One Last Class Blog

It was late September and I was at work. My job at the time was consisted of managing about a dozen no-name actors and actresses, while occupying the role of personal assistant to a so-called 'Soap Star.' The woman I worked for operated out of her Studio City home on Sunswept. Her daughter owned this shaky three-story hunk of shit, while my boss, the mother lived on the bottom floor. Although you could walk throughout the three stories, the bottom level had a separate entrance from the street below.

All the character of the home happened to be where I worked. I had a west facing window allowing me to see the beautiful sunsets. The high ceilings and arched doorways complimented the Spanish motif. My nook was adjacent to the kitchen, but I frequently worked out on the patio, enjoying the warm LA evenings and a smoke (Yes, I used to smoke cigarettes and I dont regret it. I have many great memories wrapped around those things).

I was fed up with work and needed to get away. My parents had recently divorced and home did not sound too appealing. Being in a major city, it was always easier to find cheap flights to highly desired destinations. Let the search begin.

Well the weekend prior I had treated myself to Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl. If you have yet to treat yourself to Radiohead, please do so immediately. If you have yet to treat yourself to the Hollywood Bowl, I will take you. If you have the chance to see Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl, you will have accomplished a life long goal that will only become apparent once the experience is over. I told myself I would only see one of the two shows since tickets were atrociously priced. Of course I made the right choice and went to the two shows. Hail to the Thief was released earlier in June and the setlists where perfect, almost. I can only die happy when I hear Blow Out played live.

Mmm

Radiohead was to be touring Europe. I have never been to Europe. I had family outside of London and what do you know, Radiohead will be playing two shows at Earl's Court. My first search was my last. I found a direct flight on Virgin from LAX to Heathrow for $397. How the fuck did this happen? Before thinking twice I took out the company card and bought myself a Christmas present. I thought for a moment I would arrive to the checkout screen, only to find out that the fare displayed was for each leg of the trip. Nope.

Two months later I was frantically packing and asking my landlord for a ride to the Van Nuys airport shuttle to LAX. I made my flight with a few moments to spare, freshened up in the bathroom, and I was off to London on an overnight flight to Heathrow. I sat next to a couple of kids that reminded me of my youngest brother. For a moment I had wondered if I was being selfish by abandoning my siblings during the holidays. I could not let this occupy my mind and ruin my trip. I just promised myself to make it up to them.

Before I knew it I was lacing up my Campers and grabbing my one and only carry-on backpack without any agenda in mind. The only things I knew certain were Radiohead and dinner with the cousins. I did not even have a place to stay. I walked around Heathrow thankful that for the time being I was in an English speaking country. Walking by the duty free store, I was offered a shot of their weekly special, Dewar's 12. I took 2. Great marketing. I bought a bottle and slipped it into my already overly stuffed North Face bag. Just outside the duty free was an information booth for stupid, poorly planned travelers like myself. You know those booths with information that you always see empty because people already have rides, shuttles, rooms, and plans? The lady shook her head at me but was glad to help.

Before long I had booked two nights at the Hotel Wellington. This was a beautiful, old Edwardian building that used to house Theology students before being reopened to the public. It had simple rooms with corner sinks and shared baths. My room had a view of the rainy streets. You could not see people, but rather little black circles hovering above the pavement. The umbrellas created a mess of curiosity in my mind, always wondering who was underneath. I checked in, roamed for about an hour, grabbed a bite and took a nap. I woke around 11 p.m., bundled up, and hit the streets of London. I walked for five hours around one of the world's finest cities without any of the natives crowding the streets. London was mine for the taking and this set a trend for my future travels. Although it is probably not the safest or smartest thing to do alone, walking around an unfamiliar major city in the middle of the night is a great way to see things you may not have seen while roaming amongst the general public.

The next day I was thankful to have packed my grandpa's old Patagonia rain jacket. A simple, yet highly effective royal blue, hooded jacket kept me dry all day. I wandered around the parts of the city I had not seen the night before. Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, etc. It was early afternoon when I was in taking shots at Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guards was happening and I had a great spot, perched next to the Victoria Memorial. For the amount of rain fall I was rather impressed by the crowd of spectators. It wasnt before long that the Mall was closed on either side and a motorcade of miniature flag flying vehicles approached the palace. Following the motorcade were beautiful horses accompanied by the Queen's Royal Guards and a white and gold chariot. No fucking way. Here I am wondering what the fuck is going on, listening to the White Stripes 'Elephant' album on my discman, and there rolls the fucking Queen of England in her golden chariot, no more than 20 feet in front of me. It all happened so fast, I was quick to believe that it was all a dream.

I took it in and walked the city for a few more hours. I went to the British Museum and admired the architecture. I loved taking the tube and seeing all the suits. Beautiful men and women so perfectly dressed. They all looked like robots. I stood out as a foreigner in a royal blue jacket, rolled up jeans, black boots with red laces, and large headphones and a smile.

My bottle of Dewar's came to good use. I soaked up some scotch and jumped on the underground a few stops to Earl's Court. I had purchased a ticket for the sold out show from a ticket broker for £40. It was worth it. Unlike the Hollywood Bowl where any chance of getting close to the stage requires A-List status, amazing contacts, or an incredible amount of money, if you showed up early to Earl's Court, you could be as close as you allowed yourself to be. Thom Yorke stood 5 feet from me. The show went as follows:

The Gloaming, 2+2=5, My Iron Lung, Where I End and You Begin, Kid A, I Will, Myxomatosis, I Might Be Wrong, Sail To The Moon, Lucky, Paranoid Android, Go To Sleep, Sit Down Stand Up, Just, Idioteque, Fake Plastic Trees, There There, You And Whose Army?, National Anthem, Wolf At The Door, Street Spirit (Fade Out), We Suck Young Blood, Karma Police, Everything In Its Right Place.

Wolf At The Door and I Might Be Wrong stole the show. For the encores I made my way to the back of the floor. It was wide open. I could sit down and still see the stage and hear the tunes from an entirely new perspective. A guy named Iggy came and sat next to me and offered me a smoke. We made small talk and before we knew it, had lit another fag and were lying on the dirty floor, laughing our asses off at the fact that we are hearing Radiohead right now. I didnt want the night to end.

On the third day I wandered around LIverpool Station in search of a train to Wickford. There was a mix-up with Uncle Eric and I took a nice venture to the countryside for no reason. Why? Because I was not to get on the train til Eric was off of work, across the street from LIverpool station. I had to rush across town, grab my bags, head back to Liverpool Station, and off again through the city and off to the countryside to Wickford. Teresa and Eric welcomed me to their home and before long I was out to dinner with Hannah, Terry, Francis, and Eric. We enjoyed pizza and wine, spoke of our families, and laughed. It was the best Thanksgiving a kid could ask for.

(These cousins come from the O'Connor side of the family. My grandfather's borther's kids, etc, they are the Cranes and the Stanleys and I love them)

Well I forgot to mention that during the rainy day prior I had to make some plans for the rest of my stay. I booked a flight to Belgium and was leaving early the fourth morning.

Before long I was waking and having tea, ready to head to Stanstead for my flight to Brussels. Terry was kind enough to make the 45-minute drive before dawn. Next stop, Brussels. We arrived about an hour later than anticipated due to fog. We had circled the runway numerous times only to touch down in what seemed the same dangerous conditions that they were avoiding earlier. It was fucking cold. I had my blazer buttoned, and my scarfed covered most of my face. I boarded a shuttle that took me to the main train station and again I was lost.

I made my way through the city streets in search of the International Youth Hostel. They had one single room available and I was ready to conquer the city. Another sip of Dewar's and I was ready to go. I cannot begin to describe the beauty of Brussels. The narrow side streets, the food, the people, the square being lit for the holidays, the street vendors, and the joy off being alone in a city unknown. I was free. I wanted more.

The next morning I packed my bag, grabbed some coffee and chocolate and hopped a train to Amsterdam. I was only a few hours away, I had to go. The train ride was cold. I poured some Dewar's into my coffee and before long I was warm and toasty. I arrived to Amsterdam mid morning with a familiar task at hand; find a place to sleep. I checked in to a shady looking hostel in the red light district, but who cares, I needed a locked, a pillow, and a place to get some rest.

I came down from the hostel to the bar. The bar served coffee, beer, and weed. I thought I would enjoy the luxury of smoking a joint legally on the city streets of Amsterdam. I asked the 'Rasta Trent' working the bar if there was anywhere to buy a pre-rolled joint. I was in a new foreign city, the last thing I wanted to do was break up some nuggets and roll a joint. Time was precious. He pointed down the hall yet I failed to recognize what he was identifying. Again, I asked, again, he pointed. I felt stupid and was certain he was thinking I was your stereotypical first-timer who had never smoked weed. He was kind enough to walk around the bar and show me what he was pointing to. The motherfucker was pointing the vending machine! Yes, the vending machine. I looked there twice but only saw candy bars and chips, oblivious to the fact that there were vials filled with massive spliffs. I purchased a ₡4 spliff of white widow. I had ordered a box of weed in NYC once and they delivered this amazing bud.

Well I had my joint and I was off. I was back on the streets, joint in hand, and walking freely amongst men, women, and children. It did not feel right. Soon it did. I walked into many stores gawking at drugs and people. I knew my destination was the Van Gogh museum and recalled a friend telling me to find some mushrooms to take before going. When I told the shopkeeper this he told me I would be just fine with the rest of my joint and that he didnt want me to freak out in the museum. Good point. His work boots can still clearly be seen in my head. I stared and imagined Van Gogh putting these on and removing them day in and day out. I was Van Gogh for about 45 minutes, then I realized that I just purchased a fucking joint out of a vending machine and I should move on.

I walked the waters and imagined making love inside of many homes. The lights twinkled off the water and couples walked hand in hand, arm in arm, holiday shopping for those they loved. I walked the alleys of the red light district, men paid to feel for moments. I heard some familiar music and entered a narrow smokey bar. I found a seat at the bar and it was not but four hours later I was stumbling home. I had met Peter and his boarding school mate who's name I cant recall. Peter lived in Munich and his pal was from London. They hadnt seen one another in years and decided to include me in their reunion. We drank beers and talked of the states. I had a Velvet Underground CD in my bag and was drunk enough to beg the bartender to put it on. It felt so good.

Falling back to my hostel, the temptation of paying for an erotic end to an eventful evening crossed my mind. I'd probably feel less shame and regret if I just jerked off in the shower. I woke up on the bottom bunk surrounded by Europeans all lost in different worlds. I had to catch a train

I grabbed a pastry and a coffee and headed for the terminal. It was a sunny day in Amsterdam. I purchased a copy of OK COmputer at e store within the train terminal. I had a copy at home but really wanted to hear Climbing Up The Walls. I finished my Dewar's on my train ride back to Belgium. I decided on a good night of sleep and splurged on hotel room that had heavy thread count sheets and private bathrooms. I called some friends and family and got some rest. The next day I flew back to London and did the same thing. I splurged on another nice hotel and walked the city that I had seen only three days prior, yet felt like I had not been there in years. I felt like I was on my second trip overseas and getting to see everything through familiar lenses. Sadly, I had a flight about 14 hours from my check-in.

A wake call failed to get me going and I found myself desperately trying to catch a train to Heathrow that would allow me to catch my flight. I was almost out of money and was ready to be home. I arrived to lines upon lines. Of course, the holiday was over and everybody was heading home. I begged to slip in front of families and checked in with about 30 minutes to spare. If you havent been to Heathrow, that is only about 5 minutes to get through security and to your gate before they close the doors. I rolled up my pant legs and tied down the backpack. It was a full sprint to the gate. I arrived to security ten minute later, strapped my shoes back on, and I was off again. I arrived to the gate dripping only to see that the doors were closed. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be home. I was tired. I approached the service desk and was informed that the doors were still open but the gate number had changed. I looked across the way and they were still boarding. I had time to change my shirt, buy some breakfast, and make myself comfortable well before takeoff.

We flew over the caps and landed at LAX 12 hours later. My feet were swollen, my eyes were puffy, and I was ready to sleep in my bed. I just experienced more in 8 days than most experience in a lifetime. I got home, threw my bag on the couch, checked my mail, smoked a cigarette, showered, and slept. I woke not the following morning, but the morning that followed that. I woke to pee and maybe snack on something, but I wanted to sleep and dream of all that had just happened. I was glad to be home, but excited to go back. I went back seven months later. This time I spent six weeks in five countries. I can honestly say I did more in 8 days than I did in six weeks.

Would I have gone if my parents had not been divorced, probably not. Am I thankful they got divorced, not at all. Sometimes you have to look at the fortune that comes from the bad and use that to make the best of life. Give yourself the chance to live for the good and rid yourself of the memories that will only hold you back, letting you move forward for the better.

Webmaster

As a designer, when someone asks you to create something within boundaries, you do so.  To go above and beyond you make an additional design as to what you may have in my mind in order to pursuade others to see things in a new eye, at least that is what I have always seen from good web designers.

Looking around at a variety of English department websites around the country, we seem to fall far behind those that stand out.  I guess  you have many pages to overlook and design, simple and somewhat efective may be the way to go.  The idea with focusing on a good design is the potential to be asked to work on fewer pages in greater detail due to the fact that you are now in high demand for your creativeness and pushing of the envelope.  

Learning to Love to Learn

Im 25-years old and still have another year of school to complete.  Many of my friends are off in their careers, or have a degree to use while seeking their desired professions.  Until I was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, I was consistently attending school, but never passionately working towards the completion of my education.  I continued to study journalism and practice writing until I absolutely could not face it anymore.  

I was taking a one last class at Clark, working as editor-in-chief on the school newspaper.  I was enduring chemo and could not afford to pay for class so I just kept showing up in an attempt to stay busy and try to stay 'normal.'  My teacher was unhappy, the class was unhappy, I was exhausted, and truthfully, had no idea why I was spending my time in the newsroom.  I was not getting paid, and I was not gaining any school credit.  I left that quarter certain that I would be done with writing and leave it behind along with my chemo treatments.

I deferred my admission to Columbia College in Chicago and took the advice of a friend to finish at WSU and focus on earning a general degree and striving towards an MBA.  That is what I did.  I had a few general classes to get out of the way on my path towards suits and ties, but my major was still English since WSU lacked a journalism program, as you can clearly see in the Vancougar.  

What have I taken away from English 402?  I love writing.

Kat answered all the questions I never asked about journalism and professional writing.  I could go into details of what I retained from each chapter, but what I learned most from this semester is that there are great teachers out there, you just have to find them.  This isnt a kiss-ass approach to praise Kat and her class, but rather a sense of gratitude and appreciation for a medium that I was sure I had put behind me.  I usually stick to my commitments and follow through with my decisions.  For the first time I am happy to say I have failed at following through with what may have been the worst decision of my years in school.

Peer Response

It seems that many of us have the fear of public speaking.  Whether it be addressing a large crowd or simply presenting in front of your classmates, not too many of us have that much experience.  I think a lot of it has to do with your classmates and how comfortable you are around them.  Although many of us in class do not converse with one another, there seems to be a good energy, understanding, and respect for one another (Unless you mention how a 3.2 on a resume for a chemical engineer is a poor choice in front of a class that has a handful of engineering students, haha, that was fun, just giving you a hard time Rich).

I feel more comfortable in 402 than I do in some of my other classes.  I think a lot of us getting involved in class discussions helps and it should help when giving our presentations.  I would like to predict that many of us do just fine and find it easier than expected...again, because we have a strong solid class.

A great thing that Kat does is expose a lot of our work to be criticized and/or praised by classmates.  She does this every class and it allows us to step up and have our voice be heard.  In much of my college experience I have been a statistic amongst many other students.  Kat does an amazing job of making us all feel comfortable, allowing us to take away a lot more from the course.

| Chapter 17 & 18 |

CHAPTER 17

Reading chapter 17 has really given me an idea as to how I will give a presentation. This is important because I have a god damn group presentation in EVERY one of my classes this semester. It has taught me to learn better with groups, when I am typically reserved and enjoy working on my own. I have been forced to adapt to a variety of personalities, writing styles, studying habits, and schedules.

The chapter shows the pros and cons of different mediums. I think for the size of our class and the materials we intend to use, our project will be very well organized and the reader/listener will take away a great deal of information. Our group has different levels of experience in writing. This will give us the opportunity for both an outlined talk, as well as an impromptu one.

Part of presenting to a group is really focusing on a few main points, as guideline 3 suggest, and communicating your message effectively and clearly to the reader...in this case our classmates. It will be interesting to see how the groups take all that they have learned during their group projects and watch them transform them into group presentations.

CHAPTER 18

When it comes to creating reader centered web pages and websites, I stand back. There are so many websites that allow you to plug in bits and pieces and turn what you are trying to get across into code on a certain template.

This is something that I always struggled with. I took a computer science course at Hofstra University and could never quite grasp all the code and specifics of layout. I would work for hours and hours and then go to open a webpage and one little mistake that I would not be able to detect would cause an error. I have a great deal of respect for web designers.

When it comes to the idea of design and content, I feel that I will one day use my creative mind to communicate with a designer what I want to see. I f I could be some sort of creative director and learn along the way, I think I would have much more fun.

I can come up with the information and graphics that readers want to read, make a sound decision on what may or may not be attractive visually, and expose my ideas to be constructed into elaborate, easy to navigate websites. It is just frustrating that I am limited to blogs and basic code to get my writing and ideas across. Definitely something I wish I would have learned at a much younger age. But then again, I did not have all the resources of the internet that are available to todays youth.

The Persuaders

I find it rather amusing the sense of fear, disbelief, disgust, and shock that some of the class has taken to the movie The Persuaders. It would be interesting to see how long these feelings last before most begin to reabsorb 'subliminal messaging' and advertising. As a society we tend to focus on an issue until another one presents itself.

As all of you type up your blogs you are working under a google. For those of you who do not know much about google they arent just an internet search engine.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

This includes your information. Have any of you tried typing WSU 402 Blogger into google? Try it. So many of you seem upset as if you are trying to 're non conform' after watching the movie, but the fact is this is the society we live in and a society we have built whether we like it or not.

It would be interesting to see someone try to get themselves out of the Acxiom database.



We're all part of a code!

| Chapters 2, 9, 10 |

CHAPTER 2

I took a look at these chapters immediately after purchasing this book. I was laid off on August 20th and had not worked on my resume for nearly two years. My first question question was, "How the fuck am I going to find a job to fit around my school schedule?"

It was easy, I had to drop a class so I was available to work most of the day. Next I had to decide what I wanted to do. That lasted all about 20 minutes before realizing the job market is awful and I will take any work given to me. I applied for any job I could find and was continually getting responses saying the position was already filled or I was overqualified for a position. This was very frustrating. I finally came to accept that I need to start building a resume for a career and I am currently working on this. School comes first, career will follow. Now, what do I want to do with my life?



CHAPTER 9

The most important part of this chapter is giving your reader a reason to pay attention. If you can get your reader to pay attention you have done the hardest part. Now it is all about following a set of guidelines and form to convey your information. Most importantly, encourage openness, allowing the reader a sense of comfort for suggestion and constructive criticism.

CHAPTER 10

Ending a communication is a problem I have seen in many pieces I have read or written myself. I am continually working on stopping when Im finished rather than continuing on with unnecessary jargon.

"After you've made your last point, stop." Sounds simple but I think as a practicing writer, it is one of the most difficult things I come across everyday.

When writing papers I tend to over analyze a situation, topic, or theme and get carried away talking about something that may irrelevant to the original point I was making. What I commonly come across is not answering the question. Had I stopped when I had made my last point and answered the question, I wouldnt have rambled away from what I was trying to say and delivered a better piece. Im stopping now.

VOTE - NOVEMBER 4

Please go out and vote tomorrow if you have not done so already.  I am not going to try and direct your vote towards one candidate or another.  If you have not made your choice already, then there is not much I can do but to encourage you to go to your local polling location and vote.  This link can guide you to where you need to go to drop your ballots off.

http://www.co.clark.wa.us/elections/documents/2007/Despites.pdf

Best,

PO

Response to Marshel 08

Marshel 08 makes a great point about the difficulties in finding mistakes in our own writing.  The problem I have encountered is I try too hard to find too many mistakes and sometimes destroy a well written draft by substituting so many fragments and pieces, losing what I was originally looking for.

I think what this chapter fails to mention is that you have to trust your writing at times.  Just because the reading tells us to step back and look for mistakes we would not normally see does not mean your draft is awful and needs to be rewritten.  You may have the best draft in your first draft.  I have another blog over at wordpress.com that I use to write about life, music, and generally anything that comes to mind and interests me.  Here it is a rambling freestyle approach at writing with minimal editing.  Any editing I really look at comes in fact checking and tending to numbers, dates, and events.  Other than that, I let my writing go. I just started the blog and have been pretty good about posting daily but the flu has had me down which will in turn give me something new to write about.  Ok, Happy Halloween to all.

| 14 ampersand 15 |

Chapter 14

I restructured my approach at reviewing after reading Chapter 14.    I was able to say I follow most of the guidelines.  Where I took away the most useful information was on building a positive interpersonal relationship with your reviewers or writer.  Typically I have been on the writing side trying to accept constructive criticism and be open to any comments or feedback that the reviewer may have to offer. 

On the other side of the table, I have been a reviewer a handful of times and have always tried my best to begin with praise but have found myself shooting people down and then bringing them back up.  I thought what I was doing was equally as effective, but starting with praise makes it much easier to approach the writer with encouragement and suggestions.  It is a lot harder than it seems...on either end.

Chapter 15

The reading was very difficult to connect with because I have never been involved in any sort of testing of drafts for usability and persuasiveness.  The one thing I did take away from the chapter that can be used in lots of writing and reading was avoiding biasing your test results.  The five bullet points made all make it clear and easy to see how we can bias our readers or testers unintentionally and obtrusively.  Of the five points made I would stick with remaining unobtrusive and deemphasizing your relationship to the draft.

Response to Vic

I think the ethics in TV journalism vary by market, channel, station, and who you are a subsidiary of. Jesse did point out that ethical decisions have to be made day in and day out, but I would like to pose the argument that many of these ethical questions are repeated...day in and day out. I take this standpoint after watching the news and seeing what the class had to say about the local news as a whole.

It seems that the news is a repeat of a story you have already heard. Death, dying, meth, police chase, economy, etc. How many new decisions are really brought up each day where the editorial staff is left scratching their heads and stressing out about whether they should run a story or not?

To Jesse's benefit, he did preface with the fact that he was a bit unorganized which made the discussion rather unorganized and had me wondering what he was getting at half the time, but his only ethical dilemma he could give us took him a minute to come up with, and then he had an event that occurred years ago. Now this was a good example, but he was not chalk full ethical problems that he faces at KOIN each broadcast.

This may seem harsh, but its just what I got from the Jesse and responding to Vic.

I have not really thought about ethics in TV journalism until hearing Jesse Day’s lecture on the topic. It turns out that producers, writers, directors, anchors and journalists have to make ethical questions on a daily basis. There seems to be a gray area when it comes to making a decision on whether to run a particular story. I was always under the impression that TV news stations are exercising their freedom of speech and press by airing the topics they choose. However, as Mr. Day pointed out that this is not always the case. The attribution of the story has to be analyzed from many sides before airing it.

I believe one of the things that make this country great is the freedom of the press. Many countries have state-controlled media and can only air “approved” topics. Countries such as Cuba, North Korea, China and many South American countries, don’t have the freedom of the press. However, with freedom comes responsibility. For example, a news program can show a victim of a gunshot wound with guts and gore everywhere. Is this ethical? I will leave the answer up to you.

Journalism

When signing up for classes at Los Angeles Valley College in the fall of 2002, I needed a course to fill my schedule. Journalism 101 fit my schedule and that was where it all started. LAVC was located in the Valley, adjacent to North Hollywood, Studio City, Valley Village, and Van Nuys. I had just had an eventful year and a half.

June 2001: Graduate from Central Catholic High School. Move to Los Angeles with girlfriend.

Sept 2001: Fly to New York on a whim and attend Hofstra University on Long Island.
(Here I experience hard drugs, promiscuous sexual encounters with wealthy jewish girls, and blue-blood lifestyles)





Dec. 2001: I board a plane at 12:01 am on the 26th of December leaving for Costa Rica to be with my girlfriend for 6 months.

Jan-May 2002: I travel Costa Rica, Cuba, Nicaragua, learn that 19 is too young to fall in love.



June 2002: I return to New York and transfer to NYU. My parents get divorced.



August 2002. I move to Los Angeles, sign up at the junior college, figure the extra journalism course would develop my writing skills to express my feeling over the last year.


I enjoy journalism, teacher recognizes writing, asks me to join the paper. I work my way up from a staff writer to a page editor and eventually win an award from the Los Angeles Times and I am recognized at the 2004 Journalism Association of Community Colleges convention.



There is much more between then and now but this is where it all got started. I have had some hiccups along the way with bad experiences and an awful teacher that made me think,

"I never want to write again."

I was convinced when I started at WSU that I would major in English but after my BA focus on business and seek my MBA. I am still focused on the goal of an MBA and will not finish until complete, but English 402 has revived my love for writing and I am very thankful for this.

Response to Melissa Dawson's News Post

Melissa makes a great point about our parents watching the news when they got home from work. Those were the days. The Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers may be the last generation that really came home to watch the news. I recall growing up in LA, my dad and I would get home from hockey practice, mom would have dinner, the news would be on, we'd watch some stories...usually California Wild Fires, we would wash up, home work, then bed.



The news used to be the staple of American families source of news. I dont think I know a single person that has the joy of living that 9-5 schedule and coming home to a family and a home cooked meal while the news airs in the background. We are constantly changing and adapting to new technologies and getting rid of what now seems a burden...the evening news.

For a better laugh about the news see "Anchorman."

TV News Blog

Excuse my language but...Local TV News bores the shit out of me. Has this always been the case? Yes. I will watch the first five minutes and grab the quick feature stories and usually switch over to Seinfeld or ESPN. I grab most of my news online or in the daily newspaper. I rarely stay tuned for the next bit of local news unless they have a lead into their next story that might grab my attention. I primarily catch the news for the weather, but even then modern technology has posted the weather directly to my phone and is usually pretty accurate.

I did watch the 5:30 news on Tuesday night, actually I recorded it and came back today to watch it, and saw the news about Daimler and the amount of jobs lost. I scrolled through the rest of the news and apart from a poor kid dying after being hit in the throat by a football, it was just mediocre news, some sports and weather.

Call me callous I know, there are some out there that rely on the local news and that is all they get during their busy days. The local news is not poorly written or produced, it just doesnt appeal to me.

Response to MANY of the posts on Freelance writing...

I think a large portion of the class is misunderstanding the idea of freelance writing. It is not necessarily a career but something that gives you the opportunity to write about the things that interest you or simply for some extra cash in your pocket. The only time freelance writing becomes a career is when you have established yourself as a freelance writer and publications are seeking your work.

You can take Chuck Klosterman or Haruki Murakami for example. They both have careers as writers but freelance in a variety of publications on the side because it is what they like to do. Murakami's latest book is memoir he felt like writing based on his experiences with long distance running, while Klosterman speaks of Pop Culture and a variety of amazing analogies he has drawn from observing the media and those he is surrounded by.



Klosterman is now featured in Esquire magazine each month and Murakami occasionally does travel pieces, which he hates, but it pays him well and usually offers him open ended tickets that allow him to roam freely after his assignment is completed.

Freelance writing is not as easy as many of you seem to think it is....just my opinion. You have to be able to handle rejection. There are so many people out there that think or most definitely are better writers than you or I may be. You just have to keep writing, practicing, writing, submitting, hoping, writing, writing, submitting, accepting, enjoying.

Freelance Writing not Free Lance Riding

Although I had to leave class early Monday, what I gathered from the freelance writing lecture has been some of the most helpful information I have heard in years. I have been in and out of journalism for some time. Along the way, not a single teacher has recommended what Professor Ricker did during our session. She answered so many questions that had been lingering in my mind for years that I now have answers to. The "Writer's Market" is the next book on my list and I hope to have submitted at least a dozen items by semester's end.

It is clear to see that publications are running dry and everything is going digital. Poor Scott Campbell has to tell his employees at the Columbian that they have to move out of their beautiful multi-million dollar building with river and city views, and head back to their crummy, bright-white building (At least they will be closer to Sunrise Bagels). Before you know it the Columbian will be a sidebar of the Oregonian and all these writers will be doing freelance work trying to get by. It is not a laughing matter but the fact is, newspapers are not what they used to be.

Classic

Nails It!

Response to Melisa Dawson

What Melisa mentions in her Chapter 8 thoughts regarding the contradiction to what she has previously been taught has to be looked at in perspective to the class we are in.  You are learning a new type of writing and although your typical English (literature) class may admire your use of fancy words, this is a reader centered approach.  Not to disagree, just my thoughts...and you were the only person I could respond to because no one else has done the work yet, hahaha. 

In terms of what you said in Chapter 19 and the 'customer always being right,' you are very right, but I would love to disagree. At my last job I argued with the owner that the customer is not always right based on actual numbers from these horrible customers and their contribution to our workplace.  This brought up a huge debate...mostly everybody against me...in this small, profit-sharing, conservative, right -wing minded that stuck to the notion of making money by allowing the customer to always be right.  This may be over analyzing what the chapter talks about but I just thought you would find this reading interesting.  Sometimes the customer is wrong but be cautious...here you go.

| 8 ampersand 19 |

Chapter 8

Do you have your own style? Many of us may think we have our own writing style, but a good point this chapter brings to light is reading your writing out loud and hearing if that is what you really sound like.  The chapter gives you many guidelines to follow was one thing they left out that I have applied to my own life.  

-Listen to how those around you are communicating.

I hear some of my friends, colleagues, coworkers, family members, etc. and sometimes think to myself, "Do I sound like that much of a fucking idiot?"  

Saying things in your own words is a great way to communicate but you should also step back and think of ways to make yourself sound better.  Avoid saying 'like' or 'umm' between thoughts and sentences.  I am victim to this and will continue to do so but reading your work out loud will make you realize how silly you can sound sometimes.  You may be quick to judge others but take the time to judge yourself as well.

As you analyze your everyday communication be sure to avoid the stereotypes that chapter 8 offers.  I consistently stereotype within my social group and have grown far to accustomed to some stereotyping that would typically get me in trouble.  Be careful.

Be careful with bureaucratese as well.  Plain English, as the text mentions, helps people understand what you are trying to say much easier and gets your point across much quicker and much more successfully.  

Chapter 19

When you manage client and service-learning projects, you must maintain order, communication, and always remember the client is always the client.  This chapter is a great way to get to know someone and learn the ropes by offering them a service you can use through your learning.  This especially applies to my marketing class.  One of our group projects is to assess a firms marketing.  We have chosen a smaller firm in which we may be able to develop a concrete marketing plan through all the steps given in Chapter 19.  

We are focusing on Stumptown coffee and they have unique ways of marketing, maintaining customer brand loyalty, financial success, segmentation, differentiation and positioning...all while they are still a private company.  This is a group project but can easily lead to a foundation for their future marketing success. I hope we can be helpful!

So far the most important chapter I will take away from this book and continue to use throughout the semester.

Rhetoric Response (T. Black)

Tayler makes a short and simple post that wraps up everything about rhetoric in a handful of lines.  Rhetoric is just that, getting your point across promptly and accurately.  Like we watched in "Boiler Room" on Monday, the ethos, pathos, and logos is an amazing power in communication that someone can use in this line of work to establish who they are, see who others are, and use smart reasoning to grab both of these.  Many of us ramble or jump around with rhetoric rather than developing and perfecting it for success in their given fields.

Well done.

| 6 ampersand 7 |

Chapter 6

Interpreting your research is very important.  It is simple and easily overlooked.  By your lack of interpretation while obtaining you will only cause yourself much more work in the end and may get lost in  a tangle of who, what, where, and why.  Remember, this is to be useful and persuade your readers, not YOU.

The most important lesson I took from both chapters 6 and 7 was about copyright.  This can be a very dangerous position to be in if you are victim of it.  It occurs all over the place.  Many of us do this every day without even knowing it within our own emails and social networking.  

Until recently I worked for a blueprint company and this was an issue that came up every single day of my employment.  There were times I had to tell people that we simply could not make copies for them and they would either be confused because or angry.  This was a good judgement of character.  

A confused person probably purchased the plans from a developer and was required by the city to make 'X' amount of copies for permit approval.  The angry customers were coincidentally of a given culture/country/region that I will not mention, and would obviously attempt to steal plans that did not belong to them.  They would attain these from contractors and mass produce these, change the title blocks and call them their own.  THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!

Be careful in the workplace and just like your school research papers, make sure you cite everything since they consider work material much more difficult to declare 'FAIR.'

Chapter 7

This portion of the book was a good recourse for developing your thoughts on paper.  It reminds you to give yourself time to re-read, proof, re-write, organize your paper and know who your audience is.

Connecting everything in a paper is one of the more difficult things to do in writing that even over time, still poses problems for the greatest writers.  Again, one of the main guidelines is to consider your readers' cultural background.  Apart from pissing people off and getting yourself into trouble with copyright, crossing cultures and insulting someone is not a good thing to do in the workplace either.

While organizing give your readers something to look forward to with your forecasting statement, or what lies ahead...but as the books says, just do this one level at a time.  One of the most fun things if you are knowledgeable in design is presenting visual headings.  These can really attract the reader and really offset what could have been a boring presentation.

RHETORIC

Rhetoric is communication through writing.  This class covers communication through many forms of writing.  We are used to communicating our thoughts on paper about a novel we had to read for our French Literature class or analyzing cultures and their social inequalities.  Yes we may use these things down the road, but I truly do not want to. 

The rhetoric we are learning in professional writing is something that can be used every day.  There is a manual in the desk drawer next to me that tells me how to turn this computer on and off.  There is a tab on this blog that tells me how to change the appearance of my template or how to spellcheck.

If I wanted to I could go online and find a graphic or set of instructions that could tell me how to tie my untied shoes and then show me the proper steps of walking with good posture.  Rhetoric is everywhere.

Many of have poor rhetoric and cannot get our points across.  I think the problem here is too many people dwell on the idea of communicating with others and worry what the reader may think.  If you take the simple steps that are simply described in our readings your rhetoric through the course of the semester should be strengthened allowing you the confidence to write and construct whatever it is you are trying to get across in a more successful fashion.

|Chapter-4|5|16|23-Readings|

|CHAPTER 4|  

Talking about usability seems to be an issue the book is driving into our brain.  Making sure you identify what your readers need and organizing your writing around those developed ideas, you can then proceed.  There are many steps that are overlooked everyday that many people take for granted. Chapter 4 does a great job of pointing out that we the writer should avoid including information just because we find it interesting and/or want to demonstrate our knowledge (Anderson 101).

I have done this many times before thinking that showing off my knowledge on a product may encourage others to be more interested.  Most of the time you and the reader do not share the same interests so you have to ask these questions that you think they might ask upon your approach. (Always outline if you are uncertain of how your writing will turn out)

|CHAPTER 5|

BE PERSUASIVE!  In being persuasive you have to listen and attack yourself at times to understand what it is you are trying to get across.  You cannot just sell yourself.  You would never get anywhere.  The chapter is common sense that most of us lack in presenting what we have to offer.  We never step back to listen and need to learn to take counterarguements and use those to make our persuasion stronger than it was before.  The three things that I took away from this chapter that have stood out in all the readings this semester is the simple reasoning chart.

       EVIDENCE           ------------------------->   CLAIM          

The facts, observations,             | The position you want 

and other evidence that                     | your readers to accept   

 support your claim |

|

|

|

       LINE OF REASONING

  The connection linking your claim and 

  evidence: the reason your readers should 

agree that your evidence supports your claim.

|CHAPTER 16|

This might be the most important chapter a college student could read in this book.  Everything else is a great way of developing your professional writing skills but typically based on the individual.  Many classes assign group projects that require strangers to come together and form a bond over the course of a semester or a quarter and develop a presentation/paper for a grade. A grade that requires a team effort.  If you are positioned with all Alphas you have the problem of who is going to do what because everybody wants to take the lead without the proper forms of distribution.  

Sharing leadership responsibilities poses a problem because many may not agree on your tactics so you have to go back and establish a team structure and agree on these issues prior to moving forward.  Setting up an outline and other detailed plans helps keep the group in check on and on task.  Many groups suffer from not creating a project schedule and pose the problem of not presenting what they are capable of.  Identify the roles of each person immediately and move on from there.  Propose, listen, debate, reform, draft, finalize.

|CHAPTER 23|

This chapter was a breeze in the sense that we see this everyday and understand what is trying to be communicated. The difficult problem comes in actually being able to write a reader-centered set of instructions for someone else.  Can I do this?  I would love to be assigned a set of instructions to write on a given product and compare them to the original after response from others.  Troubleshooting is something I do every day with one product or another and usually stray away from instructions because I cannot find them or have thrown them away.

This would be fun to try and see how difficult it really is.

Response to Vic's Blog

Like Vic said, when you are writing certain proposals you are not just writing to one person. Not only are you writing to multiple people in his example provided, but you are writing to multiple people you know close to nothing about.

Yes it may be nice to have a friend involved on the other end of your project but this is more of a matter of networking and introducing yourself verbally over time in which you can be a little more nonchalant in your approach. I dont know if the book covers networking but it would be interesting to see how you can use others influence based upon your relationship in the world of business. I know much of it is common sense, but there should be some guidelines.

This also hits on Vic's ethical point. Is it ethical to use your relationships to get ahead (see the city of vancouver politics, haha)? Always be on point. As Vic continues on, he makes a great point of just knowing your audiences and avoiding mistakes that may hurt you in the end.

Ch.3 - "Cultures don't talk to each other....

...people do." -Ron Scollon (1999)

I think many of us take for granted that everybody will adapt to what we write and how we present the material. This chapter did a great job of teaching you how to analyze your thoughts on paper through the eyes of other readers.

Not only are you focusing on delivering your message in a persuasive and effective way, but you have to consider the ramifications of all those you may be addressing. Chapter 3 talks about Stakeholders. Now culture is important but looking into who your stakeholders might be seems to have far more influence on your focus of writing. I assumed that stakeholders were those who made important decisions in large companies bc they have invested quite a bit more than others. (These are shareholders)

Everybody as to be accounted for. After reading this I realized that the farmers and environmental agencies are part of this group, but I never thought to imagine unborn children that may be exposed to any problems in the future that might occur.

Bottom line, make sure you think about everybody that your message may cross. If it is more complex, address it when the time comes but take the same measures to cover yourself on anything that has your name on it.

"Peter, did you get the memo?"

English 402
Interclass Memorandum

To Kat Ricker, Adjunct Professor
From Peter O’Connor
Date August 31, 2008

Subject Lack of Ideas for Research Paper (No Retention).

After two weeks of pondering and developing research topics, the lack of thoughts proved to be an unacceptable amount of ideas for writing an extensive paper on a topic.

Lack of Thought Retention
Ideas for a research paper seem like an easy task in which a student picks a topic and writes on an idea after extensive exploration and development. One would hope to provide a reader with thoughts and points to make the given idea a probable thought to process. After attempting to pass on these thoughts it was clear to see that when ideas and thoughts are developed without deep entranced thought, the idea may seem to drift and merge with other thoughts defeating the entire goal of encouraging one idea to maintain its focus.

Practice Makes Better (Not Perfect)
To prove this idea wrong one must develop a distinct and well thought out plan to maintain a course discipline in concentration and development of mind processing ideas to stay in the moment rather than drifting from conscious to daydream. One way to acquire retention skills one can practice with two easy skills: read and remember. Do this over and over again in various locations until you find the most suitable environment for your mind to retain thoughts in which you can put together a stream of knowledge and use it in the future.

I cannot help you, you can help yourself.

[402 Blog 2] Freestyle Writing

Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities

I have long since performed the act of focusing on specifics and avoiding the ambiguities. For a few years now I have specifically told people what it is I am going to accomplish and have not implemented any of them. Instead of focusing on the immediate situation, taking a turn for a broad blurred view of the future has helped me move forward at a better pace in order to eventually have things come into focus.




Many of us live think of living in a Cockaigne world day to day but many of us do not want to work hard to get there. You see somebody taking a lavish vacation or diving a fancy car and you think to yourself, “I want that some day.” Fact of the matter is not all of these people living the high life are as pleased with their lives as many of us may anticipate. Many of these people may be leasing their cars or barely paying their palatial mortgage, just getting by, but focused on presenting an image they find obligatory to their peers and their self built aristocracy.






I do not have a dream job by any means. I clock in, sit down, help people, make sure they get what they want, smile, fill up on some crappy Maxwell house coffee, check my email and then do it all over again for 7-9 hours, Mon-Fri….but I really can’t complain. It pays the bills and allows for some fun. Is this my walk of life? No. But for some people it is and I cannot frown upon them for doing what they have to do to live their lives. These are hard working honest people that have not necessarily chosen this existence but may have had no other choice….(That’s wrong because everybody has a choice!!!)






That is for another oblique strategy to come

Dealing with people who build homes and condos and retail space I have seen these hopes and dreams rise and fall and hurt many people’s view of the near future.

These people wanted specifics. Build a home (x 60), sell, buy more…and again. In the mix of it all they were building themselves 6,000sp. Ft homes, purchasing luxurious SUVs and sport cars. They were not looking into a possible downturn in the economy or building boom and put a lot on the line…Instant gratification would keep them in continual elation.






The same people are now coming in, working on someone’s add-on, or garage remodel looking for any work they can because 35% of their homes have been foreclosed on and they are having a tough time filling up their tanks and paying their $599/month lease on their new 5 series. The same people are also having a tough time paying off their bills at the print shop. They charge thousands of dollars in blueprints and now are forced to be on C.O.D. and have to pay cash or charge on a number of credit cards until I run one that has not been declined. The same people are now removing the specifics.

At any rate, living with a bit of uncertainty may be a frightful choice for some but is certainly not unwarranted. Live day by day. Layout some specifics over time but be sure to blur your future so when it comes into focus you can value what is presented upon you rather than simply taking it for granted.

[402 Blog 1] - Chapters 1, 20 & 22

Chapter 1 -

Being about what the rest of the book is going to teach us, Chapter One gives us a broad overview of what may seem new to others, but is common sense to anyone who has ever worked in the real world.

When you work for a company you develop an understanding of what is to be expected from the company itself and your superiors. Unlike your teacher, who is grading you, many memos, emails or any sort of communication is directed at multiple people and has to be very carefully structured and worded to clearly send your message in the right direction.

Once working for a company that uses as a single email to communicate messages over a bulletin, I learned that you have to choose your words very carefully. Fortunately for my humor alone, many people were uneducated and not thinking about what their words would do to colleagues when directing blame for problems or simply ranting off topic about their own habits which they want adopted by the majority. Having some sort of knowledge in addressing a mass audience, I would just sit back and enjoy the banter and repercussions of employee mishaps.

What many people, including myself, lack in the forms of development is persuasion. Listening to NPR last Friday, Prof. Robert B. Cialdini from Arizona State University was discussing forms of persuasion and basic every day methods that can earn us more and get us where we want. I can go on, but the link is worth listening to and I'd be more than happy to loan you the book after I read it.

Chapter 20 -

1. It is very important to keep whatever you are trying to get across simple and to the point.

or

2. Keep things simple and to the point.

Studying journalism for some time, you learn that readers just want the facts. They want them up high and they want the details quick. Everything a reader needs should be structured in a way for one to summarize with key words. Spacing properly with bold notes allows the reader to pick and choose, gathering the information they see fit.

I found the cultural awareness very interesting. Upon graduating I want to pursue my MBA and get into International Finance or Marketing. Mubadala is a company based out of Dubai that has its hands in a market that is unknown to many people. I am a Formula 1 fanatic so my goal would be to tap further into the market of this world class motorsport and get many of its current investors to invest further into Mubadala and make it a global example of how to develop. Learning customs in the UAE will be of utmost importance when it comes to professionalism and business matters.





Chapter 22 -

The idea of writing a proposal terrifies me. I know in the future it will be required of me in my line of work, but it still scares me. The fact that a company is depending on your paid time to spend hours to work on:

Introduction
Problem
Objectives
Solution
Method
Resources
Schedule
Management
Costs

The cliche saying of practice makes perfect may stand true in this case, but a lot of responsibility lies in your proposal. If there is one thing I want to take away from this class it is the confidence and ability to develop a proposal.

Overall great readings!!!

I think it would be an idea to consider to have your students do a mock proposal as one of the projects over the course of your semester.