s u p e r n o v a @jourdanisms - Tumblr Blog

–– « j o u r d a n » ––

full name: jourdan emilia dyer

birthday: october 31st

likes: paper print, coffee, early mornings, dogs, the ocean, literature, basketball, tall socks, big sweatshirts, spring, bees, old stories, photography, national geographic, netflix, shopping on amazon prime, heated blankets, smoothies not milkshakes, rain, bonfires, sunflowers, dirt roads, fog, magic hour, witching hour, the ocean, chicago

dislikes: messy closets, spiders, wind, sandstorms, movies about sharks, ants, telephone towers, cornfields, rush hour traffic, delayed trains, basically being late, horror films, the hallmark channel, golf, math

jourdan aesthetics: overalls and old destination t-shirts, polaroid cameras–– the big ugly ones that aren’t cute and pastel, glitter freckles, sun tea, sunflowers, worn out converse, the smell of rain, natural hair, freshly cleaned sheets on a freshly made bed, long runs, old encyclopedias, ribbon, green grass, sunsets at 9pm, orange juice, murals, homemade vanilla ice-cream, sugary scented lotion, doodles in the margins of a book, color-sorted closets, bullet journals, rose gold, obnoxiously loud laughter

jourdan's room: old maps that she finds in thrift stores and re-sale book stores cover the walls, mostly places she’d life to visit someday. photos and hand-written notes from friends cover the spaces the maps don’t reach. clean desk made of dark wood matches the dark wood bed frame and bookshelves. a light yellow quilt that used to be her mothers covers the bed. strung lights are hung all over the place and the windows are always open when it’s warm enough outside. coffee mugs line the only shelf that isn’t occupied by books and a keurig sits in the corner of her expansive desk. her drawers are sorted into categories, her closet is organized by season, then color. it’s only ever messy during finals

clever: jourdan is book smart, that can be seen on her transcripts, but she’s also very quick on her feet and good with words. she’s able to read people and situations, assess, and then choose the best actions for the best outcomes, and this cleverness is what makes her such a damn good journalist. it’s not a traditional kind of smart; it’s innovative and adaptable.

compassionate: jourdan loves people. loves people. she’s easy to get along with and has a knack for making people feel comfortable around her right off the bat, and that’s because she’s truly got a big heart. she cares about the well being of people, not because it benefits her in anyway but because she just genuinely cares. even if that means her friends label her the mom friend™.

facile: she’s easily taken advantage of, however, because she isn’t one to cause conflict face-to-face. she’s got a fear of rocking the boat which hinders her in her career, and it’s something she’s working on. her trusting nature and desire to make everyone happy makes her a pushover at times, which is frustrating for her and others.

reticent: she throws herself into making sure others are feeling okay because she doesn’t particularly like to face or reveal her own feelings. it’s always something with jourdan, whether it be ‘there are bigger problems’ or ‘I just don’t have the energy to discuss it right now’. because of this struggle to open up, a lot of her relationships are simply surface level, skin deep. very few get past that which makes for a relatively lonely life.

#–– « oh my STARS! » –– musings.

–– « fun facts » ––

jourdan has approximately three instagrams: one for herself, one for her photography, and one for her dog. yes. she’s one of those. her pup is a german shepherd named atlas, given to her by her eldest brother when both left the house and she was suddenly ‘by herself’.

she goes to school in chicago, and one of her writing assignments freshman year was to do a semester long investigative study on the state of chicago’s public schools. she spent a lot of time with inner-city kids and didn’t stop working with the schools once her piece was done. when she has the time, she’s a writing tutor for a few of the high schools just because she genuinely loves being around the students.

many people hate winter, but jourdan doesn’t mind it. it’s not the holidays or the warm clothes that make her happy, but the lights. she loves lights and has about a million ‘artsy’ photo compilations of christmas lights in boston, chicago, the small towns in between, and even new york city.

despite growing up around mostly boys, she’s by no means a tomboy. jourdan hella loves sundresses and really enjoys ballet. she doesn’t have the self-discipline to be a ballerina, and never did, but she’s definitely a fan of the art and developed a lot of her photography skills by hanging around dance studios.

she chose documentary journalism becuase she loves the story-telling aspect of it. while articles found in the new york times and other outlets are quick and to the point, she finds herself writing pieces you may find in times magazine or national geographic. recently, she’s been easing her way into filming as well as photo/writing. ultimately, for her senior thesis, she’d like to make a cohesive piece including photos, articles, and a short documentary. –– the girl is ambitious as fuck.

she’s optimistic despite wanting to dive into a career that really shows her the darkest points of the world. there’s a quote somewhere about journalists shining a light on the darkest corners of the world, and that’s the kind of work she hopes to do. she wants to work on projects that create a profound change in the way people view things.

she was definitely the preppy type in high school, but she tried to get along with everyone. she avoided conflict as much as she could and still does, which makes her sort of easy to take advantage of. she’s almost too trusting at times.

loves libraries. loves them so much she practically lives in the one at northwestern. it’s where she does her best work.

she also loves road trips and as soon as she could drive, it was hard to keep her in one place for long periods of time. most of the money she made at the restaurant that didn’t go towards school went towards her own little adventures. she’s much more focused on experiences rather than physical possessions.

she gets along really well with her older brothers, more so tucker than cal just because their interests, their love of travel, and their curiosity make their personalities very similar. she admires cal, however, because no matter how intelligent she is on paper, she cannot wrap her head around the things he does in the scientific field.

jourdan is a hardcore believer. she reads up on things before committing, but she’s a believer. ghosts? yup. conspiracy theories? some. aliens? of course. she finds that life is boring if you don’t believe in the extraordinary, and she lives by that.

#–– « oh my STARS! » –– musings.

coffee-tea-and-sympathy

Christmas Mood in Moscow, Russia by Artem Arutyunov

#–– « oh the places you'll GO » –– photos.

bookishgr

One of the best coffee places I’ve ever been to.

#–– « oh my STARS! » –– musings.

–– « past to present » ––

jourdan dyer grew up in a single parent household just outside of boston, mass. their home was lively and loud, however, housing both of her grandparents, her father, her two older brothers, and her. while there seemed to be a shortage of hot water in the mornings, there was no shortage of love.

jackson dyer, jourdan’s father, was chief of the boston police; her grandparents owned a popular restaurant in downtown; unfortunately, her mother passed shortly after jourdan was born. their family was unconventional, dysfunctional even, but it was the best upbringing jourdan could wish for. she and her brothers, four years apart in age, went to good schools, got good grades, participated in extracurriculars, and began working at the restaurant at a young age–– starting up their college funds. they never went without, but they worked for everything, so all of them understand the value of a dollar.

one night, around the time she was fifteen, as the hours got later and later, her father didn’t come home. a raid gone wrong had cost him his life, it cost the dyer kids their only parent.

luckily, both of her grandparents were in good health and became the legal guardians of all three kids. they pushed them to be the best they could possibly be, each dyer child excelling in their area of best performance. tucker was an athlete, entering the military fresh out of high school and tearing his way through the ranks for a few years before applying and ultimately becoming a seal. cal had a natural ability in the sciences and earned himself a spot at massachusetts institute of technology, the nation’s top uni for aeronautical engineering. jourdan’s specialty was with people, pens, and paper. her interest in journalism began when she was young, forever interested in the boston globe’s spotlight team. her father gave her her first camera at the age of thirteen, and she was the only freshman on her high school’s newspaper writing staff. her love of journalism, documentary journalism to be specific, led her to northwestern university where she studies the craft and continues to push herself.

jourdan is adventurous, but she isn’t interested in being the face of a news station. she wants to be in the field with a notebook and her camera, living in her location and developing long stories over time. while her heart lies in the humanitarian subjects, she does have a selfish dream of being a travel journalist, hence her current internship. college is the time to be selfish, she reassured herself, so it’s okay to spend some time on a cruise ship before assignments send her to the grittier places around the world.

she always has a small notebook and a camera with her, tucked away in her bag. she loves talking to people, too, and likes to find the extraordinary within the mundane.

her thoughts are constantly running a million miles a minute, so her head is often times very scattered, and because she can’t control that curious thought process she has, she resorts to being very type-A with everything else. her notes, her room, her suitcases, and even the way she present herself are tidy and ‘perfect’.

she never really dealt with the loss of her father, and she still struggles with it from time to time. mostly it’s something that she pushes to the back of her mind, throwing herself into a project until the heartache goes away.

this is honestly probably the first summer that she’s spent away from her grandparents, from her family, and that’s a struggle because she is very close with them and family is one of the most important things for her, but they’re very supportive of her.

on the cruise, she’s really out looking for adventure. she wants to get a few of her own stories in before dedicating her life to the stories of others.

#–– « oh my STARS! » –– musings.