J-Student Interviews Political Journalist on DNC 2012

Watch journalism student Tremone Jackson interview Charlotte Observer political reporter Jim Morrill about the Democratic National Conference to be held in 2012 in Charlotte:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P4GMyCkAM8

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Click here to read and listen to the voices of UNC Charlotte students participating in “Occupy” protests, which are taking place across the country. Reported by alum Rhiannon Fionn (’09) for Creative Loafing

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Market Yourself to Make Good of That New Degree

By Stacey Cloyd

College diploma?  Check.  Respectable GPA?  Check.  Oodles of extracurriculars?  Check.  Creative community service?  Check.  Job?  Not exactly.  Sound awfully familiar?

Facing a tough job market, with 14 million unemployed in September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, is enough to inspire fear in the most fearless of college graduates.  Although you may have a list checked off, you may still find yourself unable to find a job.  “Surviving this job market requires brash confidence and pure cunning,” writes James Van Meter, contributor to College Finance at DailyFinance.com.

“The way you dress, what you put on Facebook, the way you design your resume, how you enunciate, and whether or not you floss — everything needs to be part of an identity that you are choosing to establish for yourself as a professional,” he elaborates.

Van Meter encourages job hunters to market themselves with a part-time job, a brand, a mentor, and a blog.  About the blog, he stresses that “If you can show initiative by conducting research and efficiently organizing and communicating your processes, you will be able to provide any potential employer with immediate and tangible evidence of your proficiency in your field — which is all they’ve wanted this entire time.”

To reap the benefits of having a mentor, network with people knowledgeable in your field of interest.  Who is doing a remarkable job at what you want to be doing?  When you find that person, forge a bond and nurture it.  Ask her if you can buy her a cup of coffee and talk about the field or step into her shoes for a day or more by tagging along as a job shadow.

Alex Thomas, a guest blogger for Pounding the Pavement on GoliathJobs.com, says to “take a good, hard look at how the past four years have shaped you.”  In other words, get to know yourself.  She also suggests that you “Subscribe to magazines, newspapers, or web content about your field of interest,” in an effort to “become an expert in your field from your home computer.”

According to Thomas, mining your past may also be invaluable, as “There’s no such thing as a bad contact.”  Dig around in the pile of connections that’s been accumulating throughout your college years.  Don’t hesitate to set up informational interviews with some of those individuals.  It may be time well spent.

Don’t let the throngs of checklist masters discourage you.  Market yourself to outshine the rest so you can call that job yours.

News and Features

Is the Freelancing Life for You?

By Jessica Arenas

Independent Charlotte-based journalists visited aspiring student journalists Nov. 15 on campus to talk about the highs and lows of the freelancing life. The Greater Charlotte chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists sponsored a panel discussion for students called “Paid in exposure:  Should journalists work for free?” Three independent journalists shared their experiences and advice.

The panelists were:  Mary C. Curtis, a contributor to The Root, NPR. and the Nieman Watchdog blog; Rhi Fionn, a UNC Charlotte alum and successful local independent journalist; and Michael Solender, City Life Editor for Charlotte Viewpoint. Charlotte Observer’s Andria Krewson served as moderator.

Each writer, highly knowledgeable in their craft, has earned their success and has discovered useful strategies as writers. Their main advice to the students:  Don’t work for free – most of the time.

Being your own boss is an appealing advantage. Unpredictable paychecks can sometimes be frustrating. UNC Charlotte alum Fionn, who has extensively covered the dangers of coal ash and most recently the Occupation Movement, encouraged students to carve out a beat to report and write about.

All three shared that at the beginning of their freelance careers, it was “fine to work for free to a certain extent” to establish a career.   The life of a writer will always bring creative challenges to reporting and writing, but the writers emphasized an independent journalist leads a rewarding life. The thrill of your work and name appearing in print or online never gets old.

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Grandma Anne Keeps the

Neighborhood Kids in Line

By Ieisha Green

On any given weekend you can expect to see a petite old lady on Concord Street in the quaint town of New Bern, N.C.,working in her yard or sitting on her porch hissing at the neighborhood kids riding their bikes too close to her curb.Across generations, this little old lady has been dubbed “Grandma Anne”. And she’s not your typical neighborhood bully.

Joel Byer, 24, grew up in the very neighborhood where Grandma Anne still resides. He recalls the many run-ins he had with her and even one where he ended up handcuffed in the back of a police car. “I felt like she did everything in her power to make my childhood miserable,” he says now. He theatrically recounts how she would scold him and his friends for riding their bikes too closely to her sidewalk and how she once called the police on him after her house was egged and toilet-papered. Byer maintains to this day he was innocent and that the little old lady simply had a vendetta against him.

If you ask any kids in the neighborhood today about Grandma Anne, they would recite the same stories back. There would be plenty of tales of how she harasses the children who walk and ride bikes by her house, and even whispered rumors that her house is haunted. They would indeed whisper to you of how she never has any visitors and only leaves her house to go to the grocery store and back.

Around campus …

“dreamBig.standOut.goFar”

By Allison Campbell

Ashlei Elise taps her black leather braided-strap sandals on the cream-colored carpet, trying to keep rhythm to Nikki Minaj’s “Super Bass”.  Gulping down a vanilla Coke, she whips around to her laptop and clicks the iTunes repeat button.  She proceeds to sing “Super Bass” in a tone that can only be described as awkwardly confident.

Her floral tank top is layered with a gray cardigan sweater, which adds a touch of femininity paired with distressed jeans.  Her long, light brown hair is partially covered by a trendy purple beanie.

Greeting me with an enthusiastic hug, she is raring to start talking.

The 21-year-old UNC Charlotte senior is majoring in Communication Studies with a concentration in Mass Media.  She is this year’s Radio Free Charlotte Station manager, a full-time student and the creator of The Elise Project.

Ashlei says her life requires a balancing act consisting of pre-planning, list-making, time management and a lot of late nights in the library sometimes until 2 a.m.

The Elise Project is comprised of the live talk show, “The Ashlei Elise Show,” the Release Elise News Site, the Ask Ashlei online blog and the self-explanatory radio show “Ask and Tell.”

Her innovation is a direct result of yearning for more opportunities for self-expression.  She felt she needed more experience than just working at Student Media.  “I just wanted to live out my dreams and I didn’t want to wait,” she said.

Ashlei Elise attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville.  Because her parents are in the Air Force, she was shuffled from base to base throughout her childhood.  Her father is from Charlotte, which is one reason why she chose to attend UNCC.  Also, she says with a smile, “They offered me a scholarship.”

The summer before her freshman year of college, Ashlei lived with her grandmother in Charlotte.  Her grandmother didn’t have cable television at the time, so Ashlei was limited to watching local television stations.  She recalls viewing talk shows that “did nothing for me.”

As a result, fireworks of inspiration burst in her head.  She latched on to the idea of being an entrepreneur and created a talk show geared toward her generation.  Thus, the “Ashlei Elise Show” was born.

This drive is what makes her Project unique.  The team strives to offer more than just entertainment.  Ashlei believes her generation needs to pay more attention to politics and hard news.

She describes the show as “a youthful mixture of ‘The View,’ ‘Ellen,’ ‘Tyra’ and ‘Oprah’.”  She adds, “You have politics, current events, music, creativity like Oprah, and the fashion aspect like Tyra,” all of which are her idols.

Twirling her necklace and cracking a slight smile, Ashlei reveals that her boyfriend Christian Soto gave her the necessary push to initiate the show.