Tape Recorder Vs. The Pen

     

Ahh the classic debate of is it better to use a tape recorder or hand write notes during an interview.  From the interviewers point of view I would rather take advantage of technology and use the tape recorder. However, I admit that I would use it out of pure and simple laziness. I do not believe that the use of a tape recorder holds any advantages over the classic pen and paper. Many say the use of a tape recorder allows the interviewer to maintain eye contact with the interviewee. However, I argue that with practice it’s just as easy to maintain eye contact while writing. Also you have to look at it from the interviewee’s point of view. Would you appreciate it if someone jammed a tape recorder in your face and interrogated you?  I do not think so. The whole process can actually be kind of intimidating and make the subject quite uncomfortable. Not to mention that there is always the possibly of the technology failing and losing all of your saved information. Technology fails all the time; I would not risk my entire interview on it. Another advantage of the good old fashion pen and pad of paper is the ability to take side notes with discretion. You can note aspects of the settings, facial expressions of the interviewee, tone of voice or even what they are wearing. You can write down anything that interests you or anything you find to be of value. As opposed to a tape recorder where the interviewer would have to either stop the interview or wait until after the interview is over in order to make any form of side note.  Tape recording can also land you in some serious hot water if you are not careful.  The law states that you must be sure to make the person you are recording aware that they are being recorded or they can reserve the right to sue you.  This is not a hypothetical situation either, it has happened in the past. It is essentially the same thing as bugging someone’s telephone.             

Million Dollar Writing Prompt

 It was your typical rainy night in Kutztown. I was walking back from my Wednesday night class with a miserable scow on my face; I couldn’t wait to get back to my room and curl up in my bed. I was almost to my dorm when I tripped over a soggy lump in the middle of Main Street. Luckily my night class gets out at nine o’clock so no one was around to see me splash into a puddle in the middle of the street. I sat up and looked at the lump; it was a brown burlap bag. I picked it up, it was heavy. I couldn’t just leave it in the road so I took it to the sidewalk an opened it up out of curiosity. I was amazed at what I saw it was full of cash, all $100 dollar bills!  I jammed the sack into my book bag and hurried to my dorm and stuck it in my hamper full of dirty clothes. I hid it there until I could transport it back home where I gave half of it to my mother so she could fix up the house; pay off the mortgage and her car payment amongst other bills. I wasn’t so responsible with my half.  The first thing I did was buy a brand new car; no longer would I drive a p.o.s that barley got me to the end of the block. The second purchase I made was a new bed, a large comfy bed.  I couldn’t stand sleeping in a bed that my feet hung off of and was about as soft as plywood. The third thing I did was throw a massive party for me and all my friends, much to the discretion of my mother, who I had to pay off.  Luckily I wised up as my funds began to dwindle and i quickly paid off all of my student loans. I put the rest aside for the grossly overpriced textbooks I would need to buy over the next two years. Any remaining funds went into my “rainy day” collection. Never again would I be bored on a rainy day.                         

Lyric Essay!?!?

What is a Lyric essay? That’s exactly what I wanted to know, after reading about It I was still unsure what exactly it was.  Since I was still confused I decided to look up some actual examples of lyric essays. What I found was essentially a poem, an abstract one at that. I knew what I was reading was about a fossil because of the title. However, it wasn’t made clear to me until after I had finished the entire thing and I took a step back to take it all in. Then it hit me, the whole essay was simply describ9ng the fossil laying in the dirt.  A lyric essay is supposed to make you question what you’re reading and where it is headed. So it was actually quite appropriately ironic that I was confused about what lyric essay is when I was reading about it. Looking back I actually find it quite humorous. A lyric essay can be about absolutely anything, a flower, a bug, ice-cream, a memory, a metaphor or a simile, anything at all. There are no rules on how to construct one. The one I read was constructed of one word sentences and fragments separated by commas.  While it may read like a poem is it’s far from it. It doesn’t need a rhyme scheme, or have a certain amount of syllables per line or anything like that. I like to describe the lyric essay as the missing link between a poem and an essay, the bridge between poetry and prose.   I personally like the whole concept a lot and decided to try and create a lyric essay of my own (a short one).

  Once bright and burning like the sun.  Sweet, elegant and stood sturdy in the wind.

A shadow of its former.  Aged. Gray and dull. Wispy and frail, soon to be swept to the heavens.

Death is swift. Sudden. Off with its head. Shattered and scattered. Up and away its spirit flows. 

(My Lyric essay about a dandelion)

Inner Critic?

                If there is one thing that I hate more than anything it’s that little voice inside that doubts everything you do.  You know what I mean the “That’s not right” voice.  That voice is your inner critic, and I don’t about you but my inner critic is a harsh one.  I’m constantly rethinking everything; nothing is ever good enough for my inner critic. Whenever I have what I think is a “good” idea, my inner critic shoots it down, “what are doing, that’s dumb, don’t do that.” I find that my inner critic forces me to conform and stick to the conventional and, when it comes to writing conformity and conventional are not the recipe for an interesting piece.  I believe in order to create an original and compelling you need to fire your inner critic. Cast aside that little voice in your head and let the words flow. Don’t worry about what you’re “supposed” to do or what seems “right,” just write.   

  I know that I personally have spent far too much time listening to my inner critic and I should have fired him a long time ago. However it is not that simple.  It is hard to ignore someone you have been listening to for years, actually as long as I can remember. I find that in order to silence your critic it takes time patients and practice; you cannot just flip a switch. I am currently in the process or writing out my critic. The more I write the more walls I break down, slowly but surely. With each new piece of work I slowly silence my critic, by trying something new each time.  As a result I find that I fancy each new piece a little more than the last. While I am not there completely, I am sure my critic will soon become a forgotten memory.  Hopefully yours will too.           

Ghost Writing

So this is the blog of Justin Palmucci (Me) but, how do you know that I am actually the one writing it? The answer is you don’t. These may be my general thoughts but not exactly my words.  I could very well have hired a ghost writer (not likely being that I am broke). What is ghost writing you ask? Ghost writers are people, often established writers that whore their literacy services out to those that don’t possess the necessary wit and ambition to put pen to paper themselves. The most recent and obvious example of ghost writing in pop culture that comes to mind is Paris Hilton’s Memoir. It is blatantly clear that the ditzy, airheaded, spoiled rotten “heiress” did not write her own memoir.  Personally I question if she is literate. She has hired servants that wait on her hand and foot, clearly she wouldn’t put forth the effort to construct a book, let alone possess the mental capabilities to edit and construct it.  I imagine it must be frustrating to be ghost writer. You must be an extremely selfless person being that you receive zero credit for your work. It must be a handsomely paid practice. 

Many question the act of ghost writing and whether it should be allowed. As I pointed out earlier it is essentially prostitution. If I read a book titled the “memoir of” I want the person it’s about to write it, it only seems right. I want to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. I don’t want to read someone else’s words.  As a reader I personally feel somewhat lied to.  Personally I feel that such deception is bullshit. I believe that if you have a story you think is worth telling then you should at least try to tell it. Write a draft or something, anything.  Just do some work yourself.  

Frack Off

Fracking, when I first heard the term used in class a few days ago I thought it was a synonym for fucking. I wasn’t the only one that initially thought this at first. Boy, were we were we wrong. Looking back I find my immature ignorance quit humorous. I decided to do some research on the topic for my own enlightenment. Fracking is actually a term used to refer to Hydraulic fracturing, the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. This is done in order to release petroleum, natural gas, coal seam gas, or other substances for extraction such as oil. The fluid injected into the rock is typically a slurry of water and chemical additives. Additionally, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air can be injected. About 750 chemicals have been listed as additives for hydraulic fracturing in a report to the US Congress in 2011.

 This doesn’t sound very harmful however; it was brought to my attention that environmental concerns with hydraulic fracturing include the potential contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the potential migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, the potential mishandling of waste, and the health effects of these. A Duke University study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011 examined methane in groundwater in Pennsylvania and New York states overlying the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale. It determined that groundwater tended to contain much higher concentrations of methane near fracking wells. Directed by Congress, the U.S. EPA announced in March 2010 that it will examine claims of water pollution related to hydraulic fracturing.

Many people have already taken protest and formed anti-fracking groups such as the cleverly named frack off. What do you say is this a major environmental concern? Do we need to take action before it’s too late or is all the hype just an overreaction? I don’t know about you but I surely do not want to be drinking water that contains methane and an assortment of other hazardous chemicals.     

Stop Complaining =)

I don’t get why everyone is so bent out of shape about People Soft taking over. There is no nineteen year old more out of sync with technology than me and, I can cruse the program with ease. I feel like today’s generation just likes to complain. If you are really that twisted write a letter or something, don’t complain to me. I don’t care about your problems. I will even go as far as to say that People Soft is better than the previous program, it is plain and simple. It is not like we as a student body were ambushed by the change.

We the students were notified multiple times about the change and, we were even offered the opportunity to attend seminars on how to work the program. It is no one’s fault but your own if you decided you had better things to do than attend said seminars.  It’s not like its important or anything to properly work the site that is responsible for handling your class selection, financial aid, housing etc. If you have your priorities that mixed up you deserve to be confused and frustrated. People Soft is a sound safe and reliable program that is easy to use, I rate it a five out of five stars.

Particularly everyone likes bitching about picking classes on people soft. I picked classes just last week and, had absolutely no problems. The entire process from start to finish took about ten minutes. How hard is it to select the class put it in your “shopping cart” and click “finish enrolling.” If you lack the common sense to complete the process by clicking “finish enrolling” and, you leave your classes to sit in your shopping cart until they fill up you have no right to complain in my book.