sorry I just wanted to take a quick
snapchat I just really want to remember
this so let me start today with the
story of how I got here because really
just last year I was stranded in Italy
and I thought I’d never set foot on this
campus again here’s the picture from
then this is me
and my new friend Carly who would
actually met about two weeks prior while
I was in Paris and we kept running into
each other so often that we decided to
just start traveling together behind us
is this beautiful Italian town known as
Rio Maggio one of the five that make up
st. tere Italy it’s home to about 1,000
residents and it’s only really
accessible by train and just our look
about five hours after this photo was
taken
Carly and I were waiting to leave the
town just in time to see the train go
flying by signaling the beginning of an
Italian train strike so when I look at
this photo I first remember all the good
Italian food that I had and then I
remember Carly he’s become one of my
closest friends but ultimately I
remember the feeling of having three
days or the plans fall apart in a matter
of seconds but when I think about it
being stuck in Italy really isn’t the
worst place I could be in fact two years
ago before I decided the army wasn’t for
me and transferred to Vanderbilt I was
actually a cadet at West Point and when
I think about bad situations I think
about summer training here’s a picture
from then
from ah this is me and my tuned person
squad the summer before I entered my
sophomore year at the academy
and from all the dirt and grime in the
face I’m clearly making you can probably
tell this was not one of my favorite
summers in fact I’m actually concussed
in this photo and this was one of the
hardest summers of my life and when I
think about it being concussed and
sleeping in the woods wasn’t exactly
where I saw myself spending my first
college summer break in fact growing up
I actually hated being outside and I
never wanted to play toy soldier I
actually preferred air conditioning and
flower hairclips
here’s the picture from then this is me
at my third birthday party and what you
don’t see happening behind the camera is
my dad’s actually pulling out this
larger than me we need the Pooh stuffed
animal in this moment forever catalogs
my reaction but in reality everything I
just told you I don’t remember
everything I just said
was from my mom’s perspective she’s the
one who took this photo and when she
looks at it she couldn’t remember
exactly who I was then even if I don’t
this photo immortalizes my teeth before
I got my braces that dress before I got
it covered in cake minutes later and
that hairstyle that I rock for the next
few months but I’m sure you two all have
photos of people of places and have
experiences you don’t want to forget for
instance if I lost this photo
I’d lose all the key details that really
bring my Italian adventures back to life
I’d figure about the shoes that I’m
wearing the same ones that I wore for my
first day of high school and the same
ones that I threw away two weeks later
in Budapest I’d also forget about the
boat the yellow one in the middle of the
frame that Carly and I spent 30 minutes
convincing the owners that we were
completely qualified to operate
we weren’t if I lost this photo I’d
forget about all the important people
that I shared this incredible experience
with there’s care
the only other female in my squad who
like clockwork at 2:00 a.m. would wake
me up with Michaela I’m so sorry but I
really have to go to the bathroom and
I’d grudgingly get out of my warm
sleeping bag and accompany her into the
woods
there’s also Nick who I had very very
briefly met the summer before during
basic training and we also shared a
class together that freshman year our
mutual friend had actually approached me
and told me that Nick and I were in the
same squad for this summer training and
I had to embarrassingly reveal that I
had no idea who unic was with Nick
standing right beside me he still
doesn’t let me live this down these
small details matter they matter here
where I’m sitting next to my babysitter
Sarah and while I can tell you her name
and the games we used to play in the
afternoon I could never put a face to
these memories but with this photo I’m
allowed to have that one last tidbit of
information this photo gives me one more
full memory from my childhood and so
today
I bring up all these photos to emphasize
the stories they preserve because each
time I tell a memory my story may change
but the details in these photos are
permanent
they immortalized who I was where I was
and who I spent those moments with and
they remind me of my childhood of a time
where sharing photographs used to
require your physical attendance
remember when we only had 36 shots on a
film roll and after you’re done shooting
all 36 you would have to go drop it off
and wait for it to be processed and it
felt like Christmas time
when my mom would come home with the
photos from our last trip my entire
family would run to the living room
it would watch as someone flipped
through all the photos and would pause
and tell this story is behind each one
and each time I could almost feel like I
was in those exact moments even weeks or
months later and my childhood has been
immortalized in these chant shots these
perfect mistakes where we really had to
focus in on exactly what we wanted to
remember well he had 36 shots sometimes
even less how did we really want these
moments to be preserved now in a
generation with technology we can easily
overlook these capabilities and the
quality of storytelling taking a picture
now requires minimal effort it’s as easy
as clicking a button on a camera or on a
smartphone but now with this ability to
take hundreds of photos in a matter of
minutes and see them instantly have we
simply replaced quality
with quantity the next time you’re at a
football game or hiking or even at lunch
I challenge you to put away your camera
and to really live in the moment and I
ask you to be slow and to be deliberate
when the moments just right because we
too often take pictures and forget and
this time I want you to take pictures
and remember I want to revisit that
snapchat I took at the very beginning of
this presentation remember how I said
that I wanted to remember this moment
well I have about 23 hours in 50 minutes
to decide how I want to remember this
without the picture the memories of
today will soon disappear but with the
picture I’ll remember exactly what dress
I wore and how long it took for me to
decide I’ll remember how many people
came and heard me talk and all the faces
of my friends and I’ll remember how soft
and how bright this carpet actually was
this one picture would allow me to
relive this moment again and again thank
you
[Applause]
snapchat I just really want to remember
this so let me start today with the
story of how I got here because really
just last year I was stranded in Italy
and I thought I’d never set foot on this
campus again here’s the picture from
then this is me
and my new friend Carly who would
actually met about two weeks prior while
I was in Paris and we kept running into
each other so often that we decided to
just start traveling together behind us
is this beautiful Italian town known as
Rio Maggio one of the five that make up
st. tere Italy it’s home to about 1,000
residents and it’s only really
accessible by train and just our look
about five hours after this photo was
taken
Carly and I were waiting to leave the
town just in time to see the train go
flying by signaling the beginning of an
Italian train strike so when I look at
this photo I first remember all the good
Italian food that I had and then I
remember Carly he’s become one of my
closest friends but ultimately I
remember the feeling of having three
days or the plans fall apart in a matter
of seconds but when I think about it
being stuck in Italy really isn’t the
worst place I could be in fact two years
ago before I decided the army wasn’t for
me and transferred to Vanderbilt I was
actually a cadet at West Point and when
I think about bad situations I think
about summer training here’s a picture
from then
from ah this is me and my tuned person
squad the summer before I entered my
sophomore year at the academy
and from all the dirt and grime in the
face I’m clearly making you can probably
tell this was not one of my favorite
summers in fact I’m actually concussed
in this photo and this was one of the
hardest summers of my life and when I
think about it being concussed and
sleeping in the woods wasn’t exactly
where I saw myself spending my first
college summer break in fact growing up
I actually hated being outside and I
never wanted to play toy soldier I
actually preferred air conditioning and
flower hairclips
here’s the picture from then this is me
at my third birthday party and what you
don’t see happening behind the camera is
my dad’s actually pulling out this
larger than me we need the Pooh stuffed
animal in this moment forever catalogs
my reaction but in reality everything I
just told you I don’t remember
everything I just said
was from my mom’s perspective she’s the
one who took this photo and when she
looks at it she couldn’t remember
exactly who I was then even if I don’t
this photo immortalizes my teeth before
I got my braces that dress before I got
it covered in cake minutes later and
that hairstyle that I rock for the next
few months but I’m sure you two all have
photos of people of places and have
experiences you don’t want to forget for
instance if I lost this photo
I’d lose all the key details that really
bring my Italian adventures back to life
I’d figure about the shoes that I’m
wearing the same ones that I wore for my
first day of high school and the same
ones that I threw away two weeks later
in Budapest I’d also forget about the
boat the yellow one in the middle of the
frame that Carly and I spent 30 minutes
convincing the owners that we were
completely qualified to operate
we weren’t if I lost this photo I’d
forget about all the important people
that I shared this incredible experience
with there’s care
the only other female in my squad who
like clockwork at 2:00 a.m. would wake
me up with Michaela I’m so sorry but I
really have to go to the bathroom and
I’d grudgingly get out of my warm
sleeping bag and accompany her into the
woods
there’s also Nick who I had very very
briefly met the summer before during
basic training and we also shared a
class together that freshman year our
mutual friend had actually approached me
and told me that Nick and I were in the
same squad for this summer training and
I had to embarrassingly reveal that I
had no idea who unic was with Nick
standing right beside me he still
doesn’t let me live this down these
small details matter they matter here
where I’m sitting next to my babysitter
Sarah and while I can tell you her name
and the games we used to play in the
afternoon I could never put a face to
these memories but with this photo I’m
allowed to have that one last tidbit of
information this photo gives me one more
full memory from my childhood and so
today
I bring up all these photos to emphasize
the stories they preserve because each
time I tell a memory my story may change
but the details in these photos are
permanent
they immortalized who I was where I was
and who I spent those moments with and
they remind me of my childhood of a time
where sharing photographs used to
require your physical attendance
remember when we only had 36 shots on a
film roll and after you’re done shooting
all 36 you would have to go drop it off
and wait for it to be processed and it
felt like Christmas time
when my mom would come home with the
photos from our last trip my entire
family would run to the living room
it would watch as someone flipped
through all the photos and would pause
and tell this story is behind each one
and each time I could almost feel like I
was in those exact moments even weeks or
months later and my childhood has been
immortalized in these chant shots these
perfect mistakes where we really had to
focus in on exactly what we wanted to
remember well he had 36 shots sometimes
even less how did we really want these
moments to be preserved now in a
generation with technology we can easily
overlook these capabilities and the
quality of storytelling taking a picture
now requires minimal effort it’s as easy
as clicking a button on a camera or on a
smartphone but now with this ability to
take hundreds of photos in a matter of
minutes and see them instantly have we
simply replaced quality
with quantity the next time you’re at a
football game or hiking or even at lunch
I challenge you to put away your camera
and to really live in the moment and I
ask you to be slow and to be deliberate
when the moments just right because we
too often take pictures and forget and
this time I want you to take pictures
and remember I want to revisit that
snapchat I took at the very beginning of
this presentation remember how I said
that I wanted to remember this moment
well I have about 23 hours in 50 minutes
to decide how I want to remember this
without the picture the memories of
today will soon disappear but with the
picture I’ll remember exactly what dress
I wore and how long it took for me to
decide I’ll remember how many people
came and heard me talk and all the faces
of my friends and I’ll remember how soft
and how bright this carpet actually was
this one picture would allow me to
relive this moment again and again thank
you
[Applause]
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