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rollercoasters are fun… July 8, 2008

Posted by irish.lemon in Uncategorized.
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so today’s been a rough day…however, generally productive and looking up on the depaul end of things. we had a bit of an emergency at HSP that couldn’t have come at a worse time considering all that has to be done for phase two of “feed the kids” which happens tomorrow. things were generally salvaged and smoothed over, it was just the series of events that led to it that made the day discouraging. without going into unnecessary detail, we had a mixture of food mishap due to lack of proper communication and the wonderful illinois prairie heat. but, overall, we have more food to distribute tomorrow which made it all worthwhile in the long-run. we’re still experiencing a bit of a food shortage, but this mishap turned blessing in disguise really helped the situation…even though it didn’t seem that way rushing and sweating and panicking in the warehouse to make sure all perishable food was stored as quickly as possible. all is well and tomorrow’s families will no doubt be the benefactors…good fuzzy feeling, ha.

on the depaul front…leave it to my PR professor to help me make things right for myself. the only reason i haven’t ever mentioned his name is for the sake that this blog is public domain and i don’t want to infringe on his privacy…but enough of that disclaimer. due to a connection he had who also had a connection that happened to be the associate director of transfer admissions, i just might be getting that last nudge i need to be readmitted in the fall. i’m not getting my hopes up, however…i always prepare for the worst and hold my breath for the best.

beyond that, i’ve got a lot of catch-up work to do this week before and after my site-visit this thursday from the head of co-operative education & internship department up here. i’ll have a few final mentions of the work i’ve been working on at HSP. as always, i thoroughly encourage anyone who reads this to look into HSP and similar programs like it in your own communities.

given the times we’re in and the direction we’re headed as a society, it’s up to us to take care of each other…not the government’s. the government’s only there to serve as the rule-maker and deal-breaker…if we can’t take care of each other, then what’s the point?

a toe in the pool of social media: part deux… June 17, 2008

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…so what does all that rambling have to do with my experience in social media? since changing majors and temporarily changing schools, i had the opportunity to play with what i wanted my new future to be since i ran away screaming from teaching. i picked journalism and found out it wasn’t at all what i had expected. during that time, i decided to take a class in public relations as i had no clue what it was truly all about, and i was hooked. by no means do i assume i know all there is to know about public relations; i’m only just skimming the surface during my work as an intern for a local nonprofit organization.

i bring up social media and my work up here at the humanitarian service project because i’ve been working as a “community outreach intern” for the better part of the summer. essentially, they have been looking for new ways to reach out – thus my title – and not only gain volunteers and interns and funding, but also to let those who they serve know that their aid and programs aren’t going anywhere.

due to extremely high oil and gas prices as well as soaring food prices, volunteers have been harder to come by the past year or so and it has become exceedingly difficult to maintain all of their programs. sure the organization has the support of rotaries, churches, some schools, and a few die-hard private sponsors – as well as democratic presidential candidate, barack obama – but they rely on old media outlets. one can only write so many press releases to the same fifty local newspapers before it all gets to be discouraging.

so i thought it was time for a change. this is the age of going green; the age of social utilities like facebook, myspace, hell, even craigslist was jotted on my little napkin of ideas. the point i’ve been trying to drive home is HSP need not be confined to illinois alone. there’s a much bigger audience out there that, before studying public relations, i never knew had such potential or influence.

another point…we’re all going through this economic crisis; some have it harder than others. but if i’ve learned at least one thing from my experience in communications is that it’s the responsibility of the community to bring about social change. not the government’s – not if you want it done right, anyway – not the corporations – though they provide funding which can lead to problems along the way – but the actual citizen.

common citizens have a previously unfathomable platform by which they can essentially change the world. it’s all about whether or not you’re going to do something about it…

as a sidenote, and since it’s my new baby and social experiment for the greater good, if you have a facebook, take a minute and check out the humanitarian service project’s cause. don’t be shy about leaving me some feedback…constructive of course.