This little guy cheers me on while I do my homework.

“The Berenstain Bears” series has chronicled the “foibles, worries and joys of family life” since 1962,said David Cooper, Dean of the School of Education as he introduced Michael Berenstain, son of Stanand Jan Berenstain.

Berenstain explained how his own family’s daily life influenced the fictional stories in a lecturesponsored and organized by the School of Education.

The Berenstain Bear family. Image from Atomic Popcorn.

But first, why bears?

“Bears are the traditional staple of childrens’ books,” said Berenstain.

In literature, bears in books range from large and lumbering to cute and cuddly. The Berenstain bearsare somewhere in between, a stand-in for people, he said.

This allowed the Berenstains to address family subjects, themes and values.

“It was never my family’s intention to take on the role of do-it-yourself family counselors,” Berestainsaid. “But now we’re stuck with it.”

Readers like the books because they teach valuable lessons and there is appeal in how these lessons arepresented, he said.

Many readers assume there is a connection between the Berenstain bears and the Berenstain family,Berenstain said. When people ask him if he inspired the character Brother Bear, he replies that he hasan older brother, so that must make him Sister Bear.

But Mama Bear’s gentle wisdom and Papa Bear’s bumbling father-figure were drawn from Berenstain’sparents, he said.

Stan and Jan Berenstain came from working-class family backgrounds and shared a love of art. Theymet on their first day of drawing class in college and after getting married, Stan Berenstain envisionedthe two of them working together on cartoons.

The early “Berenstain Bears” books were usually full of wild and funny adventures; Papa Bear andBrother Bear go hunting for honey and must run from a swarm of bees. They encounter a toothed seacreature while scuba diving and “they get into traffic accidents,” said Berenstain while showing a pictureof the Bear family falling off a multi-rider bike.

“The Berenstain Bears” evolved after the arrival of Sister Bear, which opened the way to many value-driven stories.

The bears learned not to eat too much junk-food, went to camp and dealt with issues concerning familyand friendship. All of these stories and lessons were inspired by everyday family life.

Berenstain’s presentation coupled images of his children playing soccer, selling lemonade and playing
doctor with similar illustrations from the books.

His mother influenced his artistic inclinations and today he helps her write and illustrate new BerenstainBears books.

“My parents set a remarkable example of how to be full-time Creators, with a capital C,” Berenstainsaid.

Today, the Berenstains have published over 300 books and sold more than 260 million copies, but familyis still the center of their enterprise. Berenstain said he cannot pick a favorite book, that they all madehim nostalgic for his childhood.

The audience echoed Berestain’s nostalgia.

“Oh, I remember that one!” whispered the audience members at every image from one of “The Berenstain Bears” books.

Originally published on The Pendulum.

The path to the Wishing Tree at O’Reilly’s Mountain Resort in Lamington National Park, Brisbane.

A view through the trees at Fitzroy Island.

Feeding the kangaroos at Philips Island.

Loch Ard Gorge, Port Campbell National Park in Victoria.

I’m glad it’s starting to look like spring at Elon.  Now if only it would feel like spring… (if you can’t tell, I really like flowers).

Originally I wasn’t going to use pictures I had previously taken, but I fell a little behind on my posts.  Plus, I wanted to share more of my pictures from Australia.  This shot was taken on Fitzroy Island.

The beach is my favorite vacation spot, so I like to have a reminder of it at my desk.

One of my flowers from a special someone.

Lessons learned: attempting to take pictures in an 0range-painted room is hard when the lamps give off an orange light, and use as much light as possible because the flash just gets annoying.

I’m cheating a leetle bit here on my first 1,000 a Day post, since this picture was taken in January.  From now on I aim to take one brand new picture a day.  But I thought it would be a good start to share this one (it’s also a little too gray outside).  I had the opportunity to study abroad in Australia for a month, and it was a wonderful experience.  The class studied ecotourism by participating in all sorts of eco-friendly activities and visited Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Melbourne.

The above picture is the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia.  Located between Torquay and Warrnambool, it is considered the world’s largest war memorial.  It was built by returned WWI soldiers and dedicated to its casualties.  And the views while driving along it are absolutely breathtaking.  We spent two days on the Great Ocean Road, starting with surf lessons outside of Torquay and ending at the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge.  This particular picture was taken at Teddy’s Lookout in Lorne.

This blog was originally created as a class requirement – I spent a semester zipping across campus to cover events and write at least three news stories a week.  These news stories were posted on the blog as a portfolio of my journalistic skills.  I would post articles I had written for The Pendulum, Elon’s PRSSA Chapter and my multimedia reporting class.  It was essentially my own little newspaper.

I’ve decided to change my focus to photography.  I’m starting “1,000 a Day” where I will take a picture a day because a picture is worth one thousand words.  I don’t claim to be an expert photographer, so as my articles are a look at my growth as a writer, the pictures will be my growth as a photographer.  The photographs are for me to practice, but I certainly hope I’ll learn something along the way.

By: Carolyn VanBrocklin

The number one rule of social media marketing is to be aware of how you present yourself, and to be aware that you should always be professional.  Forty five percent of employers use social media to screen potential candidates.  Employers tend to disregard potential candidates for several reasons, including:

• Lies about qualifications
• Poor communication skills
• Discriminatory comments
• Inappropriate pictures
• Bad-mouthing previous employer, co-workers or clients
• Sharing confidential information

They hire people after such screenings for:

• A profile show professional qualifications
• Solid communications skills
• Appearing well-rounded
• A good feel for personality and fit
• Creativity
• Conveying a professional image
• Good references from other people

Students should be aware of who they are professionally and communicate who they are meaningfully.   This practice will give you a good online presence and leave no room for potential reasons to be passed over for an inappropriate online presence.

It is essential that students market themselves strategically through the various online resources at hand.  The most important part is presenting a professional image.  Take the time to compose a six-word memoir that sums up you and your professional image.   You could even use this as your Twitter bio.

Listed are a few sites where students can build an online portfolio that showcases their skills.  It is important to be in control of your online presence.  In particular, make sure you have a consistent brand across all platforms (especially with the same username.  Check if it is available at http://namechk.com/).  Some sites include:

• http://visualcv.com/
• http://www.weebly.com/
• http://wordpress.org/

Elon’s Electric Ensemble performed “Get Your Country On” on Dec. 3 in McCrary Theater.

The show featured the music of Rascal Flatts, Randy Travis, John Denver, Merle Haggard, Taylor Swift, George Jones, Johnny Cash, The Eagles, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, among others.

Watch them perform “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts (Video by Carolyn VanBrocklin)