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From Birth to Adoption- The Power of a Phone Call
On April 15th, I was brought into this world, and my birth parents decided to give me up for adoption. On April 18th, my adoptive parents received a phone call that, within a matter of hours, they would be receiving a happy, healthy baby girl. Two hours after the call, I became part of the Visseau family. My mom still says it was the best phone call of her life, and it is certainly the most influential call of mine! -
Age 4- 911
At age 4, I was obsessed with TV shows that depicted 911 calls and situations. I loved watching responders come to help people in need, and I was fascinated by the situatiosn people got themselves into. One day, I decided to call 911 just to tell them what a great job I thought they were doing. Mom saw me on the phone and picked up another line, just to see who I was calling. She was mortified when the 911 dispatcher picked up. Needless to say, the phone was moved out of my reach for a while. -
Age 9- The Computer and ICQ
My parents finally caved in and purchased a new computer for our family. My first official action was to create a new ICQ chat account, an online program that allowed me to message my friends. It was the first time we were able to communicate with several people at once, but it was also our first personal experience with tone in written communication. On several occassions I remember abandoning the online format for the phone, affraid that a friend had misread a message meant as a joke. -
Age 12- First Mobile Phone
As I began participating on traveling sports teams, it became considerably harder for my parents to know when to pick me up from school. For that reason, mom and dad decided to buy me my first Trac Fone- a low cost way to introduce me to cell phones with less risk involved if I were to break it. It was great, until the battery died one day during a track meet. I ended up waiting at the school for over an hour before my parents came to check for me. -
Age 15- Photoshop
During my sophomore year, I received training to use Adobe Photoshop. This ended up being a useful life skill. I developed a strong knack for creating and manipulating images and in high school, I utilized this skill for the yearbook. Once I began college, I created ads for club and SGA events. I also designed posters for the C&M Department at Pitt-Bradford and theater posters for the 2009-2010 season at Prime Stage Theater in Pittsburgh. Photoshop has had an enormous positive effect on my life. -
Age 18- Facebook
After anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Pitt email account, I was finally able to create my Facebook page. During college, this proved to be an instrumental tool to communciate campus events while I served as the Pitt-Bradford SGA President. However, Facebook has turned into more of a hastle over time. Friends and family message me to try to stay in touch, and now that I'm out of college, I'm terrible about checking and responding to Facebook messages. It's too full of ads and games! -
Age 20- Video Conference with Livia Bitton-Jackson
My Young Adult Literature professor had us read "I Have Lived a Thousand Years" by Holocaust survivor Livia Bitton-Jackson. At the end of our course, the professor arranged for a video conference with the author. Though she was living in Israel, Dr. Bitton-Jackson was able to chat for over an hour with our class about her experiences during and after the Holocaust. This was an incredible learning moment in my life, made possible only though the use of teleconferencing equipment. -
Today- Skype Mobile for iPod
On Christmas Day, my niece and nephew received iPod Touches from their parents. To everyone's amazement, the devices were Skype capable, so even though the kids couldn't place a real mobile phone call they could send messages and voice chat over the web. A simple Skype installation on my Droid now keeps me in constant contact with my sister's kids, despite living 3 hours apart. The down side- they're constantly texting me! This can definitely lead to too much of a good thing.
