Holiday chaos is par for the course come Thanksgiving and Christmas and, for many, family squabbles are one reason to dread the holidays. For debut author Robin Winzenread, however, it’s research.
“When you cram nearly a hundred warm bodies into a small 1,700 square-foot home on Christmas eve, you’re bound to get some fodder for future fiction.” She laughs. “I just try to make the most of it and write about it.”
Winzenread’s first fiction novel, SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, takes that chaos and elevates it into a raucous read. Released in ebook on October 28 and available in print in early December, Winzenread’s romantic comedy features a young, single mother of three from Chicago who relocates her family to the country and tries to make the best of it following a bitter divorce. Set in a small rural Midwestern town, this delightful tale features a city girl fish-out-of-water twist dripping with colorful locals, kids being kids, animals being ornery, sexual tension at the “sweet heat” level, and a handsome, widowed boss with a penchant for wearing tight jeans and cowboy boots all while taking place during the holidays. Read the rest of this entry »
Hunting for the perfect job is difficult, you have to make yourself standout to compete against your competitors and to land the desired position. Cover and thank you letters are one way to accomplish that.
In a cover letter you should mention the position you are applying for, explain your skills and experience that relate to the position, and finish with a request for an interview or meeting.
Joe Smith
1234 Main Ave.
Columbus, IN 47201
(123)-456-7890
January 19, 2020
Future Boss
Company Name
987 S. Hiden Rd
New York, NY
(987)-654-4321
Dear Mr. Boss,
I am a student at IUPUC, I saw your now hiring sign and I am applying for the open position as a store manager.
I am attaching my resume with this cover letter that shows my history in business management. I am currently in my second year with a business major. Also I have three years experience on the floor of a well known retailer.
I will be in touch to plan a meeting or interview, as well as a date and time that works for you. Thank you for your time. I am looking forward to meeting you.
Best Regards,
(Always sign your name!)
Joe Smith
A thank you letter is just as important as the cover letter. A thank you letter lets your interviewer know that you appreciate the time they put into meeting with you and that you respect their time. You should send the thank you letter within 24 hours of the interview because you want your image fresh in their mind and for them to read the letter before making a final decision.
1234 Main Ave.
Columbus, IN 47201
(123)-456-7890
January 21, 2020
Future Boss
Company Name
987 S. Hiden Rd
New York, NY
(987)-654-4321
Dear Mr. Boss,
I enjoyed meeting with you to discuss the store manager position opening in your business. Our discussion only strengthened my desire to become a part of your store.Your floor staff was friendly and courteous.
Company Name is precisely the company I want to manage. I see myself having great success working with you and your colleagues.
Yours Truly,
(Always sign your name!)
Joe Smith
Cover and thank you letters are a very quick and effective way to make yourself stand apart from competition in the employment field. I highly recommend taking your time and having someone proofread them just like you do with your resume. You would not want to send out a grammatical or spelling error, these would make you stand out in the wrong way.
Tevis Tolliver
I am currently an IUPUC student enrolled in the business management program. I created this website to educate my audience about job cover letters and thank you letters. I hope you found this helpful. You may contact my through my email if you have further questions or would like to comment. tevtolli@IU.edu
The Democratic primary debate in Detroit features Congressman John Delaney, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders. The debate starts with Mr. Sanders addressing the healthcare issue in America, immediately starting with an attack on Delaney. This aggression shown can sometimes benefit the speaker but, in this case, I believe that there was a better way to address this issue. To attack another candidate right off the bat seems to show that the speaker cares more about hurting the candidate than addressing the issue at hand. Although Mr. Sanders does address the facts about the issue, he could have spent more time on what exactly he wants to do different with the healthcare system. Mr. Delaney comes back with a different approach than Mr. Sanders, instead of directly attacking he starts with a statement about how he has a plan. He is noticeably less confident than Mr. Sanders was but he tries a little harder to connect with his audience by bringing up real life examples. Delaney is obviously nervous as he stumbles over his words at one point, this being completely different from the loud and proud Bernie Sanders who spoke with pride. Later in this debate Mayor Buttigieg is brought in and he is so much different than any candidate seen so far. While the others were louder, he keeps a calm tone during his time speaking. Mayor Buttigieg has a more approachable personality when speaking, he pays close attention to how he speaks, he tends to stay well mannered when addressed, at the same time he is also not afraid to call someone out calmly for being wrong. This type of presenting works better from what I can see, he shows the audience that he has the self-control not to lash out against other candidates which shows a lot of maturity coming from one of the youngest in the group.
On April 10, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig owned and operated by PB Oil ignited and caused an explosion and the worst oil spill on earth to occur. The explosion caused more than 160 million gallons of oil to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill reached every state that surrounded the Gulf Coast. The explosion caused 11 people to lose their lives, ocean life that was lost, and environment issues that came about.
On May 30, 2010 a couple months after the explosion the CEO
of BP, Tony Hayward, got on camera to apologize for the disruption the spill
has caused. What got everyone upset was after he apologized, he told the camera
that he just wants his life back. After saying those words, the rest of the
interview didn’t mean much to anyone. Also, during the interview Tony Hayward
is showing no emotion about the incident making his apologize seem less sincere.
When it comes to him talking about wanting his life back, he is seen slightly
smiling, trying to make light out of the matter.
After the interview CNN just focused on him saying that one line. Just that part of the interview is what went viral. Those who saw the interview were commenting on it saying things like “Why should you get a life when those who lost theirs can’t”. That one comment took away from what the true focus needed to be on. Tony Hayward was acting selfish when he stated “I just want my life back. The apologize became so well-known it was part of an episode of South Park. South Park is seen making fun of the way CEO Tony Hayward is apologizing by showing no emotion and the words he used.
It took one day for Tony Hayward to realize he made a huge
mistake by saying those words. He came back with an apology for his apology via
Facebook. He stated that the comment he made was hurtful and thoughtless and
then processed to apologize to the families who lost loved ones that day and
those who were affected along the Gulf Coast.
When apologizing for something your company has done to someone else or something else, you should try to make light of the situation or talk about yourself. When Tony Hayward brought himself into the apology it took the apology and attention away from those who needed. Also, he shouldn’t of came back with another apology via Facebook. That apology should have been in front of the cameras. Anyone can write I am sorry down but those who are truly sorry, say it.
Marketing is a very broad subject when brought up. There are endless types of marketing in the business world. This ranges from Burger King’s famous slogan “Home of the Whopper” to a 17-year-old hanging up flyers at local restaurants and grocery stores offering work as a babysitter. That is what makes marketing so unique in many ways.
Any type of business heavily relies on marketing strategies and plans. These are where the unique ideas come into play. For example, many restaurants have one liner’s when they advertise their place such as “The best in town!”, “You’ll want to come back!”, or “Food with passion!”. These well-known slogans still work to this day and grabs the audience attention. Another great example is when it comes to movies. Trailers for movies are so dramatic and hyped up. In these trailers, they love to state, “Number 1 movie in America!”, or they will put numerous feedback quotes that are positive about the movie from famous movie critics.
If I were to create my own marketing plan, I would make sure to be very dramatic with the product I’m trying to sell or work I’m trying to offer. For instance, if I were to advertise a burger restaurant, I would make sure to be using a lot of adjectives that describes my burgers. Example words I would use could be juicy, sizzling, seasoned, slow-cooked, and fresh.
Marketing is the core of a business. Its what makes a business grow if done correctly or fail if done poorly. Marketing does not come just from big business you drive by daily. You see marketing everywhere. You may even use it without even knowing you did.
Everyday thousands of tech savvy people with a message attempt to dabble in the art of Podcasting. Their messages and purpose vary from giving a drunk history lesson with a little humor to the no non-sense investing and personal finance gurus hellbent on securing your financial future. Successful Podcasters have an almost disciple-like following comparable to that of a sports franchise. Anymore, it seems as though we are often judged by others based on what and who we are listening to. While I don’t consider myself a disciple to any particular Podcast, I do have my favorites. Of the various genres that I listen to, one that I find myself continually revisiting is leadership. One of my favorites is JOCKO PODCAST.
JOCKO PODCAST is hosted by none other than Jocko Willink. Jocko served as a Navy SEAL for 20 years before retiring in 2010. He started his career as an enlisted SEAL and worked his way into a command role during the Iraq war. Jocko is a decorated veteran who has been awarded both the Silver Star and Bronze Star, to name a few of his military accomplishments. Jocko also served as the Officer-In-Charge for all West-Coast SEAL operations following his last deployment to Iraq.
I first heard about Jocko through a friend of mine whom I myself served with. I won’t lie, I was a little skeptical at first. “Another SEAL writing books and claiming to be a subject matter expert” I thought, but I listened. To my surprise, he was pretty good. I liked his message, and while he may be a little over the top with his alpha-male, tough-guy persona at times, I agreed with most or all of what he had to say. Then I downloaded his book Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. It was a quick read with a basic message; stop making excuses and get off your ass and start doing. I could get on board with that.
The appeal of Jocko to me, is that he reminds us (veterans) that a lot more of the skills you acquired in the military are applicable to everyday life. Many of the guests of the Podcast are also veterans whom he discusses a variety of topics such as PTSD and veteran suicide, adjusting to civilian life, leadership principles, training principles, and overcoming adversity. While much of his audience are veterans, all of what Jocko preaches can be applied to any aspect of your life. As a high school football coach and small business owner, I find myself applying many of these principles to both myself and the team I coach. It’s not that it’s anything ground-breaking, but more of a reminder of things that we have already learned. This is what makes Jocko appealing to a wide audience, the fact that all of what he talks about can be applied to bettering yourself at just about anything.
Anyone who is looking for a motivator to get behind, Jocko is for you. Whether it be his near daily photos of his watch at 4:32 AM (one of his rules to live by, 0430 wake-up), or his to the point advice and perspective for dealing with stress and adversity, Jocko is relentless. Jocko stresses the warrior mindset in a way that is applicable to not only military operators and veterans, but anyone that is seeking personal growth. While his message may be simple, focusing on the positive in every situation, no matter how bad, is something that everyone should get on board with and to that we say, “GOOD.”
By: Ed Bohman, Former Green Beret and Business Finance Major @ IUPUC
One word can change your whole mood.
They can make you go from happy to sad, mad, or grumpy. Words are very
powerful! Words are the thoughts in our brain that come out. Words are used to
help describe our emotions, and also play a huge part in our behavior. They can
affect both positive and negative. Knowing what to say at the right time. Our
brain is involved a lot with our words. It helps us process the information we
are trying to say into words. Words are all around us and are huge impact on
why we act the way we do sometimes.
One way that words affect behavior is
the way we speak. Have you ever heard it’s not what you said it’s how you said
it? It’s the tone from your voice. Tone is one reason a lot of our behavior is
affected. The way you say sometimes play a role in the way people react to it.
Many times, you don’t mean to use tone it just comes out like that. Another
thing is using the right words. Ever been in a situation when you say the right
words are the wrong time? Those are the worst times. We need to stop and think
before we start talking. We need to choose words wisely and think how our words
might affect someone. We need to learn to think before you speak and watch they
tone you talk in.
One word that may affect my behavior
more than yours is the “R-word” (retarded). That word will NEVER be in my vocabulary.
I have a brother who has down syndrome, so that would to be is calling him a
name. It is offensive to those who have a disability. When I hear that word, I
get defensive, mad/angry, and try to ask the person that said it to us another
word. However, for someone else it might just be another word to them it might
not bother them like it does me. That word is part of people’s language, and
the probably don’t even notice when they say it. Most of them don’t mean for it
to be insult, but it still shouldn’t be a word they used. Next time try to use
a better word.
There are positive and negative words.
Try to throw-out the negative ones. Words like can’t, disappointed, or won’t.
These words make us unhappy and bring us down. If you use them, you start to
believe you can’t do things. Another thing that down is complaining all the
time. Areas that cause people to get in uproars is religion, gender, age, or
even gun control. These things affect our behavior tremendously. Try to look at
think that are more positive. Change
them for worlds like can, will, accomplished, or even incredible. Words that will
make you happier. You are believing in yourself, changing your vocab, and striving
to do better will make you happier. Try
to start each day with something positive rather than negative.
Words are all around us and they can affect us. Learn to think before you speak and think about how your words affect other people. Not everyone is affected by the same word, so don’t be surprised if people act out differently than others. Try to get the negative words out of vocab. Words are powerful, don’t forget that!
When we think of “spoken word performance” we often think of dusty brew houses and beret-adorned hipsters reciting their supposedly avant-garde poetry. On the surface, it can seem like an art form long dead.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In fact, spoken word performance is thriving. Though it might be hard to recognize it as such, spoken word lives on in perhaps one of the most popular genres to date: Rap music. I’m not really a fan of rap/hip-hop myself, but I have composed and studied various forms of poetry, rhyme, etc. for years. Before I get too far ahead of myself, it’s a decent idea to ask what spoken word performance is. It’s essentially any work of poetry that is specifically made to be recited aloud or performed as opposed to read. The line between typical “Musical style” performance and spoken word lies in the fact that traditional music vocals tend to center themselves around creating a melody, a sound pleasant to the ear. It is a performance that puts your needs first. Spoken word, quite frankly, doesn’t give a damn.
Bonus points if you get the reference
Spoken word oftentimes had no accompanying music, and if it did, the music was centered around the words, not the other way around. And most rap music tracks are written like that. In fact, “freestyling” typically involves no accompanying music, possibly excepting a percussion beat to help keep the emcee in rhythm.
I have, thus far spoken about rap as a nebulous concept that relates to spoken word. It is worth noting that some things you might consider “rap” wouldn’t fall under this category, as again, they’re centered around creating a melody pleasing to the ear, not on rhyme, wordplay, and meter. The vast majority of rap music, especially older stuff, is firmly in the spoken word category.
To understand the relationship between rap and spoken word, we would need to go back to the 1920’s. Specifically, back to Harlem. Around this time, the African-American community experienced a revival of art, music, philosophy, and all manner of things that helped shape the creative identity of African American culture, the effects even rippling to this day. Spoken word poetry, of course, being a popular form of expression at the time. These Black Poets would rhyme about all manner of things, but frustration and struggle were recurring themes for many of them. Specifically, the struggles they faced as an oppressed racial minority mostly consigned to poverty. Around this sense of shared struggle, in fact, is where much of the cultural cohesion of the Harlem Renaissance took place. However, this was still “conventional” oral poetry in practice. The beginnings of what we know as “rap” wouldn’t emerge until the seventies. The rest, is history.
A video of the most famous creative to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, reading one of his most iconic poems.
Obviously, some rappers utilize spoken word more than others, but perhaps one of the most subtly poetic emcees is also one of the most vulgar.
Stefan Burnett, better known as MC Ride, is the lyrical front-man of the experimental rap trio Death Grips, and perhaps one of the most influential spoken word artists of our generation. It could be argued some of his tracks are so post-modernist as to defy the medium of spoken word altogether, but I would disagree. His vocals are the obvious center of the performance, oftentimes being discordant with the actual music. I could talk at length about his style, and how it really is spoken form in almost pure form, but perhaps showing you would do better:
Keep in mind, the first minute or so is an audio clip taken from an interview with Charles Manson.
What’s the point of this blog post? To, hopefully, convince you that spoken word performance is far from an aging, irrelevant, “hipster” medium, but is alive and well. Even if it’s far from those dusty brew houses and their accursed poetry slams.
Last week I was sitting in the auditorium of the War Memorial in Indy for the citizenship oath ceremony. All around me were excited faces from countries all over the world. I was wondering why so many people would be so excited to give up their citizenship of their country and then I realized that many of these faces had families that were living here or had spouses that they could only meet for a couple of months every year. Even though I understood their happiness and excitement, I was very confused about how I was feeling. On one hand I was happy that I would finally be able to vote, but on the other hand I was sad to be giving up my Indian citizenship. India. A country that I lived in for the first 10 years of my life. It was and will always be my home.
While sitting in that auditorium, I had a flashback to the day when my family moved to the United States. I was only 10 years old at that time and was so excited that I was moving to America. Growing up I had always heard so many wonderful things about America and how it is better than India. However, I think I was most excited that I would be in the same country as Disneyland (I was/still am a weird person who loves anything Disney). Looking back at that day though, I do not think I understood completely what it meant to move to the United States. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to see my cousins, my uncles or my aunts. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my friends or have my favorite kind of street food or ride on two-wheelers. I never understood the emotional toll it would take on my parents to move away from their home and make a home in a completely different country.
11 years later, I am now a United States Citizen. I am actually grateful for the move to the United States. I am got to spend my teenage years growing up in a different culture. It made me realize the importance of being open minded to not only new experiences but also to new people. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to experience two very different cultures. I have now become a bridge of these two cultures in my family. This move also made me realize who I wanted to be as a person. Having experienced the close mindedness of Indians and also the individuality of Americans, I have learned to be open minded but also have my family be a very important part of my life.
This move also made me realize what I wanted to do as a career. Being in touch with different kinds of people, I realized during high school that I wanted to do something that helps people live a better life. During the second year of my college career, I knew that I want to go into some kind of a therapy to help people deal with their emotions in a positive way.
Looking back at the short 22 years that I have been on this planet, I have learned so much from the American culture as well as the Indian culture. I am so thankful that my parents taught me at an early age how to quickly adapt to changes because of which I am where I am today and I think how I think today. During the first year after the move there was always a battle going on in my mind between America and India. However, throughout these years I have learned to bridge that gap and get the best of both worlds.
You as a person are ever changing. Just like yourself, your resume is ever changing as well. A resume is the professional part of yourself that you want to share with potential employers. On your resume you will include your contact information, work experience, and a list or references. A good resume should be concise to one page and appealing to the eye to read.
In the beginning of a career a resume may be a little short with less professional work experience and references. If you’ve never worked a professional job before you may list any experiences such as babysitting, responsibilities at home, or extracurricular activities at school. References may be teachers, coaches, or family friends who can vouch for how responsible you are. This isn’t the ideal resume to have but everyone knows that you must start somewhere.
After having a career your resume will drastically change. Listing work experience with job responsibilities is a great resume upgrade. Even more important than that is the references you gain. Being able to list previous employers who you’ve done good work for can really set your resume apart. Overall your resume will contain more professional content that better reflects you in the professional world.
When going into the job market no matter how much you can put on your resume it is important to at least construct one. Making it eye appealing by using bullet points and different sized fonts is good for outlining different information. If you put in the effort and make what ever you put on the paper appealing employers will notice the effort you put in.
Winzenread’s first fiction novel, SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, takes that chaos and elevates it into a raucous read. Released in ebook on October 28 and available in print in early December, Winzenread’s romantic comedy features a young, single mother of three from Chicago who relocates her family to the country and tries to make the best of it following a bitter divorce. Set in a small rural Midwestern town, this delightful tale features a city girl fish-out-of-water twist dripping with colorful locals, kids being kids, animals being ornery, sexual tension at the “sweet heat” level, and a handsome, widowed boss with a penchant for wearing tight jeans and cowboy boots all while taking place during the holidays. Read the rest of this entry »
x204project
X204 Project 