Midterm proposal

It has been a struggle for me to fine my voice in this medium. I am accustomed to talking my way in and out of everything. Verbal communication in the form of the spoken word has always been my weapon with body language as my shield. My purpose is cemented in telling other people’s stories. So, how do I marry my strengths with the written word? It is that mental roadblock that has held me back these many weeks. 

When I first declared my niche as chocolate, I wasn’t too far off. I am a big fan of Chicken Soup for the Soul in its numerous forms and find the stories of others very enriching. In On Writing Well, William Zinsser was speaking to me when he said, “For me, no other nonfiction goes so deeply to the roots of the personal experience – to all the drama and pain and humor and unexpectedness of life.” It’s those snapshot moments in someone else’s life that give the rest of us a mental break from our own. Guideposts and O! Magazines are centered on the stories of others, from their “Aha” moments in life to their fall and rise in the face of the worst demons. For me, that shared moment in someone else’s time is a piece of chocolate. It’s the tangy middle of someone’s struggle that is enveloped in a sweet and happy ending of his or her success against adversity. It’s that Mental Chocolate that I desire to capture and put into words for everyone to share.

The problem that I have is how the story is told. The written word can tell a powerful story. But, my spoken word tells another story that my written word is never be able to convey. And it’s the spoken word that is not only my comfort zone, but my identity. So, how to I capture and capitalize on both with the online presence that I seek? In this blog’s present form, I don’t think that is possible. My ultimate online presence would require the vocal me. Every post would be my voice telling my stories of others – written and spoken.

Actor George Clooney once said in an interview that once he became a movie star, he missed the intimacy of television. He said that when you are larger than life on the big screen you are suddenly disconnected and untouchable. People will notice you in a public place but will not approach you. However, when you’re in television and people are watching you in their homes from their recliners in their pajamas, you are a part of their lives. There’s no fear in approaching me to tell me what they thought of last week’s episode. Radio is even more intimate as people have me all to themselves when they wake up, take a shower, have breakfast, and/or drive to work. My ultimate online presence would be to bring that sense of intimacy to the web.

Elevator Pitches

Elevator Pitch #1:

Twitter and text messaging are two ways to get a concise message from one person to another. Smartphones with touch screens are more commonplace that allow us to do more with our mobile devices. I would propose a mobile app that would allow you to highlight and text or tweet a section of any written copy from your mobile device. It would also allow you to send the text as an audio file.

This feature would allow you capture a moment of inspiration as soon as you find it without having to save and remember it for later when you are in front of a laptop or desktop computer. By sending messages as written text and audio file two different retention styles that apply to the majority of the population. Messages sent as a text are easier to store and refer to at a later day wherever you have your mobile phone. With my inspirational website, inspiring ideas can be captured and shared instantly.

Elevator Pitch #2:

What if Wikipedia and Ancestry.com merged with an element of shared audio? Each person adds written information on their branch on their family tree along with one or more audio files describing a moment in their life. The collective body then begins building a recorded verbal history of who we are as a people one person at a time. There would be prompts with script suggestions for ideas on what they should talk about and each file would be no longer than one minute. Stories that include other people would be tagged to appear with the other person’s written entry. The shared audio files would illustrate how we are all connected.

Change

Change is good.

I’m not sure who said it first, but it has been repeated numerous times over the ages. I believe in change. It is a method by which we can grow and develop. Change comes out of necessity, out of boredom, or even out of curiosity. Change can be painful and sometimes unpredictable. I get all of that. What I don’t understand is change upon change without waiting to analyze the result.

Radio is in the middle of change. The industry is in the midst of a tsunami with two very different catalysts at the beginning of the wave. The advent and growing trends in the internet and digital media has forced the radio industry to question its identity.  And if that weren’t enough, the industry’s primary tool for measuring success has changed to a new method that produces drastically different results. Those two issues have left industry executives and radio programmers scrambling to answer two questions: what are we doing and how are we being judged? Unfortunately, the second question is dictating the direction for the answer to the first question.

The portable people meter, known as PPM in the radio world, is Arbitron’s newest method of collecting data on the radio listening habits of the average person. The meter records in real time the radio frequency in its vicinity as well as the exact time of any changes. It promises a more pure sample of what people are listening to at any given time. This new method differs from the old-fashioned diary which required the listener to recall their listening habits and keep a journal of their listening activity. For generations radio programmers were trained to create radio content that would build loyalty. The goal was to rely on that loyalty  for a listener to recall their favorite station and write it down multiple times in their diary. The dawn of PPM has forced radio programmers in major markets figure out attract and keep listeners in the now abandon the need for loyalty recall later.

The radio industry’s desire to conform to the PPM world has added to its own identity crisis. The second part of that crisis lies was created by digital media. The mp3 has made the favorite song of the moment instantly accessible. The internet library and its card catalog of search engines has an infinite number of information source instantly accessible. Add to that the rise of portable web-capable devices and the world is literally at your fingertips at nearly any place and time. So in this new information-right-now age, how does radio compete? The search for the answer has created grey hair and sleep deprivation.

 The nature of the radio industry right now is answer that question as quickly as possible. PPM allows the results of a particular day to be available as soon as the day is done. The radio programmer changes to conform to the results of a particular day. The days of data collection and analysis over time are gone. The information is now and the judgment is now so there for the change must be now. I can’t help but believe that industry leaders are going to change themselves into oblivion without every considering the effect. Change is good. But without pause for analysis, change can also be ineffective.

How to Sing

Singing is difficult.  Just like anything else in life, there are two ways of doing things – the easy way, or the right way. We all sing, even if we don’t realize we’re doing it. It might be The Itsy Bitsy Spider song we sing to entertain a fussy baby. It might be that catchy commercial jingle that has no words but has a great tune that fits with our self-created libretto of nonsense syllables. It might even be that most-played song on the Ipod that turns the front seat of our cars into a rock concert venue. That singing is easy. The right way to sing takes concentration. 

The first step in singing is breathing. You may think you have this first step in the bag, but let me assure you I wouldn’t mention it first (or at all) if it weren’t important. Take a deep breath right now, like you would if you were at the doctor’s office and I had a stethoscope in my hand. Hmmm. Take another one. Did your shoulders go up?  If they did, then we need to take a closer look at this first step. A true deep breath really is deep. It should make your chest puff out in that area just beneath your rib like a woman in her fourth month of pregnancy. Try it again, but this time, lie on your back and place your hands just under your rib cage. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth. Don’t be alarmed if you feel a slight head rush. That is perfectly natural. We don’t usually fill our lungs to this capacity so the rush of oxygen can have a rushing effect. Stand up and try it again and feel the difference from your first deep breath. Your shoulders should stay down while your mid-section expands. After all, that’s where your lungs are.

Now that we have learned how to breathe, let’s learn how to control it.

Breathing correctly is one thing, but controlling that breath is a whole other issue. Take a deep breath through your mouth like you are sucking on a straw and hold it for two seconds. Then, slowly exhale through your teeth like you are a slow leaking tire. Take as long as possible but keep the pressure constant from start to finish. What started out as that second trimester pooch should push back in and under your rib cage. Don’t let your tire go completely flat. Just when it feels like the tire’s gone and you’re about to reach the rim, take in more air and hiss again. The key to control is maintaining constant pressure and knowing when to re-fill.

Believe it or not, you are almost ready to make that first sound. Now it’s time to focus. It sounds a bit ambiguous but is still important. Imagine for a moment there is a window right on the bridge of your nose between your eyes. Your focus on the sound you create should be as if it is leaving your body through that window. All concentration should be on that window.

Now, it’s time to put it all together. Take a deep breathe, focus on your window and let out your note on the syllable “Ah” with the control of your hissing tire.

 Congratulations! You have just taken your first step towards becoming a vocal virtuoso. The next stage of adding more notes, words and rhythms is easy as long as you remember the three most important things: breath, control, and focus.

Wikipedia: North United Methodist Church (Indianapolis, IN)

North United Methodist Church is an historic church located at the corner of 38^th and Meridian streets in Indianapolis Indiana. The church is a large metropolitan and neighborhood church that is socially conscious and inclusive to all in the Christian community.¹ It is known for its symbolic architecture and design as the sanctuary bears more than 1000 crosses. ²

Contents

1.       History

2.       Present

3.       Structure

4.       References

History

The first congregation for North United Methodist Church began long before the structure was built at its current location. A Methodist Circuit rider ministered to six families who had settled in a maple tree grove just north of Indianapolis as early as 1843.³ Those families  eventually established the Sugar Grove Mission in 1855 and later built a church building.  In 1900, a new structure was built and its members  named it the Mapleton Methodist Episcopal Church. 20 years later, two industrialists, John Esterline and Fred Hoke, began to discuss the need for a new Methodist church north of Indianapolis. Both men were members of different Methodist congregations in the city but believed, along with several other prominent men in the city, the Methodist church needed a larger structure and congregation on the north side of the growing city. The Bishop of the Northern Indiana Conference at the time, Bishop Frederick Leete, agreed to determine a location and selected acreage just 50 feet away from the existing Mapleton Methodist Episcopal Church.⁴  The businessmen and the Mapleton congregation came together to  pursue a new church for the northside community. In 1922, the land was secured and a name, North Methodist Episcopal Church, was selected. It took 9 years for the structure to be completed. It took another 20 years for the Christian Education wing to be built.⁵ The church has continually maintained its affiliation with the Methodist doctrine, changing from North Methodist Episcopal Church to North United Methodist Church shortly after the merger of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in April 1968.

Present

North is an open and inclusive church with the motto, “Where Spiritual Journeys Meet.”  It holds a membership of approximately 2000 members that reach across all of metropolitan Indianapolis and several surrounding counties. The congregation’s diversity stretches over many lines including race, socio-economic status, culture, and gender identity. ⁶ North Church strives to minister to the surrounding urban neighborhood while reaching out other missions in the world. The church is the home office for the League of Women Voters of Indianapolis.⁷

Structure

The main sanctuary building was completed in 1931. The founding fathers decided a English Gothic style would express the ideals of the church to the passerby while an Italian Gothic design on the interior would induce a spiritual attitude for the congregation.⁸ The exterior is made of variegated sandstone from the Briar Hill Stone Company in Glenmont, Ohio. The trim is limestone from Bedford, Indiana. The roof is made of slate and copper. The interior design carries religious significance in every corner. More than a thousand crosses of various designs are featured in the windows, arches, ceiling, and pews. The religious significance of the numbers 3, 5, 7, and 12 are represented in various forms around the sanctuary.  The 12 stained glass windows represent the 12 apostles. Arches in the chancel rail are grouped in sets of three for the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. The seven steps on either side of the alter going up to the pulpit represent the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.⁹ A red sanctuary lamp hangs behind the pulpit high over the choir loft reflecting the presence of God.¹⁰

References

1.       “About Us: Our Mission” northchurchindy.com

2.       A Celebration of Faith: The Story of North Church, page 28

3.        “About Us: Our History” northchurchindy.com

4.       The Story of A Church, page 11

5.       The Story of A Church, page 45

6.        “Many Voices: North United Methodist Church” The Congregation, pbs.org

7.       “Calendar of Events” League of Women Voters of Indianapolis, lwvindy.org

8.       The Story of A Church, page 23

9.       A Celebration of Faith: The Story of North Church, page 28

10.   The Story of A Church, page 42

The Argument

Why can’t an apple just be an apple?

I still wonder why I wasn’t sent to the vice-principal’s office when I asked that question in 9^th grade literature class. I think we were reading William Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar or maybe Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. I can’t remember exactly. I do remember making a list of archetypes and symbol imagery found within the story and discussing as a class each the meaning of each word or phrase. The process was maddening. I still don’t understand why a character’s desire to eat a piece of fruit has to trace back to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and mankind’s expulsion from Paradise. Is it always man’s battle between ignorant bliss and true knowledge? Is it so wrong for a person to simply hunger for a tasty treat? It’s this type of subliminal training that has led us as parents to go the next step when interrogating our children as to why they did something so stupid to which they can only reply, “I don’t know” or “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Those answers to the “Why?”are never good enough. There has to be a reason. The apple is always more than just an apple.

Everything we consume needs to be justified. Every indulgence requires defense.

Really?

Chocolate is good.

I read somewhere that one serving of dark chocolate has more antioxidants than a serving of blueberries or cranberries. Apparently, antioxidants are good for promoting blood flow and good cardiovascular health. The article also proclaimed cocoa butter is a “good” fat, meaning it doesn’t negatively impact your cholesterol. Certain chocolate and cocoa products are high in minerals like magnesium, which helps with type 2 diabetes and hyper tension, or zinc, which is valued for its ability to prohibit viruses and bacteria from spreading in the body. Scientists continue to learn from the ancient Aztecs who used chocolate as medicine and test chocolate’s effectiveness on blood flow and blood pressure.

Stop.   

When I said chocolate is good, I meant it tastes good. That’s all, nothing else.

Apples are good with chocolate. Let’s analyze that for a while.

Personally, I’d rather just eat it. Chocolate has but one purpose. There is no point in analyzing its nutritional content or researching its history, or evaluating its value as a commodity. Chocolate is to be consumed for the simple pleasure it provides. The only analysis need is in what form it should be consumed, i.e. cake, cookies, candy, pie, etc. The only thesis to argue: is white chocolate really chocolate? The only conclusion: if it tastes good, who cares?