Recollections from St Valentine's Day 2010

As tempting as it is to sit for hours blogging, especially since I haven't written about our Dallas trip, I also need to read 30 chapters in my two history of rock textbooks. Thankfully I only have one mass comm theory book. Thus in my limited time, here is a wee ditty about my first St. Valentine's Day spent in the US.

It was the most memorable St Valentine's weekend in my life, not necessarily for romantic reasons. In fact romance had nothing to do with it. Saturday was going to be huge! The big Planet Longhorn party had been planned and I went nuts at Buffalo Exchange (my favourite place to shop) buying four dresses in my attempt to find something red to wear. But before Mum starts shaking her head, one of these dresses was a classic black Michael Kors for only $28! One day I'll have to model all my Buffalo Exchange buys.

Anyway, it was all going swimmingly. Liz, Harry and I were soaking in the atmosphere of our first American house party resplendant in red plastic cups and kegs chained to a tree. After plugging through a few cups of punch, which wasn't fizzy as I was expecting, some of us decided to kick-on for some food at a friend's house. That was great too! Fun, relaxing and really yummy. Thanks John Michael, Bart and Mark (sorry for annoying you!).

The drama began when I got home to my room at Dobie and discovered there was an extra person in there.

Naked.

With my naked room mate.

Luckily it was pitch black. After I quickly shut the door and waited in absolute bewilderment, they eventually emerged still naked wrapped in a doona and laughing hysterically. Their party continued outside on the couch while I panicked, now inside the room. What do you do in those situations? No amount of orientation had prepared me for this. So after a few minutes of pacing around, I changed into my pjs and crawled into bed, vainly trying to fall asleep amid slapping noises coming from outside. Valentine's morning 6am I managed to get to sleep with the assistance of pink fluoro earbuds.

Around midday I was awoken by the young man, still naked, using our toilet....at least three times and naked every time! Some are wondering by this point why I didn't say anything. I thought it'd be less awkward to pretend I was asleep than surprise him by alerting him that I was indeed wide awake and to put some BLOODY clothes on.

After a few days, the flashbacks gradually reduced in frequency and things are relatively back to normal here at #1505. At least I have a funny story to tell about my 22nd St Valentine's Day in the USA.

Mass Media Consumption: Growing Up With Mass Media in the Nineties

I know I know, enough with the "firsts" already.

This is my first assignment for spring semester, which I wrote after my shift at KXAN, finishing the first draft at 1am.

Mass Communication and Me: A Case Study of Myself as a Media Consumer/Producer

It began with The Boy Who Painted the Sun, my favorite childhood book that Mom would read to my brother and me before bed. Then my encounters with media progressed to watching the evening news on television every night during dinner. We were the kind of family who tried to catch up with each other, whilst catching up with the world.

There were three televisions in the house; one in the living room, one in the rumpus and the final one in my parents’ bedroom. We only watched free-to-air television, the five free channels in Australia. My brother and I almost worshipped the television. The first thing we did after school and eating our afternoon tea was to plonk down in front of it and watch our favorite evening programs like Super Ted, Gumby, Banana Man and Captain Planet to name a few. Then we’d look forward to the weekend and Saturday Disney. As we moved on to high school, the afternoon television sessions petered out and soon I only had time to watch a couple of my favorite sitcoms on week nights and music videos on Saturday morning. Last year, the changeover to digital television began, and before I flew to Austin, Dad bought a digital set-top box. More free-to-view, digital channels are popping up and last year with a possible presenting career in mind, I auditioned for a dedicated children’s channel.

Every Sunday we had the Brisbane city newspaper delivered and I would delight in unwrapping it from the tight, blue film encasing. Each member of the family would read specific parts of the newspaper. When I was younger, I’d peruse the children’s section with cartoon comics and by the time I was a teenager, I’d prefer to read about women’s issues and lifestyle. Both parents and I would also read the local newspaper on Tuesdays and Fridays. Dad also liked to peruse the news from overseas online, mainly concerned with south-east Asia. Unfortunately, I only visited both sets of grandparents every few years, but I do remember they always had newspapers.

My mom likes to read books more than Dad, the non-fiction kind with heart-warming storylines. When I completed preschool, they gave me another favorite book called Enoch the Emu. From the age of five until 15, I read books constantly, mostly borrowed from the local and school libraries. I indulged in adventure and fantasy, because I could voyage away into my imagination. Strong female characters also sang out to me like the girls from The Saddle Club. Although I’m 22 now, I still have a special attachment to my childhood books and I hope one day my own children will read them.

As a child we subscribed to National Geographic, but my parents haven’t subscribed to any magazines for more than 10 years. These days the only magazines lying around are various home improvement and lifestyle titles that Mom buys second-hand from the library. 

What I could always count on was someone in my family listening to the radio, whether it was the news or classical music station blaring loudly when Dad picked me up from school; in the kitchen where the “golden oldies” played while Mom cooked dinner; or in my bedroom humming along to the top 30 countdown and doing my homework. The most interesting piece of music-making in our house would be Dad’s record player, which he’s actually fiddled with two times in my life. I’m very proud of his Beatles collection. However, the cassette and CD player from our sound system did embrace a few Harry Balefonte and Val Doonican runs when I was in primary school.

Aladdin released in Australia in1993 was the first movie my parents took my brother and me to see, and other than that special occasion they rarely went to the theatre. Except a few years later, we began going to the drive-in movies once a month or so until they closed down. We also had a VCR that was mainly used to record shows and play other Disney movies like The Lion King.

My parents seemed to use media as both entertainment and news source. Since we had our nightly news ritual, there was always something to talk and debate about. Big news meant big discussion. Sometimes if Mom or Dad read an article they thought would be interesting for us, they’d cut it out and leave it on the kitchen table. Dad still sends me news articles via email.

Because I’m away from home for study abroad, I sent an email to my parents asking for their recollections. My Mom replied with some memories. Her Uncle George used to work for the Cathay movie theatre, and she thinks he may have been a technician since he also helped to make local Malay movies. My great-grandma Aunty Lily also worked for the Cathay as a secretary and because of her free tickets, she became a movie buff. In her email, Mom says, “I remember she'd go to the movies every week!” She does recall watching the moon landing on television and that the set was used for family entertainment. They would all watch together; however, programming was limited from 6pm to midnight, all in black and white. No kissing and no sex. They were very lucky to have one in the household because the neighborhood’s poor people viewed television at community centers.

Also I thought it was important to answer a few of the questions about my recent experience with mass media. My usual routine back in Brisbane begins and ends with the news. I love to enjoy my breakfast on the couch with the morning Today show; find out what sort of day to expect; and engage with the presenters sometimes even lamenting about the female anchor’s wardrobe choice. This little routine I miss quite a great deal, especially now because I am an intern at the local news station here in Austin, KXAN News. It doesn’t feel quite right to be disconnected with what’s happening in the world, so I’ve resorted to visiting the KXAN website when I have the time.

From media consumer to producer, I have a front seat at the helm of the news-driving machine. With every shift I gain more of an understanding and insight into that mysterious news-making world. And I’ve realized that for me television is not just about helping to create news, when your face and presence is televised into people’s homes; you are able to have an effect on their lives. During the summer of 2008, I was involved in a documentary series, Roadtrip Nation. As a team of three Australian women, we interviewed intriguing people about their life stories and were filmed while our interviews took us on a road trip from Los Angeles to Portland, Maine over six weeks. The season was broadcast in November last year on PBS. So I’ve been able to experience from within the production streams both the news and entertainment function of mass media.

Earlier this month, I visited the Roadtrip Nation headquarters and what surprised me was that my image and my story have continued to be used to help with the organization’s other goals like education programs in schools. In some ways, I’ve lost some ownership of my own image in order to serve another function of mass media - to educate. That’s something I completely overlooked when considering my use of mass media, and first-hand through my reflections and experience, I’m beginning to fully realize the influence and impact mass media can have as the story-tellers of past generations and generations to come.

Dallas to come...

Finally....my first day at KXAN

With my head in a cloud and my palms sweaty with nerves, I arrived at KXAN uncharacteristically early for my news internship. The great thing is that I live only 10 minutes walk away.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, debating whether to check my appearance in a mirror, and feeling completely overwhelmed, very unsure and ill-prepared; my supervisor and news producer Haley Cihock walked through the door. It was the first time we'd met. My first impression of her was a lady who was straight-spoken and career-minded. She was also only a little taller than me, which was reassuring for some reason. With a brief introduction, she took me straight into the 2:15pm editorial meeting. Three weeks later, sitting in on the editorial meeting has become part of my routine.

As I sat in the news director's small office with seven other strangers, my fretting continued. Should I give up my chair to the lady sitting on the floor? Do I need to take notes? Maybe I should just smile and nod. Yes, good idea!

After the meeting, Haley handed me a yellow packet of information and forms to be signed. The yellow folder, although very important-looking, didn’t seem to give me a clear picture about what I’d be doing exactly at KXAN. I think I was expecting a run-down of what a typical news intern did throughout their day. Maybe even a checklist of duties would've reassured me. But I would learn very quickly that there is no typical news day. Duh!

And interns aren't typical anything. We try to absorb as much as we can from anyone who'll give us the time of day. Nor do we have a desk or table, so you basically need to hunt for a free computer and hope no one needs it. It's a weird in-between, non-existent sort of being; existing somewhere without a place to stake your claim.

Back to the first day: Haley gave me a quick tour of the studio and I realised how much technology has influenced broadcast news stations. Robotic cameras filmed the anchors during the newscast! After I met more co-workers from the control room and the marketing department, she suggested I pick a reporter to tag along with. Nothing had really registered in my brain during that first meeting, but based purely on her kind face, I decided to follow Shannon Wolfson, who was filming a story about a man recently arrested for impersonating a female Los Angeles model. Completely not typical!!!!

So I hopped into a KXAN ford explorer with Shannon and Daniel (photojournalist), who has become my best teacher. Chasing this story didn't really help with my disorientation because we were literally following leads and investigating as we went driving all over and outside of Austin. We visited Pflugerville with no luck, then drove to Georgetown to interview a detective involved in the case.

Shannon, as well as writing a news package and filing a web story, needed to practice her news read for the 9pm CW news, which she anchors. Once 9pm rolled around, I watched her in action in the studio sitting beside the floor director as he controlled the robotic cameras.

Finally, my whirlwind of a first day was topped off by watching the 10pm newscast. This time from behind the sub control room desk with producer Haley as she guided the team through the broadcast.

In the days following Wednesday, 20 Jan, I panicked a little (ok a lot) about my inexperience. With some words of encouragement from my mum, I'm going to fudge (fake) this like Oprah did when she first started out. Well I've survived eight shifts and discovered that I'm not so terrible after all.

Helping out Daniel courtside

at an amateur game - Cedar Park stadium, Austin

Dobie Food Moments

I had to add this today as I sat with Tom at breakfast and tried a blueberry pancake "corn dog". In other words a sausage on a stick wrapped with a blueberry pancake and deep-fried. As Tom exclaimed, "Only in America!" Promised myself one bite, then ended up eating the whole thing, which keeps happening!!!!

And Tom wanted me to include my whipped cream experience too. Sounds suss anytime you mention whipped cream. Basically, Dobie was serving strawberry shortcakes for dessert and I had never used a can of whipped cream before, so I was too embarrassed to try, and kept staring at everyone as they managed to dispense fluffy, fake, white cream onto their cake. So Tom made a point of teaching me how to use one. Really, it's a "be there" story.