Journalism Vidcast – Public Relations

By Casey, Witney, and Keelege

Observations

I am sitting in the Extended Hours study room in the Park Library. It’s pretty silent, with the natural sound of stress that comes around this time of year. Tired sighs, the printer racing to spit out paper, fingers typing furiously away at papers sometimes described as “bull shit.” I see two girls ending their long evening, and I feel happy for them. They whisper to each other as they slip on their jackets and bags, and hastily exit. It is a relief to see tables emptying. The man across from me is listening to music quite loudly on his headphones. I don’t blame him. It’s nice to drown out the world and zone into your work. Many people have a hand to their face, either twirling their hair, resting their chin, or stroking their beards. There are dozens of coffee cups in this room. The sky is black outside, the moon clouded over by rain. Quite a few cars are driving by, their lights shining into the window, giving me a headache. Some people are talking rather loudly, a giggle from a boy talking to a girl. If anyone walks, they walk with purpose: to the printer, to Java City across the hall, or for a bathroom break. I am happy to see no computers bogged with Facebook or Twitter. Everyone is here to do work. It is 9 PM and we are all here to get ahead.

Tonight, I need to write.

I realized this blog is specifically for educational purposes, but there is something about how secluded I feel when I come here to write that is very appealing on this evening.

After hours of conversation with my best friend, discussing a variety of daily and life-long struggles (most of them laughable), she is passed out asleep now, and I’m left here with many untied thoughts.

I have no specific vision for my future. In my mind, it involves packing my things up and leaving with someone who really understands me, or at least tries to. 

Someone who makes me understand things, too. Not just about himself, but about the world, about myself, about everything I have ever wondered.

I don’t need that person to be happy, but that is the vague sight I see when I think about “what I want to be.” I just want to be happy, and I’d really like someone to be there to share my happiness with. 

Someone to watch any kind of movie with, someone to enhance my musical library, and someone to completely stimulate my mind, soul, and body. Not one or the other.

I have faith that it will happen for me, some day. There are, as society likes to reiterate, “plenty of fish in the sea.” Some of those fish may already be “hooked,” and some of those fish may be too different of a species, but low and behold, there is one (probably more than one) that will really suit your fancy.

I hope I find him, or he finds me, or we happen to find each other. And as awfully cheesy as it sounds, I hope we can both help each other achieve our dreams. That’s what love is, isn’t it? 

Podcast Project JRN 102: Fitness Magazines

 

Script:

 

Hi, this is Casey Gamble of Professor Hernandez’s Intro to Journalism class. I’m interested in writing for magazines, but especially for fitness and health magazines. 

 

 Most writers for these magazines have to specialize in both journalism and physical health, which can be two completely separate jobs. Fitness-themed magazines are truly dedicated to motivating and inspiring. It is not their goal to make you want to look like the woman or man on the cover, but just to find the same drive for fitness as that person. They want you to do it the healthy way, and they try to live by their own advice. 

 

First and foremost, aspiring freelancers should know of a few tips, provided by Farrah Storr. Storr is editor of Women’s Health Uk Magazine. She suggests writing something unique and crucial – something that the people don’t already know about their health. She also suggests backing up your writing with a reason why you think it should be published. Give the editors a reason to notice you. So while you don’t have to reach the level of editor to have your voice heard in a big-time magazine, you still have to make yourself look bigger and better than your contenders. Be competitive. 

 

 

The most important aspect is that you have to really know what you are writing about, and second most important as it that you write it well. Joel Dowdell interviewed editor and writer of Men’s Fitness, Sean Hyson, who says: 

“There’s a real craft to writing fitness stories. It’s easy to glance at a bodybuilding magazine and think it’s for meatheads and that there’s nothing to the writing. There are a lot of coaches out there who are good writers and they get surprised when they see that we’ve changed their story quite a bit from what they handed in. But it always makes it a better read for the mass audience.” So they care about the form of writing their readers get, not only the content.

 

If you want to make it past freelancing and become an editor, Jenna Autuori, editor for Fitness Magazine, tells us about the job. When interviewed by Fitness Magazine, she said everything about the job is glamorous, but hard work. “As a fitness editor we have to live what we preach and do the research to give readers the best information out there—which entails a lot of working out!” She goes on to talk about how she works out most mornings and evenings, testing out new methods to show to the readers. Editors get to train with celebrities, learn new healthy recipes, and are pretty much always in shape. While this may seem like a lot of work, if it’s something you as a writer are interested in, you’d be willing to put in the work. Whatever it is that you want to research and write about, even if it isn’t fitness and health, you must have a passionate for it. You must not only be willing to put in the work, but also desire to do it if you want to succeed.

 

 

 

 

 Sources: 

http://www.featuresexec.com/bulletin/interview_article.php?id=16015#.UR2b7Y5TVAQ

http://www.8weeksout.com/2011/07/12/interview-with-mens-fitness-writereditor-sean-hyson/

http://www.refinemethod.com/blog/2013/02/behind-the-scenes-qa-with-fitness-magazine-editor-jenna-autuori/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maria Haugen: How attending a private school prepared her for college life

In a selective private school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Maria Haugen had a different high school experience than many kids who attended public schools. She attended Detroit Country Day School, and graduated with just 192 fellow students.

While public schools allowed more freedom of how students spent their free time, Maria was constantly busy keeping up with the extra tough curriculum, as well as her dance and soccer team, the two required sports she chose to play.The uniforms were strict, as well: girls wore skirts, button up shirts, knee-high socks, and close-toed formal shoes.

From the 6th grade and up, laptops were a requirement. Instead of recess, DCDS allowed an hour for “computer time” for the students to effectively learn how to use technology. Maria said she would have rather just have had a choice to go outside if she wanted to, but since she was required to play two sports, she still felt like she got enough physical activity and “outdoor time”.

With so much to keep up with in school, Maria didn’t have very much time or energy for social activities. “I had time to go out about once every weekend, but most of the time I just wanted to sleep and relax.”

The work was tough, but in Maria’s eyes it was all completely worth it. When it came down to choosing which college to go to, many of her peers wanted to go to bigger schools, like Michigan State University. Maria, however, liked the sound of Central Michigan University. A smaller, public college, would feel more like home, and wasn’t too big for her taste.

Now a sophomore at Central, she is grateful to have learned time management and specific study skills, things that many public school students struggle with. Although the going got tough at times, Maria kept a strong head on her shoulders and pushed through, and now college life at CMU seems almost easy while she is taking 18 credits to be in Advertising.

“Country Day prepared me for college better than a public school setting would. They exposed me to diversity, athletics, and community which allows me to excel at Central.”

Who taught me what I want to be?

I have never met one person with the same kind of obsession with New England and horror novels as I have. I can partly thank my mother for my unique obsession, but even further, I can thank the one author who I’ve grown up on. 

At age eleven I read my first King novel that goes by the title of Pet Sematary. Perhaps I was so in love with it because I had also grown up with the movie, but nevertheless, I became hooked. I have vowed to myself to read each and every one of his books before I die. If not by then, maybe in my afterlife. As of now, I have given myself a good start (I think I have read about 30 novels, now).

It’s difficult to describe what it is that I love so much about his writing. Admittedly it is no kind of Shakespeare, and the language can be somewhat vulgar in certain cases. Maybe that is what I fell in love with – the rawness of it, but also the reality of it. He was trying to impress no one, and would write exactly what he wanted to, even if it might make his own mother cringe. 

Through him I started to realize I might enjoy being a writer, and probably more of a horror or drama writer, like he is. Even in his most ridiculous plots, there is always some kind of message to be told, and I as a reader am held responsible to figure out what that message is. His books are not just about a scary clown or a telekinetic prom queen. There is always an underlying truth to them, no matter how fictional they may seem.

That is the goal I have developed as a writer, because of him: to write about whatever I want and as creatively as I want, but to still give it some base from which to build upon. I want to be a writer because I have things that I think are worth communicating to the world, but I know I can do it better through fiction, because that is the only way for me to release every unexplainable idea I’ve ever had. 

Listening, for some, is a lost practice. Even I find it extremely difficult to always stay focused on what exactly I am being told. That’s always been the way my mind works, though – freely moving from thought to thought, sometimes with no connection in between. 

Because I know that I am like this, and because these are not particularly desirable listening skills, I have had to adapt to a world that does not favor million-track minds. Everyone listens in their own way, just like everyone learns in their own way. I have realized there are three things that are very important for me to be able to pay attention:

1) Visualizing the scenario 

2) Relating it to my own life in some way

3) Understanding the context

I am currently enrolled in an Anthropology course, and something about the way the Professor teaches really engages me. Even on my exhausted days, where it’s hard to get me to absorb even a sentence, she can somehow get me to pay attention for nearly8  the entire 50 minutes.

She can give a lecture just like any other professor, but in every slide will describe the topic with clear examples, and even making up dialogue if she is talking about a person in history. Through this I can visualize what really happened at the event of discussion. Because I can relate most of these things to real life (even if they are about people from thousands of years ago), it is easier for me to remember, and it keeps me interested in the class. She also provides plenty of pictures for us, as an added reminder. 

For my professor to treat us as equals and not as inferiors, for encouraging us to answer questions, and for respecting each and every view that is expressed from the students is a major advantage that she has, for she has gained the respect of all of us – respect that leads to us being attentive even when we would rather rest our heads and fall asleep. 

But the truth is, listening is not always so easily fed to us. It is through my Anthropology teacher that I have realized what makes it easier to listen, but also why it is easier. Because of this, I can apply this new knowledge to every day situations. If a detailed story is not given, I can fish for those details in order to better understand the context and then be able to remember what I am told for use in later situations.

Instead of the “in one ear, out the other” approach that tends not to work very well by a college-level standard, I can now do a little more active listening and a little less “What’s going on?”