Piles of Stuff

A random and abbreviated collection of journalistic experiences.

Diversity

My voice Over work helped earn

AdVenture this award.

Presenter at journalism

conferences across Texas.

Competitive Victory

It’s nice when a person is recognized for a great job when they do what they normally do.

I took one of my standard classroom lessons on the competition road, instructed an audience of critics and walked away with a $10,000 check.

Not bad for a day’s work.

Christmas was good that year.

Ingenuity and determinationThe office of the Emergency Response Manager at Union Carbide had a six foot long shelf crammed full of three-ring binders that contained emergency mandates.

Information was scattered , contradictory and confusing. My job: make it simple.

When I finished the project, ONE binder with 1½ rings held all of the information.

Editing was the main chore and design nearly impossible. WordPerfect was the design engine for this project. Microsoft Word was just beginning .

Performance ContractsTW3 Pro-ductions event Performance Contracts meant lots of travel, late night hours and entertaining large crowds with my ‘garage created’ mobile sound system.

This was far ahead of any digital recordings and required the talent to ‘jock’ cassette tapes.

Performing and pleasing large crowds of party-goers had is challenges – and many repeat customers.

The one-page contracts required “50% down, round trip mileage, a hotel room if over 50 miles and food and drink.”

(Very) Early creations

Microphone ‘art’ is from lead ‘hot type’ imprint and

then paste-up for early offset printing at a job-

shop.

It seems that if you want something done, a journalist can make things happen.

A director wanted a brochure – that’s rub on type, hand drawn circles and screens that printers hate because they’re difficult to print.

A radio rate card (circa 1970) actually used TWO Colors!

A superintendent wanted an annual report with pictures and an interesting layout. The type in this publication is mastered from either rub-on lettering or words printed on a dot-matrix printer.

Local Politics can be funThis was a hotly contested political race for a seat on the school board. I managed the campaign and created an designed all materials – from large signs to cards.

Election day I was monitoring the race via a crude Motorola flip phone while vacationing on Matagorda Island. Things weren’t looking good at 5 p.m.

“Find a van,” I said, “and head for the nursing home. “

I’m glad it was a 15 passenger van or the election would have squeaked to the other candidate.

Design, Production and Budget

Every year from 1975 -1994, I led student journalists to produce significant and respected works of history. Layouts, design, photography, budgets – and the POLITICS of ‘who’s in color’ – were all influential experiences.

Piles of Stuff Translation:

I guess it’s not SO random after all. It all sticks together rather nicely.

Here’s the bottom line:

ExposureExperienceParticipationSuccess

Barclay Burrow 817-223-6010