COMM344 - Arts and Scoiety

Tis the season….

Not Christmas or Hanukah but the season of the arts. No where else does the word seasonal carry so much importance as in South Florida.

Each year with the annual migration of the snow birds comes the arts and cultural seasonal entertainment. Flocks of entertainers, shows and models become weary on the winter weather in the North and Midwest and head to Florida to headline the Treasure Coast’s art / society season.

I for one say thank goodness… Floridians are actually cold in the winter months, even

when the temps are in the 70’s, and are looking for more to do than visit the beach or go to Disney World.

Many may wonder what happens in these festivals, fundraisers and musical events…

I have got some sites for you to visit

Let’s begin with the Palm Beach Society Magazine the monthly magazine that reports on the important events in Palm Beach society and is the island's oldest periodical. This magazine caters to socialites in South Florida. This is the pub to buy and be seen in – here you can see pictures of the premier events in south Florida.

Another great way to see the events without leaving your sofa is Society News Papers with over 5000 Palm Beach society function photos you are sure to find someone you know. Grab your computer brings the gals over for a galpal night and search for your friends.

If you are looking for more cultured information, visit the Society of the Four Arts web site. This non-profit organization was founded to meet the demands of the “transient / resort community residents of Palm Beach. The agency showcases music, drama, literature, and art. There calendar of events is packed with art exhibitions, poetry readings, yoga, etc. You will find something for everyone in the family to do.

COMM314 - Persuasion

A word that either excites or infuriates a person depending on which end of persuasion you are on. I looked up the definition of the word on Encarta Dictionary and it came up with several of which the most common is “the act of persuading somebody to do something.”

I wondered how I use persuasion…

We have children, although grown, I can remember many occasions where I had to use persuasion to accomplish a task. Let’s talk homework.

I have friends who have children and log into the homework hotline to find all the assignment due. In the 70’s and 80’s technology wasn’t as advanced and parents had to rely on homework sheets sent home by the teachers along with the nightly inquisition of the children to make sure we knew everything. I know that I used several forms of persuasion to get the homework completed.

The first bribery, yes I said it bribery. An example from our elementary school attempts – “If you get all you homework done we’ll go to McDonalds.” Middle school was more completed – if you do all your homework this semester we’ll go to Hershey Park and you can take 3 friends.” High school was incredibly difficult when it came to bribery – “if you do all you homework this semester we’ll go to Wildwood (NJ)”.

The second discipline…Can you believe that a parent would actually discipline a child? What a novel concept in this day of “timeouts.” I distinctly remember turning into my mother and saying “if you don’t get al your homework done you’ll be spending the entire weekend with me!” Believe me she meant it. I remember one weekend when I didn’t adhere to my mothers warning and spent a very long Saturday at a Polka Festival. I still get a cold chill up my spine and flash back to the festival whenever I hear “Roll out the barrel.” I digress…


Fast forward to 2009

My husband recently purchased a new Mercedes sedan – it is wonderful to ride in! Heated seats, navigation system, tinted windows, all the bells and whistles. I walk out in the morning and see my cute but uncomfortable 2001 Mazda Miata and wonder what form of persuasion would work for me to get a new car this year and even better within the next three months.

I’ve got it…the old stand by kill him with kindness and paste pictures of the new car I want everywhere. That’s right, its time to work on visualization (many know this as The Secret) and place the image on the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, and his computer screen saver, etc.

I’ll keep you posted…

COMM344 - The Beat Debate

What should I select for my beat?

This week for our VCSU Reporting Class we were asked to select a beat that you would like to cover – be sure about your selection and include a blog from someone in the profession.

The beat selection included: City Government -State Government - Business/Labor/Economy - Cops and Courts – Sports - K-12 Education - Higher Ed Education - Arts/Culture – Technology – religion - Transportation/Utilities - Public Service/non-profit - Healthcare

I pondered this decision. I live in South Florida where I love the weather yet the thought of reporting on it daily made me yawn. I work in higher education so that was removed from consideration. Then I thought, lets do something fun where I could research about things for my husband and I to attend / enjoy…Arts / Culture the perfect choice.

This is great! I can combine socializing and school work – this is definitely a win-win situation.

The decision made finding the right blog that I could also use as a resource was easier that I anticipated. The Palm Beach Post has several entertainment reporters who have blogs. My choice is Scott Eymans’s Culture Club.

He covers more than TV, isn’t the “nightclub” blogger and is diverse in his coverage of events in South Florida. Today his blog was 2008 the year of the boring movie season. I must admit that I have to agree with him! At 9.00 a shot just to see a movie and 18.00 if you want to attend the Premiere at Muvico the movie has got to be good!

The next step – locate the fun stuff to do in Palm Beach County. I found the perfect web page for those visiting the area. Before you leave for South Florida or if you live here and are looking for some great things to do - check this site out. The Palm Beach County – Florida’s Cultural Capital it has a listing of upcoming events, the artist community and children’s events.

Arts and Culture

COMM314 - PRSA Code of Ethics in Action

Florida, especially South Florida, is experiencing several effects from the economic downturn. Housing sales are down 50%, foreclosures have skyrocketed - according to the Palm Beach Post in 2008 foreclosures topped 100,000 and the tourist are staying home. You know the economy is bad when Disney passes out coupons for pay for a four night stay and get 3 extra days at no cost.

This massive reduction in revenues will inevitable lead corporations, tourist driven businesses and the state to a reduce programs and staff.

Until now most government employees believed their positions would never be in jeopardy. That working for the state guaranteed you a job for life. This holds true for university staff and faculty too. Today many university personnel recognized there is no such thing as business as usual. The days of safety in a state job are over and that the state realizes they need to run universities the same as operating a major corporation.

Florida Atlantic University expects to lay off workers, curtail programs
By Scott Travis South Florida Sun-Sentinel


President Frank Brogan is quotes in the article "We will look different at the end of all this," Brogan said. "We simply cannot continue business the way we've been doing it. That model is not sustainable." The PR person at the university should be commended for following the Public Relations Society of America's Code of ethics and working with the media to get the correct message broadcasted to the general public.

This article lists all the values from the PRSA code: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness.

Advocacy: Deferring a pay increase due to the economic climate

Honesty: Explanation of what has happen and the next steps that will be taken.

Expertise: Including faculty and administrators in the reorganization process

Independence: The University will take the necessary steps to solve the issue

Loyalty: Deans and department heads are on board with the reorganization

Fairness: Allowing departments to decide how to reduce expenses

Although the news that University programs will be reorganized and many will lose their jobs I think that the University has captured the essence of the latest catch phrase
“Transparency” and that they are abiding by the PRSA Code of Ethics.

Feature Writing - The Browning Christmas

The Holidays were terrific!

Jay and I ventured from our tropical paradise aka Boca Raton Florida and headed north to spend the holidays with our children, family and friends.

Our adventure began at 7pm leaving the house in the new car; Jay still swears if he sneezed it would make the car explode from all the gifts/ luggage we were taking on our trip. We made it from Boca Raton to South of the Border by 1am. It seems as though Pedro had already gone to bed and we found that there isn’t much open that time of night and had to camp. For those who know me - camping is more commonly called Motel 6.

The image you see is of our dog Reggie trying to get into the South of the Border spirit - yes he was in the car too.

We made it to Chambersburg PA - the home of my husbands longtime friend John – the next day was his wedding and he married Ursula at the

Penn State Mont Alto Chapel.

Many may wonder how a southern person handled the climate change - Let’s just say it was
C O L D
and we had to make an emergency run for flannel pj’s!

Back into the car and onto New Jersey to see my bother and sister in-law. What a great pair! It is refreshing to see a couple that truly likes to spend time together. We shopped (much to my husband’s dismay), wrapped ALL of the presents and ate lots of great food before we headed back to PA to spend the Christmas Eve and Day with the kids in Lancaster PA . The heart of Dutch Country and the Amish – Has anyone ever heard the Amish mechanic joke?

It’s still cold and now mother-nature has decided that she would like to rain on my parade. Fear not, we had our positive attitudes in place and headed for the Eden Resort and Conference Center checked into a wonderful room that looked like our first townhouse – it had a full kitchen, living room dining room and fireplace.

As I look back I realize that was not sure what I was thinking when I said I would make a full holiday dinner on Christmas Eve. Amanda (daughter) and I had to do a little grocery shopping at the local Giant. The staff was very friendly yet I haven’t seen that many people in one place since I was in New York City. The lines were long and Amanda still cant believe that I made friends with 5 other women in the checkout line but all was good.

Dinner was great – the presents were passed out and the kids played lots of Wii – yes my husband brought our video game from Florida! It was a pleasant evening with the kids and my bowling winning streak continues!

Christmas morning we always have Cinnamon Rolls I made them lit the fire, made coffee and went back up stairs to wake everyone. Moments later we were greeted by the smoke alarm and maintenance and housekeeping staff descended on the suite looking for a fire.

Hence my new rule

Look at the damper in the chimney before lighting the fire! Not everyone sets up their fireplace where the damper is open if you push the lever towards the back on the fireplace.

Fully recovered from the look of terror and then significant amounts of laughter from my family I chalked this lesson up to another Lucy moment.



We needed to recover!
Okay we made it back to Florida after a four hour traffic delay on route 95 outside of DC and a 2 hour backup in the Carolinas and one more night of camping, this time a Knights Inn.

December 31, 2008 my husband and I were walking along the beach in Marco Island Florida at the Hilton Resort celebrating the New Year by soaking up some sun. Check out the link above and take the virtual tour. We spent the next few days doing absolutely nothing and I was able to book some quality spa time


Remember the holidays’ are great but don’t forget
to treat yourself well too!

New Year, New Job, New PR Class

2009 has started off to be a wonderful year!

NEW YEAR:
January 1, 2009 my husband and I were walking along the beach in Marco Island Florida at the Hilton Resort celebrating the New Year by soaking up some sun. Check out the link above and take the virtual tour.

Marco Island was absolutely beautiful and the white sand beaches rival those in the Caribbean. It was nice to spend the first day of the year lying on the beach, calling for the server and watching the waves roll onto the sand. Even though we were several hundred miles from home we (Jay and I) experienced an “it’s a small world” moment. Walking through the lobby I ran into a fellow JLBR member who was vacationing with her family looking for some R&R on a white sandy beach.

NEW JOB:
What a great way to begin a year – start a new job. My career experiences and the last several years of learning the inner workings of the higher education system combined with getting my associates degree helped me in obtaining a new position at the University. As of January 12th I have accepted a position as the Assistant Development Officer for the College of Arts and Letters at FAU. My first week has been exciting and incredible busy.

This weekend our College is hosting the Peaceful Mind Peaceful World Workshops, the 31st of January Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge are at our auditorium. So many things are happening at this College and there are so many ways to help that I am thrilled to go to work every morning.

NEW PR CLASS:
Welcome to another semester at VCSU – this semester I have four classes of which one I am looking forward to is Public Relations. Anyone in business these days knows the important of presenting a positive image for the company they either own or are employed. In addition to using this information for work I will be able to use this knowledge to help me with my philanthropic endeavors.

Currently I chair the JLBR Golf Classic – this new fundraiser will help raise the necessary funds for the League so that they can continue the mission of promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. You can see the dedicated JLBR Golf Classic committee image above.