RSS: Why You Should Do It

(Warning: this post is self promotion at its finest.)

Before I started one of my current classes, PR New Media with Prof. Quigley (I think there should be a character in Harry Potter named after him), I had no idea what RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds were. I did not read any blogs, I did not know what a megabyte really was, and I could not fix a computer. I still don’t totally know what a megabyte is and I definitely cannot fix your computer, but now I am beginning to understand the beauty of RSS.

One of our assignments was to go online and subscribe to the RSS feeds from six different blogs, and then write about what we learned from those blogs. Seems simple enough, but I had some trouble even figuring out how to work the RSS button. I had never clicked the little button because I knew that someone was tracking what buttons I clicked. As it turns out, our online activity is being tracked anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if we press RSS…so press that button away!

But why should you press that weird button with the rainbows? RSS will allow you to be notified when ever I write a blog post. It will allow you to get updates every time I write, which is not more than roughly once a day though most of the time less. These automatic updates will allow you to read what this guy (*pointing at myself*) has to say about music, politics, life, and anything else I can think of.

Now why would you want these consistent updates? You might do it because you like reading my blog posts. You might do it because you want to know what a graduating senior at BU looking to get a job is thinking about. Or maybe you don’t want to depend on Facebook for the update on my blog. So click that button. The button which really shows the beauty of the internet.

The beauty of the internet is that we can design our own newspapers.  We click RSS on the sites that we think are in line with what we want to read about. If you are interested in “X” you can simply subscribe to all of those on RSS with what we want to read about. It is an incredible thought, that you, and no one else, can shape your very own newspaper. No more of the “Lifestyle” section, just the concert listing and movie listings. You can shape your types of news that you want to read.

My goal is to be someone you want in your news group. So go ahead, click the tiny blue (it is blue on my blog…don’t know why) button. I want to be a part of your newspaper. What do you have to lose?

AIPAC and some of the many reasons I love it

(DISCLAIMER: This post only includes SOME of the reasons I love AIPAC, Israel, and Politics. Do not be surprised when you see others).

First of all I am sorry. This weekend I went to the AIPAC Policy Conference and have not posted in a while. I have been learning incredible facts, re-kindling friendships and giving extra-ordinarily loud hugs to some of the most amazing people. These are people who will be working in the next generation of pro-Israel politics whether it is through AIPAC or on capital Hill. The conference itself was an incredible with world-class speakers (the greatest political minds in Middle East policy giving panel discussions, it is like triple the fun). I spent from Friday-Tuesday night in D.C. doing everything from hearing what 13,000 people sound like applauding the partnership between Israel and America, lobbying my Representatives and Senators, and sitting in one on one informational interviews.

I was able to set up 10 informational interviews over the four-day (Ain’t gona’ work on Saturday) period. I met with spokespeople for both Senators and Congressman, people from PR agencies, and also issue advocacy. I was trying to get an understanding of what it means to work on the Hill vs.PR Agency vs. on an issue. I now understand not only the obvious differences but also the subtle nuanced differences. However, I will save that for a later blog post. Being in D.C. was incredible but it also meant that I had to make up roughly, a million mid terms so I am working on that now (in the process of writing a paper on the use of TV in U.S. elections).

Was it worth all the added stress and craziness of what I am now facing? YES! AIPAC is in my eyes is the most important organization in America (not including the government). There are many reasons I love AIPAC, not just because I am Jewish, or because I love Israel. Of the many things about Israel I love, I love Israel because it is the physical representation of the words that I hold very dear: never again.

When I was about 13 until currently (I still want to) I wanted to join the Israeli Army (in the picture my close friend is the one in the middle, she is an American who fought to be put into a unit and I am still so proud). I did not want to join the army because I played with GI Joe man-dolls (I did not get GI Joe…thanks mom) and I did not want to join because I thought that the it would be fun, I wanted to join because I know that there is one army in the world that will not let the Holocaust happen again. My grandfather, Sam Goldberg, died when I was 13 after surviving one of the worst places on earth, Treblinka. Treblinka was a Nazi death camp where the Nazis did not bother putting numbers on their arms, they simply murdered Jews. Close to 1,000,000 Jews died (I believe the number is about 850,000) and roughly 60 survived. That is not 60,000 or even 600, it is 60. He helped lead the escape and made it out where he met my grandmother. My grandmother had her own version of hell to live through, running through the woods and hiding in shrubs. They met in the woods and got married. Fast forward about 50 years and there I am. I wanted to join Zahal (Israeli Defense Forces) so that no one ever said “wipe the Jews from the pages of history.” Unfortunately certain people are saying that now, however standing on American soil (and proud of that) there is something I can do to stop them.

That is why I got involved in AIPAC. My mom raised me as a pro-Israel child and my dad raised me as a Holocaust weary child (I got holocaust stories and Israel’s war of independence stories before bed…they took turns). When I came down to AIPAC Policy Conference last year I did not really know what to expect. I knew it was pro-Israel and I was excited to spend some time with my mom. What I saw blew me away. Total bi-partisan support for the US-Israel alliance and it was not only Jews. It was everyone, African-Americans, Hispanic people, Christians, gay and straight alike, everyone was supporting the alliance. I realized something that changed my life: there is more than one way to serve both the State of Israel and the Jewish people. In addition, it was a way that let me serve the United States of America. The strategic partnership does not only help Israel by getting the country aid. It helps America by supplying technology, energy technology, and military intelligence (Israel’s is the best in the world). It allowed me to not declare a political side because despite what people claim, AIPAC is as bi-partisan as you can possibly get. AIPAC is my way to help not only my people (Israelis and Jews) but my country (United States of America). What was strange was that last year, after getting back from AIPAC on March 5 2012, my political fancy had been tickled. I now wanted to learn everything I could about politics because now I had a reason to be interested.

From there, as they say, it was history. I began working on understanding politics, political communications, and speech writing. I started looking at where I fall on issues and what I want to do with my life (political communications in case anyone was wondering/hiring). I began looking at the types of jobs and realizing this is indeed what I want to do with the rest of my life. Once I found out I was not going to be a fireman (that is a different blog post also) I realized, working in politics or AIPAC is the next best thing for what I am passionate about.

In addition, AIPAC introduced me not only to the world of politics but the people of the politics of the future. This December I met some of the most incredible young people I have ever met on a trip to Israel called the AIPAC Advanced Advocacy trip (picture of a few of us on the left). I made friends that I expect I will have for life. When I hear their names  associated with some large push through Congress or running for the White House, I will text them and say “I knew you would make it”…or I will be running their communications.In addition, it got me more involved in politics on campus and I am currently the head of the BU Advocates for Israel, a completely political based group working to support the US-Israel relationship through politics.
I know that this blog post was a little bit all over the place but I promise to come at it with more of a focus next post!

The most boring word in the English language: sequester.

The word sequester was not often muttered in the English language. That is not until a few weeks ago when the White House started their latest branding campaign. After convincing everyone that we are headed for a “cliff” back in the winter, sequester takes over. Now, I am not bashing the White House, I think both parties in this situation (Hill leadership and the President) are to blame for the current situation. But I do not want to address the current situation. I want to address the word sequester. However, to address the word I must first explain what the situation is just a little bit.

First of all, what is the sequester? This is a question that many are asking and these are people who did read the financial times and also, just don’t seem to care. The sequester is “85 billion across-the-board spending cuts” as explained in Jake Sherman and Donovan Slack’s Politico article Sequester countdown: Obama summons Hill leaders. 

The cuts will deal with everything from National Parks to vaccines for children (and how can you be against those!). These cuts are scheduled to go into effect at midnight Thursday night. I am going to D.C. on Friday morning; perfect timing for what Jon Stewart called the Sequester Apocalypses on his program last night. The President has asked the leadership on the Hill to come to his house (that is the White House) on Friday to meet about it but I agree with Sherman and Slack (article is linked above), this is a move to use his leverage of the spending cuts, already in place by the time the meeting happens, to re-program the system. Brilliant move. But I digress into politics, back to the most boring word in the English language!

If either the Congress or the President wanted anyone at all to pay attention to this, at all, why would they use the word that sounds like it came directly out of an accounting book. At least with the “fiscal cliff” journalists could write headlines like “we are heading towards the cliff.” Those caught our eye. With sequester, making it sound interesting is virtually impossible. There are no images for sequester. Sequester does not sound cool, even though there is a Q in the word! Words with Q get so much traction. So why did both party agree to this terrible branding?

At first when I heard the word all I could think of was the line from the Will Farrell Blades of Glory “no one knows what it means but its provocative, gets people going”(see the line here.) According to Dictionary.com, the word sequester means: “to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; or to seclude to remove or separate.” But there are so many more fun ways to say those words. Why use a word that, if said more than 20 times, will make me nod off to sleep? Because that is the point.

My theory is that the branding lords of the Obama administration (and yes I do mean lords, these guys are legit the very best) used this so that they could pull a classic “Obama-narrative-re-frame.” Let me clear something up before I explain. I am not insulting the Obama administration or saying “shame on them for framing an issue so well,” what I am saying is they did it very successfully and I am impressed as a student of political communications.

Now for the understanding. By the Obama administration framing this spending cut screw up as “the sequester,” the most boring word in the English language, to all of the media they are able to control the narrative that follows it. Therefore, Obama has been able to do a “don’t cut our spending” tour where he showed all the things we were going to cut, like: battle ships, teachers, vaccines, airport workers, FBI agents, and other terribly important things. I am not going to go into why all these things are important: but they are. Obama knows this. By having the press report on sequester like a boring class which no one wants to hear, he neutralizes the first round of media coverage between him and the House leadership (AKA Republicans). Obama can then come in during the second wave of media and make it about Mrs. Ashley (I made the name up), a teacher in Louisville who will have to be cut because Republicans can’t let the President do his job or do their own job.

Obama neutralizes the Republican response by flooding the media with the word sequester. He then picks up the second news cycle and (to continue the boxing metaphor) K.O.’s the Republicans in the second round. Brilliant.

Can we please move on because I have bored myself to death saying the word sequester so many times.

I play by no one’s rules but my own…take that grammar

To all of my now and future readers I want to apologize. You may notice grammatical mistakes in my writing. That awkward moment where no one wants to be that guy who calls the blogger out, but they are all whispering under their breath “can he write?” or “if he doesn’t know basic grammar why would he write a blog?”  I want to apologize for my occasional grammatical slip ups, it happens but I think we are mostly adults here and can deal with it. I also want to explain why it happens. It is not that I am lazy, stupid, or (God forbid) a bad writer. I have got a learning disability called Apraxia. (yes, it is real.)

I will explain Apraxia as it has been explained to me my whole life. My thoughts to not get to my hands fast enough. I write faster than the thoughts can get there and so, my writing is not always flawless. In addition my fine motor skills are not great, yes I can fold, yes I can cut with a scissors in a straight line…both of those just take a lot of concentration. My writing was much worse before I had a computer though, my hand writing was far worse than any doctors (my dad is a doctor and my hand writing beat his any day). While my writing was horrendous my speaking ability was articulate and well formed (not to toot my own horn, just a good comparison). This also differentiated me from people who had “speech language apraxia” which is entirely different. When I was in 5th grade (around 11 years old) I went to a occupational therapist because my spelling, grammar, hand writing, folding and scissor skills were sub-par for my age. She diagnosed me after quite a few tests and prescribed that I start typing. It helped a lot (I am indebted to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing) but it did not “cure me.” I had an alpha-smart word processor, which, by the way, are almost entirely useless, for class so that I could just type but not be distracted by the internet. It was fine and when I had my Bar Mitzvah I got a lap top. From there the real life began.

With a lap top I began to learn how to cope with Apraxia and being able to communicate through writing. I started what, if I added them all up, must have been weeks worth of time sitting at the kitchen table with my mom learning how to properly communicate through the written word. All through middle school, high school and even college (#noshame) my mom helped me edit my papers and helped me learn how to develop my thoughts into the written word. It was tough. It was grueling. I learned to hate the word re-write. I learned that getting a paper back with tons of red is far better than getting a paper back with no red on it. As time goes on I have learned that if I take time, be it a lot of time, I can get it right. As time has gone on and I have learned more I have begun to cut down on the time it takes me to write. However, the idea of drafts has never left me. I will never turn a paper or document in having not reviewed it at least once. I commonly do three to four drafts and edits of any papers (five pages or over).

In short I came to the understanding that this learning disability makes me work even harder than I normally would. I put in hours when other people may not have to but I  understand that it is worth it. I understand that I have a disability that I have to work with and it will not stop me from succeeding. This is not to say that people do not need help, medication, or anything else they need. Hard work by itself does not always solve every problem, though for me it is still helping me overcome mine. Yes, some times grammar gets in the way, but if you can’t tell what I am writing because of one or three grammatical mistake…we have bigger problems.

The Oscars: The Most Successful PR Stunt Ever

Confession: I love the Oscars. From the age of 7 until I realized that I need a steady job (20) I wanted to be a film director. In addition, I wrote film reviews for about three years at the Examiner. I own over 250 DVDs (yeah I know, I am old school). I still try to see every film that is nominated, that I have an interest in. There is no substitute for a great movie. This years Oscars were a bit surprising (when Michelle Obama came up on-screen I was a little shocked, and proceeded to boldly claim that Zero Dark Thirty would win because Michelle as a political statement was an interesting card to play with US Military personnel behind her, I can write about that later though). I was surprised that Argo beat Zero Dark Thirty (and secretly hoped for Beasts of the Southern Wild to win everything). Rooting for someone in itself is an interesting phenomenon. It is one of the many reasons I love the Oscars, because it exploits the most basic emotional ties.

All too often actors and actresses can reach out and touch a person’s life and make them feel as though they completely capture what ever experience that audience member is feeling. All too often that actor/actress is the one that above mentioned audience member is rooting for when the awards come around. This is a fascinating use of emotions but I do not want to get into the psychology of how movies relate to people. Rather, something more in my field. I want to write about how the Oscars were invited for, and still are some of, the best PR ever.

To understand the beauty of creating the Oscars it is important to understand the beauty of lists. We all make lists, whether they are grocery lists, things to do before noon (which I never get accomplished), or lists of web pages to check out, we love lists. One reason is that we love crossing things off of lists. That triumphant feeling when you cross something off the list is a great feeling (rivaled only by when you accomplish something really great, like finish an entire pizza by yourself). The Oscars  are Hollywood’s glorified way to make us feel we are missing a list, a list of the greatest movies this year. The Oscars themselves are pretty meaningless, sorry to those who feel like I just told Santa is fake, but they are. They get to say the word “this was the best picture of 2012.” Because a movie won the Oscar for X Y or Z category (usually not set direction or costume) it will get added revenue because everyone assumes “oh it won an Oscar.” It is a brilliant plan. Hollywood has, somewhat arbitrarily, listed out the movies that you HAVE TO SEE. Why? Because a made up award ceremony where people fret over dresses and how raunchy the host will be (I was disappointed Mr. MacFarlane), tell you to.

The Oscars mean something because we give them meaning.  We assign meaning to things that we feel we understand to be important and in turn we feel rewarded when that meaning pays off. When you go see Argo (assuming you have not yet; it was fantastic), there will be a part of you, be it small, that will feel great because you just saw the Best Picture. These lists that we are told, but should not necessarily trust, dictate our movie watching habits to no end. It is absurd but when they tell us, “these are the cream of the crop” we listen and tune in.

I worked in TV PR for a semester as an Account Executive at BUTV10 (our student run TV station) through BU PRLab, the oldest student run PR agency in the country. They had won multiple awards (and they were prestigious even) but no one cared. Why did no one care that they won these awards? They deserved the awards for the shows! Why wouldn’t anyone care? Because the awards themselves need credibility. Credibility is given by the people who watch awards. There is no other way to get that credibility. Circular logic at its finest.

It is crucial, however, to tell you all that the highlight of my night was none of the speeches (all sub par though Affleck’s tears seemed legit). The highlight of my night/ the reason I watched the show was for Adele. To paraphrase one of my favorite graphic novels (Sin City) “she sounds like angels ought to sound.” Bellow I have included the link to her performance because, yes, it was that good.

Adele video – my highlight http://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-adele-performs-skyfall-at-the-oscars/

The Wire: The Greatest Show Ever

I just finished the HBO series The Wire and I was blown away. TV shows run X amount of seasons, some times too long, and sometimes too short. It all depends on the show. The Wire, the greatest show in the history of TV, needed five, calculated, seasons to accomplish its goal. The five seasons went through 1)life in the game and violence, 2)smuggling, corruption, and the docks of Baltimore 3)politics and drugs: corruption at its finest 4)the inner city youth and what it means for the future of our country in middle school, and 5)newspaper and the corporate soul. By drawing a parallel between all of these seasons it accomplished many goals.

The Wire could have had any number of goals, and it accomplished all of them (I was not in the writers room when they came up with the plan for the general message or point of the show). Suffice to say they accomplished all their missions. They did the best job portraying the inner city of any show ever. They used a non-formulaic episode structure that always kept you guessing.  They had the best character development of any show ever. It has a story line that is continued throughout all five seasons with interesting and captivating information. It had plot points that were unheard of before The Wire. They were able to tell us, the audience, something great without preaching (I am looking at you Mr. Sorkin). It was a perfectly set and played chess game that lasted 50 hours and was well worth it. As they say in the show “it’s all in the game.”

The Wire broke other formulas for dramas (like Seinfeld did with comedy) and established a new set of rules. The Wire used every single character to make the audience feel as though they were emotionally connected. Like a giant chess game, The Wire moved pieces into position slowly yet with confidence for the last season. Compared to other shows like the entire CBS line up or Lost or even cable shows like Game Of Thrones (and I am a huge GOT fan), they still do not measure up to The Wire. One show that I need to watch still is the Sopranos. I know, everyone says it is the best but for me I do not see how anything can top The Wire. There is a class at Boston University that is taught, ABOUT THE WIRE! It depicts corruption on every level and the true humanity in the world.

Many shows want to be considered the greatest and as other shows try and topple The Wire’s spot at the top of the mountain I offer them the advice I have learned from my favorite character from The Wire – “come at the king, you best not miss.”

If you love The Wire (and if you watch it, how can you not) check out the links bellow:

Below is link to a video one that, simply put, makes me nostalgic.

The Wire 100 Greatest Quotes (Spoilers)

This is Donald Smith’s graphic design WordPress site and the best graphic I have ever seen that encompass all five seasons of the show – The Wire Print

The Presidential Youth Council and what it could mean…for Amurica

I recently took on a job as the (something though I think the technical name is “Director of Media Relations “) for the National Campaign for the Presidential Youth Council. I met the chair, an extraordinary young man named Alex Wirth, at an event in DC and we were talking about what good PR looks like. Naturally I gave him my thoughts on how he could market and promote the Presidential Youth Council (don’t worry I will explain what that is in a second) and so we got together in Boston. Alex and the existing team had already done a phenomenal job of working with specific Congressmen and women and Senators. They had begun reaching out to other organizational as well and I started working with them just as they were getting a major contribution from the Knight Foundation (50,000 dollars is major in my book)(Check out my news release posted below). The Knight Foundation gave it to them because they believe in the youth of America.

Call me naive but I believe in the youth of America. I know, we play Xbox and go on Reddit and some times don’t make our bed, but I also believe that we are smart, we are innovative, and we are the only ones that understand our issues to the fullest extent. The Campaign for the Presidential Youth Council (PYC) is a non-partisan campaign to get 12 extraordinary youths on a council together to advise the President on youth matters and on matters that relate to the future of this country. I mean, we are going to be the ones inheriting this great country of America (some say Amurica), why shouldn’t we have a seat at the table when it comes to decision making.

The example that I feel the strongest about that affects youth today is bullying. Who knows bullying like us  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ2OP3cnvvM– (Warning: Video is intense, not graphic or anything but be prepared it is a well done music video about bullying)

Who knows half the issues we face on a daily basis like us? No one. Yeah I am 23 so yeah I am no longer a youth. But I remember my youthful days. I remember thinking I was going to be the next President of the United States. That was going to be my job right after I was an astronaut but before I was Indiana Jones (in my head as a kid I. WAS. AWESOME.)

In addition check out this article in the Washington Post (also check out the incredibly angry comments calling Petri a no good liberal arts major…seems a bit harsh?) http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/02/12/the-state-of-the-millennial-union/_ – P.S. I will am drafting a letter to Petri, lets see if she prints it.

There is no good reason our voice should go unheard. The PYC will be privately but non partisan funded (how often do you see those two words together – hint: almost never). We aren’t stepping on toes and we aren’t trying to climb a ladder, we are just trying to be heard.

I have come up with a number of strategies to start with and thanks to SparkAction’s leadership and some great team ideas (which I can by no means take any credit for at all) we have begun working with committees and as a cohesive unit to get this done. I got into politics because I love Israel, I stayed in politics because I love Israel and I found out along the way, I am passionate about a lot of stuff. The youth development in this country is one of those things that I found I was passionate about. And so, here I am. Check my news release…yo.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2013

Knight Foundation invests in the next generation of leaders

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has awarded $50,000 dollars to SparkAction in support of the youth-led Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council. The Campaign’s mission is to establish a Presidential Youth Council, made up of young Americans ages 16 to 24, who will advise the President on the perspectives of young people and offer suggestions on the design and implementation of youth policies. The  aim is to train and inspire young Americans to help shape the country that they will inherit.

“The support provided by the Knight Foundation will allow the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council to show both policymakers and young[cj1]  people that civic engagement doesn’t end at the voting booth,” said Alex Wirth, 19, campaign chair.

According to CIRCLE, a non-partisan research center at Tufts University focused on youth civic engagement, young people were decisive in the 2012 election, comprising 19 percent of the electorate. Yet the Harvard Institute of Politics found in a recent study that only 29 percent of young Americans believe they have a say in government. With issues from education reform to the federal deficit directly impacting the future of young Americans, a Presidential Youth Council will give the nation’s youth a voice in the national debate and provide useful insight to policymakers as they implement policies that affect youth in the future.

“We are not only excited by the progress the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council has made in the past two years, but impressed by how the next generation of Americans is taking an active interest in policies that affect them,” said Jeff Coates of Knight Foundation. “With young people across the nation taking such an active interest in our government, the future looks bright.”

The support of Knight Foundation follows an endorsement from a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and seven members of Congress with the introductions of S.Res. 608 and H.J.Res. 115 last fall.  In addition, the White House Council for Community Solutions called for the creation of a Presidential Youth Council in its final report last summer.

More than 100 local, state, and national youth-serving organizations including the America’s Promise Alliance, DoSomething.org, The Forum for Youth Investment, Youth Service America, generationOn, Young Invincibles, and the First Focus Campaign for Children support the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council.

The Knight grant was awarded to SparkAction to provide organizational support to the youth-led Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council.

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About the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council
The Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council is a bipartisan, youth-led initiative created by young people from all across the country. The Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council advocates for the creation of an advisory body comprised of young Americans ages 16-24 who will advise the President on the perspectives of young people, offer suggestions on the design and implementation of youth policies, and create shared recommendations on issues that will affect the long-term future of our country. To learn more, visit presidentialyouthcouncil.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.

About SparkAction

SparkAction.org is a collaborative online journalism and advocacy platform to mobilize action by and for young people.

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Allow me to reintroduce myself…visually

I realized that I jumped directly into the content and never gave you, the reader, any context.  Therefore I will introduce myself using the about me section – I was just called “The Beyonce of Men” (speaking of which I took the name of this post from a song by her husband (EXPLICIT LYRICS) http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCP_E5Rsawc)

– that is me…being professional

“My name is Jack Goldberg (although my drivers license says Isaac Goldberg…long story) and I am a senior at Boston University studying public relations and American history. But I am much more than my major. I am a 6th generation Seattleite, a (be it small) part Irish, modern Orthodox Jew whose grandparents survived the Holocaust (one was one of 60 people of 1,000,000 to survive Treblinka). I call South Seattle, Washington my home (area code 98118) and I have got 3 sisters with no brothers. I have lived in Seattle, Israel, England, and Boston and each one has allowed me to learn something new.

I am passionate about a whole lot of things including:  politics, PR, communication, firefighting, music, movies, branding, the Presidential Youth Council, supporting the State of Israel, and the general art of delivering and writing speeches. These are the main things I will be writing about but by no means the only things.”

That sums me up to some extent. I will explain what these things mean in more depth as time goes on but I just wanted to give a brief overview of a)what I will be posting, b)what I care about right now (subject to change within about 12 hours), and c) what you can get me for Chanukah.

Below I will (attempt to) show a visual representation of myself:

Senior at Boston University – (despite terrible publicity I still love my school)

Public Relations –

American History – (my focus is WWII and post WWII history)

South Seattle  – (this is a mural from my neighborhood)

Part Irish – (I took this picture in the County Cork of Ireland at the Blarney Castle)

Modern Orthodox Jew – (I led havdalah in Israel)

Holocaust – (I read a excerpt from my grandfathers story at the memorial at Treblinka)

3 Sisters No Brothers – (Life with 3 sisters)

Places I Have Lived (Seattle, Israel, England, Boston) – The view from my house

Israel at sunrise

The view from the water in London

Boston from the water

Politics –

PR/Communications/Branding –

Firefighting –  my goal before I missed the only written test I could take… and threw out my back

Music – Just two examples:

Movies – (My favorite movie)

Presidential Youth Council – (I am the Director Of Communications for the Campaign for the Presidential Youth Council)

Love for the State of Israel –

Writing/Delivering Speeches – (three of the greatest speakers I have ever seen)

These pictures help to describe me through a visual medium but I hope that you will continue to read and see my kinda sorta unique perspective on life, and the above stated topics.

A speech about everything is a speech about nothing #SOTU

Obama…speaking

One thing I am going to be writing about on this blog is political speeches. This is because I want to be an expert at one point in the future so I will be writing about speeches and then grading them. My parents and society have kept me in school so long that the only way I can assess something is by grading something. Below is my review of the Obama speech from last night (and some brief thoughts about the republican response).

Last night was the State of the Union (or the #SOTU if you live in the Twittersphere…which I don’t like). I want to use my first ever, excluding my practice post, blog post to talk about the speech. Granted, during the speech I nodded off at (many) points but that does not mean that it was not a great speech…the fact that it tried to cover every issue that affects every person in the entire United States may have had a hand in diminishing it though.

However, I do not blame Obama (or Rubio for that matter), I believe this is something inherently wrong with an age old tradition that could just as easily be summed up in a public letter to Congress. (Please see the wonderful article in Politico Time to Retire the STOU?) However, because the State of the Union happened, I will write about it.

At the start of the night ABC News began inundating us, the viewers, with words to have in the front of our minds as if we did not know that these words would come up in the President’s speech. Graphics popped up with the words “gridlock…divided…gun control…immigration…healthcare” and a few more. I did not pay too much attention except to note that they were “priming the audience” (not sure if that is a real thing but let’s run with it) for a speech with even debated social issues.

Everyone knew that the night would be emotional (and about guns), Gabby Giffords was shown and many members of the audience wore the green ribbons to remember the horrific Newtown shooting. The anchors on ABC talked about how Speaker Boehner called out the President saying that he did not have “the guts to make the tough decisions” which, I hope everyone can see, is just the media making problems.

Even if the Speaker said that what is the goal of telling us? There is none. The media just keep driving their wedge agenda (conflict gets ratings, so to the media the Republicans want to have an old school rumble with the Democrats…Sharks vs. Jets style) between the two parties. What was important for the public to notice (and I know I did) was how incredible it was that Obama’s head did not explode from Speaker Boehner’s stare. But that is not the topic of this post…I have got to get to the speech (excuse my ramblings #myfirstblogpost).

Amidst the grey haired people Obama emerged…equally grey haired but exuding a good amount of what the anchors on ABC called “confidence” or what I would more aptly call – swag. He got up to the podium after he did the hand shake game and kicked off his speech. He began talking about JFK, which generally is a great start. He used the words such as “progress…grit … determination… and reignite.” He spoke about the debt, bi-partisan politics, and climate changed. He touched on of course every issue he could possibly get his hands on. The camera work for the speech was very quick and clever. When he talked about the budget it would cut to people like Mitch McConnell and his standard perpetual frown.  Obama preached “smart government” and love-surged (gushing from his love he can’t hold it in) for the middle class (not that there is anything wrong with that). He had a great line saying “we do not need bigger government, we need smarter government” which I thought was a well-positioned line against the opposition. Obama used, what David Meerman Scott would term as, “gobbledygook” meaning useless political jargon to explain situations in the White House and spoke AT the American people throughout the night. I would not say it was a great speech, but that is what you get when you cover the entire country.

There were two notable moments in his speech for me. One was during one of his gimmies. A gimmie is a line that is pretty much guaranteed applause and Obama knows how to work it. At each one of them his standbys (like Al Franken) shot up like a cannonball to clap as if being the first one to stand gets you a special sticker from the President… for all I know it might. After the press showed Franken usually the rest of the chamber stood and applauded. His best gimmie to me was about Israel.

I am an extremely proud Israel advocate. I love the state of Israel. I am an orthodox Jew who lived there for a year and visited the country about 7 times. His statements in defense of Israel always get me, the just do. I believe it is in the US best interest to continue its friendship with the only stable democracy in the Middle East and the fact that Israeli innovation has saved countless American lives, and the fact that Israel is a country that needs America to stay alive…ok I loved surged right there (I will save that for another post). So I enjoyed that.

When talking about his transparency it is important to remember that he left out drones…awkward.

Finally at the end of his speech he did something everyone was expecting but what I thought was a pretty smart move. He found a way to use the speech to make Congress and the Senate accountable for the gun deaths. He used the phrase “just one vote” (referencing that he wants just one vote for stricter gun laws). He said that “if the representatives have to vote no, then they vote no” which he knows is a hot button issue. Democrats in not only purple and red districts but even in light blue districts would have a problem with this vote. He also knows that voting against it would make them into complete buffoons. While Obama may be able to get the universal background checks through the House and Senate I think he knows that an assault weapons ban is going to be pretty close to impossible but he put the representatives in the hot seat anyway… kinda threw this own Democrats under the buss on this one. He put the situation a certain way saying “the families deserve one vote” and making it the focal point of his speech. He talked about the missed “birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries.” He did a great job selling it, but we will see if it sticks.

The full transcript is on Mediaite.com and below you can watch the full hour or the last ten minutes if you want. I would suggest sticking with the last 10 minutes.

At the end of the night the Republican Party stunned me once again with their sheer stupidity by having a divided response. It is not enough that everyone in the country thinks that republicans can’t get their act together but that they show it like this is absurd. Rubio was charismatic, emotional, and very impressive I thought. Who cares if he needed some water I thought his emotional appeal was solid and the Republicans need a candidate like this for the next election. I did not watch Rand Paul…the Bruins were in a shootout with the Rangers…then again I did not want to watch Rand Paul.

I think what I gathered from this State of the Union was that, as much as I love political speeches (it is something that I may want to go into when I “grow up”) I do not know how effective anyone can be when trying to speak about the entire country. Obama did do a great job at trying to engage the crowed for the full hour and had a few moments when he truly was engaging. He spoke with vigor and used his hands very well. I would say that he made the best of what he had to work with, tasked with speaking about the entire nation and everything in the world that is happening he did the best he could.

STOU Grade: B+

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