bashes Levi Johnston for interviews

ABC NewsSarah Palin's father bashes Levi Johnston for interviews, parentingNew York Daily NewsBy Michael Saul Levi Johnston, the father of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's first grandchild, is capitalizing on national television interviews and not spending enough money on his infant son, Palin's father, Chuck Heath, alleges in US Weekly magazine.Palin names three candidates for Senate seat Anchorage Daily NewsIndiana anti-abortion banquet to mark Palin's return to national stage MiamiHerald.com Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fort Mills Times - The Associated Press - UAA Northern Lightall 572 news articles

AmericaSpeaks

The Director will lead and manage all online and mobile communications efforts for AmericaSpeaks and all its initiatives. S/he will be responsible for online operations and projects that support the activities of the organization including: strategy/planning, list building, online organizing, web design/development, writing and other content development, marketing, management, budgeting, and technical infrastructure. S/he will also work closely with AmericaSpeaks senior staff and project managers to support offline marketing and communication activities through writing and media relations. AmericaSpeaks is a world leader in the field of citizen engagement and public deliberation. This new position will accelerate AmericaSpeaks’ integration of online and mobile tools with face-to-face citizen engagement strategies, to achieve an even greater depth and breadth of participation. For more than a decade, AmericaSpeaks has helped citizens influence many of the most pressing issues facing the public, including the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site after 9/11, the creation of regional plans for the greater Chicago and Cleveland regions, and the development of a recovery plan for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. AmericaSpeaks’ vision is to create new institutions that will link citizens to our nation’s policy making process. This position is based in Washington DC. RESPONSIBLITIES * Apply established and emerging technologies in AmericaSpeaks projects: engage participants in online and mobile environments, organize offline events, communicate with constituents, recruit project participants, and more. * Maximize the organization’s reach online including website traffic, blog coverage, social network reach, etc. * Write compelling content for a diverse audiences online and offline. * Play a leadership role in organizational marketing and communications efforts to advance the mission of AmericaSpeaks and its projects. * Develop and implement a strong email and online marketing plan to grow our membership lists, support business development, position the organization as a thought and practice leader, and support other key aspects of AmericaSpeaks work. * Lead both front- and back-end processes of web development for organizational and campaign websites. * Maintain and, where appropriate, create relationships with online partners, vendors, production personnel, designers, programmers and developers. * Ensure integration and coordination between online activities and organizational strategy, programming, fundraising, and administration. QUALIFICATIONS * While the position requires technical skills, the ideal candidate will be, first and foremost, an innovative, achievement-oriented web communications professional who thrives in an energetic, team-based environment. * A minimum of 4 years experience managing complex online campaigns, preferably in a public policy advocacy setting and/or political campaigns. * A commitment and passion for increasing the voice of citizens in policy-making on the most pressing issues of our day. * Knowledge of online organizing practices, including social network and blogger outreach, as well as web skills such as basic HTML, CSS and image manipulation. * Superior writing, strategic, visual, and speaking skills. * Creative person and meticulous project manager. * Understands the online political space and political blogosphere. * Proven ability to meet multiple deadlines and balance numerous projects while maintaining a perspective on long-term goals.

Being Good Enough

I pride myself on being my best. I try to make good decisions & admit when I'm wrong. I make efforts to learn new things & I consider what others have to say. From an objective point of view, I think I'm a pretty good person & I have a lot to be pleased about.Yet, I never seem to think I am good enough. In junior high, I did not think I was good enough to join extra-curriculars or be popular. In high school, I didn't think I was good enough to interest the guys who interested me or to be Valedictorian. I was sure in college that I was not good enough to be admitted to my dream school or the journalism program there or to get on the college trivia team. I certainly did not think I was good enough for my husband when we started dating. Most recently, I didn't think I deserved the job I was offered by a very rigorous interviewer who I feel asked all of the right questions to get the best person for the position.All of my insecurities fly in the face of what I objectively know to be true. I know I am smart because I got good grades, always understood concepts quickly & excelled on IQ tests, the ITBS, the ITED, the PSAT & the ACT. I was co-captain of my high school trivia team for two years. I know I am likable because I have plenty of friends & strangers have commented on how kind & helpful I am. I know I'm not ugly because my friends' dad accidently threw away my photo once because he thought it came with the wallet his son was carrying. I have nearly 2 1/2 decades of experience with overseeing the care of my mom, a person with disabilities. I am a hardcore advocate for vulnerable people of all sorts & I have an excellent education from a respected university. These are facts I know to be true & yet, these insecurities which are directly contradicted by the facts linger. Maybe my confidence in my appearance was undermined by worse than usual teenage acne & a foster mom who told me if I lost a few pounds & they didn't photograph my face, I could be a model. Maybe I have less faith in my intelligence because of the rough start my education had. Is it possible that I never became popular because I felt like an outcast & the other kids just picked up on that? Was I only less athletic because I did not believe I could make the jump shot, score the goal or outrun the competition? Do I think I am a cold, unkind person because of the foster family and roommate who called me the "Ice Queen" when I would not respond to their hateful comments about me? Do I still secretly believe I am a bad person because of the foster family that told us all that we were heathens & constantly punished someone for something? Did a childhood full of people who would not listen to me make me feel like I do not have anything valuable to say or any control over my world?All I know is that it is time to quit letting the past haunt me & make my decisions for me. I am just as good as anyone else & I deserve to reap the consequences of what I sow, not just bad, but also good. It is time to listen to the good things people say & put a lot less stock in the negative.

Dustin Lance Black's acceptance speech

I have never been more proud of a gay person that I was of Dustin Lance Black tonight when he stood on the stage of The Kodak Theatre at tonight's Academy Awards and spoke his truth and the truth of gay people everywhere. He is an exceptional person who we are very lucky to have him in our corner. Here is the complete text of his extraordinary speech: "Oh my God. This was, um, this was not an easy film to make. First off, I have to thank Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg and all the real-life people who shared their stories with me. And, um, Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco and our entire cast, my producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, everyone at Groundswell and Focus for taking on the challenge of telling this life-saving story. When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married. I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk".

Process V. Product

While I was directing Tempest in Hyderabad, I wrote a few posts about the idea of process vs. product. We know, for example, that "process-based" rehearsals are often more fun, but that "product-based" rehearsals often yield better results for an audience.(For the uninitiated: "process-based" refers to a system which allows the actors in a performance to create "freely," without any fear of being right or wrong; while "product-based" refers to a system which focuses on eliminating certain choices in favor of better ones, and, while not necessarily dividing things into right/wrong, requires a director to say the dreaded word "no" to an actor -- often many, many times.)I'm going to write about process v. product in terms of my current theatre production shortly, but right now I want to focus on the idea of process v. product in the classroom.As a TA, I generally get a section or two of "Introduction to Theatre" every semester. It's the typical American gen-ed course, in which students are exposed to the barest fundamentals of a subject in the name of furthering liberal education.Like many gen-ed courses in the humanities, this Intro class follows an almost entirely process-based method of teaching (and grading). Effort counts more than result, and participation is valued over content. Papers are graded on whether they answered every question in the prompt, but not on what those answers actually are.(Incidentally, even though our students were told, repeatedly, that their grade was based on whether or not they addressed every question in the prompt, many wrote papers which did not answer -- or even hint at -- one or more of the questions. Baffling.)Just as a process-based play is easier to direct, a process-based class is much easier to teach. Everyone feels great, lots of people get As, good times are had by all.However, today I spent a few hours grading my students' "ten-minute play assignment." (The assignment was... um... to write a ten-minute play.) Because they fulfilled the structure of the assignment (they had characters, speaking some dialogue, with some stage directions) I sat and wrote "nice job! 100%!" on student plays which were, in fact, dismal.I wished I had the time to sit down with my students and talk to them about what makes a successful play; how to create conflict between characters, how to create believable rising action, how to build to an appropriate climax and resolution. Even more than that, I wanted to talk to them about the very nature of storytelling. Why do we tell stories? What differentiates a story from, say, an anecdote -- or from a description of an event? (Many of these plays were just that: descriptions. Two guys sitting in a dorm room talking about girls and sports and cars for ten pages. No conflict, no momentum.)I know that the assignment was pure process-based, intended to give students an idea of what playwrights do by having them write a play -- but if the product they turned in wasn't actually a play, then did they really learn anything by going through the process?But we don't have time to teach them how to really write a play, because next week we're moving on to acting, then directing, then design...I remember being infuriated at this when I took gen ed courses as an undergrad. I recognized all these easy-peasy courses as simulacrum of the real thing, and I wanted the real deal. I didn't want "Physics and You;" I wanted physics. Eventually, I gave up and decided I wanted to play Earthbound (and write a three-act opera based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses), and became grateful for any gen ed course easy enough to require no mental effort.I know I've written about this before on this blog, but this whole thing... makes me sad. It also makes me feel like a really bad teacher.People have been telling me, throughout my entire university career, that I need to spend less time worrying about product and more time experiencing the process. "Put that intellect aside; roll around in the unknown!" Lord knows I tried. I gave up what I knew made sense, and I rolled. But as I approach the end of my graduate career, I'm becoming more and more infuriated with anything that doesn't actually connect process to product. Let's lay it on the line, team: some products are better than others. How do we create them? How do we teach people to create them? That, at the end of all this, seems to be what's important.

Free Dining, Pt 2: A Not-Free Almuerzo En Mexico

The following day, we were to meet some friends at the San Angel Inn in the Mexico Pavilion. We paid cash for this meal and did not use the dining plan, but wanted to share my experiences there. I have to preface this part with an explanation of how we came to be at the San Angel Inn. The simple explanation is that when our friend Mickey made the ADRs, there was nothing left at Epcot except 9 Dragons and San Angel Inn. Neither of these would have been at the top of any of our culinary must-do lists, but we chose San Angel because it's so pretty in there. I had not eaten there in at approximately 10 years, and I was singularly unimpressed then. Since I live in an area of the country where wonderful Mexican food can be readily found on every street corner, Mexican food is not what I tend to seek out when I travel. We were seated promptly at our ADR time, and we asked for a table by the "river." We were handed the menus, which I couldn't read because it's so darned dark in there! They should provide a small flashlight at every table! After my eyes adjusted, I decided on the beef Tacos Al Carbon ($13.99) and a frozen lime Margarita ($8.00.) Tacos Al Carbon are basically beef skirt steak that is seasoned and char-grilled and cut up into small pieces, served in tortillas with grilled onions, pico de gallo, sour cream and/or guacamole. This is a dish that is very common where I live, and it's one of my favorites. At home, the tacos are always served with a generous side of rice and beans, so imagine my surprise when my three (tiny!) tacos arrived looking very lonely on a plate all by themselves. I'm not sure I've ever seen such small tortillas. "Well," I thought to myself, "I just paid $13.99 for three tiny tacos I could buy at home for $1.50 each at a taqueria stand. Lesson well learned." The Lonely Tacos weren't very tasty, either. They were overcooked and dry, and the hot peppers they were cooked in completely overwhelmed the beef flavor. No amount of sour cream could make them any more moist. On top of it all, the service was spotty and slow as well, and we had to beg for tea, softdrink and water refills. The check took forever to come, and our server didn't look pleased that we had a Disney Dining Experience card for the 20% discount. All in all, the food was disappointing at best, the service was below par, and the Margarita was the best part of the meal. Next time, I'll skip the restaurant and get a [bigger] Margarita at the stand outside. San Angel Inn gets a C- for food, C- for service, and an A for atmosphere. I may try it again in another 10 years or so...or not.

Greg's Oscar Picks (How I fared)...

I'm all kinds of tired from last night's Oscars. Who knew that sitting on your bottom on a bleacher for five hours then stuffing your face with shrimp as you interview the winners could be so taxing! Then there was the Academy only giving us one parking pass. I gave it to my award show BFF Sandra Barrera and ended up parking down on Sunset Blvd. off LaBrea. The signs were a bit vague so I was not quite sure if I'd get towed. I didn't. Whew! Not even a ticket. Okay, so let's move on. Did any of you win Oscar pools last night? As you know I made some predictions yesterday and am now going to reveal how I did: Best motion picture of the year: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production Christian Colson, Producer Correct! Achievement in directing: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle Correct! Performance by an actor in a leading role: Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features) Correct! Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Correct! Performance by an actress in a leading role: Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Correct! Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company) Correct! Best animated feature film of the year: "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton Correct! Achievement in cinematography: "Changeling" (Universal) Tom Stern "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Claudio MirandaWrong! The winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle Achievement in costume design: "Australia" (20th Century Fox) Catherine Martin Wrong! The winner: "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films) Michael O'Connor Best documentary feature "Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production James Marsh and Simon Chinn Correct! Best documentary short subject: "The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde Wrong! The winner:Smile Pinki Best foreign language film of the year: "The Baader Meinhof Complex" A Constantin Film Production Germany "The Class" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production France Wrong! The winner: "Departures" (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production Japan Achievement in makeup: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Greg Cannom Correct! Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score): "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman Correct! Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman Lyric by Peter Gabriel Wrong! The winner: "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Gulzar Best animated short film: "Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Doug Sweetland Wrong! The winner: "La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production Kunio Kato Best live action short film: "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency) An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production Reto Caffi Wrong! The winner: "Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production Jochen Alexander Freydank Achievement in sound editing: "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Richard King Correct! Achievement in sound mixing: "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed NovickWrong! The winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt Achievement in art direction: "Changeling" (Universal) "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Wrong! The winner: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" James J. Murakami (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Achievement in visual effects: "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin Wrong! The winner: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron Achievement in film editing: "Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Mike Hill and Dan Hanley Wrong! The winner: "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lee Smith Adapted screenplay: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon BeaufoyCorrect! Original screenplay: "Milk" (Focus Features) Written by Dustin Lance Black Correct!