COM 117

I went to the first movie of the Human Rights Film Festival, “Rafea: Sola Mama.”  From the description, I wasn’t sure how interesting this movie would be but I actually really enjoyed it.  This documentary is about a group of women from various impoverished countries who are given the opportunity to travel to India for six months to be trained in solar power.  They will be able to return to their home villages and solar power their own houses as well as others in the village, earn a salary to support themselves and train others in the village to do the same.  The organization says that it wants to train women because they are connected to their villages, children and families and will not up and run off to the city once they are educated, whereas men may have the tendency to do so more so than women.   In particular, it followed a woman from Jordan named Rafea.

Rafea is invited to travel to India and she complies, along with two other members of her extended family.  She is hesitant to leave and it is very emotional for her to say goodbye to her children, whom she loves dearly, but she knows it’s for their good and the good of the whole village.  After she’s been there a month, she calls the program coordinator and begs him to send her home, saying that she has no choice because her daughter is sick and her family needs her.  She doesn’t tell him this but she reveals to the audience that her husband, of whom she is the second wife, threatened to divorce her and take her kids so she will never see them again if she doesn’t come home immediately.  After some amount of time, she decides that she wants to return.  She is tired of sitting around all day, doing the same cleaning and cooking tasks and “wasting her life.”  It’s a complicated process, but she returns once again to India to finish her training.  When she returns after the final exam, her and her two other family members are able to add lights via solar power in 80 homes in their village.  She can also own and live in a house now with her children.  Her husband was imprisoned soon after her return for smuggling, because he got involved in illegal sales as a way to prove that he is capable of supplying for the family too, just like Rafea.

One of the biggest contrasts in the movie was Rafea’s life in her village in Jordan and her life in India for those few months with the other women.  Although I could tell she loves her family and her home, she displayed very different attitudes and emotions in the two places.  It was very sad to see how in Jordan it seemed that everyone was discouraging her from doing anything.  Her mother, husband, children and others did everything in their power to convince her not to go to India, even though it would be better for all of them in the long run.  Maybe they just didn’t understand what was going to happen or the purpose or maybe just didn’t believe that it would actually follow through, since they had been living in poverty all of their lives.  In India, Rafea was encouraged by the other women and greeted very warmly when she returned for the second time.  She smiled and laughed  a lot and it seemed like all of the women supported each other and were very proud of their work and the education they were receiving.  Obviously she had to return home and I’m sure she missed her kids, but it was kind of sad to see her return to a more negative life.  It seemed like she was much more joyful and had a greater sense of self-worth while she was in India.

Another eye opening aspect was the role of her husband.  It is customary for men to work and supply money for the household and women to take care of the children and do the cooking and cleaning, but he was the biggest threat against her receiving an education and earning a salary for herself.  He was clearly lazy by the way he just laid around all day and very selfish in the way that he didn’t help care for the kids while she was away and basically discouraged her from doing anything good or productive in every way possible.  It was obvious to us as the audience members that this was not fair and a very sad situation but it’s very common in other countries where women do not have the opportunities to learn or work.  They are even shamed if they attend school.  This displayed a culture very different from our own, but it was inspiring to see how Rafea made up her mind that she was going to go to India to learn and she was going to work and no one was going to stop her.

Robert Draper is a freelance writer for several magazines. With past experience with Texas Monthly, GQ, and Austin Chronicle, he is now a contributing writer for the New York Times magazine, Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic. Draper considers himself a studier of “the human condition,” as he called it. His pieces range from profiles, to essays, to investigative works, and finally to human interest, where he discusses a lot about politics and travel. His resume includes profiles and researched articles on George W. Bush and Hunter S. Thompson. He’s written a book on Rolling Stone magazine entitled Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History next to several other books on unrelated topics. His accomplishments continue as he will have about 14 published stories by the end of this year.
Draper explained that writing helps him figure out and process how to tell a story while he’s writing.
His Rolling Stone book shows the true meaning of the magazine itself, which is still applicable even now. It’s easy to imagine that in the 1960s and ‘70s, Rolling Stone’s mission was to uncover true rock ‘n’ roll, but can the same be spoken about the magazine today? Draper says Rolling Stone still creates controversy and seizes the spotlight (i.e. the Boston bomber on the cover several months ago). Rolling Stone exists to, “legitimize rock ‘n’ roll as a subject matter to take seriously.”
It’s funny to think that the nitty gritty classic rock music was depicted to take seriously through means of articles, interviews, and research, but Draper knows what he’s talking about. There’s a business behind it all of course, and this is “how hippies became yuppies,” as Draper so truthfully put it.
That’s the thing that I liked most about Draper: truth. No matter what magazine he is writing for or what type of piece he’s writing, he positions himself in the seemingly perfect place. That, and perhaps luck kept him safe from kidnappers in Somalia while he was there for National Geographic.
In his interviews with George W. Bush, Draper noted that Bush seems “intellectually lazy,” but not to be confused with unintelligent. Bush just gets disengaged. When Draper said, “Bush’s vices and virtues are one and the same,” I felt that Draper truly positioned himself directly in between Republican and Democrat. His trick seeming to be to consider the interviewees as real people rather than expected faults and/or monsters.
One of my favorite things that Draper said was that he’s uncomfortable with caricatures. Even villains and crime-committees have a breaking point or reasoning behind their faults; so Draper breaks down the defensive wall to understand the person and to question why they seem like monsters?
Although Draper admitted to getting a lot of negative responses for him sympathizing with said “monsters” (such as the 23-year-old woman who threw her children off a cliff), I truly admire his ability to stance himself in the middle of good and bad, to make light out of dark, and to honestly depict the real human condition in everyday life.

Tonight I went to listen to Robert Draper, a successful freelance writer, speak at the Newhouse School. Robert Draper is a freelance writer who has made many contributions to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and National Geographic. He has written for many different publications and he has written a few books, including Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History, Hadrian’s Walls, and Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives. He claims the reasons he started writing was because it was something he was always really good at and his was encouraged to write by some of his teachers. Starting out as a freelance writer, he was only making around 5500 to 7000 dollars a year.

Draper was asked during the discussion if it ever bothered him to have to switch writing styles for the different magazines he wrote for. He said that he really enjoys writing for different magazines and working for different editors because this way he can mix things up. He mentioned that if he were to write only about politics, he would not enjoy his career as much as he does. Throughout Draper’s discussion he also talked a lot about writing about politics and writing for National Geographic, which includes traveling. For The New York Times Magazine he writes a lot about politics. It was brought up in the discussion that he usually writes about republicans, which he claims he is able to do this because he has many sources and he is not judgmental. For National Geographic, Draper usually travels for his stories.

I really enjoyed when Draper discussed his travels to Somalia for an article for National Geographic. He traveled with a photographer who had been to Somalia many times to work. He shared with the audience some of his experiences, which were very interesting to learn about. While the two were on their way to Somalia, they were warned that it was too dangerous and they should not even bother going. They spent fifteen days there and were the only two westerners there when they arrived. Draper was given the opportunity to interview someone from Al Shabaab, but it took a while to convince them that they were not spies. I am really glad that I was given the opportunity to hear him speak about his experiences with his travels. In November, Draper will be traveling to the Congo and spending three weeks there to work on a new piece for National Geographic.

On Friday afternoon Keith Woods, the vice president for diversity in news and operations for NPR, spoke at the Newhouse school for Multi-Day. Woods used to be the dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute and before that he worked as a sportswriter, news reporter, city editor, editorial writer and columnist at The Times-Picayune. He is also the co-author of The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity. 

During the presentation, Woods discussed the importance of incorporating diversity in a story. He talked about how journalists and storytellers usually tend to stick to stories about themselves and what they know best, but it is important to reach out and really understand the full truth. Woods told the audience about his family to show how he has learned a lot through them because they are so diverse. He has children of many different religions and races, an uncle who is a Jehovah’s Witness, and a gay nephew. Through his family he is able to learn about many different religions and experiences his family has. America is a very diverse country and it is extremely important that journalists are aware of this and how to learn the full story. The truth is not just assumptions or what a journalist thinks, the truth is reaching out to learn everything there is to know about diversity and the story. During his presentation he said a few things that really stuck out to me, “The truth is diverse,” and “You cannot know the story of someone by just looking at them.” These two quotes explain a lot of what he was saying throughout his whole presentation.

I really enjoyed Woods’ presentation and I think it will be very useful information to have  throughout school and especially in the future. I have always been very aware of diversity and learning about other cultures, but this made me think about it in a different way and I learned a lot more about it. I also really admired his passion to learn as much as he could about others and their religions and cultures throughout his career.

Best known for her role as editor-in-chief for The Source, Kim Osorio visited Newhouse this thursday to talk with students about music journalism and this predominately male-dominate industry.  After graduating law school, Osorio became a free-lance writer, writing about a very unique culture: hip-hop. Eventually securing a job at the noted music magazine The Source, also known as the “hip-hop bible,”Osario worked her way up in the industry and became the first, and only, female editor-in-chief for the magazine. However, it was also during this time that Osorio quickly learned that females in this field are presented with many obstacles.

While working at The Source between 2000 and 2005, Osorio filed a case against the magazine for gender discrimination and sexual harassment, among other charges. The law suit was filed after Osorio was fired for filing a complaint about gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. Following the lawsuit Osorio understood the difficulty of moving forward; many claimed she would be blackballed. However, a person, who Osorio left anonymous during the interview, reassured her that she would always have a job. Like most, Osorio thought this was an absurd statement. In such a competitive field, especially one that is male-dominated, it is clearly not easy to find any job.  It wasn’t until this person told her what a unique skill she had, a skill that would always guarantee her a job, that she understood what an asset she truly was.  Writing–a skill many of us have, a but a talent most lack.  According to Osorio’ interviewer, “a strong writer will never go hungry.” It was at this point during the talk that I became completely captivated. Aspiring to be a great writer myself, it was inspiring to hear someone discuss “the power of the pen,” or rather the power of words.

Talking about the “power of the pen” brought up another controversial issue within the journalism industry: the fact that it is no longer a pen we use but a keyboard.  Journalism is a rapidly changing field in which digital media is taking over.  To many, this means that journalism is a dying field. Contrary to this opinion, like Osorio, I believe it is a growing field. While most magazines and newspapers no longer produce a print edition or have reduced their print issues to quarterlies rather than monthlies, the need for journalist has not diminished.  With the increasing list of media platforms, more journalists are needed, and even who is considered to be a journalist has changed and expanded.  According to Osario, bloggers are the new journalists in this “game.” Information is so “give it to me now,” as she puts it, that we are no longer willing to wait a month, a week, or even a day to receive the latest news. Because of this increasing demand for breaking news, there is no time to add “pretty” words. Articles quick,  short and to the point. But most importantly, Osorio discussed the concern about providing accurate, concrete journalism. With such a rush to get news out, mistakes and errors are often overlooked. I believe is is our job as future journalists to address this issue and provide a higher quality news in such a demanding and altering field.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed listening to Kim Osorio. She touched based on so many pressing issue in the field of not just music journalism, but journalism as a whole.

Kim Osorio came to speak at Newhouse on September 19 thanks to the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.  She is currently the Editor-in-Chief for The Source, a hip-hop magazine.   After college, Kim began freelance writing for various magazines and publishers then started moving into digital media.  She began working at The Source in 2000 as a music editor and made her way up to becoming the first female Editor-in-Chief.  She left in 2005 but returned to the magazine in 2012.

One of the major things that is part of her story is her lawsuit filed against the company.  She was fired after filing a complaint of gender discrimination.  The court decided that she was fired because she didn’t take her complaint email back and she won that part of the suit. In her presentation though she didn’t dwell on or talk about this issue very much because she wanted to talk about moving on and how she overcame this obstacle.  This occurrence has been a major part of her story so I’m sure she’s tired of talking about it and dwelling on it however I would have liked to hear more details on the situation since I don’t know much about it.

One part of her presentation that I liked was when she was talking about the media’s transition from print to digital.  The Internet is taking over many companies and in a number of ways and this is our main way of getting connected with newspapers, magazines, articles, etc.  It’s difficult for us as journalists because bloggers are becoming the new journalists.  They don’t verify facts or edit or re-edit content, they just hear of a story, write it and post it, which is what people like.  She said this is showing us that we need to get into a much faster way of approaching and writing articles and stories because people want almost immediate information distribution.  However, she did say that many people still like having a physical copy of a magazine to read and it is many artists’ dream still to be on the cover of a certain popular magazine.  I like that she mentioned this because in a digital and electronic world, it’s nice that the print industry still means something to some people and it’s an aspect that I don’t often think of.   Hearing Kim’s presentation was inspiring because of all the obstacles she had to overcome to get where she is but I think it’s important, and a good reminder, that journalism is hard work and we need to be ready to face difficulties in our careers and in our lives.

On September 9th, PRSSA and Hill Communications welcomed Stephanie Manas, the Corporate Communications Specialist and Senior Account Executive at Ogilvy Public Relations, who spoke to students about her job and her experiences in the Public Relations Society of America. Because I am a PR major, the presentation was extremely relevant to me. I attended because I was interested in hearing about Manas’s experiences in the workforce and learning more about the industry of PR as a whole. Manas gave a professional, informative, and interesting presentation about different techniques and goals in public relations.

Manas discussed her role at Ogilvy and gave some background on the company itself. Ogilvy is a large PR firm that is headquartered in New York City and has offices all over the world. Manas talked about different campaigns she has worked on in the past and showed some examples of her work. Surprisingly, I actually found that there was a large connection between PR and multimedia storytelling. In fact, Manas actually said that Ogilvy strives to promote companies, events, or ideas by using storytelling. She showed various videos that Ogilvy produced that completely transformed brands for certain companies. A few of her examples literally brought tears to my eyes. I found it fascinating how she was able to evoke such emotion from her videos and stories, and then was able to apply those videos to a company to improve its public image. By using videos that drew sympathy or a feeling of patriotism, she was able to engage viewers, essentially making them eat right out of the palm of her hand. I found myself thinking about our upcoming PSA assignment and brainstorming ways to evoke that type of emotion. Her examples excited me because I hope to someday do that type of work in Public Relations. Manas also discussed different events she planned during her time at Ogilvy. In addition, she spoke briefly about her work in PRSA, the Public Relations Society of America, and gave tips about how to benefit from the society once out in the workforce.

In addition to being fascinated by her stories and advice, I was also inspired by the fact that Manas was so young – only a few years out of college. It showed me that if one works hard and makes the right connections, he or she can move up in the PR industry rather quickly, providing they do quality work. I enjoyed the presentation, and I think that I will be able to use some of the information that Manas provided as I move forward with my education in PR and begin to look for internships and jobs in the industry.