One Year and Eight Jobs Later…

A year ago I wasn’t sure where I’d be now. How long it would take me to get to this place. But, as of a month ago I’ve found a job, a real job, at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry aka OMSI! I’ve always been interested in working at OMSI, and my work there incorporates a lot of my past experiences and interests as a person. In that sense, I wasn’t so shocked at my hire, but at the same time… it was a long time coming for me.

I’ve done so much since I graduated, it still amazes me when I look back on the past year. From learning how to make nut butter spreads, thanks to Nut-Tritious Foods and its owner Ken, to spending two weeks at a call center screening potential patients for a clinical drug trial. I’ve had a lot of crazy work experiences I’ll never forget!

Going to the University of Oregon Career Center in Portland helped me through a lot of my job searching trials. I kept in touch with Julie and Linda who work there, a couple of wonderful women who do so much to help recent Duck Grads. I was surprised when Linda asked me if I’d be interested in being a part of their Alumni Perspective blog. But I was also honored. It’s no surprise they named my article Juggling Jobs!

Me, the summer after graduation

Not all of my advice was mentioned in the article.

First, if I could go back in time I would have been more involved with groups on campus. I didn’t get involved with anything until my junior year and at that point I missed out on some opportunities. As a copy editor for Ethos Magazine my senior year my “boss” was a sophomore who had been involved since the beginning of her freshman year (she is now a senior and Editor in Chief). There was also PRSSA, Ad Team, student-only internships, and Student Government… Things I flirted with but never got involved in. There are so many opportunities that are pretty much up for grabs when you’re in school (as long as you have interest and dedication). Once you’re out of school everything is up to competition. I would tell students to find something they love and show improvement over time within a group or with an activity.

Graduates — know what you’re good at, and where you fit. And just because a job isn’t posted doesn’t mean the position isn’t there. Everyone wants a job but if you show interest in a organization without even knowing that there’s a position open it shows that you’re interested in THEM. Find mentors and keep those relationships. It’s so helpful to have people working for you, who believe in your abilities.

If I thought about it I knew what I wanted to do when I graduated but it took me a year to figure it out for myself. After working at Disney, the Oregon Zoo, and Make-A-Wish, I got a better idea of where I fit. My love for tourism and community outreach has lead to me to pursue a career in nonprofits, and an education oriented attraction like OMSI is perfect!

The Real Disney Princesses

Have you ever wondered who was singing “Once Upon a Dream” or “Colors of the Wind”?

Here are the real life women who voiced the classic Disney Princesses:

Left: Adriana Caselotti played Snow White in 1937                                                         Right: Ilene Woods played Cinderella in 1950

Left: Mary Costa played Aurora aka “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959                                     Right: Jodi Benson played Ariel the Little Mermaid in 1989

Left: Paige O’Hara played beauty Belle in 1991                                                                  Right: Linda Larkin played Princess Jasmine in 1992

Left: Irene Bedard played Chief’s Daughter Pocahontas in 1995                                   Right: Lea Salonga played warrior Mulan in 1998

The newest Disney Princess found love with a frog, who was actually a prince in disguise. Anika Noni Rose voices Tiana in Disney’s 2009 Princess reboot.

 

People like to say that the Princess Brand is damaging for young girls. Beautiful (in some cases royal) women who have great style, great voices, and always find their Prince Charming. I understand this viewpoint and I think it’s valid in part, especially looking at the older princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty) — Heck, I can’t stand watching Sleeping Beauty without yelling at the screen when Aurora touches the obvious poisoned spindle — BUT kudos to Disney for introducing a much more self sufficient Princess in the later years. Ariel has spunk and defies family expectations, Jasmine isn’t interested in being rescued by anyone, Belle a beauty and a bookworm, and Mulan a warrior, Pocahontas has both confidence and wisdom, and Tiana dreams of being a business owner. That’s not such a terrible concept for today’s girls.

A Fearful Graduation

For so many of my peers, including myself, graduation was supposed to be a happy day, a momentous occasion worth celebrating. While it was all of those things still, one thing it wasn’t — a launching pad to a future career.

One of my former advertising professors posted this article on facebook, Young, Educated, and Unemployed: A New Generation of Kids Search for Work in their 20s.

To say this story resonated with me would be stating it lightly. To be fair, I did find employment soon after graduating… but it was in the hospitality industry. Then I found a rewarding internship in communications and nonprofit, but it was unpaid and wouldn’t lead to a job. Since graduating I feel I’ve been bouncing around from place to place, and I find myself more than ever just hoping for a good stable job and not the rewarding career I thought I’ve have.

I’ve had some great interviews and feel I’m taking all the right steps but I’ve had to learn to live with rejection. There simply isn’t a lot out there jobs-wise, and there are a lot of people out there, also out of work, who have more experience and perhaps more skills than I do. An employer’s market.

One thing I had negative perceptions about before graduating was using temp agencies. And the most rewarding work I’ve had since graduating so far have been a couple of the jobs I’ve taken through my temp agency. Who would have thought? They really do act as your advocate, when sometimes your resume wouldn’t necessarily stand out amongst the crowd. Is it what I want to be doing in the long-term? No. But, it’s taken me a whole lot closer. The search continues.

Where Advertising and Activism Meet

I was messing around on Twitter earlier and came across some posts by the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for the protection of oceans and beaches. I was reminded of a project I worked on back in college, where I had to  compile a number of advertisements that I felt were a force for good.

My favorite were a collection of print advertisements done by Los Angeles agency Saatchi & Saatchi for Surfrider:

And these ads still stick with me today, so that every time I see mention of either Saatchi or Surfrider, I think of them. I first saw them when I was flipping through Rolling Stone — a shrink-wrapped package full of garbage on the page with almost no words. A simple message, “garbage collected on X beach in X hours” and “help protect our beaches.”

When most people think about advertising, they probably think about those crazy Budweiser commercials you see every year during the super bowl, but when I think of advertising, and of what it can accomplish, I think of this.

The Power of Personal Testimony

Walmart has been doing something interesting lately in the realm of advertising and PR. I’ve been hearing commercials like this one for their Community Project on the radio a lot lately and I have to say, I like them. I’ve never been a big supporter of Walmart but I like what they’re doing with this campaign.

The biggest of big-box retailers is no stranger to controversy or humor for that matter (see People of Walmart) but here they make an important point. They employ LOTS of people and also promote many of those people. Their low prices are probably very helpful to many communities, especially in economic times like we have now. All that aside, I’m sure they do drive some smaller local businesses away. No business model is without its flaws.

The personal testimonies relayed through this community campaign may not affect everybody who hears them but they have caught my attention, in a good way. Good job.

A Typo Society

I recently read The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson and it got me thinking about literacy, the English Language, and Americans today.

As a Journalism major at the University of Oregon, you’re required to take and pass a grammar class in order to graduate. Our major is the only one to require this surprisingly. I mean, I suppose it makes sense that Chem majors wouldn’t get as much use from a grammar class, but what about English majors? Comparative Lit majors? Linguistics majors? In the profession I’m pursueing typos, and bad grammar in general is a no-no. It makes you look unprofessional and it makes your employer look bad as well. We are, after all, in the business of crafting messages.

I think people in the communications industry on average take grammar seriously. But what about the rest of us? It surprises me how common simple  typos and grammar mistakes are. I see them virtually every day. And for the most part, they’re easy fixes. If people knew they were making a mistake to begin with, or cared to avoid making them, most of these errors wouldn’t occur.

Think about your/you’re, there/they’re/their, sense/since, and its/it’s. I see smart, intelligent adults using the wrong version of these words all the time. It’s not that they’re stupid. They simply don’t know better and have never bothered to correct themselves. Now, I wouldn’t want to call someone out over this unnecessarily. In the long-run it’s not worth it. But where is this pattern of behavior taking us? Where did the problem even begin?

“Our mission wasn’t about mere typos, those little errors. Our message surpassed typos on its way to the greater realm of clarity. At some point an English teacher got through to me that I shouldn’t just write a paper and turn it in, that I should take the time to edit it. Maybe even edit it again.”

We are supposed to learn proper spelling  and grammar in elementary school but it’s obvious something is missing. A big part of it though is carelessness. Typos and certain grammatical errors are so common nowadays that people are confused which version of a word they are supposed to use.

“Farther down the road, an extraneous apostrophe in neon vexed us, for old time’s sake. A POX ON PASTA AND SALAD’S! We stared  at the restaurant window, knowing that the owner would not likely replace his expensive fluorescent tubes just because we said so. “Those plural apostrophes,” I sighed with mock despair. “It seems we’ll never be rid of them.” “Why not?” Jane asked. “Self perpetuating,” Benjamin said “Other people who aren’t confident about their apostrophe use will see this. Then they’ll be adding plural apostrophes to their own words.”

The book ends on a positive note. The authors visit a classroom which Direct Instruction teaching methods are used.

“We observed one group learning to connect sounds with letters. The e they were learning had the macron, or bar, on top to indicate that it was specifically the long e. They weren’t naming the letters; they were making the sounds; s meant hissing “sssss” sound, not “ess.”

When I was in school, I remember memorizing vocabulary lists. It was at home that my parents sat down with me and taught me phonetics. I went from a below-average reader in the first grade to reading Lord of the Rings for fun in 7th grade. Reading became easy and effortless.

I know I’ll continue to hold my own writing to a high standard. I can’t get through writing a press release without consulting Dictionary.com at least once. But I’m curious to see what, if any, changes occur in the education system and in our typo society.

Listen Up, College Students!

First off, I apologize for the poor audio quality of these videos. I used my webcam to record from and it obviously doesn’t work as well as my digital camera/video recorder. But, for the purposes of this video I thought the webcam would be best. In the first video I explain my decision to go study abroad and why I chose the program that I did.

And this is my quick overview of the International Summer School. There’s obviously a lot more to the program than I was able to cover but the classes and excursions as well as tips regarding expenses and food will be of great help to people considering the program.

If you’re a student who’s interested in the ISS and wants more information please feel free to contact me!