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Camera 8

As if I don’t spend enough time on camera.  (Actually, there are quite a few people who work in TV news who feel they never get enough time on camera.)  My son got me a web camera for Christmas so I can chat with him and our relatives everywhere.  At Fox Chicago, we have five cameras in the studio and Cam 6 in the newsroom.  I figure I work on Camera 7 whenever I’m out in the field so I refer to the newest location as Camera 8.  Besides, many Asians love the number 8.  In Chinese, the number sounds very close to the word for “prosperity” so, “Hello, Camera 8!”

My parents are senior Skypers!

Within a day of setting up my new web cam, I had a Skype account so I could start videochatting away.  The best part has been teaching my parents to Skype, too.  They had never used the built-in cameras on their laptops! They are clearly enjoying their novel new communication tool since we can Skype with relatives in Hong Kong or anywhere for free! It’s also nice to “see” my brothers more often and I may soon do a video chat with journalism students at my alma mater, the University of Oregon.

Of course, Oprah talked up Skype almost a year ago.  I’m behind!  I better go see what’s on her book club list.

Today’s post “Three Cheers for Cheerleading” is over at Chicago Moms Blog.  Please tumble over and check it out.  Thanks!

Mizzou's amazing J-school.

Graduates of the journalism school at the University of Missouri, Columbia, are known to be members of the Mizzou Mafia.  They are everywhere in the news business and members include Russ Mitchell of CBS News, Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News and Jim Lehrer of PBS. Here in Chicago, there’s Ben Bradley of ABC7, Judy Wang of CLTV/WGN and my boss, Fox Chicago News Director Carol Fowler!

I graduated from the well-respected journalism school at the University of Oregon but I married into the Mizzou Mafia.  Although my husband is no longer in the news business, he enjoys heading back to see friends and former classmates.   Ahead of the big homecoming weekend (and the big loss to Texas in an ugly game), professor Jen Lee Reeves organizes a “Mizzou Mafia Real World Lunch” to allow journalism students to converse with those of us working in the real world of journalism.  Jen and I are always in touch through social media so I got the pleasure of being a part of the mob lunch.

Future journalists.

I was quite impressed by students live blogging and tweeting with a #realworld hashtag during the event.  But, as they did, they heard about the grim situation in the real world. Some of the panelists had been laid off and they are looking for work.  The rest are working harder than ever. I stressed the underlying need to truly love writing and journalism.  Our business tools and avenues are changing but there will always be a need for effective storytellers and communicators.

My ongoing love for words has served me well during my career.  Though when I got out of J-school, I never envisioned that it’d also lead me to my own blog and an addiction to Facebook Scrabble.