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Feeding The Future or Feeding the Floor?
For the last eight years, the African American Student Alliance has collaborated with several Kennesaw State University student organizations to raise funds for the “Feed the Future” initiative which provides food and other resources for students who are experiencing financial difficulty. The event will be held in tandem with the Giving Feast Fundraiser Luncheon on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 12:30PM in the University Rooms. The luncheon will be catered by KSU Catering and served by supervised, student volunteers. During this years event music will be rendered by the KSU Gospel Choir, as has been for the last eight years. Additionally, the KSU Brass Quartet, the KSU…
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Heartbreaking moments on the home front
I’m a well-meaning mother; most certainly not a perfect parent, but this is one of those blogs where I’m openly admitting my inexperience. I’ve labeled my Friday parenting blog “thoughts from ground zero” because that is the honest perspective from which I’m writing. I am not doling out advice here; I’m kinda begging for it. My best of intentions involves making sure my babies always know if they ask for help, mommy and daddy will be there for them and help them the best way we know how. Can a two-year-old really manipulate that bond? My daughter is 2 going on 12 My daughter has been…
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Three of the worst LinkedIn profile photos you can have
The idea of having a professional headshot shouldn’t be surprising, especially on the professional platform of LinkedIn. I’m amazed every time I see company owners—small business as well as corporate figures—with photos that betray too relaxed an attitude. Putting a picture on a profile is a must for branding, and as part of a profile for an online resume. The first thought I have every single time I see a no-profile-image LinkedIn request is that it’s spam. I double-check to make sure I know the person to be sure, but is that the first thing you want anyone to associate with your networking request? Without not only…
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Good parents control candy, set limits, lead by example
As a relatively new parent, I think back to my childhood and try to decide what my parents did right and where I can improve, innovating my children’s lives if you will. My daughter didn’t have a single sweet until her first birthday. I remember nervously trying to take her cake from her because I didn’t want her to get sick, but my husband stopped me in the spirit of getting messy and letting her enjoy her icing. Halloween is a great time for toddlers and I looked forward to yesterday’s festivities about as much as my daughter did. This year she turns 3, and this year she…
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The cost of a free vacation – traveling with toddlers
Price versus cost: a lesson in economics When I first heard about the regional conference for the Society of Professional Journalists, of which I act as president for the Kennesaw State University chapter, I felt excited and inspired to be one of the first chapter presidents to put for the extra effort to get as many members as possible (and as of this moment Kennesaw SPJ has the highest number of enrolled members ever), then to head to New Orleans to practice interviewing skills on zombies. Then the reality of the fact that I couldn’t go because I am a nontraditional student with a husband and two babies…
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How to improve your social media engagement, Klout score
Happy birthday Heather Really, this post is about more than what it takes to engage an audience across social media; it’s about listening and responding to an environment where people want to feel valued and listened to. Heather Head, founder of Scopcity, turned 40 yesterday, and while that may not sound out-of-the-ordinary, what she asked for from her social media friends might strike some as beautifully altruistic. She asked that her friends go out and perform a random act of kindness and post about it to her wall. Well, I didn’t leave the house yesterday (that was NOT my random act of kindness). My husband attempted to help out…
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How to tell a good poem from a bad poem
You know bad poetry Poetry often makes even poets cringe because everyone has seen and heard bad poetry so often that the form itself becomes taboo, and people are prejudiced against it. What ultimately makes a poem bad is the failure of the writer to convey that deep and moving experience to his reader that led him to write the poem. “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” – William Wordsworth (who better to quote about the worth of words!) A poet’s profession is to paint a picture with words, wasting none. A novelist tells a story and…
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Dumpster Kitties – a coffee table book idea, and a reality
What is a ‘dumpster kitty’? When my husband and I moved into our new apartment at the end of August, we noticed quite a few stray cats. Our upstairs neighbors are feeding them (and I caught myself adding food to the dish one day). Well, after about two months I’ve come to realize these cats are a family. The one pictured above had a litter of kittens (and by litter I have seen two). I assumed the father was the black and white kitten my husband named “Sylvester,” (and the upstairs neighbor kids call “Frisky”), but this kitty may be a surrogate mom. (You know how kitty daddies just hit…
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THE 5 things artists must make time for
I skipped a blog Friday because I celebrated my 35th birthday by interviewing for a job, working, spending the afternoon with my kids at the park and spending my evening on the couch with my husband. Admittedly, all my “downtime” involved responding to texts, emails and thinking about how I would meet my deadlines, but I took some of the day off because I know what happens to freelancers and the artistic energy when we don’t take time to reboot. So, though Friday’s blog is generally dedicated to my thoughts on parenting, I’m publishing these five things that every artist needs to make the time for. Without these five…
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How long does it take to build a business?
One thing entrepreneurs need to understand is that growing anything takes time. Unless you buy those dried sponge animals that expand in a tub of water…no, even those take longer than you’d expect to increase in size and resemble an animal. Many times, I’m still disappointed that the promised giraffe looks more like, well, a long piece of sponge. I attended a couple of sessions at Digital Atlanta this week, and the idea that resonates is that building brand awareness and engaging an audience through social media simply takes time. Sure, many organizations and individuals exist to offer solutions for earning return on investment through social media, but…
mental health journalist