Finifugal – the want to prolong the final moments of a story, relationship, or some other journey. I have always been hesitant to read the last page, so I made sure to trace out the last sentences with silver. There was a way I could relive the best parts of the story, the wide-open middle. I filmed them. I knew the process by heart: press the record button, export, and save. These were the only three necessary steps to calm down my anticipatory nostalgia. Therefore, the camera turned out to be the first media artifact I truly learned to love. I made sure I always brought it with me everywhere I went with my family, to capture as many moments as I possibly could to prevent any memorable times slip out of my mind. My passion for encapsulating memories only grew stronger, I finally found the way to hold on to the echoes of the last sentence, but there is no story without a villain in it. I guess media happens to be both the hero and the villain of this story. The ultimate fear of all the footage being vanished in a matter of seconds haunted me until I had to accept the inevitable truth. Media is not perfect and, to quote one of my favorite characters, Amy March, “no amount of energy can make it so.” Media is messy and flawed, and if we are accepting it to be an intrinsic part of our culture, we should accept it with all its imperfections even if it means being overwhelmed by the number of emotions it puts us through.
Sevinj Bakhishli
13668722
Why I Heart My Media 