Filling a blank page

I've always loved a blank page. 

Having the ability to fill an open space with ideas is exciting. Some people (including some writers) dread the thought of starting that first paragraph, chapter, story, book, or whatever. I've never faced that self-imposed block. 

Rationalizing reality

I also find it interesting that some people talk about the characters they create in fiction stories as though they were living human beings whose spirits they somehow channel through their minds, onto the page, and out into the world. (However we need to rationalize the processing of ideas that come from our individual life experiences and are transferred into written words, right?)

Writing is a method of talking by typing. Sometimes it's also accomplished by pushing that old school pencil (or pen) across the page. 

Your talent comes from within you

Whatever stage you are at in life or in your career be sure to keep one fact in mind: Your talent comes from within you. For some (including me) that means a balanced God-given, genetically received, and environmentally produced process. For others it means something undefinable and vague.

Write, write, and then write some more. Through that process you'll learn if, or how good you are. Depending upon how successful you are, public opinion will also serve to enlighten your ego along the way. 

(Originally published on Insight 7/13/15. Photo via CNBC.com)

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Feel free to contact me if you feel that I can be of help to you, your family, or friends. 

I look forward to becoming friends on Facebook. 

Let's connect on LinkedIn and on Twitter @SeanyOB.

Enlighten your ego

I've always loved a blank page. 

Having the ability to fill an open space with ideas is exciting. Some people (including some writers) dread the thought of starting that first paragraph, chapter, story, book, or whatever. I've never faced that self-imposed block. 

Rationalizing reality

I also find it interesting that some people talk about the characters they create in fiction stories as though they were living human beings whose spirits they somehow channel through their minds, onto the page, and out into the world. (However we need to rationalize the processing of ideas that come from our individual life experiences and are transferred into written words, right?)

Writing is a method of talking by typing for me. Sometimes, it's also accomplished by pushing that old school pencil (or pen) across the page. 

Your talent comes from within you

Whatever stage you are at in your life, or career, be sure to keep one fact in mind: Your talent comes from within you. For some (including me) that means a balanced God-given, genetically received, and environmentally produced process. For others, it means something undefinable and vague.

Write, write, and then write some more. Through that process you'll learn if, or how, good you are. Depending upon how successful you are, public opinion will also serve to enlighten your ego along the way. 

(The image at the top of this post is via printhut.co)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feel free to contact me if you feel that I can be of help to you, your family, or friends. 

I look forward to becoming friends on Facebook. 

Let's connect on LinkedIn and on Twitter @SeanyOB.

A Model's Life: An interview with Kourtney Reppert

(Information about Kourtney Reppert can be accessed through her Facebook page, or through her Instagram account.) 

Consider someone who values a quote from Abraham Lincoln, the humor of Adam Sandler, appreciates the depth of Schindler's List and the lightheartedness of A Night at the Roxbury.

Those are just some of the diverse influences that a model from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania discussed recently. Who is the person behind the pretty face that brightens this articles' words? You are about to discover what life is like behind the scenes in the modeling world.

Small town influences

Kourtney Elizabeth Reppert grew up in Leesport, Pennsylvania. The small town, which is about an hour from Philadelphia, is a place where everyone knows each other. The people who live there work hard and are dedicated to their families and friends.

Many people set prudent goals and then move towards them. Some think beyond what can smoothly be attained and instead strive for their dreams. Kourtney is one of those individuals.

"I want to be successful as a model, while also remaining an overall happy and grateful person," Kourtney said.

Strong family base

A solid family environment often allows someone to build their life's foundation.

"I have three older sisters (Karla, Kelly and Kristie) who are all beautiful. My Mom (Kathy) and Dad (David) are very loving and supportive. They provided me with a great childhood.

"My Mom always told me that I had a special spark. When I was three-years-old my sisters would dress me up, put make-up on me and fix my hair in pigtails."

Role models

"My Mom had a tough time growing up because her Mom passed away when she was young. She always tried to raise my sisters and I the best that she could. She is my best friend.

"Good loving parents set people up for a good life. Everything starts with the family."

Kourtney had an active social life and was a member of the cross country, swimming, field hockey and basketball teams when she was at Schuylkill Valley High School. After graduating, she decided to attend Kutztown University.

"I always had good communication skills and did well in sales. So, initially I pursued a degree in sales and marketing. I also loved softball and pitched on the team at Kutztown."

Creating a career

Kourtney adapted her career goals in 2006, after a number of people suggested that she had the qualities needed to become a model.

"I admired many people who were models when I was growing up, especially Pamela Anderson (famous for being on Baywatch). She was the girl next door."

Establishing a career in modeling is not easy. The path involves heavy competition and rejection.

"I loved what I was doing and the way I felt when I was doing it. I wasn't going to take no for an answer. In a world of no's, you can also hear yes."

In 2007, she joined ModelMayhem , which is a Facebook-style site for male and female models, photographers, as well as make-up and wardrobe artists.

Constellation Energy offered Kourtney her first paid modeling position. Following that success, she landed a number of advertising print work assignments.

Friends and frenemies

Kourtney worked through the normal trial and error period that everyone experiences during the initial stages of their careers. But, she kept moving forward by relying on her well-formed instincts.

"You have to have a tough skin in the business. It was hard at first and you have to be on top of your game. The support of my family and friends has been very important to me along the way."

Kourtney Reppert: A Model's Life – Part 2

Diversifying her interests

Kourtney deepened her career potential when she obtained an Esthetician's license at the Lancaster School of Cosmetology in 2010. The training she received in the cosmetic care and treatment of skin and hair, allowed her career to expand.

Obtaining the designation allowed Kourtney to use her skills and experience to help women make their best beauty choices. It also empowered her to offer the Ivo Pitanguy skin care line to many individuals.

"My license allows me to offer a range of professional applications. Through this work I'm able to make people feel good about themselves, which makes me feel good about myself."

Kourtney also noted that Ivo Pitanguy donates one hundred percent of their profits, from the line that she promotes, to charitable causes.

The importance of a good photographer

"If the connection isn't good, it's like a bad date."

At times, a photographer can get a great shot when a shoot first begins. At other times, many hours might be needed until the perfect image is captured.

"dms graphix photography has shaped my modeling career. They are amazing people to work with. It's all about that connection with the photographer and timing when the pictures are being taken."

Experience and preparation

Years of training and focused preparation allows the best professional experience to take place.

"On the day of a shoot, I wake up, take a cold shower and do a mini-workout. Then, I relax for a bit before heading out. Depending on the job, I might do my own makeup. If a make-up artist is provided, that person will help me prepare at the site of a shoot."

One element that can't be seen when looking at photographs that have been taken is the music that was playing during a photography session. Music can establish a mood that helps a model transition into a mental state of preparedness.

"Music makes you feel. Certain songs affect certain people in positive, or negative ways. I like to choose my own music for a shoot, because doing so gives me more energy during it."

Kourtney puts her self into a state of mind using methods that are similar to professional actors. She sifts through past experiences that allows her to generate emotional responses. Those responses then create different looks that can be captured by the camera.

"I'm a character playing myself, or I'm myself playing a character. Modeling is a way to express yourself.

"If I'm in love, I show it to the camera. If I'm sad, that emotion will be seen. If I'm happy, my smile is endless."

Sports highlights

Kourtney's images have appeared on the Philadelphia Flyers website and on a Philadelphia Phillies' opening day poster.

"I was a tomboy growing up, so naturally I wanted to do a shoot that involved sports.

"The only reason I could stay up late when I was younger is because my Dad would let me watch hockey. I would always want to watch the (Philadelphia) Flyers."

Building her port

In the modeling business, the term 'port' is used as a shortened form of the word portfolio. A portfolio contains a person's professional work.

"My main goal is to get exposure in popular print magazines. Many career doors can open when that happens."

Reflecting and looking forward

Kourtney's professional career has expanded greatly during the past few years. Her experiences have created new opportunities that she continues to pursue each day.

"I have traveled a lot. Flew in private plane and went to a private island. I visited the Playboy Mansion and have met amazing people in the worlds of sports and entertainment."

Never one to be satisfied with her accomplishments, Kourtney is continuing to move forward with a positive spirit and a focused mind.

"I have grown a lot over the years and it has been a nice ride so far. I think attitude is everything and I have learned that you always have to keep working harder as you pursue your dreams.

"There is something inside of me that tells me to keep going. If you love something and you are good at it, why stop?"

(Information about Kourtney Reppert can be accessed through her Facebook page, or through her Instagram account.) 

(I hold all copyrights to this article which originally appeared on Yahoo's Voices platform in 2011.)

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Click on one, or more, of my Yahoo news articles below:

An Actor's life: An interview with Mary Frick

An Artist's life: An interview with Adrienne Trafford

The always fashionable Biana DeMarco

Rising star Erin Como reveals her model for success

A model's life: An interview with Kourtney Reppert

Click on one, or more, of my Yahoo sports articles below:

The mystery behind these 1970s Topps hockey cards is revealed

When Baseball Cards were King

My interview with Flyers' Hall of Famer Bernie Parent

Unique sports talk show goes global

Five incredible Phillies pitching performances

These six NHL legends would start on any all-time team

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick stands on the goal line

How Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs Are Shaping Politics and Our World

How Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs Are Shaping Politics and Our World

by Sean O'Brien

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/facebook%20logo.jpg

http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gesNews/images/twitter_logo

The increasing connectivity that social networking allows has transformed our lives. At the same time, these powerful tools have been redefining politics. Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs are rapidly supplanting television, radio, and newspapers as information sources of choice.

This computer-driven transformation was foreshadowed by author Ray Kurzweil's book The Age of Spiritual Machines. That groundbreaking tome contains sharp predictions that continue to come true. When it was published in 1999, you could purchase the print edition at a bookstore. You have just read about it on a website. At your preference, that book can be downloaded to whatever media device you own. A far cry from how information was disseminated a few short decades ago.

Television news outlets still facilitate mass message transmission. Many radio talk shows reach the core, sometimes massive, niche audiences. But with the staggering effectiveness of new technology, political candidates are interacting with their audiences directly. Traditional media outlets are adapting in a way similar to how radio adjusted to the rise of television in the 1950s.

For generations, newspapers and the “Big Three” television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) had massive power. That fused box began to shorten in the 1980s with the advent of cable television. Through the late 1990s, CNN was the dominant cable brand with a worldwide reach.

CNN set a visual trend that all would follow by placing its logo directly on the television screen. It helped to distinguish the channel amongst a growing sea of choices and was as distinguishable as a Nike swoosh on sneakers. Companies often borrow from marketing strategies first employed by completely different industries. The new 24-hour news cycle took political scandal television to a new level.

During the first decade of this century, many television networks began to visually resemble websites, with a constant stream of information moving across the screen and mouse-like arrows clicking on information presented on it. CNN and other channels adapted the CNBC stock ticker into a news ticker. Obviously, people's ubiquitous gravitation to the World Wide Web was recognized and catered to to maintain audience loyalty. Many national candidates have become nothing more than brand names marketed through these various media impressions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_753sLQQ8q8

With so many channel choices, cable executives clearly decided to specialize and carve their own corner of the market. Each play to its own audience segment. MSNBC and HBO reach progressives, Fox for conservatives, and CNN presents itself as a somewhat centric, never-ending newscast.

While no longer growing, cable news still has influence over politics. At various points in the day, especially during prime time, Fox News has been pulling in more viewers than the other top cable networks combined. These numbers do reflect how specific audiences are choosing to get their information. So, where Bill O'Reilly draws approximately three million viewers a night, and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann draws around one million, the other cable channels, CNN, CNN Headline News, and CNBC, draw below five hundred thousand viewers. Conservative viewers, more so than progressives, are selecting cable television as their preferred source for political news.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/09/24/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-september-23-2010/65104

Other cable personalities, like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, Rachael Maddow, and Anderson Cooper, also draw sizable viewers. On a nightly basis, Hannity and Beck reach nearly two million people, with Maddow at just under one million and Cooper and Matthews around three-quarters of a million viewers. Some of these cable personalities have had radio careers as well.

Today, broadcast and cable television networks inform their viewers that they are accessible through social networking sites. This shift belies another transition away from traditional media outlets for information. We are all learning to navigate and tailor these technology trends to our needs. The dual sources of individual branding and information sharing, known as Facebook and Twitter, are remaking how people communicate and gather information. Anyone who wants to stay current stays connected.

http://fordwords.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/gutenberg.jpg

Johannes Guttenberg is widely credited with inventing the printing press in Germany during the 1400s. His most famous publication was the Bible. He facilitated a system of delivering information to the masses that was effective, efficient, and Medieval user-friendly.

Centuries later, Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft) and Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) both sparked a revolution that led to public accessibility of the Internet through personal computers. In its simplest form, the Internet is a way to transfer information. In the political world, the evolving synergy between voters and politicians allows the powerful and the power-challenged to mingle at online cocktail parties.

Guttenberg 2.0 is now in full force. Devices like the iPad and the Kindle allow books to move from print to digital text, press releases to become Tweets, and broadcasts to become podcasts. Everything old is new again.

Current information transformations have also given rise to the “new” newspapers. Paper editions of newspapers have morphed into internet form. Take a great idea, make it current, and brand it with a different name, the Blog.

There is a wide array of blogs for all political persuasions: http://directory.etalkinghead.com/ Typed or clicked destinations such as http://www.politicsdaily.com/, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, http://drudgereport.com/, http://www.theonion.com/section/politics/, and http://www.politico.com/, amongst many others, represent the newspapers of the 21st century.

Blogs are driving stories onto traditional newspaper cable news headlines. Their interactivity allows anyone to be involved with news rather than simply being presented with it. In response, traditional newspapers have created blogs connected to their online masthead. Political blogs disseminate messages in a powerful way to specific audiences.

In terms of audiences, how many Facebook friends do you have? President Obama has nearly fourteen million on his most populated page. While Sarah Palin has over two million friends. This indicates that the President's supporters are more geared toward social networking than conservatives. However, in the Pennsylvania Senatorial race, Pat Toomey (R) has over 14,000 Facebook friends compared to Joe Sestack (D), who has slightly under 10,000. In the California Governor's race, over 128,000 people are friends of Meg Whitman (R), compared to over 81,000 for Jerry Brown (D).

So, what does this digital domination translate into for the upcoming mid-term elections and the big one to come in 2012? The power to use social networks to influence statewide elections is yet to be seen, but it could indicate how specific candidates are arming themselves for battle. Facebook friends could translate into many election day votes for the person who is “liked.” Plus, these social networks activate campaign troops in the year-long process that ushers in the primary election.

A few short years ago, it seemed as though younger people used the internet and older people watched television. While those comparisons are still not completely off base, the technology use gap has been shrinking about as fast as the number of homes that receive a newspaper on their doorstep. Teenagers are not only contacting their BFFs, but they are also texting Grandma—a lady who, by the way, probably has a BlackBerry.

This prosperous age of the new media will undoubtedly continue to evolve. In political terms, candidates who have recognized the new reality are also helping to shape it. The public will stay connected by increasing participation through posts, tweets, and bookmarked websites.

This article was the author's original idea. It was submitted to philly2philly.com.