Anarachy, art and hope

I started the week in San Francisco, touring the Mission's murals with a friend. I ended the week taking pictures of peonies in full bloom dans le Jardin Bontanique de Montreal. (Look for some of those pics in a future post.)

Yes, it was a good week, my first real week off from school. Here are some highlights of my Mission mural walk:

This mural, painted on a garage door in Balmy Ave., is a tribute to women artists. Frida, I recognized, but not the rest.






Across the alley is this compelling portrait. That's my friend Nancy coming face to face with it.
















The next mural, it turns out, illustrates an apocalyptic poem by William Butler Yeats:

...Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...

(here's where I cut out some of the gratuitously gory parts...to get to these lines, which have always seemed to me to speak of politics and religion...especially in combination)

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Anyway, I like this mural's colorful bugs (the proverbial cockroaches, mayhaps?) crawling around the scattered grey (oh, no, are we all dead?) human forms. Instead of "The Second Coming," let's just call this one "After Global Warming."

I hate to end on such a down note, so let me close with something more hopeful. While viewing the murals, we met these lively 8th graders on a field trip. Their teachers at St. Paul's Epicopal in Oakland had asked them to pick a mural and write about its message. They described this one as "Breaking the chains of oppression."
















Here they are, getting into character with the mural: Nicholas Piucci, Emily Nguyen, Rafa Moraga, Bruce Lien and Max "Cool Kid" Ornstil.

Power to the people!

Twittering around

Lately I've been using Twitter, that short-form (140 characters or less) cross between blogging and instant messaging.

I don't post that many "tweets" myself; I mostly use it to keep track of some colleagues and former students. But I'm finding it interesting to see how others are using it.

For example, I see people using Twitter to:

• Keep in touch with friends and colleagues
  
• Promote themselves or their latest blog posts, videos, podcasts
  
• Pass on breaking news, or to link to interesting items they've found on the web
• Request information or assistance
• Network

Here's a new wrinkle: One of my former students, a newly minted grad, is using Twitter as part of his job search (see below). He's already gotten one helpful plug. I hope networking on Twitter helps him find a job.












PS: Here's a link to Kyle Hansen's resume.


PS2: You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cynmc...or read my latest tweets in the sidebar of this blog.

PS3: Here's another recent post I wrote about Twitter -- A Twitter shout out? -- on one of my class blogs.

PS4: If you're interested in Twitter, you should also check out Twitterific, a fun Twitter application for Macs, and tinyurl.com.

iMovie and YouTube...my classroom buddies!

The most wonderful thing happened in class the other day, right before my very eyes...learning, yes, learning!

For their final project for the broadcast segment in my Journalism 61 (beginning news writing) class, I asked students to rewrite one of their news stories or campus event blog posts for broadcast. Their task this week: Bring their broadcast script to class, record it using iMovie, upload it to the web (ya gotta love You Tube and blip.tv!), and post it to their blogs.

As they started recording, an interesting thing happened: They started rewriting their broadcast scripts. All around the room, I could see students crossing out a phrase here or adding a word there to improve flow and clarity. They scribbled notes between the double-spaced lines of their scripts (yes, there is a reason for that double-spacing!); they tweaked and they polished. A few even said, "I need to start over," and did a total rewrite before continuing with their recording.

One student, who'd knocked off her broadcast quickly during the first of this week's lab session (and who'd stuck around during the second one to help other students upload and link), came up to me at the end of class and said that she wasn't really happy with how hers had turned out and she was going to do it over. Yes!

It was great! I was so proud of them!

So here's what I learned: You can talk to students about the need to make broadcast writing more conversational; you can preach broadcast style and urge them to read it out loud to make sure it works...but nothing beats seeing yourself on screen and hearing your own voice reading your own script...and realizing that it doesn't quite cut it. That, and the realization that it'll be online for all the world to see, proved to be powerful motivators this week, so I'd call this assignment a success.

If you'd like to cruise over to my Journalism 61 class blog and check out the links to my students' blogs, here's the direct link: http://jour61.wordpress.com/

Vlogs, blogs and scholarships

Gawd, what a busy week! It had everything from dental work to scholarship awards to faculty workshops....

I got drilled Tuesday morning, in preparation for getting a crown. That afternoon, I finally set up a video blog (McVlog), and uploaded a little multimedia project I've been playing with for a while.

Wednesday, in addition to teaching two classes, I attended a STEM session on getting started with Flash...and listened to a few songs by one of my favorite indie groups, The Dimes, who were playing on campus (I 'd forgotten they were going to be there, but I heard them playing as I was on my way to my evening class, so I took a short detour).

Thursday, I helped another prof set up a blog, and then helped present scholarships at the JMC Academic Achievement Awards Reception. What a pleasure that was!

I got to hand out scholarships to a couple of my favorite former students (you know who you are!) and one of my current favorite students. I finally got to meet a student I only know through her entertaining and well-done slide show (created for another section of the new media class). I got to meet several proud parents and scholarship donors. And I got acquainted with a wonderful young broadcast student who told me she was inspired in her career choice by people like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters.

I mean, how can you not have a good time at an event like this? The students are happy, the donors are happy, my boss is happy, I'm happy.

I wrapped the week up with a Friday morning faculty workshop on making slideshows and videos in iMovie, co-taught with my frequent partner in crime, Steve Greene. I brought some photos I'd taken at the scholarship awards reception; Steve brought a video camera and ambush-interviewed each of the six participants as they entered the room: "Do you know any students who won scholarships?"

We showed them how to make a quickie slide show in iPhoto, then jumped into doing the same in iMovie. An hour later, each of them had created a short multimedia presentation using still photos, video clips and music. One even added a voice-over. They were pleased. We were pleased. Another day, another bunch of happy people. I like that.

Fortunately, I had some really fine guest speakers in both of my classes this week (Carol Welsh of Cisco in my PR class and video bloggers Ryanne Hodson and Jay Dedman in my new media class). That cut down on some of the usual class prep. And I guess I'm getting used to not getting enough sleep.

There'll be time enough to sleep in mid-May, after the end of the semester.

Put your money where your mouth is

On a day when SJSU students are staging a protest over ever-increasing tuition and fees, let me quote a few paragraphs from "Stepping on the Dream," a recent NYT Select column by Bob Herbert (published March 22, 2007).

Tamara Draut, in her book, “Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead,” tells us:

“Back in the 1970s, before college became essential to securing a middle-class lifestyle, our government did a great job of helping students pay for school. Students from modest economic backgrounds received almost free tuition through Pell grants, and middle-class households could still afford to pay for their kids’ college.”

Since then, tuition at public and private universities has soared while government support for higher education, other than student loan programs, has diminished.

This is a wonderful example of extreme stupidity. America will pony up a trillion or two for a president who goes to war on a whim, but can’t find the money to adequately educate its young. History has shown that these kinds of destructive trade-offs are early clues to a society in decline.

At the state level, per-pupil spending for higher education is at a 25-year low, even as government officials and corporate leaders keep pounding out the message that a college degree is the key to a successful future.

...In a nation as rich as ours, it should be easy to pay for college. For some reason, we find it easier to pay for wars.

Amen!

I went to college in the '70s, and I remember those days. I was one of those "students from modest economic backgrounds" and I never would have made it through college without tuition grants, work-study programs, and being able to commute from home.

I didn't get funded my senior year and had to drop out and work full-time for a while. Eventually, with the help of work-study and a small loan, I was able to go back, finish up my classes, and graduate.

When I graduated in 1977, I owed a grand total of $700 in student loans (don't laugh...that was a lot of money to me back then. Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to make it though the last month of my final semester if my Mom hadn't given me an extra $50...I was that close to the edge.) At the time, the job market for newly minted reporters was piss-poor. I got a few freelance assignments (a good way to starve), then got a job and worked (very briefly, because I sucked at it) as an advertising copywriter for a local radio station.

Then I got desperate and started taking anything...the graveyard shift at an emergency call center...a factory job building prefab houses (my hammering arm gave out after about four hours of straight pounding nails through cheap masonite siding). Hell, that's how I ended up taking a job as a small-town reporter in the middle of nowhere in Kansas...if you're willing to go someplace sight unseen, on a Greyhound bus with just two bags of luggage to your name, you know you're desperate for a job.

Yes, I remember those days...maybe that's why I support today's student protest.

It's also why I was happy to chair the JMC Scholarship Committee again this year. The awards reception is tomorrow evening. Although there's never as much money as you'd like, it always feels good to give checks to some deserving students.

SJSU Student Protest: 11:30-1:30 today at Plaza de Cesar Chavez on campus; wear red to show your support.
JMC Academic Achievement Awards Reception: 5-7 p.m., Thursday, April 26, University Room, Student Union, SJSU.

Wanna be a better writer? Watch TV!

It's not the advice I would normally give a student writer, but it sure has worked for Soledad Rosas. So here is her advice: If you want to get better at telling stories, watch more TV...especially soap operas.

Rosas, a broadcast major and a student in my "Writing Workshop" class last fall, is a good writer. Right away, I noticed she had a knack for writing stories. Even with a simple assignment ("go outside and observe something...anything...then describe it...be descriptive, use telling details...write me a couple hundred words, and turn it in by the end of class"), Rosas created a story.

Here's what she wrote. She called it, "Talking To Each Other."

"Is that a man?" she asked Sergio, who sat almost, but not
quite next to her. Sergio stopped writing in his thin
notebook. He stood up and walked quickly down the stairs.

Sitting on the side of the steps outside Dwight Bentel
Hall, Katy chewed her gum rhythmically. Her long bright
gold hair, tied at the top, glided down her back. Her right
leg supported her against the smooth rail. Using a
pocketsize, Katy typed a few words, looked up and then
typed some more. From the bright green grass with dim gold
autumn leaves where he stood Sergio replied "No." They
giggled simultaneously.

A bright summer-like sun came down from the sky. Wearing a
red baseball cap that was his perfect fit and a bright
green T-shirt, Sergio walked up the stairs again.

"Do you think anybody took notes?"Katy said in a friendly
manner as she continued typing.

"No, it is such a great day," Sergio replied, and looked
indirectly at Katy.

"I am making background noise crunching on chips," said
Katy as she reached into the bag of chips with her left
hand. She grabbed some potato chips and ate them slowly,
making sure they crunched, then she continued typing.

Sitting on the concrete steps, Sergio also kept writing
every detail in his notebook. A few minutes later, without
saying a word, he walked up the stairs and opened the heavy
brown door. Katy did not seem to care and kept typing
holding her tiny machine in an upward position.

A moment later, she left walking fast. Katy seemed to know
the path by memory.

Rosas's short piece has characters. It has dialog. It has action (of a sort). It has a beginning, a middle and an end...all the element of a story.

I particularly like her closing line: "Katy seemed to know the path by memory." To me, that's the line that makes this piece hang really together as a story. It rounds the story out; it creates a sense of familiarity, a sense of closure.

When it comes to writing, different approaches work for different people. So, students, here is what I have to say: If you want to learn to write stories, you might try watching more television...especially soap operas.

Thanks to Robin Williams, Molly Bang and Pam

I wish I was a good designer.

I'm not bad...I can put together a balanced page that isn't ugly...but I just don't have the skill to take a good but pedestrian design and make it eye-catching. Wish I did.

But I do know good design when I see it.

And just as important, I know a bad design when I see it too...and I can usually figure out at least part of what's wrong with it.

I never took a class in graphic design, although I did take undergrad classes in drawing and photography, which probably helped. But I owe most of my "design eye" to three women: Robin, Molly and Pam.

Robin is Robin Williams, author of The Non-Designer's Design Book; Molly is Molly Bang, author of Picture This: Perception & Composition; and Pam is Pam Linwood, a friend and Kansas City-based direct marketer and freelance writer.

In my PR 191 -- Strategic Writing class, I make Robin Williams' The Non-Designer's Design Book a required text. I figure that, at some point in their careers, most PR practitioners will end up working on print pieces or web pages, either doing it themselves (in small shops/offices) or working with graphic designers. And that means it helps to have an understanding of the basic principles and lingo of graphic design.

In yesterday's class, I reviewed Robin Williams' four basic principles of design and Molly Bang's 10 principles of perception and perception, and had my students tackle one of Robin Williams' graphic design exercises. I also assigned my students to find two print pieces or web pages to critique -- one they like and one they don't -- based on these design principles. I call this assignment "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," and I find they learn as much from bad examples as they do from good ones.

Once you start looking, you start seeing...whether you're looking for typos or good design. For example, as I was reading the newspaper today, I found a great example of one of Molly Bang's principles in a comic strip (you can read about that in this post in my PR 191 class blog).

That's one reason why I encourage my PR students to start filling an "idea file" (sometimes called a "cheat" file) with examples of good design. When you've got a project and you need some inspiration, it always helps to have a file full of great examples to draw upon. That's something I learned from my friend Pam Linwood, back in the day when we worked together at the Livestock Marketing Association (no kidding!), planning and publicizing the organization's annual conference.

Another thing I learned from Pam is the value of being a motivated learner -- of being willing and able to teach yourself new skills. In an era when so much is changing so fast, that's probably the most important skill of all. I hope I can help my students figure that out too.

Road trip team

A former PR student of mine, Abel Habtegeorgis, popped by my office this afternoon. He just wanted to say "hi" and remind me that he and his two teammates will be speaking on campus tomorrow about their summer adventures traveling for the PBS series "Roadtrip Nation."

As you may recall from an earlier post in The JMC Journal blog, Habtegeorgis hit the road for six weeks this summer in a green Roadtrip Nation RV with two other SJSU students -- Cairo Person, a journalism major, and Kisura Hendrix, a PolySci major -- to interview interesting people. Two other teams, from Emory University and Concordia University in Montreal, also participated in the program. Their travels and interviews, caught on film, are being made into a PBS documentary.

Habtegeorgis, Henrix and Person will talk about their travels and the people they interviewed at 12 noon tomorrow in the Umunhum Room of the Student Union at SJSU. They'll also show some of their clips from the upcoming documentary.

Be there or be square!