The Untold Story of the Houseless: Austin, TX

There are thousands of houseless people in Austin, I say houseless because a cardboard box can be a home, what they need are houses. Anyways, among these many thousands of down-trodden souls are many thousands of stories that are rarely heard by anyone who might actually be reading this blog. The most of these stories that we hear are told in sound bites on cardboard signs; "god bless you," "anything helps," and the occasional, "why lie, I need a beer sign."


In this web series documentary, we will explore the world of the houseless and shine light onto their stories. From the streets of Austin we will lend an ear and a lens to capture what these men and women have to share. From Army vets to hippies and the mother and father who have lost their jobs, we will let these people tell their story and you are invited to be a part of this experience.

Produced by Chris Blackmon and Matt Wood

Mass Comm Week: How to Get Your Foot in the Door at a Tech Company After Graduation

Three professionals from the tech industry spoke at Mass Comm Week at Texas State University on Thursday, October 19th, concerning the importance of networking and staying up-to-date on current technology in order to insure a job after graduation. Adrew Waldrup, a culture evangelist from Gowalla, Jennifer Stattford from HomeAway and Whitney Francis, a community manager at Google, sat on a panel and engaged the audience in an informative and very relevant discussion about of success in the tech industry.

Networking was a key skill that the panelists stressed. Waldrup, a graduate of Texas State, explained that perseverance is key when it comes to landing a job. He told the story of how he "stalked" a person at Gowalla in order to get his job. He obviously wasn't saying to be a creeper and look through the window of your prospective employer, but rather to maintain contact with the people who would be hiring you.

The panelists also said, and to some degree, reassured the audience of young people, that they don't need to know how to program a computer in order to be successful in the tech industry - basic HTML will do. The technology that is a key necessity is knowing how to use a wide range of social media; from Facebook to Twitter, and all the other similar programs out there.

Overall, the presentation gave a great deal of information that may students, especially those who have little to no professional experience, will be able to use after graduation to land them their dream job (or at least a job that will pay the bills).

On a side note; a good resource for getting "linked in" to a professional network is to try out Linkin.com. If you're unaware of this site, it is like Facebook, but for professionals. Check it out and see if you can find people who are in the organizations that you are interested in working for and start a relationship with them - but don't forget to make a real-life relationship as well.

Matt Wood's Intro

I'm a mass comm major at Texas State University, with a minor in poli sci, however, I might switch my minor to economics so that I can convince the mainstream that Keynesian Economics is harmful to liberty and also prosperity; free market economics needs to be brought and taught to the public domain again. Anyways, I seek the truth and that's what brings me into journalism; I really believe that the media needs not just a facelift, but also an organ transplant (a spine implant might also be welcomed!).

My personal hero is Ron Paul; yes he is a politician, but he is much more than just a public servant. He is a civil rights leader, a social movement leader, the leader of the Second American Revolution, in a peaceful way of course. I liken him to Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson and other freedom fighters. He is the only presidential candidate (and one of the only elected officials) who will end the wars, bring our troops home from the 900 bases that we have in 135 countries around the world. He is the only one who will end the (un)Partiot Act and bring back our Liberties and the Constitution back. He is the only one who warned us of the economic collapse. He is the only one who will save us from tyranny/ He is the one.

I'm excited to be in Web Design because not only is this an interest to me and not only will it help my professional life, but also it will help me improve my recently revamped "news blog", The Austin Free Press. There isn't much content anymore because I removed all of the previous entries to improve the quality of the journalism - a fresh start if you will.

Anyways, I think a good thing to leave you with is Gandhi's famous words of wisdom, "you must be the change that you wish to see in the world."

Hi, I'm Nicole George.

Hey,

I'm Nicole George and I am a senior graduating in December. I am a public relations major and sociology minor. I am active in AWC and am currently serving as the president. I have enjoyed my time at Texas State and will definitely miss it soon after graduating. After graduating I hope to stay in San Marcos and maybe eventually move on to a bigger, better place. I enjoying traveling, reading and having fun with friends. I guess you could call me a wandering soul who's caught in the 78666 bubble.

I am currently interning at the Hays County Food Bank and truly enjoy my work there. I love the non-profit world and as cliche as it sounds, I love the warm fuzzies I get at the food distributions and maintaining a personal relationship with the clients. They especially love it when I remember their names and give them a smile. I'm working on the fall campaign, Turkeys Tackling Hunger, doing miscellaneous PR tasks. I'm getting great experience and feeling good at the same time!

Well that's all for now. Hope to learn a lot from this class, as I am almost completely unfamiliar with all of this! Follow me @thenicolegeorge.

Your/Our Future

When I was in the seventh grade, I took a basic computer class required of every student. It was boring for the most part: word processing, spreadsheets, how to un-jam the printer, things of that nature. However, one section covered web design and the Internet. Keep in mind that this was 1997 and web pages were very, VERY basic. But I was hooked.

Taking Multimedia Journalism this semester has just cemented my desire to focus on "new" journalism for my career. My favorite project thus far was making the video for YouTube. The subjects we interviewed seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing and the feedback we received was nothing but positive.

The idea of being a journalist with these new skills is freakin' sweet. Not only can we write, but we can shoot video, take photos, and make awesome Flash packages. One can now do the work of many (which is where the fear of less job opportunities comes from). It's like we're Super Journalists. But at the same time, you have to wonder if these new abilities will somehow cheapen our mission: to bring information to the masses. If all new journalists are going to focus on new media, will the inverted pyramid disappear? Are we just exacerbating our flashy culture? And with blogs, is every citizen with a computer and a rant going to be given the same privileges of old-school journalists? All questions that will be answered in time.

Unfortunately, there is not enough time in just one (or two) semesters to learn everything we need to know about the convergence between print journalism and new media. Hopefully, Texas State will get the hint that their students are interested in the subject and will provide more classes in the future. Cindy has done the best she can (no brown nosing here- she has really worked wonders) to educate us about this new field, but there's only so much that can be taught in 16 weeks.

The coolest thing about what we're doing now is that the news is no longer a one-way street; it's a dialog between journalists, citizens, and subjects. There are more voices to listen to, and that doesn't mean there are less opportunities, just more stories. And that's what we're here for; to help tell those stories in new ways.

CNN Internationl Anchor Ralista Vassileva

At 2 p.m. today, the second day of Mass Comm Week 2007 at Texas State University, CNN International Anchor Ralista Vassileva will speak to mass comm students in room 320 of Old Main.

Vassileva, born and educated in Bulgaria, has been with CNN International since 1992, based at the CNN International headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. She has had the distinct journalistic honor of interviewing some heavy political powers during her time at CNN including former US Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, as well as former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. She's also interviewed famous entrepreneur Richard Branson as well as Austinite Lance Armstrong.

Vassileva was on air for CNN during the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City as well as Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

An impressive record and an honor for Texas State's mass communication department, no doubt!

Be on the look out for live blogging of this Mass Comm Week event at 2 p.m. today.