Voter Reg. Lookup in Sacramento County

Sacramento County now has a Web site where you can confirm your voter registration status. I found this a few months ago but then lost track of it, so I thought I'd just put it out there in the most visible place I can.

It's getting close to being too late to do something if you're registered incorrectly; if you have troubles, please call Sacramento County at 1 (800) 735-2929.

I edit, but only socially...

I've recently become fascinated by Wordonistas and Grammar Nazis who professionally edit grammar and punctuation. I've always been interested in the subtleties of language, but only recently have I become aware that you can edit socially (as opposed to editing in a cold dark classroom alone). See my list of journalists' blogs on the right? Fully half of those are editors' blogs - and the list is far from complete. How EXCITING!

No? Not exciting? Maybe you agree with this columnist. Then again, maybe you don't...

In my reader

A friend of mine has just started a blog and was asking about what I read. I thought I'd take a moment to write about the kind of things you'd find in my Google Reader... as a sort of pay-it-forward/thank-you-for-blogging moment of recognition to some of the folks who are part of my weekly routine.

The true value of the online experience is that we are able to connect as human beings, so I've tried to express here what I appreciate about each blog. It's not the tool that's important, it's the content.

News

Achenblog - Joel Achenbach at the Washington Post always has amusing news or non-news (by which I mean opinion prose) to share. His humorist prose is stronger for the fact that he writes to readers as if they were human.

The Latest from Capitol Hill - This is the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert service (by subscription only, but subscription is free). The Sacramento political stories are quick and easy to read, and best of all, the writers have a sense of what makes "real news" to a political junkie like me.

365 Days of Trash - "Sustainable Dave" has pledged to throw nothing away for one year. He keeps all his trash and recycling in his basement, and does everything he can to cut back on waste. He usually blogs about news related to sustainable living.


Creative Endeavors

Some of these artists are personal friends of mine, and some I have never met. They are all driven by an enormous love for their craft, and I admire their work and follow it closely - because these blogs allow me to do that. It's a joy to enjoy the arts, and that's what the arts are there for!

Musings and Meanderings - A blog by sci fi/fantasy author Christie Golden, who lovingly brings to life many of my favorite characters.
Ommatidia - 101-word short stories, five days a week, by Brendan Adkins. The prose is idea-heavy (my favorite kind), and has to be - it's hard to get across an entire story in 101 words!
On My Easel - Thoughts and works of artist Michael Georges. I find his oil paintings can just light up my imagination.
Penny Arcade - Not only for the hilarious comics drawn by Mike Krahulik, but I adore the written prose by Jerry Holkins. I believe he's one of the most truly influential literary critics alive today. (I don't mean to say he's a critic of literature - rather, his written critiques are literary in themselves.)
Phoenix Requiem - A comic by Sarah Ellerton - I find it hard to understand most graphic novels spatially, but this one has captured my interest despite that.
Poker Face - ED Lindquist is an award-winning author who writes weekly shorts and novels. I especially love the rich descriptions - the way a phrase turns from under her pen can be so pleasing, and conjure such captivating images.
Selserene's Machinimasochism - This machinima artist bases all her movies in the online game World of Warcraft. I love her sense of aesthetics - and humor.

Then of course come the Write Club blogs, which you can learn about here.

Copy Editors

My 'Journalism' links may belong in a seperate post. There are too many to cover. So here are the fun ones, the ones that both embrace, and break wildly free from, banality.

Bill Walsh's Blogslot - Wit from a Washington Post editor/grammar book author. See, told ya editing was fun.

The Engine Room - These two subs (UK copy editors) have a keen eye and funny, keeping-it-real voice. I suspect normal people (aka, non-editors) enjoy their blog too.

Conjugate Visits - Another fun grammar blog. Egad, Brain! They're everywhere!

Help an Egyptian journalist of Twitter fame

*-*-*-*
UPDATE: The email address listed for His Excellency Habib al-Adly appears not to be working. If you have a fax machine please let me know if that is working!
*-*-*-*

Two months ago you may have seen this story about a Journalism grad student who twittered his way out of jail. He was covering protests in Egypt when police tossed him and his translator in jail. Because he still had his cell phone, James Karl Buck was able to use Twitter, a text-messaging network, to let his teacher and colleagues know he had been arrested. From there, his friends hired a lawyer to help him out of jail, and he was released within 24 hours.

The sad news is Buck's translator and journalist friend, an Egyptian named Mohammed Maree, is still being held in jail. He needs our help to get him free.

Egypt has a bad reputation for detainee human rights. But as Amnesty International has proven, global concern for the welfare of a prisoner can pressure those in power to ease off.

From Buck's Web site, here's how you can help (from June 9th):

Help Mohammed - send an email or make a phone call to your Senator or Congressperson and asking them to support Mohammed’s release. Ask them to call the State Department and the Embassy — or you can call them directly:

• State department Egypt desk Larry Cohen (202) 647 4680, cohenle@state.gov
• American Embassy Egypt political officer Ed White, +2 012 219 1768, WhiteEA@state.gov

Fax or email the Egyptian interior minister, the one who ordered Mohammed’s detention:

• His Excellency Habib al-Adly
  Interior Minister
  Al-Sheikh Rihan St.
  Bab Al-Louk, Al-Tahrir
  Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
  Moi1@idsc.gov.eg *- Not working
  Fax: 002 022 579-2031

If you write, please let me know and/or send me a copy of your letter. Remember to call for his immediate and unconditional release, and remind Egypt's government that the world is very concerned for Maree's safety.

Being right and being nice

Such a fine balance to strike. Yesterday CyberJournalist.net posted this clip. I felt moved to share it too...



The scene reminds me of an extra feature on Jurassic Park. The movie was one of the first to use lifelike computer animation. Before computers models, stop-motion was the best way to get life-like movement. In an interview, a stop-motion special effects man talks about seeing computer animation for the first time, and realizing, "This is going to put me out of business, isn't it?"

Business of politics

State government is alternately very boring and absolutely fascinating.

I've discovered recently that the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert had stopped charging for its subscription, to my delight. The very talented team, lead by Shane Goldmacher, has a hard job and posts excellent news. For example, this story begins with an update on political squabbles, and ends with a very poignant quote from the Governator:

The governor continued to blame cuts on the budget system and called for a long-term fix that includes a rainy-day fund. He tried to disassociate himself from his own proposed cuts on education and social services, even insisting that he'd like to stand with the protesters who have rallied against him at the Capitol.

"Sometimes you see schools protesting out there or sending me letters," Schwarzenegger said. "I'm with them. I wish I could stand there protesting, too. Because we have to protest the budget system. Not this year's budget. The budget system is the failure. That is what has to be corrected as quickly as possible."

Such a telling quote about the business of politics.

Also recently on the California Majority Report, according to a link from the Alert, the capitol press core is shrinking. Among others leaving, two reporters will be headed to Washington DC.

I remember hearing in my public affairs reporting class that the press core in Sacramento is much different from the press core at Washington DC - that Sacramento's much less competitive. Whereas the DC crowd might all chase one story, and clamor for a response from one source, California reporters have a lazier mindset: "Why bother? Someone else has the story already."

Oh, I'm sorry. That's not laziness, that's the politics of business. Say no more...

Good design means sustainability

Please watch this 20-minute video on good design and sustainability - poignant, funny, and jaw-dropping.

A note about ASAP

While at the Sacramento AAJA's careeer workshop last Saturday, I asked Tom Verdin if he knew why ASAP folded. He told me that the site didn't make enough money. I mentioned advertising and he corrected me--AP does not sell ads. It is a wire service. Not enough newspapers chose to subscribe to the content ASAP delivered.

Though it failed in a financial sense, he compared it to a laboratory because it allowed AP writers to experiment with telling a story using multimedia. It gave them experience that they can now pass on to other writers, and carry with them in the future.

During the panelist discussion, he stressed that AP reporters are not technology experts. They are expected to be comfortable with taking video and audio and other things, but "we don't get paid extra for it," he said.

AAJA Career Workshop: Sacramento pros advise students

Last Saturday I went to an Asian American Journalists Association career workshop for students, organized by Judy Lin of the Sacramento Bee. We were asked to bring our portfolios and resumes for critiques, and more professional journalists than I can name were there ready to critique.

The panelists, led by Pamela Wu, all had unique insights to the industry. The main take-home message of the day: intern, intern, intern! Every panelist except one started their career through an internship, where they worked hard and made excellent contacts.

CBS 13's Tina Macuha from Good Morning Sacramento advised about internships, "Don't complain. When you complain, you attract other negative people to you."

Sactown Magazine co-editor Rob Turner got an internship at Harper's Magazine, "one of the best things for me," he said. He asked students not to treat an internship like a nine to five job. "Stay until the story is done," he said. When other interns are going home at 5 p.m., the intern who stays to get the work done stands out.

His wife Elyssa Lee, also co-editor at Sactown, said, "Do a good job, and you'll stand out." She started her career at Money magazine, and still writes for InStyle. She also advised tailoring cover letters to the publication, because, "we can all tell when you've just copied and pasted."

Bret Burkhart, a reporter and anchor with KGO Radio, also started with an internship. He asked how many students in the room were interested in radio. When no one raised their hands, he said, "See? That's how competitive it is." For those interested in broadcast journalism, working at a radio station could be good experience for the resume.

Newsroom Tech
What technology do the pros use in today's news coverage?

AP reporters take video and audio, but "we're not experts," said Tom Verdin, AP's Sacramento correspondent. He warned against becoming so enamored with technology that you lose sight of how to write a good story.

The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert staff writer and blogger Shane Goldmacher uses HTML reguarly in his blog posts for things like making words bold. "I'm no computer expert, but I'm the expert by comparison," he said. "If you know a little HTML you're miles ahead of everybody else."

Burkhart and Macuha both said it's important to connect with the engineers at a broadcasting station. When something goes wrong, everyone talks to the engineers; remember them when things go right, and they'll help you out later on.

Odds and Ends
The beat has become increasingly important in the newsroom, said Verdin, who advised students to chose one subject area of expertise that they love, such as politics or the environment. Covering the beat thoroughly will be evident in unique story clips. "Get a graduate degree, develop a contact list for that subject," he suggested.

Goldmacher treats his job interviews as a chance to not only be interviewed, but to interview the boss. "Don't work for a bad boss," he said.

Passion
All the panelists talked about the long hours they work each week.

"You will hit the pavement, you will get pounded," Wu said. "We all still do it because we love it."

Goldmacher loves what he does because, he said, "I get paid to basically talk to people." Reporters who aren't out of the office talking to their sources aren't doing their job, he said.

Force or fragility

My husband and I were fortunate enough to travel in Hawaii on the island of Oahu last month. We went hiking on the rain forest, swam in the most amazing clear water, and soaked up sun and moisture like a pair of sponges.

The trip for me though was a tad depressing. Oahu's nature seems so fragile. The rain forest is threatened by tourism, pollution, pavement, and foreign seeds and animals. The coral reef is destroyed basically by any contact with humans. Waikiki's enthusiasm for shopping malls strikes me as terribly corrupt. The few trees we saw in the park looked lonely, because I could so easily picture them growing into a huge forest.

I'm used to sensing Nature as a powerful force. I'm used to feeling its presence. On Oahu, it had a timid, fragile presence.

I'd love to return, but try a different island next time. Somewhere with waterfalls, perhaps, where I can mistake the sound of rushing water for natural strength against Man's strangling tyranny.

For pictures of all the neat plants we saw, please visit my Picasa album here. Enjoy!

Freelance writer, freelancing

To be a writer you have to write. To be a freelancer, you have to freelance.

Allow me to emphasize that in no way should "freelance" actually involve "free." Last January I sold a story to a popular online gaming magazine. Two months later I'm still waiting for the check. (Hey, isn't a signed contract good for anything anymore?)

By far though, Paidlancing has been a very fun gig. I've enjoyed writing the newsletter for Home Tutoring Plus. I enjoy researching the topics--sustainable living and parenting/teaching methods--and find it's rewarding to delve into related projects.

I'm kick-starting my old column blog Wordslinger again, as well as keeping three fiction blogs for various role playing games. I'm also taking a break from World of Warcraft, and officially retiring the Shadow Council Strider for now.

I have joined the Asian American Journalist's Association. The local chapter here is quite active. I have no Asian heritage that I'm aware of, but luckily for me that's not a factor in membership.


Please Turn Out the Lights

I've been eying public relations jobs lately. In a shrinking, uncertain, groping-about-for-revenue industry like traditional print journalism, there is a sense of looming doom that has investors unwilling to invest in everything, from freelancing to jobs to digital media equipment.

ASAP News, a long-time leader in multimedia journalism, folded last October. Its final issue left a nonsensical yet tragic plea cross the top of the page: "Will the last person viewing this page please turn out the lights?"

ASAP began as an experiment two years ago by the AP wire service in multimedia feature presentations. Its target audience was me, the younger tech-embracing who rely on the internet for their news. Right up until the end the team delivered relevant (and irrelevant, in that quirky internet way) video, slide shows, audio, interviews, blogs, illustrations and features.

Though it sometimes was too much feature and not enough information for me, it still represented a model the larger papers could follow, I felt. It did multimedia. It did internet presence. And through the blogs and multimedia emerged a depth of coverage I'd not seen in many other places.

So what went wrong? Was there not enough traffic? Why didn't the site sell advertising? Was something wrong with their search-engine optimization? Why wasn't this monetized?

Prosper Magazine also recently folded. Its pages were full of good writing and photography. Apparently, they weren't full enough of ads.

And as I've unfortunately realized, the internet-only publication I sold to earlier this year (with original multimedia content and international following) isn't doing so well either, despite its low production cost (comparative to print).

If there's no commercial value to the product I love, perhaps it's time to invest in it the way the fine arts are supported. NPR and the BBC do it. The axe that is bottom-line driven would destroy so many valuable services, works of art and writing.

The lights are winking out, one by one.

The Christmas Spirit

This week I met two women, Emily Rank and Jillian VanTassell. Both were Salvation Army bell ringers outside Raleys in Loomis, CA. VanTassell was playing the drums, Rank was ringing the bell, and both were singing Christmas carols from time to time. The two are doing a 9-month discipleship for their church, The Rock of Roseville.

"We have a love for music but we get it from the Lord," they told me.

I happened to have my new audio recorder with me and was excited to use it. Listen in as they spread the Christmas spirit to Raleys shoppers!

Google me!

I am proud to say that as of Wed., Sept. 19, 2007, when you google my name, the entire first page of results points to the real me - my blogs, my news stories, my Poynter comments, and my resume!

That first page is actually a very small piece of my online presence. None of my networking profiles appear. Not all of my blogs do either. And after almost three years writing news at the Colfax Record, there are no actual Colfax Record links listed at all.

I should chronicle the changes in my Google search results throughout my life. That would make for an interesting form of scrap book. I remember when my silly high school research projects were still links on the internet...

Compilations

My classwork blogs, if you are interested in keeping up with them, are as follows.

Wordslinger - This is my column and review writing blog, for J 131. It is updated every Sunday night and Thursday afternoon.

Bear Wrestling - This is my blog for magazine writing, J 132. It will be less polished than the above column, as we're asked to update our classmates on the status of various projects and post drafts here.

The Shadow Council Strider - This is for a special project class. WoW is a hobby of mine, so working on these stories is a lot of fun.

I look forward to getting feedback on my writing. Be as truthful as Doc Cox from Scrubs. And hey, if you can write out a rant Cox style, more power to you...

A writer, writing...

Sometimes you forget that to be good at something you have to practice.

That is exactly what this project, The Strider, is all about.

It's been going for a month now, and I have learned a lot of valuable things from it. Mostly I have learned that it takes incredible courage to do your own project--and the courage necessary must multiply tenfold when investing in your own business. I am fortunate that I don't have to gamble money on my little writing venture this summer. As it is, I have nearly backed out of this project more times than I can count. My husband and my friends have patiently encouraged me; they have not allowed me to quit on myself.

There are weeks when I spend so much time on this project that the 9 hours a week required to do it for college credit feels like it would be a vacation. There are weeks in which all my efforts seem to have accomplished nothing. But things are getting easier as I go. Creating a readership from a single community is harder than it sounds!

I can't say I'm not proud of my work, but I know it could be better than it is, so I'll keep plugging away at it. I hope I find the time during this semester to keep writing and raising the quality of the site to something akin to how I imagine it could be.

If I ever started my own business I would not be a workaholic--I would be a perfectionist. They have different motivations but the same end result...

Roleplayers in Iraq

If you're a Penny Arcade fan, you've seen this already: a story about roleplaying soldiers in Iraq. I'm delighted they are organized enough to be able to dungeon-crawl together, and especially delighted that Penny Arcade has taken up their cause.

We roleplayers need a PR firm to help explain to the public the benefits of roleplaying. Too many people see D and D as either too nerdy or too evil. We do good stuff! We're cool too! And in my supreme eloquence, you too have come to understand why roleplaying is awesome. Right?

Ok, ok. Show of hands. How many people actually know what roleplaying is? Roleplaying is unlike anything most people have experienced, and so to qualify it in understandable terms is hard.

It's like an oral choose-your-own-adventure book, with a storyteller who orates the world around you. But roleplaying stories are so much more flexible and fluid than those books. Characters are unique, and can grow and change within the course of a story. My storyteller has to spend a lot of time creating the people, places, and plots to make these stories fun and interactive... all these attributes are unique, and can be difficult to express succinctly. There is nothing quite like roleplaying.

I've learned valuable skills from roleplaying. I am better able to problem-solve, both on my own and in groups. I have learned how to better communicate. (I'm still learning that one!) I can work with rules and numbers much more than I could before. I can understand a variety of viewpoints; I can become a variety of characters. I am often challenged to play a character that is a better leader, a better thinker, or a better communicator than I am - a process which keeps me reaching for new heights in my personal life. I've also learned a lot about my own weaknesses. I've had to organize events, or play key roles in events, that give me good practice for things I might have to do someday. Or maybe they give me experience in roles that I never will fulfill in real life, but was able to experience thanks to the game. I'll likely never be a politician in real life, but I can certainly play one and experience similar challenges through roleplaying.

One thing roleplaying does for me is it gives me the experience of responding to a situation. In the wake of Virginia Tech's school shootings, everyone on campus was asking, "How safe are we? What would we do if this happened to us?" It is a healthy excersize in both personal and schoolwide emergency response... and we all get better with practice.

Roleplaying is also a bonding experience. When my group overcomes a challenge because our characters have worked together cohesively with a common goal, we feel satisfaction. When it comes time to solve the next problem--in game or real life--we have shared context to draw upon, experience working together, and knowledge of who can do what best.

What have you noticed about the public's perception of roleplaying?

A few hours' grace

I enjoy school. I enjoy learning. Sometimes, though, you just need a break.

Fitting, then, that I ditch class today and be given this fortune:

A few hours' grace before the madness begins again.

It is a mad world, isn't it? Mad, mad world.

Revel CA

If you live in Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, or Rancho Cordova, you've seen the signs: Smallish, neon, always in the same handwriting and proclaiming the same unexplained message: Repent CA. One of the signs is constantly torn up in the grass near Hwy 50 and Bradshaw. One blogger termed this "evandalism." Sometimes you can even see a man holding the sign on various traffic- heavy corners of the Sacramento area.

I've always been curious. What does it mean, exactly? I finally googled the phenomenon today to discover RepentAmerica.com--an evagelical, anti-abortionist, anti-gay marriage movement based out of Philadelphia. Near as I can tell, people who donate to this kind of thing end up paying for the jail fines of the founder, more often than not. He's a protester at heart and revels in the conflict between "lawless sinners" (people who disagree with him--sometimes known as cops) and the "righteous."

I'm not a fan of any anti-homosexual propaganda, and this movement's founder in particular seems fairly evangelical, which also rubs me the wrong way. Most evangelics ARE "Evandalists"--so willing to spread their message and so disrespectful of other people's opinions that they will deface public buildings to support their message. These types consider Hell the ultimate threat, but true Christians are not in the religion to avoid eternal punishment. They love God for better reasons.

Human rights are a big thing for me. I choose to support homosexuality rather than discriminate against it. If that makes me a sinner, so be it. God himself couldn't make me change my mind. So instead of repenting... Let's Revel CA!

I don't know if I want to make up my own neon signs... As a joke, it's fine (actually, important) to use the same tactics Mr. Hellfire uses; personally, I dislike them. But neon signs are fairly harmless. And it's just... funny to put up a counter-sign. Much better, in fact, than tearing down the original offending sign.

Come on, California. Revel with me!

Blogs as investigative news tools, PR mouthpieces, and freedom fighters

I know Rep. Mark Foley is old news by now. I thought I knew everything about it until I saw Poynter's article reflecting on the investigative story. Did you know ABC broke the news on Brian Ross's Blog? According to an interview with Brian Ross, ABC got the story by calling for sources on their Web site. More than one former page came forward with IM chatlogs hours after the appeal was posted. When ABC confronted the Rep? He didn't even squirm. He resigned a few hours later.

Though I think he made the right choice, I am a little disapointed he chose not to fight the legality of these charges. I have no idea how something like this could be proved in court. They'd have to ascertain that 1) Foley's screen-name of "maf54" was indeed representative of Foley's virtual self and 2) that no one else had access to the Rep.'s screen name... Right? I mean... these chat logs are three years old, some of them. Chat logs are easy enough to fake and the Net is anonymous. I guess I just worry that flimsy virtual evidence can be used in court. In this case, I'm not doubting his guilt, and I'm glad I don't have to. But computer crimes are still pretty new in court. What presedence has been set?

Another interesting Blog tidbit: Sac State has a blog "for students" that has turned out to be just a PR mouthpiece about "why I chose Sac State." Can I trust a student blogger who has agreed to ty to make Sac State look good? No! It's another example of an industry trying to be hip and they really do it all wrong. Grr! Arg! It makes me want to rebel and proclaim to the world how much Sac State does wrong.

In further blog news, Gutterblog from China has begun to blog again. She's a "reporter without borders" and she's the voice of freedom in that often-censored part of the world; check her out sometime!

Casual vs. priorities, and yay for the online world

I spent this last weekend in Sequoya with my husband, neighbors, friend, and three people I met online. We rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere, cooked about five times as much food as we needed to, played on the big trees, roleplayed with our dice, and stayed up at least until 2 in the morning each night just talking to each other.

It was fantastic. And none of us got axed to death!

I have been interacting with these folks online for almost two years. To see them face-to-face was fairly incredible. We've probably eaten more virtual food together than we could ever in real life. We managed to try to meet once a week online (sometimes more than that!) for almost two years. I don't even see my little sister that much! But the form of our hanging out--that is, hopping online for a few hours--is so much easier than driving anywhere. It was a casual game, so scheduling conflicts weren't so much of an issue. And unlike email or letters, our chatting was immediate... no waiting around for someone to remember to write back.

Mr. Althouse recently blogged about making social interactions a priority. And contact with other humans does have to be a priority. That priority is so much easier to follow thorugh if it's casual. What does that mean? Am I more likely to speak to the random person in my class than I am to speak to my own mother? And why should that be true of me? ...I don't think it should be.

This fabulous trip down to a cabin in the middle of nowhere really made me think... why can't I do this with my family? The answer really is, I can. Giving the gift of time and social interaction is probably the best I can give. Times like these are precious, and create more fond memories than anything I can buy. For some reason, though, doing something as simple as calling Granny for a quick "hi" is intimidating. I find I'm "too busy"or "not in the mood."

I spent this last few days thinking about my relationship with my parents. How, in a few short years, they've had to go from providing me with food to being a distant figure in my life. What I expect and hope of our relationship is for us to be friends--to give advice, to check up on each other, and most of all, to just spend some casual time together.

It's so hard to be casual with those who are closest to us. My best friends are my neighbors; we've discovered we can spend casual time together, by just watching half an hour of TV together. My other best friends come to visit me each weekend, and we lounge in the hot-tub. The fabulous friends online we have made, are available casually through a game. But my parents don't have time to drive down each week. I can't drive up each week. If they would just use Trillian each evening...

We really reveled in our geekiness this weekend. We shared in-game stories and hilarious mistells. We had so much common ground based upon the cumulative hours--days--likely, months--we've spent interacting together. All that time seemed like nothing at the time... it was so easily spent, a few hours at a time.

I've got a new goal for communicating with those around me, and that is to make regular phone calls and visits, to make them so regular they become casual, and easy to do. Shy little me will be stepping out a bit. Wish me luck!