When my previous internship at Sacred Heart Medical Center came to a close. I received the opportunity to move to downtown Portland with one of my girlfriends. A bit apprehensive at first, I finally caved to my roommate’s pleas for a companion in the city. Two weeks later we had signed a lease, and my permanent residence became Portland Oregon.

After my plunge into the city girl life, it became quite clear that I needed to find a job. With the help of Kelli Matthews, a professor at the University of Oregon, I was introduced to Jennifer Fields at Frause. After several interviews, I became Frause’s new Portland intern.

Frause is a full spectrum communications firm that uses creative techniques to reach client goals. Through public relations, marketing, branding, design, research and more, Frause provides the best service for its clients.

With my internship secured, my next step was to try out Portland’s public transportation system. I was excited as people always make it sound so magical to move to a new, thriving city and become lost in the streets. Well, in my case, I took the term “lost” quite literally. As my first day at Frause approached, I searched on Google Maps to find the best route to work. Having learned that I live only 1.3 miles away from the office, I felt quite confident in my public transportation abilities, and to my surprise, the first day went flawlessly!

On my second day at Frause, I now considered myself to be a transportation guru. I climbed up onto the bus confident that the 20 minutes I gave myself to travel the 1.3 miles to work would provide me with plenty of time to grab a Starbucks then stroll in a few minutes early. (Somehow), I ended up on the wrong side of the river! After a nice two-mile trek in my stilettos, my aching feet and I entered the office 45 minutes late and out of breath! Luckily, my co-workers at Frause were understanding of my mishap with the public transportation system. However, I am proud to say that I have found a successful public transit route that takes me to and from work in about 15 minutes!

I am very excited to see what this internship holds for me. I think it is a wonderful environment for me to learn and experience the world of PR!

After my graduation, I was fortunate enough to land an internship opportunity with Sacred Heart Medical Center. PeaceHealth, mother company to Sacred Heart, has decided to build a second location for Sacred Heart Medical Center that is located east of I-5 directly next to the McKenzie River. It is called Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. The original Sacred Heart Medical Center, located on 13^th and Hilyard, has outgrown itself. PeaceHealth has created the motto “One Mission, One Hospital, Two Campuses.”

The new hospital rests on 181 acres of land that is surrounded by trees and the river. It houses 386 private rooms all equipped with a view of either the valley or the river. It has 28 Smart Operating Rooms, 16 Labor and Delivery suites with the capacity to care for 36 infants in the Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It will employ 2,500 individuals and created 250 new jobs.

The Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute is connected to the hospital offering all its services under one roof—the first time this has happened in over 40 years. Another handy feature the hospital offers is its pneumatic tube network that is 2.2 miles long and travels 17 miles per hour. These tubes run throughout the hospital carrying lab samples and hospital supplies. Resembling the tube system used by banks with drive thru depositing, the tubes speed up the hospital process and significantly reduce the time spent on labs and delivering supplies.

This magnificent building more resembles an Aspen ski resort as opposed to a hospital. The lobby floors are made of bamboo and the center of the room houses a two-story stone fireplace—one of seven fireplaces throughout the hospital. 80 percent of the trees that were removed in order to build the facility were put back into the building. This building holds magnificent art from local and nationwide artists.

Sacred Heart Medical Center is changing the way of healthcare as we know it. Using architecture, art and a natural environment Sacred Heart is now geared towards a “new way of healing.” They are creating a worm, welcoming environment to help both the patients and their families feel more comfortable and relaxed when seeking medical assistance.

It brings up commitment, dedication, hardships, conflicts and other relationship aspects we all face. During this dialogue, we see a man pull himself out of bed to start his run on a narrow path. Surrounding him is a dark maroon light that allows distorted images of buildings and surroundings to be shown. In the beginning, everything seems misshapen – like it will collapse around him at any moment. Once the runner commits fully to his run, the lights begin to rise and life starts to regain its normalcy. It ends with the man empowered and running toward the light before him.

Personally, I think New Balance did a wonderful job with this ad. We are able to see a storyline from start to finish. Not only do the graphics catch our eye, but the dialogue allows the viewers to submerse themselves in this man’s inner race.

Advertisers are gearing more towards longer, plot-based ads that allow the viewers to see the bigger picture. I think this is a great way to catch a viewer’s eye. I feel I am much more willing to pay attention to a advertisement if there is a storyline and a plot as opposed to a picture or someone gabbing about a tennis shoe. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdeEPhdpay0

Six weeks ago, my classmates and I set out on a journey. For many of us, including myself, this was our first experience with blogging. Prior to this class, I had no interest in any sort of blog. I perceived blogging as individuals ranting about their lives, opinions and concerns on different issues. Regardless of what they were saying, I was not listening.

When Tiffany Derville, our journalism professor, assigned this blog to our class I was not thrilled. The thought of placing my ideas and myself in the public light for critique and scrutiny did not seem appealing. In spite of this, I reluctantly began my journey into the blogosphere, and now I could not be happier!

Not only has this class helped me to create an irreplaceable component to my resume and portfolio, but I genuinely believe in the power and impact blogging can have. Personally, I do not see how a company could survive without a blog. Effective blogging can improve every aspect of your company. Whether it be client relations, damage control or the launch of a new product, blogging has the ability to sail you past other competitors in the industry.

Not only am I so grateful to understand the impact that blogging can have, I genuinely enjoy having my own blog. I think having your work available for the public makes you work even harder to make sure you got your point across in the correct way.

As our school term dwindles down and we all scramble to study for finals, I am confident in saying that my blog is nowhere near seeing its final date. I thank everyone who has been reading and commenting, and I hope you continue to do so in the future.

I am proud to say—I am officially a blogger!

Tonight I attended the PRSSA meeting on campus. This week, we had guest speakers from Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. One of the speakers spoke about important things to remember when pitching to reporters and other media outlets. They could not emphasize enough the importance of knowing the audience you are pitching for.

They explained that in order to properly pitch something to a media source, you must research the person that you are pitching your story to. This includes previous pieces that they have covered and what interests them. Reporters are not going to write a story on something that does not interest them or tie into their normal discussion topics, so it’s important to show how your pitch relates to their cause.

This week my journalism professor Tiffany Derville sent our class a link from Kami Huyse’s blog, Communication Overtones. In her blog, Huyse explains that when you are talking to reports’ it’s not about you or the reporter, your client or the organization, but it’s about the people you are trying to reach and influencing them to take action. She explains how your pitch should be more about the people you are trying to reach and less about the reporter.

It might be difficult to find a good balance between catching your reporter’s attention and presenting the messages in the right way for those you want to act on it. Either way, I am sure this is something we will all learn diving into the word of PR.

Tiffany Derville, my public relations professor from the University of Oregon, sent me a link regarding the presidential candidates Obama and Clinton and their campaigns’ interactions with the blogging community. While I chose to keep my political opinions to myself and out of my blog, I find this article to be a great asset to my debate with blog doubters.

David Domke, a University of Washington journalism professor, and his journalism class are actively following the 2008 campaign. His class is traveling all over, covering the campaign while aggressively blogging all the details. His class consists of 16 students who are presenting their articles and posts on SeattlePoliticore.org.

Domke explains that his students have developed a favor towards Obama due to the respect his campaign has shown the blogging community. While covering the Idaho and Washington caucuses, Domke’s students attempted to contact both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.

The students reported that Obama’s campaign members not only returned their phone calls in minutes but also made their campaign readily available in all aspects to the students. This includes providing the students with press passes, interviews, and additional contact information to help the students along the way.

Clinton’s campaign, on the other hand, failed to return any phone calls and ignored requests completely. Obviously, this led to less coverage of Clinton’s campaign and that fault falls solely on the campaign’s shoulders.

For all you blog doubters out there, this is a perfect example of the consequences of ignoring new social media. Obama’s understanding of the importance of social media has launched him past other candidates. People are going to be blogging and entering into these new forms of social medias whether you like it or not. My advice is join the bandwagon: Otherwise, I guarantee you will be left in the dust.

Personally, I use to think blogging consisted of online journals where people vented their frustrations and poured their guts out for the world to see. My new interactions with the blogging world have shown me a different side of blogging.

Now I see that companies can utilize this new social media to their advantage in all aspects of their company. Whether it involves feedback, proposing new brands, or creating discussion amongst people, blogging has the ability to help improve every company.

However, I still have yet to see the interest from people of my generation. Come Wednesday night, you can often find me sitting at the kitchen table racking my brain for a new idea for my blog. Our house is constantly full of our friends coming and going at all hours of the day. I have had many conversations with people my age about my blogging experience.

While the content of my blog changes each week, my arguments with my roommates and friends stay the same. Their take on blogging is a lot like mine use to be. They see blogging as people expressing their emotions about certain issues, many of which others could care less about.

The blogs they are aware of consist of individuals ranting about various things they encounter. When I asked several of my friends what blogs they knew about they reference Tuckermax.com and PinkIsTheNewBlog.com. Both blogs are authored by individuals who give their two-cents on all types of issues. They are known for their sarcasm and brutal honesty.

To me, it seems that the majority of our generation is hardly tuning into blogs at all, and the ones they are viewing lack the business-based content our speakers have spoken of. While I am sure there are individuals who blog for reasons other than entertainment, I am just not sure how many of those people are from our generation.

Please share your thoughts.

My cell phone is a classic. I cannot even remember when I got it, but let me tell you-this thing is a trooper! It has taken countless tumbles onto all different surfaces including concrete, gravel and even toilet water. The phone has yet to quite on me.

So when Apple came out with the new iPhone, I really did not give it too much thought. Don’t get me wrong, it would be great to have the new iPhone, but financially I am not in the position to even toy with the idea.

Last week, I called my dad and he answered the phone with great excitement—he had got the new iPhone. Talking to him, I learned all the innovative features it offers. It all sounded cool, but still I didn’t give it much thought.

Lately I have had some spare to catch up on my T.V. programs, and it was here that I had my iPhone revelation. Apple has created one of the best advertising campaigns for a product that I have ever seen. It appears that their target audience is literally everyone.

Their advertisements focus on the easy, accessible touch screen that makes surfing the web, editing your contact lists and sending messages simple. The iPhone ads have the ability to reach all different target audiences, while maintaining the same consistency and parallel structure throughout the whole advertising campaign.

Searching around the Internet, I was able to find countless iPhone ads that are targeted to all different viewers. These ads target music enthusiasts, YouTube viewers, newspaper readers and many more. My favorite iPhone ad was on T.V. last night. The ad shows the ability of the iPhone to maneuver around Facebook—this was an amazing marketing tool.

I have very few friends, from high school or college, that do not have a Facebook account. Also, many of my employers have Facebook accounts. For Apple to target into this market was priceless. Whether people want to admit it or not, we have all been in a situation where we have wanted to be by a computer to check a social networking, banking or email account.

Apple has solved this problem. Their ads have demonstrated the ability to maneuver around the Internet with no trouble at all. Just as I was able to relate to the Facebook ad, individuals from all walks and interest are able to relate to other ads.

In my opinion, Apple did a wonderful job with their iPhone campaign.

It was here that I came to know Lynn Bering, a 44 year-old freelance writer. As I read the article, I learned that as of 2005, Bering stood 5’5” feet tall and weighed 296lbs.

In January 2005, Bering signed up online for Weight Watchers and created her own accountability journal titled Lynn’s Weight-Loss Journey. Here, Bering told her story from start to finish. The blog takes us through her weight-loss journey and allows us into her personal life. After two years of blogging, Bering reports she has lost 166lbs and is down to 130lbs!

I find it inspiring and amazing that this woman could place her vulnerability on the stage for the world to see. I also think it’s wonderful that people are able to use this new form of social media to help them develop and transform their lives.

It seems so often that the information people put out about themselves is a facade to cover up the reality of their lives. I find Bering’s journal refreshing. I also think it’s great that a blog can be used as a tool for individuals who are seeking support and accountability during significant life changes.

For all you Lynn Berings out there, I find you inspiring and courageous. I respect and appreciate your dedication!

Recently I had to present a report on Guatemala. The report called for my group and I to research the country and find out about their different development issues and struggles they face. Starting the project, I had no idea how disturbing this could be.

A major human rights issue in Guatemala is violence against women. This violence includes, domestic violence, rape, torture and brutal murders. While researching this topic, I found that since 2000 there have been over 3,000 women murdered. Of those 3,000 murdered, there have only been 30 firm court sentences.

I also learned that according to Guatemalan law, domestic violence is not a criminal offense unless the victim’s bruises last at least ten days. Additionally, up until 2006, if a rapist promised to marry his victim, he would not be incarcerated unless the victim was under the age of 12.

With all of this going on, you have to ask yourself what is being done to stop these awful murders. The sad truth is, virtually nothing is happening to prevent these murders. The Guatemalan government is not a safe place for women to turn in their times of need. Police officers have been known to commit these crimes, and often times they treat the women as if they were meaningless.

Guatemalan law only punishes sexual penetration with a penis. This leaves women assaulted with objects absolutely know where to go for help with their injustice. Additionally, the law only prohibits “vaginal penetration,” which leaves young boys in an awful situation.

The point is, Guatemalan women are being brutally abused and murdered in increasingly large numbers. While it might appear there is nothing that you can do to help—there is. The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission says you can help by speaking to your Senators and asking them to support governmental visits to Guatemala and the importance of U.S.-sponsored resolutions. Additionally, it’s important to support U.S. security policies to help with the influences over the Guatemalan military.

All my facts came from Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA