A Blog from the Online Art Director, Rita Lai

My Suggestive Demeanor

Being a member of the Access team is a new experience for me. What I have been doing here is different from my country, Hong Kong: Peers always expect me to give suggestions during meetings in my home country because I am a proactive person, and I have many creative ideas. The ones that are supposed to be simple and stupid in the beginning and may become useful after being modified by team members, as Scott Fosdick [Access advisor] said in the first week of class.

Morphing Role

My role has changed a little bit in Access: Every time I was in a meeting with my Access buddies, I just sat down, listened and observed. Immersing in a different culture makes it necessary for me to stand aside and observe how SJSU students interact with each other. Since I am, now, part of the team, understanding how the system works is far more important then just giving out ideas without knowing if they suit the San Jose State readers.
(Fortunately, two months have passed and I have more or less adapted to the system.)

Questions are to be Answered, Right?

I still remember in the second class, when I got into the classroom, our editor in chief, Evie, asked me to tell the team what I like. The question: “how to deal with cultural differences when you want to do something good for the team?” was still in my head, and it seemed to be a good chance to share my worries with my team. Therefore I just spit out things like my age, previous jobs and hopes of working with my teammates efficiently even there may be a cultural barrier….”, but not answering the question at all!

It was somehow funny and embarrassing at the same time when Evie led me back to the original question:

“So, what do you like?”

“Hahaha….sorry….” I glanced at other members who were sitting around the table and realized everyone was puzzled, “well, I like reading, watching movies…..”

Evolution

As time goes by, I become more and more adapted to the Access system and it takes me less time to figure out the situation.

Special Thanks

I have to say thank you to my Access buddies for being patient while explaining everything I am not familiar with, especially Evie , who does care about every teammate; Kaitlyn [managing editor], who edited my assigning memo; Heather [features editor], who has done extra work for getting the articles on track; Lesger [online editor], who speaks for the online team in meetings; Nikki [photo-art editor], who tries her best to handle the photo-taking work for my feature article; Leslie [assistant photo editor], who always gives us good, interesting story during intermissions; Kristin [department editor]; who greeted me when I could not see her walking behind me (I was startled!).

To all Teammates

Actually every teammate’s effort counts, and unfortunately I do not have enough time to know more about you all! But I am sure every little moment I have spent with the Access fall 2007 team will be one of the top three most memorable memories I have in San Jose. You guys are brilliant! Thank you for your professionalism and amazing ideas!