Ron Insana at SMU for the William O'Neil Lecture Series

Unfortunately, I could not attend the lecture of Ron Insana, but after reading the various articles written by my peers and CNBC, I am left with quite a few questions.

First, the premise of the lecture was to inform students on how to use the stock market and its flucuations to thier advantage. Supposedly, one can tell major policitcal events, economic changes, and national catastrophes before they happen by the stock market. This idea is comepletely foreign to me. How is that at all possible?

I, for one, am not the biggest economics expert or understand financial ongoings at all. I wish I did, maybe then I could have picked a major that will pay me big bucks, instead of the low paying, high hours, reporting jobs I am up for. But isn't going to college and picking a major all about what you love to do? Finding your dream job? your passion? Or is it just about finding the hot new career with the big money?

I guess I am a little bit of a dreamer, a romantic optimist, and still believe life is about the blood, sweat, and tears you put into your work, your art, your passion. For me, that is a job that doesn't pay the big money in the beginning but offers rewards to me like traveling, talking to people, getting down to the information of whats happening in our communities.

For others, like Insana, they may find joy in reading the stock market, predicting events, and being ahead of the everyday person like me. I guess that is why SMU invited Insana. To share his wisdom and knowledge to us, the next generation of leaders. And so for that, I am really bummed I missed the lecture, because I am in the most needing of that information.

Waste of Space

Alina Cho recently did a report on models who are to thin, entitled
Eat, eat, you're skin and bones .

Instead of the other possibilities she had for this report: such as a hard-hitting article or column in a newspaper or magazine, or an investigative profile piece for an entertainment broadcast, she chose a multimedia package on CNN's website, which I think was a waste of time and Internet space.

First off, the average visitor to the Clinton News Network, excuse me, I meant CNN is not there to find out the latest trends or whose dating whom in Hollywood. They want politics, they want economic reports, they want more Bush Bashing, not an investigative piece on the eating habits of America's top models.

As journalists, we conduct reports, we write, and we share stories to keep the public informed and I highly doubt that this report is reaching its target audience. Yes, there may be the concerned mother or father who may view it and then talk to their daughter about the dangers of media images, but honestly, do you think that this will actually influence these young girls to maintain a healthy body image?

The target audience is these 13 and 14 year old girls who are in a crucial developmental age in life and need to see these unhealthy images first hand. And last I checked, the typical preteen girl doesn't have CNN.com on her favorites toolbar.

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked the piece, the writing was direct and the reporting was good, but I had to weed through all of the boring pieces CNN specializes in to get to this one. So I highly doubt many other young girls will find it.

In the future, if your piece has a strong and important message, like I think this one does, use a media outlet that will reach your target audience.

Post Secret: Art or Attention?

"Post Secret for me is a bunch of people trying to be artsy but end up failing miserably."
Lisa McDaniel

This month marks the two year anniversary of the worldwide community art project known as Post Secret. The intimate secrets people mail in anonymously on post cards used as art canvases have gained the blog popularity, respect, and a loyal following. People wait anxiously for Sunday to roll around when the new batch of cards are posted, and then they look to see if their card has made the site, what guilty pleasures they can draw from other peoples' secrets, and what secrets of their own would make the blog to earn them their weeks worth of anonymous fame.

But are these post cards in fact true pieces of art work drawn from a worldwide pool of creators or just every day ordinary people exaggerating a little just to get their secret on the web?
My friend Lisa seems to think the latter, which is what sparked my investigation.

Now I must admit, I am one of those people who anxiously await the posting of new secrets on Sunday, but I have never attempted to mail in any of my secrets because for me, my secrets seem to dull to make it on the site. But thousands upon thousands of secrets are mailed in every week vying for a spot on the website which has millions of hits per week, and usually the most rare and shocking secrets make it in on the web; because, as human beings, that is what keeps us coming back.

I am sure that two years ago, when the project had just started, the secrets where understandable, relate-able, and didn't carry the shock value that most do today, but that was when there wasn't much competition. But now, with the popularity of the site and the publishing of three successful books, the twenty or so post cards put on display each week are highly coveted.

I am aware that these cards are anonymous, so immediate fame is not an issue, but I am sure for a person who takes the time to create a post card and mail it in, seeing their secret on the web is rewarding and a confidence booster. Which leads us to the possible exaggeration of secrets, just for a little anonymous recognition.

Not all of the secrets are exaggerations, I am sure, but many are off the wall, kooky, and disturbing. Just take a look at this post card and decide for yourself....
Now, this site was set up as a liberation for peoples' deepest darkest secrets. That's pretty deep, dark, and disturbing. I myself can't imagine gaining any liberation from sending in something like that, or possibly exaggerating a one time deed into a big juicy secret just to get my "artwork" on the web.

I will admit though, I keep going back to see what the next big shocker will be.

Im not a total pessimist as this post may show. There are some inspiring post cards and I hope this card's owner really does accomplish what he/she wants.