Matt Lauer speaks at Temple

“Vividly, in my mind, I’m still your age…”

Matt Lauer said this to Temple students packed into Annenberg’s Atrium on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. The Today Show co-host of 16 years shared his knowledge of and experience in the world of broadcast journalism with eager School of Communications and Theater students. After he made the above statement, he expressed his appreciation of the job he has.

“I have arguably the best job in broadcast. I pinch myself every day,” Lauer said.

One of the things he said he admires most about his job is the ability to see parts of the world he may never have seen otherwise. The three big ones: Easter Island, Mt. Everest, Cuba. “Where In the World Is Matt Lauer?” on the Today Show was broadcast live from each of these places.

“I used to think [the toughest part of my job] was getting up at 4:10 a.m.” His perspective has changed. Lauer has three kids at home, ages 8, 6 and 2 years old and he finds that the 1.5 hours of homework a night take a toll on his family life.

“I love my job but the homework can be a little tedious,” Lauer said.

As for the role of Lauer’s celebrity in his work, he said: “Sometimes it’s a pain in the you-know-what. It’s very strange… It helps that I know what it’s like to be asked strange questions.

“I’m more respectful [of those I interview],” Lauer said.

Lauer’s advice to students seeking jobs in the field of journalism? “[There is] very little patience with mediocrity in this business… If you want to be in this business you’ve got to have a thick skin.”

(This was written as extra credit for George Miller's Journalism 1111 class, Fall 2009. It has not been published elsewhere.)

Where the filed things are

With the recent movie release of Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, the Rosenbach Museum explores the beginnings of a phenomenon.


"They get increasingly angrier.”

That’s how Patrick Rodgers, the Traveling Exhibitions Coordinator of Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum & Library, describes each of Maurice Sendak’s 44 drafts of Where the Wild Things Are. Even diehard fans may not know this many drafts of the 10-sentence manuscript exist.

Advertised as an exhibition that will show visitors why the book is still popular nearly 50 years after its publication, the Rosenbach’s exhibition “And It’s Still Hot: Where the Wild Things Are” fails to do exactly that. Still, fans will find plenty of good reasons to visit the one-room showcase, which runs through Oct. 25...



Click here to read the rest of my first story for The Temple News! Click here to view and, should you wish, download a PDF version of this article.

Trust Issues

Here are the first few paragraphs of a post I wrote for my blog Vered's The Penny Jar on September 18.

Why is it so difficult to let past transgressions go, especially when they could be hurting our chances with someone new? I find it so difficult to watch a friend struggle with trusting someone new because of old hurts. Lately, it is the very situation I have been finding myself in. I am watching as my friend Kay struggles to trust what this very new, very cute guy is telling her because she is so worried about protecting herself, and nothing I say or do will help her to trust while still keeping a close watch on her heart.

I have been in her place, scared and afraid, tormented by the emotional pain I had been put through because the people I trusted had done me wrong. I was scared to trust new people but by nature, I still did trust to a degree. That's the thing about me. I can't help but trust people. Even when I want to put walls up, I can't help but tear them down--or let someone else do the work--but usually the walls don't get but waist-high before I let someone in. And I'm not talking just romantically.

Why is it so hard for others of us, when for some (like me) it comes so naturally, to trust someone when they've never hurt us?


Read the rest of the original post here.

Career: Industrial Designer

Imagine the rush you would feel, opening a magazine to find a picture of Jessica Alba using the camera you designed. Or picture a young boy, seated on the floor, playing with a toy robot you designed, a look of complete joy on his face. Such are the thrills and rewards of a career as an industrial designer. For LaVonne Strand, Chief Operating Officer of STRANDesign, both of these situations are a part of daily life.

Industrial design is the process of learning what the client wants, what unique specifications must be followed and figuring out how to take a product from concept to a physical reality. Strand has been working in the field of industrial design since he earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1989.

Strand sums up his ideas on good industrial design anecdotally: at a meeting an unnamed client described exactly what the company envisioned and Strand was able to do a quick sketch within minutes. The client liked this idea so much that Strand was whisked off to China for three days to oversee the execution of the product...

This is the first part of a 900-word piece I wrote for the Spring 2009 issue of Motivos magazine, a Philadelphia-based bilingual magazine. To read the full article, click here.

Small Business Resources

I compiled this sidebar for the Winter 2008-2009 issue of Motivos magazine. Click on the image above to see a larger version.

Fame: A blessing and a curse

She was the hottest witch on TV. Now, Alyssa Milano is proving she really does lead a "Charmed" life.

Or does she?

Milano, in town to promote her clothing line TOUCH, stood next to NBC 10's Tim Furlong with a camera about 12 inches from her face. The interview with Furlong was the first of several press tapings and interviews during her crowded day. Scheduled for later were CBS, FOX, and ABC affiliates, CW57, Comcast SportsNet, then the Trentonian and South Philly Review.

Despite this packed schedule, Milano took the time to speak with this student journalist about living and working in the public eye. The pros and cons of which, she said, were obvious.

The pros: "I think it's an amazing livelihood," Milano said. "You get to have a public voice that's strong enough to affect and empower people around the world, and that's an awesome thing."

...

I wrote this story about the pros and cons of celebrity while a participant in the Philadelphia Daily News' Urban Journalism Workshop during the summer of 2008. The program resulted in the one-time newspaper Catch-22. Click on the image above to read the article or click here to see the full page in PDF.

Mints and cents

This piece was also written for Catch-22, the product of the 22nd Philadelphia Daily News' Urban Workshop. It's about the future of the Lincoln penny, which, at the time was a big issue. Read the image above (click on the image to enlarge it) or go here to read it.