Checking In

It's been six months since I graduated from UO and I haven't really addressed work here in quite some time.

Over the summer I found some marketing work, some of which I enjoyed and some of which I did not. I was grateful to have some money coming in and to have the opportunity to gain some experience in communications, but I knew that what I really wanted to pursue was production work, and I knew I wouldn't have time if I was working full time in an office.

In September I got a part time job as a Promotions Assistant for a broadcast company that owns a bunch of local radio stations. At first I was working a lot of events, but now I am primarily doing video work, which I love.

The hours are irregular (I've had anywhere from 2 - 30 hours in a given week), so needless to say, I am not making bank at this job, but I feel very lucky to be doing work that I enjoy and that provides me with valuable experience in my field.

I am also happy to have the flexibility in my schedule to pursue other opportunities. I've managed to pick up other production gigs from time to time. Some are unpaid, but when I do get paid I make a lot more than I do at my regular job. I hope that as I get more experience and meet more people in the community more of these opportunities will arise.

Right now things are very slow, so I'm trying to keep busy and get involved in as many things as I can.

I've been considering joining professional organizations such as OMPA and SPJ, but it's difficult to justify spending the money on memberships when I'm making so little. I keep visiting their Websites and trying to decide how beneficial they would be. I think this is something that will have to wait.

I've applied for some other jobs with no luck. I did receive one call, but I missed it and didn't hear the voicemail until a week later and they had already filled the position. It was a position that would have required a long commute and it wasn't something I thought I would want to do long term, but I was still frustrated to have missed the opportunity.

While I keep checking Craig's List and a few other sites that post media job openings, I am trying to focus my energy on being productive, regardless of pay.

Last week I spent some time updating OJM's social media and am helping them redo some digital slides with information about upcoming exhibits and events to show on a flat screen TV in their lobby. I haven't done graphic design in a while, so it's great for me to get to brush up my Photoshop skills in a low pressure environment. I also volunteered to transcribe some interviews for a local filmmaker who's writing a book. It's a bit tedious, but I enjoy listening to interviews and I'm happy to be able to help out.

Six months ago I feared that I would not be able to find work in my field at all. I do worry about money and I sometimes get frustrated that there is no obvious next step, but I try to remember that I have made progress. I have not resorted to applying for restaurant jobs. I am doing things now that I wouldn't have dreamed of before I moved to Eugene in 2008 to finish my Journalism degree.

Despite financial fears and uncertainty about the future, I feel pretty good about what I'm doing right now. I don't feel stagnant or trapped like I did when I was working in food service. I am enjoying my existence more than I have in a long time.

There is no straightforward path to a meaningful career in a fast-changing landscape. I think the best I can do right now is to try to stay informed about what's happening both in my field and my community, to be open to different kinds of opportunities and to try to get as much out of them as possible. My hope is that if I can make myself useful to people, develop my skills, and continue to remain flexible about my goals and aspirations, that in time I will be able to make a living doing work that I care about. If I can accomplish that, I believe I will feel successful.

Post-grad Recap

I've barely had time to think since graduation on Monday. My parents and sister came out from Ohio and my mother-in-law drove down from Washington to attend the SOJC graduation ceremony.

There were about 400 graduating seniors from the program. I hadn't realized how many of us there were! I only knew about a tenth of them, almost exclusively Electronic Media majors. I'm glad I went, but by the end I was certainly ready to get out of the sun and have some lunch.

After obtaining some nourishment my family and I went to my house where we divided our efforts between packing up my belongings and preparing for the celebratory cookout my roommates and I had planned. We had people coming and going until about 1am. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I got to see some friends before I left. I could never have pulled it off without all the help from my family! Throwing a good party, I can handle. Preparing to move simultaneously, not so much.

Tuesday morning we had a fairly leisurely breakfast at Keystone Cafe before my parents and sister headed for the coast. My husband and my mother-in-law and I went to the DMV to get a trip permit for my car, which I hadn't been driving on account of my expired tags. She then helped us finish the after-party cleanup before beginning her long return drive to the Seattle area.

Robert and I then finished loading up our Volvo wagons and cleaned my near-empty bedroom to the best of our abilities. I wrote notes to my roommates and to my new sub-letter, and then we headed west to meet up with the rest of the family in Yachats.

It was nice to see the ocean and to have some down time with my family, but I had a hard time relaxing. After dinner I attempted to attend a production meeting via Skype, but finally gave up after getting disconnected about a half dozen times.

In the morning we got bagels, then began driving north on 101. We made a brief stop at Devil's Punchbowl, which was less crowded than the last couple times I'd been. We had thought about stopping at Three Arches, one of our favorite spots on the coast, but Robert and I were eager to start unpacking and the weather had become pretty dreary, so we headed east at the first opportunity.

I've been back in Portland for just over two days now. It's hard to believe I actually get to stay. I have to make a trip to Eugene next week to pick up the rest of my things (mostly books) and I'll be down there periodically to work on Broken over the summer, but Portland is my home once again and I am thrilled to be back here among this city's wonderful people and culture.

I still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do before I can fully dedicate myself to the job search. I am checking Craig's List frequently, and trying to apply for at least one position every day. In a couple of weeks I'm meeting with a career counselor. I'm very grateful for the graduation money I received, which I hope I can stretch until I find some paid work.

For now I'm going to do my best to take it easy and enjoy my family's last few days in Oregon and try to get settled so that I can be as productive as possible next week. Here goes nothin'.

Obama and Adams in the news

I spent the long weekend (no classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day) in Portland, and watched clips from the inauguration on CNN.com before driving back to Eugene on Tuesday afternoon. I listened to further Obama coverage on KOPB until the signal faded, and then switched to KLCC. It was a little anti-climactic for me, after all the excitement of the campaign and election night, and most of the coverage wasn't too insightful, though All Things Considered had an interesting analysis of Obama's inaugural address including a comparison to speeches of previous presidents.

What's been more interesting in the past few days is the coverage of the Sam Adams scandal, which is getting almost as much attention in Portland's papers as our new president.

Perhaps more interesting than the news coverage itself is the debate that's going on in the comment sections that follow the online stories, such as those on the websites of Willamette Week, who broke the story, and the Oregonian. The response is surprisingly thoughtful and intelligent, expressing a variety of opinions about Adams' actions, whether or not he should step down, and on the media's coverage of the story. That's something you don't get when you pick up a hard copy of the newspaper. I'm really glad to be able to follow the responses of Portlanders from my computer here in Eugene.

Winter Term Begins

I am halfway into my second week of winter term. I think the combination of classes and extracurricular activities I'm participating in are going to keep me pretty busy, which makes me almost relieved that I am not working right now (the restaurant I was at since I moved here just went under). My hope is that I won't have time to spend money.

I am now taking Writing for the Media, the last of my pre-Journalism classes. I think it's going to be challenging, but I expect to learn a lot. I am glad that I took Intro to Media Writing at PCC before transferring. It is a definite bonus to be somewhat familiar with the basic concepts. I got back my first graded assignment today, which I did not edit it as carefully as I should have. I am relieved that we are given the opportunity to resubmit.

I have joined Duck U, for which I get 1 credit, but more importantly I get hands-on experience working with professional equipment. So far I have gotten to work with a pretty nice digital video camera, and have gotten some practice setting up lights.

I am also going to be shooting video for UFO's major project for the year, a feature-length (or close to it) romantic comedy about FBI agents working in Eugene. The film is untitled as of now, but the script was just finished, and we are planning to hold auditions in a couple of weeks. I think this is going to take up a lot of my time, but I think it will be a valuable experience and am looking forward to it.

2008 Election Coverage

Election coverage this year seems to be all about user participation.

This will be my first election sans-TV. In '04 my roommates and I actually went to the thrift store and bought one just to watch the debates and election returns. This year I thought about it, but decided not to bother. Like many people in my age group I will get most of my news tonight from internet sources (although I will be listening to public radio coverage at work this evening).

For months now I've been frequenting the Election 2008 sections of various online news sources and have been pretty impressed with how sophisticated they have become.

The New York Times' Politics section has a couple of unique features. One called Your State of Mind is a box in which adjectives scroll across the screen from left to right. These are the words entered by visitors to the site describing their current feelings about the election (you are allowed to update your entry every 30 minutes). The words that are largest and nearest the top are the most popular entries. You can also choose to view only the words entered by people supporting Obama or McCain. It is pretty interesting to compare the two.

The other, which becomes active at 6pm, is their pop-up dashboard. It's a small window that opens up and will provide live election updates, allowing you to stay updated while visiting other websites.

They have a multimedia What to Watch for on Election Night feature with an hour-by-hour breakdown of what they expect to be significant.

The site also includes an interactive map that shows which way each state is leaning in different races and how many electoral votes it gives to the candidate. It also allows viewers to change the colors (red for republican, blue for democrat or yellow for undecided) to look at different hypothetical scenarios.


CNN's Election Center 2008 page has a Your Races column that you can personalize to include up to 35 races that you want to keep an eye on (for example the Ohio presidential race, California's proposition 8, and the Oregon senate race). They also have a map, but theirs only shows poll results. They do have other interactive features including a debate forum and a whole website called iReport where voters can share their experiences at the polls.

PBS's Vote 2008 page encourages voters to video their voting experiences and share them via YouTube. They have an interactive map similar to the New York Times', which they share with NPR's Election 2008 website. They also provide links to election-related quizzes.

MSNBC's Decision '08 website offers yet another interactive map as well as a Presidential Results widget that updates every 10 minutes and can be shared on Facebook and other such sites (available in 3 sizes!).