March 2015 - Tony Ward Studio

Michelle Chiu: A Place Out of Time

Photography and Text by Michelle Chiu

At first glance, it was like out of a picture book…or maybe a time machine? Other countries—whether in South America, Africa, or Asia—had all had a niggling sense of familiarity. Cuba felt distinctly different, completely foreign to even my group of seasoned travelers. Was this place just cut off? The clichéd phrase—“out of time”? Or was it something else?

I hadn’t known what to imagine before we arrived in Cuba. Though eerily strange, Havana and Viñales also felt exactly like every description you’ve ever heard of Cuba come to life. Reality rose to meet imagination and hype. Old architecture and classic cars, tobacco farmers and bright, colored houses. Cuba was every bit as beautiful as Hemingway has written…except where it wasn’t.

The constant presence of rubble baffled me. Old Havana’s roads seemed to be in a perpetual state of haphazard construction, forcing pedestrians to navigate around piles of rubble and deep trenches. Further from the tourist zones, the cars (and trains) displayed more age and less glamour. Lots lay abandoned where buildings had simply collapsed from disrepair. The country appeared to have not only two currencies, but two faces.

Ten days in Cuba is only enough to give a quick glimpse and glimmer of Cuba’s marvels and mysteries.

About the Author: Michelle Chui is enrolled in the MBA program, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

TWS: Portrait of the Day

Sarah Cheng: Technology

Posted on March 26 by Sarah Cheng

In the last ten years, technology has unexpectedly disrupted conventional industries and traditional business models. Retail is no exception to this change. The consumer experience in brick-and-mortar stores has been transformed by the presence of technology, from flat-screen advertisements to i-pad registers. Are these new technological advancements friend or foe to the retail industry? Moreover, has technology revolutionized how we do business in this modern age?

The juxtaposition of fashion and technology can seem strangely natural when executed in an artistic manner. Retailers have embraced the benefits of this change for their business. Stuart Weitzman exhibits its new collection and most recent runway show.

Hashtags have become ubiquitous in retail advertisements. Although they’ve emerged in pop culture fairly recently, retailers view them as a marketing opportunity. This new trend is a sign of the powerful and lasting influence of technology.

Pedestrians often see two screens when they pass by a window display – the storefront window and a flat screen behind it. Does a second screen cut through the noise and connect to the customer, or does its novelty and glamour distract us from the real product?

The next step in this technology evolution is consumer interaction: retailers want consumers to engage and interact with technology inside their stores. However, technology can place distance between the consumer and the product.

The technological disruption has gone beyond the consumer experience and infiltrated the boardroom. Innovations such as fiber-optic Internet and teleconference lines enable the business world to connect easily to the outside world, opening new portals of exchange.

These screens are meant to extend the realm of business possibilities. Yet there’s still much we don’t know about technology, though it’s all around us. This new source of information and sense of clarity may only be an illusion.

Photography and Text by Sarah Cheng

About the Author: Sarah Cheng is a recent graduate of the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and is currently a consultant at Bain & Company, New York.

Olga Ignatovets: Sim Man

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Olga Ignatovets

The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing is one of the many nursing schools that is currently using SimMen for clinical practices. Before students can go into actual hospitals, they are able to practice their skills in controlled environments such as Room 104.

Room 104 is very similar to a room in any hospital. The only major difference is that the patients in this room are simulation models and not real human beings. Even though these patients are only practice models, it is necessary to treat them like real patients.

The first simulation model happens to be a man and he is complaining of heart pain and trouble breathing. The model actually has a heartbeat and the nursing student can listen to the heart and hear that same sounds that would be heard in a human being’s heart.

The simulation models also weight about the same as an average human adult would. Their hands are very similar to human hands. Some of the models can even be programed to respond to touch.

Student nurses also have an opportunity to practice complex procedures on these simulation models. Instead of making mistakes on people, these students can practice on the models and this will decrease the amount of mistakes made in healthcare facilities. This SimMan has had a tracheostomy performed.

The Sim Man can do many fascinating things and many fascinating procedures can be performed on the Sim Man. However, the Sim Man’s most fascinating trait is his ability to respond to questions that you ask him!

About the Author: Olga Ignatovets is a sophomore enrolled in the School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2017.

Gregory Lewis: Shadows

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Gregory Lewis

“Here is the tragedy: when you are the victim of depression, not only do you feel utterly helpless and abandoned by the world, you also know that very few people can understand, or even begin to believe, that life can be this painful. There is nothing I can think of that is quite as isolating as this.” – Giles Andreae

Often as we go about lives we fail to notice that those near us are going through difficult times. Several of which struggle with mental illness such as schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and clinical depression. 1 in 10 Americans suffer from depression at one point or another. However, over 80% of people with clinical symptoms are not receiving treatment for their depression.

Jessica was a first generation college student who graduated valedictorian of her high school . Her entire school was excited when she was accepted into an Ivy League institution. Jessica was moving quite far away from home but she deemed it worth it as she was pursuing her dreams at her dream school.

Jessica was quick to make friends once she began college because of her “bubbly personality”. However, several months after being on campus she became extremely homesick. Additionally, her boyfriend of 4 years began what would eventually be two tours in Iraq. Jessica latter admitted that this added significant stress in her life as she was constantly worried about his well-being. Further adding to Jessica’s stress was her grades began to slip.

Jessica began avoiding interactions with other and even stopped going to classes. Her eating habits completely changed and she began hating her body. She even said at one point that she wanted to just, “end it all”.

Thankfully, Jessica had made a close friend in her first few weeks at her school. This friend would constantly check on Jessica and encourage her to go to class. Eventually, with the encouragement of this friend, sought professional help to address this change. After having being diagnosed with clinical depression Jessica began to fight this crippling disease. Jessica still has a long road ahead of her but she looks forward to the future with a positive outlook.

About the Author: Gregory Lewis is majoring in Nursing, enrolled in the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2015.