PR and Death threats?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7890635.stm?lss

Octuplets PR team 'death threats'

The octuplets were delivered nine weeks early (photo: NBC)

The public relations firm representing the California woman who gave birth to octuplets says it is stepping down after getting death threats.

The Killeen Furtney Group has received dozens of threats, the head of the Los Angeles agency, Joann Killeen, told the Associated Press (AP) news agency.

Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth to the eight babies on 26 January.

The single mother of six other children has been criticised for using fertility treatments and receiving state aid.

All 14 of her children were born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Wood chipper threat

Ms Killeen said she had received more than 100 e-mailed threats and many others that were left on the agency's voice-mail, AP reported.

"They'd put me in the wood chipper and throw me in the bottom of the ocean and hope I die," she is quoted as saying.

Some of the threats were also directed at Ms Suleman, she said.

"We've never had a public reaction to us representing a client pro bono like this, ever."

Ms Suleman hired the agency shortly after the octuplets were born. Ms Killeen made a flurry of TV appearances, saying her client had been deluged with offers to tell her story.

But public reaction to the story soured after it was revealed that Ms Suleman was a single-mother receiving state aid to help her raise her other six children, aged two to seven.

Her use of IVF to give birth to 14 children has also been criticised by fertility experts.

They have raised concerns about the number of embryos transferred into Ms Suleman's uterus and questioned whether medical guidelines were met.

Ms Suleman has said having a "huge family" was her "dream".

The octuplets were delivered nine weeks early by Caesarean section in a hospital near Los Angeles and all are reported to be doing well.


Well. That's a job I wouldn't expect to get death threats with.

Final Presentation

For my last speech for presentation class and the major project for persuasion class I had to give a persuasive speech. My topic was "can sexual orientation be changed?" It is important to note that we were given a list of 15 topics oh which, my topic was the most personal. This made it easier to create a presentation.

Below is my script for the speech. The two teachers evaluating this performance told me I should publish it.

“Words, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you. You easily lose yourself in them, become hypnotized into implicitly believing that when you have attached a word to something, you know what it is. The fact is: You don’t know what it is. You have only covered up the mystery with a label.” Eckhart Tolle author of “A New Earth” penned these words.

Gender, sexual orientation. Those words are just labels. They help our mind map different situations so we can attempt to understand our word. Gender is not the biological parts beneath your clothing. Gender is how your mind and heart function to collaborate with your identity. Sexual orientation isn’t just about who you sleep with or who you want to sleep with.

Some believe that sexuality is innate, inflexible and ingrained in our genetic make up. Others believe that sexuality is a choice, flexible and the result of environmental factors. Then there’s a third group. This group feels that sexuality is a combination of environmental factors and biological factors. When they change those factors within change. This is the basis for my arguments. There are three sides in this triangle. There is so much grey space in this discussion that even after this presentation, you still might be confused to which side your heart beats on.

I am a faithful member in the third party. I believe that sexuality can change, that it is not a choice, but the result of environmental and biological factors that change. You are until you aren’t. You aren’t till you are. Sexuality can change with the introduction of new information within the environment. My truth about sexuality is that sexuality can change. You can wake up one morning in a moment of clarity after weeks and months of uncertainty able to identify what has been on your mind. According to the L Word television show “sexuality is fluid, whether your gay, straight, or bisexual you just go with the flow” (the L Word: Episode 1.03, Let’s Do It, air date: January 25th 2004).

How can I possibly believe this? Because I’ve watched friends and loved ones wrestle with the concept of identity. I know that people in this room have wondered, “where do I fit in?”. If you take one step outside this classroom door, you’re walking into a place where hundreds of others are asking that same question. “Do I fit in? Who am I?

Throughout the course of life, this question will change. It might turn into, Am I happy? Should I have picked a different path? Or is he or she, right for me?” But how will you know the answer? Just listen to your heart. It won’t ever steer you wrong. Listen to what makes your heart beat. And you’ll find your way.

Even if you find yourself in a situation you never imagined, just take in the moment. Let this new information wash over you. Let your mind process it. Let your heart beat, then listen to what it says.

Your beliefs, your core values, and society tells you how you should behave in any situation. How would you react if you found yourself in bed with someone of the same gender? With no idea on how that happened? Would you freak out? Would you run out before the person noticed you there? Or would you take a moment to take in what lead you to that moment?

Introducing new information into your beliefs and core values can have a huge impact on you. It might feel like your world is spiraling out of control, or the planets out of alignment. The new information sorted into your brain will trickle down to your mouth. One day you will say a phrase out loud that you can’t take back. But all along your heart knew what you head was going to say aloud. “I’m attracted to blank.”

It doesn’t matter which word you say aloud, gay, straight, bi, pansexual. Because your sexual orientation just changed.

At the age of sixteen you might say “I like men.”. and then at 36, something has changed within you and you say “I like women”. Its happened many times before. Life is happy and things are going well. Then something changes within you and you say that phrase out loud.

There are so many factors that can impact this change. If your beliefs change, then you do. Your heart does.

Society can also play a role. In the last thirty years, society has changed so much. Our discussion of sexuality has changed along with it. Thirty years ago, doctors were locking people who weren’t heterosexual up in mental institutions, performing lobotomies and promoting conversion therapy.

Another group of people feel that sexuality can change. There is a movement in very conservative churches in the United States and Canada who believe that sexuality can be changed. They believe that any relations between same sex partners can be changed to relations between man and woman. This movement is called the Ex-Gay Movement and has roots in many groups such as Focus on the Family, and Love Won Out (http://www.unmaskactivists.org/mediaresources.htm) . These groups feel that homosexuality is an illness. With enough therapy and re-training, each person can overcome this illness.

The principles that support their information is called heterosexism. This concept believes that each human is heterosexual. The principle of heterosexism promotes that relations between only man and woman are moral and normal.. But with the legalizing of same sex marriage, Canadian society has embraced homosexuality and rejected heterosexism.

I am all for freedom of speech. These ex-gay movement groups are entitled to their opinions. However, in 2000 the American Psychiatric Association updated their position statement “some people believe that sexual orientation is innate and fixed; however {we believe that} sexual orientation develops across a person’s lifetime” (http://www.aglp.org/pages/cfactsheets.html#Anchor-Gay-14210) . In summarizing, you don’t just wake up one day and that you want to sleep with someone of the same gender. It can take one lifetime to listen to what your heart is telling you, and another lifetime to believe it and another lifetime to act on it.

Before I finish this afternoon, I want to instill a few words of wisdom. If you take anything from today, it should be that sexuality is a part of you. Part of your personality. Part of your identity. It is not everything about you. And it can change. As long as this change comes from within and isn’t a forced decision from an outside influence.
Labels are just words Labels are for jam jars, jeans and genetic material but not for people. Thank you.

So. That was the persuasive speech. I'm still processing how it went. I'm slow like that sometimes. But for two days after this was given, my grasp on the English language was sorely lacking. It has since returned.

Credit cards and Students

Not a week passes when I don't receive another credit card application.
According to whomever is selling my personal information to these companies, I need to have at least six different cards.
Some of the applications are through banks I've never used. Others are apparently specially selected just for me through the Alumi associations of my university. I'm so glad I spent four years there so they could try to sell me more stuff later in life.

My point is that the economy is not a favourable place to be getting multiple cards as a student. Most of us can barely cover rent, phone bills and pay for food. Who was the wise person who decided to pray on students who are weak in funds and weak in the ability to say no?

I wish that companies and institutions would stop selling my address. Its really getting annoying to see all the wasted junk mail and credit card applications.

the unqueering of ABC television

According to the GLAAD organization, the television network ABC had the second highest number of queer characters in prime time television. Featuring a queer married couple on Brothers and Sisters, and an emerging lesbian romance on Grey's Anatomy, ABC was on the fast track to represent real life with diversity.

http://www.glaad.org/eye/ontv/2008/overview.php

But, a few weeks ago news broke from the Grey's camp that they were discontinuing the romance between on-screen characters of Callie Torres (Sara Raimerz) and Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith). In fact, the network outright fired actress Brooke Smith. According to the creator of Greys, Shonda Rhimes, she was told by the network that she could no longer write for Brooke Smith's character. This news was released just a few days after Proposition 8 was passed in California, banning marriage between same sex couples.

Here's my point and pr related rant.
There are hundreds of blogs and youtube videos dedicated to protesting Grey's discontinuation of their romance. In fact, there are protests and boycotts of Grey's in full force.
The messaging that has come from ABC since it was announced that their lesbian romance was for all purposes, cancelled, has been non-existent. There has been no release from ABC explaining their actions, or attempting to retain their viewers.

In the past, ABC television has been known for having diverse casts and having the most amount of queer characters on their television shows. But in the past few years, ABC has been slowing dropping the number of queer characters. Instead of keeping up with their forward thinking, they've stepped into a backwards slide. Instead of being supportive of the queer community, they've alienated many members.
In the case of Grey's, the relationship between Callie and Erica was a later in life coming of age story. Some women spend most of their married lives, happily married to their husbands. Then sometimes changes internally, and they experience love with a woman. This is the path that their relationship was taking. The network was treated the development of their relationship with tact and respect.
But then something changed. And the word came down from the network to end the relationship. It makes me wonder what exactly was decided that changed the network's mind about this one relationship on one of their shows. Was it that the Mickey Mouse network (ABC is owned by the lovely folks at Disney) were afraid that with the passing of proposition 8 would negatively affect their viewerships?
Was the network aware that people weren't enjoying the relationship? Did Brooke Smith do something that we, the public, were not aware she had done? Clearly it must have been something serious enough to warrant firing.
According to internet rumours, these same rumours that confirmed that Brooke Smith had been fired, also indicate that other members of the cast, including Sara Raimerz are leaving part way through the season in response to their firing. In addition, the openly gay cast mate TR Knight's screen time has been slashed to very little.
Another random fun fact, is that none of the actors involved in this show has publicly commented on the firing. In fact, cast mate, Patrick Dempsey was on Ellen's talk show and pulled out a statement written by ABC. What was read just illustrated that Smith no longer was employed by ABC.
I understand that there is a lot of rumour and speculation about what's caused the ABC backlast and the so-called Brookegate. But let's be real. We are never going to hear what happened behind closed doors.
But here's my confusion. Several years ago, Isiah Washington called his co-worker TR Knight a degrogratory homophobia name. ABC wrote him out of the series in response to the public's distaste. Their mixed messaging between this incident and the so-called "Brookegate" is incredibily confusing.
So in one case, its wrong for one man to be homophobic. But its acceptable for a group of people running a television network to be homophobic.
I, like many others, am not sure that I want to watch where the show is heading. However, with one remaining queer character on Grey's, I still want to be supportive. I want to see how the network impacts the writing of the show and their impact on what actors are brought on.

So, in conclusion, the world isn't fair. Just when you think that things are looking up for one group, another group steps out of the shadow for their turn to get kicked.

Auto Industry Buyout Plan

As you might notice, I tend to follow US politics, in addition to Canadian politics. With the big three automakers in the United States struggling for a variety of reasons, they think that the US government should step in and help them out.

I can understand that an industry that is suffering wants assistance. However, if an organization is failing in their industry, they must be doing something wrong.
The business practices must not be sound. They are clearly not functioning in a healthy business manner. I am all for supporting business, but when a business is failing there are several causes for this.
a. The business is failing because the business isn't listening to their customers.
b. The business is in an industry that is suffering.
c. The business is failing because their business practices are not sound.

If the big three automakers weren't already suffering, asking the US government to help bail them out can only damage their already fragile reputation. Would you want to buy a major product from an organization that cannot support itself right now? Without the stability of knowing that the company can repair and maintain something as complex as a car, people are going to stop buying these cars and turn towards an organization that is going to last longer.

Having the ability to withstand market troubles, stock issues, consumers losing confidence in the economy is what keeps customers coming back to your organization.
I can only imagine how busy everyone at the big three automakers' head offices must be. It has to be shifted into huge crisis mode, especially with the information that one of them could be heading for bankruptcy.
Today is a day to be happy that I'm still a student. Where crises are only one week long, and learning is more how to act in those crises is easier than being thrown into learn when its too late.

the Greening of Catalog City

Environmentalism is allegedly running rampantly through corporations around the globe.
Organizations are asking employees to refrain from printing documents unless its necessary. Other businesses are no longer handing out paystubs, instead opting to email pdf files with the same information.

For example, Mountain Equipment Coop no longer mails out printed catalogs. Instead they email out a notification to check the website for new additions to their catalogs. Partly because of their corporate structure, MEC consistently strives to minimize their foot print on the environment.

But on the opposite side, there are organizations that are sending out an overwhelming amount of catalogs. For example, for the past six months the lovely people at Sears have ensured that each week my household receives a catalog. Each week the catalog is different. A winter catalog, an overstock winter catalog, an Xmas catalog, a bedding sale. The list continues.

With consumers having more and more of a role in the management of an organization's reputation. Rumours about an organization's environmental sensitivity can turn consumers off of their company. In the case of Sears, consumers may not want to receive catalogs every week. Its excessive to think of the costs of printing even one batch of catalogs, let alone enough catalogs for a weekly delivery.

In our current economic crisis it is ridiculus to consider that a company would spend excessive amount of funds on catalogs when other organizations are laying off employees. It seems very frivilious to think about how many cash is going into the recycling program.

How did I get here?

This post is my story. Its the story about how I got to be here. Not literally sitting in front of my computer, as that would be a dull story. Though my progress story may not be as interesting as I intend it to be.

So, like others in high school was thrown into the chaos of trying to pick a career. At the age of 17, I had no clue as to a career path I wished to start down. In fact, I was more confused on whether to pick college or university or trade school. So I did what each of my high school friends did. I applied to both colleges and universities.
In general I'm not outstanding at any particular subject. Some subjects I am better at. Science and math weren't my strong suit. Some of the other subjects weren't helpful in picking a career.
So I applied to five college programs and three university ones.
I had eight options. One of the eight had to come through. Awkwardly, all eight choices accepted me. Then starting throwing money around. I felt like a number being auctioned off to the higher giver of cash.
But in the long room, the highest bidder for me was my best option. I accepted Laurier Brantford's position, their residence room and their cash. For four years I helped build the newly created campus in Brantford into a vibrant community.
When I enrolled at WLU Brant, there were 250 students enrolled, some mature students, most newbies. Now through the campus grapevine I hear that their enrollment numbers are nearing two thousand students.
Last spring I returned for our first annual official reunion. It was amazing to see how many additional buildings had been converted from run down or fire damaged, to fully operational, university running campus. Instead of a run down building, there's now a campus rec complex.
Instead of an old white house, there's a student centre. It was amazing to see how many different infrastructures that my classmates and I requested, were finally being built and enjoyed.

Ah yes. Back on the path. I went to WLU Brant for four years and graduated. My major: Contemporary studies. In essence, I know a little bit about a lot of different subjects. For example, I spent two semesters learning about First Nations people. Two semesters about the environment, its legal processes, its ownership and its historical relevance to specific areas. More relating to my personal enjoyment, I spent a few semesters learning about pop culture and how to create pop culture. The lovely area of branding, consumerism and the creation of culture were just some of the areas I explored.
So then, a simliar problem appeared. What now? I had the same issue as applying for colleges. I was in the same position, except with a few letters after my name. What happens after university? More university or the workforce?
Instead, I took some time off from school. I had been in school in some form for 20 years. I needed a break. So I joined the workforce. And then got fed up and took many different personality testing, skill inventories and what sort of jobs would suit my skills and personality.
Not surprising, but public relations was the second on the list of results.
I applied, and was accepted at Conestoga College.
And that leads me to how I arrived back at college, after the roundabout route.

Thanks for allowing me the chance to re-take the trip with passengers.