eJournalist in the Making

I got this e-mail from my aunt.  I will copy-and-paste it verbatim:

A note to all by Anne Kilkenny

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the
last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks.

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts
with my name and email address attached, but
please do not post it on
any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

[ This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area,
with a controllable hotmail account, and was obviously meant by the
author to be read. ]

Thanks,
Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla , Alaska . I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration
than about 99% of the
residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska . Rather than invest this surplus in technology that
will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska ’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she

later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla

City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved
all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.

CLAIM VS
FACT
.”Hockey mom”: true for a few years
.”PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
.”NRA supporter”: absolutely true
.social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex
relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
.pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
.”Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
.”Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska .
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
.political maverick: not at all
.gutsy: absolutely!
.open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
.has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
.”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and
disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
.fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
.pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
.pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
.pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
.pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

I was knocked in the face with a dose of frustration this morning as I called the Broward County School Board’s Sub Central number to schedule an appointment to turn in all my paperwork and get myself in the substitute teacher system.  After 30 other students and myself sat through a four-night training class and I gathered all my paperwork, the receptionist proceeded to tell me that the county wasn’t accepting any applications until November.  Ugh. Really? You let us all sit through this class (that we paid for) with the impression that we could snag jobs any day we wanted as soon as we wanted only to tell us to sit tight and wait for two months?! What a bummer as a graduate still sending out journalism applications just wanting to make a pretty penny or two in the meantime.

I think it means that for the next two months I will try to freelance as much as possible.  I’ve got a great steady client I’ve been working with for a while now on her business’s Web site and maybe with a little word of mouth I can snag a few more to stay busy.

In the meantime I’ll be babysitting my cellphone after I played phone tag last week with the HR rep from the Greenspun Media Group, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, one of the coolest local newspapers in the country in terms of their Web site and multimedia.  Check out their new Flashtastic Vegas weather page.  With Rob Curley leading a revamped multimedia squad, they’re a news organization that stays ahead of the curve.  They’re looking for a few Web-savvy journos to jump on their bandwagon and they offer great internships too.

I’ve learned the important lesson about not missing cellphone calls when you’re in the middle of a job search. Some advice: Crank your ringer volume to an obnoxious level and pick a ringtone that you, and everyone else around you if necessary, will hate so much that you answer the phone with lightning speed just to make it stop. Anywho, if the stars align correctly and my work can speak highly enough for my skills, maybe soon I’ll get the priviledge to interview out in the big city of Vegas! What a move that would be.

For the first time in 18 years, today I will not be donning my new strategically matched school clothes.  I will not be strapping on a fully stocked new Jansport, complete with crisp college-ruled notebook paper, glossy labeled folders and cedar-scented unsharpened number two pencils.  Nope. Today is the first day of school for most college kids in the state but not for me.   Being left out of the excitment just leaves me more eager for that coveted first day at work when I can trade a backpack for a laptop bag, flip flops and jeans for business casual and classmates for co-workers.  I know it’s right around the corner.

I’ve obviously been paying more attention to the fun stuff that comes with a shiny new white MacBook than getting into the nitty gritty of finding my way around practical applications.  It was a blessing in disguise on Thursday when my HP laptop decided to take a dive off of my bed an onto our hardwoods.  Maybe a blessing to me, my dad might have something different to say.  Regardless, here I sit feeling like a member of the cool-kids club.  So far so good.

First big drawback:  Loss of essential software programs.  I was fortunate enough to snag copies of the Adobe Creative Suite from my job on campus at UF which are now long gone.  This is especially a bummer since I just ordered O’Reilly’s “Learning ActionScript 3.0″ (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527877/), which should arrive at my doorstep any day now.  I was so psyched to jump into those tutorials, but I’ll be postponed while I find the cheapest way to get those programs.

What I’m looking forward to: Less viruses and no more Windows Vista! Take THAT Microsoft! The ability to sync up all my devices in a more convenient way has also been a breath of fresh air.  Another big bonus was the free (after mail-in rebate) 8 GB iPod touch that came with the package.  I can’t even talk on it, but it sort of puts my Samsung BlackJack II to shame now (forgive me, BlackJack! I still love you!).

Other than that, it’s been a smooth transition, one that I had been wanting to make for a while but was always a little nervous and apprehensive.  The next question, once I do get the Creative Suite, will be whether or not I made the right decision to get the standard MacBook, or if I should have saved up some dough and splurged for the graphically superior MacBook Pro.  More to come once I play some more.

I’ve bid Gainesville a fond farewell and made my way back into the bedroom I’ve spent most of my life occupying in my parents house.  There are some obvious adjustments I’ve been getting used to.  No more innocent bottles of wine with roommates on nights when our TV shows were on.  No more loud jam sessions when I would let my music blast throughout the place.  It’s a step back in time without a doubt. But… In any situation where a big transition is being made, it’s most helpful to look at the positives.  Just today, Sunday, the first day of my life back at home, has so far led me to believe that this living arrangement isn’t going to be complete hell.  Spending 4 years living independently away from the nest has built my character and shaped my personality, but there are plenty of perks to being back here in mommy and daddy’s house in Hollywood.

1. A real kitchen in a real house. Having parents who are culinarily inclined is something that can be easily taken for granted when you’re a teenager who just wants to be fed quickly and left alone.  I’ve always enjoyed cooking fresh meals for myself and my roommates and my TV is turned to the Food Network about 90 percent of the time. But the kitchen I had in my tiny rental apartment was absolutely disgraceful.  I had only enough counter space to put one small cutting board, crappy appliances and crappy cookware.  It’s nice to be back in a big-girl kitchen with parents who enjoy cooking too.
2. A gadget-loving dad. As a college student who scrimped and saved, I could never afford to splurge on a Wii or a Playstation or the games that I wanted to go with it (Guitar Hero!).  Even if I did have the cash, my GPA couldn’t afford having the games around either.  We had a hand-me-down monstrosity of a tube TV with fuzzy picture and limited cable.  I lived with it. It’s college, it’s normal not to have nice things.  I now appreciate our living room’s 52-inch plasma and digital cable more than ever and am thankful for a father who rocks out on Guitar Hero just as much as I do (probably more) to keep up to date with the versions that come out.  Don’t let me sound like a spoiled brat.  These toys are for him, but living at home lets me take advantage too.
3. A backyard. One of the best things about moving from a tiny apartment in a cramped complex in the woodsy area of Gainesville back to my parent’s house in Hollywood is that now I can remember why I love South Florida weather so much by lounging in the backyard.  Who wouldn’t want to tote their laptop outside and make this their office:

I have decided in the lengthy time period it has been since my last post that having a nearly 2-year-old personal portfolio Web site and having a decent blog powered by a fully customizable CMS is, in reality, exactly what we journalists strive to avoid being: Redundant.  My information is in two places on the interwebs, on my portfolio site and my blog,  when it really needs to be in one. With Wordpress that should be an easy transition.  I’ll be playing with new themes and redesigning my layout and, soon enough, my two pages will be meshed into one glorious package of Mallory goodness located at MalloryColliflower.com.  This will give me something to stay focused on while the job search continues.  Staying busy helps the “I’m living at home” blues!  And I need to really stay sharp on my Web design basics, which tend to get easily rewired after a few weeks in Europe and a summer of post-grad relaxation.  Time to sharpen up!

It happened Friday.  Apple’s long-awaited release of the new iPhone 3G.  Lines got long, things got ugly and Apple fanboys around the country revelled in iPhone glory. Lucky me.  I was fortunate enough to have my BlackJack II pickpocketed from me in Amsterdam (someone saw me using it to send a text, way to go me, trying to stay connected).

I couldn’t wait a whole month until the 3G iPhones were released to get a new one, so I went with what I knew and stayed loyal to my BlackJack.  And now, I’m jealous.  Kinda wish I waited it out.  But alas, those of us who can’t afford it/it isn’t feasible for can still have kick-ass phones.  Walk with me through my BlackJack pimping process.

Apps

On the one hand, they are expensive.  After paying close to $90 a month just for my service plan, which includes unlimited Web surfing, 550 anytime minutes and 1500 text messages per month, paying $15 to $30 a pop for apps can get a little pricey.  Why are the Apple apps so much cheaper? But my philosophy is this: Why even bother having a super-capable SmartPhone if you’re just sending texts and answering calls? Might as well be an obnoxious teenager with a Sidekick.  So I guess if I gotta pay, so be it.  We might not have a convenient store nestled right into our iTunes, but here’s a list of places to buy apps for your Windows Mobile phone:

• Handango - The link is to the site’s Beta version, which is much sleaker for browsing what they offer.
• PocketGear - It’s overwhelming all the stuff they have.  I was intrigued by the Bartender’s Bible app, and the WorldMate travel tools app, which would have been a godsend during our backpacking trip in Europe! Of course there are plenty of games

Flat broke? Here are some lists of essential FREE apps:

• Six Must-have apps for Windows Mobile from ReadWriteWeb
• Seven fantastic free Windows Mobile apps from CIO.com

Web Surfing

If you thought you hated IE on a computer, you already know I have to multiply my hatred by about 100 to express the distaste I have with using it on my BlackJack.  After some Googling I found that while the folks at Mozilla are busy building all kinds of add-ons to your computer’s browser, they are also working on a soon-to-be-released mobile browser, codenamed Fennec for now. Here’s what you can expect.

I’ve also heard lots and lots of good things about Skyfire, a mobile browser that “brings rich Web media real fast.”  That means clean, quick video and music streams and neatly accessible social networking.  You have to sign-up to be alerted when Beta 2 is released, which they distribute progressively.  I already signed up and I’m looking forward to the download.  I’ll post my critique once I get it.

Facebook addicts (ok, so basically everyone?) without the coveted iPhone can now add the FriendMobilizer app to Windows Mobile phones so they can skip the step of opening the browser and loading the FB page to get your notifications.   You can set your status really easily too.  I gave FriendMobilizer a try and I like it because I have always had trouble signing in on FB on my phone’s IE browser.  It never remembered my login info and the “log in” button was never clickable, it was just an image.  I don’t know if it was just Facebook’s mobile style sheet or what but this new app made it a cinch.  Props to FaceofMobile for developing it.

So there you have it.  When your iPhone touting friends start gathering and swooning over each other’s shiny new app-filled toys, find yourself a nice cozy corner and relish in your capabilities to pimp your own phone.  Please send more links and apps and WindowsMobile goodness!

It’s amazing what can happen when you tell a story different ways. Ben Jervey, reporter for Good Magazine, knows that the United States’ rail system isn’t much to write home about compared to it’s international counterparts. But why? He jumped on the Amtrak for the 3,397-mile journey from New York’s Penn Station to Oakland, California to find out what America’s rails are up to these days. With a mix of still photographs, video footage and a written story that reads like a personal journal, “Train in Vain” shows, at minimum, the dynamic capabilities of a good ol’ American travel story.

(photo by Amy Stein via GoodMagazine.com)

Can you guess what I’m talking about?

Why all the white space in the middle? I can barely read the text in the mail drop-down menu, yet the weather section underneath it is huge.  Let’s be honest, how many people go to yahoo.com to get their local weather?!? Exactly.  I want my e-mail and I want it now.  Why not drop down the mail menu even further to be able to increase the font size? Or get rid of all the white space and shift the entire right column over a bit.  Am I wrong in my frustrations?

None of us who know Brendan will ever forget the moment when we heard about his accident. The tale of the ricocheting cars colliding on our familiar South Florida highway and the nightmare that began to unfold, and continues to evolve now, three years later.

Most of us remember Brendan this way -

Brendan’s wonderfully loving and dedicated family now cope with rehabilitating a son that is lost inside his own damaged brain, the result of a crash that broke bones in his face and leg and caused one of his lungs to collapse.  Brendan now lives in a nursing home in Ft. Lauderdale and remains in a vegetative state, or “waking coma.”

Sun Sentinel reporter Tom Collie and photographer Susan Stocker documented the day-to-day struggles that Brendan’s family deals with by compiling their information in a multimedia package to accompany the print story that ran as a special report in Sunday’s paper.  The package contained a cleanly edited five-minute video overview of Brendan’s story, with footage of his rehabilitation, home-video of Brendan before his accident and interviews with several friends and family members.  The most touching one comes from his mom, a cherished friend of the community surrounding my high school (everyone loves Mrs. James), who has remained by her son’s side to this day.  Readers can put themselves in her shoes by reading through the archive of e-mails she has sent over the years, providing detailed updates on Brendan’s condition.  They also included a click-through Flash diagram of different ways the brain can be damaged from excessive force from traumatic events like car accidents.

It would be difficult to remain un-biased in a critique of this package.  I was so pleased at the job the Sentinel did with the story of such a beloved friend.  By including the various multimedia features they did Brendan justice by using the right tools to tell his story in the most complete way.

(photos by Susan Stocker)