Right now, I'm supposed to be working on a very important essay due Thursday. Instead, I'm sitting at my favourite coffee shop drinking a large cup of peanut butter crunch coffee and surfing the internet. Yay distraction!
For whatever reason, it's nearly impossible for me to write at home, so I came to the coffee shop to work on my essay about what was the Pioneer Inn in Oshkosh. In my interpretive and persuasive writing (aka: editorials, reviews and investigative reporting) class, we're working on a class project about what to do with the waterfront in that city, with each of us choosing a different site. I chose the Pioneer because my mom worked there years ago, so I got to hear all of her stories about how wonderful it was, and the fact that it used to be so high-class and wonderful, and now it's just a vacant pile of nothing is pretty fascinating to me. I have all of my research done, and it is a story I'm excited to tell, but I'm in the middle of a major case of writer's block.
Normally, writing at this coffee shop comes very easy. There's just something about the atmosphere that puts me in the mood to write. Actually, I suppose it's working right now, but just not for the writing I NEED to do. Instead I'm wasting time with my piles of notes cluttering the table, with all of my highlited phrases taunting me while I write in my blog about how distracted I am and how I really need to stop procrastinating. I wrote a few words, but it's so hard to force myself to write papers when I'm just not feeling it. Grrrrr. Good thing there are only 2-1/2 weeks left in the semester.
I also take comfort in the fact that next year, I only need electives. And not that many of them either. Only taking classes that I want to take makes the paper writing/endless readings/sitting in class/studying so much easier. I have a good feeling about this fifth year of college. Not being super-burdened with school also is allowing me to take on more at the paper. Next semester, I'm still the copy chief and writer for every section except sports, but I also get to take on the additional role of assistant news editor. I get to write the police blotter column, which is by far the most read of anything in the A-T. Yay!
It's always these last few weeks when I'm constantly writing papers for political science classes, articles for the A-T and journalism classes and everything in between that force me to rethink my brilliant idea to become a writer when I grow up. Then the semester ends, and I develop amnesia about how much I've hated writing in the past few weeks. And I still want to be a writer when I grow up.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A summer job, complete with coffee mug!
Maybe my pursuit of journalism as a career choice isn't quite so useless. You see, I somehow managed to score a summer job writing for a real paper that is not university-affiliated.
A few weeks back, I had to participate in mock interviews for a class I'm taking. Twice a year, the journalism program sets up these fake interviews presumably so we college students know how to write a resume, wear a business suit and appear competent when we graduate and look for that real job. Though the jobs are fake, the interviewers are really in charge of hiring for various companies in the area.
One of my interviews was for a small weekly in Kaukauna. Apparently my energy and excitement about journalism made me look like a good potential employee, because he offered me a summer job.
The other day, I went down to the office and met the rest of the staff and discussed details. Apparently I'm going to be writing mostly features, and probably cover a few town hall meetings. Since the paper is a small one, the staff does a lot more than they would at a bigger daily. This means I'll probably get some experience in photography and layout, which would definately be beneficial to learn.
Plus, there's pay! It's not enough to quit my main job over, but most journalism internships and summer jobs are unpaid, especially in this economy, so I'm really just happy to get anything. They also gave me my very own travel coffee mug with the company logo! Score!
After this experience, I think I may actually be ready to graduate college next year. Perhaps I will actually end up using my degree(s) after all. Cheers!
A few weeks back, I had to participate in mock interviews for a class I'm taking. Twice a year, the journalism program sets up these fake interviews presumably so we college students know how to write a resume, wear a business suit and appear competent when we graduate and look for that real job. Though the jobs are fake, the interviewers are really in charge of hiring for various companies in the area.
One of my interviews was for a small weekly in Kaukauna. Apparently my energy and excitement about journalism made me look like a good potential employee, because he offered me a summer job.
The other day, I went down to the office and met the rest of the staff and discussed details. Apparently I'm going to be writing mostly features, and probably cover a few town hall meetings. Since the paper is a small one, the staff does a lot more than they would at a bigger daily. This means I'll probably get some experience in photography and layout, which would definately be beneficial to learn.
Plus, there's pay! It's not enough to quit my main job over, but most journalism internships and summer jobs are unpaid, especially in this economy, so I'm really just happy to get anything. They also gave me my very own travel coffee mug with the company logo! Score!
After this experience, I think I may actually be ready to graduate college next year. Perhaps I will actually end up using my degree(s) after all. Cheers!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Advertising aggravates asphalt degredation in modern context
by Shayla Brooks of the Advance Titan
As annoying as the ice and snow of winter is, the potholes it leaves behind are perhaps worse. With city and county government more strapped for cash than ever before, many of these obnoxious potholes won?t get filled before damaging numerous vehicles, if ever. In Chicago, one company has a solution.
The March 26 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that KFC, as in the fried chicken franchise, is willing to fix the annoying holes in exchange for permission to stencil ?refreshed by KFC? in white lettering on the fresh asphalt.
On the surface, this story appears rather harmless, and perhaps even funny. The city gets much needed maintenance done on someone else?s dime, in addition to saving crucial tax dollars. KFC gets publicity not only from the stenciled letters, but also from the news articles that will inevitably cover this quirky approach to marketing. And the motorists receive an easier commute essentially for free, as their tax money wasn?t used, instead paid for with discretionary dollars spent on fried chicken, biscuits and mashed potatoes.
Are we, as citizens, willing to outsource public works projects to corporations and allow ourselves to be surrounded by even more advertisement?
Every day we are bombarded by advertisements, and seldom do we pay much attention. The first things that come to mind are usually the standard television commercials we skip through when given the opportunity, glossy magazine pages, and the sports stadiums named for corporate sponsors, such as Time Warner Cable field in Appleton. Granted, all of these examples are relatively benign; these ads are focused around for-profit leisure activities that one can easily choose to avoid or ignore.
The problem comes when advertising creeps out of the business realm and into the public sector. Things like roads and schools should not be turned into money making opportunities. In an environment like today?s, these types of public ventures do indeed need money now more than perhaps ever before, but allowing corporations to brand public works to get this money is not the answer. Advertising does not belong so deep in the public sphere. The notion of companies putting their wallets into cash-strapped public sectors in order to take advantage of extremely visible and practically unavoidable ad space is most prominent in schools.
In the past decade, there has been much controversy surrounding the idea of advertising in schools. School administrators often say they cannot afford to turn down the advertising and corporate sponsorships and keep funding programs. The impressionable minds of children combined with the necessities of attending school create a goldmine for advertisers to take advantage of these factors and turn students into consumers in exchange for money to fund various programs.
The National Institute on Media and the Family Web site [http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_adsinschool.shtml] points out numerous ways in which companies directly advertise to students in schools. Some of the more shocking examples listed include ?educational? posters in hallways advertising candies such as Skittles, 3 Musketeers and Starburst; school events paid for or sponsored by corporations, such as Homecoming sponsored by Dr. Pepper; and reward programs such as Book It!, where students receive coupons for free Pizza Hut pizza in exchange for meeting reading goals.
Most recently, there have been news stories about a teacher in a suburban San Diego high school who has been selling advertisement space on his exams. Though the USA Today article points out that most of these advertisements are fairly harmless inspirational messages paid for by parents of these students, it is scary that one of the most formative environments in a person?s life has to fall victim to advertising.
While putting advertisements on patched potholes is not exactly the same as putting those same ads on a high school math exam, both raise the question of boundaries. Tax-funded public institutions such as schools and roads should not become avenues for companies to attempt to make a potential profit. As citizens, we pay taxes to the government in exchange for certain necessary services, like the two previously mentioned. If companies are allowed to ?sponsor? such things, will there be any place people can have the freedom to be seen as humans and not dollar signs?
As annoying as the ice and snow of winter is, the potholes it leaves behind are perhaps worse. With city and county government more strapped for cash than ever before, many of these obnoxious potholes won?t get filled before damaging numerous vehicles, if ever. In Chicago, one company has a solution.
The March 26 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that KFC, as in the fried chicken franchise, is willing to fix the annoying holes in exchange for permission to stencil ?refreshed by KFC? in white lettering on the fresh asphalt.
On the surface, this story appears rather harmless, and perhaps even funny. The city gets much needed maintenance done on someone else?s dime, in addition to saving crucial tax dollars. KFC gets publicity not only from the stenciled letters, but also from the news articles that will inevitably cover this quirky approach to marketing. And the motorists receive an easier commute essentially for free, as their tax money wasn?t used, instead paid for with discretionary dollars spent on fried chicken, biscuits and mashed potatoes.
Are we, as citizens, willing to outsource public works projects to corporations and allow ourselves to be surrounded by even more advertisement?
Every day we are bombarded by advertisements, and seldom do we pay much attention. The first things that come to mind are usually the standard television commercials we skip through when given the opportunity, glossy magazine pages, and the sports stadiums named for corporate sponsors, such as Time Warner Cable field in Appleton. Granted, all of these examples are relatively benign; these ads are focused around for-profit leisure activities that one can easily choose to avoid or ignore.
The problem comes when advertising creeps out of the business realm and into the public sector. Things like roads and schools should not be turned into money making opportunities. In an environment like today?s, these types of public ventures do indeed need money now more than perhaps ever before, but allowing corporations to brand public works to get this money is not the answer. Advertising does not belong so deep in the public sphere. The notion of companies putting their wallets into cash-strapped public sectors in order to take advantage of extremely visible and practically unavoidable ad space is most prominent in schools.
In the past decade, there has been much controversy surrounding the idea of advertising in schools. School administrators often say they cannot afford to turn down the advertising and corporate sponsorships and keep funding programs. The impressionable minds of children combined with the necessities of attending school create a goldmine for advertisers to take advantage of these factors and turn students into consumers in exchange for money to fund various programs.
The National Institute on Media and the Family Web site [http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_adsinschool.shtml] points out numerous ways in which companies directly advertise to students in schools. Some of the more shocking examples listed include ?educational? posters in hallways advertising candies such as Skittles, 3 Musketeers and Starburst; school events paid for or sponsored by corporations, such as Homecoming sponsored by Dr. Pepper; and reward programs such as Book It!, where students receive coupons for free Pizza Hut pizza in exchange for meeting reading goals.
Most recently, there have been news stories about a teacher in a suburban San Diego high school who has been selling advertisement space on his exams. Though the USA Today article points out that most of these advertisements are fairly harmless inspirational messages paid for by parents of these students, it is scary that one of the most formative environments in a person?s life has to fall victim to advertising.
While putting advertisements on patched potholes is not exactly the same as putting those same ads on a high school math exam, both raise the question of boundaries. Tax-funded public institutions such as schools and roads should not become avenues for companies to attempt to make a potential profit. As citizens, we pay taxes to the government in exchange for certain necessary services, like the two previously mentioned. If companies are allowed to ?sponsor? such things, will there be any place people can have the freedom to be seen as humans and not dollar signs?
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