On Church Callings: Public Affairs

A few weeks ago I was asked to do volunteer public relations work for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here's what I wrote in my personal journal on the matter:

"After church today I was called into the stake president’s office. He extended me the call of stake and multi-stake public affairs specialist. I’ll no longer be doing young women’s. Right when he told me, I felt like it was the right thing to do. Basically, I’ll be writing press releases, making media contacts and arranging interviews, etc. for the stake and the region. It will be good in many ways because it’s already what I do professionally, but in other ways frustrating because after writing all day long…writing is probably the last thing I’m interested in doing once I get home. 

I went to my first meeting tonight, a multi-stake meeting. Everyone was really nice and it was exciting to hear everyone’s ideas. Although, it was a tiny bit overwhelming. I will get the hang of it soon enough, though, I suppose! 

We are getting a big public Christmas concert ready. The concert is at one of the concert halls in Oklahoma City. ... It’s amazing for me to reflect on this last year and see the Lord’s hand in everything that’s happened. ... It is really…serendipitous. It’s like being on top of a mountain and being able to see my entire course behind me. While you’re trekking up the mountain, it’s almost impossible to see or know what you’re headed towards or what the view will be like once you’re at the top. But once you’re there…everything makes sense. You can see the whole valley. You can see the path the Lord has taken you on, and more importantly, you can see why he has taken you there. I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful I’ve managed to exercise the faith to follow him where he wants me to go. I’m grateful that because I’ve endured and trusted his will, I’m able to use my talents — the talents he blessed me with — to bless others and share the gospel! It is humbling and utterly gratifying. 

So as much as being in young womens was fun and as much as I learned there…I know the Lord has a new way for me to serve now. I know this is the best way I can use my talents to build up the kingdom of God at this time. What a beautiful, beautiful thing."

Always,

Visit to Lubbock

We spent last weekend in Lubbock visiting family. I got to squeeze on my sweet nephew, Ethan.

 I can't believe how big he is!

But mostly we were there to cuddle with Ethan's new born baby sister, Mia. She was such a sweetheart.

PR tips from a journalism professional

A few weeks ago a woman called me in the newsroom. I answered, "Newsroom, this is Hannah." The woman introduced herself. I waited for her to continue. She did, in an unexpected way — "I just want to let you know I'm recording this conversation," she said, with a slow and methodical voice.

To say the least, the conversation went downhill from there. I won't bore you with details, but she accused me of libel and of not properly doing my job. She ranted — slowly, mind you — for 5 or 10 minutes before I asked her what she did for a living.

"What do you do for a living, Hannah?"

I was baffled. And didn't answer. She cursed at me and hung up the phone.

If you want something from a journalist, I can tell you this much...that's not the way to go.

So, my public relations friends, here are my tips for communicating with the media:

1. Rapport.

It's pretty simple: you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. If I know you, I'm more likely to want to respond to your correspondence. If I know you, I'll know who you're representing. If I know you, I'm more likely to overlook when things go wrong. Rapport is king. Love it and do it.

If it's your first time contacting a newsroom, do some homework. Read the paper and figure out what reporters write what stories. If you contact a beat reporter (a journalist who only writes certain stories i.e. sports, crime, religion, entertainment, etc.) you're more likely to get what you need. Sometimes contacting the editor is helpful, other times they are so bogged down with calls and emails you get lost. So, if you have a relationship with someone, you're more likely to get somewhere.

More Than Slightly Alive

Two years ago my ankle started hurting. Over a period of months the pain worsened and spread. Before I knew it, my ankles, knees, hips, elbows, wrists, and just about anything and everything hurt. I tried to find a pattern and a reason but couldn't figure it out. Long story short, I've spent the last two years going back and forth to the doctors trying to put a name to what's going on.

A few weeks ago I was at the rheumatologist. I told her I'd been experiencing chest tightness and heart palpitations for a while. She decided that the heart palpitations might be related to my joint pain. So she ordered an echocardiogram (aka heart sonogram) to check out what's going on in there.

So today, I saw my own heart. It looked something like this...

And I discovered I'm not dead. My heart does, in fact, beat — which is good, ya know?

Iron Chef LDS youth mutual night

For our combined activity mutual a few weeks ago, the young women presidency planned an Iron Chef night. We split the kids into four teams, and created four cooking stations in the primary room. We brought in our pancake griddles, stir fries and spices — but all other supplies were from the church. We also pre-cooked noodles and rice, to save cooking time.

The goods!

And, of course, Iron Chef wouldn't be Iron Chef without a secret ingredient. And ours...was turkey bacon. Or, fake bacon, as the kids called it.

On Trains and Stop Signs

Crossing the tracks to talk to the cops...had to snap a photo.

All the reporters in the newsroom take turns covering the weekend. Frequently weekend coverage just means going to whatever event is happening that day. It also means covering breaking news.

For whatever reason, Norman has had a lot of people hit and killed by trains lately. And all have been on foot. I don't get why. It's not like you can't hear, feel or see a train coming. But nonetheless, it's been happening.

Cleveland County Free Fair

I wrote a story about the Cleveland County Free Fair this year and had a fun time hearing about the history of the fair — checking out the festivities wasn't too shabby either.

My favorite was the petting zoo.

And the FFA art competition...what exactly is this? If it's not a life-size sculpture of a poop? Seriously?

My favorite part was seeing my article hanging up in the office window.

Always,

Child of God, part 2

Another...

Always,

Thank you, FaceTime

Technology is awesome. I chatted with my silly momma on the phone the other day. I remembered where I got my goof from. Check it out: