Hi class! My name is Kendal McDowell, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I graduated from FSU with my BA in Art History in 2022, and I’m back to earn my MSI degree. This is only my 2nd semester in the program, so I still have plenty to learn.
I live in Tallahassee, but am originally from Lakeland, FL. Lakeland is the birthplace of Publix, and my first part-time job was bagging groceries at one of the smaller stores in town. Nowadays I work in the student services office for the FSU College of Law as a full-time program coordinator. I am obsessed with the Sanrio character Gudetama, so my desk is heavily decorated with merch of the lazy egg. I think I like this character because it’s entire personality is centered around being lazy and not caring, whereas I care too much about everything all the time.
My hobbies include playing piano, playing video games, reading, consuming useless pop culture news, and walking the different trails and parks around Tallahassee. I also volunteer at the Tallahassee Museum as a living history docent. I’m really interested in history, and I love learning about local and Florida history.
While I’m familiar with a lot of the subjects this class will be covering, that familiarity is surface-level, and I want to dive deeper into areas such as video and audio editing. I have some graphic design experience from classes I took in my undergraduate studies, but in recent years, I’ve become pretty reliant on Canva for work projects. I’m not the most creative person, but I am hardworking and eager to learn.
Thank you for sharing! I have seen Gudetama before, but I never knew the name. He’s cute! There are a few YouTube travelogues from Japan that my wife and I watched, and one involved a trip to a Hello Kitty pop-up restaurant. I can definitely relate to enjoying “useless” pop culture.
I am between cubicles myself, but I have a lot of Mega Man figures to display whenever I get set back up!
Hi Kendal!
I love Sanrio characters! Gudetama is very cute, and I adore how you like him because his personality contradicts yours. Some of my favorites are Pompompurin, Pochacco, and Bad Badtz-Maru. Admittedly, I barely remember their personalities, I just think they’re cool and obsess over their merch. I love to get blind boxes of Sanrio things at Five Below and have some of them littered around my bookshelves.
I’ve never been dedicated enough to learning how to play an instrument, I tried as a kid to learn how to play the keyboard, guitar, and flute (for school band in middle school). Piano music is so soothing to me, it’s awesome you know how to play it. What are some of your favorite scores?
Let’s have a great semester!
Hi Kendal!
Your “Florida Woman” title made me giggle. What’s the silliest “Florida Man…” headline you’ve seen?
I learned piano for about 10 years when I was younger, but I hate to say I’m quite rusty now. I wish it was something I kept up with. I also love hiking and taking walks on the trails around me. I live in Madison, WI and there are surprisingly so many parks and trails. The Ice Age trail is a pretty popular one nearby. My only qualm is that a lot of them are considered conservation parks which is good and all, but they are no dogs allowed 🙁 I mostly take walks with my dog, so it’s kind of a bummer.
Hi Kendal! I love your desk set up – your Gudetamas are so cute! Growing up, I was a huge fan of Badtz Maru, Keroppi, and Pochacco, but I think Gudetama must have come around a little later because I’m not familiar with it.
I noticed you mentioned that your undergraduate degree was in Art History, and you’re volunteering at the Tallahassee Museum. Are you thinking about working in museum archiving when you complete this program? Working as a living history docent must be such an interesting experience!