Greetings, blog community!

Posted on: September 19, 2014 | By: Maria Temming | Filed under: Instructional Technologies, Teaching & Learning

This article is a part of the Writing with Thumbs project – a year-long look at iPad apps and accessories that support writing. Read more about the project here.   

Hello all!

Running Alpha Phi Omega's Pie Your Professor fundraiser last spring.

Running Alpha Phi Omega’s Pie Your Professor fundraiser last spring.

My name is Maria Temming. I’m a junior double majoring in Physics and Creative Writing with a minor in Astronomy—a strange combination, right? Probably the result of reading and writing too much science fiction as a kid. Writing has always been my first love, be it fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. If you’d told me at age ten that I’d someday take a Quantum Mechanics course, I would have recoiled in horror. But somewhere along the line, an admiration for Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprise crew turned into a real fascination with the science of the cosmos. So I spent the summer writing for Sky and Telescope magazine, and this semester I’m vacillating between Computer Science and Linguistics homework, happy to say there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. Ultimately, I hope to pursue a career in science writing.

When I’m not in McMichael working on homework—or at the very least, scrolling through Tumblr with a textbook open next to me—I can be found in the Writing Center or, more recently, the café side of the Oak House. I’m usually easily discernible by my tie-dye pants or celestial leggings. Some days, if I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll even make it to the gym and spend a couple hours laboring under the delusion that I’m a coordinated, athletic human being. (For perspiration’s sake, I do not wear tie-dye pants or celestial leggings at the gym.)

So, what exactly am I doing here, on this blog? The quick and easy answer would be something like, “I love technology!” But come on, we all love technology. I know I’m not alone in the fact that I would be utterly content to spend my life the day watching Netflix. Have you ever been guilted into ex-ing out of a show by Netflix’s judgmental pop-up, “Are you still watching?” Me neither. Next episode, please.

But much as I love indulging in Netflix and Tumblr, I’m in the fortunate position where I have the opportunity to explore many intellectually stimulating and useful programs and applications—ones that perhaps won’t contribute to me languishing in bed all day. Working across multiple disciplines has brought me into contact with quite a few learning technologies I never would have otherwise discovered, and taught me the importance of being open to different technologies. For example, my math and physics professors love the program Mathematica. Love. It. And quick as I am to declare that Mathematica is the bane of my existence every time it won’t plot exactly what I want, when I’m in better moods, I can admit that it’s is an incredibly useful computational tool.

Trying your hand at new technologies can make both work and recreational activities more interesting and enjoyable. These days, when there’s very nearly an app for everything, students have incredible opportunity to find new tools that help them explore their interests—whatever those interests may be. I’m looking forward to checking out some new Apple tools and applications this year, and sharing my experiences with you all!

Maria Temming

Maria Temming is a senior physics and english major. She enjoys both creative writing and science/tech journalism. Most of her writing is fueled by too much caffeine (thank you, Oak House) and classic rock music.

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One response to “Greetings, blog community!”

  1. Merlin Silk says:

    Ha, I am on the other end of the age spectrum, but I can only encourage you to pursue all your interests. I loved math and physics in high school and actually got my master in physics, but when asked at the end of highschool what we want to be (they did that in Germany) I answered ‘artist!’
    Did not follow that though as I did not consider starving a good career choice. But I found photography when I realized that it was an art form and not something only American tourists do.
    I got into the first wave of computers and made programming robots and that stuff my career, but I had to change directions when all those jobs went to countries where the work force was cheaper. All good, though, as I got more into art – combined with the web and marketing I was able to bring wearable art in form of mudmee tie dye to the masses. What I learned was to keep all paths open – then changes around you can not harm you. So, yes, follow ALL your dreams. By the way – I love science fiction also and my favorite series of (pulp) fiction had its 50th anniversary a little while back 🙂