Shannon Sawatzki

Feature Article: I wrote this feature article for my English 207 class. I covered the story of a local business and the change in management. This was my first experience with journalism. It helped me solitify my passion as a writer, and taught me a lot about the interview process, editing, formatting, and the overall basics of journalism.

     

      Nestled on a small town main drag, is a quaint little chocolate shop titled Marion’s Legacy. Notorious for their Potion # 9 chocolate sauce, decadent truffles, and divine beverages and cooking, Marion’s Legacy is a perfect study spot for students of the nearby university, UW-Stout, or a convenient locale for residents of Menomonie to lounge and convene.

However, the sweet local shop did not always go by Marion’s Legacy. Up until June 2014, it was well known as Legacy Chocolates. Started and owned for seven years by a local couple, Mike and Kerry, it was later sold to another couple from Canada. It was during this time, a woman named Marion Shambeau picked up a second job as a truffle maker, while her main business, 4 Control, slowed due to the cold season.

   

      Two years passed when the owners announced their desire to move Legacy Chocolates to the Twin Cities. Hit with the reality that Menomonie would be losing one of the greatest locally owned businesses, Marion decided to step in and express her concern to the owners. That is when the owners agreed to sell the store to Marion. Everything from the recipes to the physical establishment was sold to Marion wholesale.

     

      However, with the original company moving, she could not keep its original name, Legacy Chocolates. After being a businesswoman for many years, she knew how to keep the regular customers coming back after a name change, to keep the “legacy” in the title. Thus, Marion’s Legacy was established.

 

      After Marion became the official owner of the chocolate shop, many things remained the same, however she made a few tweaks to the establishment.  The biggest change was that she changed what use to be a storage room to a small kitchen for the convenience to do all the cooking at the location, compared to its previous position of being made at a different site.

     

      Also she made a few changes to the décor, giving it a more “homey” feel.

 

      Now, while all the recipes, products, and vendors remained the same, Marion has been letting the establishment grow in its own ways. A local woman, who also worked at Legacy Chocolates, was also a cake decorator and baker. So with the collaboration with Marion’s Legacy, a cake business was brought into the mix.

 

      “It was a smooth transition”, claimed Marion. Many regular customers were unaware of the ownership change.

It would have been a great loss to the community if the shop was closed, but thanks to Marion Shambeau, the delicious truffles and cooking are here to stay in the heart of downtown Menomonie. 

 

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Profile Piece: This profile of myself was written for my English 121 class. It is a summary of who I am and what goals I have for my future. This was a fun creative piece. It was a wonderful assignment to help develop one’s voice.

 

      I’m a feminist. I’m also a vegetarian. I’m that person that is a total tea junkie, has far too many plants to count, is somewhat spacey, and would classify Classic Rock as their Tumblr fandom. Yeah, that’s me. Hope I’m not coming on too strong! I stand a mere 5 feet tall, and have loose curly hair that I plan to grow out to my belly. Glasses are my calling card and also my favorite accessory. Born and raised in Milwaukee, I drink from a bubbler, root for the Brewers, attempt to sneak to the top of the US Bank Building every now and again, and attend Summerfest more than my wallet can handle. My name is Shannon Sawatzki and this is my profile.

 

      I’ll be honest; school was not my thing for quite some time up until college. Math was worst nightmare, science following not too far behind. But there were other classes to compromise. I love the past. History has always been a passion. I adore old music and films and the desire to learn about them has yet to burn out. Then of course communication arts was equally as wonderful. I loved reading classic novels and learning about European literature in particular. Writing essays especially came naturally. My biggest regret in high school was not taking AP Literature. However I did take AP Studio Art and AP US & Comparative Governments. I remember countless nights staying up for those classes. No sleep but plenty of frustration. Not to mentioned many eraser shreds, balls of tape, and colorful stains on the carpets from chalk pastels. Something my mother will forever hold against me.

 

      Now the nights I didn’t stay up frustrated from elements of art and the Russian government, you could finds me snuggled in bed on a date with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and Netflix, or my boyfriend. It was one of the two and still is today. I have been dating my boyfriend, Joe, for two and a half years. He is a swell guy and is over a foot taller than me, so that’s always fun. Often times when we watch a movie, I’ll always want to watch the same old movies, The Goonies, Back to the Future, or sometimes I sprinkle in a John Hughes film. I adore movies. I’m big into cult films and would like to work for the movie industry one day. Paired with my major I would like to help market films and run their official social media. I also consider writing screenplays. Those are just thoughts in my noggin. Right now my focus is school. I have a goal for a GPA of 3.5 or above, which I know I can achieve. Also I have an online class, which I need to give aplenty of love. Online classes tend to be my weakness, as in I tend to procrastinate. Procrastination, yet another thing to work on! 

 

      While movies and past pop cultures are a huge passion of mine, I enjoy myself a good adventure. Traveling is a beautiful opportunity I can never pass up. In high school I went on an amazing trip to Europe. I can say I’ve been to France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the smallest country in the world, Lichtenstein. Oh, I’ll throw in Canada and I have been to every Great Lake.  In a month my brother will be teaching English in South Korea. Already there is talk of my family visiting him. Also next year I plan on studying abroad, once again visiting France. Even if it’s a trip up north or an escapade in downtown Milwaukee, I am always excited to try and visit new and random places. Although I love to travel, when it comes to driving places, I want nothing to do with it. Something really special about me is that I am a horrendous driver. I have gotten two speeding tickets, one parking ticket, have smashed a mirror, and completely destroyed my back windshield. I promise I don’t try to do these things. All I have to say is watch out for the red Montero.

 

      I’m a pretty diverse individual. I take something’s very seriously. I am very supportive of human rights. I have the goal to one day become a vegan, for both health and ethical reasoning. I want to help people to understand what it truly means to be a vegan and a feminist, what it means to me. I just want a happier Earth and a happier Shannon, that’s all. But whenever I have an issue or need to vent, I let it flow through writing. I have a blog that I use as an outlet. It is new and still pretty rough. I am finding my voice as a writer and am excited to see where my voice can take me.

 

      UPDATE: I got a second parking ticket.

 

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"Social Media: Distraction or Potential Career?" Paper: I wrote this next paper fro my English-102 class. It discusses the change in generations, and focuses on our generation in terms of social media.This piece has allowed me to practice acedemic writing through the research process and building citations accordingly.

 

      As each generation has gone by, there has always been something completely unique and different about them in comparison to the last. This unique quality is not always been thought of as a good change and has been know to cause anxiety in the previous generations. The baby boomer’s got to experience sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Something that was very concerning to the silent generation. But as the years and decades have gone past, to the generations that grew up after the 60’s thought of these experiences as nothing but normal. Now that those are qualities of the past, the younger generation today, generation Y, has come to develop what past generations would consider unique and even concerning: social media.  The documentary Generation Like (Generation Like) has gone over how social media is changing the way humans interact with each other on a daily basis. From getting someone’s number over Facebook, to getting a person’s business tweeting about deals to attract new customers, social media is allowing for advances in the business professional world. This change has made blogging, tweeting, and writing for online newspapers and magazines actual careers. Although some people can find this approach distracting towards learning, or may think of a career with social media as unprofessional, writing for social media is becoming a popular method in schools for kids to practice expanding their writing and social media skills along with taking it on a professional career.

                 

      Recently in schools, many teachers have been intertwining writing using social media into the curriculum, replacing boring essays and book reports. Just as Shelbie Witte concludes in her 2007 article, “By combining writing with online technology, teachers can provide opportunities for students and future educators to develop their digital fluency while also strengthening heir traditional literacy skills” (Witte 92.) Teachers have concluded that by instructing their students to write through social media allows them to become more engaged in the material they are writing about. The students find the projects easy to enjoy; social media is something that they have become quite use to, allowing them to excel on the assignment. Journalist Lauren Barack covered a story of a Illinois high school and a project that reported Dante’s Inferno, Twitter style. With each depth of hell they read about, they would compose a tweet describing it 140 characters or less. Their teacher Kathleen Blake Yancey would go on to explain how this idea is beneficial to the students, “Young people today are actively engaged writers- the simply choose to do their composing more dynamic, digital means, such as chatting on MySpace or texting over cell phones. In her opinion, it is up to educators to capture that impulse in the work they do in school” (Barack 14.) Despite some educators believing this approach could stunt the skills for writing in-depth essays, by assigning writing projects that include the social media, it will help kids develop a voice and a creative flow, for that is something that has been much ignored by instructors preparing their students for standardized testing.

                 

      In addition to practicing writing by using social media, many people have taken it on as a full-fledged career. This day in age it is not unusual to walk into a grocery store or hair salon without seeing “Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!” plastered to the walls. Social media has taken marketing to a completely new level. Many companies have hopped on the bandwagon to promote their companies through Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some have even created Tumblrs to help portray their company as relatable to its viewers. Even though some people may believe that social media could potentially die out, this branch of marketing is still very new, and is something that is quickly becoming adapted by many companies and institutions. It has been proven to be quite beneficial to spread information. In Angela Render’s article “Computer Business: How to Make Money Writing for Social Media”, she explains how when used correctly, social media can be very effective: ”By creating an image in which the company cares about and nurtures its customers those customers start to look forward to contact from the company and then get their friends involved. When done well, it is extremely effective” (Render 10.) Although this seems like a decent tactic to gaining customers, it is somewhat difficult and possibly even unattainable to achieve, but it all depends on a person’s type of business or profession. In Marci Alboher’s 2007 article, Blogging as a Low-Cost, High Returning Market Tool, Alboher explains how blogging is only appropriate for certain businesses, “Guy Kawasaki, a serial entrepreneur, managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures and a prolific blogger, put it this way: ‘If you’re a clothing manufacturer or a restaurant, blogging is probably not as high on your list as making good food or good clothes.’” But when thinking about companies that evolve around technology, “Having a blog is pretty much expected” (Alboher 1.) So while blogging can be beneficial to a company, it is important to stay focused on what the company is selling.

                 

      Now while blogging for a company is growing as a career, a person can also create a blog and take a personal twist on it making it all their own, and still be able to make money off it! However, taking on personal blogging as a career can be quite challenging and a long process. Joanna Goddard has successfully made the transition from blogging as a hobby to blogging as a career. She has even created a page to help guide and give advice to those just starting out. Her number one piece of advice would be, “People will like reading your blog—and you’ll enjoy writing it—if you’re true to yourself and your posts come from the heart” (Goddard) Also Allison Cheston with Forbes.com has advice for starting a blog as a career: have a goal of what you want you blog to become, what is your business model (i.e. who are you trying to reach out too), interview the experts for advice, follow the rule of promoting others and they will promote you, answer questions your audience may have, and lastly don’t hesitate to put yourself out on other social media platforms. But above all stay frequent with your blog, “I updated my status a number of times in a single day, participating in group discussions, repurposing old blog posts and generating questions. I found that by doing this I was able to double my profile views as well as the traffic to my blog and website that day—and in the process captured one qualified lead that’s worth significant revenue to my firm. All in a day’s work!” (Cheston Forbes.com.) There is plenty more information and tips to run a blog all over the internet and there are plenty of people to talk to for advice. Putting one’s self out there will help them gain knowledge, develop a network, and become a more experienced blogger.

                   

      This essay has gone over how social media has allowed students to become more creative and engage in writing, then also how a person can take on Twitter, Blogging, and updating a Facebook Page as a career. It is something that many businesses have included into their marketing strategies and is something that has allowed people to develop a voice and connect to many people, just by a clicking a mouse. Social media has overall shaped the younger generations of today. It has had its negative impacts, but it has also many great changes.  It has definitely help pave the way for future writers, and has allowed them the opportunity to go down a newly discovered road, still giving them room to explore. 

 

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Woman and War Paper: I wrote this paper for a midterm for my Women and War class. It focuses of different aspects of women and how they changed their future. Just like the essay above, it helped benefit researching skills, and citation building. 

 

      By taking any history class, you are essential studying forms of change. How it happens, where it happens, and who makes the change in history. Sometimes the change can make a positive impact on the world, while it can also be negative. One specific group of people who have brought change are the women of the world. From the Taiping rebellion, to the French revolution, women have gone through a chain of both happy and challenging events to get to the point to where they are today. Although nothing happened overnight, by allowing change to run its course, it resulted in women achieving what they desired, but first not without a fight.

 

      The American Revolution, 1776-1783, women took on the role of change by being disloyal. They were considered daughters of liberty. They boycotted most all products that came from England in support of their new country. They relearned skills that can help support their family. Also when out on the town, they enforced fair prices for products. They were also given more freedom when their husbands were off oversees, by allowing them to sell, buy, and control land under their husbands name. Another way some women supported change was by becoming camp followers in which they would assist their male soldiers by cleaning, cooking, or retrieving gun powder. Sometimes they even dressed up as male soldiers or spied for their army. (Thomas, American Revolution, 3, Spring 2014) By showing this loyalty, to their husbands and sons, they helped men understand a woman’s importance in developing a new country, particularly a republic. The result was “republican motherhood”; they were responsible for the next generation and wanted the best for their country. Later they used gentle suasion to convince their men to consider their morals while dealing with politics. Over time women gained more authority in their homes, and gained parlors which became place of education and discussion, even a place of nurture for children. It was a disloyalty to their majority of the new society in America that would potentially result in new changes and freedom for these women and the future generations to come.

 

      Now the years between 1789 to 1799, were a jumble of madness for the French society, both women and men. France was entering a political split between the monarchy and The National Assembly. Also the tax system was incredibly unfair in the sense that the poorest commoners had to pay taxes while rich were spending an immense amount of money. Plus after aiding the Americans from their revolution, France was dealing with money issues. But while entering a revolution, mostly women along with a few men decided to take on a new issue: women’s rights. Women, who amounted to nearly nothing in society, started to develop a voice against what they and their families had to endure as a result of their current government. It became a serious issue for all these women to be allowed to have a political voice. One of the most powerful acts that these women engage in was the march to Versailles on October 5, 1789. In rebellion, the women march from miles in the pouring rain from Paris to Versailles as a result of the national Assembly breaking up. They wanted the Monarchy to move back to Paris. They needed their leaders who were basking in their own world, denying the commoners something so basic such as bread. Eventually, they were even joined by men their movement. In the end they got their leaders to move back to Paris. Another instance with economically issues took place in spring of 1795. There was a bread shortage and women were so enraged they began to intimidate and scare men. They were intimidating them and calling them names, essentially belittling them. The women went to the committee and then to the convention stopping every woman along the way to convince to join their rebellion. For example, in the last example of a women’s rebellion during the French revolution, there was direct report from a police officer, Duret Beulier. He claimed that ”In [the report] signed by Bouillion, here are the phrases, verbatim: ‘Yesterday and multitude of women from the Section des Piques, after having refused the portion of bread being offered to them, went to the Committee of the Section of from there to the Convention. They stopped all the women they met on their way and forced them to join up with them.” (Levy, Applewhite, Johnson, 1795.) The French revolution taught me about change in the sense that you need to intimidate, be intense, and maybe even be forceful with everyone around you to attain a new result: whether one is forceful with men, the opposite gender, authority, person that thinks differently than you, or even your own gender.

 

      Not only were the American’s and French facing a change through rebellion, but also the Chinese. It was the time of the Taiping Rebellion. Up until the Taiping Rebellion, men were completely dominate. They had the right to have jobs, go to school, and even be evolved in politics. Not only were women completely dominated by men, but they also hard to endure the harsh process of binding their feet until they were a mere three inches long. This was a lifestyle that many women were use too and okay with. However a man named Hong Xiuquan from the Hakka culture in the south, after a revelation, traveled north to go against the Quing government. Hong’s goal was to create freedom for both men and women. Foot bindings were frowned upon and educations, political voices, and even jobs were distributed to the women. However those women who experienced the foot bindings had to go work in the fields, which created intense pain. (Lindley, 301, 1866) It was not a change that Han women wanted. Even though they gained aspects of freedom, their was still a divide between the men and the women, “Hong’s closet subordinates were all men. No women could aspire to be a true Taiping leader. “(Johnson, 29, 2006) Even though there was an unwanted change, these women were brave and endured the pain and suffering. But by doing so, they pushed their society to a new direction.

 

      After the 1700’s and 1800’s have passed by, a new war would play a role in the changing of many women’s lives throughout the world: the Great War. The Great War began in 1914, after the assassination of the prince of Austria-Hungary.  Over the course of the war, American’s eventually went overseas to fight in the war. Women would then serve as nurses and help assist men who were injured or in risk of dying. If women were not assisting men in the war, they were making efforts back at home to support the war and the country they live in. For example, preserved certain foods to benefit their families. Women who were not from America also made efforts to support their country. Yashka is a specific example of a woman who wanted to support her country. She asked to become the first female soldier for the Soviet Union. Although it was a difficult process she was accepted as a soldier and had to endure the all the people who claimed she was weak. Over time she proved herself worthy of her position and won over many men and leaders of the Soviet Union, “’Yashka is back: Good fellow, Yashka!’ the men welcomed me enthusiastically” (Botchkareva, 84, 1919) Although Yashka’s outlook on females in the military appeared bright, over time the result was not as pleasant.  Eventually her plan to have a women’s unit failed. Soon she was at the hands of the Bolsheviks. They interrogated her and soon she was charged as being guilty as an enemy to the people and was executed.

 

      As we have covered various wars, revolutions, and rebellions, we have gone over the common theme of change and result. How different methods are vital to change and can push a society in a new direction. Taking the methods of how women accomplished results in the past as a model could help put women in the direction that they want to go. By following the American Revolution’s model of disloyalty, the French’s method of intensity, China’s example of bravery, and Russia’s example of determination, women can achieve change.

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