Holly Morris Presentation: Why Chernobyl Natives Stay Rooted

TED Talks is a great website dedicated to speeches and discussions on a myriad of topics and the one that immediately caught my eye was Holly Morris’s presentation about the current female residents that defiantly chose to stay in their homes in Chernobyl after the nuclear disaster in 1986. Holly’s purpose was to explain why, despite a dangerous living environment (called the Dead Zone) partitioned off from the rest of the world and still teeming with dangerous levels of radiation, a large number of native female settlers refused to leave or returned and continue to live there today. With the majority of these women now in their 70’s and 80’s, Holly argued that their deep connection to their homeland and their passion for “home” is much stronger than the “common sense” of leaving that home for a safer environment. Based on their age, they have lived through times of famine during Stalin’s rule as well as the invasion of the Nazis; they were not about give up something so important to them based on an invisible enemy like radiation. World authorities and health experts have all warned that they would never survive in that environment but based on the fact they still live today, and in many cases have outlived those natives that chose to relocate, Holly suggested that their faith in home and community is a much more powerful force and more contributory to longevity than what common sense suggests.

Holly set the stage by giving a brief history of the Chernobyl incident and a visual description of the current situation that she walked into during her visit there. She highlighted the danger of the environment by demonstrating the constant sounds of the Geiger counter device in her hand for measuring radiation followed by pictures of her worried look and the numerous warning signs, security checks, and government personnel that had to accompany her for protection. She setup the anxiety of the situation by narrating her own feelings to us, followed by the sudden realization of smoke coming from a nearby chimney that signified the almost absurd possibility that there might be someone living nearby. This led into her main argument and was accompanied by many more pictures and a bit of tasteful humor. There were no questions taken but there was no need; her presentation was effective at describing the environment in which these native women continue to live in, even 27 years later.

Since I am very interested in history this topic kept me very engaged, but Holly Morris’s presentation really helped in trying to mentally transport me into that environment in order to better understand the gravity of that situation. Her ability to present well shows through her explanation of how she approached a situation that many of us have not experienced and helped us to understand and empathize with it.

Until next time…..

Social Media in Use: The Same but Different

Among the growing options for social media outlets, Facebook and Twitter are among the most popular. There are two organizations that are utilizing these tools in their own way and for their own purposes…

Volunteers of America is a nonprofit volunteer-driven organization that currently has about 11,750 Likes on their Facebook page and 3,724 followers on Twitter. VoA uses these sites to spread awareness of their organization and highlight the good work they do for people every day, both as an advertising medium and a way to recruit more volunteers. The posts and tweets themselves usually use a combination of pictures and words to either make a point about the importance of volunteering or to create a discussion to drive traffic to the page.

The posts and tweets that VoA uses are very specific and focused on three main areas: general background of the organization, stories about individuals the organization has helped, and showcasing partner organizations and celebrities affiliated with or relevant to VoA. Based on the wide range of topics, they try to reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds, including veterans and teachers. The relationships they forge with people and companies are highlighted on both sites which lends to the perception of how far reaching Volunteers of America really is.

Red Lobster is a national chain of seafood restaurants that currently has almost 3 million Facebook Likes and 83,328 Twitter followers. They use both sites essentially as another outlet for advertising their food, their current commercials, and their special seasonal promotions. They rely heavily on pictures and amusing quotes to showcase the types of food and food quality they offer. In addition, they also highlight the patrons of the restaurant by posting and retweeting quotes and pictures of happy people enjoying their meal at various locations.

Due to the slightly higher price tag of the food and the advertisement of alcoholic drinks, Red Lobster’s audience tends to be adults and senior citizens. They try to keep their fans involved with the site by starting discussions and sometime offering coupons and specials. They also have a “fan of the week” style contest where a picture of them is posted on the main site with fanfare. In both of these cases, Facebook and Twitter appear to be somewhat in sync with the posts. The goal is definitely to keep traffic coming to the site to further the advertising of the company and keep Red Lobster in the minds of people looking for a place to dine out.

The whole point here is that there is no black-and-white, correct or incorrect, way to utilize these social media tools. Each company has their own agenda in using these sources and they each do it well.

Until next time....

https://www.facebook.com/redlobster
https://www.facebook.com/VolOfAmerica
https://twitter.com/Vol_of_America
https://twitter.com/redlobster

Why I am at MATC

Greetings everyone,

I would like to share a little about why I am currently pursuing, and close to finishing, my IT Network Specialist degree at MATC.

First off, my original Bachelor's degree is not in a technical field. 10 years ago when I started college, I viewed IT as more of a hobby and really wanted to pursue my strengths which happened to be more rooted in the social sciences. During the course of completing that degree I always found myself working full time in the IT field. This included both a job in help desk support but also a small but regular personal client base. 

After my bachelor's degree was finished, I had a few years of IT work experience under my belt and found myself wanting to learn as much as I could about that field, especially in my growing interest in the network side of the industry. I began to search for more networking-focused IT positions but realized additional education and potentially some certifications would be a great asset in helping to make myself more marketable.

I already had quite a few prerequisite courses completed at MATC from the Bachelor's degree so it made sense that I could jump into the more IT focused courses immediately. With that rationale, it didn't take much to make that commitment to register and start taking classes again. While this field wasn't my first choice, I have valued the education so far and am glad that colleges like this exist for people to get a solid education in something they enjoy doing.

Until next time........