Month: September 2012

10 Tips for Aspiring Journalists

Journalism

Although I do not consider myself to be an expert journalist, I do have enough experience and success to offer aspiring journalists some useful tips.  The tips I provide in this piece will be useful for anyone interested in becoming a journalist of any type.

1.      Embrace the notion of writing as a process.  Too often new journalists are producing pieces that have not been carefully written.  When people read your writing, they don’t want to read pieces that have not taken full advantage of the complete writing process.  Make sure you edit your writing for grammar and mechanics errors.  People are too eager to publish things without editing their work for grammar and mechanics errors.  You might also read the following piece: “Prewriting: A Neglected Stage of the Writing Process”.  In order to be an effective writer, you need to give yourself plenty of practice writing.  You should write daily.  If you’re serious about being a journalist, you will love writing and find time to do it each day.

 2.      Enroll in a challenging Journalism program.  If you really want to become an effective journalist, you will enroll in a Journalism program at a university that will challenge you to be the best journalist you can be.  Do your research to find the right Journalism program for you.  Be sure that it’s a program that has a strong emphasis in writing.  Many Journalism programs will emphasize everything except for writing.  If you’re going to become a successful journalist, you will need to be an effective writer.

 3.      Cover substantive stories, issues, and problems.  Too many journalists are covering stories, issues, and problems that lack substance.  As an aspiring journalist, you don’t want people to not want to read and hear what you have say because they know you’re not going to discuss phenomena important to them.  Invest the necessary time in covering things that will matter to many people.  Research the issues, stories, and problems the average American wants to read and hear.

 4.      Be innovative and distinctive.  Find ways to be creative and set yourself apart from the rest of aspiring and extant journalists.

 5.      Be willing to ask tough and probing questions.  When you’re interviewing people, don’t be afraid to ask them challenging and probing questions.  Your readers and viewers will appreciate you for being willing to ask questions they want answered.  Too often existing journalists leave their readers and viewers unsatisfied because they lack the courage to ask the tough and probing questions to gain the answers average Americans desire to know.

 6.      Don’t let your politics harm you professionally.  Do not allow your politics to keep you from covering certain topics.  When you start limiting yourself to what you will cover, you begin to diminish the possibilities of what you can become as a journalist.  As an aspiring journalist, it may not be a good idea for you to immediately declare yourself as being a “liberal journalist” or “conservative journalist.”  If you want to be a liberal or conservative journalist, wait until you have reached a level of success that these labels will not harm you professionally.

7.      As much as possible, be objective in your reporting.  As much as you are able, don’t let your personal biases creep into your journalism.  If you’re given an opportunity to offer your personal analysis, then feel free to divulge your opinions.  You want your readers and viewers to perceive you as a credible journalist they can trust.

8.      Dress professionally.  Many people judge whether a person is a credible journalist by the way he or she dresses.  Wear attire that is going to convey that you’re a professional.

9.      Practice giving presentations.  To be an effective journalist, you will need to be able to communicate well orally.  One of the main reasons people cannot give successful oral presentations is they don’t properly prepare themselves.  You should, therefore, always be prepared for your oral presentations.  When you have prepared yourself well for your presentation, you will feel more confident about it.

10.  Commit yourself to the craft.  If you want to be a successful journalist, you need to really devote yourself to doing what it takes to be an effective journalist.  When you know you have weaknesses, you need to work on them.  If writing is not your strength, then you need to work on improving your writing each day.  If public speaking is your weakness, you need to work on ameliorating your ability to communicate effectively in public.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Old Spice Swagger Body Wash and Deodorant

 

 

Old Spice Swagger

Guys, if you want to really smell good for the ladies, then you need to try Old Spice Swagger Body Wash and Deodorant.  Although Old Spice has traditionally been associated with being for old men, Proctor and Gamble have made a commitment to appeal to younger male consumers with some of its new personal care items, including Old Spice Swagger Body Wash and Deodorant.  I am always receiving compliments about how good I smell after using both of these products.  After I get out of the shower, people love to go in the bathroom and just smell it.  People love to smell me.

Many men must take more concern about how they smell.  Brush your teeth, take a shower, and put on some deodorant.  Don’t let odors coming from your mouth and/or body make the ladies run away.  Too many men think they’re so cool and God’s gift to the ladies, but they smell like a dead skunk.  This is one of the reasons why I highly recommend these two Old Spice products.  The deodorant and body wash are long lasting.  You will walk with confidence about how you smell and feel after using these two products.

I encourage you to purchase Old Spice Swagger Deodorant and Body Wash as soon as possible.  When you try one or both of these products, let me know what you think about one or both of the products.  For those of you who have already tried one or both of the products, let me know what you think.  If you’re not willing to give the products a try, let me know the reason(s) for your unwillingness.

Yes, you may look attractive to the ladies but they’re not going stay around you long if you stink!  It’s manly to take a bath, brush your teeth, and put on some deodorant.  It’s manly to have concern about how you smell.  Don’t believe that foolishness that a man should not smell good and should not worry about smelling good.

Old Spice Swagger Deodorant and Body Wash can seal the deal in your efforts to get a lady or keep the one you have.

If you are unsatisfied with the Old Spice Swagger Deodorant and Body Wash, you can return the unused portions of the products along with the purchase receipt for a refund.  For further details, call 1-800-776-8348.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Prewriting: A Neglected Stage of the Writing Process

 

The Writing Process

If you’re to become an effective writer, you’re going to have to embrace the notion of writing as a process.  A carefully prepared piece is one that takes full advantage of each stage of the writing process.  Unfortunately, prewriting, the first stage of the writing process, is often omitted by many writers.  Many writers feel like prewriting wastes time.  If one would fully understand that prewriting is not simply about using strategies like clustering, freewriting, mapping, and etc., he or she will begin to embrace prewriting more.

The prewriting stage of the writing process does not require you to conduct all of your efforts on paper.  When a writer discusses his or her ideas with another person, this is a meaningful part of the prewriting process.  You will find that engaging in serious discourses about your topic during the prewriting stage will benefit you tremendously.  You might discover that the idea you thought was a novel one is really something that many others have done.  However, the person or persons you discuss your topic with can assist you in coming up with novel approaches to doing something others have already done.

Discussing your topic with others during the prewriting process can enable you to gain new ideas and refine your extant ideas.  People can lead you in the right direction on your topic.  You might have been headed in a direction that would lead you to say, “I have writer’s block.”  What you would experience is not “writer’s block” but the frustration that emerges from a lack of meaningful discussion about your topic before you moved into the drafting stage of the writing process.  If you experience “writer’s block” during the drafting stage, then it could mean you completely abandoned the prewriting stage or you did not devote enough time to the prewriting stage.

I have an opportunity to read a number of essays and blogs weekly.  I have discovered that many writers and bloggers could benefit from dedicating more time to the prewriting stage of the writing process before they begin drafting their pieces.  Many writers and bloggers begin with an idea that they’ve given themselves only a short amount of time to think about and then they move immediately to the drafting stage.  You can detect the weaknesses of their ideas when you see how their ideas lack development and/or when they go off topic often.

It would not hurt you to begin a conversation with someone about a topic you have in mind for an essay or blog piece before you start to compose it.  You will find that your writing will improve dramatically when you start to embrace the prewriting stage of the writing process.  Even when you think you have everything figured out about a piece you plan to write, don’t omit prewriting—engage in at least one prewriting activity.

Before you begin drafting your next piece, be sure you devote enough time to prewriting to give yourself the best opportunity to have a truly well-written piece.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Revolutionary Paideia: Semi-Finalist for Black Weblog Awards

Black Weblog Awards

Vote for Revolutionary Paideia!

 

I need all of my readers, supporters, friends, and family to vote for Revolutionary Paideia, my blog, on as many different computer as possible for the Black Weblog Awards Best Writing in a Blog Award and Best Blog Post Series Award.  Vote by clicking on this link: http://www.blackweblogawards.com/vote-here/.  Revolutionary Paideia is in the semifinals in both categories and I will need all of the votes possible to move on to the final round of voting.  With all of your help, Revolutionary Paideia can win both categories.

While there are some good nominees in both categories, Revolutionary Paideia is far superior to them all.

After you have voted, share this piece with others and get the word out about voting for Revolutionary Paideia on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

I very much appreciate your vote and your help in making Revolutionary Paideia the winner in both of these categories.  Thank you!

Sincerely,

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Championing the Concept of American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism

America is an exceptional nation.  In world history, there’s no nation that was founded in the way in which America was.  America is an idea.  This nation originated on the ideas of individual responsibility, civil liberties, equality, limited government, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the respect of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a strong determination to always defend America against enemies foreign and domestic, and etc.  Unfortunately, there are far too many people, mainly in the Democratic Party, who want Americans to apologize for how exceptional America is.  The purpose of this piece is to offer an understanding of American exceptionalism and defend the support of American exceptionalism.

Those who support American exceptionalism contend that America was founded on a set of republican (“rule by the people and law”) ideals and not on a common heritage, ethnicity, and etc.  Because of the unique nature of America’s founding and its position in the world, America has a responsibility to empower other nations in the world to enjoy the benefits of freedom and the revolutionary spirit freedom engenders.  When people of countries across the world are trapped in dictatorial and tyrannical regimes, and they express a desire to seek solutions to these regimes, America’s uniqueness as the only superpower mandates that she helps those people find the solutions they need to gain the freedom they deserve.  The concept of American exceptionalism asserts that humankind’s rights come from God and not from the state or government.  The most innate right American exceptionalism argues is essential is the right of all human beings to be free.

America is in a position to aid those across the world to obtain the freedom they deserve to have that has been guaranteed by God.  Americans love their freedom.  They love the benefits and opportunities liberty enables them to enjoy.  Without question, America is an exceptional nation in terms of its founding, military, economy, education, and much more.

I have become troubled with how many in the Democratic Party do not want to acknowledge that America is an exceptional nation and the responsibilities and opportunities that accompany this reality.  American exceptionalism is not a malevolent concept—it’s reality.  Although some proponents of American exceptionalism concatenate it with the concept of Manifest Destiny, the majority of the proponents do not fuse this concept with American exceptionalism.  Based on some of the misinformation I have heard and read from Democrats about American exceptionalism, I thought it was important to draft a piece that would begin to counter the misinformation about American exceptionalism.

Let’s never deny that America is an exceptional nation!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Give People Their Deserved Closure

Black Couple Breaking Up

When you have shared a special intimate relationship with someone, don’t just stop communicating with him or her.  An abrupt termination of communication with someone you have been intimate with for a significant period of time can leave him or her feeling more than heartbroken but also confused.  The person will be confused because he or she does not have any idea why things were so good when between you and then you just all of sudden stopped communicating with the person.  If you no longer want to be intimate with the person and/or don’t see the relationship as special any longer, then let the person know—don’t just have him or her wondering what’s going on with the relationship.

Open and frank communication is key to addressing most (if not all) relationship problems.  Have the courage to communicate with the person you have shared an intimate and special relationship with to inform him or her about your feelings.  Don’t simply say that “you’ve been so busy” as the reason why you’ve not communicated with him or her.  If you have the person’s telephone number and/or connected with the person via various social media platforms, it would not take you but a few minutes to communicate with him or her.  Without any communication, you run the risk of making the person think what you shared with him or her was not real.  The person can be justified in this line of thinking when all communication from you has ceased.

If the person contacts you through any vehicle, don’t simply ignore his or her effort to reach out to you—respond back to him or her.  Why would you simply ignore a call, email, text message, and etc. from someone you have shared an intimate and special relationship with?  You owe the person an explanation for not communicating with him or her.  The reason you have discontinued communicating with the person may be legitimate.  You, however, have a responsibility to inform the person about your reason(s) for no longer communicating with him or her is legitimate.

While you may not be making a conscious choice not to communicate with this person, you never know what he or she is thinking.  The person can mistake the absence of communication as sign of betrayal and/or that you simply used him or her.  This can be far from the truth but you have to bear the responsibility.  You didn’t communicate and this opened up an opportunity for the person to develop inaccurate thoughts.

Whenever sex has been involved in a relationship, it is wise for you to have the decency to at least end the relationship with some form of communication.  Hopefully, you’re going to give the person enough details to understand why you’re deciding to end a relationship he or she thought was just fine.  Let the person know the significant factors that led to your decision.  You might be surprised how well he or she takes your comments and might understand your comments better than you think.

Don’t simply resolve not to say anything to a person you’ve shared a special and intimate relationship with—communicate with him or her.  If the intimate relationship you had with the person was truly special and you communicated in the past that it was indeed special, then you have a duty to communicate with the person today.  Give people the closure they need today!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison