Media by Kathryn

For the start of my posts correlating with my Social Media Writing & Promotion course at the University of Wyoming, I will be creating a promotional piece for the Second Story Bookstore located in downtown Laramie, WY. It will market the bookstore to the locals of Laramie and show the reasons why it is the best downtown. Advertisements will also be created for the bookstore’s advertising use via posters.

Through the Multimedia Production class at the University of Wyoming I was expecting to learn a few new journalistic platforms to expand my tools. Specifically, I was expecting to learn everything about audio and video as those were two forms of journalistic sharing that I was unfamiliar with.

Through the audio assignment, Audio Profile Featuring Sophia Mayers, I chose to do a profile of my little sister since I was quarantined at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was simply expecting to learn how to edit voice recordings and what software to use for that purpose. I have already become very comfortable with interviewing due to my experience working as a writer for The Branding Iron on the University of Wyoming campus. I used Audacity for the purpose of editing my voice recorded interview with Sophia Mayers and thoroughly enjoyed that experience. It was a simple software to follow and I found the process therapeutic and relaxing in a certain way.

For the video assignment, Video Production in Quarantine, I was expecting to learn tips and tricks to make a video interview entertaining and well composed. However, due to the coronavirus I feel I was not able to learn everything I was hoping to if I was still having on-campus classes. I was able to learn what could be entertaining to the public and I learned good ways to compose the final product through using iMovie on my laptop. Hopefully that assignment was a success and hopefully I can learn more from that assignment to further my skills in video. 

In this class I was able to practice many soft skills such as efficient communication, listening and understanding, perspective and critical thinking which all specifically helped my article post, More Than Just Cupcakes at Sugar Mouse, 50^TH Anniversary of Earth Day and Historical Activities in Mechanicsville, VA During COVID-19 posts. Through these I was able to practice conversational skills through interviewing, different perspectives on varying topics such as fundraising and COVID-19, and critical thinking overall due to the creative and purposeful topics chosen for all my assignments in order to indulge the audience. All of these soft skills will help my future career in journalism and photography for me to be the best I can be and for me to stand out from others in the same fields. 

I found the article post assignment, More Than Just Cupcakes at Sugar Mouse, the most meaningful simply due to the incredible story I was able to find to write about. I love that I was able to tell the story of Ruth Williams, her cupcakes and her fundraising for trafficked girls in Cambodia through this assignment, especially since this incredible story is based out of Laramie, WY. 

I found the video assignment, Video Production in Quarantine, the most challenging due to my personality. I found it very difficult to remember to pull out my phone to document me for the vlog I chose to conduct since COVID-19 kept me from having an interview or other topics to share via video. I found the editing aspect of the assignment simple and actually fun to conduct, however, the making of the videos were not my favorite. 

If I could go back in time and give advice to myself for this course, I would tell myself to give more time to come up with more indulging and entertaining ideas for some of these assignments such as the video and audio assignments. However, I would also go back in time simply to stop whatever individual who started the COVID-19 virus so I could still be on campus, but that would be a little more difficult I presume. 

Here is a video vlog of one of my days in quarantine during the COVID 19 pandemic happening. I chose this as my topic because it’s something we all are experiencing right now and maybe some people feel a little lost due to their normal lives being unacceptable to live at the moment. Therefore, here is a video on how I try to make my days still be productive when there is not much I am allowed to do. Furthermore, due to in person interviewing or major events happening worthy of documenting but not probable of conducting currently, I chose a safe alternative that hopefully has as much information in it as those would. I hope this is entertaining to more individuals than myself and I hope this brings a little light to your quarantine days as well. Enjoy!

My favorite part of this video experience was the editing. I love taking information or experiences and finding the major parts or important specifics and taking those out to form the summary of the entirety of it all. It is a therapeutic thing for me in a sense and I love the creative element that comes with it. 

The most difficult part for me was remembering throughout the day to take out my phone and video what I was doing. I am not an individual always on my phone or always documenting things I do, so it was hard to remember to do that for a change. 

I was surprised at how much I would enjoy the final product and how much I would actually be entertained in watching what I did that day through my final video. I thought I would be boring or unexciting throughout the video, but it turned out better than that. 

I see myself using video in the future to conduct interviews and how-to pieces as a journalist. I may do a couple more vlogs like this in such circumstances where it would be entertaining and informational, but I believe it to be easier to conduct interviews of other individuals. 

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“I’m bored in the house and I’m in the house bored.” This is one of the most repeated terms currently due to the corona virus holding most individuals hostage in their homes. The artists Curtis Roach and Tyga coined this in their song “Bored in the House” they released this 2020 year fitting perfectly with the stay at home order across the world.

For those of you in Mechanicsville, Virginia “in the house bored,” I have a list of open parks available for you to adventure through. They are very open as well, so a six foot distance would not be difficult to maintain. All are outside so the only thing stopping you is a rainy day. Furthermore, they hold a historical significance so we can both exercise our bodies by walking through the parks and our mind in learning something new or refreshing ourselves with something we learned in high school.

The Google My Map below is interactive so please feel free to click around at the pinned locations!

Below is more information on the pinned locations along with relevant websites for each!

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My interview with Sophia Mayers was very casual and simple. I came with prepared questions for her and added a few follow up questions as the interview was conducted.I did feel a bit nervous during the interview due to the time restriction that was put on it making my thoughts a little jumbled, though. It was very familiar for me to interview someone with an audio recorder. I have worked as a writer for the University of Wyoming’s student media paper, the Branding Iron, and, therefore, have conducted many interviews with an audio recorder.

My audio editing experience with this assignment was a little stressful to start with but I eventually got the hand of things. I found it difficult to cut things smoothly so there was no abrupt transitions and I wish there was a smoother way to end the podcast than simply Sophia Mayers not talking anymore. However, other aspects of it came very easy. For instance I was able to easily determine what should and should not remain in the edited audio interview and what should.

Taking portrait photos is a fun activity for me to do due to my passion in photography. Due to their being a quarantine and me having a lack of lights and such to set up a professional portrait, Sophia Mayers and I used the outside to take her portrait picture. This brought the downsides of highlights on her face from the sun shining directly on her, but overall I enjoy taking portraits.

I was surprised in how much I would actually enjoy this assignment. I did not believe that audio work could be so satisfying. I have always enjoyed doing interviews with people to understand new things and simply get to know unique individuals, but I enjoyed listening back to that live interview and editing it for others to listen to. It was like writing an article of it but much more technically involved. Furthermore, once I got the hang of working with Audacity to edit my raw audio interview, I found it very calming to finalize the audio.

I wish that some of the transitions in the audio would have gone more smoothly and I wish I had a longer allowed time for my final audio to add in more information. Overall though I do not know of anything I would have done anything different other than practice a little more in the editing aspect.

I would like to use audio in the future now. I was not expecting to enjoy this media platform as much as I did, but now I can see myself interviewing unique individuals and posting audio recordings of the interviews as I did for this assignment. I would both write an article and post an audio recording, though, so viewers could choose which to observe depending on their circumstances or environments.

Check out my live tweets of the event on my Twitter account!

For my Multimedia Production class at the University of Wyoming, we were assigned a project to live tweet an event in order to practice either journalistic or PR social media management. For my live tweeting, I chose to watch a live celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day through Pathway to Paris on their Instagram account. Pathway to Paris is a foundation created in 2014 with the purpose to help cities go 100% renewable energy and zero emissions by 2040, as the Paris Agreement created by the United Nations is attempting to do as well.

“Pathway to Paris brings together musicians, artists, activists, academics, mayors, and innovators to help raise consciousness surrounding the urgency of climate action and offers solutions to turning the Paris agreement into action.“

Pathway to Paris purpose as stated on their website

I chose to use a journalistic approach on this assignment to practice what I want to do in the future, which is to be a journalist and a photographer.

I enjoyed being so involved in an event in a sense. It was enjoyable to choose certain aspects of an event to share with the rest of the world. It was as if I had a say in what is entertaining and of great importance to be remembered from this live event.

I believe I would have liked to tweet a live event of a topic I am more passionate about, however, I did learn much about the climate change movement and, more specifically, the Pathways to Paris movement.

I see myself using social media in my future career by promoting articles or works I was a part of or fellow photographers who I have worked with on projects. I believe social media could be a great platform for my work to be showcased and to bring in a greater clientele for my photography business. I also see myself doing the same thing I did for this assignment in live tweeting an event in a journalistic view in order to spread important facts and stories with the rest of the world.

Sugar Mouse is not only a British, pink and delicate flair for Laramie, but it is also a cupcake shop dedicated to helping girls who were sex trafficked in Cambodia. However, the average layperson would not know that with just a glimpse through the windows at the eye-grabbing cupcakes.

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Ruth Williams, the owner of Sugar Mouse Cupcake House, is a British delight who has been baking since she was a little girl. Her mom passed when she was young, and thereafter she took over the baking for her family, making everything from scratch.

The name Sugar Mouse came from an old man from Williams’ hometown who owned a sweet shop that she and her friends would go to.

“Whenever I showed up I didn’t have money, but he would give me a sugar mouse,” said Williams.

A sugar mouse is similar to a sugar cube, but it is pink and in the shape of a mouse. Now, every child that comes into Williams’ cupcake shop gets a sugar mouse continuing the sweet old man’s memory.

Cupcakes to Cambodia

Now you know why those cupcakes look so good and why Ruth Williams is such a kind hearted woman, but you still don’t know the bigger picture.

Williams is not only a baker. She is also founder of Heart Mothers, a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and loving little girls who have been sex trafficked in Cambodia. She founded Heart Mothers in 2006, calling it “Godmothers” at that time but later changed it to respect the differences between the religion of the girls and most of the mothers.

Williams started Heart Mothers after she saw an image of a little girl who had been sex trafficked in a magazine at the hair salon. She said she went home angry and sad that week. She later went back to the salon to grab the article and found a way to get in touch with another incredible woman in Cambodia who was saving the girl in the picture, and others like her.

First, it was just Williams sending letters and pajamas to one girl, but Williams realized how many other little girls were in the same orphanage. Heart Mothers was then started through a contract stating that each girl must have a Heart Mother to write to her once a month, and they would all receive gifts to keep things fair. Williams took a trip to Cambodia that year and brought pictures of all the women who wanted to be Heart Mothers, and Williams let the girls pick their moms from the pictures.

Every year, Williams and six of the Heart Mothers take a trip to Cambodia to see their girls and bring them gifts.

“When they meet their mothers, it’s magical. Our job is to show them that all the crap that happened to them in the past is not who they are. We build them up,” said Williams. “What they crave more than anything is a mother figure.”

There are now 87 Heart Mothers around the world and 67 girls in the orphanage.

The orphanage works as both protection for these girls and as a school for them. Once girls are raped in their culture, they are said to be unclean and not allowed back into the schools. The orphanage and Heart Mothers, with the help of local monks to teach the girls, provide education and supplies up to the 10th grade, in order to help these girls get back on their feet.

The top girls in the orphanage are offered scholarships to take them to university and the others are given businesses when they turn 18. Williams’ girl, whom she saw in the magazine that day in the hair salon, was recently accepted into a university and will be studying accounting. Every month they are checked on to make sure they both feel safe in their new position in life.

Ruth Williams’ Dedication

As the orphanage grew, so did William’s cupcake sales. She first started selling them at farmer’s markets in town, but she soon had year long requests for them. All of the cupcake sales would go to the orphanage, and the girls, to help them feel loved.

“I would bake into my grave for those girls,” said Williams.

Williams cupcakes have been a large part of the girls’ lives due to the support it gives them. Just recently, Williams sent $7,000 to them, and will be able to send so much more now that she has a shop that can sell them all year long.

Natalie, an employee of Sugar Mouse, has been working there from the start. Williams took over the last bakery that was in the same location and kept on the staff to help her navigate the business side of baking. Natalie said “the brits have it going on” with their candies, like the adult wine gummies and crumpets, which is a mixture between an English muffin and a pancake served hot with lemon curd on top. These and many more British delights are offered at Sugar Mouse.

Natalie didn’t know of Heart Mothers before working for Ruth Williams.

“It gives you a deeper appreciation for the owner,” said Natalie.

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Check out this article on the University of Wyoming student media newspaper Branding Iron online!

Through this exercise of taking five photojournalist images, unedited, both inside and outside, I was able to practice real photography where I had to focus on the lighting and clarity of images immediately to get across the message I wanted. I enjoyed this exercise!