Genius: The Modern View

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: April 30, 2009

Some people live in romantic ages. They tend to believe that genius is the product of a divine spark. They believe that there have been, throughout the ages, certain paragons of greatness — Dante, Mozart, Einstein — whose talents far exceeded normal comprehension, who had an other-worldly access to transcendent truth, and who are best approached with reverential awe.

We, of course, live in a scientific age, and modern research pierces hocus-pocus. In the view that is now dominant, even Mozart’s early abilities were not the product of some innate spiritual gift.

His early compositions were nothing special. They were pastiches of other people’s work. Mozart was a good musician at an early age, but he would not stand out among today’s top child-performers.

What Mozart had, we now believe, was the same thing Tiger Woods had — the ability to focus for long periods of time and a father intent on improving his skills.

Mozart played a lot of piano at a very young age, so he got his 10,000 hours of practice in early and then he built from there.

The latest research suggests a more prosaic, democratic, even puritanical view of the world. The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark.

 It’s not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it’s deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft.

The recent research has been conducted by people like K. Anders Ericsson, the late Benjamin Bloom and others. It’s been summarized in two enjoyable new books: “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle; and “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin.

If you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you’d take a girl who possessed a slightly above average verbal ability. It wouldn’t have to be a big talent, just enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction.

Then you would want her to meet, say, a novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar biographical traits. Maybe the writer was from the same town, had the same ethnic background, or, shared the same birthday — anything to create a sense of affinity.

This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would, Coyle emphasizes, give her a glimpse of an enchanted circle she might someday join.

It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, infusing her with a profound sense of insecurity and fueling a desperate need for success.

Armed with this ambition, she would read novels and literary biographies without end. This would give her a core knowledge of her field.

She’d be able to chunk Victorian novelists into one group, Magical Realists in another group and Renaissance poets into another.

This ability to place information into patterns, or chunks, vastly improves memory skills. She’d be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly perceive its inner workings.

Then she would practice writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and error-focused.

According to Colvin, Ben Franklin would take essays from The Spectator magazine and translate them into verse. Then he’d translate his verse back into prose and examine, sentence by sentence, where his essay was inferior to The Spectator’s original.

Coyle describes a tennis academy in Russia where they enact rallies without a ball. The aim is to focus meticulously on technique. (Try to slow down your golf swing so it takes 90 seconds to finish. See how many errors you detect.)

By practicing in this way, performers delay the automatizing process. The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills.

But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance.

Then our young writer would find a mentor who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her performance from the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges.

 By now she is redoing problems — how do I get characters into a room — dozens and dozens of times. She is ingraining habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.

The primary trait she possesses is not some mysterious genius. It’s the ability to develop a deliberate, strenuous and boring practice routine.

Coyle and Colvin describe dozens of experiments fleshing out this process. This research takes some of the magic out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected.

Public discussion is smitten by genetics and what we’re “hard-wired” to do. And it’s true that genes place a leash on our capacities.

But the brain is also phenomenally plastic.

 We construct ourselves through behavior.

As Coyle observes, it’s not who you are, it’s what you do.

“I’m a Genius!”

by Alexandra Stevens

 

It’s one of those expressions that people use often but not necessarily in the right way:

“I’m a genius!”  

 When someone thinks of a clever idea or gets a good grade on a test, “I’m a genius!” is what he or she proclaims. In these cases it is obvious genius is used as an exaggeration.

The question is: when is the word “genius” no longer an exaggeration but in fact, the truth? When can someone proclaim that he or she is a genius and be justified in doing so?

The only way to know the answer would be to measure what being a genius entails.

Can a baby be a genius?

A genius could be a smart person, a clever person, a unique person, or maybe…….just a hard-working person. 

The idea that you may not need to be smart or unique yet can still be a genius, brings to mind another overused expression:

“Practice makes perfect!” 

Hard work and practice could make you better, but it will never make you perfect. No one is perfect.  Yet, it seems that those who are closest to PERFECTING their craft, their talent, their overall-being, are those who get put in the “genius” category. So maybe, being a genius means being able to come as close to perfection as you can.

The two concepts of genius and perfection are linked.

This idea is discussed in New York Times columnist, David Brook’s opinion piece, “Genius: The Modern View.”  According to Brooks, even Mozart and Tiger Woods don’t fit the criteria for being labeled “geniuses.” But merely, he considers them to be just plain hard workers. They are able to practice enough to become experts in their crafts, yet they are no geniuses. This could be true, but credit must be given to the genetics of the situation. 

Brooks admits that “genes place a leash on our capacities” yet he doesn’t give enough credit to inheritance.  People inherit their looks, their minds, and their TALENTS from whatever all-mighty GOD and offspring they may have came from. Therefore, there is a SERIOUS leash put on certain people’s abilities, in the same way some people are tall and some are short. It’s predetermined. It’s genetic and hereditary.

And all of the practice in the world is not going to make a midget an NBA star. It just wouldn’t work.

Genius has to be a combination of both hard work and that extra “umph” that one person gets that other’s don’t. Genius is unique. It is special and can’t be manufactured.

Of course hard work will usually pay off, but true unique ability to come close to perfection, is what may get you inline to be a genius. And in that sense, one may be a genius only at certain things. 

Genius is many times referred to in the academic sense, that someone has “genius abilities” when they do particularly well in school or on an I.Q. test. Yet, aren’t the standardized tests such as the LSATs or SATS supposed to be a combination of measuring ability AND knowledge? Why should someone bother to STUDY and take preparation courses for these types of tests, just as millions of people do.

BECAUSE preparation and ability are intertwined.

Someone could study for the LSATS as much as humanly possible, and still not get a perfect score, yet someone with embedded ability may put in less effort and make the grade.

Basically, genius is a COMBO. A combo of practice and talent, and some people have it …some don’t.  The word genius would lose its uniqueness if everybody had it.

So cOnGraTs to those who fit this GENIUS criteria…this combination of good genes and determination. 

Then again, one could argue that maybe everyone has an inner-genius that is impossible to find. It is only those who stumble upon their genius, and then use their combo, to truly embrace it. Unless you’ve tried every sport and taken every subject in school, there’s no way to know which you would become a GENIUS in. 

So GO my friends, try new things and be on a mission to discover…it’s all about FINDING and then PERFECTING your inner-genius…if you have one.

So You Wanna Be a Journalist..huh?

Why would you want to be a journalist…

What’s your ultimate career goal…

Where do you see yourself in 10 years….

The response I get more often than not when I tell people that I chose English as my major and Journalism as my minor is: “Oh, you have to be a writer then.” And my response to those people is–“Actually, no.” Just because I chose a major and minor that weigh heavily on reading and writing skills does not mean that becoming a journalist or an English teacher are my only options in the slightest. Most importantly, I am lucky that the skills I learned from my major and minor can help me in many fields ,considering the sad state the world of journalism is currently in.  Journalists are losing their jobs left and right while major newspapers are shutting down. Just getting started in journalism could be very risky because of the unreliability of keeping your job. So, although I enjoy writing, and had fun writing for the school newspaper here and there, I took the “safer route” and decided to concentrate in Pre-Law, rather than journalism. I had never really wanted to become an English teacher, and  always thought of that as a “fall-back career” if all else fails. I decided I wanted to write for a paper or magazine or try the whole law-school “process.”  I am now still going through the process, between having studied for the LSATS for months and then taking the test twice, applying for internships and going on interviews for them, and now waiting to hear back from law schools.  Things did seem to fall into place when I landed the number one internship I wanted, working for the New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo. I worked in the Consumer Fraud Bureau as a Mediator between the merchants and consumers.  I also helped all of the lawyers doing the tedious work on their big cases. I found the work there all extremely interesting, yet, I got to see first hand how lawyers really do have long hours and tons of boring paper work. I must say, many times I thought back to working for the school paper where working on  stories meant going out into the world and not just sitting behind a desk. In the end though, the  journalism field is in a truly extreme situation due to techonology and the fact that everyone is getting their news from online.

Basically, I would have liked to become a journalist because it allows you to get out in the world, interview people ,and see things and meet people that you may have ordinarily never had the chance to talk to. A huge part of life is knowing what goes on in the world around you and thanks to journalists people are able to learn the news–local or international. 

So,  although I have alot of respect for journalists, in 10 years I would like to see myself as a lawyer.  I would hopefully see myself having completed law school (somewhere in New York) and having passed the bar and practicing law at my own pace. I will be able to have gotten married and have kids while still holding down a stable career. I know that law school and becoming a lawyer could be an overwhelming amount of work but I honestly believe if you work at your own pace it possible to do it all.  For now, even though my ultimate career goal is to become a lawyer, I am definitely OK with the fact that it might not work out. I am currently waitlisted at Pace Law School and waiting to hear back from two other schools in New York.  It has already been a long process that is no where near over. 

My number one piece of advice that I would give to anyone is to major and minor in subjects that actually interest you. Minoring in journalism allowed me to get a feel for what it could be like to work as a journalist and made me push myself to write for the school paper. It helped me to realize that writing for a magazine or paper could be something I would really enjoy–and it will still always be something I have in the back of my mind or may someday want to pursue.  Ultimately, if I could work as a lawyer for a little while, have a family, and then someday write a column in a magazine or paper on something that interests me, I would be very content with my life.

A Whole New World…A Whole New Job Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s poor economy changes everything in terms of getting hired.

TROY — With companies struggling and more than 6
million Americans receiving unemployment benefits, college graduates are
confronting the worst job market in years. Overall, hiring of college
graduates this year is expected to be down 22 percent from the number
actually hired last year, according to a survey last month by the Bethlehem,
Pa.-based National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks
hiring trends on college campuses.

A separate NACE survey found that starting salaries for bachelor’s degree
candidates also have dipped, down 2.2 percent to $48,515 from $49,624 a year
ago.
Thomas Tarantelli, who directs RPI’s Career Development Center, said fewer
recruiters visited campus this year than last, and students who would have
gone through rounds of interviews instead have turned to such social
networking sites as Facebook to post their resumes and search for jobs.
“It’s an entirely different job market this year in terms of how students
are looking for jobs,” Tarantelli said.
Many are deciding to put off the job search altogether.
“More of our students are considering graduate school,” said Robert Soules,
who directs Becker Career Center at Union College in Schenectady. DelBelso
said applications to graduate school by seniors at Siena also were up.
Adam Finkle, who will graduate from Siena with a bachelor’s degree in
biology, wants to take a year off, working in the fields of biology and
ecology to help him decide on a focus for the doctorate he plans to pursue.
So far, his job search has yielded mixed results. Some positions carry
modest stipends that won’t cover his living expenses.
“I’m going to have to live off my income,” he said. “I’m responsible for
health insurance and car insurance, and I do have student loans.”
Work experience, through internships or so-called co-op programs in which
students work for a year for a prospective employer before they graduate, is
becoming more critical in finding a job, students and career counselors say.

It’s a way of differentiating their resumes from those of other students.
It’s also a way of discovering opportunities that might not at first seem
obvious.
Mallory Mason, a senior at Union, spent the summer before her senior year as
an intern at Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm in New York City.
“They didn’t tell me they had a hiring freeze,” she said. “We just kept
being told they didn’t know if they could hire.”
She also applied to the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for an
internship, but that “didn’t work out for me.”
Now, as graduation approaches, PricewaterhouseCoopers has offered her a job
and she has accepted.
Mason expects that the auditing firm’s services will be in demand as banks
and other financial institutions face increased regulatory reporting
requirements, and that will make
her position “a more stable job.”

Some students are trying to distinguish themselves even before they reach
senior year.
“To me, a resume shouldn’t be something you’re trying to build. It should
reflect what you’ve done. Do things,” said Eric Allen, an RPI junior from
San Jose, Calif.
Allen was part of a recent two-session seminar on entrepreneurship conducted
by Robert Chernow, vice provost for entrepreneurship at RPI. The session,
titled “Planting Seeds for Success: Becoming More Marketable in a Tough
Economy,” was intended to encourage students to consider starting their own
companies, or at least to think like entrepreneurs.
“There’s a mindset that goes along with being an entrepreneur that no one
seems to grasp or talk about,” Chernow said. Entrepreneurs “are really good
at recognizing opportunities.”
Morrow, the 22-year-old RPI mechanical engineering major from Waldwick,
N.J., believes he has found an opportunity with his fledgling company.
He plans to produce small multi-tool devices for a niche market he has
identified. He already has presold 100 of the devices.
But he’s still interviewing for a full-time engineering position.
He says the job would provide a regular income and health benefits while he
builds his startup on the side.
In his area, entry-level salaries typically range from $45,000 to $60,000.
“Now, if you can find a job, it’s trending to the lower end of that,” Morrow
said. “Two years ago, I could have started at $55,000.”

As an undergraduate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute senior Mike
Morrow launched his own company. Now, he’s looking for a job, but with few
responses to his dozens of carefully targeted resumes, Morrow’s startup may
become his full-time vocation. 
Edwin Koc, director of strategic and foundation research for NACE, said the
job outlook is particularly tough in this part of the country, thanks in
part to its dependence on the financial sector.
“The Northeast and the Far West are probably the worst off,” he said.
Emily Tracy, a 23-year-old from Utica, will receive her MBA this spring from
the University at Albany. She posted her resume online, but said that really
wasn’t effective.
She also mailed the resume to more than 50 companies, and fewer than five
even acknowledged receiving it, Tracy said.
Then, in the middle of March, she received an offer from UAlbany’s
University Auxiliary Services, which provides dining, bookstore and other
operations on campus. She won’t even have to move, Tracy said.
College career counselors are contacting employers who visited in previous
years, but not this year, to see what jobs they may have.
“We’ve identified 75 openings so far,” RPI’s Tarantelli said.
RPI and Union also are working with the Albany-based Center for Economic
Growth to encourage Capital Region employers to recruit on campus.
Deirdre Sweeney, director of career services for UAlbany’s School of
Business, said a group of upstate business schools teamed up for their first
ever joint job fair recently in Syracuse that attracted 32 employers. But
not all were hiring for full-time candidates.
“Some were looking for interns,” she said. “Some were just getting their
presence out there.”
Some jobs remain in demand.
“Health care — nurses, doctors, pharmacists — these professions seem to be
in pretty good shape,” said Union’s Soules.
Accounting and engineering also are doing well, said Siena’s DelBelso.
And two-year colleges that offer programs in such fields as nursing and
dental hygiene report a boom in applications. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, accounting salaries rose 2 percent to $48,377, and finance salaries were up
2.3 percent to $49,754.
“I had close to 300 applicants for 45 spots in dental hygiene this year,”
sadi Mary Claire Bauer, director of admissions at Hudson Valley Community
College in Troy. “Nursing had over 800 applications for 145 positions.”
But while those fields are holding up, others aren’t.
Hudson Valley’s job fair last year attracted 160 employers. This year, just
70 employers attended, said Gayle Martel, director of the school’s Center
for Careers and Employment.

At Siena College in Loudonville, Debra DelBelso, the career center director,
said the number of employer visits is unchanged from last year. But
“employers who had hired eight to 10 (students) are hiring two now,” she
said.

Graduating seniors aren’t the only ones turning to college career centers
for assistance.
Wes Dedrick, a 2000 Hudson Valley graduate who had been in auto sales,
contacted Sim Covington, assistant director of the school’s career center,
after that business began to struggle.
With Covington’s help, the 29-year-old Dedrick found a position with
telecommunications provider Time Warner Business Class, a job he called “a
really good fit.”

Overall, average starting salaries for graduates with a bachelor’s degree
have slipped from year-earlier levels, thanks to the recession. But some
fields, including engineering and business, had increases. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, engineering salaries rose 2.3 percent to $58,438 and chemical engineering
graduates did particularly well, with a 2.8 percent increase to $65,403.  Also, liberal arts graduates saw a 1 percent salary increase, on average, to$36,807, and computer
engineering graduates saw a 1.8 percent increase to $61,017. Yet not all fields had increases, where as
computer science salaries fell 3.6 percent to $57,693.  

The particular field and approach to getting hired are bigger factors than ever concerning the job market . In the world today, a degree is no longer any sort of guarantee for a career.

The RockyMountain News Dies…

 

After watching the video of the “death” of the RockyMountain News and reading many of the staff’s blogs on the issue, I felt truly sad for all of the people losing their jobs.  In a time of economic crisis combined with online techonology taking over print news, it is not a huge shock that newspapers are starting to decline.  As the editor of the RockyMountatain News, John Temple, stated in his blog ” It’s crucial to note that newspapers across the country are being hit by a financial double whammy: a national economic meltdown and a dramatic shift in advertising spending.” One women reporter on the staff had a blog that really caught my eye.  I glanced at her writing briefly, as she began her blog stating that the day she found out the paper was shutting down was the second worst day of her life, and the first was the day her mother died of brain cancer! That statement really hit me and made me realize that these reporters are losing a job they truly love, due to finances and technical reasons that the newspaper had to fail.  I liked that in some of their blogs they talked about each reporting job they had..those that stuck out in their minds as great experiences, and those that were somewhat of a nightmare. Either way, seeing the tears in their eyes in the video and the sound of sadness in their voice in their blogs, you can tell each reporter was losing a special part of their life when the RockyMountain News announced it would be shutting down.

A huge publication such as Rockymountain News failing, and the fact that print journalism is failing does make me wonder how journalism could ever be a career option for myself. I think I would enjoy being a reporter or journalist more than any other career I have looked into. Yet, I have always looked towards other options because I am nervous that journalism may not survive, except for Online papers, and who knows how that will all work out.  This day and age is an interesting one for journalism, and a sad one for the journalists at the Rockymountain News.

Violence and Crime in Albany: SUNY Albany student safety at risk

ALBANY–Violence and crime in the Albany, NY area is an ever-growing issue, especially in the downtown “student ghetto” where a majority of SUNY Albany students live. Every single day there is some form of violence committed–whether it is a house or car robbery …even an attack or murder.

Surprisingly, students are in many ways not anxious about the threat of this violence. An overwhelming number of students choose to live downtown in the notoriously dangerous area. Even those who have been victims of violence continue living there despite their experiences.

According to “statestats.com” Albany is one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America. And according to “neighborhoodscout.com” Albany’s crime index is only 6% (meaning, it is only safer than 6% of all other cities in the U.S.). In the past few years violence and crime have remained prevalent in the downtown area.

One SUNY Albany senior, Jared Smith, stated, “I don’t think it’s fair that we live in such an unsafe neighborhood. UAlbany should hire more cops to patrol the “big streets” like Hamilton, Hudson, Western, and Ontario.

students on HUDSON STREET last spring

Smith, a UAlbany student who currently resides on Hamilton Street explains his recent incident with violence: “People used a glass cutter to cut out our kitchen window. Once in the house they kicked all four doors in and took whatever they could. No one was harmed. ”

Smith continued, “If someone wants to rob a house they are going to do it no matter what. ”

Due to the crime in the downtown area, the Albany City Police Department, set up the “Operation Safe Corridor Steering Committee”, which according to the them has already made progress in helping the in the “Pine Hills area” become safer.

The University Police Department (UPD) makes sure that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights there are extra uniformed patrols are in the area. Also, video surveillance cameras have been set-up to monitor pedestrian traffic.

The UPD website  explains, ” Residents are encouraged to walk on the designated Operation Safe Corridor streets rather than side alleys or other less traveled streets. The streets are as follows: Western Avenue – from Main Street to Quail Street; Quail Street – from Western Avenue to Central Avenue; and Ontario Street – from Western Avenue to Yates Street. ”

Basically, it is up to the students themselves to be aware of the risk of violence and to take every saftey percaution possible not to become a victim. UAlbany Senior, Marisa Tartaglia stated, “I honestly don’t feel safe living downtown but there have been several occasions where we left our door unlocked. One time I even left the keys in the door… and nothing happened.”

Some students may not realize how much of a risk they put themselves  in by not being as safe as possible at all times, or by drinking and walking around downtown.

Inspector Aaron Mull, of the New York University at Albany Police Department, points out: ” One of the most basic ways to stay safe is to be aware of your surroundings. If you are drunk, you can’t be as aware….don’t get drunk!”

Mull continues, “Every student, particularly if they are going to drink, needs to be conscious of their own security. It’s the 70, 20 ,30 rule: 70% of people are assaulted by themselves, 20% are assaulted when with one other person, and groups of three or make up only 30 % of attacks.The majority of offenses are gangs related or sports fans against eacother.”

Another SUNY Albany student, and a victim of violence, Natalie Chicone stated, “I never felt that unsafe but since the attack there have been times when I won’t want to do things unless I am with a bigger group.”

The attack Chicone is referring to occured last spring when she was walking downtown at night from the popular bar “Micheals” with a friend near Madison Avenue. A man ran up behind them and showed them his gun. He stole one of their purses and ran away. Chicone stated, “After it happened I felt like it wasn’t real.”

According to Inspector Mull, “The important point is that when you are involved,[crime] is no longer a statistic… it’s an invidviual experience.”

The University Police Department  are making efforts to keep students safe who are living downtown yet, those living on campus are ” Seven times less likely to be a victim of crime,” stated Insepctor Mull. The problem is that living on campus comes with a much high price tag–an apartment on  campus in Empire Commons could cost around $800 a month, while downtown rent is around $300.

Living downtown may be a choice students make due to finacial reasons, or because they want to live near their friends. Either way,  Inspector Mull  encourages students to remember three main saftey tips:

1. Never walk alone.

2. Always be aware of your surroundings.

3. Drinking and drug use puts you at a much high risk to be a victim.

Staying safe is a personal choice– it is up to the students to make sure they don’t become a victim.

Sex Columnist Leaves UAlbany Students Blushing

 ” I like to think of this as having a drunk converstaion with my friends at  a bar about our sex lives”, said Dan Savage, famous sex columnist,  at  the University at Albany last Tuesday night.  By 9p.m., Februrary 10th, the campus center ballroom was packed with UAlbany students and faculty to hear the very funnny Mr. Savage speak about everything from relationships to how to make your boyfriend have an erection.  

The very openly gay  guest speaker was one of the events being held in honor of “Sexuality Week” at the University, run by a student organization called Middle Earth.  Carol Stenger, the Coordinator of Health Promotion and an attendee of Savage’s talk said, ” Sexuality week helps the students become aware and educated about different topics in sexual health, while also having fun.” 

Savage’s “talk” was certainly fun but also  interesting, informative and even outrageous. 

 “I’m just going to answer your questions..this is your agenda”, said Savage. He answered the anonymous questions that the audience had written on blank index cards before the talk.  With calm and wit  he went through the cards one by one reading aloud whatever was in store. 

 One of the first questions was, ” Can your vagina get loose?” Savage responsed:  ” Well, when that happens you can always just roll over!” The crowd gasped with shock and erupted in laughter not only at this response but almost every one he came up with.

One girl in the audience turned to her friend and whispered, ” I love him already!”

Savage is known for his sex column, ” Savage Love”, that first appeared in 1991 in The Stranger, an alternative weekly paper.  His column gives advice to readers of any sexual preference.  He is also an author of: Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins And The Pursuit Of Happiness In America, Savage Love: Straight Answers from America’s Most Popular Sex Columnist, and The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant. 

Savage isn’t all laughs all the time–he finds himself amidst controversy often due to his clash with conservatives. 

 One question from the audience asked about Savage’s opinion of race and homophobia.  Savage was quite passionate in his response, stating, “Race has a lot to do with it and African American homophobia is a problem.  Also, seven percent of gays that voted for McCain had to be racist, because there’s no other reason they could have wanted him for President.” 

Savage gave advice about both sex and relationships.  He said, “We want to apply a standard that sex should be risk free for it to be OK meanwhile we don’t apply that to anything else like skiing, eating sushi, or jumping out of a plane….it’s all a risk!”

He continued,  ” In a relationship you should be the 3 G’s..good, giving and game.”   

 “ Being good to your boyfriend or  girlfriend means sometimes you do things you don’t want to so the other person is happy..don’t listen to people who tell you you should never do anything you don’t want to. ”

One person asked a seemingly typical question for a sex columnist: ” How do I meet someone to form a relationship with if I don’t like bars?” Savage’s response to that:  ” Bars are full of people who don’t like bars…If you want to meet someone, go to the f*ing bar.”  He paused, and then continued,”You don’t like bars? Tough sh*t. Go to the bar.”

One guy in the audience, John Giarizzo,21, a UAlbany senior said, ” I’m here because my friend in Middle Earth told me  to come. This guy’s really funny but I was uncomfortable when he was talking about blow jobs, I’m not gonna lie.”

Giarizzo might be referring  to when Savage demonstrated with hand motions how to give oral sex to a man.  Savage joked, ” See, this is the gross stuff you guys ask about, I just wanna talk about politics!”

From raunchy topics to semi-serious ones, Savage answered one question that stood out from the others. Someone asked if his son experienced hardships growing up with two  gay dads. 

Savage replied,  ” Not once has anyone said anything to him about our relationship.” 

” We know we’ve encountered people that disapprove yet they’ve put up with it. That’s tolerance. It means you put up with things you don’t agree with.”

An important point to  take from listening to Savage speak is that sex is your choice to be open about.  Savage said, ” When and where you choose to share your sexuality is a gift.”  

 Savage’s extremely well-spoken while humorous  “talk” certainly left the audience smiling.

Selena Papaconstantinou,19, a UAlbany Sophomore stated, ” I came because I had to for class so I didn’t know what to expect. He was so funny–like Dane Cook status.”

One of Savage’s closing pieces of advice for the audience to ponder:  ” Sex is possible even when there isn’t a hard penis in the room.”

video

Savage Standup

 Dan Savage, the sex columnist who first appeared in 1991 with the column, “Savage Love”, in The Stranger will be speaking tonight at the University at Albany. 

Up until 1999 he used the greeting to his column, ” Hey faggot” so that the word would become more socially acceptable. 

His column invited readers of any sexual preference to jump aboard and it’s  published once-a-week with informative and outrageous sexual topics.  The column is now syndicated to other alternative weeklies.

 

Savage is the author of: Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins And The Pursuit Of Happiness In America, Savage Love: Straight Answers from America’s Most Popular Sex Columnist, and The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant.

 

Savage is now the editor of The Stranger, a Seattle alternative weekly. He’s also active in theater, directing queer plays. He  is openly gay and has faced controversy due to his strong opinions  against conservatives. He is known for his humor and frankness in his sex column.He has a son with his gay partner.

Are You a Journalism Optimist?

When I took my first journalism class two years ago one of the required readings was Mindich’s, Tuned Out and it was that book that  first made me realise how much my generation is different than my parents’ in terms of following the news.   The article, ” Journalism and Citizenship: Making the Connection”, by Munich, asks the same question: Are young people of today following the news less?  

Mundich brings up an interesting point that when he met with poor, black, eighth-grade students in New Orleans they were all reading The New York Times Online and it was because they had been assigned to read it in sixth grade. If keeping up with the news is assigned in school people with stick with the habit, and I experienced this first hand. 

If student’s are quizzed on current events, they certainly will have more of a motivation to follow news. It’s that simple.

So yea– ” news organizations and media companies need to connect with students” is true.  But is it true that young people don’t trust the news and that is why they lack the motivation to follow it? Maybe, but this is a time when more young people are becoming involved and interested in politics.

 Whether it was because of the  interesting current Presidential election, or the fact that economic times are bad–I recently found myself and many of my peers more up to date about politics and news.  The concept that this is the time  for “the connection between journalism and citizenship” is on point.

The article ” Journalism as a Conversation” brought up the point that new technology such as blogging or microblogging such as Twitter ( “an ongoing digital conversation”) is a large part of journalism today. Can people actually learn more from reading someones post about a news event rather than watching a traditional news story? Possibly, but the problem with  relying  on Internet news as your source is there is a bias perspective of the writers that are blogging. The idea that “each generation creates its own new culture of journalism …we are clearly in full creation mode right now” couldn’t be more true.  With the ever-growing technology it will be interesting to see if print news can survive.  The optimistic attitude that just because journalism is changing  doesn’t mean it is  a bad thing is needed.

The article, “Digital Native: Following Their Led on a Path to a New Journalism” touches on how journalism is now digital and in constant phases of technological adoption.  My freshman year I became aware of things such as Facebook, Youtube nd Blogging but over time I learned how to use it through peers and teachers, and by my senior year most of my classes only use blogs and technologies  like Blackboard. Students  apply new technologies for school just as journalists must also.

As for the other articles– one brings up an optimistic approach to “new journalism”–stating that going into the journalism profession shouldn’t be looked at as scary, but rather as a challenge.  Experienced ‘print’ journalists  have a lot to teach new people going into the field, who will of course use the web, but can also help print survive.

You  have to ask yourself–are you are a  journalism optimist?  Do you believe ‘print’ and the field itself can survive?

NYTIMES article

Checked Out Online Magz

After looking at the online magazines that I personally have interest in  including Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health and Time Magazine I also took a look at The Onion, Huffington Post, and Rolling Stone.  Almost every magazine had a section for opinionated blogs, politics, photo gallery, and entertainment.  I think that with a classroom of about 23 opinionated college students the personal blogging section could be very important.  If certain students are particularly interest in politics while another is interested in health and nutrition, they could focus their attention on posting a different blog for each issue.  I also think that it of course will be important to focus on politics especially due to the fact that we are living through history in this very moment.  We should not only be reporting facts but also focus on getting people’s opinions and comments heard in some way, since we are the  people of America that are being affected by the many changes in government and the economy. On that same note, because we are young people, the other categories  to focus on would be entertainment news for some light topics, such as celebrity and music news.  Maybe our first issue out could have something not just about the Superbowl, but about the commercials during it, and the direction the media took this year as opposed to other years.  Also, I personally find health a very interesting topic, so maybe that could be a category important to cover as young people.  I don’t know if we were going to also be including anything about UAlbany or campus events  but if so, that could be a category each student could probably contribute greatly too since each of us have separate lives and interests all the same school.