PENS

You know that feeling when you return from a weekend career fair and you get to empty your bag of free stuff onto your bed? You sort papers, pamphlets, business cards and key rings into piles until all that is left in the middle are your pens. At the career fair, you scavenged through every table for pens of every color, shape and style, collecting dozens of them! We all know fun pens are the real reason we go to career fairs. Now, for the best part – you get to test each pen to find the ultimate pen, one that writes smoother, glides more gracefully and feels most natural in your grip than any other pen. It’s a bonus if the pen is especially sleek and professional or if it has a unique feature, like having a pullout scroll, or being in the shape of an animal. You can’t wait to bring your plethora of pens to class the next day and show off your proud collection. Do you know that feeling?

You know that feeling when all you want to hear from anyone in your first class of the day is, “Wow, Bethany, how did you get so many pens!” or to hear them whisper to the person beside them, “I wish I had as many pens as Bethany!”? What about the feeling you get when instead, the first thing out of your classmate’s mouth is, “Do you have an extra pen I can borrow?” Yes, you do. But the trust that would allow you to hand over one of your precious pens is just not built between the two of you yet. You aren’t sure they would understand the magnitude of your generosity. Do they understand how deep of a loss it would be for you if they chose to keep instead of return that single pen? Do they intend to borrow it only for this class period? Do they know that feeling?

No one wants to be in that position. If you have experienced the loss of a pen, you know how difficult it has become to part from your writing utensils. There are many career fairs, conferences and conventions in this world. Find your pen. Go ahead and build your collection. But even if you don’t choose to own your own pens, always return a borrowed pen. Stop stealing pens from those that value them.

Reading Response

This week’s readings gave me a lot of insight into what a professional writing story will actually entail. The first article about corporate, NGO and non-profit storytelling explains the purpose of telling a story to create media opportunities. Every piece of writing is a “story,” and the ability of the writer to capture the audience’s attention will determine the success of the piece, whether it is professional writing or fictional literature.

The most important qualities of good writing, as highlighted in the reading, include adherence to a theme, use of metaphors, description and movement. A successful writer is able to use dynamic and descriptive language to keep their audience captivated and to propel them through to the end of the story. They do this by creating images that awaken the imagination and making the details in the story come alive. The reading also talks about the particular sounds and words that an author should include in their storytelling. A lullaby maintains the same phonetic patterns, using soft sounds to “lull” a person to sleep. The repetition of those sounds upholds the quote, “make sure your story not only says what you mean but ‘sounds’ what you mean.” Like a lullaby, a story should adhere to a theme through every word and sentence phrasing the author uses.

The tips in the reading will challenge my creativity and help me to form an effective professional writing story. I already feel inspired by the description of the magic of metaphors and the power of images created through language. Reading through these pages made me realize some of the flaws in my own writing. I think that I tend to be static and to “maroon my story-boat.” When drafting my professional writing story, I think I will have to pay close attention to the movement and description that I add to the story so that my boat can stay out in the water. This reading will help me to recognize shortcomings in the language I use in my writing and to revise some of the wording to make it not only say what I mean, but sound and feel like my overall theme as well.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Bethany. Some people call me Beth, but I honestly do not have a preference.

I am a senior public relations major from Monroeville, Pennsylvania. I'm a Resident Assistant at Arnold Hall, the community service dorm on campus. Most of my coworkers probably wouldn't want to publicize that about themselves, but I am proud of my position. I love my job, and not because I get to write people up. I love to do my best to help my residents with everything they need, to the point of almost being detrimental to my own education. I also love event planning, so programming for my RA job is another joy of mine.

After undergrad, I plan to pursue a career in community development and/or nonprofit PR. But, even more than that, I want a family. I think it is important to do something I am passionate about even if my sole aim is to help provide for my family.

In my free time I like to do art, other creative things, play harmless pranks and look up new cheesy jokes to add to my arsenal. I love being the random one in a crowd because it amuses me that when so many other people are around, no one notices (or acknowledges) the odd one out.