A writing career

Right now, I am undecided when it comes to my major. There are three things I am interested in however, which are psychology, advertising, and journalism. Out of those three, I’m leaning towards journalism because of my love for writing. I love fashion, so hopefully there is something in which I could write about that. I would probably start out writing for some newspaper or magazine in St. Louis. Since I enjoy writing, I decided to talk to professor, Tom Pettit who is associated with journalism. Tom first told me that writing for a newspaper of magazine is an awesome experience because you learn new things and meet new people. He then told me about his experience in writing for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. I told him about my cousin who use to write for the newspaper and he said the name sounded familiar. Tom said writing for the St. Louis Post Dispatch was a wonderful job but you have to know how to handle stress and follow deadlines. If you write for a newspaper, there are strict deadlines that you have to follow by every day since newspapers come out every day of the week. With magazines, which are usually monthly, the deadlines are every month. You would think that would be a piece of cake just writing one thing a month, but it’s more than that. Writers have to do multiple articles or pieces. Tom explained how one bad thing with journalism is that the future is going digital. Hundreds of newspaper writers are losing their jobs so it’s a difficult field right now. He said that pretty soon there will come a time when there are no more newspapers and no hard copies, just digital such as the internet. There’s still hope though, Tom said. There are always going to be those people that buy the hard copies of newspapers and magazines. Some people would rather hold the actual magazine or newspaper in front of them rather than go to a website. Also, in this career, you should expect long hours and as said before, you have to know how to handle stress. Writers are under great pressure to meet deadlines. In journalism, to make yourself more employable it’s ideal to do a number of things like learn photography, HTML, and even a foreign language. Journalists need to be multi-skilled. A great way to start is by writing for the school paper, which I will probably do next year. Another important thing is to read. Some people don’t enjoy reading, but for me, I love it. Reading not only makes you a smarter person, but it can give you new ideas and show different writing styles. Salaries in journalism can range from typically range from $20,000 to $50,000 depending on what job you do. Journalism involves investigating, interviews with different people, and observation of events. Overall, meeting with Tom Pettit gave me a better understanding of a career in journalism and it’s definitely a career I could see myself doing.

Dr. Pepper ad 2008

Dr. Pepper soda

Dr. Pepper

Made in 2008
Interpublic Group's Deutsch LA

Why do you like this ad? I found this ad amusing with the Professor dancing in the classroom and the whole class stops at the sound of the Dr. Pepper soda can opening. I also liked this ad because I love Dr. Pepper. I’m not a huge fan of soda and it’s literally one of the only sodas I drink.
Why does it get you attention? This ad gets your attention by a number of different things going on. The soda can sings “Flava flavalicious” with different genres of music including rap, rock, and even spanish. The professor even starts dancing.
What about the ad makes it memorable and effective? The same goes for what makes this ad memorable and effective. The professor starts to break out dancing showing how you’ll have a good time when you drink this soda, and you’ll definitely remember the can singing.
What elements of puffery can you find? Elements of puffery include the professor dancing and at the end of the ad when the girl sitting in the desk makes a “rock on” symbol with her hand. Also, another element of puffery is when the whole class stops when the Dr. Pepper can opens.
What is the ad really selling? This Dr. Pepper ad is selling their soda and showing you that if you purchase this soda you will have an awesome, fun time.
Was the placement of the ad effective in reaching the ad’s target market? The placement of the ad was effective in reaching the target market because this ad takes place in a college-like setting and the professor dancing is a Hollywood actor. It is geared toward a younger audience including teenagers and college students in their early 20’s.
Did you buy the product after seeing this ad? I always bought Dr. Pepper soda being a fan of it, but after I saw this ad I wanted a Dr. Pepper.

Writer and producer Rift Fournier!

“I always wanted to be a writer” was Rift Fournier’s opening statement as he talked about his career to our Professional Media class. Rift got Polio at a young age leaving him in a wheelchair. One thing that stuck to me was a comment Rift’s daughter said to her new friend… “This is my daddy. He’s in a wheelchair but you won’t be able to tell.” Rift, who was born in Kansas, had a “cool” mother who was an artist who later married a Frenchman (his father). His mother and father had a “rift” (fight) about what to name their child so needless to say they decided to call him Rift and baptize him after his father. During Rift’s speech, he talked about reading saying “you have to read, it’s important.” He went on explaining if you want to write you better know how to. Rift’s life was quite interesting as he told us his life story. Rift couldn’t decide what to do as he changed from a med student to law school which he worked his way through. He then ran a morgue and a jail in which he worked as a Deputy. After that, he worked his way over to California to become a writer. There, Rift sold jokes for five dollars a piece, and wrote comedy. Then, he later went on to write children’s television shows such as “Go” which he won an Emmy for, and other popular televison series.

He even travelled to Germany and Norway to write shows. Rift told us how working so many different jobs benefited his writing. “Work all different kinds of jobs because they will benefit you,” he said. Rift also said to drive people crazy and bug them if you really want a job because that’s how you are going to get it. Many of the cop stories that he shared with the class were hilarious. Rift said the hardest thing about being a writer is facing that blank sheet of paper. With his opinions on media, I agree with him a lot. The internet changed everything and will continue to change life. Media constantly changes and media professionals have to keep up with technology.

Blogs

Personally, I don't keep up with or even have a "favorite" blog so i did some research and came across one of my favorite country singer's blog, Trace Adkins. It is at www.traceadkinsblog.com .This blog talks about what Trace has been up to and his brand new CD, X (TEN) which comes out November 25th. Trace will perform at the "42nd Annual CMA Awards live from the Sommet Center in Nashville, TN on November 12th and we will all hear his popular song "Muddy Water".

This blog talked about how Trace is in a new movie called "An American Carol" which movie star Kelsey Grammar also stars in. And it doesn't stop there. Trace made a surprise visit across the world overseas to entertain our troops. He is currently in the Persian Gulf where he will visit operating bases, sign autographs and get pictures taken. He will also share personal accounts of how he got started off in the music industry and talk one on one with the troops. With the blog, Trace Adkin fans such as I can visit it and find out information about what is currently going on w/Trace. I've never seen this blog before but I love and will be back.

T.V. and Interent Convergence

Like many other girls, I love the show Gossip Girl which is on the CW. I have read every book and seen pretty much every episode. I really don't know why I am so drawn to this show because I am not into the whole gossip scene...there is just so much drama and so many different things happening to all of the characters that draws you in. There are good looking guys on the show such as "Chuck Bass" and "Nate Archibald" that make girls want to watch the show. I admit that's one of the reasons I watch it.

With so many great t.v. shows like Gossip Girl, it's almost devestating to miss an episode. That's why there is good old YouTube and t.v. show websites where you can simply click on the episode you missed and watch it in an instance. Technology like this plays a huge contribution to society because the people who don't have Tivo and are caught up with their busy lives can just go to a website and watch that one episode they missed. And that's not all. You can even go to iTunes and purchase full episodes with NO commercials. At some point, with all of these new technologies people won't even turn on their television. Instead they will sit down at their computer and either go to a television show's website, Youtube, or download episodes from iTunes.

Presidental Debate

On October 7th, I watched the vice presidential debate on PBS. Sarah Palin and Joe Biden both did good jobs with their speeches and responses to the questions. While Joe Biden kept his responses on a more professional level, Sarah Palin was the opposite and her responses seemed more down to earth. I don’t care for Joe Biden because I think he is corrupt. I think Sarah Palin is an outstanding woman and is a role model.

On October 15th, I saw the third presidential debate on NBC news. The debate was very intense as Senator Obama and McCain argued back and forth over their beliefs and issues. Both candidates had excellent responses to the questions asked and did a great job. Senator Obama is going to increase our taxes. McCain stated “Why would you want to increase taxes especially in this time?” when the issue of taxes was discussed. As both candidates attacked each other, McCain explained that he was very upset with some of Obama’s presidential ads and remarks and he said “Obama is spending unpresident negative attack ads on me.” McCain also stated how some of Obama’s ads are not relevant talking about McCain’s position on stem cell research and immigration policies. Obama shot back saying he was upset with McCain’s statement that he has had connections with terrorists.
When the question of “Why would your running mate be better off than his?” came up, Obama responded, “Joe Biden has the best foreign policy credentials and will help working families.” McCain disagreed and said “Joe Biden has been wrong about foreign policies which is supposed to be his strong point.” McCain confirmed “Sarah Palin is a role model to women and reformers and will sweep out the corruption in Washington as well as reach out to families.” When asked about energy and our environment, Obama’s approach will involve expanding domestic production where as McCain believes in clean coal technology. During the debate, I thought it was funny when McCain talked about the average “Joe the plumber” and Obama said “well hi Joe” to the audience.
Overall, I myself am a Republican and am voting for John McCain! I dislike Obama and think he seems sketchy and wants to spread everyone’s wealth around. I am a Republican for many reasons but mainly because they aren’t out to get our hard earned money and believe the government shouldn’t be able to get their hands on it as much. Republicans are for lowering taxes as opposed to Democrats and also protect those smaller businesses as well as those individuals that work hard and make a lot of money. McCain would be a wonderful president because he will look out for those middle class families. He will protect the public’s money so the government doesn’t take all that hard earned cash. McCain will look out for our environment which needs help by engaging in clean coal technology. I believe that Sarah Palin and John McCain are two worthy individuals because they are trustworthy, honest, uncorrupt, and are going to look out for us, the people.

Guest Speaker

Monday, September 22, we had guest speaker Bob Wigginton come to talk to my Professional Media class. Bob was a journalist and editor who use to work for a popular newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bob just recently got a job here at Lindenwood teaching and is in charge of our school newspaper. He shared his writing experiences in Arkansas to the class. We learned about diversity in the newsroom and just how important and crucial it is. We were told that in the newsroom Bob worked in there were more women than men and only 1 black reporter in the “news section”. Bob said “if you do not diversify in the newsroom you miss out on many things,” and “you want to choose people who are capable of the job, not by color of skin. He said that if you look hard enough you will find the right person for the job. With news, it could very much seem one sided and one would not even notice that mistake. Mrs. Falk told us a story about how a white reporter who was doing an assignment interviewing the public, had not interviewed one black person and hadn’t realized this until her black cameraman mentioned it to her. Bob also talked to us about censorship in the newsroom. His response to censorship was “BS”. I strongly agree with this and think newspapers should be able to report anything and everything. Giving out all the facts and information such as a person’s name and picture would help out the public and let them know about hazardous issues that have happened or even the name of a rapist to look out for. With the incident that happened over last weekend when a guy in a Lindenwood dorm held a knife to another guy’s throat, we have the right to know the suspect’s name because he’s dangerous and a threat. Bob stated how our newspaper wouldn’t allow him to mention any names or else he would lose his job. Another issue Bob discussed was how some newspapers are going downhill and ruining the industry. One example he gave was the “Gazette” which he called “the great Satin” and said is a disgrace.