Vanessa's blog

You’ve all seen or heard about New Yorkers. The sterotypes precede us as we travel. When I’m in the States people say, “You don’t sound like a New Yorker.” If I’m out of the country, people look at me as if they think I am rich and glamorous, even if I’m just wearing a T-shirt and flip-flops. Much of the world forms their opinion on New Yorkers (if they have one at all) on what they see in movies. Well, I am a genuine New Yorker, born and raised in the Bronx. Besides four years of college in Michigan, and a year and a half living in South Korea (that’s for another blog) I have lived here in New York City my whole life. We are every bit as cynical and suspicious as we’re made out to be, especially when people claim they are doing something out of the kindness of their hearts. Like the United Homeless Organization.

This has been the most difficult blog for me to write in three months of writing for The Online Grapevine. I attempted to poll my friends for their opinions and only got one response. Stereotypes are something that's really difficult for people to put their finger on. The one response was about people assuming that male nurses are either gay or incompetent, something that would annoy me too if I were a nurse, but I'm not and it's just not something I can speak to. However, something everyone can identify with is the racial stereotype. I spent some time wondering why racial stereotypes are so infuriating and my conclusion is that it has to do with the nature of what a race is. A race or culture is when people are categorized into a certain group for the very reason that is behind stereotypes - because they typically share various traits.

I’ve been going through a lot lately because many things in my life are changing. I start my first full-time, post-grad school position tomorrow morning, in a few months I will be moving into a new apartment, and I’m four months into a relationship. I’ve been thinking a lot about change, how we deal with it, and sometimes, how we resist it. With the economic downturn came major change in all aspects of our society. I’ve realized through my struggles, my loved ones’ struggles and the struggles of the global community that real change requires healing. Martin Luther King’s dream was not so much about achieving equality for blacks as it was about healing taking place in society at large.

2010 Predictions:

1. Facebook will continue to grow.

There are those who seem to be of the opinion that Facebook has reached its final plateau. Because of its similarities to MySpace, the success of which turned out to be a bell curve, many in the media world have forecasted that Facebook is about to start falling off in terms of members/traffic. I disagree. While the technical functions of Facebook are the same as on MySpace (connecting to others, leaving comments and messages, sharing photos), Facebook lets you do the same things in a very different way – less gunk, junk, and clutter. Facebook established and maintained an operation that looks and feels ageless. It’s not something you grow into or out of. Plus, their targeted advertising and monetization of successful applications to me means that this will be the best year yet for Facebook. I think they are closer than ever to becoming profitable.

Anyone who reads this is going to think that I am insane. I probably am. My person of the year is not a Nobel Prize winner, not a hardworking politician or a Goodwill Ambassador. My person of the year is the CEO of the Seattle based Web startup company Pet Holdings, Inc. They own such sites as “I Can Has Cheezburger?” and “FAIL Blog.” And there it is – you think I’m crazy. What’s worse is that I don’t know where to start defending my opinion. Should I give you his bio, explain what the heck “I Can Has Cheezburger?” really is, or should I just tell you to read the Related Links?