Profile: Steve Levering

Profile: Steve Levering, Communication graphics instructor, IT guy, general geek/’whiz kid’

Steve Levering sits in his small, currently dark office (the lights are not turned on) joking about the disheveled state of his Star Wars memorabilia and general clutter-filled work space. Levering sports a pink Polo shirt paired with green camouflage shorts and gray Converse Chuck Taylors.
“Yeah, this pair is only about one or two years old, but I have another pair that are plaid that I bought back in 1992 that have been through great times.”
An example?
“They’ve been to many great concerts and many great shows. They went to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson at the Bomb Factory in Dallas in ’94. And okay, I’m not a small guy and the crowd was carrying me around! It was intense.”
The self-professed geek had a hard time growing up as a bigger guy in small town Alabama. Where Levering was expected to participate in sports of all kind, especially football, he was much more interested in choir and being a band kid. He played both trombone and tuba and has since learned and developed a love of the bass guitar.
“I’m a geek,” Levering says, “And not just a computer geek, but a music geek, a cooking geek and whatever…They are just certain things that catch my interest and I just kind of follow them.”
He says he likes different kinds of music, across the board, but his favorite bands normally fall under the category of alternative or classic rock. He currently finds himself listening to a now defunct Austin band called Seven percent solution.
“They were great, very sort of Pink Floyd-ish kind of that psych-rock sounding thing the buried vocals and stuff; they had a really sweet light show, too.”
Levering says his wife, Pam, shares his same music interests. Both are in the teaching profession, although Pam’s students are in the first grade.
“Yeah, I don’t envy her,” Levering says with a smile, “College kids can be a handful, but at least they don’t wet their pants.”
Levering says he had what he calls a ‘mini freak out moment’ when attending frog camp a few years ago.
“Pam and I were married in 1990 and I suddenly realized that the incoming freshmen were born the same year I got married!”
He has no qualms about age, however. He’s a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of guy, he says. And he doesn’t see himself leaving TCU anytime soon. He’s having too much fun and he truly enjoys his colleagues, especially Dr. Punch Shaw, whom he teaches a mass communication class with.
“Whenever Dr. Shaw and I get together for breakfast or whatever, our wives just sit there and laugh at us because we both follow these really random conversational threads and everything. Where other people might not see anything tying them together, we both see the logic in going from here to here, so it’s just funny.”
Funny describes not only Levering’s conversational tone and attitude, but his office, his outfit and his outlook.
“I’m just an all-around geek, you know? What else is there?”

Query Letter

Amanda Zimmerman
Susie Magazine
Premier Studios Publishing
10000 Marshall Dr.
Lenexa, KS 66215

Dear Ms. Zimmerman,

Huge amounts of alcohol, wild parties, older boys and possibly even drugs are some of the temptations college-aged Christian girls find themselves wading through. Although they’re supposed to be having the time of their lives and preparing for a career, these types of temptations are not what they need to make them question their faith. However, that is what happens to nearly one-third of college freshman.

Students entering college need all the preparation, advice and help they can get. Local Christian officials; a theological professor at a local seminary and a college minister from a local Baptist church provide tips and advice on how to hold on to one’s faith in college.

I’m interested to know if you’d consider an 800-word ‘how-to’ article I wrote consisting of tips concerning how to help college students navigate the treacherous waters of young adulthood at school while keeping their relationship with God paramount in their lives. I used quotes and advice from a Baptist college minister and a professor in theology and church history. I incorporated their private and public tips, as well as some personal anecdotal stories from college students and graduates who have struggled with and have made it out of school with their faith still intact and even stronger. I can include photos of the local college campus, photos of the minister and professor and of some students who attend local churches during those religious services. I can also compile video footage of students’ personal stories to add a multimedia component to my story.

I am the former opinion editor for the TCU Daily Skiff. I’ve written over 30 articles, including feature pieces and opinion columns for the Daily Skiff, as well as having taken photos and shooting video footage. I’ve had articles published at my hometown paper, The Villager, in The Woodlands, Texas, and my former college newspaper, Otterbein College’s The Tan & Cardinal. I am a news editorial journalism major, a Christian and a college student, so I think I have a unique sense of expertise concerning the article mentioned.

Thanks so much for your consideration, Ms. Zimmerman. I very much enjoy your magazine and only hope to further interest your readers. I look forward to hearing from you!

Most sincerely,

Andrea Bolt

Profile: Professor outside journalism

Profile: Scott Langston, Ph. D., Religion/Archaeology professor
Hometown: Conroe, TX.

Most people wouldn't light up like five-year-old walking into a toy store at the mention of biblical archaeology or the highly debated historical accuracy of the Bible, but most people aren't Scott Langston.
Langston, with his thick glasses, tucked-in, striped Polo shirt (collar bent awkwardly), pressed jeans and scuffed leather Sperry's looks more like a friendly high school friend's dad than a man who has journeyed to ancient biblical sites wielding a flashlight and map, Indiana Jones-style.
"I've always had a keen fascination in archaeology," Langston said, "It's always been something I wanted to pursue and make a part of my career, versus simply being a hobby."
Langston started out as an associate professor of biblical studies at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He spent three years as assistant dean of the college of theology before resigning in 2004 due to an unhappy work environment and relocated with his wife and three children back to his home state of Texas.
Currently, Langston works in what he calls the often underappreciated and misunderstood position of an adjunct professor.
“I feel a lot of the time there’s a certain stigma with being labeled an adjunct, but the bottom line is I’m happy, I like the freedom I have as an adjunct and I’m still getting paid to do what I love – teach.”
And Langston loves what he teaches, as well. For spring 2010, Langston is teaching a biblical archaeology class focusing on the historical accuracy of the Bible, ancient biblical sites and the various archaeological finds discovered therein. He himself has been to three different sites in present-day Israel; Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer.
Langston recalls an entertaining time when he brought he brand new wife on a dig to Megiddo.
“Here I am, a professor and semi-expert on this stuff and I’m finding tiny shards of pottery, mud bricks and the like, and I’ve been doing these digs for 20 some-odd years. What does my wife find the second day of her first dig? Coins and precious jewelry! It was just too funny; my family still laughs about that to this day.”
Langston says he is allotted a special place to keep some of the treasured artifacts he occasionally has gotten to keep on digs: the shed.
“Well, I have one or two waist-high collar-rimmed store jars and boxes of pottery shards from everywhere. I’ve got some religious deity figurines in there too, some coins and more boxes with mysterious contents. My wife just doesn’t understand, or maybe she does, you know and just doesn’t want all stuff littering the house,” Langston laughs.
He is very close to his family and proud of it. His daughter was just accepted to the University of Oklahoma and Langston doesn’t know what he’s going to do. He playfully shields his eyes with hands and mimes crying.
“Anywhere but OU, I told her, and what does she do? Pick OU!”
He laughs, professing an “unbiased” lifelong hatred for the Sooners.
“You know, I’ve gone my whole life despising that school, making fun of dang Sooners every chance I get and now, where am I going to be making checks out to? Ugh, if she wasn’t my only daughter," he says with a smile.

Profile: Student w/ major outisde journalism

Profile: Samantha Wasek, Anthropology/Spanish major
Hometown: East Bernard, TX.
Year: Sophomore

Currently, Samantha Wasek wants nothing more than to fly to South America and work on a coffee planation- an organic one, of course. Wasek originally wanted to be an environmental science major, but she doesn’t have enough time to switch her major now.
“I really wanted to work on a coffee farm because I can learn firsthand techniques for sustainable growing, “Wasek said. She’s confident she can use this knowledge and experience later in life; she very much wants to garden and possibly even own her own farm.
“I think people are disconnected from their food sources and it’s really important to me that people get back to nature,” Wasek said, describing her beliefs.
The golden tan of Wasek’s muscular limbs physically identifies her connection to and love of being outside. Leather-braided sandals cover her turquoise-colored toenails that match her skirt of a similar ocean shade.
Growing up in East Bernard, Texas, with a population of barely over five thousand people, Wasek has always had designs and dreams about getting out of the U.S. Having been raised in East Bernard, she was literally surrounded by rice and cotton farms. Wasek was always fascinated by farms and wanted to learn the mechanics and inner workings of farming- sustainable and organic, specifically.
“I’ve changed my major three times already, but this is something I’ve always been passionate about,” Wasek said about the idea of farming.
Wasek said she’s taken to living sustainably in her own way. She has her own compost “pile” on the tiny balcony of her apartment in the Grand Marc complex. She says it’s humble, but she’s proud of it.
“Well, I put coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peels and any other little organic thing in these empty flower pots I have. We’ve all got to do our parts, you know, and I try to do what I can with what I have.”
Vegetarianism is another environmentally and animal-friendly lifestyle Wasek is trying to live. She said she’s tried vegetarianism before, but the extreme difficulty of the lifestyle proved too much for her. This time however, is different.
“I watched one of those PETA-type videos where they show you the factories where they take the pigs and the chickens and stuff and it just literally made me sick to my stomach. I don’t think I’ll be giving up this time,” she said determinedly.
Aside from farming, Wasek said another thing she sees in her long-term future is a Guatemalan husband. Her deep, earthy laugh reverberates through the room, touching the ceiling and seeping through the windows. The beaded bracelets on her wrists klink together as she puts her hand over heart and slows her laughter.
“I just have met some very attractive men from there and a friend of mine knows a guy who has a farm down there that I just might go work on this summer. It would be totally amazing if it was to work out. I really enjoy their accents, too.”

Profile: Student born outside U.S.

Profile: Linnette Romero Strategic communication major
Hometown: San Salvador, El Salvador
Year: Sophomore

Linnette Romero has lived in the U.S. for over two years now and there are still two things she can’t get used to- driving and Americans.
In Romero’s home country of El Salvador, there are barely any laws or regulations concerning the rules of the road.
“It’s a free-for-all and so much easier to understand. Everyone does their own speed, which is very fast, and people just know how to drive. There are no four-way stops or yielding- you just drive.”
She admits she gets frustrated on a daily basis, but she agrees it is safer to drive in American versus El Salvador.
“There are a lot more accidents back home, definitely. And there are a lot more walking people, pedestrians, injured,” Romero reported.
But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Romero; she finally received her U.S. driving permit and is getting used to the roads, but the people still are much of a mystery to her. She says mastering the language is one of the issues, the rest she just chalks up to the “very different” people.
“I think a lot of the time, Americans come off as arrogant, but it’s just because they’re outgoing and more friendly, also louder,” Romero says with a laugh. “They mean well, but the rest of the world has a bad, negative image of them.”
Romero says she loves living in the states and she thinks she’s almost perfected American kids’ use of English slang. When she first moved to the states, Romero said she had a very difficult time, but, ironically enough, she said listening to American music – pop, rap and hip hop – helped her understand much faster and easier.
“It sounds kind of dumb, I know, but what we are taught in the classroom and how formal it is, is not how people really talk, especially at college.”
Romero says she is a naturally shy person; her friends at home in El Salvador gave her the nickname of “la ardilla” or “squirrel,” when she was younger because she was so quiet. When she first met Iliana, Romero said she didn’t know if she and her super-involved, talkative, engaging roommate would get along. The “squirrel,” however, soon made quick friends with her newly christened roommate, “la pajarita,” or “little bird.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without her; she’d like having a best friend, a study buddy and a sister, all in one,” Romero said.
They often are mistaken as sisters, Romero said. Though Romero is barely five feet tall and Iliana seven inches taller, both sport dark, chocolate-brown eyes, nearly black hair and similar complexions. Tight, corkscrew curls adorn Romero’s head and brush her shoulders, however, Iliana’s hair is pin-straight and nearly to her waist.
The two are basically inseparable, Romero says, except for one instance; they cannot drive together.
“She drives like a grandma!” Romero said, "It drives me crazy!"

"Keeping the Faith" analysis

My refrigerator piece about how to successfully keep one's faith while navigating the tricky and discouraging waters of college was a bit confused a first. My initial piece was a bit disorganized, but had good quotes and intent. When I reorganized it and split the paragraphs into steps on how to keep one's faith; to get involved in a church immediately, to question the knowledge of church leaders, etc. I wish I could've talked to some students about their religious experiences in colleges, maybe some alumni, and I could, still, but it would take some more planning and seeking out the right people to interview. This is a sensitive subject for many and would pay out in the end if I could get some first-hand testimonials with students talking about losing and/or keeping their religion through college.
I also think more could've been done concerning being intrinsically or extrinsically religious, which was a really interesting concept to me.
Overall, it was an okay piece and I am extremely passionate about the subject matter and I hope that is able to be seen.

"Writing Tools" point summarizations

1.) Order tools for emphasis. I love this technique in writing. The reader is perusing a seemingly 'normal' sentence, when BAM!, the ending just blows them out of the water. Clark writes that, "Putting strong stuff at the beginning and end helps writers hide weaker stuff in the middle." (Pg. 16). And he's totally right. He's also right about converting passive and 'to be' verbs into the active- it makes the story that much more cohesive and the sentence itself more interesting.
2.) Watch those adverbs. Sage advice Clark gives about adverbs- use them sparingly. When used correctly, adverbs are great and only emphasize an already mediocre/good verb or adjective. However, when used incorrectly or too often, they get redundant and annoying and take away from the description and flow of the story.
3.) Take it easy on the -ings. I never even thought of this, which makes it easy to say that I've probably committed this error far too often. Clark writes that the reason -ings become commonplace is "...in the history of English as an inflected language." (Pg. 31). The progressive sense of the action makes it seem as though it's constantly ongoing. It's confusing to the reader and gives no timeline or context to the story.
4.) Fear not the long sentence. God bless Clark for this piece of wisdom. I always got in troupble in reporting for writing ridiculously run-on sentences, I just love them. Clark also gives quite possibly the best advice in this passage, "Write what you fear." (Pg. 36). He also says to let form follow function with long sentences, which rhythmically makes sense. Journalists shy away from them because they prefer clarity and consistency, but sometimes a good, long sentence just carries the story and describes a setting like nothing else can.
5.) Know when to back off and when to show off. Absolutely critical. Clark advocates both understatement and overstatement, as there exists a time and place for both. I agree with him when he writes, "When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious, exaggerate." (Pg. 103). The topic and tone of the story is vital to knowing how in-depth to elaborate or whether you're better off letting the story simply tell itself. Ultimately, Clark reveals he prefers the Spartan style of writing, but in some of the examples he provides and, as is the beauty of writing, the writer of the story is granted his own freedom.

"Coffee Shop Rock Star" Analysis

I really loved doing this piece about Chris- a seemingly ordinary, run of the mill kind of guy who is normally overlooked and underappreciated, especially in his kind of work- turn out to be this humanitarian/teacher/rocker dude. He was an awesome subject to interview. I loved the interview I got from Tony, who just was the funniest guy and obviously Chris' biggest fan and friend. Their, especially Tony's, vernacular was hilarious and makes for some colorful reading. After more intensive reading of the piece, I wish I'd made it longer. My interviews with Chris were very long and I felt like I had so much, too much, material to choose from and while trying to whittle the story down to the meaty bits, I think I lost some in the process. It could've easily been 10 pages instead of four. I also wish I would've done more description in this piece. I relied heavily on metaphors and they're great, but they can only take the reader so far. I would've liked to have done more "show, don't tell" type of descriptions, in hindsight.

Beasley Hall Happenings

#1: Sister Helen Prejean, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness of The Death Penalty, will speak at Brite Divinity School’s Fifth Roman Catholic Lecture on Tuesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in Ed Landreth Auditorium. Topic is “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions.”

#2:This course will explore the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 from different critical perspectives, ranging from the Lord’s Prayer’s earliest version, history on how the Prayer came about, and its literary background to the more contemporary perspectives relating to social justice and liberation reflected in it. Happens 2/27 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.

New Profile- Dr. Andria Timmer, Anthropologist/ Personal Profile Analysis

Ultimately, I had a rather difficult time of identifying a unifying theme for this profile on Dr. Timmer. She was very interesting and very accommodating and nice to interview. I hope I wasn't too corny or cliche coming up with her being a humanitarian because, although it sounds overdone and elementary- it really it who she is.

I tried multiple times to contact her former colleague and career inspiration Dr. John Hartigan, an anthropology professor at UT, but he never responded to my attempts. It's a shame, really, because I have no doubt he would've been a great source and very informative.

Dr. Timmer was rather guarded on some details concerning her family and she effectively sidestepped a few of my questions, which greatly piqued my interest, but I didn't want to lose the interview or control over it, so I kind of let her go. In hindsight, I guess I wish I would've pressed her a bit harder for the answers to those personal questions. I would've loved to have heard more about her young son and about the chance meeting between she and her husband.

Overall, I felt I was very true to Timmer and her personality and describing her love for her profession.

Bookstore Trip

I discovered so many previously unknown things on my bookstore trip, it's embarrassing.

While flipping through the "sell to" bible, a.k.a, the 2009 Writer's Market, I probably wrote down 15 magazines I was interested in sending content to.

Just a few:

'Broken Pencil Magazine': an alternative, "conformity-challenging," angsty little zine,

'Briarpatch': a social justice/peace-centered zine,

'Ignite Your Faith': a Christian magazine geared toward high school kids looking for Christian colleges,

'Hope for Women': a Christian zine concerning personal inspirational features and stories,

'Skirt': an alternative women's fashion/feminist-leaning zine.

And many of them have more than "$" by their titles, denoting the fact that they pay well. YAY!

I also encountered a few books about writing that I'd honestly love to own and added to my 'buy' list.

1.) "On Writing Well," by Zinsser

2.) "Make a Scene," by Rosenfeld

3.) "Artful Editor," by Bell

4.) "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life," by Lamott

5.) "On Writing," by Stephen King (Stephen King- is it scary?! Haha, yeah I know...)

6.) "The Interviewer's Handbook: A Guerilla Guide: Techniques & Tactics for Reporters and Writers," by Brady

7.) "International Journalist: Issues and Dangers of Global Reporting," by Herbert

8.) "Writing Narrative Journalism : Inside the Writer's Mind," by Bloom

9.) "The Journalist's Craft : A Guide to Writing Better Stories," by Jackson

10.) "How to Write for Magazines: Consumers, Trade and Web," by Harrison

Psychic Savanna: A Profile

Psychic Savanna Feature.docx

Analysis of Psychic Profile

I feel like lack of time (or time management) was my biggest obstacle in writing this profile. My subject was extremely interesting- there's really no way to make a psychic uninteresting- but I feel that if I would've planned better, I would've been better able to prepare myself for the abnormality of the woman herself and found someone else to talk to about her. Her manner in general was very intimidating and I felt myself fall victim to her persona of "all-knowing" psychic. I really liked the descriptive passages in the profile and felt I was very accurate in that respect. Also, I liked the way my descriptions of Savanna herself wrote themselves out; they were accurate and almost under-embellished in many respects; I wanted to capture the woman, herself, in her home, her place of business, and in her current state.

My biggest regret is not getting another source to talk about Savanna with. I know I'm going to be dinged for that in my grade, but I deserve it. My only chance came with the other client that came in to see Savanna, but she spoke nothing but Spanish and my conversational Spanish is very sub-par; there was no way I could've interviewed her about her psychic meetings and experiences with Savanna. I should have fleshed someone out to talk to, but I didn't plan accordingly for that situation.

Overall, I feel okay about my work. I think it might be a bit news story- feeling in its set-up and maybe a bit of its reading and that's unfortunately a consequence of me writing so many news stories lately. Hopefully as the class goes on and I gain more experience I can capture the idea and the essence of writing feature stories with descriptive, non-newsy, well-crafted story lines and appropriate quotes.

First Feature Advance

My first feature story will be a profile on a local Ft. Worth psychic named Savanna. Should be interesting! Check back!