Internships OR Bust...No More!

I've been very worried about obtaining an internship for the summer. It seems that when it comes to talking about the "future" and what you need for jobs after graduation, everyone all agrees on and continuously says the one magic word...INTERNSHIPS. I've applied for several internships for the summer and I have been stressed because I haven't heard back from any one of them. This has stressed me out about graduating next year and I've been a complete mess. Well, I can stop my sobbing now. I was accepted to be a part of Eastern's Social Marketing Internship (the "Don't Be that Girl/Guy" campaign)!!! I am overly excited! I know that this is a highly competitive internship and I had no confidence whatsoever when I turned in my application, BUT I DID IT!!! Summer will now be a little less stressful and I am ready to finish out this semester so I can conquer my senior year!

Wedding Bells Will Be Ringing-and I'm not talking about the Royal Wedding Either

Since I am a Chicago girl, it is necessary for me to love the Chicago bears. regardless what I think of football. It just so happens that our quarterback, Jay Cutler is engaged. I didn't even know he was dating anyone. And to top it off, I am aware of who the woman is he is marrying, no one other than ex-Laguna Beach star, Kristen Cavallari. Again, since when did these two start dating?? As we all know, it seems that when a prized quarterback starts dating and then MARRYING a young and beautiful blonde, his game, along with his career seems to go down the toilet. Let's hope that Kristen will be a good influence on our quarterback. It would be nice to win a Super Bowl sometime in the near future.

Cutler is Engaged!

Keenan Cahill is taking the world by storm

Kennan Cahill became a Youtube sensation at the end of 2010. His first major web hit was a lip-synching cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." Since then, Keenan has been lip-synching a variety of songs, catching the eye of big names including MTV. He was featured in a special video for MTV's New Year's Eve special. Keenan has definitely come a long way and at first it seemed his craft was being taken as a joke. There is much more to this boy than a pair of glasses and curly hair. He has MPS6, a genetic disease that affects the growth of the body. He has undergone multiple surgeries for his disease, making him not just a Youtube sensation, but a survivor. 

I chose to make this blog post about Keenan because I think it is amazing what he has done. He was just a normal teenage boy living in Chicago and now he's been on MTV and has met some major stars. He doesn't let his disease get in his way and I wanted to shed light on him (even though he really doesn't need it). Go Keenan!

Recent Story

All I want for Summer is an INTERNSHIP!

I am currently a junior in college, soon to be senior, and I have interned on campus and I loved it. I interned at the Health Education Resource Center for a little over a year and I learned a lot and made some friends in the process. I am from the big city and all I've ever wanted was to have an internship/job downtown, or near it. My only problem is that I need to earn money over the summer and many internships in the city are unpaid. So, I've been on the hunt for a part time interning position, so I can have time to work and make money AND get experience in my field of interest. I've received many emails and such, regarding summer internships, but the paid ones are nowhere near the city and the internships in the city of course are unpaid ones require that you work 40+ hours a week, which I'm unable to do. 

Thinking about all of the things that I love so dearly about home and then it clicked. Radio Stations! I love the radio. I am a big fan of music and radio has always been my source to hear new music, music news and  information about upcoming shows and events. I researched some of my favorite radio stations and came up with a list of 4 stations that I would like to spend my summer in, the main one and first one I applied at is Q101:Chicago's Alternative. All of the internships for the radio stations are unpaid, but they require you work about 20 hours a week, which seems manageable. Getting an internship at a radio station is a must-have for my summer, so I took the following steps to make sure that I am a front-runner for the internship:

• Research! Like I said before, I researched local radio stations to see who wanted interns and what the requirements were.
• Take Action!  I took note of when the deadlines for application were and I planned accordingly. I took time out to visit with an advisor (twice) to jazz up my resume and cover letter. I exported my documents to PDF files, so no matter what, my documents would be readable. I then scanned a signed copy of my cover letter, so my real signature was on the cover letter.
• Implementation! After I felt that my cover letter and resume were up to par, I sent them in. I received emails from the radio stations, telling me that everything was received and up for review, they will be in contact with me.
• Evaluation! Since I sent everything in before the deadline, I haven't heard anything from the stations regarding interviews. The deadlines are beginning to approach to I'm hoping that I will hear from them soon after.

Let's hope I get an interview with at least one station.

Fingers crossed!

J. Screw(ed)??

Controversy is flying over a new J. Crew ad that features a mother painting her son's, yes son's, toenails pink. Jenna Lyons, J. Crew's creative director, is the one at the center of this storm since it is her and her son featured in the ad. She states in the ad, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon."This ad has many conservatives up in arms about the roles of gender and is this ad trying to reverse gender roles..? Many are crying out that the boy is going to have to face therapy when he gets older. I personally think that is crap. By painting a boys toenails means nothing, especially if it is just for fun. The boy is 5 and if his favorite color is pink, he is just expressing that. Many young boys and girls are curious at such a young age, so if he saw his mom painting her toenails, he might have been curious and wanted to try it too. Maybe this is a little unconventional, but what about when young girls play dress up, and sometimes dress like boys? We don't automatically label them and say they're going to grow up with a gender crisis. People seriously need to back off and not take things so seriously. The picture (above) is innocent. It's not like the little boy is dressed like a girl and his mom is trying to make him be a girl, she's just spending time with her growing son. What's wrong with that?


J. Crew Article

Paging Doctor Social Media

Doctors are starting to use social media to connect with patients. Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and other forms of social media are being used by practitioners to get a better connection from their practices to the masses. Doctors can put up video and information about their practices, to allow people to get a better idea of what they have to offer. Social media is slowly turning into the new "yellow pages" for people when it comes to searching for doctors. There is a new network, Community Health Network, that allows patients to chat with nurses and professionals to ask medical questions.

This brings a new concept to the medical world. It makes one wonder how far this social media thing is going to go. Will we be making our doctors appointments online in the future? Are we going to become less connected to our doctors and more connected to diagnosis over the internet? The gap between patient and doctor has been growing for years and it makes me wonder if the gap is going to be widened due to our ever growing addiction to the internet and technology.

Doctors

LA Means Business

An article that I found online that sparked some interest was about the independent pr firm, Englander Knabe & Allen. The firm has been named the 2nd largest pr firm in the Los Angeles region. I obviously do not live in Los Angeles, but I aspire to move there one day. The agency has only been alive for 6 years and in those years it has grown so much-so much so that the LA Business Journal has named it the 2nd largest pr agency in that area. Los Angeles is huge and this is a big accomplishment for Englander Knabe & Allen. The agency has a client base of 60 national and local companies including Westfield, Motorola, BNSF Railway, AT&T, Waste Management, JM Eagle, Kilroy, G&L Realty and the Los Angeles Police Protective League. To me, that is a major accomplishment and it sparks my interest in the agency. They have some big-name clients for a "newer" firm. And it proves that with hard work and dedication, even the smallest things can grow into big ventures.
LA Business

To Merge or Not to Merge

AT&T announced that it has plans to buy T-Moblie, which would make the combined group the largest cell phone server in the country. AT&T is the second largest cell phone server in the country and T-Mobile is in fourth place, both trailing behind Verizon Wireless. If the buy-out goes through, T-Mobile is going to get there hands on the I-Phone which should come as good news to subscribers, since the T-Mobile phone lineup has not been up to par with AT&T or Verizon. With a new phone lineup being introduced to T-Mobile subscribers, who could complain? Well, T-Mobile does have cheaper plans than AT&T and with this merge, AT&T execs plan to get T-Mobile subscribers using smartphones, such as the I-Phone, which has a higher costing plan. That, along with the fact that AT&T will become a super-company, owning close to 50% of all cell phone service in the U.S. is enough to question if this is the best mood for the consumer. Options are going to become limited and the consumer is going to have no choice but to pay the high prices of mega cell phone companies.

AT&T and T-Mobile to unite

Dove Campaign

Oh, baby....

Those of us who remember and are fans of the 90s feminist rock movement might be interested to know that Alanis Morissette recently gave birth to here first child, son, Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway. Instead of auctioning off the first pictures of her baby to a magazine, she posted the picture of her, her husband, Mario, and their newborn on to Twitter. Many celebrities post their personal photos on to their social networking sites, allowing fans to get a glimpse into the real life of Hollywood and luxury. This is the first time I have heard of a celebrity posting a newborn baby picture onto a website, and I think it is a clever idea. The paparazzi and hungry tabloid magazines crave moments to get their greasy hands on pictures like this and they often pay a lot of money to be the FIRST to have/release the pictures. I think this is Alanis Morissette showing that she will not buy into celebrity, greed and money. She is taking it upon herself to promote her new bundle of joy, which says a lot to those celebrities who choose to auction off their new happiness for money. Could this be a new way for celebrities to do some of their own pr work?

Alanis' Baby

My first post, why not make it about the Chicago White Sox..?

This is my first blog post ever. I'm excited to see how this turns out. For my first post, I will be discussing some good news that hit White Sox nation this week. I am from Chicago and I'm a huge White Sox fan, so why not dedicate my first post to my favorite team?
The Chicago White Sox have pulled a few free pr stunts in order to succeed in sales for the upcoming 2011 season. The "free" part of this pr move comes from the White Sox making two big announcements. First, aassurance that Ozzie Guillen would stick with the White Sox for one more season. Second, Alexei Ramirez has signed a four-year contract extension to stay with the Sox. These two announcements are not a guarantee that the Sox will take home a trophy in October, but it does give some hope to the team and to their fans. It is a good thing that the Sox pulled this "free" pr because their budget went to keeping Ramirez on the team. Hopefully their decision pays off in the end.
ESPN link