Story 9
Feature on William Lund
By Kevin Pabst
“I just wanted to make sure you understand how extremely practical the twenty-odd years I spent as a writer were, and how far they were from anything creatively fulfilling.” said William Lund, instructor of English at Anoka-Ramey Community College. Lund is a man who has done a little bit of everything you can do as a writer. He’s written books for young men he calls “reluctant readers,” he’s worked on advertisement for ad agencies, written brochures, videos and instruction manuals.
Lund says that being a writer to him was “a means to an end,” and that although writing came easily to him he wasn’t creatively driven in the ways he’d heard other writers were. Before he graduated from Westmar College, a small private school in Iowa, Lund worked for his school’s newspaper and did a “fair amount of creative writing,” as he says.
As he transitioned to graduate school he continued to excel at writing. He won a short story competition, a play writing competition, and several of his plays were put on by the graduate acting department. He said all of this and finished his thought with “I don’t know if any of your instructors have told you this, but good fiction writers “need” to write, whether they’re published or not.”
After graduating from Westmar, Lund moved on to Ball State University to earn his MA. He also mentions that, “I did four years of doctoral work at the University of Minnesota but never finished the Ph.D.” To top off his education he spent a year of graduate school at St. Thomas University for education.
Lund, with his education complete, moved on to teaching, but only did so for a few years. He says, “After a few years teaching in a difficult school, I was ‘burned out’” and the opportunity fell in my lap to make quite a bit more money writing in the business world.” This opportunity would lead to Lund’s transition from education into the realm of technical writing. He wrote manuals and “instruction materials” for different computer companies for four years. On those four years, he says, “Although it wasn’t particularly fulfilling, it paid well and was secure, and I found it easy to do.”
Change would come once again to Lund’s life, when he moved to a different company that wanted to have him work on marketing materials. He says that this marketing company he worked for “farmed me out to write speeches, promotional materials, even stage shows for major companies that were producing meetings internationally.”
His previous experience prepared him well, though, for his next position at an ad agency. He says himself that this is where he “did all of the things I was doing before, plus ad copy, brochures, direct mail, corporate videos—pretty much anything that sold stuff and involved words.” Like the rest of Lund’s career this position wasn’t permanent, and he decided he “didn’t have enough control over my own time” and moved to freelance work.
This is where Lund admits to enjoying himself the most, where he was tasked with writing 26 books targeted at “’reluctant’ readers,” late junior high and high school boys. He was given a specific topic, “anything from a specific career to a specific mammal” and he researched the topic, and wrote a book that might appeal to the book series’ audience.
Lund says “these jobs, like most of the professional writing I worked on throughout those two decades, were nothing that I was passionate about.” In 2002, after the September 11 attacks Lund says he was “depressed and confused,” and decided to move to Fort Lauderdale, FL. Soon, a “friend of a friend” who was a dean for Broward Community College needed a technical writer. Lund says,”I thought—well, why not? It couldn’t be worse than writing another newsletter or brochure.”
“The thing was, I loved it [teaching].” Lund says, and continues, “I taught a couple of semesters and discovered that, although I hated Florida, I loved teaching again.” He says that he moved back to Minnesota, and has been teaching since those first semesters in Florida.
Looking back at his career, Lund says that despite his practical look at his writing ability, using it as a tool, there have been things he has enjoyed. He wrote for the humor column for multiple campus papers, and in the’80s he wrote for some local Twin Cities papers. He says, “I loved doing it and have regularly thought of doing it again. “
When asked if he wished to return to writing from teaching full-time, he had this to say:
“No, no, never—they’re going to have to drag me from the classroom as I clutch at the doorframe with bloodied fingernails.”
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Article Summary #12(I think)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8645884.stm
Jason Chen, editor of Gizmodo had his home raided by police, who then seized many of his computers, camera, and other equipment. Gawker Media's CEO Gaby Darbyshire points out a problem with the raid, that federal and California state law prohibits the use of a search warrant on a journalist, and instead relies upon a subpoena.
Jason Chen, editor of Gizmodo had his home raided by police, who then seized many of his computers, camera, and other equipment. Gawker Media's CEO Gaby Darbyshire points out a problem with the raid, that federal and California state law prohibits the use of a search warrant on a journalist, and instead relies upon a subpoena.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Story 9
Piracy is just another word for stealing. Today though, piracy has taken on a different spin both morally and what it really means to people getting the content. First a quick primer on some terms; Intellectual Property (IP) is essentially an idea, like the Mickey Mouse franchise and the Mario franchise are both IPs.
To pull raw data, 72 percent of those who took the survey admit to having pirated music, movies, or software sometime in the past. The reasons for pirating is all over the board, with 1/3 of people saying they pirate because the content was free and another 1/3 because they couldn’t afford to pay. A couple of people had more specific reasons, though. One responder who did not wish to be named said they pirated because they had “Ideological disagreements with publishers,” and left it at that.
Another responder who also did not wish to have his name published, let’s refer to him as Bret from now on, said that they pirate because they wish to evaluate products without having to buy them, as they responded in the other option for this why behind pirating. The try before you buy state of mind is one that many pirates have.
The content that these people are after skews towards music, with 63 percent saying that they had pirated music at some point. Responder Josh admitted to pirating music, although he said “If there is music I really want, I purchase it legally.” He goes on, “Only on a few occasions have I downloaded free music, and those were in cases when it was recommended I listen to a song but didn't really want to purchase it.” People might not know of free alternatives, like last.fm and Amazon.com’s preview function for many available CDs, and so they resort to piracy, as Josh admitted to doing.
Not everybody is in line with this thinking, though. Remember, 27 percent of people taking the survey said they haven’t pirated something. Yet another responder who didn’t wish to give their name believes it’s people’s inability to find a price they’ll pay, saying, “People are too lazy to look up the websites that offer things at a discounted price.” They continue, “Or they don't have enough friends that hook them up with good websites.” Could the problem for pirates be that the price is too high? Keep in mind that 1/3 of responders pirated their content because they couldn’t afford the price.
Other people take it as a matter of freedom. “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” Says responder Bret, and continues “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” He goes on to say that if it were available he’d purchase the content if he was simple given his TV shows as a file, so he can watch his shows on his DVD driveless netbook.
Responder Kirsten says, “I think it's wrong and it is stealing.” And she’d be right. In June of last year, for the sharing of 24 songs on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) program Kazaa, Minnesota resident Jammie Thomas-Rasset was found guilty of copyright infringement and was ordered to pay the recording industry $1.92 million.
How much would those 63% of people owe?
To pull raw data, 72 percent of those who took the survey admit to having pirated music, movies, or software sometime in the past. The reasons for pirating is all over the board, with 1/3 of people saying they pirate because the content was free and another 1/3 because they couldn’t afford to pay. A couple of people had more specific reasons, though. One responder who did not wish to be named said they pirated because they had “Ideological disagreements with publishers,” and left it at that.
Another responder who also did not wish to have his name published, let’s refer to him as Bret from now on, said that they pirate because they wish to evaluate products without having to buy them, as they responded in the other option for this why behind pirating. The try before you buy state of mind is one that many pirates have.
The content that these people are after skews towards music, with 63 percent saying that they had pirated music at some point. Responder Josh admitted to pirating music, although he said “If there is music I really want, I purchase it legally.” He goes on, “Only on a few occasions have I downloaded free music, and those were in cases when it was recommended I listen to a song but didn't really want to purchase it.” People might not know of free alternatives, like last.fm and Amazon.com’s preview function for many available CDs, and so they resort to piracy, as Josh admitted to doing.
Not everybody is in line with this thinking, though. Remember, 27 percent of people taking the survey said they haven’t pirated something. Yet another responder who didn’t wish to give their name believes it’s people’s inability to find a price they’ll pay, saying, “People are too lazy to look up the websites that offer things at a discounted price.” They continue, “Or they don't have enough friends that hook them up with good websites.” Could the problem for pirates be that the price is too high? Keep in mind that 1/3 of responders pirated their content because they couldn’t afford the price.
Other people take it as a matter of freedom. “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” Says responder Bret, and continues “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” He goes on to say that if it were available he’d purchase the content if he was simple given his TV shows as a file, so he can watch his shows on his DVD driveless netbook.
Responder Kirsten says, “I think it's wrong and it is stealing.” And she’d be right. In June of last year, for the sharing of 24 songs on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) program Kazaa, Minnesota resident Jammie Thomas-Rasset was found guilty of copyright infringement and was ordered to pay the recording industry $1.92 million.
How much would those 63% of people owe?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Article Summary #11
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8623710.stm
Facebook Lite, a version of Facebook designed for low performance computers, shuts down today. This version of Facebook had no applications, boxes, or features beyond the ability to interact with pure Facebook features, like wall posting and event interaction. No reason was given for the shut down.
Facebook Lite, a version of Facebook designed for low performance computers, shuts down today. This version of Facebook had no applications, boxes, or features beyond the ability to interact with pure Facebook features, like wall posting and event interaction. No reason was given for the shut down.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Article Summary #10
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8619046.stm
An earthquake with a 6.9 magnitude has hit the Qinghai province in China, leaving at least 67 dead and many other buried. Soldiers have been dispatched to rescue any trapped people.
An earthquake with a 6.9 magnitude has hit the Qinghai province in China, leaving at least 67 dead and many other buried. Soldiers have been dispatched to rescue any trapped people.
Story 7
Story 7
By Kevin Pabst
There isn’t any one thing from the past that is similar to the cell phone; a feat of technology that people were slow to adopt, but eventually a majority of people own it. Going way back, the closest comparison is the television. In the early days of television it was an expensive luxury that few had. These days though a television is one of the basic appliances that almost all homes have. The cell phone has become a basic accessory that a majority of people have, like a wallet.
The first question was if the survey taker had a phone, and every respondent said yes. As for future phone purchases 41 percent said they plan to buy a new phone in the next year, of which 58 percent intends to buy a smart phone. A smart phone was described as having advanced functions, like those of the Blackberry or an iPhone, features beyond basic media playback, texting (text messaging), and being a phone.
Every person that responded said they have a phone, but what are these people doing with them? Judging from the results it doesn’t look like they’re texting. Nearly 70 percent of people said they send, on an average day, one to 25 texts, and 17 percent of people send 26 to 50 texts. With the number of people intending to buy advanced phones it’s difficult to tell what they want to do. Apple’s iPhone has millions of applications that make the device modular, so it can do everything from e-mailing to playing games to browse the web. It’s likely that this kind of modularity is what users want, and not a specific feature.
It should be noted that the average age of people responding is around 21, maybe a little old for the compulsive texting of high school. From that perspective, it shows that as people grow older they tend to text much less than when they’re younger.
What can be drawn from all of this? Many people have cell phones, less and less of them use one of the basic functions, and a significant number of people want their phone to be more than a phone.
By Kevin Pabst
There isn’t any one thing from the past that is similar to the cell phone; a feat of technology that people were slow to adopt, but eventually a majority of people own it. Going way back, the closest comparison is the television. In the early days of television it was an expensive luxury that few had. These days though a television is one of the basic appliances that almost all homes have. The cell phone has become a basic accessory that a majority of people have, like a wallet.
The first question was if the survey taker had a phone, and every respondent said yes. As for future phone purchases 41 percent said they plan to buy a new phone in the next year, of which 58 percent intends to buy a smart phone. A smart phone was described as having advanced functions, like those of the Blackberry or an iPhone, features beyond basic media playback, texting (text messaging), and being a phone.
Every person that responded said they have a phone, but what are these people doing with them? Judging from the results it doesn’t look like they’re texting. Nearly 70 percent of people said they send, on an average day, one to 25 texts, and 17 percent of people send 26 to 50 texts. With the number of people intending to buy advanced phones it’s difficult to tell what they want to do. Apple’s iPhone has millions of applications that make the device modular, so it can do everything from e-mailing to playing games to browse the web. It’s likely that this kind of modularity is what users want, and not a specific feature.
It should be noted that the average age of people responding is around 21, maybe a little old for the compulsive texting of high school. From that perspective, it shows that as people grow older they tend to text much less than when they’re younger.
What can be drawn from all of this? Many people have cell phones, less and less of them use one of the basic functions, and a significant number of people want their phone to be more than a phone.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Press Release
P.James at Memorial
9438 162th street
Baltimore, MD 29882
For immediate release.
Contact: James Elihas
Office: 212-356-3972
E-mail: jelihas1982@gmail.com
PATRICIA JAMES RETURNS TO THE MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM AFTER 15 YEARS
The famed singer Patricia James brings her mezzo-soprano talent to the Memorial Auditorium for the first time in 15 years. She'll be performing nightly between May 20 and 24. Ticket availability is limited, so buy them soon!
END
9438 162th street
Baltimore, MD 29882
For immediate release.
Contact: James Elihas
Office: 212-356-3972
E-mail: jelihas1982@gmail.com
PATRICIA JAMES RETURNS TO THE MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM AFTER 15 YEARS
The famed singer Patricia James brings her mezzo-soprano talent to the Memorial Auditorium for the first time in 15 years. She'll be performing nightly between May 20 and 24. Ticket availability is limited, so buy them soon!
END
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Article Summary #9
To scale back nuclear weapons President Obama is signing, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a treaty that will reduce the number of nuclear weapons in both the United States and Russia to 30% of the maximum allowed. These changes do not apply to North Korea or China, who aren't signers of the treaty.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Topic choice
Below is my topic, ripped right from my .doc file that I turned in.
"A little closer to my personal interest in a field I’m knowledgeable about. The increasing number of independent game developers and the problems they face. Including but not limited to: overcrowding of store-fronts like Steam and the Apple Store, viability, or lack of, for indie funding, and drawing the line between artistic direction and what is profitable.
Sources: Justin Wolf co-founder of JustGO!, Johnathan Blow CEO of Number None Inc., Martin De Ronde founder of OneBigGame, Derek Yu owner of Mossmouth, James Silvia the entirety Ska-Studios. All are reachable via public e-mails or their community managers."
I was asked about the publishing location. I was going to submit it to several popular websites that promote and publish user content including Destructoid.com, Bitmob.com, 1up.com, and a website I wrote for, for a good year, Beefjack.com. All but BeefJack are essentially blogs on these various sites, but they all edit, promote, and get great user stories in the spotlight, and I'm hoping for that.
As for the sources I plan to use the above companies, but I've been thinking of branching off into other developers and to get their thoughts on what they think the problems are without presenting the obvious problems. I'm also thinking of reaching out to the studio behind Darwinia, who originally said they wouldn't cow-tow to any corporate influence, but later conceded and said that they just had to make money.
For why I think my audience will read it I think that people don't see any problems with indie games, or even see the games at all (which is a problem). Most people who follow gaming news might know that these problems exist, but not the extent they exist. Hell, I may be the one who doesn't realize how small or large these problems are, but I'm going to find out.
I find it interesting because these people are creating experiences that you just can't get from a development team of hundreds of people. A game about a cat on a quest for milk didn't come from a 150 person team, the game about a time-travelling man in a suit didn't come from Infinity Ward, and the love-letter to 8-bit games wasn't manufactured. These people make some of the most unique things imaginable, and the problems they have are real.
Also, if anyone has any comments about potential studios they think should be covered go ahead and post. I'm open to suggestions!
"A little closer to my personal interest in a field I’m knowledgeable about. The increasing number of independent game developers and the problems they face. Including but not limited to: overcrowding of store-fronts like Steam and the Apple Store, viability, or lack of, for indie funding, and drawing the line between artistic direction and what is profitable.
Sources: Justin Wolf co-founder of JustGO!, Johnathan Blow CEO of Number None Inc., Martin De Ronde founder of OneBigGame, Derek Yu owner of Mossmouth, James Silvia the entirety Ska-Studios. All are reachable via public e-mails or their community managers."
I was asked about the publishing location. I was going to submit it to several popular websites that promote and publish user content including Destructoid.com, Bitmob.com, 1up.com, and a website I wrote for, for a good year, Beefjack.com. All but BeefJack are essentially blogs on these various sites, but they all edit, promote, and get great user stories in the spotlight, and I'm hoping for that.
As for the sources I plan to use the above companies, but I've been thinking of branching off into other developers and to get their thoughts on what they think the problems are without presenting the obvious problems. I'm also thinking of reaching out to the studio behind Darwinia, who originally said they wouldn't cow-tow to any corporate influence, but later conceded and said that they just had to make money.
For why I think my audience will read it I think that people don't see any problems with indie games, or even see the games at all (which is a problem). Most people who follow gaming news might know that these problems exist, but not the extent they exist. Hell, I may be the one who doesn't realize how small or large these problems are, but I'm going to find out.
I find it interesting because these people are creating experiences that you just can't get from a development team of hundreds of people. A game about a cat on a quest for milk didn't come from a 150 person team, the game about a time-travelling man in a suit didn't come from Infinity Ward, and the love-letter to 8-bit games wasn't manufactured. These people make some of the most unique things imaginable, and the problems they have are real.
Also, if anyone has any comments about potential studios they think should be covered go ahead and post. I'm open to suggestions!
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