NPR Archives - Lisa M. Frame

I am working away from home right now and have been all week. Why? My current productivity stinks. I know why as well. I always seem to be finding other things to do. Like organizing my husbands shirts by color and then in graduated shades of that color. My laundry room? Same way. The hangers are all organized by color, and grouped by the article of clothing they are used for (pants, shirts, etc.)

It is definitely not an obsession, but it’s the raging Type-A perfectionist in me screaming to come out. She messes everything up.

I enjoy working in coffee shops because I don’t have the home distractions that you have as a human with a family and piles of laundry that multiply if you blink. It’s not just the clickity-clackity of my fingers on the keyboard and my annoying neighbor cranking up his tuner car with the aftermarket exhaust. Where are my ruby slippers so I can clickity-clack with purpose and make everything better. I still believe in Dorothy and that there is no place like home.

Maybe I should put on my Metallica concert t-shirt circa 1989, tease my hair, throw on some black eyeliner and pump some metal. It might help. Heaven knows I was like a squirrel back in those days. Who am I kidding, I’m more like a Hammy from Over the Hedge more often than not.

Now I listen to NPR, jazz, and even some great productivity playlists and those help quite a bit. I will share my latest post over at http://lisaframe.wordpress.com on writing and productivity boosting since I felt like I needed to mention my lack of productivity here.

Lately, I have been thinking of journalistic integrity. While I am not a journalist per se, I feel that it is necessary that I hold myself to the same standards. That is why I chose to follow these headers from the Society of Professional Journalists:

Why do I feel this way? There are so many blogs/forums/rags that exist as nothing more than a forum to spew forth bad news and harm others. We are living in a society that is fueled by sensationalism. However, in an effort to sensationalize, have we lost brevity regarding our behavior?

It is becoming easier to conduct peer-to-peer manipulation as time goes on. How? We used to have centralized media outlets. Now there are a multitude of sources not internally governing their reporting in what feels like an attempt to create a social war between the uneducated average American and people who have a more accurate world view.

What do we do? There isn’t a lot–unless you want to infringe on our rights as American citizens to freedom of speech. However, I feel that it is more a matter of self-worth, self-control and respect for others.

Where is our consideration for our fellow man? Why do we feel that every one’s private life is fodder for public consumption? Why this insatiable lust?

Some of these I can’t answer, but I can opine. Celebrity is a mysterious world where people want an inside view. A look at what the other side does. The more private they try to be, the more their adoring (obsessed?) public want to know. For some of celebrities, I blame it on themselves. After all, there are plenty of ways of getting out of a car and not flashing the entire world. The paparazzi can pay their bills for an entire year on one of those shots if sold.

Quite honestly, I don’t watch a lot of the evening news on television anymore. I used to turn it on every evening, like clockwork, after dinner to find out what was going on in my local area and the world. However, if you aren’t reporting the news, I am not going to watch you. I quit watching during the entire Britney Spears divorce/bi-polar/meltdown debacle. When you local television stations are giving you breaking news for this and other celebrity skirmishes, it’s time to turn it off.

What do I do now? I read local news online, listen to NPR or ABC News Radio, and watch BBC World News. I’m not perfect, but I still try to avoid as much “noise” and subjection to bad media as possible.

My promise to myself is to try and always “keep it real”. For my sanity…and yours.