For writers everywhere

The joys of moving

If you’ve ever lived in an apartment, then you undoubtedly have stories to tell – about property managers, neighbors, or the moving process itself. Several years ago, I never dreamed that the moving process would become an adventure.

I moved into my first apartment when I was in college. Living on campus was too expensive. I was working a lot while going to school, so I didn’t have a lot of time to hunt for a new place.

Many of the available apartments I saw were totally trashed. I couldn’t believe the owners would show the units without cleaning them. For me, this said a lot about the property managers, and what it said wasn’t good.

I lucked out when I finally found a studio apartment for a steal. All utilities were included in the rent. Cool!

The building was small. It was in a nice, quiet neighborhood, not far from campus, and the owner was on the premises every day. The tenant turnover was low, so it wasn't often that the owner had apartments for rent I was so thrilled when I signed my lease. I paid for six months rent up front.

Fast forward to a few years later when I decided I needed a bigger place. I decided to move in December. What was I thinking?!

Just a few days before moving day, the temperature dropped dramatically. For several days straight, the temperature (factoring wind chill) ranged from -30 to -50 degrees. The city was in a deep freeze!

On moving day, I couldn’t find a guy to pick up the moving van for me, so I went to get it myself. Two things made my experience with that truck memorable – the vehicle's heater didn't work, and it had manual transmission. I could drive a stick, thank goodness, but imagine trying to go through the gears when everything is frigid. It took all the strength I had to get the truck home! I didn’t actually move until nightfall, since I was counting on friends who worked during the day.

You really know who your real friends are when they show up to move you in minus 50-degree weather. You can bet I was happy when I finally settled into my brand new warm home!

A man without borders

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This year marks the 24th anniversary of the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, first observed on January 20, 1986. Were he alive today (January 15), King would have celebrated his 81st birthday. On this holiday weekend, millions of Americans are remembering the civil rights leader and human rights advocate.

King was a husband, a father, and a preacher. He was also the preeminent leader of a movement that continues to transform America and the world. One of the twentieth century's most influential men, he lived an extraordinary life.

To truly understand King, this writer believes that one should read his writings. Scholars and casual researchers can now gain access to these important jewels of history. Last January, for the first time, a major portion of King’s papers went public.

Computer access to the documents, which have been digitized and cataloged, are available at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. Click here to gain access the collection.

The documents include many of King’s speeches and personal writings from 1946 to 1968.

Journalists, historians, legislators and community leaders continue to examine whether King's appeal for peace with justice is as relevant today as it was when he was alive. A few years ago, an editorial in the Houston Chronicle attempted to place King's philosophy into present-day perspective. Here is an excerpt from the piece:

Although he rose to national prominence fighting racial segregation in the South, many of the issues roiling the United States 38 years after his assassination would be very familiar to Martin Luther King Jr.

Before his death, the Baptist minister had denounced America's involvement in the Vietnam War, a daring stance that fueled the growing opposition to the carnage in Southeast Asia. He was bitterly criticized in the media and by government officials for venturing beyond the sphere of civil rights, as if that were the only area in which he was entitled to an opinion.

With the country now split by the bloody, open-ended struggle in Iraq and by the mistaken justification for going to war, it's not hard to predict where King would stand on the matter.

Americans debate the revelation that their government is conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans inside the United States. King had plenty of experience on that score. He was relentlessly wiretapped and trailed by the FBI. Then FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was convinced that King was a communist sympathizer.

Just as he stood with refuse workers in Memphis in the last days before an assassin's bullet struck him down, King would championed the dispossessed evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, potent symbols of a race-based economic underclass that persists as a legacy of slavery and discrimination. The New Orleans nightmare that Katrina exposed indicates that the vision King enunciated in his "I Have a Dream" speech is not yet realized.

Like his role model for nonviolent protest, Mohandas K. Gandhi, King grew to be a world figure by embracing universal humanitarian concerns that surmounted ethnicity and religion. As he once said, "Evil is not driven out, but crowded out ... through the expulsive power of something good."

That's why the celebration of his life today cannot be limited to a single community or issue. African-Americans are justly proud that he rose from their ranks, but his life is significant to all Americans.

It's been nearly four decades since King's death in 1968. For years, many scholars have suggested that King faced the same fate that has befallen many a historical figure - being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.

Last January, Barack Obama took over as the country's chief executive officer. With this historic presidency came the "thawing" the King legacy.



Tags: Martin Luther King, King Holiday, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Media by Sistrunk

Political humor

Jay Leno: "A lot of people don't like these airport body scanners. They say they don't like security officials seeing naked images of their bodies. Have you seen most Americans lately? It's no picnic for the security people either."

Jay Leno: "And on Friday, the White House announced that President Obama's State of the Union address scheduled for next month will not air on the same night as the premiere of 'Lost' on ABC. ... Well, they did that because they thought viewers might get confused. See, lost is also the State of the Union: Lost jobs; lost wages; lost houses; lost businesses. So, the two -- you can get them mixed up."


Source: U.S. News & World Report

All My Single Scholars!

This is #1 on my playlist!




Via The Unmitigated Word

Thanks, Andre, for the heads up.

Pat Robertson talks about Haiti's 'pact to the devil'

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show. "They were under the heel of the French ...... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,' Robertson said. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another." more about Pat Robertson

Help victims of the Haiti earthquake

When I heard the first reports out of Haiti about Tuesday's earthquake, my heart dropped. I knew that this poor Caribbean nation would have enormous casualties after sustaining a quake with the magnitude of 7.0. Today ABC News reports that up to 100,000 people are feared dead. The American Red Cross believes that up to 3 million people may need help.

Today I read a firsthand account of the devastation on the Livesay [Haiti] Weblog, which is published by a missions family living in Haiti. Here's an excerpt:

Thousands of people are currently trapped. To guess at a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean. Precious lives hang in the balance. When pulled from the rubble there is no place to take them for care Haiti has an almost non existent medical care system for her people.

I cannot imagine what the next few weeks and months will be like. I am afraid for everyone. Never in my life have I seen people stronger than Haitian people. But I am afraid for them. For us.

When the quake hit it took many seconds to even process what was happening. The house was rocking back and forth in a way that I cannot even begin to describe. It felt fake. It felt like a movie. Things were crashing all over the house. It felt like the world was ending. I do not know why my house stands and my children all lie sleeping in their beds right now. It defies logic and my babies were spared while thousands of others were not.

What can we do? Light a candle, pray, and donate money for disaster relief. I am not Haitian, but in this era where technology rules, I consider Haiti to be part of my community.

You can help immediately by donating to the Red Cross to assist the relief effort. Contribute online to the Red Cross, or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999."

Click here to find a list of other disaster relief and non-governmental organizations offering aid. The list also includes many faith-based organizations. Many aid sites are experiencing overload, so be patient.

Families of Americans living in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at 888-407-4747.

Use the right verb

When writing grant proposals or other fund-raising documents, make sure you use appropriate verbs.

• Stress that you're not asking for money because your organization has needs but because your organization meets needs.
• Avoid words such as might, if, and could. Instead, use the word will.

Incorporate these tips to increase your chances of getting funded.

Political humor

Jay Leno: "After it was announced that Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry may go to Iran, the mullahs denied him an entry visa. ... See, that's how international travel works. If your name is Senator John Kerry and you're a former candidate for President of the United States, your travel is limited. If your name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, you stow a bomb in your underpants, you pay cash for a one-way ticket after your father called the embassy and said, 'My kid is an idiot,' ooh, you can go anywhere you want."


Source: U.S. News & World Report

Take control of your PR

Public relations (or PR) is called many things - public information, community relations, communications, public affairs. But whatever you call it, its purpose is the same: to foster more effective, two-way communication that helps build relationships and shape attitudes.

Effective media relations - whether it is for promoting publications, services, or products - requires a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary approach. A well-crafted approach incorporates strategic media planning, marketing, community relations and public engagement. When it comes to publications, expert writing and editing, attention to detail, and understanding of deadlines are critical.

Understanding that the media is an audience underlies successful promotional efforts. Webster defines audience as “a group of listeners or spectators: a reading, viewing, or listening public with a vested interest.” For this reason, it is important for you to succinctly convince editors and reporters that they have a vested interest in your product – to inform readers, listeners and viewers why your publication or service is important.

It’s your job to identify what sets your product apart from others. Be media savvy. Develop and nurture relationships with the media, as you would with any other audience. If you work those relationships just right – the payoff is HUGE!

When pitching your book, product or service to news organizations, one size does not fit all. Take time to understand the media culture. Tailor your media pieces to conform to the formats of radio, TV, print and the Internet. Stay ahead of the pack.


Tags: Public Relations, PR, Media Relations, Media by Sistrunk

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

The fight of the century has turned into a bunch of drama and trash-talking -- with a legal scenario for added titillation.

Your guess is good as mine on whether the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will take place on March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Many are wondering whether tickets to Manny Paquiao fight will actually result in an event.

Let's back it up a bit to examine the issues.

• The Mayweather Jr. camp is accusing Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines, of taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). The accusations seem to come out of nowhere.
• Mayweather demanded Olympic-level drug testing for the bout (which includes 6-7 random blood tests before the fight, which can occur 24/7) despite the fact that the Nevada boxing commission already has drug-testing guidelines.
• Pacquiao agreed to blood tests (boxing usually only does urine tests) but not the number that Mayweather demanded. (Pacquiao allegedly is not fond of blood tests & thinks it's unnatural and weakens him).
• Pacquiao has filed a defamation suit.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. and the fighter's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, have been running their mouths to any sportswriter and broadcaster who will listen. According to the Los Angeles Times' Bill Dwyre:

It really got ugly when Pacquiao trainer, Freddie Roach, who also took a lot of punches over the years but seems to have retained better clarity, said, in perhaps the sports put-down quote of the year, "This is all coming from Floyd Mayweather Sr., a disgruntled trainer who couldn't prepare his fighter [Ricky Hatton] to last past the second round against Manny. Just because he's a convicted drug dealer doesn't make him a drug expert."

I've heard enough talk. I don't pretend to be an expert on boxing, but I know when I've heard a bunch of baloney. To understand the issues better, I turned to Ishmael, my go-to person on all things related to boxing. This is how Ish sees the drama:

I think it's a tactic by Floyd to:

• get into Pacquiao head
• cast suspicion around Pacquiao's achievements in the fight falls through or in the chance the Pacquiao is victorious
• generate buzz to make the fight more lucrative

Makes sense to me.

Clearly, a lot of money is at stake. Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr. are great boxers and have nothing to prove to anyone. I'm in no position to say who would win. Fans seem to be split evenly on who would take home the prize.

Without question, this would be the boxing event of the year. According to projections, the match has the potential to become the highest grossing fight in boxing history. If I could, I'd certainly go, and I'd take Ishmael with me.

But when will the soap opera end? Stay tuned.

Here's to new beginnings