1. Yes, I want it
A long time ago a teacher told me a story. A story about men chained since their birth in
a cave where they could only see the shadows of the reality outside. When one of these
men was broken free, and after he was adapted to sunlight, he was finally able to see the
reality as it was. Then he returned to the cave to get their mates from ignorance,
although they took him for a fool.
When I was little, my parents kept me amused for hours watching TV with
movies, shows and series, in an attempt to contain my child anxiety while they were
working. I keep thinking that in this context my passion for films emerged, but it was
also one of the factors involved in my kidnapping. I'm a prisoner of this universe as men
of Plato's myth were, and I want to be free.
Perhaps the reader will not understand me or my approach to these philosophical
detours and nonsense, but if you look at a map of the world and try to find the Canary
Islands you may understand what I'm saying. You need a magnifying glass to identify
the archipelago, which just means that we represent a tiny part of the world where we
live. That's why an opportunity like that -providing me with this fellowship- cannot be
rejected: travelling across the world and take an opposite perspective, a turn of 180 º.
But it is not only the possibility of leaving my little corner of paradise in the world. It is
also the possibility of broadcasting, as a future communicator, what happens in the
world, outside the cave.
I know I'm a romantic, perhaps, but the romance genre is the most acclaimed, so
why denying it? I think that journalism is experiencing a whole new golden age; it’s a
time of change. Many of my classmates, my teachers, my parents, my friends, even
professionals of information believe that journalism is finished, but I say it isn’t.
Multimedia technology and what is known as New Journalism are revolutionizing
industry, so we would be absolutely mad if we don’t take the chance to work with these
new tools that offer so many opportunities. Google fellowship is, for me, a chance to
reinvent myself, or at least to finish inventing myself, and I think I have -perhaps
because of my age- the skills needed to handle with these technologies.
I was supposed to write a short essay about why and what I want applying for
this fellowship. Maybe I can summarize it in three points:
- First of all, this is an opportunity to explore a culture at the other side of the world and
open the borders that delimit the small dot that the Canary Islands are in the ocean.
- Secondly, working on an English-speaking company abroad does not only help me to
reinforce my grip on the language, but also to develop the necessary autonomy in the
workplace.

2. - Last, it’s a unique opportunity to gain experience and, above all, learn in a professional
environment that will allow me to apply my theoretical knowledge into practice.
I can say that I have enough motivation and capacity to face up to the challenges
that can be present in a mass-media company. Despite having no experience in the
industry, I have worked in an office, so I can learn the working mechanism in a mass-
media quickly. Furthermore, language is not a problem as I have a B2 level in English
recognized by the First Certificate test in Cambridge University. In short, I want to
apply for this fellowship to start my career with this practical course and exercise the
three fundamental aims of journalism, which are to inform, to educate and to entertain.
But, above all, it is an opportunity to get my three personal goals: learn, learn and learn.
Ingrid Ortiz