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that's   a   wrap.

- just a girl trying to figure it out, and that's a wrap. -

I Know What You Mean - News and Feature Writing

9/20/2016

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Sometimes it feels like 24 hours in a day isn't enough. We wake up, go to school or work, and by the time we get home we're playing catch-up. It's homework for the next day or work we didn't get done at the office. We're cramming as many things as possible into the hours between sunrise and sunset.

By the time our heads hit the pillow, many of us are left wondering what we did for ourselves.

No matter how much you love your job or your course of study, you need a break. You need to take time to do something for YOU. That could be going for a walk and just taking a mental break.

My me time is usually in the form of reading a book. I do it every morning at 6:30 before I go about my day. Sometimes I even close the day with a few chapters. It keeps me focused and clears my mind.

Find something you can do that doesn't stress you out and DO IT EVERY DAY! Watch how much better your day gets (or prove me wrong and leave a comment below).

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Millennials: Are we really that different? - News and Feature Writing

9/17/2016

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Here is the next revision of my feature story about millennials and our relationship with society. 

It's like the ending of a classic Scooby Doo episode, but instead of "those meddling kids" we hear "those [insert adjective here] millennials."
 
It plays over and over in the airwaves of society. Millennials are entitled, lazy, spoiled, clueless. They'll never make it in the workforce. If they would only do things the way [insert generation here] did.
 
At a marketing conference last spring I, along with two students and two professors, sat in a room filled with marketing college educators and listened to them gab about how millennials were [insert stupid complaint here]. That's when I started to wonder... are we really that different? 
 
According to Dr. Geoff Harkness, sociology professor at Morningside College, millennials are different, just like Generation X-ers were different from Baby Boomers. He doesn't see the differences as a glaring sign that millennials are meant to rock the world off its axis.
 
Those differences that are apparent, he says, come from technology. It plays a large role in how millennials not only view the world, but also themselves. The Internet gives us free reign to be whomever we want, whenever we want. There are no boundaries or, if they are there, the opacity is turned down.
 
All of a sudden we would rather text our crush rather than talk to them, because, if we text them, we can craft the perfect words.
 
The “in-crowd” is no longer a lunch table, it’s a group chat.
 
Popularity has nothing to do with the names signed in your yearbook. Now it’s about how many followers you have on Instagram.
 
Larger corporations have taken notice of the new communication trends that millennials enjoy. They see an opportunity. Harkness says his biggest reservation is that these companies capitalizing on the technological revolution only see a financial opportunity.
 
Marketer and Morningside professor, Dr. Marilyn Eastman says companies are absolutely taking advantage of the millennials. We are, in the marketing world, a unique breed. When we want to make a purchase, well-crafted advertisements on television or in magazines won’t cut it. We deeply value the opinions of others.
 
Let’s say Jane wants to buy a new pair of shoes. First, she’ll see the financial risk. She has to have enough money to buy them, but for Jane the biggest issue is the social risk. She wants her peers to approve. So, she posts on Twitter asking if she should purchase the red or black. Just like that, Jane gets responses and the face of marketing changes forever.
 
"Marketers understand they have to involve and engage millennials in the brand through various modalities," says Eastman.
 
The truth is no one has really figured us out yet. We haven't even figured ourselves out. We live in a society that changes every day and we know that if we don't change with it, we'll get left behind.
 
Developmental psychologist Dr. Jessica Pleuss echoes the sentiment that the millennials are different in an unknown way. Technology almost requires us to look at the world differently, but whether or not that's significant, as Pleuss says, the jury is still out.
 
One thing she knows for certain is that technology poses exciting innovations but also scary backlash. As millennials we have the world at our fingertips. Every bombing and shooting appears as a blip on our screens. We click on it and have all of the information available. We know almost immediately after it happens. Social media demands timelines, and Pleuss suggests that this affects millennials more than other generations.
 
"It's not that bad things didn't happen before," she says. "We just didn't always know about them."
 
Morningside College junior, Taylor DeVary says, “Most of the news I see is from social media.” While she believes the negative news affects her, she tries to find good stories to balance the scale.
 
When asked if this would become a trend, Pleuss said she hoped we would learn from the millennials. The Internet came on the scene twenty years ago and we're still figuring it out. Millennials were kind of the test run. They got the brunt of the good, bad, and ugly. Hopefully the next generation gets an experience without all the kinks that we worked out.
 
What else do we hear about millennials? Oh, that's right. We're too [insert complaint here] to ever make it in the workforce.
 
Pleuss shook her head at that assumption. "I think you'll do just fine," she said. "I think the workforce will change with you... you're a high-achieving group." We just don't do things the same way as generations before us. We find new ways to think, create, communicate, and live. That's part of living in the middle of, as Dr. Harkness calls it, the technological revolution.
 
We were born in the boom and now we're living in the explosion.
 
  • Does that affect us positively or negatively? We don't know.
 
  • Does that make us incredibly different from our older-generations? We don't know.
 
  • Is any of this significant? We don't know.
 
Millennials may be different based on the world we live in. Its innovations are remarkable and we are in the wake of it trying to make sense of every piece. That makes us dramatically different than those before us.
 
One day we'll know more about what all of this means.

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Millennials and Society - News and Feature Writing

9/15/2016

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It's like the ending of a classic Scooby Doo episode, but instead of "those meddling kids" we hear "those [insert adjective here] millennials."

It plays over and over in the airwaves of society. Millennials are entitled, lazy, spoiled, clueless. They'll never make it in the workforce. If they would only do things the way [insert generation here] did.

When I decided to write about millennials and society, I knew it would be a rocky subject, but I also knew it would be an important one.

At a marketing conference last spring I, along with two students and two professors, sat in a room filled with marketing college educators and listened to them gab about how millennials were too much of this and not enough of that. That's when I started to wonder... are we really that different? 

According to Dr. Geoff Harkness, resident sociology expert at Morningside College, millennials are different just like Generation X was different from the Baby Boomers. He doesn't see the differences as a glaring signs that millennials are meant to rock the world off its axis.

He sees that technology plays a role in how millennials not only view the world, but also themselves. The Internet gives us free reign to be whoever we want, whenever we want. There are no boundaries or, if they are there, the opacity is turned down. Technology has changed the way we communicate, and that's caused larger corporations to take notice of the millennial generation. They see an opportunity. Harkness says his biggest reservation is that these companies capitalizing on the technological revolution only see a financial opportunity.

Marketer and Morningside professor, Dr. Marilyn Eastman says that companies are absolutely taking advantage of the millennials. They are, in the marketing world, a unique breed. They don't just purchase something because the ad looks pretty. They deeply value the opinions of others.

Technology allows people to ask whether they should buy the red shoes or the black ones and get responses almost instantly. This has changed the face of marketing.

"Marketers understand they have to involve and engage millennials in the brand through various modalities," says Eastman.

This means staying active on social media and asking for opinions and receiving feedback. High-engagement brands like cell phones or computers have an easier time with this because the product integrates well into the social-verse. Millennials are more apt to post about the latest iPhone that was just delivered to their door. They might even share information on their favorite apps. Honestly, how many requests to play FarmVille have you received in the past couple of years? Players aren't afraid to let you know they need a dozen eggs and, odds are, someone will swoop in and save the day.

On the other side of the coin, low-engagement brands like tissues and detergents are having a hard time reaching the mysterious generation. People aren't going to post that they had a great detergent experience or that their tissue really held up. Those brands are having to figure out a different way to reach the millennials, but until they figure out how the generation ticks, that's going to be a challenge.

Being a millennial myself, I expected to hear every person I interviewed talk about how different we are than them and other generations. Surprisingly, that's not what I heard at all. The number one answer I received was, "We don't know."

The truth is, no one has really figured us out yet. We haven't even figured ourselves out. We live in a society that changes every day and we know that if we don't change with it, we'll get left behind.

Developmental psychologist, Dr. Jessica Pleuss echoes the sentiment that the millennials are different in an unknown way. Technology almost requires them to look at the world differently, but whether or not that's significant, as Pless says, the jury is still out.

One thing she knows for certain is that technology poses exciting innovations but also scary backlash. Millennials have the world at their fingertips. Every bombing and shooting appears as a blip on their screen. They click on it and have all of the information available. They know about almost immediately after it happens. Social media demands timelines, and Pleuss suggests that this affects millennials more than other generations.

"It's not that bad things didn't happen before," she says. "We just didn't always know about them."

For millennials and anyone who lives in today's society, it's hard to escape them. When asked if this would become a trend, Pleuss said she hoped we would learn from the millennials. The Internet came on the scene twenty years ago and we're still figuring it out. Millennials were kind of the test run. They got the brunt of the good, bad, and ugly. Hopefully the next generation gets an experience without all the kinks that we worked out.

What else do we hear about millennials? Oh, that's right. We're too lazy to ever make it in the workforce.

Pleuss shook her head at that assumption. "I think you'll do just fine," she said. "I think the workforce will change with you... you're a high-achieving group." We just don't do things the same way as generations before us. We find new ways to think, create, communicate, and live. That's part of living in the middle of, as Dr. Harkness calls it, the technological revolution.

We were born in the boom and now we're living in the explosion.

Does that affect us positively or negatively? We don't know.

Does that make us incredibly different from our older-generations? We don't know.

Is any of this significant? We don't know.

Millennials may be different based on the world we live in. It's innovations are remarkable and we are in the wake of it trying to make sense of every piece. That makes us dramatically different than those before us.

One day we'll know more about what that means.
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Changing My Perspective - News and Feature Writing

9/13/2016

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Last night, after finishing with my night class, I decided to take a stroll through the Science Center parking lot at 9:00 PM.

It had been raining, and the air smelled fresh but felt thick as I breathed it in. The sky was still holding onto its murky gray color, but off in the distance, beyond Buhler Rohlfs, a faint orange-ish purple was peeking through the matte clouds.

It was silent yet loud. Locusts buzzed in the bushes. A car engine hummed lightly as a student prepared to pull away. Yet I could still hear my footsteps on the gravelly concrete. The soft squeak of the rubber sole made its presence known over the sounds of nature.

After the short walk, I decided to leave the sights and sounds of nature behind and step into my freshly watered car. It was time to go home.

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Asking a Stupid Question - News and Feature Writing

9/10/2016

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The assignment? Ask a stupid question.

Since my Saturday was spent at home with family, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to ask them a stupid question (as if I ask them intelligent questions the rest of the week...).

After an intense Google search (yes... I Googled stupid questions) I settled on this question:

"Why do tourists go to the top of tall buildings then put money in telescopes to see objects on the ground close-up?"

My mom took this question. She says that when you are touring a city, you want to see everything, but if you're in a big city like New York or Los Angeles, sometimes the things you want to see are too crowded. Maybe you don't even know how to get there. By going to the top of the buildings and looking through the telescopes, you can find some places you want to see, locate them, and maybe you'll find the view from above is even better than the real thing. Plus it's kind of a two-birds-with-one-stone scenario. You go to the top of the building so you can experience that and you locate the places below you might want to investigate further.

How would you answer that question?
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Rewriting Leads - News and Feature Writing

9/8/2016

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This week, we had to find an online magazine, choose an article with a good lead, and rewrite it. Naturally I chose Positive Note Magazine (which you can find right here on this website!) because the newest issue just came out this month (you should really check it out). The article I chose is on page 14 and it is called Inside Out by Sharon Ruff.

Here's the lead: "I remember walking down the basement stairs and being slapped with the odors wafting up from my in-law's basement. It was time for the yearly gritzwurst sausage making."

WHAT MAKES IT WORK?: It's descriptive. The entire article is descriptive. I can smell it. I am walking down the stairs with Sharon, trying to hold back my gag reflexes as I prepare for the tradition I would really like to forget.

HOW DID IT GRAB MY ATTENTION?: It's suspenseful. I want to know what she's walking down the basement, and then I'm attacked by the smell. I want to know more.

Now it's time to rewrite it. I would like to first point out that I do not think I could possibly improve on this lead. I think it's amazing, but here are some different approaches.

1. Every year the in-laws got together to create the strangest of concoctions. It was the yearly gritzwurst sausage making.

2. Every family has their traditions. Some sit around and watch football on Thanksgiving. Others make gingerbread houses with their kids. Then there were my in-laws with their gurgling buckets of intestines. The yearly adventure of gritzwurst sausage making.

3. The hardest part was deterring my gag reflexes.

4. I had never smelt something so putrid.
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When it's not what you expected... it's okay

9/8/2016

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I'm in a history class this year that I 100% volunteered for. I came in knowing it would challenge me and push me beyond all of my limits. Yet, here I am today, feeling defeated over a grade I received on my first real assignment.

It's worth 24 points. It's an analysis of a document. I got a C+.

A C+. I keep running it through my head as if it'll change to an A+ if I just think about it one more time. My professor made a good point... it was my first. My first time writing anything for him. My first time looking at a seemingly normal document this critically. 

Is a C+ okay? Sure. Do I want work that's 'okay'? Absolutely not. 

So, today as I slowly emerge from my sulking shell, I'm going to do better. That C+ doesn't define me, but it certainly can push me to bigger and better things from here on out.

If you don't know me, this post will seem way over dramatic (and it kind of is). But I would like you to know that I am a recovering perfectionist. I'm learning to accept the fact that not everything can be exactly like I want it to be, but I will NEVER accept mediocrity. I will always strive for the highest rung of the ladder, but I'm learning not to beat myself up when I don't quite reach it.

Shoot for the moon, but know that sometimes the rocket doesn't make it on its first mission. 

I don't have it all figured out yet, but I'm working on it. One day these moments of defeat will feel like the pit stop before Cloud 9. Today it feels a little like a sudden drop in altitude.

Here's to figuring things out one misstep away from success.
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The Animal Cracker Experiment - News and Feature Writing

9/4/2016

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My professor handed me a box of crackers and told me to go out and give them away. Twelve packs of animal crackers. I knew it would be a disaster. If some random person walked up to me and offered me crackers, I'd want to know what drug they spiked them with. Much to my surprise, the process was smoother than I'd expected.

There were a lot of rejections. People had just eaten lunch. They weren't hungry. They didn't like animal crackers. No one accused me of being a psycho, so I count that as a victory.

Some people asked what my angle was, and I was honest. 

"It's for a class," I said as I handed over the pack of crackers.

Once a fellow mass communication major heard which professor it was, it made a lot more sense. In a way, she felt bad for me. I was walking up to strangers and offering them a snack like the teacher's assistant in a kindergarten classroom.

In a way, that worked in my favor. Some people took the crackers like I'd just committed some incredible act of kindness. Like a time machine had taken us all back to a simpler time. It was as if those little animal-shaped crackers were exactly what they needed to get them through the day and the week. I'm just glad I could be the one to offer the helping hand... technically it was my professor, because there's no other reason I would've been walking around campus with a box of crackers.

With five bags left after classes on Friday, I took the rest to church at 7:45 on Sunday morning. I just knew the tech team wouldn't leave me hanging and I was right. Most took them without questions, others wanted to know how much I was selling them for, and at the end of the morning we all had a good laugh about the snack.

There was even a debate about one of the crackers. Was it a monkey, rhino, or a buffalo? After a quick Siri session we determined there are bison crackers in those bags...

I still say it was a monkey.

The conclusion? Sometimes handing out snacks to complete strangers can actually be a grand adventure. Give it a try if you're feeling wild.
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The Dog Upstairs - A Scene Reconstruction - News and Feature Writing

9/2/2016

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This is a scene reconstruction based on a story told by a fellow classmate:

Seven in the morning and the alarm goes off. Not the alarm I set last night, but the yappy dog upstairs that's been waking me up all week. Barking and scratching at the floor in anticipation of its owner's return.

That's it, I thought. This was the last straw. I had to talk to my neighbor. But since confrontation is public enemy number one in my life, I'll just put it off for a little longer.

Fast forward a few days and I get a text from my neighbor. Nothing incriminating, just asking a couple questions. As soon as I saw her name flash on my screen, I knew. It was time. I'll just ease into it. A few nice words about how I'm glad she adopted Buster* and then I'll get into the real problem...

The dog is loud. I don't have to be up at seven o'clock, but I'm not given a choice. In the afternoon I need some relaxation time. Some Netflix and maybe a snack, but I can't focus on the shows and movies with yap, yap, yap and scratch, scratch, scratch going on over my head.

Just teach him how to quiet down. That's all I wanted from her. She took it well and decided she would get him a bark collar.

Great. Now I feel like a horrible person. Every time the sweet thing barks it'll be shocked like some Guantanamo prisoner.

Guilt. Looks like you're public enemy number two.

*name changed

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    Jenni Beaver

    This blog is a glimpse into my crazy life as a twenty-something female entrepreneur navigating life as the co-owner of a mother-daughter business. Things get pretty insane, but we make it all work. 

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