Dongkwan’s Advertising World

Yessssssssssssssss!

I got back home last night from a long day. I’ve been sick since my arrival from the Bahamas, with school work and activities threatening to kill me everywhere I go. And so I came home, checking my e-mail just before heading off to bed to cool off the rising fever.

“Congratulations.” I receive an e-mail saying I’m a finalist of the 2008 Most Promising Minority Students program sponsored and awarded by the American Advertising Federation. The American Advertising Federation is the oldest professional advertising organization in America, with over 50,000 members across the country. I am actually the Chapter President of it at my school - The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Wow! I mean, I got a kick-ass recommendation from my instructor Ms. Fisher, kick-ass academic accomplishments, and a corny statement and self-promoting tagline and a terrible dress-up photo. But I was actually chosen, as one of the 50 students chosen in the United States of America. OK. I was no longer sick. I jumped around like a kangaroo who just got his toe stepped on by a tow truck. I was like a kid who just had his first experience with plain wasabi.

So what next you ask? I’ll be heading on to the 3 day seminar in the Mosaic Multicultural Center in New York (yeah baby NYC), and participate in a program where I get to learn many things. The main event: the recruiting session with the world’s top ad agencies. Oh yeah, all of them that are on my list.

So watch me in USA Today or Ad Age when I participate in the event from Feb 5 - Feb 8, 2008. As I am most likely the only non-citizen or green card holder, this means that now I have to be the best amongst the 50 finalists.

So if you’re a student who’s willing to put something more to your resume, or, willing to do something more to get you an ad agency job, check out the many opportunities available at the AAF website. You’ll be surprised at what you’re missing out on.

And if you’re a recruiter or a creative professional willing to hire me, please give me just a couple more months when I’m ready to show you some of my talents.

Thank you everyone who has helped, and I will always do my best to make you all proud. Thank you AAF for choosing me.

I hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving. I gotta say, I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before. But this Thanksgiving I did, and it a was a special one.

As I landed on the Freeport International Airport in the Grand Bahamas Island of the hundreds of Bahamiam islands, the first thing I recognized was the tall palm trees. Oh yes, I felt I was somewhere else. The last time I ever interacted with palm trees was back when I was in Tunisia. It’s been what… 15 years?

Soon I realized I saw myself becoming a child, back to my Tunisian days. The palm trees, the air breeze, and the hot tropical heat all made sense - I was alive. Yes, I had survived the years of complexity, where every day I lived to succeed tomorrow, and lived in buildings, with man made air-conditioners to kill off the nature’s warmth. But I realized that the city man I was, I’ve been living with the wrong habits. For once, I was able to return to a child, building castles in the sands, and enjoying the world of freedom where watching the sunset against the horizon was no longer an event. Ah, you should have been there.

So I get back, after a 2 year reunion with my mother and my aunt. As I left the international airport seeing my mother in tears, I realized something else. I’ve been too focused on my life not knowing how much my family missed me. And to my greater surprise was that I never had the closest thing to dropping a tear. I mean, did all that air-conditioner freeze up my 98% water-content in my body?

If you think you’re been too much a city-person, this winter, take your self to the beaches of the Bahamas. Take a week, and you’ll be rejuvenated with emotion, where you can be human again. Alive, in this world of complex matters.

P.S. One thing had me crying - all my pictures I took were lost due to a malfunction of my 8 month old digital camera. I’ll post ‘em when I fix ‘em.