Category / Uncategorized

by graceubben

Broadway Hit ‘Waitress’ Is Baked To Perfection

Order Up!

The delicious new musical “Waitress” is the sweetest smash hit to grace the Great White Way. It tells the heartbreaking story of a young woman named Jenna Hunterson, who is silently suffering in an abusive marriage. Jenna spends her days as a waitress and gifted pie-connoisseur at Joe’s Diner, where she creates delectable pies and dreams of a way out of her unhappy situation. This show tugs at your heartstrings and takes you along for the ride as Jenna experiences some of life’s most sweet and sour moments.

The story opens up with a peek into the diner as Jenna is faced with the shocking news that she is pregnant. Devastated, she looks for a way out and sets her eyes on the Springfield Pie Contest. Winning the contest would provide her with the funds to start her new life. Throughout her pregnancy, Jenna becomes inspired by her circumstances. She creates new pies, each with a unique name, including the “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie” and the “Betrayed By My Eggs Pie.”

Things get even more complicated when Jenna begrudgingly heads to the doctor to check up on the baby. It’s here that she finds out that her longtime doctor has retired, and she’ll have to settle for the handsome new gynecologist, Dr. Pomatter. As the two are making their introductions, Jenna offers him the “Marshmallow Mermaid Pie” she brought with her. As soon as he has a taste of the pie, a budding relationship begins to form between the two of them. This encounter inspires the “I Wanna Play Doctor With My Gynecologist Pie.”

Along the way, Jenna is confronted with some conflicting recipes for achieving happiness. She has to face some harsh realities and decide for herself what she wants to make of her one, precious life. This show is heartbreaking, empowering and beautiful. You will laugh, cry, and leave wanting a second helping. Fortunately, fresh, warm pies are baked during each show, so you can enjoy a delicious taste of pie as you experience this show for yourself.

Undoubtedly, Waitress is a story of female empowerment. This show takes us through Jenna’s pregnancy and her journey to leave her abusive husband to start a new life for herself and her newborn daughter. Her two fellow waitresses, Becky and Dawn, not only support and uplift her along the way — they also become her family. This show is about friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a delicious piece of pie. Waitress is baked to perfection by an incredible group of women. The music and lyrics are by Sara Bareilles; the book is by Jessie Nelson; the show is directed by Diane Paulus, and the choreography is by Lorin Latarro. Waitress stands out as the first musical in Broadway history to have an all-female creative team.

Waitress is currently running on Broadway, and a national tour of the production is making its way across the United States. The West End production of Waitress also just opened in London. For more information or to purchase tickets visit Ticketmaster.com or Waitressonstage.com.

by gabrielaharmon

How To: Spring Break

Hello friends! Spring Break is approaching and I am going to tell you everything you need to have the best, stress-free break! As work, projects and exams have been piling on, I have been dreaming of books and cool drinks by the water. I came up with the trifecta of vacation novel suggestions (if I do say so myself) that will make you completely forget about school and work.

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

This is the first Struab novel that I have read and definitely not the last. The Vacationers is a filled with all the family drama that vacations bring (we can all relate on some level) and Straub tells the story beautifully and humorsly. I laughed, I cried.

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter

I have never read anything quite like Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime. Salter tells a thrilling and intense story of a love affair between a Yale drop out and a young French girl. The novel is beautiful and brutal, and sets the standard for erotic fiction. Is it hot in here?

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

This novel is the longest of the three, but guaranteed to be the fastest read. Wolitzer tells the story of the friendship of six creative fifteen year olds and how different their lives become as they get older. Wolitzer created perfect characters that you are going to love.

Another absolute must buy for this break (really for all readers, all the time) is the Amazon Kindle. I read my last hardcover book last week when I spent $15 on a book and then accidentally spilled my entire coffee on it. After this tragedy, I treated myself to the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (it’s waterproof!!) and I then saw that the Kindle version of the same book is only two dollars. What have I been doing all my life? The Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for reading by the pool and in bed – the only two places I will be this break – because it has a built in adjustable light that lets you read indoors and outdoors. The Kindle also has built in Wifi, so in case you get through my trifecta of recommendations, you can download a new book without moving from your lawn chair. I know, I am no longer a purist, but I promise once you buy your own, you won’t look back.

PS. I also bought this adorable vintage Nancy Drew case for my Kindle. I am in love.

The theme for my suggestions for this break is complete escape, and what better way than with delicious, addictive fiction. If you aren’t traveling this break (I can, unfortunately relate), do what I do best and live vicariously through my favorite writers’ characters.

*Image by thats70 via Tumblr; Image by inefable-melifluo via Tumblr; Image by Josef Koudelka

by lindseyrykard

Secrets to Running a Booming Dermatology Practice

Are bedside manners better than advertising?

Press Release UPDATED February 10, 2019

Image result for dermatology
Photo Courtesy Dr. Allison Hoffman, MD, FAAD
Mill City Dermatology, PA

Gainesville, Fla., February 10, 2019 (Dermatology News)—

What are key qualities to a booming dermatology practice?

You may think advertising but actually that is at the bottom of the list in creating a busy dermatology practice. Bedside manners are of the upmost importance.

If your patient leaves and does not feel like you genuinely care for their wellbeing, you have failed at your job as a physician. Patients are your top priority and word of mouth overpowers advertisements any day.

Exactly how do you create this great relationship between you and your patients?

Firstly, give patients your personal phone number. Tell them to call you if any problems arise. This will surprise them with how accessible you are. Nothing makes a patient feel more loved than a personal phone number.

Secondly, have your assistant call the patient on the first post-treatment day. “Care and concern for the patients you’ve treated are very important, so that the patients feel comfortable in coming back to see you,” said Dr. Weinkle.

Thirdly, be known as an expert in your local community. Dr. Hexsel said, “Something that I think helped a lot to improve my practice was to give interviews for the media.” Three to four interviews a week may be annoying; however, vital for a thriving dermatology business. “Spending a lot of time traveling to medical meetings is necessary to become known among your peers,” said Dr. Grablowitz.

Fourthly, be involved in research. This way patients can trust you that you are aware of the latest technology. Dr. Baumann asserted, “A great way to build a practice is to do research projects…Patients realize you are cutting edge when you perform the clinical trials that lead to FDA approval.”

Lastly, make sure office staff are all on board with all of the cosmetic procedures. “It’s very important that the staff and doctors are giving out the same information to the patients, because the patients ask everybody in the office,” said Dr. Baumann. Patients come in very knowledgeable about their procedure but still ask office staff about their opinions in search of affirmation.

Use these tips to create a bustling dermatology practice.

For more on this, check out, John R. Bell, “Marketing Secrets of Top Dermatologists Revealed,” Dermatology News (August 2007)

Contact:

Lindsey Rykard

lindseyrykard@gmail.com

by cassidymizell1

Did Tom Brady Deflate Your Diet?

Photo Courtesy of Julio Cortez via AP

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest days of eating in America. In fact, a conservative estimate suggests that people eat, on average, 2,400 calories from start to finish. Super Bowl spreads are saturated with pizza, wings, dips, and everything for the “big game”. However, research suggest that, for some people, the binging does not end on Sunday.

This week in The Salt, Maria Godoy explores a study by Rachel Herz of Brown University that suggests that the team people root for affects how they eat the day after the game.

People who cheered for the losing team are more likely to continue eating unhealthily the following day.  Herz says that the negative emotions people have after a team loses causes them to turn towards foods that trigger endorphins. “Foods that are high fat and high carbohydrate give you dopamine and endorphins and serotonin. And it’s dopamine, in particular, that’s the reward-and-pleasure neurotransmitter. And endorphins actually soothe our pain, both physically and mentally. The higher in fat the food is, the more endorphins you’re going to experience with that.”

Inversely, people whose favorite team won actually make healthier choices on the Monday after the Super Bowl. These people tend to have an adrenaline rush that keeps them from feeling hungry. In Herz words, “It’s akin to when you’re really excited — like when you’re in love, or you’re so excited about what’s going on you sort of forget to eat. From a neuro-chemical perspective, your body is actually feeling the sort of high that you feel like you don’t even need food, so your appetite is reduced.”

So if you blew your diet this week, you can always blame Tom Brady.

-CEM

For more information, check Maria Godoy’s article, “Game Brain Science: How Your Super Bowl Team Plays Can Sway What You Eat”.

For more in food news, check The Salt by NPR.

by sarajamhour21

How Companies are Dealing with PR Disasters

As long as there are companies communicating with the public in an attempt to get their money, there will be PR disasters that will undoubtedly occur. Every year companies get hit with a PR disaster and need to deal with it immediately. How exactly these companies are dealing with said disasters is a popular topic among PR trade publications. Click here to read more.

The article I’m discussing today is “Top 10 PR Blunders of the Year- So Far” by Russell Working and published by Ragan Communications. Here, the author discusses how various well-known companies all underwent a very public PR disaster and how the leads of these companies dealt with the consequences and tried to remedy them in the public face, like in the case of rats at Burger King.

“Want to go viral? Rats in fast-food joints will do it every time. This video garnered almost 1 million views, 24,000 shares as well as national and international pickup from outlets such as The Daily Mail, Men’s Health, FoxNews.com, CBSNews.com and Yahoo News, Donahoe notes,” (Working, 2018).

After reading over these many, MANY PR blunders, it is apparent that there are countless ways for a company to mess up and hurt its reputation, especially concerning racial insensitivity. The more well-known a company is, the harder it falls when it makes a mistake. However, it’s important that they respond immediately and placate the public and its consumers by fixing the problem, addressing it, apologizing, and improving upon its business and communication models.

Screen Shot 2019-02-11 at 1.00.16 AM

Image Courtesy of Twitter

by Oriana

Women Are Embracing a Different Type of Love on Valentine’s Day

Image courtesy of NBC

Are you tired of spending Valentine’s Day alone every year? Galentine’s Day allows for the celebration of friendships instead.

Originally created by the NBC show Parks and Recreation in 2010, Galentine’s Day is an ode to female friendships and self-love. This made-up holiday is usually celebrated on February 13th and is more prominent this year than it ever has been. Stores such as Walmart and Party City are taking advantage of this opportunity and have created an entire line of Galentine’s Day products that range from napkins to balloons.

Only 51% of Americans plan to celebrate Valentines Day this year, which is a huge decrease from its all-time high of 63% in 2007. Galentine’s Day means more people going out on the days that surround Valentines Day, which is extremely beneficial for restaurants. The Wall Street Journal quotes Amber Cote, a restaurant owner, “Why not have an event that enhances business on these ‘shoulder dates’ that wouldn’t otherwise be incredibly busy.”

Clearly, many restaurants and retailers have been benefitting from this holiday, but Galentine’s Day is also a huge part of the feminist movement. It opens up the concept of female empowerment, and is especially important in the midst of the #metoo movement. There is a reason as to why the term was coined in 2010 but has not emerged until recently. It is proving that women do not have to wait for men to being them flowers, and is encouraging them to find love in other places.

For more on this, check out, Anne Marie Chaker’s “Nobody Likes Valentine’s Day Anymore,” The Wall Street Journal , (Feb 9, 2019).

by camronlunn

This Week in Sports Media

This week in Sports media

This being the week after the Super Bowl, many insights and topics were discussed in the big game. From technology used to enhance viewer experience to the multitude of shows that were stationed in Atlanta just to be in the vicinity of the Super Bowl. All through the game was not up to the general standard of the last few, there are still many insights and takeaways that can be made from the year’s most widely viewed television event. Here are a few articles that give some of the best information.

In the article “CBS’ telecast: Voices make the best of a Super Bowl with little material” David J. Halberstam broke down the ups and downs of the broadcast of the Super Bowl. Halberstam starts out by talking about the horrendous human pile up after the end of the game. Halberstam stated his empathy toward the onfield reporter and her post-game struggles “Poor Tracy. She faded from the picture and her voice was muted. For a while, I wondered whether she got crushed amid the pandemonium.” (Halberstam, para 3) He later gives his opinions about the two broadcasters and even comments on a few ads.

The broadcast of the Super Bowl was lacking and that was only because the game was also lacking. Tony Romo was unable to be as stellar as he usually is since there were only 16 points combined. The hundred people pile up just to get a post-game interview also put even more of a damper on what was an utterly forgettable Super Bowl. The article could have also used a few more statistics like Nielsen Ratings to help readers comprehend the overall audience loss that occurred as the game got progressively less entertaining.

by agosser

Sustainable Tourism Will Travel to Hawaii with New Leaders

pexels-photo-416726

Tourists won’t be the only thing traveling to Hawaii this year. Sustainable tourism—the concept of preserving resources in a tourist destination—is becoming the focus of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) agenda. This week in Travel Weekly, “Aloha Reckoning,” written by columnist Tovin Lapan, adds more dimension to a place known for its sandy beaches. Hawaii has been at the forefront of the tourism industry for quite some time. Recently, debate has been sparked over whether Hawaii needs to be advertised or if the destination speaks for itself. If advertising is no longer the HTA’s top priority, then room will be available to expand sustainable tourism practices. “Aloha Reckoning” provides further insight on this issue.

One of the HTA’s primary jobs is to ensure that the state of Hawaii is being marketed in a way that will showcase all that it has to offer. As a result of criticism to the HTA, the state of Hawaii felt that the HTA needed new management and a new focus, so the HTA has recently undergone a change in several of its management roles. This change in management has caused questioning of whether marketing efforts are something that should continue to be pursued or if the HTA’s focus should be shifted to more pressing issues. Something that the new board feels very passionately about is the sustainability of the state of Hawaii and how its resources can best be preserved through tourism. Although the new HTA leaders have only been working for a short amount of time, it seems that the HTA will remain focused on marketing but also bring the issue of sustainability to the forefront of its mission.

The biggest takeaway that this article provides is that tourism encompasses more than simply promoting a destination. Tovin Lapan emphasizes this point through speaking with former vice president of marketing for the HTA, Frank Haas. “The goal, Haas suggested, is to start managing these places and issues before they reach crisis level,” Lapan writes. In other words, the HTA’s new focus on sustainability is something that is just as essential to the longevity of tourism as advertising, and as Haas says, it is an issue that needs to be focused on sooner rather than later. Having a destination that is clean, healthy, and well-preserved is part of the draw for people to visit a place, and the overall healthiness of Hawaii will ensure that tourists will be able to travel there for many years to come.

-Alli

To read the full article, see Tovin Lapan’s “Aloha Reckoning” Travel Weekly, (Feb 5, 2019).

https://www.travelweekly.com/Hawaii-Travel/Aloha-reckoning-Hawaii-tourism-crossroads

by gabrielaharmon

International Scandals

Amazon CEO Bezos: “Thank u, next, Mr. Pecker”

Within the American business arena, the buzz is currently surrounding Amazon CEO’s Jeff Bezos modern version of the Reynold’s Pamphlet. Posted on several social media platforms yesterday afternoon, Bezos published emails providing evidence that the American Media, Inc. (AMI) attempted to blackmail him for political reasons. In the emails, the AMI demanded that Bezos publicly state that he has, “no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces,” and in exchange the AMI would refrain from posting personal photographs exchanged between Bezos and his mistress. [Bezos, “No Thank You, Mr. Pecker’] Bezos explained that despite his embarrassment of the photographs, he refuses to validate this lie and participate in the AMI’s, “well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption.” [Bezos, “No Thank You, Mr. Pecker”] The AMI is currently facing speculation for politically motivated actions taken on behalf of the Trump campaign and the Saudi Government.

International Plots against the American Government?

Another scandal that has made international news is the recent arrest of the CFO of Chinese technology giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada. The United States requested that Canadian authorities arrest Wanzhou based on charges against the executive for plotting to steal testing equipment from T-Mobile laboratories in Bellevue, Washington and for an elaborate bank fraud that helped Huawei profit by evading Iran sanctions. The two indictments are a part of a “broad and aggressive campaign by the United States to try to thwart China’s biggest telecom equipment maker.” [Conger, “Huawei Executive Took Part in Sanctions Fraud”]

American Paranoia of Foreign Governments

As discussed in last week’s publication, the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has increased under recent legislation. Before this measure was taken, CFIUS only reviewed large, foreign investments including takeovers and controlling stakes in American companies. Now, CFIUS additionally reviews foreign joint ventures and smaller investments in American industries that are considered “strategic” by the Chinese government – including aviation, biotechnology and alternative energy vehicles. The obvious distrust in the Chinese government by the US government has caused Chinese investment to fall more than 90% from the 2017 to 2018.

Concrete Effects

Whether or not Chinese investment in the United States is motivated by strategic, political goals or goals of economic growth is unclear. It also unclear what the effect that the preventative measures against Chinese investment taken by the US Government will have on national security. The negative effects on the US economy, however, are very clear. Going forward, the United States will need to decide whether or not the threat of the Chinese investment is great enough to sacrifice American economic growth.

Unstable Relations

Amid scandals surrounding the business and legal arenas, international relations are unstable. The US Government’s corrupt relationship with the AMI and declining relationship with the Chinese Government due to paranoia has created American distrust in both foreign governments and their own.

by camronlunn

It’s Me

Hello fellow classmates and Gators, My name is Camron Lunn and I am a third-year college student, but this is my first year at my dream school, The University of Florida.

I was born in Gainesville but grew up in Starke which is about 30 miles north. My favorite hobbies include watching movies, marching band and watching sports. Ever since I was young I have always known that I wanted to be on television. I decided to add on to that thirst for mild fame with my love of watching sports and that turned into the career field that I would like to go into, Sports Broadcasting.

I feel that I would give a fresh perspective on the sports world. Since I enjoy both movies and sport I feel that I could combine both things in a way that provides that ultimate form of entertainment. I also would like to bring a spotlight toward marching band in the realm of athletics because the majority of collegiate athletic bands put in a lot of effort and I feel that they should get more credit than just a quick pan over as the camera cuts to commercial.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to an awesome semester! Go Gators!