Takin what I'm given cause I'm bloggin for a livin...

If any of my students got the humor behind that headline, then extra points to them! Um... in class... unfortunately, cool points in life will probably be deducted if they are Huey Lewis fans like myself.

So tonight I've been combing over the blogs my students have been keeping this sememster, wielding my almighty keyboard to give earnest feedback on each one since it does count for 15% of their grades. Now I don't profess to be the greatest teacher in the world, so I must have gotten very lucky with this batch of students. The students in this section of SC 3353 are some of the brightest, most thoughtful and promising young people I might have ever encountered. I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading their blogs and learning more about them and their aspirations in life and in their careers.

(BTW, these aren't my students. My students are way better looking than these guys)

The assignment was to keep a blog for the latter part of the semester. Aside from the first couple of weeks, the material is left very much up to the student. The blogs very much reflect each person's individuality and distinct personality. (I would probably ding my students for being redundant like that just now, but hey-- I'm trying to get my point across)

From Erin's entertaining thoughts on being a "Perpetual Pessimist," to Steve's love for music, it's been really great to see their personalities shine through. In particular, a couple of students have really fallen in love with the non-profit organizations they were paired with on a class project. Those organizations should consider themselves very lucky, as it seems they have found champions for life.

With such a bright, creative set of students, why in the world would I want to keep their blogs all to myself?

So consider this my early Christmas gift to you, my friends. I hope you enjoy the musings and surmising of the talented students of SC 3353 just as much as I have.

Innapropriate bursts of laughter:
http://innapropriateburstsoflaughter.blogspot.com/

The technilogical resistance:

http://trailnerd84.blogspot.com/

Things on stuff:

http://www.thingsonstuff.blogspot.com/

cshredsalot:

http://cshredsalot.wordpress.com/

Persuasive writing 101:

http://3353clinton.wordpress.com/

Tales to astonish:

http://tales2astonish.blogspot.com/

Perpetual pessimism:

http://mrsshack.blogspot.com/

HellOgOOdbye:

http://hell0g00dbye.wordpress.com/

Typical student frustrations:

http://julieratliff.blogspot.com/

My blog:

http://keccle.wordpress.com/

Willow:

http://malloryswillow.blogspot.com/

OpenHeartSpace:

http://openheartspace.com/

SteveSchwing:

http://steveshwing.tumblr.com/

OKedition:

http://okedition.wordpress.com/

Juiced nation

A new study by Careerbuilder.com just ranked the most caffeinated professions, and PR professional came in at #2, moving up seven spots from the previous rank of #8.  Woo hoo! Oh... wait a sec... my kidneys may not be celebrating.

My kidneys and I united, however, in our pride in being second only to scientist/lab technician. That's awesome, because I was terrible at science in school. Kind of makes me feel like I'm a little more on par with those smarty pants. As an aside, Isn't that why we all go into journalism/PR? We can't do math or science?

I wasn't yet convinced, so I looked around my desk for proof and sure enough, there it was.

My array of dirty coffee mugs

In my "spare" time I teach a class at OSU Tulsa and professor comes in at number 8. Guess that justifies the two cups of coffee I had this morning. Here's the full list... where do you rank and how scared are your co-workers if you don't have your morning fuel?

1. Scientist/lab technician
2. Marketing/public relations professional
3. Education administrator
4. Editor/writer
5. Healthcare administrator
6. Physician
7. Food preparer
8. Professor
9. Social worker
10. Financial professional
11. Personal caretaker
12. Human resources benefits coordinator
13. Nurse
14. Government professional
15. Skilled tradesperson (plumber, carpenter, etc)

Yes... I'm blogging again.

Yep. After almost 10 months of being dormant, I'm back. For those of you who actually noticed I was gone... thanks! But to be more realistic, I'm pretty sure there wasn't a huge void left in any of your lives.

So what's drawn me back in? For starters, I was starting to feel embarrassed that I consider myself a fairly innovative communications professional, yet I couldn't even manage to update my blog. Secondly, I was being shamed by the the aptly titled "It Ain't Called Olds... It's Called News..." Uh... yeah. The blog by that name was getting old. Ooops... Lastly, and probably most importantly, I'm teaching a writing class for non-news majors in the School of Media and Strategic Communications at OSU. Part of the their curriculum is to keep a blog for the semester. And can I really ask them to do something I'm not willing to commit myself to? I think not!

So for my first revived blog post I would like to expand upon a debate that one of my students and I had recently in class: Are bloggers journalists? In a nutshell, I said no and he said yes.

Our staunch difference of opinion left me questioning my own views though. Have I been wrong to unequivocally deny that bloggers are, indeed, journalists?

In researching the topic, it's a debate that's been happening since at least 2005, noted here:

http://archive.pressthink.org/2005/01/21/berk_essy.html

My student actually blogged about this as well, and here is his take on things:

http://okedition.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/bloggerism/

My main point of contention is that there isn't a standard code of ethics for bloggers, and they're usually a one-man show. So where are their checks and balances? Others may say that keeps them more honest, because there isn't a management structure concerned with selling ad revenue. But recently, I was informed that some bloggers sell their space in return for coverage. If that's not the anti-journalist, I'm not sure what is.

So what do you think? Are bloggers journalists?

The real trainwrecks of reality TV

I'm going to make a very embarrassing confession. I watch the Bachelor. Pretty much religiously. I've watched it since the second season, and even spearheaded a money pool for a few years, betting on which girls would make it through each week. But recently I was flipping through the TV channels and stopped on the Real Housewives of somewhere, a franchise I've never watched. These were the most terrible, cattiest, attention starved women I had ever seen. Then I realized that I also occasionally watch Basketball Wives and Football Wives on VH-1, and they are certainly no better. In fact, they're probably worse. Both shows seem to have very few "wives," but a lot of ex-wives, girlfriends and mothers of somebody important's children. The Basketball/Football "wives" are probably worse, because none of them are married, but actually just glorified groupies that managed to trap a millionaire athlete for sperm donor purposes.

But hey, to each his own, and I certainly am not the type of person to judge. If that's the way these "ladies" act in real life, great. But do they really have to rewarded with face time on national television? I'm probably not alone in feeling like these types of shows are actually quite damaging to the women and little girls who watch them... Wait, scratch that... they're damaging to pretty much all women in general. What these shows say to me is that nasty, crazy, selfish behavior can be rewarded with lucrative TV contracts and celebrity status. Is this what passes for being a successful female in America?

I've worked in TV and currently work in PR, so I know better than anyone that smut and dirt sell... But more women than men are graduating from college these days, the salary gap between the sexes is closing and women could very well outweigh men in the workforce in the next few years, so why hasn't some production company exercised some degree of social responsiblity and produced a show that showcases women for being smart and successful, instead of being shallow and snide?

Just once I feel it would be refreshing to see a show about women competing in business, athletics, academics, charity or just SOME area that doens't involve yelling at each other, calling each other names or fighting over men. True, I admit that I do get some level of entertainment by watching these shows, but I also feel ashamed that these are hours I will never get back. Luckily, I can also separate reality show trainwrecks from actual reality. But there are a whole generation of little girls growing up and watching this trend on TV. Let's hope and pray they have strong role models who can counter these influences... or at least install a v-chip on their TV to block it for as long as possible!

P.S.-- I would still totally go on the Bachelor, but I pledge to not be there for the "right" reasons... I just wanna go rock climbing, jump off waterfalls and take helicopter rides over volcanoes. :-)