People that say they are a badass usually aren't | A Whole Lotta Nothing
People that say they are a badass usually aren't | A Whole Lotta Nothing: "People that say they are a badass usually aren't
Apropos of nothing, one of the best pieces of advice Meg ever gave me was to impart a big lesson she learned as an english major writing fiction: show, don't tell. When writing a story, don't talk about how bad a character is, write a scene where they do terrible things and the reader will come away with the point you were trying to make.
Now, me not being an english major and not having to write much fiction, I didn't think the advice would help. Over the years though, I've noticed it comes up in a lot of things aside from writing fiction. I think about it when working on my resume or portfolio, when I wrote the realtor description for our last house, and whenever I met someone for the first time. I'm highly dubious of people that tell me a lot of amazing things they have done but have little to actually show for it.
Show, don't tell. It crops up time and time again and is some of the best advice I've been given."
dooce: The daughter of an English major
dooce: The daughter of an English major: "The daughter of an English major"
Wayne C. Booth, Critic Who Analyzed Rhetoric, Dies at 84 - New York Times
Wayne C. Booth, Critic Who Analyzed Rhetoric, Dies at 84 - New York Times: "Wayne Clayson Booth was born on Feb. 22, 1921, in American Fork, Utah. His family was descended from Mormon pioneers, and as a young man he embraced his faith, becoming a missionary in Chicago. But little by little, he began to wrestle with church teachings. It was a struggle, he later said, that informed both his decision to root himself in the secular world and his particular interest in rhetoric.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in 1944, a master's from the University of Chicago in 1947 and a Ph.D. from Chicago in 1950. During World War II, he was a clerk-typist for the Army infantry, stationed in Paris. After teaching at Haverford and Earlham Colleges, he joined the Chicago faculty in 1962. He retired in 1992."
John Battelle's Searchblog: Link Selling: A Case Study
John Battelle's Searchblog: Link Selling: A Case Study
Weird, internet-enabled advertising markets--i.e., the selling of search engine rankings.
steve happens
steve happens
An amusing anecdote from a local advertising blog. This has no redeeming value.
The Blackboard Jungle
The Blackboard Jungle: "That is my biggest fear now - that my ability to control a classroom will be limited not by my high pitched squeeky voice or my diminutative size but instead by the fact that I have nothing to say that will interest them. I can control this to some extent by preparing lessons but I am afraid that when they say 'But Miss, what's the POINT!' that I may crumble and confess yes, that they are right, they will never find a use for quadratic equations/logarithms/3D trigonometry."
BLOG ONE
BLOG ONE
Jon Lovas' blog about teaching writing for 41 years at Deanza College.
CNN Guerrillas in the Midst: A Viral Marketing Campaign Exposed | Nick Lewis: The Blog
CNN Guerrillas in the Midst: A Viral Marketing Campaign Exposed | Nick Lewis: The Blog: "This investigation started four days ago when I received notification that someone had commented on a two-week old post I had written titled “CNN: Televisions Great Orifice. Now, I've always had this nasty habit called 'reading critically'. As a result, I always read a comment with the question, 'why, exactly, are they telling me this?' Because I ask myself those sort of questions, its no suprise that the comment immediately struck me as odd. The commenter appeared to agree with my opinion, “Their new format is shameful...' But then surprised me by asking, “Have any of you seen Headline News Prime Time or Showbiz Tonight?' I thought to myself, “did you not just read me compare watching CNN to giving myself a chemical burn on the back of my thigh?”
"
CNN Guerrillas in the Midst: A Viral Marketing Campaign Exposed | Nick Lewis: The Blog
CNN Guerrillas in the Midst: A Viral Marketing Campaign Exposed | Nick Lewis: The Blog: "Last week, CNN appeared to be attempting an unusual marketing campaign in the blogosphere. The two day campaign combined blackhat search engine optimization techniques, viral marketing tactics, and guerrilla comment spam. Unlike the majority of comment spam, this spam only targeted mid-level blogs that discussed CNN. So far, 14 separate instances of the spam have been found. Most alarmingly, the spammers may have also left malicious keywords in 4 out of 14 of the targeted posts; its suspected the intent was to use google's keyword stuffing detectors to censor them. CNN's Christa Robinson denied their involvement, 'CNN is not responsible for this or any other guerrilla spam campaign. This is simply untrue.'
However, these findings are part of a much larger and more important story: CNN is gambling that they can use the blogosphere to gain a competitive advantage over their seemingly invincible arch rival Fox News[5]. Regarless of whether this was CNN or a smear artist, allowing these guerrilla marketing campaigns to continue could result in our blogs -- leftwing and rightwing alike -- to become the battlefield in ratings war between two of the largest media giants."
Paco Nathan
Paco Nathan: "Paco Nathan is the Chief Scientist and Vice President of Research and Development for Symbiot. He has over 20 years' experience as a software developer and systems architect, and his R&D credits include work with IBM, NASA, AT&T Bell Labs, Motorola, and TechWest among others. Mr. Nathan earned his Master's Degree in Computer Science (Systems specialization) and Bachelor's Degree in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University.
"
If you google
Paco Xander you can see someone who has built a "respectable" business and career out of their "fringe" cultural interests. Commodify your funkiness!
Shopping Spies
Shopping Spies: "his is how Andy conducts his business: buddying up to people in public
and secretly tapping their unconscious. Greenfield has coined a term for
his research--studying 'naked behavior.' 'In an ideal world, I'd actually
be in your head,' says Greenfield, 'and I'd understand that what Carrie
is looking for in a deodorant is something a little bigger with a better
grip on it.' He continues, 'What we're doing is enabling manufacturers
to better meet the real needs of the consumer.'"
frontline: merchants of cool: interviews: brian graden | PBS
frontline: merchants of cool: interviews: brian graden | PBS: "Brian Graden is President of MTV Programming.
How much effort and resources do you put behind market research? We put an immense amount of resources behind market research. But it's a little bit nontraditional. It's not just a bunch of quantitative data, which I think is relatively useless. We do a lot more from the point of view of what it's like to be 19 or 21 years old. We'll do focus groups where we'll bring 12 trend-setting kids together to talk about things over coffee, or other
qualitative exercises like this to find out, what are the emergent trends?
What do they think is cool? What are the forces that shape them?
Why?
The implicit promise of MTV has always been that we see things honestly from your POV. And we're not trying to necessarily be adults who program to somebody who's 19. But we're trying to be a service that exists as an honest reflection of your world, and that's our covenant. Remembering back to when you were 19, anybody talking to you from the vantage point of a 40-year-old, you just don't hear the same way. So I think that's the main reason, from the business point of view. And then, just from the sociological point of view, I think it's really important that that voice be reflected honestly somewhere on the media spectrum.
"
The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence
The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence: "Couldn't companies find out this information for themselves? 'Sure,'
says Rinzler Buckingham. 'It's not brain surgery. But companies don't have time to find out what's cool.' Gordon adds, 'An executive in the Mid-west might think he knows what's cool because he has a teenage daughter. Trust me, his daughter isn't telling him what she does at night, but she'll tell me.'"
The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence
The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence: "'I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my a--,' says Gordon, director
of market research and youth culture diva at Lambesis, an advertising
agency based in San Diego. Gordon's prognostications help movie studios,
clothing stores and packaged-goods companies (she won't reveal which or
how many) develop new products and create ad campaigns. 'The predictions
I make come from careful analysis of mountains of data and interviews
with people all over the world,' Gordon says. 'In a way, I'm like a
journalist.' Gordon recently jetted to Tokyo, where she staked out the
hologram stickers that young Japanese hipsters paste on their cellular
phones, and she regularly rummages through London's Camden Market and
such Paris boutiques as Collette looking for new fashion fads.
If this sounds like a dream job, be advised that Gordon has a lot of
company. In the past five years or so, trend spotting has become a boom
field. Perhaps the world's most famous practitioner is Faith Popcorn,
whose books (The Popcorn Report, Clicking) top best-seller lists and
whose New York company, Brain-Reserve, attempts to divine everything
from why Americans like red meat to why they buy Furbies. But while
Popcorn tends to focus on the cultural shifts of baby boomers, a growing
number of trend consulting firms focus on the youth market� the group
that advertisers look to as the wellspring of pop-culture fads and their
largest consumers."
look-look.com
look-look.com: "The Look-Look network will rely on a network of 500 correspondents and 10,000 respondents in key cities. Subscribers will be able to access information on such topics as fashion, entertainment, music, and spending patterns. Subscribers, for example, will be able to download photos of teens in Tokyo, or hear the latest music from London, or get a glimpse of the Brazilian martial art called capoeira, which she said is taking hold in the States."
frontline: merchants of cool: interviews: malcolm gladwell | PBS
frontline: merchants of cool: interviews: malcolm gladwell | PBS: "Who is Dee Dee Gordon and how good is she at what she does?
Dee Dee Gordon is a cool hunter. . . . When I came up with that term, it
seemed fresh and original. She started in her 20s, I think, running a very hip
boutique on Newbury Street in Boston. She caught the eye of someone at
Converse and worked at Converse for a while, when Converse was making its big
comeback in the 1980s. She sort of got in the business of being an expert on,
an interpreter of youth trends for corporate America. She worked for a while
at an advertising company in San Diego . . . and now she has her own shop. . .
. She has taken that initial idea of being the go-between between those two
worlds and turned it into a very successful business. How good is she? I
think she's as good as anyone is at this game. It's a difficult thing to
quantify, of course. It's not a science. It's really a question ultimately
of, how much do you trust the person who's doing the interpretation, and how
good are their instincts? And I think in both cases, she's at the top of the
field.
"
Amazon.com: Books: Where the Suckers Moon : The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign (Vintage)
Amazon.com: Books: Where the Suckers Moon : The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign (Vintage)
One of the better books I have read on the advertising industry.
Your final paper
English 2790 final paper
Length: 7 pages/250 words per page, double spaced
Due: October 13th, in class, and submitted online by October 15th.
This paper is 40 percent of your grade, so don’t blow it off.
You should write about one career path for the English major and how it intersects with your own interests and sense of self, and include relevant examples from our reading, discussion, and other reliable sources, in MLA format. The paper need not be overly formal, but it should be intelligent, well thought out, and reach conclusions about your future career path that are well supported by your research and understanding of yourself. This paper is an opportunity to show what you have learned in the last seven weeks.
It may also include illustrations, relevant graphics, or other necessary visual aids, but please, no clipart. You may also incorporate writing that you have done in class. As your primary audience, I want to be able to pick up your paper and get a strong sense that you have thought deeply about your career path(s) and the role your major may or may not have in that journey.
For Monday
Deb Thornton is going to speak to us Monday about working as an editor. Please bring good questions!
Ex-Door Lighting Their Ire - Los Angeles Times
Ex-Door Lighting Their Ire - Los Angeles Times: "Once, back when rock 'n' roll still seemed dangerous, Densmore was the drummer for the Doors, the band with dark hits such as 'Light My Fire' and 'People Are Strange.' That band more or less went into the grave with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971, but, like all top classic-rock franchises, it now has the chance to exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song 'Break On Through (to the Other Side)' to hawk its luxury SUVs.
To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time 'some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.' '
The reason? Prepare to get a lump in your throat — or to roll your eyes.
'People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music,' Densmore said. 'I've had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music…. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's not for rent.'"
Chronicle Careers: Jobs in Higher Education
Chronicle Careers: Jobs in Higher Education
English Degrees
English Degrees: "English Degrees
�����It's now possible to
Earn an Affordable
Accredited
Degrees!�
No Studies
No Attendance
No WaitingNo Examinations
No Hefty Fee"
Tara Weaver: Interview with a Developmental Book Editor - written road blog
Tara Weaver: Interview with a Developmental Book Editor - written road blog
Occupational Employment, Training and Earnings: Education Level Search
Occupational Employment, Training and Earnings: Education Level Search
U.S. Job Satisfaction Keeps Falling, The Conference Board Reports Today
U.S. Job Satisfaction Keeps Falling, The Conference Board Reports Today: "mericans are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs, The Conference Board reports today. The decline in job satisfaction is widespread among workers of all ages and across all income brackets.
Half of all Americans today say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from nearly 60 percent in 1995. But among the 50 percent who say they are content, only 14 percent say they are “very satisfied.”"
Federal Human Capital Survey Results: Job Satisfaction
Federal Human Capital Survey Results: Job Satisfaction: "Job Satisfaction"
US-NY-New York-Senior Web Writer/Editor
US-NY-New York-Senior Web Writer/Editor: "MUST HAVE 3 years experience writing for an ASSET MANAGEMENT company including extensive experience in writing for an asset management company web site. "
Writers and editors
Writers and editors: "Median annual earnings for salaried writers and authors were $42,790 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $29,150 and $58,930. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $21,320, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $85,140. Median annual earnings were $54,520 in advertising and related services and $33,550 in newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers.
Median annual earnings for salaried editors were $41,170 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $30,770 and $56,360. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,010, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $76,620. Median annual earnings in newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers were $40,280.
Median annual earnings for salaried technical writers were $50,580 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $39,100 and $64,750. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $30,270, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $80,900. Median annual earnings in computer systems design and related services were $51,730.
According to the Society for Technical Communication, the median annual salary for entry level technical writers was $41,000 in 2002. The median annual salary for mid-level non-supervisory technical writers was $49,900 and for senior-level non-supervisory technical writers, $66,000."
Writers and editors
Writers and editors: "Employment of writers and editors is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2012. The outlook for most writing and editing jobs is expected to be competitive, because many people with writing or journalism training are attracted to the occupation."
Writers and editors
Writers and editors: "Writers and editors held about 319,000 jobs in 2002. More than one-third were self-employed. Writers and authors held about 139,000 jobs; editors, about 130,000 jobs; and technical writers, about 50,000 jobs. More than one-half of jobs for writers and editors were salaried positions in the information sector, which includes newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers; radio and television broadcasting; software publishers; motion picture and sound recording industries; Internet service providers, web search portals, and data processing services; and Internet publishing and broadcasting. Substantial numbers also worked in advertising and related services, computer systems design and related services, and public and private educational services. Other salaried writers and editors worked in computer and electronic product manufacturing, government agencies, religious organizations, and business, professional, labor, political, and similar organizations."
Writers and editors
Writers and editors: "Significant Points
* Most jobs in this occupation require a college degree in communications, journalism, or English, although a degree in a technical subject may be useful for technical-writing positions.
* The outlook for most writing and editing jobs is expected to be competitive, because many people with writing or journalism training are attracted to the occupation.
* Online publications and services are growing in number and sophistication, spurring the demand for writers and editors, especially those with Web experience."
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition: "Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition"
Tara Weaver: Interview with a Developmental Book Editor - written road blog
Tara Weaver: Interview with a Developmental Book Editor - written road blog: "Interview with a Developmental Book Editor"
The Chronicle: Career Network: 12/20/2002
The Chronicle: Career Network: 12/20/2002: "A bit of good news, Ms. Feal says, is that the number of doctorates awarded in English fields fell to 977, down 8.7 percent from 1,070 in 2000-1. However, new doctoral recipients still greatly outnumber new entry-level job openings in English, she says.
In addition, there's a backlog of graduates from previous years still looking for tenure-track positions, Ms. Feal says. Findings from a recent MLA survey of Ph.D. placements show that only 42 percent of the people who earned English Ph.D.'s in 2000-1 obtained tenure-track jobs that year."
Average University/College Assistant English Professor Salary. University/College Assistant English
Average University/College Assistant English Professor Salary. University/College Assistant English: "The median expected salary for a typical Asst. Professor - English - Higher Ed. in the United States is $44,329. This basic market pricing report was prepared using our Certified Compensation Professionals' analysis of survey data collected from thousands of HR departments at employers of all sizes, industries and geographies."
2003-04 AAUP Salary Report
2003-04 AAUP Salary Report: "Table C shows the average
salary of full professors in different disciplines relative to the average
salary of full professors in English language and literature for 2001%u201302
(see the Entire Sample column).20
Average salaries vary widely across disciplines at the institutions in this
sample. At the full professor level, the highest-paying disciplines relative
to English are business management and administrative services, computer science,
economics, engineering, and law and legal studies. Full professors%u2019 salaries
in these fields are, on average, 34.3 percent, 19.1 percent, 17.4 percent,
16.5 percent, and 44.5 percent higher, respectively, than the salaries of
their counterparts in English language and literature. The lowest-paying fields
are foreign language and literature, home economics, and visual and performing
arts. On average at these institutions nationwide, salaries of full professors
in these fields are 10.8 percent, 8.4 percent, and 15.2 percent lower than
the salaries of their counterparts in English language and literature."
2003-04 AAUP Salary Report
2003-04 AAUP Salary Report: "Don%u2019t Blame Faculty for High Tuition
The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession
2003-04
By last spring, most faculty members at public institutions
of higher education were justifiably pessimistic about their likely salary
increases for the 2003%u201304 academic year. Many states were running large
budget deficits for the second or third year in a row and no longer had reserves
to draw upon to balance their budgets. These shortfalls resulted in reduced
fiscal 2004 appropriations for higher education in twenty-three U.S. states
compared with those of the previous year; in only fifteen states did increases
in higher education appropriations exceed the rate of inflation.1
Nationally, state appropriations for higher education in
fiscal 2004 declined by 2.1 percent, the first such decline in eleven years.2
This cut followed a year in which state appropriations for
higher education rose by only 1.2 percent."
AAUP- 2005 Salary Survey TOC
AAUP- 2005 Salary Survey TOC: "Report- Annual Report
on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2004-2005"
The Chronicle: AAUP Faculty Salary Survey
The Chronicle: AAUP Faculty Salary Survey: "Institution nameCategory Professor AssociateProfessor AssistantProfessor Instructor U of Utah (Utah)I94.066.258.7-- Utah State U (Utah)I74.956.451.939.1"
U of Utah (Utah)
I
94.0 -full
66.2 -associate
58.7 -assistant
--
Utah State U (Utah)
I
74.9
56.4
51.9
39.1
The Chronicle: Career Network: 06/11/2003
The Chronicle: Career Network: 06/11/2003: "'This is consistent with the pattern we have been seeing for the last several years,' says Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the MLA. 'We in the academic profession are not satisfied with these numbers, because they indicate an erosion of the tenure-track position as the norm for new hires in colleges and universities.' That erosion is likely to continue given that tight financial times have forced states to slash higher-education budgets. 'Unless the economy improves, funding is restored at the public universities, and endowments at the privates get better returns,' Ms. Feal says, 'I can't say we would see growth in the number of positions again.'"
The Chronicle: Career Network: 06/11/2003
The Chronicle: Career Network: 06/11/2003: "At a time when most English departments are happy to get permission to hire one new faculty member, the English department at Florida State University has been on a hiring binge. Encouraged by the university's dean of arts and sciences, the department ran six searches this year, making it the envy of its peers.
'The dean conceived of a strategy that was countercyclical: When everybody else wasn't hiring it would be a good time for us to hire,' says Hunt Hawkins, the department's chairman. 'We would then have our pick of people on the market.'"
The Chronicle: Career Network: 02/05/2004
The Chronicle: Career Network: 02/05/2004: "A total of 1,367 positions appeared in the edition of the MLA's Job Information List for foreign languages in 2002-3, just two fewer than the 1,369 positions of the previous year, but well below the recent high of 1,482 in 2000-1. Unfortunately for job seekers, the tea leaves would seem to indicate that the worst is yet to come: Advertisements for foreign-language jobs in the October and December 2003 issues of the list were down more than 18 percent from a year ago. On the basis of that decline, the MLA is bracing for a 12 percent drop-off in openings this academic year.
The outlook in English isn't much brighter. According to the MLA, the total number of faculty job openings in English fell a modest 3 percent in 2002-3, but the number of positions is projected to plunge by 10 percent this academic year. (For more information on the job market in English, see a recent Careers article.)"
MLA Surveys of PhD Placement: Most Recent Findings and Decade-Long Trends
MLA Surveys of PhD Placement: Most Recent Findings and Decade-Long Trends
(1988 survey--for longitudinal comparison)
