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[School Assignment] :: NYC Pocas
Dec. 9th, 2002 12:43 amJOUR 203 Final Assignment
December 09, 2002
As the highways, airways and railways fill up with holiday travelers, a common assumption is that people are headed home to be with family. Long time traditions are going to be kept, and echoes of "You've gotten so big!" will be heard all around.
For one college student, though, her Thanksgiving break was not spent with family. Samantha Simmons boarded a plane in Georgia and flew all the way to New York City, to be with friends she met in an unlikely way - over the Internet.
"This Thanksgiving was more enjoyable than any other one I've spent anywhere," Simmons said. "I do in fact love my relatives, yet this was really an interesting thing to do, and it was what I wanted to do rather than what was decided I'd be doing."
Simmons spent four days in New York with Meredith Berrett, Allison Buss, Valerie Martin and Chalise McDonald, four women whom she'd met through on-line fan forums for TVs The X-Files.
"I first met one of the four roommates individually on-line by accident," Simmons said. "I signed up to start an online journal and got put on Chalise's friends list just for posting that I had extra codes to give away on Haven's coffee clutch folder. I was then introduced to Rie first in a chat room one night on P2K, followed by talking to her a little bit on the P2K message boards."
Haven and P2K, are two of the largest sites and fan forums for The X-Files. Through those sites and chat rooms, Simmons finally got in touch with the other two roommates just before making her first trip to visit them in New York in June of 2002. Her experience in June affected her choice to spend Thanksgiving with the group.
"Having met my friends previously, I decided that I'd prefer to spend this holiday with friends rather than family, specifically ones I'd really enjoyed the company of and wanted to get to know better," Simmons said.
It was not only Simmons first time spending Thanksgiving with the four women, it was their first time spending the holiday together as well. Berrett, Buss, Martin and McDonald also met through The X-Files fandom on-line and came together as roommates in May 2002.
"I met everyone at the Haven," Buss said. "I first went there April 2001, but then I stopped posting for many months, and pretty much didn't feel the need to go back. However, Sept. 11th caused me to think about the boards again. I remembered that there were many International people who posted there, and that a majority of the posters were intelligent enough. So, a couple days later, I went back expecting everyone to be talking about the tragedy, and they were. That in itself was very comforting for me. [It was] a way to reach out and all."
Buss said that after a few days, things on the boards began to go back to normal. She chose to continue visiting and eventually made her way into a chat room, which is where she began making the friendships that lead to her to living where she does today.
"After a couple of days, people began to recognize me and 'hug' me and such when I came," Buss said. "I always came really late to the chat room, especially considering that I lived in L.A. I would stay there and eventually each night there would be the same few of us there, and we became good friends."
Buss explained that in the time following Sept. 11th their friendships grew quick and strong.
"After a week it felt like we had known each other months, after a month it felt like years," Buss said. "We love X-Files, and are all basically similar types of people. Then, mix in there the abandon you feel when talking about personal things to people online - people you don't have to look in the eye, people you never have to talk to again if you don't want to - it's easy to communicate on that base level you wish you could with everyone."
That talking helped Martin though Sept. 11th. While Berrett, Buss and McDonald all lived in southern California, Martin already lived in New York City but had yet to make any friends in the city.
"The phone lines were down here because of the towers, but oddly enough the Internet was still working," Martin said. "The days after the attack I was so numb and starved for some sort of human contact. The friends that I had made online were so supportive and wonderful. I don't know what I would have done without them."
Not long after, Martin found a larger apartment in the city and was going to be needing roommates.
"I was just excited about my news and shared with them that I found an apartment," Martin said. "Meredith mentioned that she has always wanted to live in New York City at some point in her life, and she asked if I would mind if she were one of the roommates."
Martin was thrilled. McDonald mentioned Martin's need for roommates to her parents, and after some encouragement soon signed on as the third roommate.
"I called Alli to let her know that Meredith and Lise were moving, because I hadn't spoken to her in about two weeks and she was missing all the excitement," Martin said. "She said that she was interested too, but she needed time to think about it."
A few days later the call came that Martin had her fourth roommate. Within a few weeks, the four women who had been friends on-line were all roommates in New York City.
Despite all the warnings in the news today against meeting people from the Internet, none of the four had any hesitations about living together. Any hesitations were the same many people have when moving in with anyone.
"I had a few bad roommate experiences in college, so I was, and still am, always aware of what sort of actions or inactions can result in a bad living situation," Berrett said.
All four describe the first few weeks together as a being like a big slumber party.
"It was so comforting to build a whole new life with three other people," Berrett said. "In a way it was like my freshman year in college, but the stakes were and are a lot higher now."
As months have passed the group has become settled in their routines.
"The Honeymoon phase has definitely passed," Berrett said. "However, the Honeymoon phase always passes. It's when that phase passes when the real test of endurance begins, and for the most part I think we've definitely fared well. We've been witnesses to each other's varying mood, habits and just our most private selves and I think we've learned that we can all tolerate each other."
McDonald said they are all still amazed at what has happened in the past year.
"It was The X-Files that drew us together, but it's not what made us friends. What it was, I can't say," McDonald said. "We have similarities and differences and somehow it all bound us together and created friendships that have become some of the most life-changing friendships I've ever experienced."
McDonald said that she has a hard time finding the right words to describe everything that has happened.
"I feel like I am at such a monumental point in my life and everything that has happened in the last year is so huge that trying to shrink it down to words instead of feelings and emotions just makes it seem so trivial," McDonald said. "It's still hard to believe that one of the few dreams I let myself have as a teenager actually came true. I go to bed every night feeling so grateful for living here."
Living and spending Thanksgiving in New York was an experience for everyone involved.
"The best part of Thanksgiving, to me, was all of us contributing parts of our families' traditions to make a whole meal," McDonald said. "We all made food that we had grown up with and just couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving without."
Simmons even brought a recipe from home when she flew up for her visit. They all enjoyed the meal after going early the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"All in all, the meal went over with a bang, the festivities including the parade were wonderful, but spending time with people you really care about was the best part of the whole experience," Simmons said.
December 09, 2002
As the highways, airways and railways fill up with holiday travelers, a common assumption is that people are headed home to be with family. Long time traditions are going to be kept, and echoes of "You've gotten so big!" will be heard all around.
For one college student, though, her Thanksgiving break was not spent with family. Samantha Simmons boarded a plane in Georgia and flew all the way to New York City, to be with friends she met in an unlikely way - over the Internet.
"This Thanksgiving was more enjoyable than any other one I've spent anywhere," Simmons said. "I do in fact love my relatives, yet this was really an interesting thing to do, and it was what I wanted to do rather than what was decided I'd be doing."
Simmons spent four days in New York with Meredith Berrett, Allison Buss, Valerie Martin and Chalise McDonald, four women whom she'd met through on-line fan forums for TVs The X-Files.
"I first met one of the four roommates individually on-line by accident," Simmons said. "I signed up to start an online journal and got put on Chalise's friends list just for posting that I had extra codes to give away on Haven's coffee clutch folder. I was then introduced to Rie first in a chat room one night on P2K, followed by talking to her a little bit on the P2K message boards."
Haven and P2K, are two of the largest sites and fan forums for The X-Files. Through those sites and chat rooms, Simmons finally got in touch with the other two roommates just before making her first trip to visit them in New York in June of 2002. Her experience in June affected her choice to spend Thanksgiving with the group.
"Having met my friends previously, I decided that I'd prefer to spend this holiday with friends rather than family, specifically ones I'd really enjoyed the company of and wanted to get to know better," Simmons said.
It was not only Simmons first time spending Thanksgiving with the four women, it was their first time spending the holiday together as well. Berrett, Buss, Martin and McDonald also met through The X-Files fandom on-line and came together as roommates in May 2002.
"I met everyone at the Haven," Buss said. "I first went there April 2001, but then I stopped posting for many months, and pretty much didn't feel the need to go back. However, Sept. 11th caused me to think about the boards again. I remembered that there were many International people who posted there, and that a majority of the posters were intelligent enough. So, a couple days later, I went back expecting everyone to be talking about the tragedy, and they were. That in itself was very comforting for me. [It was] a way to reach out and all."
Buss said that after a few days, things on the boards began to go back to normal. She chose to continue visiting and eventually made her way into a chat room, which is where she began making the friendships that lead to her to living where she does today.
"After a couple of days, people began to recognize me and 'hug' me and such when I came," Buss said. "I always came really late to the chat room, especially considering that I lived in L.A. I would stay there and eventually each night there would be the same few of us there, and we became good friends."
Buss explained that in the time following Sept. 11th their friendships grew quick and strong.
"After a week it felt like we had known each other months, after a month it felt like years," Buss said. "We love X-Files, and are all basically similar types of people. Then, mix in there the abandon you feel when talking about personal things to people online - people you don't have to look in the eye, people you never have to talk to again if you don't want to - it's easy to communicate on that base level you wish you could with everyone."
That talking helped Martin though Sept. 11th. While Berrett, Buss and McDonald all lived in southern California, Martin already lived in New York City but had yet to make any friends in the city.
"The phone lines were down here because of the towers, but oddly enough the Internet was still working," Martin said. "The days after the attack I was so numb and starved for some sort of human contact. The friends that I had made online were so supportive and wonderful. I don't know what I would have done without them."
Not long after, Martin found a larger apartment in the city and was going to be needing roommates.
"I was just excited about my news and shared with them that I found an apartment," Martin said. "Meredith mentioned that she has always wanted to live in New York City at some point in her life, and she asked if I would mind if she were one of the roommates."
Martin was thrilled. McDonald mentioned Martin's need for roommates to her parents, and after some encouragement soon signed on as the third roommate.
"I called Alli to let her know that Meredith and Lise were moving, because I hadn't spoken to her in about two weeks and she was missing all the excitement," Martin said. "She said that she was interested too, but she needed time to think about it."
A few days later the call came that Martin had her fourth roommate. Within a few weeks, the four women who had been friends on-line were all roommates in New York City.
Despite all the warnings in the news today against meeting people from the Internet, none of the four had any hesitations about living together. Any hesitations were the same many people have when moving in with anyone.
"I had a few bad roommate experiences in college, so I was, and still am, always aware of what sort of actions or inactions can result in a bad living situation," Berrett said.
All four describe the first few weeks together as a being like a big slumber party.
"It was so comforting to build a whole new life with three other people," Berrett said. "In a way it was like my freshman year in college, but the stakes were and are a lot higher now."
As months have passed the group has become settled in their routines.
"The Honeymoon phase has definitely passed," Berrett said. "However, the Honeymoon phase always passes. It's when that phase passes when the real test of endurance begins, and for the most part I think we've definitely fared well. We've been witnesses to each other's varying mood, habits and just our most private selves and I think we've learned that we can all tolerate each other."
McDonald said they are all still amazed at what has happened in the past year.
"It was The X-Files that drew us together, but it's not what made us friends. What it was, I can't say," McDonald said. "We have similarities and differences and somehow it all bound us together and created friendships that have become some of the most life-changing friendships I've ever experienced."
McDonald said that she has a hard time finding the right words to describe everything that has happened.
"I feel like I am at such a monumental point in my life and everything that has happened in the last year is so huge that trying to shrink it down to words instead of feelings and emotions just makes it seem so trivial," McDonald said. "It's still hard to believe that one of the few dreams I let myself have as a teenager actually came true. I go to bed every night feeling so grateful for living here."
Living and spending Thanksgiving in New York was an experience for everyone involved.
"The best part of Thanksgiving, to me, was all of us contributing parts of our families' traditions to make a whole meal," McDonald said. "We all made food that we had grown up with and just couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving without."
Simmons even brought a recipe from home when she flew up for her visit. They all enjoyed the meal after going early the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"All in all, the meal went over with a bang, the festivities including the parade were wonderful, but spending time with people you really care about was the best part of the whole experience," Simmons said.
