Hello Friends,
Must be a rough morning, or even a challenging day, either way, this post isn’t about me or you, it is about Us. Yes, Us! The picture on top has been my virtual background since day one, when we started online learning on Zoom a month ago. Not sure how much energy it brings to my colleagues to see this background, but they told me this, “Mohamed, I hope you never take this background off.” The funny part is that my eyes are always in between the two big “O’s” and it shows that I am awake and always looking at my other zoom mates.
The image is not only about good vibes, though, it is a remainder to me that there is hope, hope for us to work together through these challenging times, and hope for us to look at the journey and give the best of what we got, whether it is about studio work or fighting the many distractions that comes with working from home, it is a day to day hustle, and it is bigger than what we are used to. However, we all know for sure that our learning and our abilities as students to problem solve critical situations, and give our outputs even when it is not the right answer, is a part of our growth and education.
Now, there is an opportunity for us to understand a little bit more what it really means to be part of Studio V. Of course, a lot of projects have been built through sweat and sleepless nights in the shop, and back and forth trips between drawings and details, and that is the thing we are used to, and that is the thing we thought this studio was about.
However, Studio V, is engaged in making students think out of the box and get out of their comfort zones. It is a hard and challenging learning path that aim to nurture our inner thoughts and make us appreciate other people’s voice and ideas. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to work with other and also try to carefully listen to what is said during our virtual meetings, but after my first session on Zoom, I appreciated the fact that we were in this together, and we had to be on that new learning journey together, with positive vibes ONLY, not negative ones. Everyone was on board, and it reminded me of former U.S. president Barack Obama campaign slogan, “Yes We can!”
Without diving into politics, I know that you all have had a chance to read my classmates’ posts this week, and they covered pretty much everything that we have been doing, and working with MUSC I would say has been inspiring, because architecture after all is about “serving the common good.” But, the question always is, “How do you serve communities through design and problem solving” and that is the question we hope we can answer at the end of the day. The documentation we are helping put together is coming along with a lot of energy and dedication from the whole crew, and it is in its second phase. Moreover, it is interesting that again, it is built out of our virtual meetings, can you believe it?
At this point, we are meeting regularly both during and after Zoom studio sessions, and I would say it is a beautiful bonding time during which we can hear Ryan making jokes and roasting some of us with lines that only him know, and there is my dear Henry “cooking” while his microphone is on, Jeremy dog barking, or Dj Holmes mom making “yummy” things in her kitchen. The atmosphere although virtual, is filled by human presence that remind us all of the little things we often take for granted.
Finally, I would say, it is critical for us to make sure that everything we are typing on paper at this point, will be more concise and more clear for other people to see, and understand where we came from, and how we worked together. We live in a world challenged by technology, and it is not everyone’s favorite friend, but what it reminds us off, is that no matter how small the steps, even if our aim is to help save one life along the way, then we should work to make it happen, because we are in this together, and because we can help, “Yes, we can help.”
Remember to smile always, and keep the good vibes in the air !!!!
Momo.