Jodi Picoult!!
Hello my name is Meghan and I am a reading-holic. I absolutely adore reading. One of my top five things to do for sure. There is something about reading that puts me at ease. It is this complete escape from reality, and sometimes you just need to get away. I usually don’t play favorites with authors since there are so many fantastic ones out there: Chuck Palanuik, Eckhart Tolle, Stephanie Meyers, just to name a few. However, last year my sister gave me My Sister’s Keeper to read and I have never been so touched by a novel. Some of you may have heard of the book from the movie that was released this summer based on the book(the movie was great but it definately did not do the book justice). I literally bawled after finishing the novel, I mean really! Since then I have read 4 more of her novels my favorite of which was Plain Truth which is about an Amish girl who is on trial for murdering her newborn baby. I know it sounds pretty morbid, but it is surprisingly not so. The way that Picoult writes in such a smart and enticing way will force you to never put the book down, I promise! I could gush about this woman for 20 more minutes but I won’t! Just do yourself a favor and pick up one of these fantastic novels. I promise you won’t be disapointed!
Paranormal Activity
A large group of my friends and I went to see the new horror movie “Paranormal Activity” on Saturday night. Was it scary you might ask? Well, let’s just put it this way I have had nightmare two nights in a row and lay awake in bed with the lights off trying to fall asleep but only affectively freaking myself out.
When I saw the commercials I knew right away, this is going to scare the be-jesus out of me! Although the commercials only show the audiences reaction and not footage from the actual film, the looks on those people’s faces were more than enough proof for me. My boyfriend thought the movie looked a little stupid because of the commercials but I knew better!
The movie is about a couple who are experiencing “weird” experiences around their house so they buy a camera to record everything going on inside their home. There is a complete “Blair Witch Project” vibe to this movie and let me tell you I have not been so scared since the “Blair Witch Project” which completely scared me also.
If you are in the mood to see a real SCARY movie, this is the one to do it! There isn’t any gore which I think is completely overrated in the first place. This movie is kicking it old school Poltergeist style. Although I have not had the best sleep the past two nights, I have to admit it was totally worth it! Go see Paranmormal Activity Soon before it is kicked out of Statesboro!
Elizabeth Albrycht
Last week, 20 year Public Relations veteran Elizabeth Albrycht visited my Global P.R. class via skype. Ms. Albrycht worked in High Tech P.R. in Silicon Valley and then owned her own P.R. agency. She then recieved her Masters in French and Ms. Albrycht has now been living in Paris for the past six years teaching at two different universities, one being the Paris School of Business. Most of her students speak french but she teaches in english because it is required in France communication programs to speak english. Ms. Albrycht told us that in her international program more than 20 different countries were represented.
Ms. Albrycht then began her discussion focusing on International Business. She began by focusing on what people, in general, want. She said that people want good information, to be treated as individuals, to be treated with respect and kindness, to have problems solved quickly and correctly and when someone is wrong people want a sincere apology. Ms. Albrycht said that people hate to feel helpless and really just want honesty.
Ms. Albrycht then talked with the class about adapting to the culture in which you are in. She first suggested to take into account the concept of individual and collective approaches. A common criticism she hears in France is something being “too american and no soliditarity”. She explained that while there are many different definintions for P.R. one definition that is simple and true is that the purpose of P.R. is to create shared meaning, so with a language barrier this can be difficult.
We continued the conversation by discussing social media and what a profound effect it is having on the public relations field. Ms. Albrycht said that the audience is in control of the brand, not you, BUT, you can influence it. Social media like Twitter gives us a great oppurtunity to listen to our audience. But, how do we respond? Ms. Albrycht let us know that everything a PR person does has a dynamic meeting and that is why hours are spent on a press release and how it will be interpreted.
Finally Ms. Albrycht discussed International Public Relations. She let us know that media relations differ from country to country. She gave us the example that in France, the media will accept gifts from PR pro’s while in the U.S. that would be considered unethical. She told us that there are also regulatory differences and differences in advertising. For example, in some countries you are not permitted to show children’s faces in commercials. She informed us that in Europe there is quite a power struggle in organizations so you must be very good at negotiating and to check your ego at the door.
As she signed off she recommended living outside of the U.S. for atleast 6-months to see how other people live and to recognize how “enormous” the United States is. She also recommended gaining a well-rounded education because in P.R. this is extremely important.
Overall, I really enjoyed this guest speaker and would love to hear from Ms. Albrycht again!
Dream Job
I know this may seem completely cliche but I would love to be a publicist to the stars. {Pause for laughs and sighs of disgust} I think it would be great. I realize that it would be no picnic and that your hours are crazy and you barely have a life of your own but, I’m young and living in the fast lane for a few years would be insanely fun. I would preferably like to work with musicians and my dream client would of course be Mr. John Mayer, whose new album drops in a month!!! But back to the point, I think I could do a good job promoting the image that star would like to portray and I believe myself to be pretty proficient in damage control. I also love to work under pressure and there isn’t any pressure like famous people who are constantly under the public eye. I have always wanted to live in NYC for awhile and, from what I hear, many musicians live their.
If this, for some crazy unexplainable reason, didn’t work out a job with event planning would be incredible also. I love to plan and organize and their is nothing more fun to do then throw a party. Again I work very well under pressure and time constraints and these are two traits that I believe to be very important for someone in event planning.
However, at this point in my life and the economy’s, I must say my dream job would have to be anything in the public relations field. I know whatever career path life takes me down I will give it my all!
Pet Peeves
When asked to blog about my pet peeves my immediate thought was, “how much time do you have?” No, I’m just kidding but I do have a few pet peeves. I suppose my biggest pet peeves are hypocrites. Yes hypocrites really grind my gears. I also really dislike when people feel the need to speak constantly. These are the people who love to hear themselves talk and the thing about people like these is that no one else really cares to hear what they are saying. I don’t like when people on their cell phones speak so loudly about personal things in public places. I do not care what your boyfriend did last night. I don’t care how drunk your friend got and the fact that she puked all over your car. And, I certainly do not care one bit what your doctor’s update is. Really people, keep it to yourselves. OH and i HATE when girls pull out hand held mirrors in class to re-do their make-up. You are in class and no one cares about how thickly your lipgloss is applied.
Condoleeza Rice Comes to Georgia Southern Campus
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited and spoke at my University last week. The speech was given at the Hanner Fieldhouse which is where the Georgia Southern Basketball team plays and is also where the Winter Graduation ceremony is held.
The make-up of the audience was a very wide range. Of course there were lots of students and professors. The front of the auditorium was comprised of students that held leadership positions on campus such as presidents of various societies and clubs. I also saw a good number of children there with their parents as well as elderly people. I believe, since Condoleeza Rice is such a successful black woman in the world, people did not want to miss the oppurtunity for her to speak. I think this is why the demographics of the audience were so vast.
Dr. Rice spoke on her past and about leadership. I learned that Dr. Rice came from humble begginings and that her original dream was to become a concert pianist. However, after taking an international political science class she fell in love and found her true passion. I learned that she had a good relationship with President Bush but, she did not always agree with the decisions he made. She spoke about her experience with 9/11 and the profound effect it had on her life. Dr. Rice informed us that if Hilary Clinton remains Secretary of State it will have been 20 years since a white male has sat as the Secretary of State. I learned that Dr. Rice is open to questions from college students and seems to genuinely be interested in evoking a sense of strength and leadership in todays youth.
I would definately go to see Condoleeza Rice speak again. She was the best public speaker I have ever seen. She was eloquent and charismatic and kept me captivated the entire time. I do wish, however, that the Q&A portion of the program was not as long and her speech was a bit longer. I thought some of the questions were trivial and obvious and if the school wanted to spend so much time with this they could have gathered some more hard-hitting questions. That being said, I would not miss the oppurtunity to hear Dr. Rice speak.
I personally believe that in comparison to other speakers, Dr. Rice blew everyone I have ever seen out of the water. However, there was a definite structure to her speech that is present in most speeches. For example she broke the ice with the audience by making a joke about Georgia Southern’s Women’s basketball team. She also had an obvious body and conclusion.
I think you can absolutely think about politics being a culture in and of itself. I have a really hard time trusting our government because most politicians have a certain sleeziness to them that I simply cannot look past. Dr. Rice and President Obama truly lack this trait in my opinion. They both have an ability to shoot straight with the american people without envoking fear in the general public. I think the face of politics is changing and I believe this has a huge deal to do with Condoleeza Rice and Barack Obama.
I thought the event overrall was a huge success. Honestly just the simple fact that we were able to have such a well-renowed woman come to our school is a success in itself. I think this event brought some credibility and respect to our campus and would love to see more people like Dr.Rice visit Georgia Southern.
JOHN MAYER
There is absolutely no question that John Mayer should come to Statesboro in the spring to perform. He is a fantastic artist who started his career travelling to colleges spending most of his time in Athens at the University of Georgia. I think it would be great for his image to do a college tour as he has recently become such a celebrity. Most people are more interested in most recent sexual conquests than his music. As far as his music goes though, his new album will be released mid-November and I for one am waiting with insane anticipation! I have had a ridiculous middle school crush on John Mayer since, well, middle school. While I think he is incredibly beautiful, charming and funny, these are not the reasons I believe he should perform at Georgia Southern. John Mayer is a multi-grammy winning artist who has a huge following here. I have personally seen him seven times and have never been disapointed. Lets get him here guys!
Comments for Nov 2-Nov 6
I commented on your blog about reading!
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November 4, 2009. Blog Comments, PRCA3330. Leave a comment.