Red Pen Chronicles

Spelling and grammar inconsistencies are very common around Twitter. In this tweet, the extra ‘her’ is not needed. Composing a tweet is just like publishing a book, an article on a newspaper, or a magazine—the content should be proof-read.

Apart from the clear lack of diacritics (accents), this precautionary sign fails to create the distinction between its and it’s. Remember, “it’s” is short for “it is” and “its” means “belonging to it.” And yes, the apostrophe makes all the difference!

Even if I wasn’t completely happy with my drink, I wouldn’t want them to remake it. More than anything, I would want them to make the appropriate corrections to their sign. Newsflash Coffee Bean, “You’re” and “your” are two very different words.

I agree! Let’s work together to keep our campus beautiful! The difference an apostrophe can make. Since I had a pen handy, I didn’t hesitate to make the appropriate corrections on this sign. I’m copy-editing the world one sign at a time.

Last time I checked, a popover was a light muffin-shaped roll. I think Neiman Marcus was too excited to remember the space between pop and over. Or who knows, maybe they’re celebrating their grand opening by giving shoppers popovers?

I felt the need to share this last one. Sometimes when we don’t know how to spell a word, we sound it out and guess the spelling and we can usually get close enough to the actual spelling. Well, let’s just say this person was entirely off the radar. Good thing her friends caught her drift and kindly corrected her.

Spelling Counts… Always!

In this tweet, composed by a Los Angeles-based news television station, ‘the head’ was incorrectly capitalized. Capitalization would indicate a proper noun, because ‘the head’ is not a proper noun, it should not be capitalized—ever.

Spotted at a popular Downtown Walnut Creek hair salon. Hairdresser ‘D’ doesn’t want to do your hair if YOU’RE sick, unless of course YOU ARE fully recovered.

I see ‘through’ shortened to ‘thru’ so many times that I’m beginning to suspect it’s a correct and acceptable spelling variation. It’s usually in fast food restaurants with ‘drive-thru’ windows. This street in San Jose’s Santana Row shopping district will lead nowhere, at least I think that’s what the sign indicates, maybe they meant ‘through’ street. They should have stuck with ‘no outlet’

While reading through the tweets in my timeline, I realized something looked funny. Clearly a minor error, but you would expect a news organization to be extra careful about publishing spelling mistakes. I guess Twitter doesn’t count? Sure it does, just for reference, it’s spelled ‘cocaine’

The BANG (Bay Area News Group) owned San Jose Mercury News is on a roll, well at least the person in charge of composing their tweets is on a typo-marathon (maybe one of the keyboard keys is stuck). This time, they failed to spell name of this city in eastern Alameda County correctly. Maybe it’s a subliminal message, who doesn’t want to live more? No, I think it’s a slip-up on their part. It’s Livermore, Calif.

Well I certainly wasn’t aware that the Contra Costa Canal was on trial. Another letter mixup. The ‘trail’ will close to allow canal cleanup.

San Francisco-based game developer Kixeye thinks BART riders won’t notice their purposeful mistake, well news flash Kixeye, we all see it and we don’t think you’re awesome for trying to be more awesome.

I found this next one to be quite comical. First of all, I must say that finding a velociraptor in this day and age is a rare find, and second, whoever found this Cretaceous creature does not know how to spell ‘immediately’

Highlights from Week 2

Recently, companies have been establishing a social media presence that has ultimately turned them into a social business. This allows the business to have a better connection with their customers by giving them a channel for them to communicate their queries and concerns. Companies use social media accounts to reach out to their customers by launching advertising campaigns to get the word out about new products and promotions and general news about their company.

During class, we took on the challenge of investigating several situations where social media worked against a company. We talked about the importance for a company to have a crisis communication plan in place. Companies like McDonald’s, Comcast, Verizon Wireless and Bank of America have faced this type of dilemma. As a whole, we found that the most important thing a company could do is communicate the problem and open up the conversation to their customers. If the customers will be affected, then they should be allowed to voice their opinion on the issue.

Another thing to note is that the customer now has a voice and can speak up about things they don’t agree with, whereas before they were not taken into account by companies. Customers now have the ability to contribute to the conversation and provide input on things companies set out to do.

For example, when we broke up into groups in class, we investigated the crisis that Susan G. Komen faced after eliminating future funding to Planned Parenthood. Supporters and opponents took the conversation to Twitter and Facebook where they voiced their opinion on the decision. Komen worked quickly to address any concerns by posting a video to their YouTube channel. The organization’s founder clarified the situation, further illustrating YouTube’s reach as the second largest search engine.

A Fly on the Wall

The hot sun shone brightly through the blurry window and infiltrated the space with warmth and light. The elevated trackways hovered tall over the suburbs. A muffled announcement indicated the next stop along the line. A train moving in the opposite direction zoomed past, obstructing the picturesque views of the East Bay foothills.

At the station, the automatic doors opened and a swarm of passengers hurried inside to find a seat. A ding followed by a robotic voice indicated that the doors were closing. Within seconds, the train began to screech past the station, leaving behind the next wave of passengers. The interior of the train reeked of musty carpet and dirty cloth seats. Recirculated air conditioning didn’t freshen the pungent smell.

A humming sound emanating from the lights overhead broke the awkward silence inside the train. The flipping of magazine pages and crunching of newspapers kept passengers entertained along their commute. And then, sudden darkness as the train whirred loudly through the Caldecott Tunnel. Once again, light bleed through the heavy rail car.

A new batch of passengers entered the car at the next station. Rambunctious children rushed to the panoramic windows, eager to observe the moving scenery. As the train filled up, it became livelier with conversation. People talked incessantly about their day and their plans for the afternoon.

The train crossed over to the opposite tracks as it approached the platform. The train operator announced the next station as the last stop, the end of the line. As the train came to a stop, I left behind the dirty old train and continued through the station to my final destination.

My favorite writing

There is a certain poem written by Langston Hughes that has become my favorite. The more I read it, the more I cherish the message.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

The first time I read this poem was on a poster on the wall of my fifth grade classroom. I remember reading it over and over to try to make sense of the message. Little did I know the message of the poem was simple, follow your dreams and never let them go. I’ve kept this poem in the back of my head as I’ve gone through countless years of school. I think this piece is an example of good writing because Hughes gives dreams a voice and makes the idea a lot more concrete. Instead of thinking of dreams as things that aren’t real, Hughes makes dreams things that can be held. In the poem, Hughes introduces metaphors that symbolize life as a “broken-winged bird” and a “barren field.” This poem will inspire any reader to think of dreams as much more than things that our mind conceptualizes in our sleep, but as a images and ideas that can be attained.

Word of the Week #1

Marred

In the wake of another weekend marred by drunken brawls, Walnut Creek will add more officers to patrol the downtown on busy weekend nights, the police chief said Monday.

Source: Mercury News

verb (used with object), marred, mar·ring.
1. to damage or spoil to a certain extent; render less perfect, attractive, useful, etc.; impair or spoil

The fight that broke out between the groom and a wedding guest marred the rest of the celebration; therefore, guests were told to leave home early.

I always heard this word but never took the time to define it. Finally, after seeing the word in an article featured in the Mercury News, I decided it was finally time to know more about this word. Mar is the singular form of the word, and in the article, the word is used in the past tense. I hope to remember this word by associating it with the synonym, spoil.

About Me.

Hello, I’m Rafael Ochoa and I’m a third year transfer student at San José State University. I’m originally from Ventura County, California. I graduated from high school in 2009 and community college in 2011. I love using technology and learning about new consumer tech products. I’m on various social media sites so it’s safe to say I’ve established a social media presence. Eventually I want to work as a tech journalist or work in the industry as a web or print media layout designer. I look forward to sharing my work with you, stay tuned.