A T.U. Talk

It was the last Wednesday night class of the semester, possibly the year, and the students had two special guests.

A capital bureau reporter and the city editor from Albany’s Times Union were invited by Mike Huber, professor and interactive media man at that newspaper.

Teresa Buckley was asked by Huber to give some background about her job as an executive editor and to tell the students how jobs are secured.

Buckley stood at the front of the room and told everyone how she got where she is, what it is that she does and how much she likes doing it.

She talked directly to the class when she stressed the importances of experiences and curiosity. The curiosity to find and achieve the goals that you have.

“I want to know what it is that you want to do,” said Buckley.

The class leaned around eachother and strained to see the speaker as she transitioned onto the topic of resumes.

Teresa Buckley has seen a great number of resumes in her time at the Times Union and she looks for certain, valuable attributes.

House Financial Services Committee

At last week’s meeting of the House Financial Services Comittee, Democrat Carolyn Maloney of New York’s 14th District had this to say:

Black Friday Fracas

Initial reports from the National Retail Federation may be showing that Black Friday was productive, and it appeared as though in Albany.

Video Games

The Associated Press of Chicago reported that consumers  “spent nearly 3% more than they did last year.”

LCD Flatscreen Televisions

The Albany Business Review reported that up to “128 million people” intended on hitting the stores on the weekend after Thanksgiving and “49 million people say that they will definetly shop.”

In an article from the USA Today newsite, (here) sales are reported to have increased 3.4% in the South and 2.6% in the Northeast.

In Albany, at Crossgates mall, there was a melee of hopping children and oportunistic consumers. In the evening, families flocked around flat screens and swarmed over stereos, registers sat waiting.

Transition

I am going to write this as I go and as I read about the transition developments.

It had been rumored that Robert M. Gates, present Defense Secretary under George W. Bush, may be kept on with the incoming White House staff. That rumor became truth as President-elect Barack Obama informed the Pentagon chief that he will be needed.

Advisers to Mr. Obama are nearing a final agreement with Gates to secure his services for up to a year. Democrats close to the transition said that the administration hopes to “announce the decision as early as next week, along with other choices for the national security team,” reported Peter Baker and Thom Shanker of the the New York Times.

The article, here, sites an anonymous campaign adviser in commendation of the choice, attesting to its “continuity and stability.”

War correspondents and Pentagon officials have praised the intuitive discretion that this moves shows in the President-elect. If solidified, this will be only the third defense secretary heldover, and the first from an opposing party.

Obama and Gates are like minded theorists on the concept of cohesion.

In a May release regarding Stop Loss, a policy that forces soldiers to remain in the Army after service, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stressed its importance to military cohesion.

An October issue of the USA Today outlined the impact of Stop Loss on enlistment.

The number of soldiers affected by stop loss peaked in 2005 at 15,758.

More than 140,000 soldiers have had tours extended by stop loss since January 2002.

References:
Brook T. Extended war tours likely to continue. USA Today [serial on the Internet]. (n.d.).[cited November 26, 2008]. Available from: Academic Search Premier.

Sketchy Characters

I decided to check out Willie Watts and the Sketchy Characters in an imrovisational performance at the University at Albany ‘campus center’ on Friday night.

The campus center lobby is laid out like a conference area, with comfortable lounge chairs, long dining tables and some cafe seating style high chairs. In the furthest courner to the right there is a small stage. It is raised a few inches off the ground and darkly carpeted. With great lighting and an extendable backdrop for film projection, this little nook of the building serves entertainment seekers well.

The room itself is open and leads into a dining area, centered around a heavily trafficked Wendy’s. The sheening, open glass walls allow fast food patrons, students and visitors to peer out at the Colonial Quad courtyard.

The room borders the UAlbany Financial Aid office. This office usually buzzes with anxious students and is now locked and dark.

The Sketchy Characters have thier own show which airs on the UAlbany Television Network. (ATV)

Something like “Viva la Bam,” the program is produced by it’s actors and is primarily rough cuts and improvised scenes.

They have yet to be seen from this season, but continue to act and do comedy live at the ‘campus center’ and at the PAC.

Willie Watts, was acting as the ring leader Friday night. He hosted the show and directed the cast, often times taking cues from the audience and other actors.

The team does skits inspired by audience ideas, actors call out to the crowd and ask for suggestions.

Skethcy Characters

Willie hopped up on stage and started talking to the crowd.

“Give me a place. Where are these guys?”

“A space station,” someone shouted.

“No, a mexican prison,” belted another.

The crowd chuckled uneasily at the suggestion but the host chose to keep the poll open a little longer. Watts was dressed in a plaid shirt, a bright red tie and a pair of overworn and baggy jeans.

His hair was blatant insanity. A mockery to convention, it jacked off his scalp like a frightened rabbit.

He sported a trimmed, black, chin-strap style goatee and his dyed locks were being repeatedly lashed back by his darting hands. He shuffled around and leaned over the edge of the stage and redirected his question to the left of the room.

“Ahhh…okay, okay, where else might they be?” asked Watts.

“A fast food restaurant,” said a shy girl in glasses.

The three actors looked at eachother excitedly and Watts seemed to sense that they would be at home with this setting. He whipped around and pointed at them.

“Okay, yeah a restaruant, I like that,” he said, “You’re all working in a kitchen.”

The actors began to feel out their surroundings, and settled into the notion that they were working in the kitchen of a restaruant.

“So whats the problem? What are they trying to do?” Watts asked.

After fielding a few lame duck responses, Watts mixed things up.

“We’ll play a game that I like to call ‘mannequin,’” he said. “Two people will  stand behind the actors and move thier hands as they attempt to bake a cake!”

Sketchy Characters

The actors tried to keep up as their handlers shoved thier hands and arms into imaginary batter and make-believe frosting.

Burns, bangs, bumps and broken dishes all could be imagined from the words and actions of this four person team.

This was a a funny bit, a funny night and everyone laughed and had a good time. The Skethcy Characters are a funny group of students who enjoy making others laugh.

The Skethcy Characters next improvisational performance will be December 5 at the UAlbany PAC.

Times Crime to Online

Jimmy Vielkind is a 23 year old Columbia graduate with graveyard experience on one of New York’s toughest crime beats and he now types from his couch in his pajamas.

Vielkind sat in front of a monitor and tinkered with his keyboard before the second to last fall 08′ online publishing class kicked off.

More than one classmate mistook him for a student, some absentee kid who is showing up at the end of the semester to try and talk himself into a passing grade.

“Who is that guy?” asked Larry Naedal. All others in attendance just shrugged and peered into the flat screen Dell LCD set before them.

After a few minutes Professor Huber stormed in, apologized for being a few minutes late and stepped over to his post.

Jimmy Vielkind, blended into the room, his dull buttoned shirt and primped up slacks hid him fromrecognition.

“I hope that Jimmy shows up tonight,” said Mr. Huber as he undid his overcoat.

Jimmy sat up and wiggled in the springy chair with wheels.

“Jimmy’s here!” said Huber.

Mike Huber is an online content editor at the Times Union, he teaches an upper level journalism course every Wednesday to about 20 students.

Vielkind and Huber know one another from work and seem to be pretty good friends. After the men shake hands Professor Huber goes on to tell everyone who Jimmy Vielkind is, or rather, who he was.

“I left a position as the night cops reporter at the Times Union, which has been providing news for 153 years, to join an operation which might not be around in 153 days,” said Vielkind.

Vielkind strolled and kicked, stood and sat, gestured and redirected but he said just one important thing. “Online revenue is increasing,” he said.

At 23 Vielkind is a baby in the business, a sprouting beanstalk with an education to kill for. He is taking courses in urban planning here at the University at Albany but even they can’t quench his thirst to create.

When he left his job, he already had a better one.

He works at the Politicker, as a staff writer with some editorial control.

Check out his latest story:here.

Vielkind is making more money now and is having fun adding “pictures, movies, images, sound, color, & interest,” to his articles, he said.

Keeping up with technology has shot life into Vielkind, who suffered through the print medium by “talking with the old lady at the library all night long.”

This is what he intends to do for the time being and his is making it worth the while.

“I would rather serve the whim of a billionaire than the whim of the market,” he said.

Color vs. Caution

I am taking this opportunity to question the ethics of crime reporting and criminal exposure.

On November 11, 2008 there was a reported rape on SUNY Albany Empire Commons campus.

Two University at Albany students were arrested last Friday morning and both men face felony charges.

Kevin Acheampong, 22 and A. Morgan, 20, both of the Bronx, are charged with first-degree rape, second-degree aggravated sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.

The suspects were arraigned in City Court last Friday.

The University maintains a position of reassuredness, taking all steps to make students feel safe and protected while living at 1400 Washington Avenue.

Rape is a terrible crime and guilty parties must face justice. Rape is an inexcusable and putrid abuse of power and those deemed guilty deserve any penalty or sentence.

I am taking this example to pose an ethical question. A journalistic dilemma.

 

 

 

The “code” of ethics calls for a journalist to “minimize harm” when publishing an article.

Though there is little consideration to be slivered off for an accused sexual predator, the judgement of the editor  can shatter or salvage a reputation.

The justice system asks the people to assume innocence until guilt is proven by fair trial of peers. Many develop relativity in the term “peer” when those in comparison have been charged with aggravated sexual assault, but they are asked to use discretion and place predisposition aside.

Journalists should:

— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

The November 18, 2008 issue of the Albany Student Press touted two color mugshot photographs of the alleged assailants.

The photographs, courtesy of the University Police Department were enlarged included names, ages and city of origin.

Journalists should:

— Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.

The alleged attackers are both under the age of 25 and have had no prior reported incidents at the university. Morgan, 20 and Acheampong, 22 were two among four questioned by police, and remained in jail following Friday’s arraignment.

 

 

What rights does he have?

 

 

When University Police are notified that a sex crime may have been committed, thoroughness is a priority. 

University Police Chief J. Frank Wiley prepared a statement for the Albany Student Press.

“The university’s priority at this time is to offer support and assistance to the person who reported this incident, and to allow the university police to conduct a full and thorough investigation in a timely manner.”

General Motor’s General Malaise

Washington assemblymen are hurriedly proposing legislative action toward budget modification and the future of the automobile industry.

The possible bankruptcy filing by General Motors is instigating policy maker action in the capital. Great concern expressed over the notion of the corporations uncertain future.

Extra consideration takes weight with the company’s many labor contracts. The contracts become escapable upon filing chapter 11 which would cause conflict with unions and employees.

The American car company has reported substantial loss over the past 12 months with shares dropping 90.5 percent.

Rick Wagoner, G.M.’s chief executive said  to employees of bankruptcy that the company will “take every action we possibly can to avoid it.”

If accepting conditions of a federal bailout package the com[any may be forced to restructure and alter management, reported the New York Times.

Filing bankruptcy comes with the stigma of failure and concession something that the company appears to want to steer clear of at all costs.

Investing in a company known nationally for ‘giving up,’ would be a hard move to make for car dealerships and consumers.

A New York Times reported had this idea:

“To help ease consumers’ fears, G.M. could put money in escrow to reimburse its 6,468 dealers for any repairs to address problems covered by warranties.”

In a recent Forbes Magazine article, Jerry Flint challenged the decision makers in Washington to make the easy choice. “In 1980 we guaranteed $1.5 billion of private loans to  Chrysler, which was much smaller than GM is today. The government made $400 million on the deal,” said Flint.

Flint makes some really good points in this article, citing the steady hand that G.M. during the years we were at war. This company does deserve some help, sure they made missteps in terms of technological manifestation, sure they have a list of marketing blunders but the cost of allowing the corporation to flounder would be to great.

This is a group that employs so many and has reached so far. General Motor’s influence on production models is undeniable. The corporations original designs have been carbon copied, traced over and relaunched time after time.

While General Motors was providing the United States with quality, reliable cars, the competition was waiting in the wing, studying successes and learning from follies.

This may seem as an excuse for an aged industrial behemoth who is having a hard time keeping pace with the pack and reality bites, just look at the figures.

 

Total Car/Truck Production: August 2005	Total Car/Truck Production: August 2006	Total Car/Truck Production: August 2008
2,179,992	2,105,054	1,511,120

 

You can see it here in the numbers. A drop in August production of 74,938 U.S. car and trucks between ‘05 and ‘06 and then an incredible difference between Aug. 2006 and Aug 2008; 593,934 units.

One wonders, if the government can offer some of the money that is set aside for banks and struggling industry to the company, maybe that will be the catalyst for change.

A restructuring of management and a re-dedication to production and the fundamentals of better business.

There is something that remains within this corporation that harkens back to an era of perseverance, what American industry needs now is a symbol and a beacon of hope everlasting.

General Motors may become that beacon with a little help from its friends.