagbegi

What year are you in at UMBC?

This is my last year as a college student. I will graduate next year, so I'm a senior now.

Have you spent all four years at UMBC or did you transfer here?

I was a transfer student, but my community college messed up my college credit, so I spent four years here. I had to retake a few classes, and then I changed my major.

Which was your first major?

Surprisingly, I started out as a Chemistry major.

Can you tell me what appealed to you about MCS? Why did you decide to make the switch?

I am already passionate about editing and photography. I thought, "Well, that's a medium." I'm interested in the social discussion we constantly have on social media. We've continuously created platforms for people to express their opinions. So, it seemed like a natural fit. Now that I'm a media major. I am aware of things we've learned in class, like parasocial relationships.

Looking back, I was heavily into K-pop as a kid. It wasn't until later that I realized I was creating a parasocial relationship with the groups I liked. It's interesting for me to learn about parasocial relationships now that I'm a media major. Seeing people do what I once did and still do is fascinating. That's one of the perks, I guess. Overall, I like how MCS classes tend to have open discussions because it's a media class, so you can talk about current events. Also, I love hearing my classmates' differing opinions.

What classes are you taking this semester?

This semester, I am taking two MCS courses: the senior capstone MCS 499, and the Making Visual Culture MCS 377. I'm also taking three more courses, West African history, American History Music, and Social Entrepreneurship. And then I'm also taking MCS 404, Internship.

What's your favorite class this semester?

My favorite class is MCS 499, the senior capstone course. It's a lot of work prepping and writing our final research papers, but I love the open-minded atmosphere and the discussions we’ve had in class. I love the way Professor Lovigilo carries it. He doesn't try to shut your opinions down. He's very supportive overall as a professor.

Yeah. I sense that Professor Loviglio values our opinions even if he doesn't necessarily agree with them.

Exactly. He just tries to understand where you are coming from with your opinions. 

Who inspires and motivates you most when you think of your educational pursuits?

It's my mother. Honestly, I don't think I would have lasted this long in college without her. Several times I wanted to drop out, but I was just like, "You know what? No, she's worked too hard for me. I got to push forward with this." I'm not only doing this for me. I'm doing this for my mom.

Are you first-gen?

Yes.

Same. I definitely know the deal.

My mom's an African mother, so she's always told me, "I need you to be in something involving science, medicine, something that's going to make you a lot of money." And I'm like, "I don't have the brains for that, sweetie. I'm sorry." Thankfully, she understood and supported me wanting to change my major. 

But it's scary. We try to make it work, and when I considered switching my major from Information Systems, I was freaking out. I called my mom, and told her, "I don't know if I will be able to do this." She said, "Alex, just do whatever makes you happy." I was like, "Oh, okay." I felt like I needed permission to pursue what I really wanted in that moment.

My mom said the same thing. And it's very contradicting to what she's spent my entire life telling me that I had to do. I was completely thrown off to say the least.

What are your plans after graduation?

I would like to get my master's degree, but I’m still deciding on that.

What career goals have you set for yourself?

I plan to explore my options. I’m more focusing on gaining more experience right now.

Well, speaking of your experience, you said that you're in an internship now.

Currently, I'm the Social Media Manager for UMBC Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture in the Fine Arts building.

Is there anything you have learned from this internship?

The best lesson I've learned is from one of the gallery artists, Alita Devan. While putting up her exhibition, I had the opportunity to work with her. One of the things I learned from her was her art process. In the past year, I've had trouble getting motivated to create art. I learned that she sketches all the time, takes little ideas, any concept that she has, puts it down, and builds on it as time goes on. The best way to approach the project is in pieces rather than one big project.

What has been the highlight of your time at UMBC?

The highlight so far was last semester with my old roommate. She's such a sweet person. She likes to plan little parties and stuff like that. So, we had a Black girl cottage core-themed picnic. I met a whole bunch of Black girls, and we were talking about our Blackness, what it means to us, and how we, as Black women, are navigating the world. I really enjoyed that day.

Last question: what advice would you give someone choosing to pursue MCS as a major?

First, I would say be prepared to write a lot of papers. The second is to keep your mind open when it comes to many things and pay attention to things happening worldwide. What are the issues happening around the world? Having a healthy amount of curiosity would help you a lot. It gives you room to understand things that might be talked about in class. You can't be stuck in one way of thinking. Being in this major requires you to be open-minded and open to differing opinions and discussions.

By: Sophia Possidente

Photo Credit: Sophia Possidente

Theo Reinert is a senior at UMBC and the current president of the Media and Communication Studies Counsel of Majors, also known as MCSCOM. I spoke to Theo about his goals for the club, as well as his personal experience as an MCS major. We also discussed his independent research project, favorite classes, and experience interning for the podcast Kaleid.

Q: What inspired you to study Media and Communication?

A: I came to UMBC as an English and Philosophy double major, and I just wasn’t feeling it after a while. I realized that I wanted to go more towards other forms of humanities, and I loved the communication aspects of English and Philosophy. I gave MCS a try, and it really stuck with me.

Q: What is MCSCOM? What are your future plans as president?

A: MCSCOM is the council of majors for Media and Communication Studies. We’re a club that’s meant to support the students in the major. We’re here in order to connect students, get them more involved on campus, and develop their own professional growth. In the past we hosted a panel of students who completed internships, where they were able to talk about the experiences they had. We also had an event where MCS faculty watched a movie and commented on it; as people who study media, they were able to give a lot of insight into how they thought things were represented, which was really interesting. In the future, we also hope to have events with alumni, events to connect students for creative projects, essentially anything to get people involved. It’s hard for a lot of commuters and freshmen to make connections on campus, so I definitely want MCSCOM to be one place where they can do that.

Q: Tell us about your senior research project on toys and gender. What inspired this topic, and why is it important to study childhood objects?

A: Starting last semester, I knew I wanted to do independent research, but I wasn’t sure on what. I talked to my research advisor Dr. Loviglio about some things I was interested in, and I realized something that came up a lot was media targeted towards children. As a child, I was always oversaturated with media – whether it was on TV, what I played with, or what my parents interacted with – and they were all things that shaped who I am today. One of these things was toys, something we don’t really think about in regards to how we were shaped growing up. One thing I really remember from my childhood is how toys shaped my perception of gender. I wanted to do research into how toys today reflect the landscape of gender and these ideologies, because recently we’ve been more open to non-binary identities, yet you still see a lot of toys that are gendered. What is the difference between what we’re seeing in political discourse and what’s actually going on the production of toys?

Q: What has your research process been? 

I’m going to do a semiotic analysis, which is looking at the symbols in toys, or how they’re visually coded. A lot of research looks at words or how things are phrased, but you don’t really see the actual act of playing with the toy or what the toys are coded as culturally. Whether it’s pink for girls and blue for boys, or even the actual structure of the toys, there are questions to ask about how meaning takes different shapes and forms. 

I’ll also be looking at affordances, which are the kinds of possibilities a toy can offer. For example, a toy on wheels can afford pushing and pulling. Hair on a doll affords being able to style hair, but not motion like toy vehicles. It gives you different opportunities to play. By analyzing what kinds of toys Wal-Mart is selling as a mass producer of consumer objects, I get to see a reflection of how we view gender.

Q: What are some of the most interesting things you’ve learned from the project so far?

Something interesting is that a lot of girls' toys are immobile; they’re not meant to move. In contrast, a lot of boys' toys are geared more towards motion: Nerf guns, scooters, ATVs, Hot Wheels, scooters… things that actually move. If you look at the language that each of the toys use, a lot of the toys for boys refer to being fast, being powerful, being ferocious. And you realize that a lot of the language used for girls’ toys is based on looks; it looks cute, it looks fun… things along the lines of attractiveness. It teaches certain things about how a child should think of themselves. If a boy reads more radical language – things that are very status-quo shaking – how does that teach a boy to take risks versus a girl? What does that mean for a girl? How can she instantiate her own will when valuing looks is constantly reinforced? It’s a lot of little things like that that you don’t really think about until you’re playing with a doll and think: “why can’t I do x, y, and z? Why don’t producers want me to do x, y, and z?”.

Q: You also interned for the podcast Kaleid – what was that like?

A: I did my internship with the Imaging Research Center last fall, and each of the interns were tasked with taking one media artifact that was personal to us and discussing how it affected certain aspects of our lives. For my episode, I talked about how media – specifically television – shaped my ideas of gender, sexuality, and race. It was a very enlightening experience; I got to talk with Dr. Bond at the University of San Diego about how media affects queer identities. He brought up something interesting called symbolic annihilation, which is the idea that the absence of a representation in television is actually incredibly hurtful because it essentially means that you don’t exist. I think that that insight – and just the whole idea of the academic structuring and terminology around representation – is really enlightening for someone who didn’t have representation growing up and who continues to struggle with that. Being able to connect research with mass audiences is something Kaleid tries to do, and something that I think is a really great mission for them to continue doing.

Q: What is your favorite MCS class?

A: My favorite MCS class is MCS 333. That class made me realize how much I love theory, specifically the ideologies behind things and the invisible structuring that guides our lives. It made me realize that that’s what I want to study in the future. I’m kind of a nerd for theory, and it really clicked with me how a lot of the problems we experience are invisible and more culturally based. MCS 333 helps you realize the different kinds of power relations that exist in your society, whether you can physically see them or not.