Traveling Poet joins PVCC Puma Press

Sevan Aydinian, 26, wants to revive poetry in the United States, and he’s turned activist to make it so.  Known also as Apollo or The Traveling Poet, Aydinian has “at least touched” all 50 of the states, performing as a slam poet. His goal, he says, is “to promote culture, education, the arts and peace.”

Now studying at PVCC, Aydinian has taken an assignment for the Puma Press in a move to add journalism to his pallet of skills. He sees it as a way to communicate truth on a wide scale, he says.

The Jerusalem-born poet moved with his Armenian family to New Jersey when he was 1-year-old. Life in the U.S. for the Aydinians has seen its challenges. When the poet was in high school, the family experienced homelessness for a period, a struggle that has altered his perspective and influenced the subject matter of his poems.

Aydinian  says his journey as a traveling poet started 15 years ago. Since then, he has performed at thousands of venues. In 2009, he moved into his van and launched a tour of the United States. Influenced by conscious hip hop, which is “not what you hear on the radio,” he explains, Aydinian believes that performance poetry connects immediately to youth who want things fast. He hopes to convey a message of healing.

“Apollo is the god of sun, music and poetry and healing,” he says of his stage name.

The video below features Sevan Aydinian in an impromptu performance of one of his poems.  If you would like to hear more of The Traveling Poet, you can see him performing on the first and third Sundays of the month in the ballroom of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel at 7 p.m.

Semester starts strong for PVCC Journalism Program

Two weeks into classes and the student press is gathering—they are poets, techies, news junkies, writers, artists with a dream. Never mind that the traditional newspaper industry is contracting. It’s all a matter of where you fix your focus.

These students are looking toward opportunity. Attendance at the first two staff meetings has ranged over 25. The press has scheduled 57 articles for the March issues of the Puma Press and Lynx. New classes have filled, and the distribution of enrollment across the classes is heartening:

News Writing—13,
Feature Writing/Magazine Article Writing—23,
Writing for Online Media—13,
Broadcast Writing—14,
News Production and Special Projects—13.

Meanwhile, seasoned students in the program are exploring freelance opportunities in the new marketplace. Lifestyle editor, Sandra Hoopes, is successfully exploring food publishing markets. Copyeditor, Janice Semmel, is writing for the Catholic Sun Times and has recently published with North Central News.

Add to that the cool accomplishment of  former web editor, Amanda Jaskuski, who received a unanimous pass on her portfolio from the jury of PVCC’s advisory council in December.

My view? Publishing has never been so exciting.

Puma Press’ first editors return to PVCC

The sense of the new now before us in PVCC’s journalism program draws from the energy and vision of students as it has from the start.

When I first began advising PVCC’s journalism program, the press published on four print pages.  The staff comprised nine students in JRN201, News Writing.  We shared a computer and desk with Student Life, and we pasted up pages for the printer while we scrambled to learn QuarkExpress, so that we could do the layout graphically, sometimes working at school until the wee hours of the morning.

It was an exciting time.  Within three semesters, we went from four to 24 pages and incorporated a magazine in the school’s student publication. With the support of then president, Gina Kranitz; then dean of student services, Paul Dale; then associate dean of instruction, Mary Lou Mosley; then English chair, Jack Sexton; and later, current chair, John Nelson, the press gained a newsroom and developed the Occupational Journalism Certificate Program.

However, no one was more crucial in this enterprise than the students. The Puma Press’ first editors led the press forward as pioneers. Timothy Wooten, Kenneth Overton and Patricia Whitney each brought a unique energy to the press that set the pace for student publishing at PVCC.

Last week, I had a chance to visit with two of these three. Pat Whitney and her husband Herb, who formerly taught Media and Society at PVCC, met my husband and I for lunch while vacationing for the holidays in Phoenix.  Pat now writes for The Madison Courier in Madison, Indiana. She went through PVCC before the journalism certificate became available in 2005, but she took every journalism class she could and emerged from college ready to take a job in the industry.

Overton stopped by my office last week, too, making it feel like old home week. Overton is a paramedic with the Phoenix Fire Department. That elite group of firefighters welcomed him, vetted him and put him to work in a job he loves and has chosen to keep, despite an offer to write for TMZ. Overton is now interning as an instructor at PVCC with the plan to teach paramedics.

Here’s what Overton has to say about PVCC’s journalism program:

Students give to the press, forging the way forward, and the press gives back.

Puma Press editors write their own contracts at orientation

Fourteen students from the editors’ staff and web team met yesterday to prepare for publishing in Spring 2010.  This semester we did something new—editors built their own contracts, envisioning what they would accomplish this spring.  For the past 10 years, I’ve prescribed the terms of contract.  I prefer this new approach to the challenge ahead.  The results are heartening. The Puma Press editors have decided to do what follows:

• Blogging,
• Tweeting stories,
• Compiling slideshows,
• Writing hard copy stories and columns,
• Producing video reports,
• Copyediting,
• Starting a Puma Press Twitter Page,
• Maintaining web pages,
• Laying out hard copy pages,
• Developing an editors’ profile page,
• Being on call to shoot photos,
• Running polls online.

Whew!  Each semester, Puma Press editors take the press to a new high.

Go press!

Editors line up for Spring 2010

Congratulations to the new editors for the spring semester and many thanks to those who are departing.

Sadly, we are saying good-bye to John Dill, Charity Parker, Femi Olanubi, Amanda Jaskulski and Jorge Melchor; and Kyle Porter is drawing back from the load of editor-in-chief to do an internship.

Josselyn Berry will be moving into the editor-in-chief position, Tegan McRae will become blogging editor, Britnee Flood will take over Community, and Rio Christoffersen will edit the Contemporary Culture pages.

While it is exciting to see students move to new things, it is also difficult to let those who are leaving go. All departing editors, I hope you will continue publishing with the Puma Press and linking your blogs to the press’ blog page.

Fortunately, we have a strong team of editors returning, and new editors Travis Duprey, Britnee Flood, Kristen Vidulich and Ginger Hoil are joining the team. We are also expanding the web team in the wake of Jaskulski’s departure and will be moving to publish stories routinely on a schedule between traditional, hard copy deadlines. Plus, we plan to coordinate publishing efforts with the Writing for Online Media and Broadcast Writing classes.

Here’s the line up of 16 editors plus the web team for Spring 2010:

Web Team:
Kyle Porter
Forrest Rossi
Akemi Kunugi
Janice Semmel
Travis Duprey

Support Editors:
Copyeditor—Janice Semmel
Photo Editors—Morgan Jacobs and Ginger Hoil
Blogging Editor—Tegan McRae
Graphics Editor—Akemi Kunugi

Puma Press Editors:
Editor-in-chief—Josselyn Berry
News Editor—Carmela Kelly
World News Editor—Miguel Saucedo
State News Editor—Nathan King
Environment Editor—Lisa Racz
Community Editor—Britnee Flood
Sports Editor—Trey Warren
Political Editor—Travis Duprey

Lynx Editors:
Contemporary Culture Editor—Rio Christoffersen
Fine Arts—Kristen Vidulich
Lifestyle—Sandra Hoopes

Go press!

Puma Press celebrates holidays

On Dec. 4, Puma Press editors met at Catch 22 sports bar to celebrate the holidays with an end-of-semester party. (Photo by Janice Semmel)

The Puma Press Club has had a challenging semester with the publication of three hard copy newspapers, three online editions, seven broadcasts and 15 blogs. Journalism students and faculty enjoyed a break from the publishing schedule last Friday as they celebrated the holidays at Catch 22 sports bar. Twenty-one students attended the luncheon, despite demands of jobs, projects and approaching finals. Sixteen have applied for editorships in the spring.

Go press!

Jenee’ Kivin earns Journalism Certificate

Jenee’ Kivin sat in the back corner of my Magazine Article Writing classroom, sequestered behind a computer.  Gauged holes in her ears, the size of quarters, sported decorative plugs; piercings in her nose, chin and eyelid glittered; her purple hair flagged out at 180 degree angles around her head. All combined to project a startling persona.

I could see that Kivin did not mean to go unnoticed, despite her choice of seats in the classroom. It took only one assignment for her to prove her outstanding capability.  This remarkable young lady quickly emerged as a lead writer on the Puma Press, took the position of editor-in-chief and president of the Puma Press Club, and now with pleasure, I congratulate Jenee’ for completing PVCC’s Occupational Journalism Certificate.

Emerging successfully from the journalism program proves a student’s skills.  It requires submitting a portfolio of published work to an advisory council comprised of 11 seasoned journalists who score the student’s work and deliver a pass or fail. Kivin’s portfolio passed well, delivering the credential that says she is ready to go into the marketplace at entry level.  She plans to continue her education in communications at the University of Colorado in Boulder and hopes to expand on the work she has started at PVCC in broadcast reporting.

Go, Jenee’!

Puma Press has new online look

It’s been less than a year since Puma Press students took over the newspaper’s web site.

This month, I am pleased to introduce a new look for the online publication—designed by student and broadcast journalist, Jorge Melchor.

Each issue of the dual publication, “PumaPress” and “Lynx” can require preparing 40 or more web pages.  Transferring stories, photos, cutlines, photo credits and headlines, rebuilding pages and links calls for hours of student work.  Many thanks go to web editor, Amanda Jaskulski and her team, including Melchor, Akemi Kunugi and Janice Semmel for leading the way to that moment when the paper goes live.  We made it by the deadline as planned.

Next semester, the Puma Press web team will expand.  The goal is to develop a capability to publish news as it happens between hard copy deadlines.

PVCC Puma Press broadcasts

This week the Puma Press put up its second broadcast of the semester.  Copyeditor Janice Semmel joins Staff Writer Bernadette Rabiej in publishing reports through YouTube and under the guidance of Tim Vetscher of ABC15 and the support of Broadcast Editor Jorge Melchor. Vetscher will be teaching Broadcast Writing this spring at PVCC on Thursday evenings at 5:30 p.m.

Take a look at the student’s work:

Vietnam Dignity Wall visits Phoenix

Musiciphilia finale a celebration

Meanwhile, this week the hard copy of the Puma Press and a new web page edition are in production.

Go press!

PVCC Journalism Certificate adds Writing for Online Media as core requirement

Knowing how to proceed in an industry where the leaders are going down all around you is like tiptoeing through a minefield. Every path through the perilous landscape follows the Internet. That’s why Maricopa County Community College District’s instructional council for journalism has approved the addition of Writing for Online Media as a core requirement for its journalism certificate.

This spring, Joe Gannon, online communication specialist for the Salt River Project and former webmaster for Channel 12 in Phoenix, will teach JRN 203, Writing for Online Media, on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 9: 10 p.m. in E150 at PVCC.  Gannon will lead students in an exploration of Internet-based media platforms and writing styles, aligning classroom objectives with real-world publishing projects on the Puma Press website, including blogging, blogged broadcasts, social networking, slide shows, the chunking of stories and more.