First Post, First Blog, and First Thoughts

Salutations reader,

My name is Ian Tran. I'm from Michigan, which is surrounded by [most of] the Great Lakes. Being a resident of this area, I take pride in our close proximity to fresh water (in Michigan, you are never more than six miles from a body of water), and the erratic weather that we and our fellows from neighboring geographies (let's not forget about nearby states and Canada) experience.

Starting this blog, (this is my first) was intimidating, especially after looking at other people's blogs moments before creating this post. Questions abounded even when I set up my account information, but chiefly I wondered about these two:

1) What is this blog going to be about?
2) What should I title my blog?

At first, I had the inspiration to dive right in and post random thoughts, items, and clips--and there was nothing to stop me except for my research habits nipping at the back of my mind. So research I did, and as I read through other people's blogs, I was impressed to see that some individuals and companies would treat their first post as a kind of thesis statement to their entire blog, mission statement, or philosophy. Of course it made sense to do so, but could I find something greater that overlies or underlies the things I love to think about and share? What exactly are these things?

My answer soon became apparent as I continued my studies as a student. Having interests ranging from the arts to the sciences and numerous things in between, I realized that what typically brought me to appreciate them was either having the privilege of experiencing it firsthand, or by learning about them through effective communication. So that's what I plan to do, I'd share some of my experiences, communicate a bit about communication, and go about my usual business of pondering as I go along.

Time for the title: Light Telecommunication
Right away, I knew I would mostly be writing in brief about what I've found or thought about on a blog. At the same time, I also knew that I would probably want to share something that seems particularly enlightening to me.

I made a violin piece titled Light Telecommunication last year which references several forms of communication technologies within the music. When I looked at all of the available definitions for the words Light and Telecommunication, the available choices were particularly fitting for identifying what I hope to do with this blog. Hopefully, we won't have to adhere to one particular set of definitions for this title to convey a satisfactory meaning. See for yourself, both hyper links go to the respective definitions found at dictionary.com. There's plenty of variety, and yet we have a notion about what we may or may not expect to see.

So why would I be so passionate about communication? I'm currently listed as an environmental science major, and my interests frequently involve the arts, outdoor recreation, and the occasional bit of science fiction or mythology.

I believe our desire and capacity to communicate is what makes us human. As described under the blog title, communication is a part of everything we do. Even the arts (music included when I say arts) communicate information, so long as we consider what can be learned from the experience. A brief look at some definitions about communication (again I cite from dictionary.com) and we'll find that communication can be:

The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

So if I feel like posting a poem, an art piece, or something else I found interesting without much explanation, I'll be doing some light telecommunication. If I've felt particularly enlightened by by something I want to share in detail, I'll also be doing some light telecommunication.

Best wishes,
Ian D. Tran