Everyone’s been asking me about ITP (for obvious reasons), but I’ve yet to come up with something succinct. Here, then, is the best I’ve done thus far, plus a moment of surprising clarity on the scope of my life, from a MySpace message to a friend who found out that I’m going from her mom, who may be stalking me:

The program’s official (from 1979) name is the “Interactive Telecommunications Program” - ITP for short. It’s focused on the intersection of a whole bunch of stuff like technology, art, sociology, economics… The idea is that we’re thinking creatively about technology, figuring out what the next steps are, and then actually making them. In my application, I referred to it as “applied futurism” - think about what the future will be (or could be), then build it! There are a bunch of similar programs, but ITP is the only one that I’m eligible for that focuses on actually producing things, rather than just theory. Which I like!

And yes, I’m super excited. I think we’re hitting that “get on with our lives” phase of our mid-20’s - weddings, new jobs, new cities - and this is almost certainly the right thing for me. Getting to spend two years hanging out with smart creative people and building cool stuff sounds like so much fun. I think ITP will put me on a good course to continue to do that for a long time, hopefully the rest of my life. And what more can I ask for?

So, that’s the gist.

Also, the program will grant me a mythical Masters of Professional Studies in Interactive Telecommunications. Never heard of an MPS before? Me either.