NBA Draft 2009

The past two days of work have been absolutely insane, but entirely worth the work. Yesterday there were clips all over the place so the morning went very quickly. By 3 pm we were down in the WaMu Theater where the draft was to be held awaiting our walk through of where we would be escorting the players after they were picked. I sat there for two and a half hours, right behind the ESPN camera, watching Jay Bilas, Mark Jackson, Stuart Scott, and Jay Van Gundy perpare for then film their broadcasts. It was so amazing to sit there and watch how an actualy broadcast goes, especially the smaller broadcasts from the theater that were appearing on Sportscenter. I also decided to introduce myself to Jay Bilas because I was so enamored with what I was seeing. He was absurdly tall and very nice. He went to Duke, so I felt kind of bad for him (ha!), but he told me that his wife went to Wake Forest and that was kind of cool. He also asked me about what I'm studying in school and where I was working, etc. The walk-through was pretty confusing at first, but by the time I was escorting, I figured it out. Basically, for the first 15 picks of the draft, I stood at the very front of the theater, right behind the cameras that were filming the post-pick interviews of the players after they left the stage. I was within feet of the great NBA stars or flubs of tomorrow. I was within feet of what could be my future? When I was awaiting the pick that I was escorting, which turned out to be UCLA's Jrue Holiday who was chosen by the Philadelphia 76'ers, I was standing next to another one of the cameras filming the post-pick interviews. The camera operator turned around and asked me if I was an on-air person, like a reporter. I replied, no, I wish. He said, well you should be. That OBVIOUSLY made my night. Then, Jrue Holiday was chosen (ps I would've been escorting James Johnson if he had been there, but he was home in Wyoming) and I led him from his post-pick interview to a series of other interviews. First was with ESPN radio which was right there in the theater. After five minutes of that, we walked through the screaming fans in the theater and through the fans in the lobby all the way to the press conference setup. He had interviews with a former basketball player for TMobile then moved on to the EA Sports press conference and EA Sports booth. Then we went into the liveshot room which was pretty cool. Basically, the liveshot room was a set of curtained off cubes where major stations like CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. were awaiting players to come by and give interviews. I can't imagine what it would be have my future chosen in front of hundreds of thousands of people then be whisked away to talk to a bunch of reporters and fans before I even get to sit down and think about what's going on. I actually express this to Jrue, how impressive it was that he was able to handle all of that. Yet, he was unphased. He was so unphased that we had legitimate conversations throughout the night. About leaving UCLA, the west coast, about Philly, about basketball, about life. It was refreshing... I was always concerned about athletes being dimwits who don't realize what they're doing before the camera or don't deserve that much attention. But, as much of a regular guy Jrue was, he was a talented one, well beyond the court. He was very eloquent compared to many other athletes I've observed and he was collected. He wasn't hauty or cocky or anxious. He was accepting of his responsibility as a public figure and willing to do what he had to do to make it through the press junk. After the interviews with those stations then ESPN.com and the NBA Network, we went to the phone room where he spoke with a coach or a newspaper or something. I was too busy staring at THE STEPHEN CURRY and coming to terms with the news I had overheard, that Michael Jackson had passed away, to really know what he was doing. Yet, once he was done on the phone, we returned to the theater and I brought him to the photo room where he reunited with his parents. I was done by 11 pm which was a lot earlier than expected. What was also unexpected was the fact that we had so much responsibility as escorts. I mean, some of the higher picks were given official team escorts from whomever picked them, but once it got past the top 7 or so, like where I was assigned, it was me, the player, and the body guard. I was the one who had to make sure that Jrue made it to all of the interviews and press conferences. I was the one who spent his first few minutes with him during the beginning of his NBA career. It's kind of neat. I think the most important aspect of my experience last night however was how passionate I was about the broadcasting that was going on before my eyes. I was riveted by the entire process, by the talent, by the skill, by the mere fact that these people were speaking to the entire world right before my eyes. And also, I noticed when I was walking around with Jrue that I had to hold myself back from asking him questions. All I wanted to know was what was going through his head, how he was feeling, what was good or bad, from his eyes, about his present situation. I think thats the reporter in me. I didn't bring my camera with me so I won't be posting any pictures of the draft, but I will try and get a picture of my media credentials so you all (yes, all zero of you who read this) can know that I'm not lying. WOW.

Not Your Typical Monday

Before I address what I've done today, I'd like to note that I had clip duty yesterday morning. So I arose at 630 on a lovely, rainy Sunday, trekked to Penn Station to get newspapers, came up to the 14th floor of the office, and discovered that I did not have weekend access to the office. Raced back to my apartment, did clips, all is well. Today has been a little different... we had a meeting with all of the interns on the floor and the person who is in charge of all PR in the company. It was a pretty interesting meeting because he told us about how he was an intern for the Rangers and basically worked his way up to the position he holds now in a span of 8 or 10 years. He was also really straight forward and gave us a lot of advice about how to take advantage of our time here. We have a similar meeting with one of the women in the office next week so it'll be interesting to hear if what she says is the same/different. Today I also got to fill some 'goody bags', typical PR intern move, with shirts and such. I'm guessing they're to give to the kids who are doing the Knicks summer basketball camp. Otherwise, today has been the same as any other day really. The draft is coming up on Thursday so there have been more articles in the paper talking about us and the NBA and the Garden. Sunday papers were ridiculous because the Daily News decided to celebrate their 90th anniversary with an assortment of pictures that were related to the Garden. I can't believe that I have already been here for over three weeks. Time is definitely flying by!

The edited version...

ON A SEPARATE SHEET, respond to this prompt in one page or two pages (suggested 500 word maximum). As with any writing, consider anecdotal evidence from your experience to support your thesis and viewpoint. Don’t worry about polished prose: get your ideas down honestly and personally.

In what do you believe? How might your talents and personal characteristics work to support you in that belief?

I believe in peace. I believe in the word itself, its phonetic ability to calm nerves and invoke hope. I believe in the weight it has carried across oceans and throughout centuries. I believe in its literal meaning, the opposite of war, the lack of chaos or violence. I believe in its existence, not just in literature, in retrospect, or in a utopian paradigm far beyond the reach of humans, but within the arm span of every person to walk this Earth. I believe that we, as human beings, have the power rhetorically, mentally, and physically to achieve a placid understanding among each other regardless of the situation and despite the resources, or lack thereof, at hand. Men, women and children have stood up for peace with words and numbers. Leaders have risen from the dustiest caverns of humanity, standing among the harshest of enemies and above the most threatening of dissidents, demanding that we find another way. I look back at the most outstanding people of human past and see a glimmer of possibility that we, too, in a world that cynics claim to be tainted by technology and pop culture, can surpass the aggressive norm that we often resort to and rise above the expectations of our generation.

I have become fixated on the potential of peace through both my studies and personal experiences. I am involved in a very random assortment of extracurricular activities on campus and off campus, from the Wake Forest Dance Team and the Board of Investigators and Advisors, a division of the Office of Judicial Affairs at WFU, to a camp counselor at Camp Wayfarer in the Blue Ridge Mountains and a Public Relations Intern for the New York Knickerbockers. Throughout each of these engagements, I have encountered various tests of my will, curiosity, morality, and patience, all of which have given me hope that even the most trivial and biting of quandaries can be solved by taking a step back, surveying the situation, and collaborating with my peers in order to devise the best solution. Yet, beyond my personal experiences outside of the classroom, I find the larger scale arguments for peace that I have encountered through discussions with professors, writing papers, and reading historical documents, to be most compelling. From learning about the oscillation between military regimes and democracy in Latin America in my Latin American Government and Politics class, to analyzing Nelson Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech for my Historical/Critical Research in Communication course, I have witnessed the makings and fruits of peace in the most trying of times in human history. It is these findings, along with the social and academic challenges I face on a daily basis, that motivate me to believe in peace and act as a constant reminder that I, too, one day, may be capable of perpetuating my beliefs into actions that will help me help the world change itself.

In one of his more famous songs, John Lennon begged the world to give peace a chance. Yet, my unwavering faith in the concept of peace reaches far beyond granting it an audition, a chance to be what works. What I believe in, what my talents and personal characteristics have drawn me toward, is the idea that we are capable of giving peace an opportunity: an opportunity to grow from soil corrupted by the gravest of apartheids, an opportunity to withstand the most intimidating of threats, an opportunity to flourish in the most compromising of situations. This is a belief that has taken me a long time to acquire, but one that I hold close to my heart and steadily in my head, unfettered by the seemingly obvious counterarguments on which the modern world has become so reliant. I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi’s famed quote, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” for motivation in even the most trivial of situations, regardless of how easy it would be to aggress, lash out, or give up. I know I am young and have many lessons to learn in the future, but I find Gandhi’s words to be enough to convince me that as long as I keep asking questions, begging for answers, and fighting for what I believe in, there will always be that lingering possibility that my confidence in peace could evolve from abstract hope into a beautiful, tangible reality.

Being somewhat productive

Just not in terms of my internship. I know I haven't been writing much, but that's because every day has been relatively the same here in the pit. Yesterday I was given the glorious opportunity to take a cab uptown to pick up tickets for my boss for Shrek the Musical. I guess I can add cab-hailing and busy-work to my resume? A few interesting things outside of my internship have occurred though which I'd like to briefly highlight. Well, just one thing is standing out. The other day, on my way home from the gym, I found that a mass of people had formed in Union Square. These people were protesting the controversial election that just took place in Iran. To be honest, I'm a little confused on what is going on over there because I haven't paid close enough attention to the news. Yet, what I do know is that it would be pretty awesome to witness a REAL military coup going on somewhere in the world after studying so many of them in Latin American Politics. An ironic statement coming from me though, considering the second thing that has happened outside of my internship that I'm sharing. That is that I received an email yesterday inviting me to join the Wake Forest Scholars program which, I guess, is a corps of people who are eligible to be nominated for fellowships, grants, scholarships based on merit. I'm bored, so I jumped on the opportunity to test-drive my essay. Here is the prompt and what I wrote this morning... if anyone reads this blog, which I'm pretty positive no one does, I wouldn't mind some input. Just know that this is more of an overblown rant than what I'll actually be submitting. Sometimes... all the time... when I write, I get in trances and just put down what I feel and think. I guess that's what happened here....

ON A SEPARATE SHEET, respond to this prompt in one page or two pages (suggested 500 word maximum). As with any writing, consider anecdotal evidence from your experience to support your thesis and viewpoint. Don’t worry about polished prose: get your ideas down honestly and personally.

In what do you believe? How might your talents and personal characteristics work to support you in that belief?

I believe in peace. I believe in the word itself, its phonetic ability to calm nerves and invoke hope. I believe in the weight it has carried across oceans and throughout centuries. I believe in its literal meaning, the opposite of war, the lack of chaos or violence. I believe in its existence, not just in literature, in retrospect, or in a utopian paradigm far beyond the reach of humans, but within the arm span of every person to walk this Earth. I believe that we, as human beings, have the power rhetorically, mentally, and physically to achieve a placid understanding among each other regardless of the situation and despite the resources, or lack thereof, at hand. Men, women and children have stood up for peace with words and numbers. Leaders have risen from the darkest caverns of humanity, standing among the harshest of enemies and above the most threatening of dissidents, demanding that we find another way. I look back at the most outstanding people of human past and see a glimmer of hope that we, too, in a world that cynics declare tainted by technology and pop culture, can surpass the aggressive norm that we often resort to and rise above the expectations of our generation.

I have become fixated on the potential of peace through both my studies and personal experiences. I am involved in a very random assortment of extracurricular activities on campus and off campus, from the Wake Forest Dance Team and the Board of Investigators and Advisors, a division of the Office of Judicial Affairs at WFU, to a camp counselor at Camp Wayfarer in the Blue Ridge Mountains and a Public Relations Intern with the New York Knickerbockers. Throughout each of these engagements I have encountered various tests of my strong will, curiosity, morality, and patience, all of which have given me hope that even the most trivial and biting of quandaries can be solved by taking a step back, surveying the situation, and collaborating with my peers in order to devise the best solution. Yet, beyond my personal experience outside the classroom, I find the larger scale arguments for peace that I have encountered through discussions with professors, writing papers, and reading historical documents, to be most compelling. From learning about the oscillation between military regimes and democracy in Latin America in my Latin American Government and Politics class, to analyzing Nelson Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech for my Historical/Critical Research in Communication course, I have witnessed the makings of peace in the most trying of times in human history. It is these findings and these experiences that have motivated me to believe in peace and it is the academic and social challenges that I hope to overcome in my future that I believe will prepare me to perpetuate my thoughts into actions that, if I am lucky enough, will help me help the world change itself.

In one of his more famous songs, John Lennon begged the world to give peace a chance. I think we all believe in giving peace a chance. Yet, what I believe in, what my talents and personal characteristics have drawn me toward, is the idea that humans are capable of giving peace more than a chance. As can be proved as truth from the past, we have the ability to give peace the opportunity: the opportunity to grow from soil corrupted by the gravest of apartheids, the opportunity to withstand the most intimidating of threats, the opportunity to flourish in the most compromising of situations. This is a belief that has taken me a long time to acquire, but one that I hold close to my heart and steadily in my head, unfettered by the seemingly obvious counterarguments on which the modern world has become so reliant.

More on the ABCNews deal...

"ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained 'false premises':

ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue. ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

Great. We're glad you run a competent media outlet. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see how much of an Obama love-fest this turns out to be. Never thought I would speak this harshly against the actions and antics of President Obama.

A Follow-Up to What Hurts The Most, The Obama Edition

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about the White House's private media publication of Obama's visit with the UCONN Lady Huskies? Well, it looks like I was right in that the White House's own media coverage would become more of a norm in presentday politics/life. Here is a report from Matt Drudge that is just utterly disturbing. I quote:

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its
programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push
government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Is Obama making me more conservative? Because I'm looking at the response to this report that Ken McKay, the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee, put out last night and I am agreeing completely. What the report claims is that ABC News will be having a special broadcast dedicated completely to a 'townhall' meeting with Barack Obama that is devoid of any opposition voices. McKay claims in his complaint that the RNC requested "an opportunity to add our Party's views to those of the President's to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented" and yet this request was denied. McKay continues:

I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the
Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid
for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health
care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time
again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should
be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

Isn't this eerily sounding like Hugo Chavez's 14 hour ramblings broadcasted on nationalized television stations? Isn't this kind of close to the monopoly over media that we saw during the oppressive regimes not only in our neighboring South America, but also in apartheid and fascist African and European government structures? During the campaign, we saw lengthy ads from Barack Obama that detailed his plans for the economy. And you know what? We loved it. We loved that he was 'sitting down' like a little fireside chat, explaining to us in a little more detail about his plans for the economy if he was to be elected as President. It was a straight forward, to the point campaign effort that certainly paid off. But look, Mr. Obama, the campaign is over. This is America. We don't monopolize media coverage here. We don't take over news stations to promote our newest policy ideas. We debate, we discuss, we argue, we compromise. We iron things out on the big screen, in the grand stand, at the lecturn. WE do these things together regardless of one's registered voter status. It's great that he wants to promote what he thinks is best for the country and I love the idea that he himself is presenting it to our country. Yet, if he is going to go ahead and claim this is a 'townhall' production and that his intentions are to discuss the plans for the future, then the White House should not be denying representatives of the Republican Party from being present to play devil's advocate. If his plan is so perfect, if it will work so well, if it will solve all of our health care qualms, then what's so wrong with having someone from the opposition there anyway? Since when, in America, have we been so fixated on our own idea of what is right and what is wrong that we will refuse to even entertain an alternative? That is not what the United States of America stands for. That is not what the United States of America was built upon. I don't know if I can sit here and accept a President who rose to the highest realm of leadership in the world promising compromise and transparency and aisle-crossing policies, but has since moved so left, has become so cunningly opaque, and has so fervently rejected conservative ideas that it almost sacrifices the values upon which our nation was founded. I just don't know if I can do it.

Because I have nothing else better to do...

Today has been an utterly worthless day in the pit. We did all of the clips from the weekend and today this morning. I've been sending out internet clips all day, but otherwise I've been refreshing the Drudge Report and Perez Hilton's blog, checking out twitter, and staring into the collage of basketball photos on the backsplash of my desk. Oh, we did finish making the labeled magnets of players' names, positions, and universities for the draft. However, our supervisor isn't here today and neither is the rest of the department really, so nothing has been going on. I know for a fact there are going to be more things for us to do, but right now this shtuff is dull! There isn't even any fanmail or anything to respond to. I find myself googling 'knicks' every five seconds in hopes of finding something new to send out to keep me occupied. Oh, I forgot to note on here that I woke up at 7:00 am yesterday to do the Sunday clips. It was moderately tragic. Actually, it was in the grey area between black failure and white success. I got a lot of clips out, but the formatting was probably messed up because I was doing it from the webmail accesspoint. I was very thorough and checked to make sure I had everything on Factiva, but there weren't any newsstands open on my block so I wasn't able to check the hard copies... this led to me having to admit to one of my supervisors that I hadn't been using the newspaper and that I couldn't write the photo description for an article in the NY Post. Whoops. Then, of course, because I'm an idiot, I sent the e-clips compilation file to the distribution list through the regular field instead of BCC. And I also forgot to add the rumble and Mike Lupica's articles (even though it was written in my intern guide which I thought I had read closely). You live you learn though. I know next time I will be more on top of these things because of how guilty I felt for getting them wrong. My supervisors were in no way mad about it and even commended me for what I had done right. It was my first time doing it all by myself so I guess there was room for mistakes. I wish I had more to write about to occupy me from now (4:08 pm) to 5 pm, but I'm afraid that's about it. Unless you want another little rant on my opinion on nuclear proliferation... I don't think you do though.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

This makes me nauseous. It makes me absolutely sick. I am speechless in that I do not know how to express my anger and confusion toward a nation that blatantly defies the international laws that are intended to keep them safe, to protect them from the need for these defiant actions. This world is a dangerous place. There is terrorism. There is narcissism. There is hubris. There is suffering and there is conflict. Yet, we, as a community, as members of the colorful and diverse umbrella race that is humanity, must come to an understanding on the topic of nuclear weaponry. We are all one. We all love a God, we all love a country, we all fight for a people, we all embrace an idea of freedom, we all share common values involving family, love, power, and money. And yet we feel the need to fight because their God has a different name, their country has a different government, their people have a different mindset, their idea of freedom is not our idea of freedom, their common values are not prioritized in the same way as ours. Of course, we need protection. Every group of people needs protection because it is simply human nature to rise up against a minority as the fascists in Italy and Nazis in Germany once did. You see it on the playground and you see it in the workplace. Yet, violence and anger, war and conflict, should be centered on a fight against those who blatantly defy peace efforts, who stand up to the ultimate peace-keeper, the United Nations, and say "No, we refuse to end the development of a nuclear weaponry even if the rest of the world is finally willing to." The way I see it, they are throwing the overall idea of peace and resolution on the ground and burying it deep beneath soot and uranium and the ashes that once were the bodies of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They are promoting the threat of mass death as a means of maintaining power and yet no one is questioning their sovereignty. Sure, every nation wants to be at the top of the food chain, but if nations like North Korea who are so inclined to use the threat of the most barbaric form of weaponry fail to abide by the laws of the international realm, there will be no one left to live. We will be an empty Wall-E like planet that is infected not by trash and pollution, but instead is laced with radioactive materials that prevent anyone from living long enough to maintain a nation at all.

People should never be sacrificed in order to make a point. The threat of the deaths of innocent people should never be the central tactic for a nation trying to step ahead of the rest. Why can't the world see? We struggle in the U.S. to understand it. We struggle as humans to understand it. But all we are saying is give peace a chance. Try to see that we can all live as one community, giving and taking what is necessary in order to survive. I know that my country is no better. We used atomic bombs twice in order to shatter an opponent that may not have been an opponent if we had tried negotiation in the first place. There are so many grey areas with the events that led to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings though, just as there is so much chaos, miscommunication, and misunderstanding involved with any form of conflict. Yet in retrospect, even those who consider themselves to be the antithesis of historically-inclined (aka, me) can see that there were many windows of opportunity for someone to put down an iron fist, stop the buck, and declare peace over war. I look to the words of my political mentor, the man who inspires me to accept peace as the ONLY solution to conflict regardless of the audacity of our enemy and the call for violence of our people.

I call on all members of the United Nations seriously to consider this important resolution and to give it their support. We must ask the question, which might sound naive to those who have elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destruction - why do they need them anyway! In reality, no rational answer can be advanced to explain in a satisfactory manner what, in the end, is the consequence of Cold War inertia and an attachment to the use of the threat of brute force, to assert the primacy of some States over others.(Address by Nelson Mandela at the 53rd United Nations General Assembly).

So I'll repeat over and over again the title and chorus of my favorite John Lennon song. Give peace a chance. Whether it's in an argument with your mother or a discussion with the newly and controversially elected leader of Iran. I don't care who you are, who you were, or who you're going to be. I don't care how big your fight is or how quickly you could win. Forgo violence, curb your threatening words, and end the proliferation of nuclear weaponry. Just give peace a chance.

Blodging Already??

Ah yes, I am. Because it's 10:43 am here in the intern pit, I'm the only one sitting here, sports talk radio is on, clips are done, and everyone in PR is at the training center in Terrytown for the pre-draft workouts. I'm jealous. Yesterday I ended up getting to write a press release for the Knicks City Dancers audition saga. I don't have a way of posting it on here as of now, but I may be able to figure it out eventually. I could copy and paste it, but there was a lot of formatting involved so I'm not even going to bother. This morning I assembled the e-clips which is basically the computerized version of the hard copy clips that we distribute throughout the office every morning. I hadn't used bookmarking and within-document hyperlinking since middle school computer class so it was a nice refresher. A little tedious though... lots of copying and pasting. I need to start bringing my camera to work so I can show you all what my workspace and such looks like, but at the same time I don't want to be the sketchball intern who photographs everything she sees... actually. yes I do.

As promised though, I'd like to talk a little about something that is not related to work, but is related to my experience here in NYC. Yesterday evening I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex museum. It was pretty cool to see original documents and articles of clothing. I was absolutely star-struck at the sight of the working copies of Michael Jackson's Bille Jean, Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer, Madonna's Express Yourself, Billy Joel's Movin' Out. Yet, it wasn't until the long-awaited John Lennon Exhibit that I felt truly connected to what I was seeing. Yoko Ono contributed a lot of Lennon's items and belongings and historical documents so that the people of NYC, the city that Lennon adopted as home, could appreciate the reality of the larger than life music revolutionary. I was floored by everything about the exhibit. His words were projected onto the walls. His writing was on display. I learned that an obsession with peace and forgiveness is not the only thing that Lennon and I share. He loved collaging, he loved writing, he loved having meaning. The photography was captivating, as was the way that the museum had a wireless device that played music pertinent to what you were looking at as you went through the exhibit. I think the freak-out moment for me was when I stood in front of the last piece of the exhibit. It was a large canvas asking people to sign if they are in support of stricter gun laws. Next to the canvas as a brown paper bag with red ink-like stains on it. I read the little card next to the bag only to find that I was staring at the very bag of clothing that the police gave to Yoko Ono after John Lennon was murdered. Still stained in blood, the bag contained all that was on his person at the time of his murder. There was also a photograph on display that promoted stricter gun laws.. this photograph, as pictured here, was taken by Yoko Ono and shows Lennon's blood-smeared sunglasses looking out into Central Park. Breath-taking photograph in honor of a breath-taking man who made breath-taking music, but had his breath taken away far too violently and far too soon.

Official Day 4 in the Pit

So this morning as usual we compiled press clips and distributed them/emailed them out to the office. Since then I have been researching the birth places of various basketball players who played for the Knicks in the earlier half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it sounds. I've googled, wiki'd, and contacted athletic departments, but so far the closest I can get is 'hometown', as recorded in their respective universities' media guides. I even just called one of the hospitals in Bloomfield, NJ to see if that was where Herb Scherer was born, but as I anticipated, they do not 'verify' that information. I think THAT'S a little much. But hey, the best public relations interns go all the way. I'm pretty sure stalking the health records of a Knicks player that most superfans haven't even heard is a reflection of my wake forest-induced research hysteria. So work forest is good for something? Well, it's good for a lot of things. I was discussing the aforementioned lack of motivation that I have noticed in my roommates with Sallie, a fellow demon deacon chi omega, who agreed with me on the idea that being from wake has conditioned us to take things like internships and opportunities a little more seriously than the average citizen. I'll thank mother so dear for that because I would rather be obsessive and overbearing and overachieving than aloof, ignorant and disinterested. That's no way to live! Well I may have more later in the day, but as of right now, that's what my intern accomplishments for the day have been.

The Start of My Knicks Blodging

One of my sister's friends told my family a story about how is father thought the word blog was pronounced with a soft 'g' like blodge. For some reason I think it sounds more fun that way so don't be offended or confused when I use it. I am going to start talking about my time as an intern in the PR department for the NY Knicks for three reasons. One, Dr.Louden told me to think of something for my final project and this is all I could come up with. Two, this is an easy way to field the same questions about my internship over and over again. Three, it will break up my nit-picky political article ranting and mind-boggling attempts at expressing my daily/weekly sentiments regarding life as a whole, which was the initial purpose of my starting this blog a few weeks ago. I'm not just going to talk about the actual internship though because my time here in New York City is not just about sitting at a desk playing tetris until a famed sportswriter decides to update his own blodge about the Knicks. It's also about living in a city overflowing with eager interns, dazed hobos, and hidden celebrities. It's about living on my own in an apartment with three Texas sorority girls, with only ten people that I consider to be more than aquaintances in a 60 mile radius (sort of). It's about motivating myself to wake up at 6:45 a.m. every day only to arrive at the office, work on press clips for a few hours, then sit and refresh the Drudge Report until 5. It's about getting to and from work every day without spilling coffee on myself or losing my metrocard (considering that it cost $81 it'd be nice if it was more than a small piece of paper). Of course, it's about more than these minor encounters with reality. Yet, these are the things that I find to be more exciting, endearing, life-changing than the actual act of writing a press release. Although, I desperately need to get some clips so press releases? Yes please!

Since I arrived in New York, things have been a lot different from what I anticipated. First, my roommates. Three lovely sorority girls from Texas Christian who are interning in fashion. They're all older than me, all frighteningly gorgeous, and all very uninterested in actually working. I really like them a lot so I hope they don't ever see this blodge; I have a feeling they wouldn't appreciate my commentary on their work ethic. However, it is hard for me to comprehend how they could have the audacity to ask their employers to get off of work early or to have Friday's off when they haven't even worked a full week yet. Perhaps there's something I don't know - it's quite possible that their supervisors invited these requests. However, I know for a fact that if I were a supervisor for interns, regardless of how much work I had for them to do, I would be very offended and shocked if my subordinates requested time off or to have shorter business days. These girls are so nice, fun to spend time with, and witty. I just can't comprehend how they would not realize how lucky they are to have been given the opportunity to have an internship in one of the most powerful cities in the world. Sure, my hours are not ideal. And yes, I am getting some money to pay for my travel and lunch at work. Yet, interning is not about getting paid and it is not about putting in short days of entertaining work. It's about learning what the bottom is about so you can work your way up, networking on the frontier of your desired career field, and if anything, spending some time in the real world so your resume has more to it than babysitting and national honor societies. I've only been interning here for a few days and I've already figured that out. The second aspect of NYC that is different from what I had expected is the fact that I really like living here. I mean, I don't know if I could do it forever. I'm too much of a nature-oriented, home-loving, southern hospitality appreciating demon deacon to want to live in a sprawling metropolis for the rest of my life. Yet, the city is endearing in its downfalls. This morning as I approached Madison Square Garden, I overheard a few men conversing as they unloaded a cargo truck and I'm almost positive every third word started with an f and rhymed with duck. Sure, it was edging toward 7:30 am and I would've appreciated a gentle, whispering dialogue about rainbows and sunsets, but for a moment I laughed to myself knowing that there were very few places in the world (or in the South at least) that you would be greeted with f-bombs as you approach your work place every morning. It's little moments like that, endearing little diddies expressing aggression and new yorkedness, that make me glad I'm here.

Now to the real purpose of my entry - the actual 'journal' aspect of my blodge that will make this less of a diary and more of a final internship project. Dr. Louden will probably stop reading here - I kind of believed you when you told me that there was a very slim chance that you would read past the cover page of my million page research paper on the press' constant obsession with tying Barack Obama to John F. Kennedy. Yet, in the event that you skimmed to find the crux of my blodge... or if you haven't fallen asleep at the keyboard yet... I'll recap what has been going on since I started last Thursday so that you know how everything has been going down. Orientation on Thursday was one of the longer days in my life, but I met some people, learned a little nonsense about Cablevision, and eventually got to briefly speak with my supervisor and meet my fellow interns. I also watched a GREAT video demonstrating the levels of sexual harassment and I am forever changed. Later that afternoon, after the not-so-grand tour of Madison Square Garden and a series of identification picture taking, I met my supervisor, saw my workspace (which is called the pit, fyi), and met my fellow interns. I also learned that this is not a 9-5 Monday through Friday job. Oh no... it is quite often a 730 am-630 pm Sunday through Saturday job. I've accepted it though. Hearing my roommates riff and rant about how much they dread every 8 hour day of work makes me want to wake up an extra few hours early, stay a few hours later, and work an extra day or two. I'm not being sarcastic either. I know for a fact that one day these hours will pay off. I'm learning, I'm experiencing, I'm putting in my best effort and that is the greatest level of income I could ask for as a lowly college junior. Last Friday was my first real day of work. It was overwhelming: I had to learn about press clips... hard clips, e-clips, priority clips, these clips, those clips. I had to learn how to compile these clips and distribute these clips throughout the entire MSG enterpise as well. I learned about listening to sports radio for hours on end. I learned about responding (or not responding) to fan mail. I learned about 'superfan', the sketchy, mousey sounding guy who calls every day asking for a pocket schedule. I learned about answering the phone and transferring people on the phone. That was about it for day 1. I didn't have to come in over the weekend which was nice and then yesterday the real stuff started rolling in. I got to get in touch with Time Out New York magazine to pitch a listing for their publication; we want them to put our summer basketball camp on their schedule. Then today our supervisor explained to us what will be going on in the next few weeks since the NBA draft is rapidly approaching. There will be press releases and mock draft boards and phone calls and press clips and sports radio and media days and anything else public relations your heart could ever yearn for. And I'd have to say THAT, if anything, is what gets me on the subway by 715 every morning and keeps me alive and eager until at least 5 pm every day. I do have spare time (or at least I have had spare time in the past few days) so I will be sure to keep you updated on everything with words, pictures, examples of things that I've done, and probably a few pointless political rants just to keep the tides turning. Below is the pitch I wrote and sent to Time Out; it's basically what we would want them to put in their magazine, in case anyone out there in cyberspace is interested.

"The Gatorade New York Knicks Summer Basketball Camp, presented by Zipwayworldwide.com, will be holding two full-day sessions for children ages eight to eighteen at Hunter College. The camp sessions will allow children to sharpen their dribbling and shooting skills, learn new plays and make new friends, while meeting Knicks and other NBA personalities. Each camper also receives a Knicks camp uniform, shorts and a reversible jersey provided by Zipwayworld.com, a ticket to a Knicks and Liberty game and the opportunity to win trophies and Knicks prizes. The two sessions will be held August 4-7 and August 11-14 at Hunter College’s main campus from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. For more information on the Knicks Summer Basketball Camp, or to register your child for a fee of $425, please visit nyknicks.com or call (212)-465-4100."