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Interpersonal Communication Up Next
* This semester, I’ll be teaching two sections of Interpersonal Communication. I couldn’t be more pleased to reacquaint myself with this course, as I have not taught it in several years. This is such a wonderful foundational course in communication, and it is the basis on which relationships are built, caressed, fostered, and extended. The textbook for the course, The Interpersonal Communication Book, by Joseph A. DeVito, has offered new insights into the course whereby DeVito includes new information about how we communicate online (just as I am doing here). Online communication has become such a large part of our lives that it absolutely warrants attention. We have connections with…
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Meeting Guidebook Author and Travel TV Host Rick Steves
Today, my magazine writing students and I, along with members of the Stevenson University community, were treated to an afternoon session with guidebook author and travel television host, Rick Steves. Steves’ warm and friendly demeanor and sense of humor had the attendees listening intently as he shared his travel and work stories. If you’re not familiar with this expert traveler, you are missing out. Steves runs a company called Rick Steves’ Europe, which has grown from a one-man operation to a thriving company with over 100 employees. In this capacity, he produces more than 50 guidebooks on European travel and is able to host a weekly hour-long radio show on…
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Please, Consider the Lobster
I feel it is my duty as a professor, reader, and lover of all things beautifully penned, that I share what could possibly be what will soon be called a classic in magazine writing. In 2003, writer and professor David Foster Wallace wrote a piece for the now defunct Gourmet magazine entitled “Consider the Lobster.” Tasked with attending and writing about the Maine Lobster Festival, Foster Wallace takes us on a journey there, but goes in a completely different direction. He asks us to weigh the ethical considerations of eating (and boiling live) lobster. He was not a member of PETA, nor did he abstain from eating seafood and meats,…
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Thoughts on Teaching & The Spring Semester
None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody—a parent, a teacher an Ivy League crony or a few nuns—bent down and helped us pick up our boots. ~ Thurgood Marshall This year’s winter break has been a short one. I’m still getting my ducks in order and readying myself for the spring semester. It never feels daunting to me, but rather like a breath of fresh air…spring air. Even though it’s January and we won’t see the likes of flowers blooming and making it feel spring-like anytime soon, last year is over, and we’re in a state of…
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Encouraging the Longer Reads: An Educator’s Dilemma
Here’s a typical day in either my magazine writing or feature writing class. It usually goes something like this: Me: “So, today your assignment is to read a classic and masterful example of profile writing as we prepare to write our own profile pieces. The article is called “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold” and was written by Gay Talese in 1966. The article ran in Esquire magazine and is still regarded as one of the finest profile pieces ever written.” http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1003-OCT_SINATRA_rev_ Then, the students usually look at the length of the piece and say things like… “Wow. This is a L-O-N-G piece.” “How many pages is this? It’s kinda long,…
