A Paler Shade of White

I noticed Calvin’s AP Stylebook as I approached his table, which sat amongst a sea of student workspaces on the first floor of Byrd Library. Tomorrow marked the class where our group had to present a summary of Frank and Cook’s The Winner-Take-All Society, accompanied by a liberal and conservative critique. Nyrie completed our presentation trio as the liberal counterpart to my conservative spin and Calvin’s objective center.

But Nyrie wasn’t there yet, so there was some time to break the ice. Who knew that the “journalist’s bible” could spark conversation?

I soon found out that Calvin was a magazine journalism major, minoring in political science. He was in the middle of editing stories for Jerk magazine when I came and sat down.

I’ve always wanted to write for Jerk but I never got around to it. The Daily Orange had become my main journalistic outlet that I just never really strayed from.

“So, how diverse is the staff?” he asked, being Jerk’s copy editor himself.

My mind reflected on the D.O. office on a typical Monday night. I go into a side room on the first floor to write my Student Association story and pass through majority of the house on my way to the News room for editing. I was disappointed to realize that after mentally skimming all the faces I do encounter during my visit to 744 Ostrom, every single one is white. Granted, I don’t see everyone that passes through the front door. But from entering, walking up the stairs, around the corner, down the hall and past perhaps five rooms, I can’t seem to recall seeing any differences.

Just a few weeks ago in editing class we were talking about how it’s important to have a diverse staff. Staffing a workforce outfitted with a variety of people, coming from different backgrounds and different experiences, helps against producing a biased paper. Coverage is expanded by the input of broad range of interests, some that might otherwise be ignored or unknown without familiarity of certain communities.

I was embarrassed. I hadn’t realized how uniform the D.O. was.

“It probably wouldn’t hurt to have more diversity..” I didn’t know how to say, “Yeah, it’s all white.” I didn’t want to admit it.

Calvin brought up how he was surprised that the Jena 6 demonstrations hadn’t been reported on. I know The Black Voice had an A1 dedicated to it, and rightfully so. But where was the D.O.’s coverage?

I shamefully had no explanation for the D.O.’s ignorance. As much as it’s my news editor’s job to find newsworthy topics for articles and to assign stories to writers, I too have a responsibility to pitch stories that I think are important.

Nyrie did show up to our meeting soon after that, and we did get our presentation together. We laughed about our class and similar experiences with past political science courses.

Our presentation went well today; we each executed our parts without hesitation and with confidence. I’m happy to say I think we all came away with A on the project, but I think I came away with a much more valuable evaluation overall.

Sleepless in Syracuse

My friend Mikey was scheduled to have this published in The Daily Orange, but for whatever reason the Opinions editor decided against it.

A damn shame, because it's a great piece. Therefore, I've taken upon myself to let the man talk. Well, write.

Sleepless in Syracuse

I’m surrounded by darkness. All I can see are the dark silhouettes of a heavyset man and his thin companion. I do not recognize them but the vibrations they emit trouble me. Suddenly I hear a voice. “Hi folks, Tom Park here and I’m with Billy Fuccillo.”

I wake up in a cold sweat screaming. “Thank God,” I think to myself, “it was only a dream.” But then a menacing thought crosses my mind, much more troubling than the nightmare itself, “Billy Fuccillo was in my dreams.”

Fuccillo, a 1978 SU graduate and former football star is the undisputed king of local advertising. He also sells cars; about 40,000 in 2004 according to an interview he gave the Central New York Business Journal.

I am deeply disturbed, no… haunted, by the frequency of Fuccillo’s ads; but, his strategy Amy Falkner, associate dean for academic affairs and an advertising professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, described as “beating you over the head with an ad every 10 seconds,” works.

“Everybody knows who he [Fuccillo] is,” explained Professor Falkner. Fuccillo’s fixation on reach — exposing as many people to his message as possible — and frequency — exposing people to his message as many times as possible — has made escaping his media dragnet a futile endeavor. The CNY Business Journal dubbed this phenomenon the “Fuccillo Effect.”

“He’s doing it [advertising] over and over and over so when you are in the market to buy a car the first name that comes forward is Billy Fuccillo,” Professor Falkner reasoned.

But I fear the “Fuccillo Effect” is doing much more. On August 3, 2007, the Albany Times Union posted “What landmark(s) would you consider for a contest selecting seven wonders of the Capital Region?” on its website.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable handicap that he is not a landmark, Billy Fuccillo received 8% of the vote, easily surpassing South Glen Falls’ Cooper’s Cave, and nearly defeating the State Museum.

The first page of a Google search [conducted on 9/20/07] of Billy Fuccillo yields: one link to the Fuccillo.com, three CNY Business Journal articles, Fuccillo’s MySpace Page [not real], an old Fuccillo commercial in which he shouts about Hyundais from the heavens, one blog entitled “Billy Fuccillo: Still a Huge Tool,” a DO article, and a blog in the “Commercials I Hate Forum”. Of these, the only link of use to someone in the market to buy a car is Fuccillo.com.

His strategy of hegemonic media saturation is too powerful; Billy’s name is apt to appear in people’s minds at anytime, not just when they are in the market for a car.

While it has helped Billy sell thousands of cars, the “Fuccillo Effect” has also led hundreds of Central New Yorkers believe Billy Fuccillo is a landmark and given me nightmares. The “Fuccillo Effect” must be kept in check.

In 2004, former DO contributor Jake Goldman challenged Fuccillo to a high stakes race around the world [winner takes the Fuccillo Automotive Group]. The race never took place but I applaud Goldman’s moxie and fortitude. At least he can say he tried to end this madness!

- Mike Zahler

American Monarchy?

Like many students studying political science, I recognize that not just anyone becomes president.

Strong advocates of the American Dream might argue that if someone works hard enough and has even god-given talent, he or she can head the Executive. It's true: someone might have amazing speaking skills, a natural knack for diplomacy and an innovative plan for the United States, and you would think there is nothing that should hold back that person. Too bad that's not the case.

I don't mean to sound bitter, but there is a harsh reality is can't really be ignored. Money, education and family background heavily contribute to a politician's success(or anyone else's success in life for that matter).

In the U.K., its Oxford and Cambridge that condition England's finest for Parliament. In the U.S., its a degree, or 2, from the Ivy League variety.

Family-- family with money ideally-- also matters a lot.

Many recognize that these factors can improve one's chances of success, but that individual talent and dedication is the end-all, be-all.

Slap-in-the-face #1: George W. Bush.

Born to the 41st President of the United States, W earned a bachelor's degree from Yale and a Master's from Harvard. Seriously?

I almost feel like people see his diplomas and assume he's intelligent. If his intelligence was judged solely on action and grammar, you'd think he hadn't even graduated high school. It's a perfect example of how the "track" helps you become president, even if you're not the most qualified in reality.

Family in politics is an interesting element too.

Time recently had an article about Argentina's First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her prospective plans to run for president next term. Her husband Nestor Kirchner currently sit as President, but maybe not run for re-election next term so his Senator wife can have a stab at the spot.

Apparently the couple plans to continue the he-run-then-she-runs alternation, avoiding the constitutional ban of holding office for more than 2 consecutive terms and still holding power within the party.

Fernandez de Kirchner noted in the interview with the author Tim Padgett that, "If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency next year, the [US] will be ruled by two families for a quarter-century."

I had never thought of that before. And for the first time I started to really look at U.S. Politics in terms of families, almost like monarchies.

Good luck aspiring presidents. I hope you can break the cycle before another Bush gets into office..

Got to love the back page of the front page

I try and regularly read the newspaper, as I should. I've taken a liking to Roger Cohen's column but it was Gail Collins commentary on the '08 presidential hopefuls that really struck me.

It was so well-written and entertaining. I usually don't just write a short blog post to highlight something in my day, but I'm going to do it anyways.

And the question develops, why shouldn't I write just short posts to expose extraordinary things of my daily life?

I'll get back to you on that. Perhaps in a 100-word post tomorrow.

Don't do this at home

I might be the first person in history to have "Mormon" programmed into my cell phone contact list.

A few weeks ago my friend Josh was sitting at his apartment, lounging, watching TV. The commercials that interrupted his TV program probably contained the typical spread of advertising: the toothpaste, the new blockbuster out on DVD, the new form of men's birth control? He was just as intrigued as you and I, according to my friend Sam, but decided to use for evil.

And this is why I receive daily phone calls from the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Josh knew that submitting my contact information to the men's birth control site, as a request to get more information, would not really make sense. But Josh, being the darling person he is (and clearly with way too much time on his hands), thought Mormonism would be a safer and more effective prank.

Soon later, when a personalized e-mail was delivered to my inbox thanking me for my interest in the Church, I knew something was up. I told Sam about it and he just started laugh.

"I know who did it," he said. "I swear I told him not to do it."

Shawn, who also lives with Sam and Josh, said I should be lucky.

"He was going to give them your address, so you should just be happy he didn't do that."

I should be happy? My contact information was released without my consent and now I have the LDS trying to convert me daily.

I finally confronted Josh yesterday.

"Hey, ps, I hate you."
"Why?"
"Oh, you know exactly why."
"I really don't know why you would hate me."
"Does daily calls from the Church of Latter Day Saints ring a bell?"
"LOL. I'm sorry. I thought you would pick up and just tell them not to call again."

That sounds like a reasonable solution, if not the only one unless I do want to convert. But I feel bad being rude. After all, "I" did request the information.

As of now I'll continue to let the Mormons call me.
Maybe one of these days I'll pick up and have a nice little chat.
Maybe I'll even convert.
Maybe I'll even go further and vote for Mitt Romney.
A lot of maybes, and not a lot of promise.

Despite using that expression, I swear I don't kill birds with stones

Last spring I was the Daily Orange University Union beat writer. University Union is the student programming organization that brings speakers, concerts, movies, comedians, radio and other entertainment to campus.

My coverage ranged from announcing breakthrough-pop-jam-band O.A.R.'s concert to U.U.'s financial battle with our student government to revamp their funding.

I left for summer with more clips than I had ever accummulated in one semester, a few more professional relationships and a feeling that I definitely wanted to be a beat writer again -- just not for U.U.

Two different letters came to mind: S.A.

Also known as, Student Association, SU's student government.

I had interviewed the president and comptroller for my U.U. budget story, so I had already broken the ice with two sources I'd probably quote a lot. The interviews were really professional, which made my job easy. There was no confusion to what was on and off the record. Answers were well-said and clear.

So I was assigned -- fall SA beat writer. I go to their weekly assembly meetings Monday night and then head over to the DO office to type up my story. Sometimes I follow-up on issues mentioned in the meetings. I even write feature-esque pieces to offer more broad coverage of the organization.

U.U. was fun -- revealing new information about upcoming shows and dealing with entertainment -- but SA satisfies my other half.

Being a newspaper/political science dual major, I don't always get the opportunity to morph my interests into one activity. I'm either writing for an event or trend, or debating or reading about social policy. I kill two birds with one stone with SA.

And it's not only a personal win for me. I really feel like this beat impacts the community. People tell me they saw my article and they learned something or I'll overhear students talking about the things I wrote about in my article; I never got that with my U.U. beat.

So as much as I'm happy that I get to cover the internal workings of the student government, I think I'm most happy that my words actually hold some kind of weight.


Additional SA stories from this semester thus far:

Cut in Haven Dining Hall's hours discourages committee chairman

Senior voted to serve on Judicial Review Board

Members from Cabinet fill open Assembly seats

"Hotspot" doesn't mean "Popular Hangout" anymore

The waiting room is too far from the dentist chair to hear the drills digging out my sisters’ wisdom teeth. The 45-minute procedure in entering its last 15 minutes and I have already skimmed the week-old Newsweek and fashion photography magazine. I’ve got nothing to chit-chat to my dad about and even if I did, he already has his nose in his book.

My eyes wander the office. Nice orange color on the walls, the décor is pretty warm for a dentist office. The air conditioning might be off because it feels a little stuffy. The mother of patient switches seats to sit closer to whom I've assumed is her husband. She gives off a nervous vibe; he, an apathetic, laid back demeanor. The receptionist window is empty. I think there is only one secretary and she’s busy elsewhere.

To the right of the open, sliding glass window is a sign that surprises me – “WiFi Hotspot: ssid: mdpublic”. Free wireless in the dentist office?

Municipal wireless is emerging all across the United States, providing entire towns and areas wireless internet. Access is granted through mesh networks, which span both indoors and outdoors.

The service is funded by local government. Public-private partnerships allow private establishments, like coffee shops and in this case dentist offices, to offer the service to their customers.

Rockville, Maryland recently outfitted a downtown shopping complex with the service with no cost to its patrons. Residential buildings located within its range can subscribe to the service at a monthly rate.

This summer California public transportation buses in the Bay Area began offering broadband connections to passengers. Laptops, smart phones and MP3 players can all access the internet on commutes to send email or share media.

City broadband offers benefits other than being able to listen to internet radio while lying in a park. Maintenance work and follow-ups can be monitored from a computer home base through widespread wireless. Water meters could be connected to the internet and their levels could be posted on a site, saving companies money sending people out to physically check them.

First step, linking up the state.

Second step, the world. (How cool would it be to still be chatting online while across the Atlantic to Europe?)