The Power of a Song

^{photo by Steve Stout from www.rememberingharrychapin.com}

Harry Chapin made me love my name today. I'm certain my mother has played his song, "Corey's Coming" for me before, but it has been years, and I didn't quite remember it. One of my professors, Paul Patton, brought it up to me today and I decided I would check it out. The lyrics made me smile and warmed my heart. :) So, I know it's not about me, but it's exciting to hear your name in a song. Especially a nice song.

Chapin is such a storyteller. I watched the video on youtube and then, of course, I had to look up the lyrics

It's a pretty long song, but here is part of it:

Old John Joseph was a man with two first names
They left him in the railroad yard when they took away the trains
Only one run a week comes on roaring down that line
So all he's got to worry 'bout is time.

I come by in the evening to hear 'bout where he's been
He says - Come on sit down Kid, where shall I begin?
He starts telling me the stories of the glories of his past
But he always saves the story of his Corey for the last.

And he says - My Corey's coming. No more sad stories coming
My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming aren't you girl?
And like I told you, when she holds you
She enfolds you in her world.

I was quite surprised to find out all the places that he knew
And so I asked the townfolk if his stories were true
They said - Old John was born here, he's lived here all his life
He's never had a woman, let alone a wife.

And very soon you'll find out as you check around
That no one named Corey's ever lived in this town
So I chided the old man 'bout the truth that I had heard
He smiled and said - Reality is only just a word.


For fellow Chapin fans, another great story/song is "Mr.Tanner".

College Media Adviser's Conference

I spent this past weekend in Manhattan. There was a "College Media Adviser's Conference" that a group of us who worked on the campus newspaper went to. There were seven of us from The Crusader crammed into a mini-van for 12 hours to get to this conference. It's a good thing that it was smack dab in the middle of Times Square, because I'm not sure I would have endured that car ride for much less.

It was my first time in New York City and I warned everyone that I was going to be "that girl." Walking around wide-eyed, mouth hanging open, taking pictures of things like pigeons, steaming sewer grates, and homeless people. When we arrived I was able to restrain myself and keep my obnoxious picture-taking to a minimum. I tried to remember not to let my mouth hang open in awe.



The conference was simultaneously helpful and disheartening. Professional journalism is a tough market, even if the economy were at its best. We heard countless stories of lengthy job searches and less-than-ideal living conditions. Internship after internship until finally you connect with the right people and are able to get a real job, even if you're a glorified secretary for a while.

I was encouraged to hear that the job search wouldn't last forever, and that many of these recent college graduates came from tiny little towns just like mine all across the U.S. I understand that we have to be willing to invest in ourselves and in our future, but the idea of an unpaid internship frightens me. I haven't exactly done the research, but rent in New York City isn't cheap. And I have grown rather fond of lunch and dinner. While we're investing in our futures, how exactly are we supposed to survive?



Over the summer, I plan to take steps toward my new life goal: working at a literary magazine. I have always admired The New Yorker and The Paris Review, however, I had never considered these publications as possible career options until this conference. My goal for the next couple years (provided my husband gets into graduate school...) is to work, save money, and freelance my ass off. I may be lacking in the area of internships (I currently have zero under my belt) but I can make up for that in publication credits--I hope.

If Edward does not get into grad school, then we'll have to come up with some sort of plan B. Though, I think we're on plan E or F by now... I suppose this conundrum is one that I will have to deal with later. The rest of my spring break will be spent catching up on homework and maybe starting Revolutionary Road. I decided that this book, plus a collection of mindless magazines, will be my summer reading material.

"Twouble with Twitters"

I found this great video called "Twouble with Twitters"

Description: "A young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away."

It was created by "SuperNews" an "animated series about the news, technology, pop culture" and it beautifully expresses my feelings about Twitter.


A few of my favorite quotes:

Craig: "I'm twittering. Did you get my tweets? I just twoted all over the place."
Derek: "What's Twitter?"
Craig: *gasp* "It's the latest social networking micro uh bloggy thingy."
Derek: "I'm not interested."
Craig: "Damnit Derek! You are young, hip, tech-savvy twenty-something and I will not let you turn into my father. Come on!"
Derek: (Screaming as they fly up into the clouds) "Where are you taking me?"
Craig: "Into the Twittersphere!"


Craig: "Don't you Twitterstand? You can become a Twitterlebrity! Like these Twits."


Derek: "Ok, it seems like Twittering is just randomly bragging about your unexceptional life."
Twitter bird: (in an ethereal voice) "Oh, now you're getting it."

This is "the fail whale":

My First Tweet -- Alright already. I'm in.

The Twitter Phenom

I have been resisting this social networking site for quite a while now. I called it pointless and a waste of time. You want me to say "tweet" and "twoosh" with a straight face? I was convinced that it would be an endless string of pointless information. A website devoted entirely to facebook-status-update-like messages. Who cares? "Jenny is sitting in class." "Jenny is picking her nose." Jenny is wasting my life.

I have made no final decisions yet, but I have to admit, it's interesting. What pushed me over the edge was the fact that I could follow Tina Fey

There was also a session that I went to at the College Media Adviser's Conference that I am currently attending in NYC where a panel of recent college graduates that have landed jobs in journalism were emphasizing the importance of being web-savvy. This included being familiar with popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I was mad. I had to conform. This is my first attempt to do anything it takes to get a job.

I may even enjoy this sacrifice. I started my account about an hour ago and I'm already following 22 people. Among them are Tom Waits, NPR, New York Times, and Stephen Colbert.

Here goes nothing!