Week of 5/28.

Today and tomorrow I am just trying to organize myself for my presentation. I am going to be talking about what public relations is, what my research paper was about, and some of the examples I had in my paper. For the class activity I will be giving the class a scenario and having them write a press release regarding the scenario justifying the actions of the person. I will give them the scenario that I based my entire project on. I had to create a press release because that is one of the major aspects of public relations and crisis management. I will include a template for a press release that I followed and they will do the same. I feel like it will be fun and entertaining to see what people come up with for their press releases. 

My project is going well, there is still a lot more to do but overall I am coming along fine. I decided to hand in a portfolio of all of the steps that a PR consultant would have to take in handling a client's situation. My portfolio includes the scandal with tabloid and newspaper articles, a press release, a plan of action, the client's address to the public regarding the situation, the outcome in tabloid and newspaper articles once again. 

Week of 5/19.

This week I really want to focus on my presentation. I have to figure out how I am going to organize it and what I specifically want to talk about. I also need to figure out a class activity. I was thinking maybe playing a few newclips in an imovie that relate to my research paper and my project (Wendy's, McGreevy etc) and then perhaps making some kind of activity to go along with it. For my final project I am creating a scandal and releasing it to the public in a newspaper article. Then I am going to create a press release as the company's PR person and other papers fixing it, as well as creating an idea to justify the actions of the person or company. I will take every step that a PR agent would actually take in times of crisis and will hand in some sort of case study type package with each step of the crisis and management. (scandal release, public opinion, press release, plan to regain public endorsements etc)

Week of 5/5

The overall hardest part of this research paper thus far was organizing it and figuring out exactly what is important enough to focus on. I have the whole idea and have my sources in order but I just need to start writing =]

so...

Monday, I hope to start collecting my research in my word document and organizing it all into a paper.

Tuesday, I will perfect my opening and roughly work on the body paragraphs

Wednesday, I will edit and work on transitions

Thursday and Friday will be dedicated to the closing and perfecting of my paper. I will work on making it all flow nicely and hopefully be finished!

Week of 4/28...Plan of Action.

Heading over to Barnes and Nobel this afternoon..

The first novel that I will be reading from my list is Wag The Dog (previously known as American Hero). I heard a lot of great things about this book so I hope that I will be done with it by this weekend so I can watch the movie version which is supposed to be awesome. I have a couple of books to read so I'm hoping to knock off this novel first then start reading some of my non fiction selections to aid in my research paper. Throughout all of this I will be checking the WIKI and blog site I found dedicated to public relations as well as the newspapers/websites to checkout what has been going on in the world of crisis management. 

Plan of Action

I really need to figure out exactly what aspect I want to focus on for my research paper that is due in a couple of weeks. My topic has so many different avenues, cases and reading materials that I could and want to talk about, but there is no way it would fit in one paper. So I think this week I am really going to try and narrow down my specific points of interest to research. Right now I am obviously going to research the overall info on Public Relations and what crisis management is all about, but that can't be all. We'll see what I come up with in the upcoming week. 

4th marking period project.

I'm going to school next year for communications, with a specialization in public relations and I am BEYOND excited, So i figured I would take this fourth marking period project as an opportunity to experiment and explore the field I am getting myself into. Public relations is basically image management and essentially a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics. For my project I will be reading a few books that have public relations and image management as a backbone of the novel such as, "Thank you for Smoking" and "Wag the Dog." In addition to these novels, recently there has been a plethora of scandals pasted across the front pages of news papers and websites everywhere having to do with crisis management; case in point Jim McGreevy and Elliot Spitzer scandals. On a smaller scale the whole Wendy's finger-in-the-chili ordeal is crisis management at its finest. I want to create my own scandal and have to write a press release, and eventually the "rebuttal" that the scandalous figure will have to present to the public.  I have even found a PR dedicated WIKI and Blog site! I think this should be fun and I'm excited to see what I learn and come up with for my final project. 

From the mind of Laura Esquivel.

Now finished reading and I can't seem to stray from the ever prominent theme of food in the novel and the significance it holds. I came across a quote by Laura Esquivel where she offers insight to her unique outlook on food and nourishment, "my grandmother had a very interesting theory; she said each of us is born with a box of ma

tches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to h

elp. In this case, the oxygen, for example would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind

 of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches... Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted. If that happens, the soul flees from the body and goes to wander among the deepest shades,

 trying in vain to find food to nourish itself, unaware that only the body it left behind, cold and defenseless, is capable of providing that food."

It is obvious that she looks to food as a higher power, an element of life capable of illuminating even the dullest part of one's personality, comforting the soul. Food is a comfort, not only to the stomach but to the mind and spirit as well. To me, not so much, but to others the pure enjoyment and satisfaction that they emit at the very first taste of a dish is inspiring. I look to music as my "matchbook", much as the characters in the novel look to food as theirs. There's nothing more nourishing to my soul, if you will, than driving in my car with the stereo blasting, listening to music. This drive is essential for life and just as Esquivel states, each of us needs to find out for ourselves what ignites the flame and determines the level of importance. To me, food holds a low standard of importance compared to music, friends and family; however in the novel the family centralizes around food, it brings them together in a way that religion or occasions could not. 

Like Water For Chocolate.

Like Water for Chocolate is a very different novel than the others I have read before. The novel is formulated into sections, rather than chapters it seems, with each section a different month of Tita's life. Each month is accompanied by a different recipe and how the recipe correlates to the month. Not being very interested in Mexican Culture or cooking I didn't know how well this book would sit with me; however one period of reading and I miraculously found myself four months ahead in April, page 66. Besides the smooth writing style of Laura Esquirel, the structure of the novel makes it a very easy and enjoyable read. The narrative structure of this novel intersperses Tita's story with the recipes and remedies that figure so prominently in her life. By placing an actual recipe at the beginning of each chapter, the importance of food to the story is consistently reinforced, and the story becomes more real, for somewhere in the new chapter this recipe will be followed by one of the characters.

My favorite example of the connection between the recipes and the story thus far is when Tita receives a bouquet of roses from her love interest Pedro, who happens to also be her sisters fiancee. This recipe was present in March of the novel and the featured recipe was Quail in Rose Petal Sauce. Due to the forbidden love of the two, Tita must dispose of the rose in a way that would not offend Pedro, she works the rose into her meal and it is a hit with the family. It has a very strange affect on each of the consumers, the meal acts as an aphrodisiac for the second sister, Gertrudis, as well Pedro. Tita herself goes through an out-of-body experience. Throughout the dinner, Tita and Pedro stare at each other, entranced. Once the dinner is finished, Gertrudis immediately heads upstairs to rid herself of the powerful aroma that she is emitting due to the sensuous meal. To make a long story short the force of her heat and passion causes the water from her shower to evaporate on contact and eventually sets the shower on fire. Fleeing naked from the burning shower, Gertrudis is scooped up onto a galloping horse by a soldier in the revolutionary army, who was drawn to the area by her intoxicating scent. Tita is now left alone in the house, while her sister becomes the talk of the town.

This chapter is by far my favorite, it is a prime example of the way everything centralizes around food in the story. It was a chain reaction from her recievance of the rose, to the aphrodisiac meal which imminently resulted in the escape of her sister. Especially for Tita food and cooking are her escape, for she is not as fortunate as her sister to be able to truly leave. I can't wait to see what is in store for the mouthwatering months ahead...