Intern in Real Life

One of my dream jobs is to be an editor. In searching the internet to see what jobs are out there I found the following job description for a position at Harper-Collins: I am

Title:	Editor
Description:	Description: To be responsible for wide range of editorial and publishing tasks with a concentration on hands-on editorial work and high-level acquisitions. Specific Responsibilities: • Acquires and edits original manuscripts. • Edits existing projects; works closely with the Editorial Director on special projects and the Editorial Director on editorial back-up. • Manages significant ongoing editorial programs such as MY WEIRD SCHOOL and FLAT STANLEY • Will work directly with the executive editor on selected projects. • Develops IP (Intellectual Property) in collaboration with team and IP director • Deals directly with authors, illustrators and agents. • Negotiates contracts; participates in all stages of book production from receipt of manuscript to actual publication; writes copy, marketing and launch notes. • Works with designers, copyeditors, sales, design and subrights in the execution of tasks.
Requirements:	Background Required: Must possess college degree or equivalent work experience; significant prior work experience, preferably in children’s books; college-level understanding and use of the English language; attention to detail, be self-motivated, well organized. I am really excited about this position because it is in book editing and it is more than just copy-editing. Here is a cover letter I would send in along with my resume from the previous post: To Whom it May Concern Ever since I was little, I always loved to read. My parents would read me stories before bedtime and I would become enthralled in them. I loved getting lost in the story and had always wanted to go into a career where I could work with books. I explored editing in high school, when my sister would ask me to edit her school papers. I enjoyed it and when I got to college I joined my school's literary magazine as an editor and later as editor-in-chief. Through this position I learned how to lead a group of people and delegate tasks. I also learned time management and how to multitask. My education in English and Communications has helped me to improve both my writing and verbal communication skills. Classes I have taken, such as creative writing, have helped me to hone in on my editing skills along with running the magazine. As a result of previous work and internship experiences, I have attained organizational and communication skills. I have gained a lot of experience in project management from my internship with the Career Development Center. I work well in a group or by myself and can put creative ideas into effect. Working as an editor at HarperCollins would allow me to utilize the writing, editing, and communication skills I have gained as an English major and allow me to gain practical experience while applying concepts learned in the classroom.

Updated Resume

So this is what my resume now looks like with my internship:

Education: Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA

Bachelor of Arts, May 2011

Major: English

Minors: Communications and Italian

GPA: 3.2/4.0

Experience: Saint Joseph’s University Career Development Center, Philadelphia, PA

Intern September 2010-present

· Market the Career Development Center to fellow peers through use of social media

· Design flyers and t-shirts promoting career development events

· Host and attend different career development events on campus

March of Dimes, King of Prussia, PA

Intern July-August 2010

· Wrote grants

· Conducted research regarding different foundations

· Designed pamphlets and brochures

Tender Touch Rehabilitation, Lakewood, NJ

Human Resources Assistant July 2009

· Filed paperwork and made sure employees were in compliance with therapist standards

· Assembled packets to send to clients needing to complete paperwork

· Communicated with employees to be sure they were in compliance and up to date on paperwork

Telephonic Research Operation Center, Philadelphia, PA

Telemarketer September 2008-June 2009

· Conducted research for food marketing operation through telephone medium

· Verified business and residential phone numbers

Camp Topanemus, Millstone, NJ

Camp Counselor Summer 2006-Summer 2007

· Supervised groups of children

· Guided children in camp activities

· Organized Camp events such as a talent show

Hallmark, Freehold, NJ

Sales Associate November 2006-January 2007 (seasonal)

· Served as a cash register clerk and stock clerk

· Assisted customers with purchases.

Activities: Crimson and Gray Literary Magazine, Saint Joseph’s University

o President, September 2009-present

o Editor, September 2007-May 2009

Skills: Proficient in Italian

Knowledge of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, MAC

My Portfolio

Here are some of the flyers I designed for my internship, along with the t-shirt that says the slogan I came up with.

Front of T-shirt:

"Friend Your Future"

Back of Shirt:

'Event Invitation' to the

CareerFair

Flyers for the Career Fair:

To Sum Up

Throughout the fall semester, I have participated in an internship with Saint Joseph’s University’s Career Development Center. The Career Development Center works with both students and employers to help students get hired after graduation. Students can come into the Career Center to receive general career counseling, help with their resumes, and participate in mock interviews, among other things. The Career Center even provides help in choosing a major as well as free tests that students can take to help them find out what careers they would be interested in and enjoy doing. I was surprised to learn just how many tools the Career Development Center offers. My internship started in August and I worked with five other co-interns on both independent and group projects.

Our main purpose was to serve as liaisons between the Career Development Center and the student body. The Career Development Center is located about three blocks from the main campus and not many students know of its existence or of all the services that they offer. As students ourselves, we were better able to get in contact with other students and make known the Career Center’s existence as well as how they can help students prepare for their own career search. Every Thursday throughout the semester, my co-interns and I, along with our boss, would have a meeting to plan and discuss upcoming events, and delegate tasks.

One of my responsibilities as an intern was to attend events that were put together by the Career Development Center and help host them. The first event I attended was “Seniors…Get A Job!” It was a one hour presentation giving students a quick overview on how to use different tools to find a job, including how to navigate the Career Center’s website in order to find job postings and different job search engines. I stood at the door greeting students as they walked in and made sure they signed their name on the sign-in sheet so that my boss could keep track of attendance/ success of the event. I also helped set up the tables of food and helped to clean up when the event was over. Because I am a senior as well, I was able to get more out of the experience, and I was able to learn the different ways of finding a job along with my peers.

I also hosted an information session with Morgan Stanley. I introduced myself to the representatives and help them set up all of their technology, as well as food. And finally, I hosted the criminal justice networking night, which was one of the bigger events. I organized tables, help set up food, once again, and greeted students and employers as they walked in.

The main event of the semester was the Fall Career Fair. It was the main focus of our meetings for the first half of the internship and a lot of effort was put into the marketing of the event. We decided that the theme of the Career Fair would be Facebook, so we stuck to a blue color scheme and Facebook slang. I designed flyers to hand out to students to promote the event, and the interns collectively designed a t-shirt that we would all wear prior to and during the event. I came up with the slogan “Friend Your Future” and learned that I was pretty good at word play. We had events prior to the Career Fair solely to promote the career fair. We gave out free candy and flyers all over campus during free period. The interns split up and we stationed ourselves at all the high traffic areas reminding students about the Career Fair. We painted a bed sheet banner that we hung outside of Campion and two days before the Career Fair took place, we chalked the high traffic areas of campus with reminders that the Career Fair was taking place that week. We also participated in working the Career Fair when the day came. Some of us helped to set up in the morning and others helped to close down in the late afternoon. I greeted students and employers as they walked in. I made sure that the students signed in and that they made a nametag. I also provided students with necessary papers and gave them advice on how to approach the different employers. Overall, the event was deemed a success and the craziness of the internship died down a little bit.

Afterwards, we turned our attention to hosting events to promote the Career Development Center. Our boss gave the interns the chance to do independent project management. We were able to put together and host our own event without supervision. My co-interns and I, met outside of our weekly meetings in order to plan the event and brainstorm ideas. We decided that prize goldfish are usually very popular and to do some type of game where students could win a free goldfish. The game was simply to spin a wheel divided into different colored sections labeled “goldfish,” “Candy,” “Gift card,” and “spin again.” Whichever section the wheel landed on, that was the prize the student would receive. While they were waiting in line, they received information about the Career Development Center and the services they provide as well as a four-year plan on career development. The event was so successful that we ran out of prizes within the first hour.

The last event of the semester that we hosted was giving out free coffee in front of Campion the first week of December. Once again, we made flyers prior to the event promoting it and then handed out flyers the day of with information about the Career Development Center. The interns walked around campus handing out the informative flyers and telling students of the free coffee.

One thing that was constant throughout the entire semester was our use of social media. I and the other interns used Facebook and Twitter to promote the events and tell our peers to come to them. It was also a way of telling other SJU students about the Career Development Center and the different services they offer. To that end, all the interns kept a blog for the Career Center discussing the events and what we did as interns. To see my posts, you can visit this link: http://www.sju.edu/blogs/careers/. I talk about our different events and share my thoughts about what I learned or how they went, as well as offer some career advice to my readers.

Because my internship was with the Career Development Center, my boss wanted me to focus on my career development as well. She paired me with a mentor, who is a counselor at the Career Development Center, and I meet with her every so often to discuss my job search strategies and related topics. One thing all of the interns had to do was attend a mock interview. I did not like the idea of possibly being harshly critiqued at first, but I learned a lot from the experience. It was good practice for when I have to start going on real interviews. I now have more of an idea of what to expect and got some good pointers on conducting a good interview, as I stated in a previous blog. The other thing I was required to do was take a career test. I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory. The tests are supposed to tell me what jobs I show the most interest in and what careers I would be happy in based on people with similar personalities to mine. The tests were very helpful in allowing me to learn about myself. I discovered that I am spontaneous and a risk taker— two things I had not known about myself before the tests—but the tests did not help me narrow down my job search at all. All of the careers that popped up were ones that I had already been considering, or considered at one point in time. The tests did not give me a specific dream job, but it did help me to realize I could be happy doing a variety of different jobs; and most of all, the tests helped me to learn about myself. After visiting with my mentor to discuss the test results, I then meant with her to discuss job search strategies. She explained to me all the different ways of finding a job: looking on-line, targeting businesses, and networking.

One of the main things I learned from this internship, both inside the Career Development Center and outside of it, isthe importance of networking. At the career panels I hosted, all the employers stressed the importance of networking and how it is the most common way people find jobs both after graduation and throughout their lives. Luckily, through my internship, I learned how to talk to employers and how to converse with almost anyone. Even handing out flyers to fellow students, required me to step out of my comfort zone a little bit because most students do not want to be bothered with the added hassle of another paper to hold on to or someone trying to sell them something. Many times, the students would just ignore me and pretend I wasn’t talking to them and I hated feeling like I was irritating them, but I learned to be more outgoing by the end of the semester.

I also learned a lot about interviewing. I was on both sides of the table with my internship. I was the one being interviewed during the mock interview where I picked up many good interviewing tips and I was later an interviewer. The Career Development Center was looking for a new director and our supervisors had narrowed down the candidates. I and another intern were asked to give him a tour of the campus and ask him some questions to see if he would be a good fit for the university. It was an interesting experience to be on the other side of the interview and it helped me gain some insight into what an interviewer considers when thinking about hiring somebody.

I learned about my own career development and what careers seem to be a good fit for me, as well as job search strategies so I can put my interviewing skills to the test.

Another major component I learned through my internship was marketing. Before my internship, I had never taken a marketing class before and did not know anything about advertising or promoting. However, I now know how to make an effective flyer and slogan, and how to use social media as a promoting tool. I also learned project management, along with my co-interns, when we put together the goldfish event on our own. I did not realize all the planning that goes into putting together and executing an event. We had to think about how to market it, who to market it to, what venue it would be held in, the time frame, etc. Along with project management, I gained experience in working with a team and learned how to compromise ideas to make them work for everyone involved.

Through this internship, I gained experience in marketing and project management, learned how to work in a team and run an event. I also learned about general career development. But most of all I learned about myself. I can now take most of what I learned and apply my newfound skills to other jobs in the future.

What I Learned

As a college senior graduating in May, I have started to think about what I want to do after graduation. While I've considered every possible career from pastry chef to entrepreneur, I've narrowed down my options.

I think I would like to go into publishing after graduation. I love to read and always thought it would be awesome to be involved in the process, getting to read books before they even go into the stores. I think being an editor would be great because then I could be involved in the process of making the book better and seeing it through from start to finish.

My internship has helped to prepare me for a job in publishing by giving me editing roles. The interns need to write blog posts every week and I edit them, which helps me to gain experience in copyediting. There are also many different departments within a publishing house and I believe my internship has helped to prepare me for most of them. Because we do a lot of marketing projects in my internship (I have designed flyers and made up slogans among other things), I believe I can now be successful working in a marketing department or public relations as well.

The internship has also given me experience in project management and group work. I have experience in working both by myself and with a team. And because my internship is with the career development center, it has helped me in terms of my own career development. I have been forced to network with business professionals and attended informational panels. I have also taken career assessments that taught me more about myself and helped me to see what my strengths and weaknesses were within certain professions.

All in all, I think my internship helped to prepare me for a career by helping me to learn more about myself.

Leading Projects

As a Career Development Intern, I have hosted events and attended them. As of this week I have officially planned one and gained some experience in project management along with my fellow interns.

In order to market the Career Development Center to Freshmen and Sophomores who are probably not familiar with all the things the Career Center can do for them, we came up with a promotional event to be held in Campion during free period.

Participants would spin a wheel (think wheel of fortune) and have the option of winning candy, a giftcard to Cosi or Starbucks, or a goldfish complete with a fishbowl, fish food, and a pamphlet on how to care for it.

My co-interns and I spent three weeks planning the event and marketing it (making flyers, sending emails, posting announcements) and then set everything up and hosted it the day of the event. It was good experience in balancing independent/group projects and our event was very successful.

NETWORK!!

I recently attended an event for my internship. It was called "So...You Want to Work in NY?" and consisted of a panel of recent graduates and alumni who were supposed to speak about their experiences working and living in New York.

While some of their advice was specific to their own career fields in marketing and finance, they provided more general advice for all the listeners, such as living in New York can be expensive so try to find a roommate and live outside the city, like in Brooklyn or Queens.

However, one of the most helpful pieces of advice that they all agreed on and seemed to be the most useful was the importance of networking.

Networking is how most of them found their jobs and they could not stress it enough.

Network! Network! Network!

I guess sometimes it really is about who you know.

Mock Interviews...not as bad as they sound

Hey everyone,

So I finally had my mock interview on Tuesday and it was really helpful. I was really nervous at first. The thought of having to talk to someone knowing they were going to judge and evaluate me and then tell me everything I did wrong at the end of it did not sound appealing to me.

I had gotten a sheet of potential behavioral-based interview questions to help me prepare for the mock interview. I was armed with my greatest strength (working well under pressure) and my greatest weakness (sometimes focusing too much on one task) and had prepared a short little monologue in my head about what to say when the interviewer asked me to tell him/her about myself.

But it turned out I didn't need any of that stuff for this mock interview. My interviewer was a woman who worked at a local radio station and my nerves went away as we started talking. This interview was not a question/answer session but an actual conversation. Of course there were a few of the basic questions such as what my career goals were and what I felt my greatest accomplishment was but she asked none of the questions I had prepared for.

I found this helpful because I realized that each person has their own interviewing technique and different people/industries will look for different qualities in their potential employers. I also asked my interviewer for some helpful hints for having a successful interview and here are some points she made:

1.) Always look your best...wear a skirt or pants suit. It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed on an interview...and also don't overdo it on the accessories

2.) Arrive 5 minutes early.

3.) Bring a nice folder containing copies of your resume in case the interviewer was not able to attain a copy.

4.) Always do your research on the company you are interviewing with and ask a question at the end of the interview to show you've done the research.

5.) Don't fidget

6.) Stay Calm...Just be yourself

Focusing on Me

Now that the Career Fair is over, things with my internship should be a little less hectic and more calm.

Because the internship is with my school's career development center, my boss would like me and my co-interns to focus on our career development as well. At this week's meeting we discussed ways in which to accomplish this and it was decided that we would each take a career assessment with someone in the career development center and attend mock interviews on Tuesday.

I hope that I will get good feedback from the mock interview and it will help for when I go on actual job interviews. This is especially helpful for me because, seeing as I am a senior, I will hopefully be going on quite a few interviews soon.

I am also hoping that the career assessment will help me make a decision as to what career path I want to go into. While I am an English major, there is a lot that I can do with it and I am not 100% sure which direction I would like to go into. I am chronically undecided. I think learning some more about myself will be very helpful in trying to figure out my future.

A Fresh Perspective

Hey all,

It's the start of a new school year and with the start of Fall comes more communications classes. This semester I am venturing out of the classroom and into the field. I have taken an internship with my school's career development center and that will count as my communications class for this semester.

We just finished up putting together our school's fall career fair. As an intern I did a lot of marketing for the event. I designed flyers to hand out and hang around campus and wore a t-shirt the week of to promote the event. The interns also marketed and helped to host a Free Rita's day where we continued to market the career fair.

At the Career Fair I managed the tables when people first walked in making sure students signed up and received a list of all the employers. As a senior I went to walk around the career fair myself. However, I was disappointed in the options. Most of the companies were looking for business majors...people who were majoring in accounting, finance, marketing, etc. When I told the representatives that I was an English major, most of them just looked at me and said they were sorry they didn't have any positions suited for me.

That was somewhat disappointing but I know there are other ways to find a full time job besides a career fair. I guess it's lucky that I'm interning with the career development center.

Multimedia Project

Our class has started a multimedia project and my group will be focusing on the video aspect of multimedia.

The story we will be covering is about professors and their first jobs. What their first jobs ever were and what their first jobs out of college were. We will be interviewing professors on campus and asking about their first jobs and the effect that their first jobs has had on their lives.

I have set up an interview for Friday with one professor.

Challenges: With all the stress of class registration it is hard at this time to find professors with enough time to be willing to be interviewed and our group discussed interviewing in pairs so it is also hard to coordinate schedules.

Controversy of The Falling Man Photo

Seeing the picture of the Falling Man for the first time is awe striking. It shows a man in mid air falling after jumping out of one of the twin towers on 9/11. I find it somewhat ironic that the man looks so relaxed as he is plummeting with the force of gravity.

One of the controversies of the photo is that it exploited a man's death, invaded his privacy, and stripped him of his dignity. I don't know that I agree with that. I think the picture shows a man trying to save his life in the only way he knew how at that point in time, given the situation he was in. It is representative of what a lot people forced themselves to do that day.

I think that, while the photo does not encapsulate the whole event including the people on the ground and the smoke rising out of the building, the photo captures the man trying to save his life and getting those last few breaths of fresh air. It is part of journalism to report the truth and that was a big part of what happened that day. Although the resistance to the image makes sense. It is psychologically scarring to see something like that-especially for a child. It is upsetting and serves as a constant reminder of the heartache and pain of that day. And I agree when the article says that the images are disrespectful to the victim's families, it just makes it more painful.

Captions can be very helpful

I went on to socialdocumentary.com and watched the Street At Night photo essay. While I think the pictures were very good and that each one tells its own story, I found myself asking for more information.

I know the photo essay is called "Street At Night" and the pictures were taken in Austria. But I would like to know exactly where in Austria and if it was just one street that the photographer is shooting. I think it would have been interesting if the photojournalist had taken the pictures of the same spot for about an hour and took pictures of the different people walking by or possible events that may occur on that part of the street.

The captions could be a little more informative, maybe saying if the picture is taken in a bar or place located on the street. However, as a whole I don't know if there is enough information for the continuous slide show to make sense, but each picture tells its own individual story which I found to be interesting.

Sometimes a picture says more than words

I found the stylistic elements in the Intended Consequences story (about the raping of the tutsi women during the 1994 genocide) to be very interesting.

The main focus was on showing still photographs of the women and their children but I like how there were a couple times when you couldn't tell if there was a couple seconds during the slideshow when it looked like the woman's eyes were moving. I couldn't tell if the photos were taken so that that would be the case or if there were a couple seconds of video edited in. But I like the focus on the eyes. It helped the audience to see that these women are suffering physically and emotionally. You can see the pain in their eyes and on their faces.

Another element that provided emotional impact on the audience was the use of audio with a black screen or no audio. When there was a black screen I really paid attention not only to what the women were saying, but how they were saying it. At one point, there is no audio and the words that the woman is speaking are shown being written out on the screen with no voiceover. It helps to show the significance of the event and signifies the horrors that the women had to go through.

The focus on the women's faces helps to convey how much they are suffering. Non of the women look happy or as if they have gotten over what has happened to them. Most of them hate their children that are a product of rape. There are tears in most of their eyes and just their facial expressions say more than words ever could.

"Intended Consequences" did a great job combining the use of video, audio, and pictures to portray the suffering of an often untold story.

See the World

I enjoyed the "Best Places to Go in 2010" interactive graph on the NYT multimedia page.

While there are no video or audio clips, the adventurer in me found the map to be very interesting. I would like to travel and it is helpful to see popular places that people have been to and would want to go to.

People who have already been to a specific country or city give recommendations as to what to do and see while you are there and also give recommendations as to where to stay and where to go. When you click on a city the map focuses in on that specific area and then fades into all the recommendations. It is like having a mini-travel agent.

I found the interactive graph to be very interesting, informative, and fun.

A Student Did That?

I was very impressed with the "Distracted Delegates" video, a multimedia story done by a student journalist.

She took a video of the delegates while they were in a meeting a reported the ones who were surfing the web or chatting online. Doing something other than what they were supposed to do.

She started off with an interesting theory, wondering if, like so many college students, do delegates also get distracted by social media during important meetings?

She went out and found the answer. Turns out, even professionals lose their focus sometimes. There were a surprising amount of delegates surfing the web during the meeting.

I also would like to know if they knew she was going to do this story. I think if the delegates had known, it would have affected the what they did during the meeting, but on the other hand, is it ethical to write a story that the subjects do not know they are taking part in?

Multimedia is hard work

After reading the article Multimedia Storytelling, I now know just how much work goes into telling a story through the use of multimedia.

In this article, Jane Stevens goes over how she went about creating a multimedia story about Dancing Rocks.

There is a long list that a reporter must keep track of and many different elements to go with one story. The reporter must break down the story into many different elements and see what aspects of the story will be best told through text, audio, video, pictures, and graphics. The reporter then has to make a storyboard, do the field work, and then edit and assemble the story. While the finished element is awesome, it is a lot of work for the reporter to go through. The professionals make it look easy. Until I read this article, I did not realize just how much effort goes in to producing a multimedia story.

Less is More

While I have been very supportive of multimedia journalism, I do see a potential downside to it. The article about the Mojave Desert was a short article accompanied with a video.

The video, while informative, was reminiscent of an educational documentary that a student is forced to watch in high school. While some people may find this to be enjoyable and interesting others will also find it boring.

I felt that the short article provided enough information and was not highly motivated to watch the full length of the video.

While I do believe that multimedia is a great tool for helping to tell a story, I think that a large aspect of the effectiveness of multimedia is knowing which stories it will help and which stories it will hurt.

Sometimes, less is more.

Hearing Voices

The article, Jani's at the Mercy of Her Mind, tells the story of a six year old schizophrenic.

I saw how the article specifically relates to the main character in The Soloist, Nathaniel Ayers who suffers from the same disease. Both the article and the book try to illuminate mental illness and the effects it has on everyone around them.

Like Ayers, Jani has people around her who love her and want to help her, but she is having trouble fighting the illness. I found it shocking that such high doses of medication were not having as great of an effect on the voices in her head.

I feel that the article did a great job of portraying what it is like to live with Jani and what her situation is. The extremity of her schizophrenia caused her family to have to live in two separate apartments for fear that she would harm her younger brother.

The video was a great supplement to the actual story. The readers get a sense of just how severe her schizophrenia is and how great of an impact it has on her family. It also allows her parents to tell part of their story along with short question/answer periods with Jani. The reader can then see how the family interacts with each other and especially with Jani.

Use Media to Tell a Story

After watching the mini documentary, Wait for Me, I understand how effective multimedia can be in helping to tell a story.

The documentary tells the story of a mother whose son disappeared in 1985 while hiking in India. She is still hoping that he is out there somewhere and is waiting for him to be found.

I think the documentary does a very good job of telling the story through the use of video, music, pictures, and sound. I don't think it would have quite the same effect or be as interesting of a story if it was simply words written on paper. Through the use of the video, the reader can better relate to the story. I was able to see the hurt and worry and grief in the mother's face as she talked about her son and what happened to him. The video showed pictures of the women's son throughout his life and the postcards/letters he had written his parents during his travels.

I think that the use of different media to tell a story really helps the story to come to life and to make it more effective.

Multimedia Journalism

With the impact of social media on society, journalism is now taking a turn to multimedia. Journalists are using many different outputs for getting their stories out there as opposed to just the hardcopy of the newspaper.

Multimedia journalism is journalism through different types of media. With the new change story output, the rules change as well.

One thing that I found to be very interesting which was discussed in both Multimedia Standards and Multimedia Grid is the ethical dilemma of the use of music. With the new multimedia journalism, journalists can add music to help enhance their stories. One of the issues was whether a journalist should use music in their stories or not as it can "skew the narrative." Some journalists think it is okay to use music in feature articles but never on hard news stories.

I agree with that last statement. Hard news stories should be taken seriously and I think adding music to them will take away from the importance of the story. A feature story has a little more wiggle room and I don't think readers would mind having music accompany the story. I think it also depends on the story as to when to use music. In the end, the journalist has to think of the best way to tell the best story; if adding music to the article will help to better tell the story then I think it's okay to use music.

A Note on Social Media

For one of our assignments we had to write a column focusing on some aspect of social media. Here is my column:

"Be careful about what you post online"

With the emergence of social media it is easier than ever to find information on someone. Simply type a person's name into Google and with the push of a button, the link to that person's Facebook page or twitter account appears on the screen.

It is extremely easy to find readily accessible information about other people on the Internet, including information about yourself. By simply typing my name into Google, anyone can gain access to my Facebook page, and Twitter account.

After having it drilled in our brains for the past couple years, we know that potential employers look at websites, such as Facebook, to get general ideas about individuals they consider hiring. As the old cliché goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. A single picture can paint a person in a negative or unprofessional light, severely lowering the chances of that person getting the job, regardless of his/her academic credentials. Employers do not want to hire someone who can possibly taint their business image.

A few of my friends have pictures on Facebook, which could possibly mark them as unprofessional and irresponsible. In one picture, one of my friends is drinking straight from a wine bottle; in another, a group of people at a party are holding beer cans and red plastic SOLO cups. I would suggest taking pictures such as these off the Internet, untagging yourself, or tightening your privacy settings so that only friends can see such photos before future employers and coworkers see them.

Even athletic teams are starting to check on their players, making sure they stay in good standing. In my high school there were two softball players who went to a party one weekend and a few days later pictures of them at the party appeared on MySpace. The pictures were not incriminating in anyway. The girls were simply holding red SOLO cups (usually associated with alcohol) in their hands, which could have contained a plethora of possible beverages including soda or water. However, those girls were suspended from the softball team for potential underage drinking.

Students sometimes forget that everyone in the world can see what is on the Internet. It is not called the “World Wide Web” for nothing. Remembering to set your privacy settings and filtering your photos is extremely important. While your friends may know that you are a good student with an excellent work ethic, a future employer may see a picture of you at a party or with a drink in your hand and assume you are unprofessional.

Not being careful about what you allow others to see on the Internet can potentially hurt your future career and/or may even invite a stalker into your life. Make sure that privacy settings for your pictures, along with your personal information are set so that only friends can see them.

Next time you are putting information on the Internet, take a cue from Hamlet and ask yourself “to post or not to post?”

The Soloist: Movie vs. The Book

I think the movie did an effective job of casting a light on mental illness and homelessness in Los Angeles. However, I don't think that the movie did an effective job of portraying the struggle of the journalist to tell the story.

Although it seems to be an insignificant difference, one detail that is different in the movie than in the book is Steve Lopez's personal life. In the book, he is married with two sons and a young daughter. However, the movie portrays Steve Lopez as a divorced man with an estranged son. While I can see how making this change allows for the movie to be slightly more dramatic and gives Lopez the extra time needed to spend with Nathaniel I think there are benefits to showing him as a married man. In the novel, the trust that develops between Ayers and Lopez is shown when Lopez starts to consider Ayers part of the family and invites him over for Easter, allowing him to meet his entire family-wife and children.

Another change in the movie, is that Robert Downey Jr. does not portray Lopez to be as sympathetic of a character as I had pictured from the book. In the movie, it seems that Lopez spends most of his time just being aggravated by Ayers as opposed to genuinely trying to help him. Where as in the book, he tries to help Nathaniel at a much quicker rate. However, in both the book and the movie, Lopez's friendship with Ayers is portrayed as having immensely changed both their lives.

My Mission

If I were in a position to address some issue that is important to me, I would address the dangers of texting while driving. I know a few people who do this and am scared to be in the car with them. The second they start to text on their phone they are no longer looking at the road and they will start to swerve, or veer to one side, making the driver more likely to get into an accident.

Texting while driving is becoming the new DUI. A story or column talking about people who have lost loved ones due to "texting accidents" can help to make the issue known and inspire people to do something about it.

Ethics in THE SOLOIST

In The Soloist, Lopez sometimes mentions the possibility of exploiting Nathaniel Ayers. He wonders if it is possible to continue writing about Ayers without then exploiting him if he hasn't already done so. He concludes that he is just telling Nathaniel's story and he, Nathaniel, and the public benefit from it.

I think in the beginning of the book, Lopez, when he first meets Nathaniel, is trying to exploit him. At first, Lopez is simply intrigued by Nathaniel, but once he finds out that Nathaniel had attended Juilliard and is now living on the streets, he believes it will make a great column. I think at first, Lopez wrote about Nathaniel because he wanted the glory that would come with finding such a unique story.

However, as Lopez continues to talk to Nathaniel he stops exploiting him just to get a good story/column out of him. Lopez genuinely cares about what happens to Nathaniel and starts to consider them friends. After discovering that Nathaniel is schizophrenic, Lopez does everything he can to help get Nathaniel off the streets and attempt overcome his mental illness. The two men become so close that Lopez is "beginning to think of him as extended family" (220) inviting Nathaniel to his house for Easter Brunch and taking him to sporting events and orchestra concerts.

Although there are times when it is difficult to deal with Nathaniel, Lopez is always there for him. Nathaniel is no longer a person to exploit to get a good column. Nathaniel is his friend whom he cares about and wants to see get better. Everything he does after that is to help Nathaniel, to see him succeed and get off the streets and to overcome his battle with schizophrenia.

Unqualifications

In The Soloist, Lopez writes, "A column is a personal take, and as such, it's less dispassionate than a straight new story. But in telling Ayer's story, I have unwittingly taken on some responsibility for his welcome, a job I am clearly, demonstrably, and undeniably unqualified for."

It is every journalists job to tell a story, to give a voice to those who may not otherwise be heard. I believe Lopez did a very good job of doing just that. In telling Ayer's story, it shapes how the world perceives him so he has taken on responsibility for Ayer's welcome. Will the readers love him or hate him, sympathize with him or feel indifference? There is always a personal touch in a column and it gives more meaning to what the writer is writing.

Though Lopez is not qualified to help Ayer's, he gets involved in Ayer's life and completely turns it around. He qualifies as Nathaniel's friend and that was all that he ever needed. A person to provide moral support and believe in him.

Formalities of Informalities

In the book, The Soloist, written by Steve Lopez, Lopez is a columnist trying to help a mentally ill but musically gifted homeless man (Nathaniel Anthony Ayers) he meets playing the violin on the streets.

Toward the end of the book, Lopez shifts from referring to Nathaniel Ayers as Nathaniel and instead begins referring to him as Mr. Ayers. Throughout the book, while Nathaniel is slowly getting better, there are new problems that arise with each progressive step towards his recovery of his mental illness. Once Lopez has set it up so that Nathaniel's sister will be in charge of his finances, he gives Nathaniel a document to inform him of what is going on. Nathaniel does not see what the paper is about. Instead, he only sees a manipulative act by a trusted friend to try to have him committed. This prompts a furious outburst in which Nathaniel says to Lopez, "And I am not going to have anymore of this Nathaniel...I'm Nathaniel and you're Mr. Lopez, and there is not going to be any more of that" (258).

It is at this point when Lopez starts to call Nathaniel Mr. Ayers. To call him so while in his state of rage, seems to make sense, if that is what will calm him down. The short term change of name makes sense for the time being but when Lopez continues to call Nathaniel "Mr. Ayers" after Nathaniel tells him he doesn't have to, I was confused at first. Nathaniel apologizes for his outburst and says Lopez no longer has to refer to him as Mr. Ayers, but Lopez continues to do so even after the apology.

After finishing the book, I now think that Lopez does it out of respect. Nathaniel is older than him and it is ironic that Nathaniel is the one to call Lopez "Mr." as opposed to Lopez calling Nathaniel "Mr. Ayer." I did find it strange that they do not call each other by first names or last names, but Nathaniel is Nathaniel and Steve is Mr. Lopez. But Lopez changing the way he refers to Nathaniel shows that they are now on the same level. He now respects Nathaniel as much as Nathaniel respected him when they first met.

Blame it on the Poor

The article "In Hard Times, Americans Blame the Poor," discusses poverty and how people start to take out their anxiety and frustration on those people who are living off of welfare.

I don't understand why people take out their anger on the poor. People living in poverty are not the ones to blame for the recession. It is understandable that people who have just gotten laid off of a job or who are struggling financially would be somewhat hostile to people receiving welfare. From a working man's point of view, it is as if those on welfare are mooching off the government.

While there are some cases where people choose to depend on welfare, I think more often than not, the people receiving welfare truly need it. During a recession, those people on welfare are suffering just as much if not more than their wealthier counterparts. It doesn't seem right to blame the poor for something they have no control over. The recession affected everyone.

Even the Rich feel the Recession

After reading "Squeaking By on $300,000" I feel little sympathy for the Laura. While I do understand that the recession has hit all of us, she still has a job and is able to support her family.

One thing in particular that I found to be somewhat annoying, was that she complains of having financial concerns but can cut corners and attempt to save money in ways that she has not thought of. Instead of keeping her gardener or the man that plows her driveway when it snows on staff, she can do her own gardening and maybe get her children to help her shovel the driveway.

The live-in nanny is somewhat able to help save money. She likes to shop for bargains and sometimes buys too much pasta for Laura's liking. But the class distinctions between the two women allow for a good balance, Laura finds it hard to let go of luxuries that are a part of her daily life and the nanny knows to search for bargains and fix common household problems, such as a leaky pipe.

While it is understandable that Laura would not want to completely change her way of life, she needs to see where she can cut corners and save a little more money if need be.

Keys to Class Success

In Class Matters, there is a story about a woman named Angela who defied the odds and climbed the social ladder from being on welfare to a member of the middle class.

Angela is a mother of five who was able to go back to nursing school, get off welfare, and give her family a better life. In order to break into the middle class, Angela had to attend nursing school. She had met a man named Vincent who encouraged her to follow her dreams. He provided her and her family with a place to live and offered her encouragement and moral support, proofreading her papers and rewarding her for a good grade. She received financial help from Pellgrant awards and financial aid. She was now also highly motivated and wanted to complete the program quickly, fearing Vincent would change his mind and leave. Wanting a better life for her and her children and never wanting to end up back in the projects, Angela diligently studied nursing and biology. Her hard work paid off and she is now a nurse at an inner-city hospital making enough money to be considered middle class.

According to the experts interviewed for the story, Angela's key to success was that she found a "good man and a good job" (230). Vincent was there for moral support. He offered her encouragement and consoling and acted as the father figure to her children. She had a healthy relationship and the "support that comes from an encouraging partner" (231). According to the experts, upward mobility requires: education, job credentials, employability, emotional support, and encouragement. Angela fit most of these requirements and proved that they help in upward mobility.

I agree with the above assessment. Presently, employers like to see that you have both work experience and a college degree. Having an education, along with showing that you can hold a job are important aspects to gaining a well paying job. The higher education that you receive, the more money you will make and the better social class you will belong to. I also believe that in order to be successful at getting the college degree and job, you need to have a very good support staff. Whether it be family or friends, having someone close to you, who encourages you and doesn't let you give up makes handling the stress a little easier and success seem possible. When a person has a good support system, it is easier to be successful and get through difficult times as opposed to a person who is going it alone.

Educational Mobility

In this day in age, we all know how important it is to have a college education. People need to have a bachelor's degree to even have hopes of finding a semi-decent job. Education is the key to a secure future giving people the chance to climb to the next social class and make a decent income. However, many poor and working class students do not make it and are unable to receive a higher education.

I think these students are unable to make it because of monetary issues. Going to college is very expensive. Even students from the middle/upper middle class need to take out loans and hope for scholarships. But the immediate money made from a current job can be more enticing than having to pay for an education.

Most poor and working class students have to simultaneously work and go school. The bulk of schoolwork along with the exhaustion from a job can take its toll. It can sometimes get to a point where the student has to make a choice between working and getting an education. They usually choose to work. The student could be having to support themselves or help their family pay the bills. The small amount of money they make at that job is what they live off of and in time they can probably be promoted within that company. But often times it is too hard to handle life and education.

I think it would be hard for a poor/working class student to make it at Saint Joe's. Unless they are offered a very good scholarship, the cost of tuition is very high. It would also be hard to juggle schoolwork and a job, although it can be done. Another difficulty that may arise is going out with friends. That gets expensive, public transportation fees ad up and there is not a lot of free entertainment. There are other outlying factors to consider such as: if the student has his/her family's support and what their home situation is like. If they have to take care of younger siblings or children, it will be harder to make it. All in all, I think it would be difficult for a student of the lower class to make it here, but I think if he/she worked extremely hard and planned well, he/she could get that degree.

The American Dream

America has long been considered the 'land of opportunity." People come here in hopes of a better life believing that they will make it with hard work and perseverance. The research compiled in Class Matters helps to prove that long held position.

One woman, named Della Mae, grew up in the Appalachia region of Kentucky. She lived in a Holler, spent time in foster care, and was a member of the lower class. However, Della Mae worked hard in school and was lucky enough to have a family that encouraged her to go to college and then attend law school. As a result of her diligent school work, she is now a member of the upper middle class and a foster parent to her niece and nephew.

Another man named Tim, was in the middle class able to attend Brown University but only because he was offered a scholarship. He payed off his school debts through scholarships, loans, and fundraising. He then became a missionary at Brown University and says his "quarters as a ministry intern at Brown are actually more upscale than his home in St. Louis" (85). He is now putting himself through medical school hoping that he will make enough money in the future to comfortably support his future family.

Another man named Andy, although he does not have a college degree, was able to work his way up from stocking a supermarket warehouse to supermarket buyer. He started out at a low rung and worked his way up. He has a job, that people now want to see a degree for. He wears a tie to works and he is able to comfortably support his family. He has to work every third saturday and sometimes sundays, but he and his family are not in want of anything.

One more man named Jeff, also worked his way into the middle class. When growing up his family was on welfare and a job at a factory was his ticket to the middle class. The factory job allowed him to leave the working class and make enough money to live comfortably and securely.

A Greek immigrant moved to New York where he started out with only $100 dollars in his pocket. He started out painting closets in a greek restaurant. Through hard work, he learned the ins and outs of the restaurant business and now owns three of his own restaurants working his way to the middle class.

These above stories, along with others, show that the American Dream can be achieved. One can overcome adversity and work their way to a higher social class with hard work, perseverance, and a little luck.

Ethics in Discussing Class

As I was reading Chapter 8 of Class Matters, "Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung" I started to wonder about the effects of the article.

It speaks about the working/class struggles of a mexican, illegal immigrant. The article does not hesitate to inform the reader about the man's illegal status or the ways in which he cheats the legal system to avoid a possible immigration inspection.

I know the reporter's job is to observe and tell the story, which the reporter does well, but he also notifies the world of the man's illegal immigrant status. I was wondering if there were any repercussions for the mexican interviewee after the article was published. Did immigration find him and deport him? Was it ethical for the reporter to tell a story that could have potential negative effects for one of his sources? What do you think?

With Money Comes Power

Until reading the sections on marrying into a different class and working your way up from the poor class in Class Matters, I had not realized that class had such a strong effect on people's relationships.

There is a cross class couple with Cate coming from money and Dan coming from the working class. Before going to counseling for cross-class couples, their relationship was somewhat strained.

Stereotypically, the man is the one making more money and supporting his wife. The couple's relationship defies the norms. I thought it interesting that Cate, being the one with more money, holds more power in the relationship. I wouldn't have thought that money and power are correlational in a relationship but apparently it is more common than one would think.

But, it makes sense. Out in the real world the people with the most power seem to be the people with the most money. It would make sense that the analogy still applies on a smaller scale.

However, I do not think that should always be the case. It should work out in which ever way is best for the couple to be equal partners in the relationship.

On the Rise

For class, we have started to read the book Class Matters, written by correspondents of The New York Times. The book discusses class distinctions and the way people feel about certain social classes as well as what they associate with them.

As I was reading, although it is not very far along in the book, one quote that really struck me was that "More Americans than twenty years ago believe it possible to start out poor, work hard, and become rich. They say hard work and good education are more important to getting ahead than connections or a wealthy background" (pg. 5).

This statement really struck me because it is something my dad strongly believes in. He believes that hard work and a good education lead to getting a good job. Being an Italian immigrant, my father did not grow up being part of the upper class. His father was a simple brick layer who spoke poor, broken english. My grandparents wanted my father to go into a trade, but my father believes in education and decided to go to college instead. It proved to be a good choice.

He worked his way up from working class and made his way into the middle class. Getting a higher education gave him more opportunity than he would have had, had he simply gone into a trade. He knows that a good education will lead to a good job and is living proof that hard work and education can help one overcome class boundaries.

Obama's Social Media Diet

I found it very interesting to find out that Obama is the first president to be completely tapped into the internet. He communicates through email and reads blogs.

I think it's great that he looks for bloggers and people with opinions about his policies. With feedback like that it can help him learn what America thinks he is doing well with and what he can improve on. Communicating with the people of the country helps him to become a better, more effective president. Also, keeping a large media diet allows him to know what is going on with all aspects of the country. He can see everything from what economy magazines are saying to newspapers to bloggers. It gives him a better idea on the state of the country and how he can work to improve it.

Read the article to find out What Obama Reads

A Comment about Comments

The New York Times website has changed the way their reader comment system works. "Readers can now recommend comments by other readers and sort them using a variety of tabs: newest first, oldest first, reader recommendations, editor's selections, and replies (from an editor or author of a post)."

But one change that has not come along with the rest is that the comments are still being moderated. It is understandable that the New York Times would want to prevent vulgar or inappropriate comments from being posted but they are also preventing good counterarguments and feedback from being posted. One reader claims, "There have been numerous times when I'll leave a comment which makes at least one point that no one else has made without any insults or vulgarity whatsoever and hours, even days go by without it being approved. Even if it gets approved by that time, no one will see it, and you've effectively censored the whole argument."

If you are going to use a comment system, allow the readers to comment. It is a way for the readers to offer their opinions as well as feedback. Another reader suggests using a "hide" system while another suggests flagging inappropriate comments and deleting them. I think those are all good suggestions. Censor or remove the comments that are vulgar or inappropriate but allow the readers to post their opinions and comments, otherwise what's the point of a reader comment system?

Bias is everywhere

According to the article How to Detect Bias in the News, there are numerous ways people can detect bias in a newspaper, including placement of stories and the headlines. I think this article stretches it a little too far. Going by the standards in the article absolutely everything is biased. Even if something is not intended to be. Simply choosing whether a story is used or not can be considered bias.

However, most of the bias situations found in the article seem to fall under a more subjective category. What one person could think is a good story another may not. The same goes for what stories will go on the front page. It all depends on the person.

According to the article, bias is everywhere. It suggests that bias can be found in any part of a news article or newspaper. This is true, however the article seems to be daring people to find bias within news; the smallest little detail that could possibly be taken out of context. A person must meticulously look through the paper for the first sign of potential bias that he/she sees. It seems a little extreme to me.

more news from Haiti

Check out this article:

Child Rescue Bid Raises Tough Questions in Haiti

Double Duty

After reading an article about Haiti, I was surprised to learn that there are journalists over there serving the function of both doctor and reporter. They are qualified to do both. They have been trained as doctors and are now reporting on the terrible conditions that the Haitian people are facing.

These reporters are treating people on camera and reporting about the health conditions. The journalists are "actively participating in the story." There is argument over whether that is right. Journalists are mere observers and report on what they see. They are not supposed to get involved in the story. So is it ethical that these people should play double duty, acting as both reporter and doctor? Everyone wants to help but can getting so involved within the story affect the reporting?

Blogging is the new Black

Ever since the internet, the nature of journalism really has changed. Now people do not have to rely strictly on newspapers and news shows to get their news. In fact, most people I know find their news online and sights such as Yahoo, let you sample different news from different outlets. You are no longer relying on just one paper either. Most newspapers have an online version that the public can access for free.

Blogging is one thing that is changing journalism. It is now allowing everyone to be their own journalist. They can report news about their own lives or help to spread the word and comment on current events. It's also a quicker way to get news. Instead of having to wait for the morning paper or 6 o'clock news, a person can simply go online and find out in an instant. More and more people are starting to blog and with it's popularity, it seems that blogging is slowly becoming the new "black" in journalism.

Even Facebook and twitter can serve as news venues. I found out about Michael Jackson's death through looking at my friends Facebook statuses and I'm sure that that is how other people, at times, have received breaking news as well.

With the advent of the internet, classic newspapers and television shows are not playing as big of a role in journalism as they used to. Classic news media just needs to find a way to fit in with the new media.