If I knew then what I know now

This morning as I headed into school, I was talking to my mom about the urban legend assignment.

I told her about finding the increase in birth rates after the New York blackout in 1964 was not true, and the birth rate was consistent was five years worth during the same time frame.

Many scholars theorised that without television, people choose to entertain themselves in other ways.

She found it hard to believe because it was something she knew to be true, so dinner tonight will be interesting as I show her the numbers.

This experience reminded me of high school when my grade 11 history teacher asked why there was a population explosion... So after a few moments of no one saying a word, I put my hand up and said "Canadian winters are cold and people found ways to keep themselves warm." I was kick out of class for the day and my dad got the call from the teacher. I didn't get into trouble from my dad but was told never to do something like that in class again.

This just goes to show you get all the information before you speak or write.

My new favorite entertainment website: Wikipedia

So I was reading the rules on editing pages on wikipedia, and I decided to read some of the past edits on my high school College Jeanne Sauve.

"Since opening its doors in 1990, CJS Students have used the school to provide many wandering dogs with temporary relief from the harsh Winnipeg winters.

Collège Jeanne-Sauvé has a history of social involvement the envy of many larger schools in the area. Almost since the school's inception, it has had a Social Justice Committee, led by students working tirelessly to educate students and others in the community on important social issues in the area and internationally as well as taking a large role in attempting to fix these problems. This committee was key in gaining recognition for the school as an UNESCO associated school in 2005."

This was removed On September 3, 2010.

I highly suggest reading the past edits of any article on wikipedia, if not for education, just for the giggles.

Writing under privilege

Imagine your first day at a new job. You were hired to write a manual for a software application. You go in and expect to get a walkthrough of the software as the first item of business, but instead given a pile of readings including the Manitoba Evidence Act, the Regional Health Authorities Act, the Personal Health Information Act, and the Field Guide to Understanding Human Error by Sidney Dekker. For the first few days, all you do is read everything until it becomes clear that there will be a point where everything you read and everything you write becomes privilege.

Writing under privilege is more about proper wordsmithing and understanding the nature of the environment you are working in. You quickly learn to recognize the line between privileged and public information, no matter how the fine the line actually is.

By the end of the experience, my co-op partner and I will have completed two manuals, one for the software application and another resource guide for Patient Safety. However, we cannot not use either item for our portfolios since most of our work is protected by privilege.

Think of a headline, a 56 pt bold headline

I will admit that headline writing is a special gift that someone have, and sadly, I am not one of them.

When I saw the headline "Think of a headline, a 56 pt bold headline," I honestly thought this something I could easily do. Throughout my education career, I would spent countless hours working on a paper or with little to no thought about the title or headline. Sometimes they came easily:
The poisoned bread: the effects on food poisioning on the bubonic plague OR
Medical mummification: From the theatre to the trash can

But honestly, more often than not, my titles were the basic topics either assignment to me:
The economic uses of rye, Secale cereale OR
The medicinal uses of ergot, Claviceps purpurea

The Canadian Press Stylebook will probably become my most useful tool for writing headlines and titles in my future work, but I will still have have to live with the shame of having some very poor titles in my past work.