As I think about this topic, I can’t help but think of my friend with visible tattoos on his forearms. Are those tattoos going to come back and bite him? If he wanted to work at this theme park then…yes.

Appearance is something that is overlooked by college students. I go to class looking like a slob and don’t really care. Sad to say, but sometimes I go to work looking a little sloppy. But in the “real world” that shouldn’t fly.

I raise the question, should an organization penalize (not hire) someone for something they did when they were 18 or 19 years old?… I think it depends on the situation.
· If a company has a dress code or a policy about employees appearance before the person applies, I say they can turn them down. No questions asked.
· But if there is no policy about appearance then turning someone down for tattoos or appearance, I believe is wrong.

What can I do about it? Nothing really. I can only make sure that my appearance is the best it can possibly be when I start applying for jobs. I have realized that means no visible tattoos for me. Thus, no tattoos for me at all because who wants a tattoo if it isn’t going to be seen? Not me.

All I am saying is BE CAREFUL. The decisions we make today may have a great impact later in life.

Get a visible tattoo if you want it. But don’t complain if you don’t get a job because of your visible tattoo. You should have thought about that when you got the visible tattoo.

They made a calendar, not just any calendar, but a nude calendar.  The calendar featured senior citizens (women) from the community that were from ages 76-94.  WOW!!!!  Who would have bought that?  I don’t know, but they made $20,000 and because of the calendar the courthouse is still standing.

These women are no PR professionals and MIGHT be going senile.  But they were able to accomplish something that a professional firm was not able to accomplish.  The thing I am impressed with the most is the idea to come up with the calendar.  People that age aren’t expected to come up with brilliant plans to get things accomplished.  But these ladies did.  But you have to remember these are no ordinary senior citizens.  They are geniuses.

Ladies you grossed me out, but you impressed me at the same time.  Congratulations on keeping your courthouse standing.

Breast cancer is something that all women fear. But Sheryl realizes how important it is to care about your health. She said, “I am joining the more than 200,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. We are a testament to the importance of early detection and new treatments. I encourage all women everywhere to advocate for themselves and for their future. See your doctor and be proactive about your health.” That was taken from press release on the prnewswire.

Sheryl is not going to hide her breast cancer. I think she is going to use it as a way to help others. She is in effect becoming an unofficial spokesperson for breast cancer prevention. She wants people to see how important it is to detect the breast cancer early. She wants to be clear that avoiding the situation doesn’t cure the problem. Each woman has to take the situation head on in order to become healthy again.

But just because it is being detected earlier does not mean everything will be ok immediately. Sheryl has gone through surgery and will have to take radiation treatments as well. Down the road she will be telling women that the treatments were a complete success. She will say the treatments were painful, but they helped much more than they hurt.

I think Sheryl Crow will do a great job in being an unofficial spokesperson for breast cancer prevention. I hate that it had to happen to her or anyone else for that matter. But maybe she will be the example other women need to know that they can overcome breast cancer as well.

It bothers me that Cheney accidentally shot his hunting partner, but accidents do happen.  But why was the information released so late?  It makes me begin to wonder if something more went on that what we are told.  

The Bush Administration has been under heat about misusing information and holding back information.  This seems to be a perfect example of the administration holding back information.  I personally think that looks bad on the administration.  I don’t know very much about politics, but I know politicians want to be trusted.  Well, trusted as much as a politician can be.  Personally, it is very hard for me to trust this administration right now.

The hunting accident is not the only reason I would make a comment like that, but it is just further proof of the integrity of the administration.  I know the president and his staff have been under a lot of stress. But stress should not cause them to withhold information.

My far stretch for PR comes in the form of not withholding information.  As PR practitioners we should not hold back information from our clients.  As public officials they should not hold back information from their clients.  How can you be trusted if you don’t tell people the truth??????????  That’s how PR gets a bad name…they think we don’t tell them everything and fabricate the rest.  WE CANNOT DO THAT!

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is a 4-day camping event.  It has great live music being played for around noon until about 3 a.m Friday through Sunday.  It is more music than any person can really handle for a day, much less 3 days of it.

The music is what gets people onto the 700-acre farm in little Manchester, Tenn.  People travel from all over the country to hear the best music of the day.  The headliner for this year is none other than Radiohead.

Radiohead is considered to be one of the greatest rock bands of my lifetime and I strongly agree.  Thus, Bonnaroo gives about five to ten well known and talented groups.  People come to see these few groups and fall in love with the small bands that play before.  Actually, most people that go to Bonnaroo know a lot of the bands that will be playing.  But they can’t figure out a way to see them all.  But without the headlining bands they might not make the trip.

The majority of the music is for the jam band crowd.  So it is a laid-back peaceful event.  But other genres are offered as well: bluegrass, hip-hop, instrumental and many others.  Thus it is not just for the “hippie” crowd.

If there was no music there would be no Bonnaroo.

If there is a place that gives music fans an opportunity to see and listen to live music.  If there is a place that gives fans an opportunity to meet other music fans.  And if that place has all of the above then it is a gold mine.  

All miners interested should make the trip to Manchester, Tenn. on June 16, 2006 to get a piece of the gold.

The album is “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s what I’m Not” by the Arctic Monkeys. I first must be honest with you, I have no idea who the Arctic Monkeys are, but who they are is irrelevant to my discussion.

The big complaint about the album cover is that it sends a message that smoking is cool. I don’t like this album cover. I don’t know how they raise children in the U.K., but here in the U.S. I don’t want my (future) children to smoke. It is a dangerous and bad habit (in my opinion and many others.) Seeing people smoking on an album cover promotes smoking. Which I believe is a bad image for the band to have. The fans have probably already seen pictures of band members smoking and it either told them smoking was cool or it didn’t. So the album cover really has no affect on them. But to the rest of the world that is just hearing about the Arctic Monkeys it gives a message that smoking is ok.

I am not blaming the Arctic Monkeys for increased cigarette sales or anything like that. But I would like for them to think about a question PR people have to ask: What is the message being sent? I personally can’t help but think this album cover sends a wrong message to children.

Let me send a clear message: DON’T SMOKE. Unless you are the legal age and you want to hurt your lungs. You can spend that money buying more albums……that sounds like a much better choice to me.

Believe it or not for this post I am not going to discuss the unethical promotions of the book by Frey. I could, but in my opinion he is not worth writing about. But instead I am going to discuss how Oprah managed to do the right (PR) thing as always.

When Oprah found out about the allegations against Frey altercating the truth she didn’t believe it. She even called on the Larry King Show and let him have it. That would make for an awkward situation if the allegations were proven true. Guess what? Oprah found herself in an awkward position.

What was she supposed to do? She could stick with the lying author or she could apologize to Larry King and to the entire World. You know Oprah she did the right (PR) thing. She sincerely apologized to all of her viewers and everyone including Larry King on Thursday. Yes it is Oprah and she always does the right thing, but any person trying to save face should have apologized as well.

Oprah wouldn’t have had to save face if she had checked her facts before adding the book to her club. We as PR students and practitioners realize how important it is to know the facts. But Oprah handled herself incredibly well after she was being scrutinized. I’m not really surprised since Oprah is one of the best at keeping her image spotless. I really don’t understand how she does it, but she does. All I have to say is, good work Oprah.

Take the NBA for example. This summer it announced the NBA Cares campaign. The campaign is for the next five years to build places where children can learn and play. The NBA also has a campaign called Read to Achieve that is designed to help children improve their reading skills.

An example in Major League Baseball is the International Kids Fund. It is a partnership of Major League Baseball and the Florida Marlins. It is designed to provide medical care for children from mainly the Caribbean and Latin America who cannot afford it.

All of these organizations are doing great things to improve lives of children who may not have the best circumstances. I don’t know how or why professional teams and organizations began helping the community, but I know it has only been better for them and the children. It gives the organization a positive image and it changes the life of each and every child.

I personally think these campaigns are a tremendous thing for everyone involved. I hope every team partners with someone to improve the lives’ of children. If a team does not, I have to ask one question: Why not? Answer: Too selfish.

I was at work January 4, 2006 when I heard about a terrible PR situation. I am talking about the miners who were said to be alive in Tallmansville, West Virginia after the mine had collapsed. But were eventually found dead.

I did not have the tv on. I did not have the radio on. I did not even see it online. I heard about it from a customer. I don’t know the customer, but I would imagine she would be in the English or philosophy department not in PR. Therefore, she was probably just watching tv or reading the paper when she saw this huge PR blunder.

This customer, remember doesn’t have anything to do with PR, was enraged at the spokesperson. She could not understand how a message could get screwed up SOOOOOO bad. I knew nothing of the situation so I just let her rant and rave.

All while she was talking I was thinking, “Gosh I hope I don’t mess up like that one day.” So I went home to try to find out what the problem was. The problem I believe was in poor communication and not checking the facts. The spokesperson for the International Coal Group, Ben Hatfield, said it had to do with false reports. How do you get false reports? I think miscommunication and not checking the facts.

As a PR student I have been taught check the facts, check the facts, check the facts. (This may be assuming) but I would think the spokesperson for this organization would have been taught the same thing. I am sure the spokesperson wanted to give the families the best news possible, but did not take the time to check the facts of what he had been told.

The people relaying the message should have checked the facts as well. But it all starts back at someone relaying a message and someone else misunderstanding or misinterpreting it. I think it is imperative in PR to always speak clearly and listen intently. If I let any interference come between me and the speaker then I am risking my job if I don’t hear it correctly.

I have this sneaky feeling that the International Coal Group will have a new spokesperson and he or she will check the facts next time. Hopefully there will be no next time.

All this time I was thinking that I don’t do anything in my major, but I was wrong. What do I do you might ask? I sell textbooks for a local bookstore.

I realized I was in PR when I was telling students we were sold out of certain books. I was relaying a message from an organization to a client. Unfortunately our organization doesn’t always have good communication.

As a PR practitioner I HAD to relay the message, but I didn’t HAVE to be nice about it. But I thought to myself, “If I am nice to them they might come back later and buy another book.” Thus I decided to be nice about it.

Some people think it is automatic for people to be nice. Apparently they have not been to the same stores I have been to in my life. When I go to a place where I was treated poorly I rarely go back. So what I try to do at the bookstore is be nice so people will come back later.

There was a fellow in the store the other day that was real pleased with my assistance. I was helping him find his books. While we were walking to get a book he said, “I sure do appreciate your assistance. Other people have tried to help me here, but no one has been as nice as you.” At first I didn’t really know how to take his comment. But as I got his other books he explained to me that no one seemed to show any interest in getting his books for him.

Many people would have said, “it’s over there” or “right down there.” But I went and got his books for him. That day I would have bet anyone he would be back next semester to buy his books from us. I didn’t have to wait until next semester because he came the next day and asked for me.

I like to call that building a positive relationship with a client a.k.a. PR. Welcome to my world of PR