Some of my Radio Stuff

I intern for Utah Public Radio. I report the news and produce interviews and features.

It is a fun way to tell a story, using only sound. I have experience in High School with video production, but it seems as though using only audio is more liberating. I paint an image through sound and description which is almost easier than video. In the end, when telling a story, you are sharing an experience with them and want to communicate that experience as clearly as possible. In video, that seems so hard to do, but with sound you can communicate precise feelings, insights, and views.

Here is a link to the "specials" page of Utah Public Radio. Follow it and listen to a few of my features.


Utah Public Radio



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Pet Project

Oh, the joys of pet ownership. Pets come with all sorts of pleasures and woes. Some owners find more woes than others, but, regardless of these annoying parts, a therapeutic bond can form.

An article published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research in 2002 found that the presence of brightly colored fish in an aquarium positively affected eating habits and nutrition of Alzheimer patients. Another article, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2001, concluded that while medications can lower the blood pressure in hypertension patients, pets accomplish this better by lowering patient response to stresses that cause high blood pressure.

The studies, however, forgot to mention the stress caused by a dog that barks at passing cars all night, or that finds valuable electronics to chew on.

So, for better or worse, we have pets. Some pets, like parakeets, guinea pigs, and turtles, sit in their respective containers all day. More interactive pets, like dogs, cats, and horses, require daily playing, walking, or grooming to be healthy. This takes time and often causes you to leave the house. Leaving the house to amuse your pet can be an enjoyable past time. An owner can take his pet to play fetch in the park or for a walk, run, or bike ride along the many trials in Logan Canyon. Pets, such as dogs, are great backpacking partners; they hardly ever complain and they love to be alone with you however long you are wandering.

However fun these activities are in the spring, summer, and fall, the owner’s desire to leave the house may wane during the cold winter.

“Her love handles are quite evident during the winter,” Lauren Hancey, social studies secondary education major, said regarding her dog Lila. “But, the last thing I want to do is trudge out into the cold inversion weather with the dog.”

What can one do to entertain their dog during the winter? The solution takes a little more effort than walking to the neighborhood park, but it is close. Winter activities in Cache Valley are abundant and many are dog friendly and lack the inversion. For example, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing exercise both the dog and the owner. One sport, skijoring, involves the dog pulling its cross-country skiing owner in a mix between skiing and dog sledding. If your dog is more athletic, wear him out in deep, un-groomed snow such as the Jardine Juniper trail, located approximately 12 miles up Logan Canyon. Smaller and older dogs can jog along groomed trails such as Green Canyon, located in North Logan.

With the right clothing, these activities are generally warm. Skis, snowshoes, GPS and other needed equipment are available to rent at the Outdoor Recreation Program (ORP), located east of Romney Stadium. Once equipped, an owner can head to the trailhead where he can wear his dog out for hours.

Additionally, the ORP began a trial dog policy at their yurt in Green Canyon. The yurt, located three miles up Green Canyon, has all the amenities for a warm cozy night in the winter wild. Equipped with a wood burning stove, a propane cooking stove, cushioned beds, and cutlery, it is a place to camp outdoors with your dog and not freeze.

The yurt, discounted for students, is rented through the ORP and owned by campus recreation. Check availability by calling 435-797-3264 or stopping into the ORP.

The groomed trail to the yurt accommodates small, fat and old dogs alike. Once there, the owners with the more energetic dogs can explore the adjacent Naomi Wilderness with its deep snow and cross-country skiing trails. Due to Forest Service policy, the dogs must be leashed for the first mile up Green Canyon. After that mile, however, the dog is free to romp and play.

Both owner and pet benefit from continued winter activity. Activity can curb the winter blues for both parties, and then soon, it is back to playing fetch in the park.

The Twitter Puzzle

This article has crash course on Twitter and points on using Twitter for marketing and PR.

Article

The article explains how to use Twitter "correctly," and explain how Twitter is great for marketing and PR. But, I don't buy it all.

I don't find Twitter what it is hyped up to be. I know everyone has an account, but I know few who use it a lot. Maybe I am just lazy when it comes to social media, but it seems like such a chore to learn how to use it. Then I feel like I have to learn how to use it right to be accepted into the "Twitter group" of users.

For example, in the article it suggests not to use under scores in your username. This is a Twitter "social norms" no-no. What? Better not use an underscore or they might not let me hang out in the cool Twitter clique.

Yes, I think that it is a great reactive way to market and to access a target audience's views. You can get immediate feedback on what your company is doing. Not to mention the upkeep cost of a company's Twitter account compared to other advertising can't even compare. But, I don't think you can reach as many as they say you can. You can definitely reach the Twitter nuts, but not everyone because they don't follow all the "social norms."

More Photoshop Experiments

To do the same thing to a similar photo you must:

1. Increase the contrast

2. Increase the hue saturation

3. Adjust the color level

4. Erase around the tree to show back layer

In order to do the same thing to a similar photo, you must:

1. Change the Black and White levels

2. Create another layer with the same copy

3. Erase person or image

4. Adjust hue saturation

Another New Project: Effect International

I was recently invited to the Effect International team as their Public Relations Director. Effect International builds, supplies and maintains schools in India and Nepal. One of the most interesting characteristics of Effect that defines it from other similar non-profits is that their schools become self sustainable within five years of opening. That is their goal, of course, to provide a school and then build more.

I attended one of their meetings and was impressed by the diversity of interested people on their team. Most of the group are students, given that it is a student formed and led non-profit organization. I agreed, seeing the promise within the diverse talents of the group.

The first task I did as PR director was to write a press release on the opening of the organization's first school in India. The press release was picked up by the Cache Valley Daily and led to an interview and article with the Utah Statesman. Here are the links to them:

Cache Valley Daily Article

Utah Statesman Article

And Effect's website:

Effectinternational.org


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9-1-1 Guatemala's Master List of Accomplishments!

The 9-1-1 Guatemala project was a volunteer-based effort to aid the rural area of Polochic, Guatemala. As an account of True Blue Communications and a project adopted by the non-profit organization Charity Anywhere Foundation, student and professional volunteers succeeded in fundraising approximately $7,500 to be distributed as aid to the under developed area.

Through these efforts the group purchased and transported the first full size ambulance to the National Hospital of La Tinta, Guatemala. Also given to the hospital were hundreds of articles of medical supplies collected from Cache Valley clinics, health centers, and medical supply hubs. Hundreds of handmade wooden cars made by Happy Toys were donated to the hospital’s postnatal unit along with dozens of additional toys from individual donors. Six children’s wheelchairs were also delivered, donated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

9-1-1 Guatemala delivered 154 newborn baby kits, 48 hygiene kits, 302 cloth diapers, and dozens of bars of soap donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to Talita Kumi, a local Guatemalan aid organization. Also delivered to Talita Kumi were hundreds of wooden cars donated by Happy Toys, 53 birthday kits donated by a Sunday school in Malad, Idaho, 96 notebooks donated by Marla Dredge, approximately 10,000 children’s vitamins and a desktop computer donated by Charity Anywhere Foundation, and a digital camera donated by Danielle Dredge.

Training curricula was also created by volunteers, in behalf of Talita Kumi, to use as community health trainings in the area. Created courses covered diarrhea prevention and treatment, proper construction of latrines, and nutrition and supplementation during pregnancy and breast feeding. Many of the same volunteers who had created the courses taught their material to congregated mothers in communities during the expedition to Guatemala.

Dozens more classes were prepared by a registered nurse instructor at Eastern Idaho Technical College: Kim Starr. Some of the classes prepared by Starr were hand hygiene, basic first aid for cuts, scrapes and burns, treatment of fever, proper preparation of meats, choking prevention, and many more. Some of these trainings were also taught by volunteers during the expedition and all were donated to Talita Kumi as material for future community health trainings. Every course was translated from English to Spanish by bilingual volunteers.

During the same expedition, 15 project volunteers traveled to Guatemala and constructed a mud-slide retention wall directly above a lower income residential area. The retention wall, located in the community of Nahaula, was being constructed by community members until the lack of resources caused them to stop construction. With donated funds and volunteer labor, the 9-1-1 Guatemala project paid for additional needed material and finished the retention wall.

Expedition members also installed a roof and windows, and painted a school classroom in the community of San Nicolas. Construction materials and equipment were provided by Charity Anywhere Foundation, and the National Hospital of La Tinta, and the 9-1-1 Guatemala project.

Throughout the project True Blue Communication students coordinated with media outlets in order to publicize the charity effort and fundraising events. Coverage of the 9-1-1 Guatemala project included ten articles in newspapers located from Cache Valley, Utah, to Pocatello, Idaho, one radio interview with Cache Valley’s KVNU, a website, a Facebook page, a YouTube video linked from all media, several large banners, and hundreds of posters and leaflets.

Fundraising events were organized by the 9-1-1 Guatemala group and True Blue Communications. These included two charity concerts, participating in two holiday parades, participating with an MTV television show, erecting donation booths at holiday celebrations, asking for donations in exchange for gift cards donated from restaurants and other local businesses, and participating in a Texas Roadhouse fundraising night.

Large donations were also received from Bill Aycock and Kim Starr who contributed $1,500, along with Dr. Thayne Hales who gathered $2,000 from other medical doctors and dentists to contribute to the cause. Another large contributor, Charity Anywhere Foundation, contributed approximately $1,500, construction material, and medical and hygiene supplies.

Volunteers who traveled to Guatemala and endured long drives, questionable food, and foreign surroundings to participate in the construction and community trainings are Brooke Francom, Nick and Lauren Hancey, Josh Hancey, Myles Asay, Danielle Dredge, Tressa Gilbert, Jameson Gilbert, Chris and Natalie Curtis, David Sherwood, and Katie Kealin, Paul Oja, and Jesse Dredge.

Other Guatemalan volunteers who made the project possible were Pedro, Jerson, and Mario from the hospital, Herbert Cu from Talita Kumi, and the Tzep family in Nahaula.

I can't express how thankful I am personally for everyones participation and sacrifice to make this possible. But none of you did this for me, and that is what made it a success.

Jesse Dredge

Why Nothing Has Been Published

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For the last month I have been enveloped in a project that I have used as an internship with True Blue Communications. The trip included six months of fund raising, the purchasing of an ambulance, 14 volunteers traveling to Guatemala, the building of a mudslide retention wall and an addition onto a school, and community trainings. What the trip also included were road destroying mudslides, corrupt cops, 3,000 miles of driving, and monkeys.

Here is a link to the website that I have worked hard to keep up to date:

9-1-1 Guatemala Website


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