The weekend before classes began, we were taken on a bus, boat and metro train tour of Los Angeles and San Pedro led by Peter Lunenfeld and Norman Klein. We explored parts of LA that have served as key entrypoints for the U.S. economy – the Port of Los Angeles, Union Station, and the cluttered smoggy highways...

We learned about the networks that connect us from China to Targets, and learned that the things we wore, the snacks we ate, the bus we rode, the cameras we carried came from elsewhere, through those ports in shipping containers, onto trucks, up the freeways, to the stores, into our hands, and into our homes.

It was our first taste at understanding networks and connections. It was our first taste at understand what lies beneath. It was our first taste of the Media Design Program.

But, the tour wasn't the only way of introducing the M1's to the MDP. The following Sunday morning at 10:00am, we were given an assignment dubbed the "32-Hour Charette." It would end on Monday evening with pizza and our first critique. Welcome M1's. Welcome.

32-Hour Charette