(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Over Thanksgiving break, I decided to clean out my closet and get rid of everything that was no longer needed. After a day of cleaning out everything, it came to my knowledge that instead of selling my clothes and belongings, I was going to donate them to less fortunate families. Considering it is the holidays, I feel less fortunate families need items more than ever. My family and I use to donate clothes to homeless shelters in St. Louis every year since I was a child. Unfortunately, we have been so busy lately that we have not had enough time to get around to it. So I decided to take it upon myself to help the homeless.

It is ridiculous how many toys and clothes I have that I no longer need. It is the little things like this that could completely change a families holiday. I remember when I use to take clothes to the homeless shelter and the great feeling I would experience after dropping everything off. The looks on the families faces made everything I gave up worth it. It really does make you feel like a better person when you give to others.

This year I am hoping to give just as much to the shelters. I even offered to take my families belongings they no longer needed in order to give more. I can not wait to do this because I know it will make the families happy and make me feel better about myself. I think it is important for everyone to take a second and think about what other people need instead of what you need every time. Christmas should be a holiday for giving and receiving the best gift of all.

Ch.16: High-profile projects

In chapter sixteen they discuss the annual reports, events and exhibitions dealt with public relations. An annual report is a statement of an organization’s activities for a 12-month accounting period-it’s financial or fiscal year (pg. 424). Annual reports are important because they keep public companies on track of where they stand. The primary purpose of an annual report is to report on the organization’s fiscal management and financial condition.

Special events are also a big importance of public relations. Events attract publics that may or may not be interested in your organization. At these events, you are able to observe your audience and the materials you have produced for them. A public relations writer may be in charge of writing the invitations. In this case, it is very important to sell the organization threw words. It is also important to invite celebrities who attract the media and other guests. Speeches during these occasions may also bring in a few more guest!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Background (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thanksgiving break is finally here! Time to take a break from school and catch up with friends and family. However, my Thanksgiving will be different from previous Thanksgivings in various ways this year. First, I have a lot of homework to do over break. My big papers and projects are due the week I get back from break. In that case, it will be a very busy break for me. Thankfully, I have no other plans over break so I will have plenty of time to catch up.

Unfortunately, I will not be spending with holidays with any of my family members. Due to my current job, I am unable to call of work a couple of days to go out-of-town. I usually go with my family to Branson, MO every year to shop on black friday and explore Silver Dollar City. I find out if I got the days off I requested, but it is highly doubtful. In that case, my closest friend has invited me over for her Thanksgiving feast so I will not be alone.

I am very thankful for such great friends in my life such as she. I am sad I will not be with my family over the holidays, but at least I will be making money for my trip to Australia in three weeks! I could not be anymore excited to spend a month with my boyfriend on the beach; talk about long distance! Overall, I am thankful for my family, boyfriend, and all other loved ones in my life. If it were not for them, I would not have so many wonderful things in my life.

Ch.14: Persuasion for Mass Comm.

English: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This chapter sums up the importance of persuasion when using mass communications and public relations. Many persuasive appeals are based on Maslow’s hierarchy or needs. We are all familiar with this hierarchy because it is used in everyday life. This hierarchy is divided into five levels of our needs. These needs go in this order: physiological needs, need for safety and security, need for love, and self-accusation need. What Maslow is trying to portray is that we must meet our most basic needs before we will pay attention to higher-level needs.

The next area this chapter focuses on is Aristotle’s idea of ethos, logos, and pathos. The first step in determining an appropriate appeal requires these three areas. Ethos is the importance of source credibility. Finding relevant sources to a paper is always easy, but making sure it is credible may be a bit more difficult. Logo’s are the importance of message content and structure. This occurs most often in newspaper editorials. Finally, pathos focus on the importance of audience.

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy Flooding Avenue C 2012 (Photo credit: david_shankbone)

Considering my best friend lives in New York City, I have been keeping up to date with Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, my friend has not experienced the worst of the hurricane, but others in New Jersey have. It is a shame that so many people are loosing their homes and even family due to this disastrous hurricane. As I was looking through different articles online, I came across an article talking about the difficulties of finding shelter was at the moment. In New York City, people are currently trying to find homes for over 40,000 homeless people. This is a very high and difficult number to satisfy in only a couple of days.

The mayor explained that they did not have enough housing at the moment, but he is going to do his best to make sure no one is sleeping outside on the streets. It is extremely cold there and he does not want any one in worse conditions than they already are. As of now, many people are being placed in apartments and hotels, but the capacity is almost reached. Officials said they would start bringing  in trailers as well.

I feel guilty when I start to complain about it being cold in Illinois because I know the people of New York and New Jersey have it much worse. My friend, Rachael, said school and work was cancelled for a week! Almost everything is shut down and whatever is open is too difficult to get to. I am praying the Hurricane will stop and everything will be repaired in no time.

Ch 13: The Multipurpose Medium

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In chapter 13, they discuss the prospect of multiway communications. Public relations thinking began from the notion of one-way messages, but have now converted into two-way relationships. Organizations and their publics can develop relationships based on shared information. Like other relationships, many are formed due to familiar characteristics such as liking the same thing. The web offers the greatest opportunity for two-way dialogues. You are able to seek information and give feedback when using the web.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is the limited audience on the web. Web publics are hard to define. It is important to keep in mind your audience when posting information. Whatever you decide to post, others can see without you being aware. You must be able to persuade users to visit your page religiously. If your page is boring, most people will not revisit it. Keep in mind the amount of content on your web page. Too much information on a page is overwhelming and will turn your audience away.

Gay marriage campaign

Rainbow flag (LGBT movement) LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Pride flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I came across an article the other day that talked about Brad Pitt’s $100,000 donation to the Human Right’s Campaign (HRC) Gay Marriage Campaign. Most people already know that Pitt has always been a strong supporter of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. This recent donation he has made, however, has shocked many people around the world. Due to it being election season, Pitt wanted to make it aware to people that he supports gay marriage and it will appear on this year’s ballot.

Due to the recent amendment that would ban same-sex couples to get married, Pitt and others are fighting to do everything in their will to stop this from happening. I think by Pitt or any celebrity helping out, it will make others aware of the situation and hopefully persuade them to do the same. Pitt explained in the article how it really bothers him that some people’s lives and relationships are constantly being voted. Even though gay marriage is looked down upon by many, it is not right to put their relationships on risk just because of judgmental people.

I think his donation was very generous and it is nice to see that even a famous celebrity is thinking of others and not himself. I think the issue in this world today is that too many people are selfish and make opinions of others due to social norms. Social norms have changed a lot since past years and I think it is time for everyone to grow up and be acceptable of others. Half the people who are against gay marriages do not know a gay person or have never even spoke to one. My point is that you should not judge a book by its cover right off hand because you do not know the person or their everyday battles they may be fighting.