Klio Tea

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kliotea.com//shop-greek-mountain-tea 

Casa Blanca TV Spot

The Sun

I love the sun because it melts away all of my popsicle-cold worries, turning them into a puddle of nonsense.

The Wedding

There are three ways to experience emotions. The first way incorporates only your mind, while the other way involves solely your heart. The optimal way to experience emotions, however, is with both your head and your heart simultaneously processing the feelings and thoughts that are fluttering through the core of your being. Only then, when your thoughts and your feelings are wed, can your soul be truly awakened.

  

Emotional America

Happiness is a warm Remington gun under the beating sun. 

Hatred is a blunted Buck knife in the calloused hand of an equally dull young man. 

Wisdom is a Waterman fountain pen between the fingers of a scholar.

Freedom is a Lucky Strike cigarette nestled within your index and middle fingers.

Why I Love Mad Men

Dear Matthew Weiner,

Your show entitled Mad Men has captured my interest like no other show in existence. I appreciate the heightened degree of light and detail that you shed on the little things that permeate the character's day to day life, from Don Draper's top hat, to Roger Sterling's Lucky Strike cigarettes. Despite being in New York City, the show really seems to move along at a comfortable pace.

Regarding fashion, there is not a single character yet that I have spotted that is not dressed in a dapperly manner. From anonymous elevator operators, to random people strutting about downtown, each and every person that fills the frame flaunts an impressive amount of style. One truly feels the zeitgeist of the 1950's New York ad agency environment while watching this show. Additionally, this recurring theme of fashionable people would not be nearly as sacred if it weren't for the exquisite use of light and shadows. Despite the majority of the show taking place in an office setting, one does not get that feeling of a corporate environment with unappealing lights and hues. Quite on the contrary, most of the time the cinematographers make use of what appears to be window light. As a photographer, I can say this show really spurs on my creativity and encourages me to be creative with how I use my light, and it also keeps me in check to make sure that I am being intentional with the way I craft the light within my images. Lastly, I really enjoy the vintage songs that play at the end of each episode while the credits come up. Often times I will close my eyes and enjoy the waves of pleasure that fill my mind as I think of all the quaint pleasantries that took place in the episode.

So thank you to Mr. Weiner and the entire Mad Men crew/cast for sharing with us your creative talents.

Regards,

David Dobreski

The Nature of Silence

As I've grown older, my view of silence and the idea of it has changed from thinkin of it as a harbinger of awkwardness that must be avoided at all costs, to now realizing that it is a multifaceted entity. Silence takes many forms and fits a number of unique situations. There is a serene side to silence that is most often experienced in the woods or whilst sitting at the edge of a lake. There is an uncomfortable, slightly agitating type of silence as well. The type that you may find looming at the center of a group of people at a party. There is also a silence that bursts at the seams with tension and echoes with the harsh words exchanged several moments prior. Perhaps the most luxurious and sought-after form of silence is that which resides between an elderly couple who have loved each other for a lifetime and know one another so very well that they don't even need to exchange sentences to know what the other is thinking. 

Campfire Community

I am the center of attention.
A circle of entranced people stare into my bright eyes.
I often bring people together, similar to a thread that binds separate strings of fabric together.
My embers radiate into the faces of my spectators.
I am a campfire.
Come feel my warmth.

October in Ithaca

I am glad to say that I was recruited as a blogger for the CIAS Honors program here at RIT. While this might sound like sacrelig, I see this as an opportunity to add to my fortè. Check out my latest post.
http://honors.cias.rit.edu/october-in-ithaca/

Volleyball Proverbs

In the spirit of open-mindedness, I decided to try something new during this first semester of college, and so I joined an intramural volleyball team with my friends. Aside from casual pick-up games during lunch time in high-school, most of us are quite inexperienced on the court and are pretty mediocre at volleyball. But while we as individuals might be mediocre, together we are outstanding because we play off of each others strengths. And what is a team if not a group of zealous individuals with a common interest?

One of the many great things about being a part of a team is that you have the opportunity to grow as an individual, while those around you also grow and flesh out their foibles. One of the many lessons I learned tonight as we fought the Apocalypse (ironically, that was the name of the team we played) is the importance of being intentional. Either go for the ball or don't. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. If you yell, 'mine!' then you better go for that ball like its the only thing that matters.

On Connecting and Networking with Others

Well it's official. I have been living in a college dorm for one week now, and I have learned a myriad of things about myself, my roommate, the people on my floor, and the world around me. One particular lesson that has surfaced since I've been here at Rochester Institute of Technology is the importance of networking and connecting with others both intentionally and actively. I almost feel that the previous statement is redundant, because to be an effective social being requires effort (and sometimes a lot of it). Once you have established a solid posse, then you can relax a little. But until that point, one must focus a lot of energy into meeting people who share common interests and have at least somewhat similar worldviews and paradigms. And even when you have a solid group of friends, you can't simply sit back passively and watch. You must get engaged and delve into your life, not sit back and wait for good things to approach you.

One idea that I have been constantly reminding myself of is the fact that for every minute I spend alone, I am subtracting an entire minute that could have been spent making new friends or rekindling old friendships. While I do think that some alone time each day is important, I also know that too much is not only unhealthy but also unproductive. Humans are relational creatures, made to connect with others and be in community with loved ones. With that said, I am proud to say that I have made the most of this past week, seizing every potential opportunity to make a new friend. And my hard work has paid off already. I am looking forward to many, many more weeks of intentionality and networking. Cheers to starting college off right!

New Horizons

As I wake up from a solid night of sleep in my new dorm room, a flood of thoughts sequentially enter my mind. I am reminded of how I went out on a limb by choosing RIT since I was unfamiliar with the school, the people, and the whole state of New York. And yet I am pleased to say that this is already beginning to feel like my home away from home. I have met many friendly people, and I feel that I can just totally be myself. I can't wait to plunge further into this new adventure. I plan on making memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. Cheers to a new chapter of life. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to attend RIT.

(Net)work

Lets face it: ever since the internet came about, the world has become a whole lot smaller. Austin Kleon writes in his New York Times best-selling book Steal Like An Artist that we are no longer ruled by geography. Instead, sites like Twitter allow us to effectively connect with and be inspired by a select group of like-minded people.

Kleon dedicates an entire chapter to pound home the fact that the world is a small town, so be nice to everyone with whom you cross paths. In other words, what goes around comes around. I like to think of each interaction that I have as an opportunity to expand my world and every new person I meet as means by which I add a link to my ever-enlarging web of connections. Each day I strive to be intentional about networking (both in person and online) because I have seen first-hand that hard (net)work pays off. I am fortunate enough to have a role model like my father, Mike Dobreski, who is an extremely gifted person and fully understands both the importance of networking and the steps to networking efficiently. In fact, he recently started an organization called Executive Educational Consultants, which has gotten where it is today because of my dad's hard (net)working and lots of prayer.

The Frame for the Canvas of Life

Property rights are the frame in which the canvas of life is displayed. Whether we notice it or not, property rights dictate much of our day to day life, from where we can park our car to the things we photograph. My economics professor, Bruce Rottman, ingrained in our heads this past year a theory called the Coase theorem. This economic theory refers to a competitive marketplace and states that when property rights are clear, and transaction costs are zero (or close to zero), an efficient outcome will be reached for both or all parties involved.

Utility or Friendly Façade?

Gift-cards, pleasant as they may seem, are one of the more hotly debated topics when it comes to gift-giving. While some argue that they are impersonal and don't truly profess one's kinship to the receiver, others claim that they are just as personal as an actual gift.

Well I am bringing a third opinion to the table. From a utilitarian perspective, gift-cards serve little to no purpose at all. They are simply a substitute for the ugly alternative called money. Money seems to me to be the most impersonal gift out there. While none of us are going to complain when we receive cash as a present, there lacks a personal signature when we give money. There is nothing about a fifty-dollar bill that reminds us of grandmother. These Federal Reserve notes are the same impersonal means with which we go about our day to day lives, exchanging it with strangers for the goods that we desire. Gift-cards are simply money in disguise. They serve the exact same purpose, except for your potential locations at which you can buy things has been severely narrowed down. How thoughtful.

Strands of Voices

Life is meant to be a series of pocket-sized dances, rhythmic pulsations flowing in and out of one individual to the next. We were created to be social creatures, every person being a vein in the circulatory system of this planet. We thrive when we find our rhythm because it means less change. These habitual tendencies are often formed when we are with our friends. One could say that when we spend time with a person we are matching their beat or tempo.

As we leisurely stroll down the crowded streets side by side, I notice that our tempos are matched when my right leg advances down the sidewalk at the same time as her left leg carries her. Meanwhile, our voices synchronize and as we converse they weave in and out of each other like a strand of DNA, reciprocating as one unified sound and ultimately giving life to the other.

Hindsight Spectacles

Lately I have been journaling everyday, and as I imagine my 30-year old self flipping through these records of my teenage life I can't help but wonder what will really matter when I am that old and can look back in hindsight. Will the 20/20 perspective of my past be a remorseful experience or an encouraging and pleasant hobby? What will be of interest when I reflect back on these golden years? I am starting to get the feeling that the exact details of what my teenage life consists of will be less important than what my life is about. 

This same vein of thought was present in the mind of the professor at a Brook's Institute workshop I attended who often would encourage us to take pictures about things and not necessarily of things. In other words, that which is implied often times packs a greater punch than that which is explicitly brought out into the open. The word of and the word about are inherently and necessarily quite different in their connotations. In most sentences, the former precedes a material or physical object or place. The word about on the other hand is often tied with a thought, or a feeling, or even a person. 

Do you think about things or do you think of things?

Night

Night
when words fade and things come alive.
When the destructive analysis of the day is done, and
all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.
When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Neon Palette

The dance floor is a static gateway to freedom and offers license to express oneself fully. In this busy and stressful world, dance clubs have swooped in and offered a momentary escape from the adversities that weigh us down. The dance floor is a blank canvas, and your footsteps create something beautiful upon a dirty floor. As the sweat drips, one feels that he can do whatever he wants and doesn't have to worry about what other people are thinking. In fact, they're probably not even thinking (at least not critically). They're dancing. There are very few things better than being surrounded by friends in the center of a dance floor as the flashing lights infuse with sound waves for a stimulating and heart-thumping evening.

The Zenith of Existence

As I was just going through my Facebook friends and inviting them to my birthday party, I would see their thumbnail photo scroll up my screen, and my mind would replay a recurring memory for each person. Interestingly, all of the memories that went through my head were of my friends at their best, brightest moment - in pure, energetic laughter. And that got me thinking, maybe when we laugh we are doing what we were created to do. We are reaching the zenith of our existence when we laugh uncontrollably. To be fully human is to let down all of the walls, worries, and concerns and just belt out in uninhibited, mirth-filled, blissful laughter. We are not, therefore, defined by our darkest moments but by our brightest. And since joy is communal, our character is molded and shaped in the presence of others. And those people who are present and attentive during those transformative moments of light oft become our closest companions. One thing I've been learning recently as I've started a new hobby (knife-throwing), is that if I don't feel fulfilled while partaking of an activity, or am not truly enjoying something on an emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual level, then perhaps I wasn't meant to invest my time in that particular activity. Oh, and yes, I did say that knife throwing is my new hobby :)