Jealous? Yeah, so am I. Because that’s what dream-Tracy was doing.

Meanwhile, real-Tracy was back in Austin for two months, working feverishly to get my house on the market, squeezing in as many visits with friends and family as possible, and going to the office every day, sitting in many many planning/strategy/brainstorm/ican’ttakemuchmoreofthis meetings to help launch two major projects early this fall.

All of those are good pursuits. But they are tiring pursuits. And doing it all while living outside my own home for so long just stretched me in a way I’ve never really been stretched before. I never really had any down time. Was always dependent on my mom or Travis or someone else for a ride. Never was bored and alone. And being bored and alone is important to me. I am an ISFJ after all. Being bored and alone refreshes me. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes.

But I think being bored and alone is important to all of us, even you extroverts who can’t sit still. Why? Because that’s often when we get new ideas, get inspired, notice things. It’s why this guy returned his iPad right after he bought it.

When I searched for "rut" on Flickr, a bunch of deer images came up. I learned this is because rut also refers to the mating season for "antlered ungulates" like deer, sheep and bison (above). Fun with words!

So I got in a rut. Was just sort of treading water, focusing on other stuff. I managed to keep up with my Photo 365 blog, but just barely.

I’m disappointed in myself for not keeping up my writing during this time. It might have made me feel better. And I know that writing even when you don’t feel like it can be an important exercise. But I didn’t. And that’s ok, too.  

Image from Flickr user NDomer73.

Don't be this guy. Of course if you're young enough to be an intern, it's entirely possible you don't who this guy is. Sigh.

I’ve now been through the internship hiring process four times and have noticed the same trends keep popping up. Despite all the career training and resources offered, some students still seem totally unprepared for the interview or even the application process. And others completely shine.

So in the interest of saving everyone a little time and heartache, my list of the cardinal rules of internship applications and interviews that, unfortunately, are broken quite often:

Proofread everything. Cover letter, resume, writing samples, e-mails. I had one applicant misspell “business” in the first paragraph of her cover letter. For a writing job. At a business school. It even had the MS Word spell-check red squiggly underline.

Talk about ME. Well not me, but my company, my position I’m hiring for. You need to show off your own skills and personality too, but if your cover letter and interview answers say nothing specific about my internship, it comes off as if you’re just going through the motions.

Provide context. Don’t just drop in random work experience without explaining why it’s relevant to this job. If you’re submitting writing samples, please oh please I beg you, tell me what they’re from! It’s ok if it’s a class assignment–I just need to know what I’m reading.

Do research on yourself. If, during the interview, I realize I know your resume better than you, that’s a bad sign. Bring a hard copy with you for reference if necessary. Spend time beforehand reviewing your work history, class assignments, past challenges and successes, etc. especially as they might relate to this job.

Do research on us! Our internship is a writing position that contributes to our news blog and alumni magazine. Both are easily found on our website, and I expect you to have looked at them.

Check your e-mail. I know that’s so old-fashioned, but you’re not going to get an interview request via text or Facebook, so check your e-mail regularly. If you haven’t responded to me within 2-3 days, I start to doubt your interest.

Read instructions carefully. If you don’t submit the proper application materials or complete the writing test as instructed, that’s pretty much a guaranteed ticket to the “no” pile.

Be interested and show a little effort. The intern we just hired had less experience than other applicants, but she displayed the most passion and enthusiasm for both the job and the organization. Her cover letter demonstrated she did her homework on the organization and paid attention to the job description. She was prompt, engaged and professional in all her communications with us. And of course she had the talent and skills to back everything up.

Finally, hang in there. Keep applying. Keep networking. Keep being amazingly talented and connected to your field. I know it’s tough looking for a job. I did it for a year and a half after graduating! I apologize for companies that never respond to you, even if it’s just to tell you thanks, but no thanks. But hang in there.

Oh, and don’t ask if the internship is going to be a waste of your time and then lecture the hiring manager about being unprofessional.

Also check out Todd Defren’s Open Letter to Millenials for more great tips.

Images from Facebook pages protesting Arizona's SB1070 immigration law.

Arizona’s controversial immigration bill, SB1070 was just signed into law last Friday, but its social media footprint has already been firmly established. 

Search “SB1070″ on Facebook, and you’ll find 37 Pages, 89 Groups and 55 events (each with their own branding, of course) dedicated to the new law, both for and against it. The term has its own Twitter hashtag. There are dozens of YouTube videos showing protests and news clips of politicians and pundits debating the bill. You can even buy a “Do I Look Illegal?” t-shirt on Cafe Press.

I expect to start seeing bumper stickers and front-yard picket signs pop up around Tucson soon, but it has been fascinating to see the speed at which social media protests and rallies are created and spread. I’m curious to see how it translates to offline behavior.

Will the online calls for boycott really hurt the Arizona economy? Will social media advocacy campaigns look for civil rights abuses or have an impact on efforts to overturn the law? Will state politicians or law enforcement agencies respond to social media comments or even start their own outreach online?

Social media protests didn’t save Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show job, but it did help sell out his comedy tour in a matter of hours and certainly played a big part in the court of public opinion. And as much as I love Conan, illegal immigration is a much more important issue, so theoretically the power of a social media movement is far greater here.

UPDATE: It looks like this is spilling over to higher ed, too. Lane Joplin tweeted this morning about the immigration debate landing on Arizona State University’s Facebook Page:

People started posting immigration-related messages on ASU’s wall on Sunday, many of them filled with profanity and name calling. No response yet from the university.

• Passion – if you can’t get excited about your subject, no one else will.
• Details – “…12,000 people jumped to their feet for 16 and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation as flames illuminated her tear-stained face.” Tell it, girl! The way Julia paints a picture, I almost felt like I was in the audience at that fictional Georgia beauty pageant.
• Narrative arc – Julia reels her listener in, steadily builds up, smacks you over the head with a dramatic climax and slams the door on your face with an unforgettable ending. A master storyteller, even when–or perhaps especially when–she’s not pleased with you.
• Plain language – Julia is an intelligent, wealthy business owner, but her vocabulary isn’t clouded with grandiose fluff. She chose her words carefully and uses them to maximum effect. She doesn’t try to sound impressive and powerful, she just is.

RIP, Dixie.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to remember these new experiences and lessons and feelings, but I’m too lazy to write about all of them. Instead I return to my dear friend, that little engine of writing–the list!

So, in no particular order, and to be updated regularly:

Out of the Ordinary Things I’ve Done Since Moving to Tucson

• Completed a 15-mile mountain bike ride on a desert (read: cactus-lined) course with a series of hills called The 7 Bitches
• Went salsa dancing. In a Halloween costume.
• Watched a bellydancer backed by a Middle Eastern band
• Adopted a dog named Maeby
• Played in the snow
• Attended a gallery opening of Andy Warhol photographs, complete with live go-go dancers
• Used my bike for transportation
• Learned about the horrendously unorganized adoption system in Ethiopia (via others – not our own experience!)
• Drove two hours just to go to IKEA
• Ate In-N-Out
• Tried a Sonoran hot dog
• Participated in a Moulin Rouge sing-along not at Alamo Drafthouse
• Saw a javelina
• Had tofu for the first time. And liked it.
• Started a photo blog
• Collected fall leaves
• Basically gave up shopping
• Realized UT’s football stadium is just insanely nice for a college facility
• Felt old
• Worked on a Habitat for Humanity home

It’s the Photo 365 Project: My life in pictures. Every day.

And it’s exactly what it sounds like. Every day for the next year, I’ll take at least one photo and post it online. It’s a chance to practice photography, pay more attention to the world around me, force me to think and act creatively and chronicle my life. I know it will be a challenge, but it’s one I find exciting. And if you include my phone, I have 4 different cameras, so I really have no excuse to ever not take a picture. Visit my photo blog to track my progress.

Here’s today’s picture – a shot of my collection of vintage printing blocks. Aren’t they beautiful? I like that taking this photo reminded me of how much I love them.

I must give a plug to the wonderful Wordpress theme I’m using for the project: AutoFocus. It’s free, gorgeous, super easy to use and built specifically for photo blogging. I highly recommend it!

Interested in starting your own Photo 365 project? Check out these blogs for great tips on how to make it work: Photojojo | Digital Photography School | Shutter Sisters

I used to think the first line of our national anthem was “Jose can you see,” because we sang it at Astros games and their star player was Jose Cruz.

1. Craig Biggio.
2. Singing. What other sport gets 30,000 people to stretch their legs in the middle of a game and join in chorus to sing about snacks, rooting for your team and never going home? Take me out to the ballgame, indeed.
3. Food. If it was important enough for the song, it’s important enough for my list. Nothing beats a beer and a hot dog on a sunny afternoon at the ballpark.
4. Wooden bats. I’m looking at you, college baseball.
5. Clapping for the fan who catches a foul ball.
6. Passing your money down the row. Passing the beer/hotdog/cotton candy back.
7. At-bat songs. Penetrating glimpse of a player’s psyche or just something he picked off his iPod?
8. Loyalty. Jeff Bagwell was with the Astros for about 57 years. Biggio for roughly 120. They are beyond beloved by the city of Houston. I know this is getting less common, but I feel like baseball has more long-term franchise players than other sports, and it makes a team feel very special for the fans.
9. The witty, snarky old men who hassle the umps and opposing players at UT games. 
10. Minor League shenanigans.
11. Friday night fireworks. This has become a post-game tradition at multiple ballparks, and next to the 4th of July, it’s about as Americana as you can get.
12. First-base chats between players on opposing teams.
13. The thrill of extra innings.
14. Spring Training. My mom and I went to Astros, Braves and Dodgers Spring Training games for spring break my senior year of college, and it was one of my favorite experiences ever.
15. Dozing off for a few innings when you’re watching a game on TV. It’s the perfect white noise.
16. A perfectly executed double play.
    

Photo by Matt McGee

People need understanding and connection, not just information.
If all you’re doing is blasting your community with content, you–and your audience–are missing out. Both the Future of Context and How to Spark a Movement panels beautifully explained this point. Help someone truly undersand something, connect your community members with each other and unite people around a common mission. That’s when the magic starts to happen.

Think Visually
Three of the best sessions were about this. Dan Roam’s Why Words Won’t Work explained that we’re all visual thinkers, and pictures are key to solving problems. Interactive Infographics showed off how data can come to life if the visualization is done well. And they pointed out that infographics have gone mainsream: How I Met Your Mother uses them regularly (Marshall even needed a charts and graphs intervention because he was using them so frequently) and comedians like Demetri Martin use visualiztions in stand-up. In other words, infographics are cool.

And Visual Note-Taking 101 was the perfect primer and call to action for all of us budding artists.

Stories are powerful
Storytelling, experiences, journey, quest – whatever label you use, a narrative arc is going to resonate with people. A panel about enhancing the museum experience asked “What’s the epic win for your user?” In Narrating the Crowd, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his brother showed off their project, The Kahani Movement, which is capturing the history of Indian-American immigrants by asking people to record their own family’s stories. “Ordinary people have extraordinary stories to share,” they said.

Stories help us remember information. In his Perfectly Irrational presentation, Stanford prof Dan Ariely explained how we are motivated by short-term rewards by telling the story of how he treated himself to a movie day every time he gave himself a painful injection he needed to treat his liver disease. That kept him on track and made sure he got his medicine. I”ll never forget that story, and as a result, that lesson will stay with me.

Open Up
NASA has embraced President Obama’s call to government agencies to become more transparent, and as a result this massive, aging organizations is connecting with new fans in a way that hasn’t been seen in a long time. All of their content is in the public domain, which means anyone can participate in space research and exploration.

Embrace Contradiction
You can be a cool science museum, an open bureaucracy, a warm-hearted business person, a funny girl, a designer who fights malnutrition. In fact those apparent contradictions are often where we find the most interesting people and projects.

Bonus – 5 Cool Web sites
Each of these was mentioned in a SXSW talk. Click and explore!

Apture.com – add contextual multimedia content to any site
www.Walking-papers.org - print maps, add notes and scan them back to share with others
www.Futureofcontext.com and www.explainthis.org -making online journalism more relevant
http://www.data.gov/ – more data than you could ever ask for

This session’s description of itself best sums it up: a case study on how the California Academy of Sciences - a traditional museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — transformed itself into a global online education and research presence and integral social hub for the City, using the best tools and techniques of technology, social media and design.

Jonathan Denholtz, the museum’s director of interactive media and Maria Gidudice, a designer who consults with the museum, explained how they transformed an “150-year-old dusty institution into an organization that’s committed to experiential 21st century learning.”

Sound familiar, higher education friends? 

Their approach covers 4 main phases of a museum visitor’s experience:

• Inspire (pre-visit)
• Enhance (during)
• Extend (post-visit)
• Export (the virtual experience)

Unfortunately Denholtz and Gidudice were a little too giving with the crowd, so audience questions took over the session and we didn’t hear about the museum’s in-depth approach in each of these areas. But even without that it’s a thoughtful example of a way to frame your audience.

Here’s what they did get to:

Inspire (pre-visit)

• 70 percent of a museum’s revenue comes from the admissions gate. This is good during the first year, but more challenging as traffic levels off.
• CAS uses the web, mobile, social media and hybrid exhibits
• Segmenting the audience
  -CAS uses social media to target 20-30 somethings to publicize Night Life - Thursday evening parties where you pay $12 for a DJ and dancing at the museum. They also sell drinks. Attract 3,000 people every week.

Enhance (during the visit)

• How do you focus on an experience and not just information?
• Audio tours for CAS haven’t been super successful. Now they’re trying downloadable tours built around specific themes. Connects different exhibits while giving people a reason to come back multiple times.
• Look at user-generated vs. curated content
• What is the epic win for the user?

Export (virtual experience)

• The museum can only hold 2 million visitors annually, so how can they reach more people?
• Your Web site can be more than just an information repository. Create new, compelling content that keeps people coming back.

Photo by Kevin Dooley

This solo presentation from Scott was the last session on Saturday, and it was the perfect way to cap off my first day. He did a terrific job of infusing his talk with both enthusiasm and practicality:

There are people everywhere looking to connect. He showed a screenshot of a girl named Erin writing on Invisible Children’s Facebook page, asking if there was anywhere near her in Chicago who would like to do something for the movement together. “Erin’s are everywhere!” he proclaimed. Referred to Erin throughout presentation.

A movement=big change! People identify themselves with it: I’m an… environmentalist, feminist, evangelical

“History of the world is defined by what happens when people meet up.”

You go to a movement’s Web site and it says “Watch us! Download us! Friend us! Follow us!” User thinks “What about ME?”

Many movements suffer from the illusion of engagement. So you signed our pledge – so what? It’s easier than ever to have pseudo-followers, but…

Followers are great if you’re starting a cult, or a dictatorship, or an autocracy.

How to engage followers?

• Distribute responsibility, not just info or tasks.
• Get people to self-organize and connect
• Watch what happens when people connect and share stories.
• On Meetup, people use “Let’s” in their posts a lot. “Let’s build a business together!”
• Go from Me to We

“Organizing the world’s people (not information) is really the heart of the internet,” says Scott.

Movement strategy: BE EVERYWHERE! But that’s impossible. So, crowdsource your everywhereness.

A movement is: “universal distribution, leadership factory, local representation, personal care and contact, turn people into participators, turn your audience into an army.” –Rick Warren, pastor

Engine of Sustained Movement
1. Get followers and fans around the mission.
2. Get them interactging online globally.
3. Meetup locally. (“Use the internet to get off the internet.”)

Set things up so that leaders can emerge. “Who’s going to be in charge of____________?”

ASK for commitment! People will surprise you.

Small organization? Think of yourself as a node that ‘s part of a larger movement, and tap into that power.