Dropouts – poetry

When I first started working in radio I had a lot of dropouts
Poor reception of radio quality on the reel-to-reel
I would bike down to the CBC building on Front Street with my red Yakota bike
That bike was “stoked”
The saddest thing was a light being stolen
Why can people be so mean?
Why do I still remember?
It still happens today
Nine times I’ve worked with dropouts as a teacher and maybe I’m stealing their lights
I only hope the young will beat me in the race, I want them to be rich, I want them to feel worth $10 trillion CDN
I hope that money will be worth a lot globally at least to the end of the invention of the bicycle
That day may have already come.
My bicycle was stolen when it wasn’t locked outside my apartment building on Rue Bryan in Montreal
I bought a red Wheeler with my former sweetheart and brought it with me to Montreal – I left my cat Enid behind in good hands with a woman I used to work at Radio Canada International
The Wheeler sits outside my house unlocked
No one has stolen it for 12 weeks now
It’s time for it to come inside that the weather grows cold
The wheels are flat and need to be replaced
The squirrel who sat on it backwards didn’t mind though
I wonder when science will discover a way to teach squirrels how to ride bikes
Then maybe they could be put to work

Running a Business During the Recession

There can be disadvantages and advantages to running a business during a recession. I have found some promising things happening, as well as some not so promising things as well.

Due to the fact the recession does exist, I am finding it hard for my writers to actually get paid for their work. I feel bad about this because I was really hoping with my advertorial business model that all of my writers would receive an income. So far, although it has been about a month, this is not the case.

The promising news is that there are writers out there who are willing to work on a volunteer basis and this still creates fresh content for my online multimedia magazine Donna. I also plan to dip into my own funds and to transfer some of my VHS content into digital format so I can upload it onto the magazine. This way I can take advantage of the fact that I have been given the opportunity to include video material and to also have a more updated version of my documentaries and video stories.

So far, it also looks as though I will not be getting more work with Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber for the time being. This is unfortunate because I had really depended on that income, however it is a good thing that I diversify my work. I still do have work with Seneca College, Centennial College and Trebas Institute - so I do not have to feel economically stranded.

My books are doing well. I managed to sell some during the month of May. I am hoping that sales will pick up even more this month. My Roxanne seems to be selling especially well. I also plan to start working on a new book this summer. I was going to work on a book called Story Ideas, however I found that I was not satisfied with what I had and would like to polish it some more. I may change the content of that book and actually turn it into a book of short stories which is something I am interested in writing again.

So...that is my latest update of my business efforts. I am managing to survive during this recession, however I will be very thankful when it is over. I am sure I am not alone in those thoughts.

Self-Publishing in Today's Age

I had started out trying to go the traditional route. I did not send out many manuscripts - in total I have probably sent out manuscripts to less than 10 publishing houses. I knew with my nature of wanting things done instantly, which comes from a journalism training where I have worked in a lot of newsrooms, waiting to get a book published is something beyond the patience of my current age of 36.

It was funny how I discovered Lulu.com. I actually received an email from a man (cannot even remember his name at the moment) from my old site with the same domain name: www.donnakakonge.com. What happened after that has changed the way I look at publishing for good I believe.

The man gave me the link to his site and when I went there an advertisement for Lulu.com was there too. When I clicked through to it, I was amazed that you could actually self-publish a book for free. I had been looking for something such as this for quite some time. I had considered getting my book published through Trafford Publishing, however considered it to be a vanity press - even though I have seen their finished products and they do look good.

The first book I published with Lulu.com was the book that came out of my graduate work, What Happened to the Afro? It used to be called Afro Forever, however I changed the name. Once I published that first book, that summer I worked on a project to create How to Write Creative Non-fiction. All of this happened back in 2006 and I have written now a total of 20 books, edited one, have one CD of radio documentaries and two audio story downloads, all through Lulu.com.

The fun part is getting ISBNs for them through the Library and Archive of Canada. It is a fun and easy process and the people who work there are great. One of the women who I believe still works there even called me the day before Christmas just to sort out some problem I was having with my ISBNs. So much for government workers not doing any work. I have always found them to be really hard-working and a pleasure to deal with. They will also be dilligent in making sure there is at least one copy of your book/s in their archive.

Now, I also have my books in Seneca College's library system. This also makes it available throughout the entire college library system in Ontario, Canada. My next goal is to get Centennial College where I also work to buy them (which they said they would), as well as to get them into the Toronto Public Library system, as well as other libraries across Canada and even in the States too if that works out. I believe in libraries and used to work in two of them.

So these are all of the adventures I have had in self-publishing. I recommend that if you have a story to be told - do not keep it buried away - let it see the light. Plus now, Robert Payne and I have a service where we can help you to tell your stories. Just contact me at: dkakonge@sympatico.ca if you are interested in finding out more about this service.

Using the Web to Realize Journalism Goals

It's a bit of a catch-22 having advertising on a blog site. Sometimes advertising material will be included that I, as the writer, do not agree with. I remember the days when the Internet was a free forum - and there are still things that you can get on the Internet for free. However, now, everyone seems to want to figure out how they can make money from the Internet.

I find myself spending a lot of my free time updating my sites and doing podcasts. I also spend a lot of time writing and self-publishing books. I do not make a lot of money from these tasks - definitely not enough that I could live on it alone, yet I enjoy doing these things immensely. My magazine Donna is a long-held dream of mine. I always tended to find that when I was paid to work for a magazine in the past, with the exception of New Dreamhomes and Condominiums Magazine - things always seemed to go wrong. There always seemed to be some sort of screw up, difference of opinion and people in the magazine industry can sometimes be difficult to work for. However, the joy of working for a magazine is exactly what I am sure keeps so many people in that industry.

Now that I have Donna Magazine, I have been able to bring to light some stories that had long since been buried. With the wonders of the Internet (which I do love), I have even made the magazine multimedia and I plan to start posting up some of my old documentaries on the magazine, as well as producing new ones.

As for the podcasts - well, this gives me a chance to produce my own radio episodes any way I would like to do so. I do not have to worry about CBC cuts, about getting bumped out of my job by senior reporters or even having to get my story pitches "greenlighted" by a producer. If I think the story is good - I can do it. The only thing I need to worry about is that I am using my allotted free space on Podomatic (I could also increase it by going pro). Plus, I can also put podcasts on my magazine.

My books are another story that I will get to in another post. Thanks for listening and I hope that if you have a love for freedom of expression, you find ways to make the Internet work for you too.

New Opportunities Learning Centre

In this economy, it is great to know that there are two dedicated women such as Mary Salerno and Garbriella Starker-Saxe helping people to get back to work. This is a slice of information of their centre that creates new opportunities for people. Their website is at: http://www.newopps.ca/.

Check out the podcast at: http://kakonged.podomatic.com.

This Is Your Brain on Music

As I catch up on reading at home and currently listening to Isabelle Boulay - 60 songs on Windows Media - I must take the opportunity to recommend a good book. I got the book from the library and it is called This Is Your Brain on Music.

It is written by a professor at McGill University who was mainly trained in the States. The book was recommended to me by a former student of mine at the University of Guelph-Humber. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys music - which pretty much means everyone. It is a wonderful understanding of both science and art.

Professor’s Perspective: Teaching in the summer

Some professors work through the fall and the winter just waiting for their time off in the summer. Other professors really enjoy teaching in the summer.

For those professors who teach in the summer, this could provide a tremendous opportunity.

If it is your first time teaching, the summer time may a good time to get used to your new work environment, get to know your colleagues and enjoy your time with your students in better weather. Teaching in the summer is an advantage for many new professors, as well as students, because worries about needing to cancel a class due to weather conditions are minimized.

The weather may even be so lovely that you can choose to change the classroom environment to outdoors in a quad, go on field trips and feel more encouraged to hang around the campus to get to know the school community better.

The summer is also a great time to get part-time or adjunct work with a college or university. You may have a more flexible work schedule and be able to devote a few hours to a course here or there.

Students can be at an advantage by taking summer school. Professors tend to be more relaxed and in a better state of mind than other times of the year. This may also translate into the kind of grades you would receive. As well, for students, it helps to get some of those extra credits or missed credits to either help you stay on course with your studies, or advance further so you would have more time for things like work and internships later on.

For professors who are fully established with the institution or institutions they work for…summer time is a great one to teach at your best. Usually with a lighter course load, there is more opportunity to either focus on the courses you have to teach, and/or to work on other projects that are important to you. These could be projects around the home, research, writing and projects related to work. You just may find that a project you start in the summer is something that you will carry with you throughout the year.