Me and My Mac: Travel Adventures ofa Sexangenerian and Her Laptop
Graduation Date
Spring 2009
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Joan Baranow, PhD
Second Reader
Mojgan Behmand, PhD
Abstract
This is a work of creative non-fiction describing five of my travel adventures. The telling of these stories is an attempt to understand what it is to be human by trying to make sense of lives of the various people I met at the intersection of their world and mine. A humanities course description from the University of Southern California posits that an examination of the struggles and aspirations, achievements and failures, values and visions, can lead to a greater understanding of the human condition. I wrote many pieces that are not included here; the ones I selected particularly illuminate the sometimes crude attempts to understand and find one’s place in the universe. Observers of change suggest that the parameters of life can and should be altered using existing technologies. My laptop is acknowledged in the title as “Mac” provides ease, immediacy, an organized record and a strange sense of companionship that makes my story-telling possible.