Q&A with SC State Professor Harwood

I've wondered what brought my Communications professors towards teaching the different aspects of the communication field. This week, I interviewed Professor Harwood, who is one of my Communications professors at SC State University. 

He was named Professor of the Year in the Department of English and Communications in March 2023 for the 2022/2023 school year. Last fall, Harwood published a new book, his fith book titled "Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston" which you can buy at his Amazon's author site.

He also has a blog which you can vist at http://mybirdseyeviews.blogspot.com/

                        

Professor Harwood has taught at SC State since 2014

 

Professor Harwood's book signing in Orangeburg at the Broughton Street Cafe                                                                                                    

Q: What led you to become a communciations professor?

A: This was something that I never thought I would do or plan to do when I was younger in my career. It was when I started working at the college of Charleston in public realtions, I had been in broadcast journalism and my most latest recent position was at Channel 5 television in Charleston. That's what brought me to South Carolina. I was there for only a year or two but I really liked the Charleston area. I wanted to stay in Charleston, and I saw an ad in the newspaper that the College of Charleston was looking for a public realtions person. So I thought, wow, I never thought of public relations but the job description sounded like something that appealed to me, that I could do, so I thought ok, I'll apply for that. 

Long story short, I got that job and ended up working there for 12 years in public relations at the College of Charleston, but early on, probably in the first year or so, I was apporached on campus by Dr. Nan Morrison who was chair at the English Department. At that point, communication wasn't a full blown major at CUC like it is now. It was a minor under the umbrella of English. I didn't really know Dr. Morrison, but she knew a little bit about my background coming from tv news. She approached me and asked, "Would you ever be interested in teaching a college course here on broadcast journalism?" 

I never thought about it, and when I thought about it I said, "Oh sure, I'll give it a try." So for several years, I had my regular staff position. My courses always had to be Tuesday and Thrusday at 5:30 to 6:45, and I did that for several years teaching Introduction to Broadcast News, Advanced Broadcast News, and Radio and Television News. It was an opprutunity that presented itself.

Q: Were you interested in communications in your highschool years?

A: It was almost like a process of elimination. Writing was something that, since I was in gradeschool, I think I put effort into it and my teachers repsonded. I'd get compliments that I wrote well, so I kinda thought about maybe sports journalism. It really wasn't until I started looking at colleges that it narrowed down to either study communications or journalism.

Q: Does anyone in your family also have a job in comunications?

A: My younger brother actually followed me to Radford University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He also got a Mass Communication's Degree at VCU but he never worked full-time in that career. He ended up making his way to California after he graduated and worked at a post office in Southern California for 28 years or so, and he recently retired. My sister worked as an airforce officer, and she worked with her airforce base newspaper.

Q: What has been your favorite aspect of the communications field?

A: I would say that all aspects because I've done differnet things throughout my career. Starting out as a tv news reporter, even before that working in radio when I was in college in Richmond working in a radio station assiting the news director, a lot of technical things as far as recording and editing, typing scripts. Then television, news, being a reporter and then an anchor, and then working in public relations as I mentioned at the college of Charleston, and then having the chance to teach these things that I worked in for a number years. I have loved all aspects of the communications field.

Q: Besides majoring in communications, was there any other major that you considered in college?

A: I was always interested in History, especially American History. I took a lot of history courses especially at VCU. I don't know if I had enough to minor in it offically, since I never persued it, but I did taka a bunch of history classes. I would say that if Mass Communications wasn't my major, then it might have been History beacuse I always did really well in the History courses. Those coureses helped raise my grade point average overall. 

Travel Feature Story on Topgolf

During Spring Break, I went to Topgolf in North Charleston, SC for the first time with my mom. Topgolf isn't just for golf fans, but its also for people who don't consider golf to be their main sport or activity, such as myself. Topgolf balls have trackers inside of them that let you know which ball is yours. When the ball enters any of the ten targets, which all vary in size with the largest ones located further down the field, the tracker tells the screen that you are standing next to how many points you get from hiting that target. 

Also, there are many differnet games at Topgolf that you can choose from. These include Topgolf (which is my current favorite) Angry Birds, Quick 9, TopScore, TopShot, Jewl Jam, as well as many others. There are 14 Topgolf games in total. You can also play minigolf at Topgolf, but in my oppinion I liked Topgolf (the game) way more than minigolf. In order to get a highscore in Topgolf (the game) you have to hit golfballs towards the farthest targets. The closer the target, the lower the points you will get.

According to https://topgolf.com/us/charleston/, "Prices are per hour, per bay. Each bay accommodates up to 6 players. Prices do not include tax." For my mom and I, I paid $19.95 for 2 hours of gameplay. For lunch, I ate two sets of french fries which equaled $9.05, and my mother ate a Black Bean Veggie Patty which cost $12.05. To learn more information about the Topgolf Menu, you can visit https://s3.topgolf.com/uploads/pdf/menus/Topgolf_Menu_TierA_National.pdf.

To learn more information about Topgolf in North Charleston, SC, you can vist there website https://topgolf.com/us/charleston/.

Below you can see some photos from my first vist at Topgolf

A wideshot view of one of the Topgolf bays as well as the targets players can aim for.

Here are a few Topgolfer's taking a swing. One of the players next to me way swinging so hard that the sound of the ball being hit scared me lol.

This is me taking a swing. When I did a practice session, the screen that tracked the golfballs told me that I got 222 points, so I felt pretty good about my score, especailly since it was my first time going to Topgolf!

My mother took a couple of swings and we both had a great time watching each other do our best to get as many points as we could. I even gave my mother a few pointers that I learned in one of my highschool PE classes when it came to swinging the golf club the right way. 

Notice the golfclub that is circled in this picture. After I hit a couple of golfballs, I noticed that a golfclub was laying onto the course one floor below us. Either someone could not control the power of their golf swing, or they threw their golf club onto the course in frustration lol. 

Below you can find photos of differnet parts of the Topgolf building in North Charleston, SC. 

If you want to see more photos, you can find them at https://topgolf.com/us/charleston/gallery/.

Hitting Bays with Lounge Seating 

First Floor Bar

 

Bar Restaurant 

                             

  

Outdoor Patio

Rooftop Terrace 

What NOT To Say During a Job Interview

Have you ever wondered what not to say during a job interview? A Youtube video by Don Georgevich has the answers that you need. Don Georgevich is “an expert author and leading authority in job interviewing and resume writing. He specializes in helping ordinary people sharpen their skills so they get hired for the jobs they want.” On YouTube, Georgevich has a video titled “5 Things You Should Never Say During a Job Interview,” which runs almost 13 minutes. In this blog post, I will be sharing his advice as well as summarize it so that you can be aware of what not to say during a job interview. 

On the left is a picture of Don Georgevich. 

Click here to read Don Georgevich online biography                 

Click here to watch his YouTube video "5 Things You Should Never Say During a Job Interview"

1. Don't talk bad about the company 

You shouldn't go on and on about how much you didn't like your previous job. This is basically telling the next company that you will say whatever you want about their company, and that you could care less whether it harms how the company looks or not. Georgevich says, "If you didn't like working there, or you didn't like your job, it'll be no time flat that you'll be saying the same things about them when they hire you."

2. I'll Do Anything 

Even if you are desperate to get hired by a company, you do not want to seem that way. You shouldn't say, "I'll do anything" because this shows that you don't really have a passion for the job. It also shows that you currently do not have a job in mind and just expect to be assigned anything that is available. "You want to go into a interview, you want to talk about what you can do and the value you can bring and that you are excited to do it. That's what you want." Also, "Tell them what you want you want to be doing," says Georgevich.

3. Tell me about yourself

When people say, "Tell me about yourself" during a job interview, you don't want to say what you can do, but how you are able to do those things. Georgevich says, "If this is like a management position, you don't want to say I'm a great leader. You want to talk about how you have lead people. You want to talk about the teams that you have built and assembled to work on certain projects."

4. I don't know how

Saying I don't know how during a job interview shows that you have not done any research on the job. Also, this is statement that could cancel you out from getting a job in the first place, because why would a company hire someone who doesn't know what they are doing? The answer to that is, they would not hire someone like this. "Connect it to something similar that you have done," says Georgevich.

5. Don't ask in the interview what does your company do here.

If you ask the question, "What does your company do here?" this shows that the research that you should have done was not done at all. It also shows that your main focus was to just walk into a building, get a job, and not expect to know anything about what you are doing. Georgevich says, "Gather as much infomration as you can so that you can go in there and now you can ask them questions that will help quialify you about this company." 

Writing Different Leads for the Same Story

In this post, I will be using the Charleston Post and Courier Feb. 12, 2023 feature on Kerri Forrest (special Black History Month insert “12 Black Leaders to Know) and writing the lead in 10 different ways. I will be writing a lead that fits the description of a hard news lead, then the nine types of feature leads that were shown in my previous posts "Feature Writing Leads." 

              Kerri Forrest                     Click here to read Kerri Forest's Article

Hard News Lead 

Kerri Forrest, who is MDC's (Manpower Development Corp.) Senior Program Director for Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy, has been feautured in The Post and Couriers "12 Black Leaders to Know in South Carolina"

Quotation Lead 

When it came to Kerri Forrest getting a job at MDC, she says, "This position really felt like an opportunity to take what I think I'm good at and create a space at MDC helpign to (fostoer) more talent in the South."

Question Lead 

How did Kerri Forrest go from having a career in television to a job as a Senior Program Director for Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy in MDC?

Shocker Lead 

Instead of going to medical school, Kerri Forest moved to D.C. a got a job at an affiliate of NBC.

Description Lead 

A good listener, talker, who ask the right questions and can manage her time and get things done quickly. This person is Kerri Forrest. 

Direct-Address Lead

If you are wondering who is one of the many black leaders in South Carolina, look no further than Kerri Forrest.  

Ironic Lead 

Kerri Forrest went to Clemson University and majored in biology and was pre-med. Somehow she found herself moving to D.C. and got a job at an NBC affiliate instead of going to medical school.

                                                               

Anecdote Lead 

Kerri Forrest plan was to go to medical school, but life had other things in mind. Instead she got a job at an NBC affiliate. Then she becaome a porduction assitstnat for "The Today Show." After that she was hired as a dayside booker for MSNBC, and then she became senior producer of CBS Early Show. She is currently the Senior Program Director for Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy in MDC.

Words Used in Unusual Ways 

One minute, Kerri Forrest was studying about how to help patients medically, the next minute she had to maintain her patience in the news industry. 

Feature Writing Leads

Feature Leads give the writer a more creative approach to beginning a story. These leads all strive to be engaging, to give the story a compelling opening that will make a reader (or viewer/listener for TV and radio) keep reading. In this post, I will be showing examples of nine types of feature leads. 

Here are nine types of feature leads:

Anecdote - start with an insightful short story

Description - set the mood by describing how someone or something looks

Quotation - good if it catchy, insightful

Question - pose an engaging question

Suspenseful leads - intrigue makes a reader keep reading

Ironic leads - play on the unexpected

Direct-address - use of “you” as if talking directly to the reader

Words used in unusual ways - be clever and creative with the English language

Shockers: lead with an unexpected twist

Below you will find my examples of feature leads 

Words Used in Unusual Ways Lead 

Times Newspaper - Dec. 16, 2022

For many of us, 2022 was the year we emerged more fully from our pandemic cocoons, venturing out to movie theaters, museums, concerts — exploring our entertainment with eager, if weary, hearts and eyes before returning home to our TVs.

Suspenseful Lead

Times Newspaper - Feb. 4, 2023

The United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday that had spent the last week traversing the country, an explosive end to a drama that put a diplomatic crisis between the world’s two great powers onto television screens in real time.

Ironic Lead 

New York Post - Jan. 26, 2023 

This Colorado grizzly could not bear the opportunity to take a good selfie. Park rangers discovered hundreds of photos taken by bears on wildlife cameras meant to simply observe animals.

Direct-Address Lead 

Stuff Magazine - Jan. 27, 2023

2023 is looking like a bumper year for games on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Have you recovered from the holidays and had the chance to catch up on all the big games from 2022? Well, ready or not, it’s already time to gaze ahead to the best games to play in 2023, which looks similarly packed with massive titles to compete for your attention.

Anecdote Lead 

The Post and Courier - Feb. 5, 2023

It's pitch-black outside when David Bonezzi wakes up at 4:30 a.m. He words out, showers and makes his son lunch. About two hours later, he back out of his driveway and heads to his job as a teacher at Carolina Park Elementary. 

Description Lead 

The Post and Courier - Jan. 31, 2023

Just inside the front doors of Husk, the tall wooden board still lists some 30 purveyors, just as it did at the end of 2010 when the restaurant seated its first customers. Back then, the white lettering on those long black panels seemed almost like incantations, as if merely inscribing the name of a turnip farmer or ham-maker might invoke culinary magic.

Shocker Lead 

The Rolling Stone - Feb. 6, 2023

The 65th Grammys was collaborative, witty, tear-jerking, and surprisingly touching for a music awards show often defined by its inability to get with the times - which is why Beyonce's insulting snub for Album of the Year felt all the more shocking and like an indictment on the Recording Academy itself. Why is music's biggest night so averse to giving black women their due? 

Question Lead 

LA Times - Feb. 6, 2023

What does Beyoncé have to do to win the Grammy Award for album of the year? That was the question swirling around Twitter on Sunday night after Harry Styles won the top Grammys prize in yet another controversial upset over Queen Bey. Styles received the honor for his third solo record, “Harry’s House,” while Beyoncé was nominated (and expected by many to finally win) for her seventh studio album, “Renaissance.”

Quotation Lead 

The Catholic Miscellany - Feb 2023

Some years ago, a student in my psychology class sighend in anguish, "Don't make me think, just give me the answer." Of course, this took me aback as a teacher. It also delighted me because thinking is my hobby!

Different Types of Feature Stories

A feature story is a factual story that is not hard news but is instead a more personal report about a person, event, or aspect of a major event. They typically appear as articles in newspapers, magazines, and other publications, but they are also frequently featured in other media, such as TV, radio, and podcasts. There are many types of feature stories. For example, they are profile feature, human interest feautre, explanatory feautre, adventure feautre how-to-do-it feature, trend or lifestyle feautre, occupation or hobby feature, seasonal feature, and a historical feature. 

Below you can find examples of these differnet types of feature stories. 

Profile Feature Example 

This profile feature was published in the New York Times on Jan 6, 2023. Its about a young African woman named Eugenia Karbo who became Freetowns (which is the capital of Sierra Leone) frist chief heat officer. This job was created in 2021, and its purpose is to help Freetown deal with rising temperatures and other climate change based problems.

Click here to read this feature

Human Interest Feature 

This human interest feature was published in People Magazine on Jan 23, 2023. Jermey Joslin was an employee at Google until the company's parent company Alphabet Inc. cut more than 10,000 jobs. When Mr. Joslin tweeted about being laid-off, it went viral. His tweet gained 42,000 likes as well as 6 million views. 

Also, Google is not the only company that is currently laying off its workers. Other big tech companis such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are also laying off workers in the thousands. 


Click here to read this feature

Lifestyle Feature 

This is a lifestyle feature that was published in People Magaizne on Jan 24, 2023. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Proflowers, which is a flower delivery service, is offering a huge Valentine's Day collection that contains bouquets and chocolate goodies. 

Here are two of the many top deals of bouquet and chocolates offered by Proflowers:

Pink Champagne Rose Bouquet ($55)

Be Mine Belgian Chocolate-Covered Strawberries, ($40-$55)

Also, if you want a discounted price for any Proflower order, just use this code BLOOMS20 from Peoples Magazine. This code will save you 20 percent off your order.

Click here to read this feature

Historical Feature 

This is a historical feature that was published in the New York Times on Jan 24, 2023. In the summer of 2022, FBI agents searched through Mar-a-Largo, which is the resdience of former U.S. president Donald Trump, for classified government documents. Mar-a-Largo is located in Palm Beach, Florida. In January of 2023, classified government documents were found at current President Joe Biden's private home. Donald Trump is getting more scrutiny for keeping those documents compared to President Biden because 

Click here to read this feature

Explanatory Feature 

This is an explanatory feature that was published in The Post and Courier on Jan 18, 2023. Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina attorney is accused of murdering his own wife and son. This trial is taking place in Walterboro, SC. Since this city has been trying to make a mark on itself for the lognest time, some of Walterboro's residents believe that this trial, in an ironic way, is actually doing some good for Walterboro. But other residents believe that this trial will be turned into a party rather than a devastating situation since tourist from around the state will want to see the trial. 

Click here to read this feature

How-To-Do-It Feature 

This is a how-to-do-it feature that was published in Better Homes and Garden on Jan 18, 2023. Since Valentines Day is only a few weeks away, this magzine is offering its readers insturctions to make 29 homemade Valentine Cards, as well as templates that you can download. 

Click here to read this feature

Seasonal Feature 

This is a seasonal feature published in the New York Times on Jan 13, 2023. There are many ways that we can remember Martin Luther King, and this feature talks about 6 differnet ways to do this in New York. Here are a few examples: The Brooklyn Academy of Music will have a tribute towards Dr. King on Jan 16. The Apollo Theater will have its 17th annual Dr. King celebration on Jan 15. Also, there will be quilting sessiosn at the Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center in the Bronx, New York, on Jan 14.

Click here to read this feature

This is an occupation feature published in The Post and Courier on Jan 28, 2023. Ever wonder who does those colorful braids in USC basketball star Aliyah Boston? That would be 21-year-old Alana White, a hair stylist who works at Salon Exquisite in Columbia’s Spring Valley Commons. Ironically, when Alana was in in hgihschool she watched Aliyah play in a basketball game. What's even more ironic is what she said to her dad at the game, which was," Dad, I would just love to do her hair." Sounds to me like the universe put this request in motion. 

Click here to read this feature

Adventure Feature 

This is an adventure feature published in Dr. Harwoods Birds Eye Views Blog on July 9, 2018. In this blog post, Dr. Harwood talks about his time on a nature trail in Donnelley Wildlife Management Area in South Carolina's ACE Basin. The trail that he walked on is the Boynton Trail, which is a trail that he has used many times. He also mentions in this blog that he saw a pair of Painted Buntings two weeks before he posted this feautre on his blog. 

Click here to read this feature

My Outlook for 2023

I hope 2023 shows me what career I want to have after I graduate. Since I have a passion for writing in my spare time, I am hoping to get a job that mainly uses this passion. I understand that having information about every aspect of your life isn't always possible, but I hope someday soon that I know what my calling is. I have set two New Year’s Resolutions for 2023. The resolutions that I set for this year include getting to know my classmates better from previous Communication courses. Also, working more on not let little things in life bother me so much because more than half of the time they really aren’t the most stressful things going on. My goals for 2023 include: Keeping my grades up, getting to know my new classmates, and hopefully figure out what I want to do as a career. 

For Christmas last year, my parents and I went to the Trinidad and Tobago, which are two islands in the Caribbean. Since most of my family lives in the Caribbean, we decided to spend Christmas with my mother’s as well as my father’s side of the family. My mother was born in Trinidad, and my father was born in Tobago. While in Tobago, my parents and I decided to visit places on the island that we haven't really explored before on previous vacations, whether it be Christmas or summer. These places include Grange Bay-Tobago, Speyside-Tobago, and Charlotteville-Tobago.  

Days before my family left for the Caribbean, my father came up with the idea that my cousins and I, as well as uncles and aunts in our family could perform a family Christmas concert on Christmas evening. He has always known how musically talented my mother’s side of the family is, whether it be playing musical instruments or singing, so he thought this would be a great way to showcase our musical talents during the Christmas break. My relatives loved the idea and we all decided to come up with Christmas songs we could play, as well as which instrument, we would use. I decided to play “Oh Holy Night” on the steelpan. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this instrument, the steelpan is a percussion instrument made from metal industrial drums, and its Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument.