How to start putting your MCOM life together

A couple of things to start:
From this day forward I only reply to professional emails.
What does that mean?
First you need to understand . .. 

What is your audience’s relationship to you—for example, is the reader your teacher? Your boss? A friend? A stranger? How well do you know him/her? How would you talk to him/her in a social situation?

What do you want your audience to think or assume about you? What kind of impression do you want to make? 

With that said then make sure:

1. There is a specific subject line
2. There is a greeting to the person receiving the email
3. You get directly to the point. Use no exclamation points, emoticons or slang.
4. Use proper grammar, spelling and style. Email is not an exception, especially since it might be the first or only was someone gets an impression of you.
5 Use a closing.

For your closing, something brief but friendly, or perhaps just your name, will do for most correspondence:

Thank you,
Best wishes,
See you tomorrow,
Regards,

For a very formal message, such as a job application, use the kind of closing that you might see in a business letter:

Sincerely,
Respectfully yours,

E-mail from Student 1:

hey,


i need help on my paper can i come by your office tomorrow
thx

E-mail from Student 2:

           Hi Dr. Crowley,

I am in your MCOM 101 class on Thursdays, and I have a question about the paper that is due next Tuesday. I’m not sure that I understand what is meant by the following sentence in the prompt:
“Write a 10 page paper arguing for or against requiring MCOM 101 for all SU freshmen and provide adequate support for your point of view.”
I am not sure what you would consider “adequate” support. Would using 3 sources be o.k.?
Can I come by your office tomorrow at 2:00 pm to talk to you about my question? Please let me know if that fits your schedule. If not, I could also come by on Friday after 1:00.
Thank you,
Tim Smith

1. Create your class blog (if you have one from a previous class you may use it.)
I suggest you use Blogger for its' ease of use. Send the link to the blog to me no later than Friday. You will put all of your assignments on the blog. You will link your presentations to the blog. If you are doing something hand-crafted you will take a photo of it for the blog.

2. Start a page on your blog called - New to Me. This is where you will place a new podcast, article, news package, Vlog, that informs you of something you didn't know before. Starting this week you will populate it with from an alternative media source. (I will provide you with a list to get started.)

4. Starting on Monday, bring your iPad to class. By Monday have the following apps downloaded:

    Production
    Adobe Spark Page
    Adobe Spark Post
    Adobe Spark Video
    Adobe Photoshop Mix
    Videolicous

Blogger
Wordpress
Tumblr

   Content
   NPR
   BBC
   The Economist 
   Choose from some of these options
   Alternet
 
Podcasts - these are my favorites and this is a place to start
    This American Life
    The Moth Radio Hour
    To The Best of Our Knowledge
    On Being
    Welcome to Night Vale
    Creative Warriors

Organziational 
Google Drive
Google Keep
Evernote

Understanding your working through The Artist's Way

So how do I be "creative"?

Basic Principles

1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.

2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life--including ourselves.

3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the spirit's creative within us and our lives.

4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity be being creative ourselves.

5. Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.

7. Wen we open ourselves up to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves up to God.

8. As we open our creative channel to the Spirit, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.

10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.  

“Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don't do it.

It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don't do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself,. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.

You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.” 

― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles