E. 10 October 2017, UberX. E. drives a shiny, new looking, red Toyota Camry. I only know the make of the car, because I remember reading it off the Google maps page with my UberX ride information. It's weird to realize that I can see the route suggested by the app displayed on my own … Continue reading Ride Share Profiles II
Thanksgiving is come and gone. It has been hard not to think of William S. Burroughs’ Thanksgiving Prayer, especially the last line:Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatestof human dreams.(Content Warning for the poem: racial slurs, anti-gay slurs. Un-varnished representations of America.) I read some good bits of advice for weathering the new … Continue reading 2016.11.28 : pipe dreams
https://soundcloud.com/wmua-news/thomas-piketty-visits-umass Persistence pays off. By being the most annoying reporter at the annual Phillip L Gamble memorial lecture at UMass, where French economist Thomas Piketty spoke on his book Capital in the Twenty First Century, I got to ask the first question at the press gaggle, post-talk. I had prepped about five questions, in the hopes … Continue reading WMUA: Famous Economist Thomas Piketty visits UMass
Another year, another set of thorny ethical questions to contend with. Specifically, at what point does journalism turn into semi-independent PR? One of the staples of any news-source relationship, be it the politician, the special-interest group, or the business, is the interview. Interviews rarely happen unless someone is trying to sell something. That something could … Continue reading Short Stop: the Ethics of the Promotional Interview
"You want to contribute to their brand. You like the work you're doing, you believe it is worthy of your time and effort, and you wish to support it with your labor. [... I]t can very easily feel as if you are simply handing over the fruits of your labor and maintaining little-to-no ownership of them, thus undermining your own brand by giving your work away."
Despina E. Durand 