interview of an Organization

Troy Blankenstein

Comm. 130

December 4, 2010

Interview with Mr. Mark R. Phillips of the USO

            I conducted my interview with the Vice President of Communications of the United Service Organization, (USO) Mark R. Phillips. Mr. Phillips received his Bachelor of Arts in the field of Art from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a Masters in Public Administration from Troy State University. He also graduated from the Air Force Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, Squadron Officer School, and the Defense Information School. Mark R. Phillips became a doctoral candidate through the University of Maryland’s Communication program. He is an accredited public relations practitioner (APR), through the Public Relations Society of America. While in the Air Force, Mr. Phillips served as a Public Affairs Officer with tours in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Bosnia, Croatia, and the United Kingdom. The USO was a great job for Mr. Phillips because he has seen both sides of its organization. As a Public Affairs Officer, Mark Phillips has been evolved in supporting combat, disaster, and humanitarian relief operations along with education, research, development, and acquisition programs. After interviewing Mr. Phillips I could tell how much he loved his job, and his field. He understood that every day is completely different from the next, and could adapt easily. For such an influential and powerful man, he gives you a sense that no matter what you throw his way he will embrace it and create a solution that is inspiring and beneficial to everyone.

A typical day for the Vice President of Communications for the USO is far from most. He says when you manage a program like the USO you are in charge of so many different things that your project list is can have 200 things to be completed that day. Things are set up and plans like segments on the Today Show, or working with the White House on projects for the troops and then you have days where your plan is turned upside down, for example the Shootings at Ft. Hood. Within hours of this event His team had to change their website, send USO units down to work with the media, families, and solders, they were the media outlet to the world. The one promise that Mr. Phillips said is a guarantee is that something will change that same day, and you will always need more money, people, and time than what you have to get it done.

When you are in the Public relations field, especially in the USO, there is no fine line of work from management to a first day intern. Daily Mr. Phillips gets dragged into little things like Press Releases and small work and in the same day has technical/Business work to deal with. As he says you need to be able to speech business and numbers to your bosses, and you need to be able to make a clear and useful message to the press. One way that he credits his skill for such adaption is his career in the Military. As a Lieutenant he was an Operations Management officer. One day his colleague suggested that he try out a new field that was on the rise, Public Affairs. After shadowing his buddy around for a few days he put in his transfer and became a Public Affairs Officer in 1992. After a 15 year career as a PA officer he was looking for a civilian job in the same field in the DC area. His first civilian job was this profession and has enjoyed every day of it.

One big thing that Mark R. Phillips likes about his job is the fact that it is different everyday no matter how much he plans for it. Military speaking he says, a good comparison to his job is a unit commander. There are so many different parts that it reminds him of his days as a Public Affairs Officer. The only down side of his job is that he never has enough resources, and that he constantly has to prove himself to the corporate world that Public Relations is an important asset to business.

When asked about one thing that he would have done different in preparing for his career he gave an interesting answer. He said that when things become hectic you tend to forget about the big picture and start to focus on the little details more than you should. He says that sometimes people don’t need all the details, even if you don’t think so; they just need the basic important “juicy” stuff. Along with that he wished that when he was an undergrad he would have taken more marketing, rhetoric, and business classes do to the fact that they are so closely related in his field. It would have given him a more open mind to exactly how a big business is ran.

His business is one of the most influential companies that support our armed forces. Mr. Phillips is directly working on a few upcoming and current events for our soldiers. He has launched a program to send care packages for female soldiers. He is prepping for the grand opening of the USO for the Congressional Caucus and the Dover Air Force Base mortuary. He has the annual holiday tour for Sergeant Major of the Army, along with a new event. For the fiesta bowl the half time show will be former professional football players will go to southwest Asia and conduct tryouts for troops to participate in a Pro vs. Troops flag football game. Plus many other daily events to make the troops lives a little bit easier.

As a former Officer in the military he believes that it has helped him in the civilian world and with his current position. In the military it is forced into your brain to work and think team and to become a leader. You work together and you make decisions together because your life depends on the guy to the left and right of you. In the military you learn to trust people, delegate and work as a cohesive unit to get the job done. When he came into the civilian world Mr. Phillips said that it takes normal people years to develop a team mentality. They all think about themselves and don’t care who they hurt. That, he said, is a huge difference in having a military background to none. 

Mark Philips believes that there are two important rules that people entering in the field of Public Relations should follow. One being that you should always take care of your people. If the people under you are taken care of and believe in you then they will work hard for you. The second is that you should be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes. When you are pitching a story to a reporter they may not be able to understand or think it is as important as you think the topic is. Make pitches to them that are in there language so it can be understood and they feel like it is an important issue too. Talk business to CEO’s and people above you, they want to hear facts and numbers.

Mr. Phillips thought that a good asset would be to prepare yourself for this field as much as you could to do so. He thought that an internship is a very important prerequisite to the real world. He also thought it was key, that you try and get an intern job at a business where you would like to have a career in one day. That way you can see if you are cut out for the work and to see if you really enjoy the job. As a current member of PRSA he thinks that PRSSA is a great organization and would expect that any Public Relations major should be a member of it dude to the fact that it can give you a good network of other Public Relation Students. Mr. Phillips said that the more you can prepare yourself now, the better of a practitioner you will be in the future.

Overall Mark Phillips loves the career he has had so far. He thinks that his job is a really cool job. He enjoys it so much because, he has to deal with some issues that can be hard sometimes and can make things difficult however; the idea behind the USO is a really good mission. The fact that he gets to support the troops and their families, is a wonderful job. He said that this position is a dream job that he is very thankful for. Mr. Phillips doesn’t see himself leaving his position any time soon, however there is one thing he would still like to do. He told me that one thing he really wants to do is teach Communication at the college level.

Mark R. Phillips is one of those people that when you hold a conversation with him, you get the feeling that everything is under control. He shared with me so much information and ideas that it made me want to do anything and everything to prepare myself for a career in Public Relations. One thing that I got from our interview is that he is a straight shooter. He’s the type of man that will tell you exactly what the situation is, good or bad. When he does, Mr. Phillips will explain what’s going good and why, and what needs improvement and how he’s going to do it. I understood how much love he has for is profession and I can only hope that one day I can have an outstanding and powerful career as Mr. Mark R. Phillips.

Herma's Readers

Troy Blankenstein

11/29/2010

Herma’s Readers

Radio ad and free media advertisement

            With the 2 million dollar budget our company has we will invest in radio ads for the local area. According to the WSLC-FM, 94.9 star country, website the average cost for a 30 second radio ad is $67.00. Depending on the time, date, and amount of times it is played and hour will depend if the ad will cost more or less. WSLC-FM is a local radio station that covers the New River Valley and Roanoke as well. Other stations that could be used and are around the same price are: WBRW-FM (105.3 The Bear), and WXLK-FM (92.3 Hot 92). These stations would reach multiple publics in south west Virginia, some being: Virginia Tech, Radford University, k-12 children, car owners and operators, community, Virginia tech sports teams, stores, and radio listeners. 

            An alternative to spending money on advertising would be the use of social media networks. Making a facebook group or event is an easy way to reach many publics and get messages out to mass amounts of people as quick as possible. You can also share pictures of years past to show views how great of a project Herma’s Readers is. Along with Facebook, Twitter, a Blog, and YouTube all can be used as free advertising that is quick and easy to use. Free social media networks can reach multiple publics, such as: VT sports teams, recruitment of athletes, PTA’s, local businesses, sponsors and partners, VT and RU students and alumni, and parents and siblings of local children.

T-shirts, pencils, bookmarks, and donation boxes

            Along with the venue for Herma’s Readers things like pencils, bookmarks, and T-shirts can be made to give out to the children and people participating. According to 123prints.com an order of 1000 custom made bookmarkers would cost $135.95. They can be designed to how ever you would like them to look. To go along with the bookmarks could be pencils made from pencils.com. An order of 9 boxes of custom pencils would cost $249.57, with a total pencil count of 1296.Along with the bookmarks, and pencils, custom made T-shirts from coustomink.com could be a possible option to give out for free or sold for profit. An order of 350 custom made shirts would cost $2,401.00. A donation box could be mass produces to sit outside of schools, businesses, and all over the NRV for donations to be made, sort of like the Toys for Tots boxes.  To make boxes like these would cost $880.00 for 100 from displays2go.com. All of these would reach the publics of, teachers, students of all levels, community members, parents of children, libraries, local businesses, authors, books stores, and publishing companies.

            Billboard and Newspaper Campaign

               One of our primary objectives in promoting Herma’s Readers is too reach a very broad audience.  One of the best ways we think to do this is through advertising.  One of our first objectives during this campaign is too launch a series of billboards throughout Virginia in heavily populated areas.  While putting billboards in more heavily populated and traveled areas such as I-81 will be more expensive, we believe it will be well worth the money as well as a discount we will be receiving for purchasing multiple billboards.  The next part of this particular campaign is to connect with people who like to read newspapers.  Newspaper ads are a great way to set the agenda and well worth the money needed to publish them.  We will be targeting some of the biggest newspapers in Virginia including the Virginian Pilot, Richmond Times Dispatch, and Roanoke Times.  The publics that we will be reaching just through these two campaigns will be enormous.  Adults reading the newspaper will see those ads while people on their way to work, school, or just driving on the interstate will see the billboard ads. The total cost for the billboard and newspaper advertisements will be right around $120,000. We plan on having 10 billboards up for an entire year at about $800 per billboard per month. Plus another $20,000 - $25,000 for newspaper ads throughout the year.

Reading Festival at Virginia Tech

                Our next idea is trying to promote Herma’s Readers in the community.  We will be having a festival located at Virginia Tech on the first Saturday in August of 2011.  This will be a great way for parents to bring their kids out and have a good time while learning how important and fun it is too read.  While there will be a lot of banners, standees, and other promotional items promoting Herma’s Readers, there will also be a lot of other fun and exciting activities as well. Food and refreshments will also be served for a small fee.  Some of the various activities include a bounce house, arts and crafts, and getting to interact with various sports teams at Virginia Tech including the football team.  The football team will also be signing autographs to make it a more personable and enjoying experience.  One of our main goals through this campaign is to reach the parents and children.  If children are taught the importance of reading early on we believe it will change their lives forever.  For this festival we will be combining public relations as well as advertising for the most effective way to promote Herma’s Readers. The total cost for the festival will be around $3,000.

Words

Zeal- to have great passion or excitement. She brought her typical zeal to the project, sparking others to work harder.
Hyperbole- purposeful exaggeration for effect. When the major claimed that the city was the richest city in the world, people thought this was hyperbole.
Iconoclast- one who opposes established beliefs, customs, and intuitions. That guy is an iconoclast for not standing for the star spangled banner.
Lament- to express sorrow. The children continued to lament the death of the gold fish weeks later.
Judicious- showing good judgment. The wise judge was well known for being judicious with criminals.
Knell- omen of death or failure. When we heard the knell of the church bells we knew the governor was dead.
Parry- to ward off or deflect, especially by a quick witted answer. Mike parried all the questions the officers asked her when she was pulled over.
Obviated- to prevent or make unnecessary. The river was so shallow at some points we obviated the bridge.
Polyglot- a speaker of many languages- The director of foreign languages is a polyglot.
Posit- to assume as real or conceded; propose as an explanation. Before we build our graph we need to posit the x and y values.

10/15/10

10/15/10

1.       PSA’s- a public service announcement

a.       A free ad that helps you with your career if you help create them

b.      Produce a PSA what does that mean?

                                                               i.      What organization to work with, what message to create.

                                                             ii.      Learn a lot about the organization

                                                            iii.      Get all the message straight, it could be a print ad, radio, TV

2.       Ad department

a.       Production- it will be tailored to your public (McDonalds ad will be high quality than a                      BTs ad)

b.      Ad agency

                                                               i.      They are not in house they are normally brought on.

                                                             ii.      Find the one that fits for possibly free because they could get awards for doing a PSA.

                                                            iii.      The radios will give away ad time to psa’s.

                                                           iv.      Lots of PSA’s are done on Sunday mornings

The Ad Council is one of the largest PSA organizations in the country. I think you can’t go through 1 tv program without seeing one of their ads.

http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=15

10/13/10

Wed 10/13/10

Professional Blogging- it would be dangerous for us not to start one. For communication it gives you a head start. Interviewing professionals in your field of interest and post them. Students that go in to interview get the jobs because not a lot of people do this, and they don’t have the process to go through 1000’s of interviews they know you on a 1^st name bases. Do research on their company and get to know the business. The more you do the more comfortable you feel in doing the interview. The first interviews are the bases of your expertise.

Community Manager- someone to controls the professional social media (blog, press releases, facebook, twitter, etc) for companies. They boost the relationship of companies and drive the audience. Interview Armor officers and some military magazine may want to do a story on me. They then become your colleagues. If a General is one of my colleagues I bet I could get promoted quicker, and or get more funding and people may come to me for information like I would be an expert. All of the social Medias are free to get your word out!

Advertising- The challenge of our generation. The standard way is outdated with ad blockers and DVR. Billions of money in traditional advertising is being made in TV, MAGS, Radio, billboards,    Newspapers. Online advertising is much less but growing with hyper locals and blogs.

                          Research- branding and how it applies to everyone. Build your own professional life.

                             PSA- public service announcements, to serve the community and get the word out.

10/11/10

10/11/10

Oct 25^th is the midterm.

Exploration blog that is min 1000 words that is about communication in the work place. It can be Fraternity or ROTC program.

Keep looking up advertising, and media literacy/ media criticism feel free to look up and challenge the ideas. Media critics by out organizations therefore have more control of the media and can set the agenda better. Media bias and media spin, children and teens are the target for advertising campaigns. We have researchers who study how to get messages to the youth. Media effects, which is the effects of media upon populations. Are we as culture becoming desensitized to violence because of the media.  

I.                    Media effects

a.       Sweeps- when employees cannot get vacations, they try to measure how many people they can get their attention. They are documenting your time that you watch.

                                                               i.      MTV had to change there style because of Viacom.

b.      How are good are you at producing your own media message.

c.       Media literacy- http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-media-literacy-definitionand-more

II.                  RU publics

a.       Hierarchy of the publics

1.       General assembly (the delegates and senate of the state)

2.       Media relations

b.      The target markets: It is revenue based

                                                               i.      The number of hits a website gets

                                                             ii.      Radford made the switch to coed and became a diploma mill

                                                            iii.      Donald Dedmon was good at the late night bridge games with the general ass.

                                                           iv.      Since the faculty said no they general assembly was pissed 

10/08/10

10/08/10

Look into advertising.

a.       Discussion- yesterdays guest speaker the main point was internship. Because it helps you with the transition from the educational world to the business world. Your degree gives you a focus on something but internships give you a broad spectrum of the real world. Institutions move slowly, Radford’s Course offerings have nothing on Tech.  This is how people get behind fresh out of college because they are behind the ball. College students don’t really do internships. Take a marketing class when possible to help us out with the business world. Marketing concepts are a critical view in this post modern communication field.

b.      My internship- Over the summer I interned with the 82^nd Airborne Division. I was with the 91^st CAB (Civil Affairs Battalion) Spec. Ops attached to AFRICOM and NORTHCOM. I got to work with the CA teams that work hand and hand with ODA teams (Special Forces teams). They train to deal with high ranking elders in the Taliban and in the Afghanistan villages. We attend a seminar by USAID a contracting company that has made a database for collecting information on the Sherpa’s and Taliban informants. I cannot go into much more detail than that do to classification reasons. We also worked on bettering interpersonal skills with USAID representatives and natives. Along with this training I worked on DEREPS, which are weekly reports of where every single person in the Battalion is at. As well as WWU (World Wide Updates) which are reports of what each company is doing in theater. I learned so much in my stay and I hope to soon return as a full time member.  

c.       Agency- Variety

                                                               i.      You get to see all sorts of different business; they try to be full service in PR, Marketing, and Advertising. Pr is a management function.  PR people advise management rather. Ex. The boss at the steak house with just 20% off. General are like the higher management and majors types are like the PR people. Female marines are talking to the women of Afghan.  Health care people maybe setting the agenda with hand crank radios in Africa.

d.      Public Information- is the power and clarity of the message. The history of public relations came from WWI the people in charge took the role in creating slogans and get people to want to join and fight.

1.       The CPI or Committee for Public Information was the first committee for PR us in WWI.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Committee_on_Public_Information

Media relations

2.       A huge componate for sports and other entertainments. Technology is changing with the video on the Internet. The Internet is a bigger challenge for PR people because they have to be their own ESPN.

                                                             ii.      External relations

1.       Radford has a huge deal with external, when other organizations want to talk or do anything with or about Radford.  Propaganda of the deed with the man who held up a post office.

                                                            iii.      Internal relations

1.       How people get along with in the organizations. It makes it easier to control the organizations. Internal PR is like turning around a air craft carrier.

10/06/2010

Wed. 10/06/10

Guest speaker: Jennifer Nelson, oldest child of Mr. Lazneby.  Works for a tech. company who’s CEO is from Radford. Interns with sales experience.  Undergrad at Hollins University 

I.                    Interning

a.       Her internship she did is what got her a job, twice, WBDJ 7 as a videographer and photography with Roanoke. Grad at Tech 2 interns at Salem civic center, arts council of the Blue Ridge, built there marketing program.

II.                  Agency work

a.       After grad got a job 8 weeks after for a PR agency. 2 years there worked for a variety of clients, a position was opened at tech with the university relations did pr for the college of the grad school.

III.                Public information/ media relations

a.       On April 16^th she was going to take a job in Roanoke, the 18^th was going to be her last day. Worked early and late to help the big wigs prepare the news reporters there updates. Worked with media on interviews. Worked with all the famous news people. Staid for a week and half after the 18th

IV.                Corporate comm. / marketing/ crisis communications

a.       Shenandoah life: switches from Pr to marketing. She made up the tech branding which is a major part of marketing. Brought on to help the group line of business. Worked with a graphic designer. On branding for the company.  Lots of advertisements, sales support, brochures, redesigned the websites, videos for the product. The company then went into Receivership (lost 100million dollars in a month), the state came in and put the sale so of insurance on hold.  Still around but will probably be bought.

V.                  Retail

a.       Marketing manger a step up from tech and Shenandoah life. Put together a marketing plan for a tangle wood mall. Commercials, city magazines, radio commercials, promotions, billboard ads.

VI.                Technology

a.       Marketing manager for a software company. Netventure her new company. Operations software for nonprofits, company went from 6 to 30. There largest competitor was ahead of them in the game, had a great deal of marketing. She branded the company and is wearing a lot of hats because it is so small. Trade show both for the entire Y’s of America. Was a big hit had 6 weeks to do it. Next project is to create the marketing plan for the company.  Marketing or PR is a lot of creative writing for brochures and ads and professional for business.  Oversee all of the social Medias. All the internal work for the employees. Do a lot of HR now too. Staying in front of your costumer.

9/24/10

I.                    Agenda Setting

a.       Who sets the agenda?

1.       Politicians, Reporters (unbiased), publisher (conduct business) Communication Specialist, blogs,  Anyone who seeks the attention of others.

II.                  PR

a.      

III.                News Discussion

IV.                Blogs

a.       Approach the blog like we 1 of 36 interns and there are 5 jobs at the end.

Set the agenda by being aggressive, and become an expert in a field, myself it would be Armor.

Once you make a agenda and become an expert you open the door to anything you could think of Toe Wars for Shayne Graham.

President Obama did a book which brought him to the news spot light.

This book is his first book called Dreams of my father here is the review from Amazon.com:

Elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama was offered a book contract, but the intellectual journey he planned to recount became instead this poignant, probing memoir of an unusual life. Born in 1961 to a white American woman and a black Kenyan student, Obama was reared in Hawaii by his mother and her parents, his father having left for further study and a return home to Africa. So Obama's not-unhappy youth is nevertheless a lonely voyage to racial identity, tensions in school, struggling with black literature?with one month-long visit when he was 10 from his commanding father. After college, Obama became a community organizer in Chicago. He slowly found place and purpose among folks of similar hue but different memory, winning enough small victories to commit himself to the work?he's now a civil rights lawyer there. Before going to law school, he finally visited Kenya; with his father dead, he still confronted obligation and loss, and found wellsprings of love and attachment.

One of the keys factors media literacy is to be a producer of media messages. Because you chose what is placed in the media.  When people talk about armor you want them to think of you. Becoming producers of messages requires for you to find what you really believe in.  They could be either thugs or they could answer the big questions like how does this matter to me!

This is a results orientation world and if you can’t meet or go above and beyond you are never going to make it. Do something great by establishing the go getter mindset.

9/22/10

News values:

Powell Hall- a white supremacist, changed the name to just Porterfield, proximity, human interest, since it was brought to our attention it will start up racism talks, happened recently (timeliness), he is famous musician (prominence), low impact it could make some people offended, 50 years ago this would not have been a news story.

The president of Iran said that the US is at fault for the world’s poverty at the UN meeting is NYC- It is unusual because of the rareness of the meeting once every ten years, conflict (huge), currency he knew this was an easy agenda to set, timelessness yesterday, prominence he got his word out in front of world leaders, impact the whole world knows he said it, there is some discomfort we feel if we are viewed as evil.

Michael Vick started for the Eagles-  conflict dog lovers and football, human interest (rocket example, rise and fall) redemption too,  proximity he went to tech (for us), Human interest is there     because we are dog lovers for years, timelessness just happen, prominences, impact that story hits almost everyone.

Words
Fodder- coarse food for cattle
Tatter- a torn and hanging piece, as of a garment
Alacrity- speed or quickness
Philistine- a person who is guided by materialism and is disdainful of intellectual or artistic values
Eschew- to shun; to avoid
Fallow- dormant or unused
Plebeian- characteristic of commoners
Nominal- existing in name only; negligible
Ossify- to change into bone; to become hardened or set in a rigidly conventional pattern
Emulate- to copy; to try to equal or excel

9/20/10

Notes
H.L. Mencken said " the role of the journalist is to heave dead cats into sanctuaries" What this means is open to all sorts of interpretation. For example sanctuaries could be your room or your mind or something or place your value/ worship. Another think it might be saying is that somebody has to ask the tough questions and that somebody is the journalist. Why, well maybe because of the news values we learned about last class. They need to find away to make there stories cover all of them somehow. If the story doesn't then it probably isn't worth covering. They also have bosses and they have bosses as well that they don't want to upset. If they "heave to many cats" then the audience and the money will go away. So it is a tricky situation they are in.

Staged events make the most money (heave the most cats). One of the biggest staged event is the super bowl. Did you know that 30 seconds of ad space was between 2.5 and 2.8 million, and that was even lower than the previous year. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34803473/.

Journalismjobs.com
this is actually a pretty awesome website. It has all your jobs for pretty much everything in the communication field. But what I think is so cool is the fact that there is also an internship list. Most job site search engines don't have that which is impressive.

9/17/2010

If you interview the best minds of any field you want to enter into you will see that it makes you a colleague with them and also it opens up a job market that is hard to get into. According to a book I am reading called They Don't Teach Corporate in College by Alexandra Levit, 85% of jobs are through personal connections. If that is the case then imagine the types of jobs you could get by getting to know the best minds in a field.

News Values
Conflict- Blood sells
Prominence- We latch on the public figures
Human interest- the refusal to do the fireman feeding a bunny story
Bizarre or Unusual- A obsestion with things that are weird
Impact- People want to know how stories will effect there lives
Proximity- back to our tribal roots, the Radford tribe
Timeliness- instant news
Currency- the agenda setters bring up there sides to get into the public eye

Words
Greave- armor plate that protects legs
Lanate- covered with Dense cottony hairs
Kith- your acquaintances
Rachis- the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord
Detritus- loose material that is worn away from rocks
Acetate- a salt or ester of acetic acid
Fitment- any of the items furnishing or equipping a room
Judder- shake or vibrate rapidly and intensively
Hindrance- any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
Quay- wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline

mistake

OK so I accidentally posted my blog mid-blog without editing it, and I am not sure how to get it back! Sorry about that but I'll continue and try not to mess up again. I found that propaganda of the deed was a great term for the class to learn about. Especially with student not really understanding Operation Enduring Freedom. However with this theory now in there bank of knowledge they may think twice when they see another report of and IED blast going off. I found a book that seems pretty interesting http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/ajps/2007/00000051/00000002/art00010 it is about terrorism and the Propaganda of the deed.  it is about terrorism and the Propaganda of the deed. Seems pretty interesting but who knows. Now we are suppose to learn 10 new words a week and post them. I think I found so pretty good words. Plus I have always wanted to do this so I guess now I have a reason to.

Faux- not genuine or real
Betise- a stupid mistake
Passe- out of fashion
Baleem- a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales
Sirocco- a windstorm that lifts up clouds or dust
Mastaba- an ancient Egyptian mud brick tomb with rectangular base, sloping sides, and a flat roof
Grot- a small cave
Lethargy- a state of comatose torpor
Ungulate- having or resembling hoofs
Otic- of or relating to near the ear

My First blog

Well, this will be my first ever blog post so I hope I get the hang of this. I guess I should let you know a little about me first I am from York, PA on a full ROTC scholarship. I hope that this coming Novemeber I will find out that I got my number 1 branch choice of Armor and get assigned to Cav. platton. I am also a huge sports fan, mostly college however my basketball team is the Chicago Bulls! But enough about myself and to the topic of class. So far I have enjoyed this class termediously! The way we talk about theories without going over boring power points and dictionary defonitions is great for my way of learning. I guess without realizing I have been using divergent thinking my whole life! I usally always make list and never let a idea slip away, no matter how crazy.