Welcome to my Portfolio

westsidebizman@gmail.com

Hello and thank you for taking time out of your busy day to view my portfolio. I am a communications graduate out of BYU-Idaho and I specialize in news media. I have been working since January of 2006 for KIFI Local News 8 as a News Editor. My primary responcibility is to edit video to match the scripts for the morning news each morning. I also write and produce news stories locally in the Idaho Falls region. Often I find myself covering breaking news stories going on each morning such as house fires, car wrecks and slide offs, or even community events which may be going on. It is my job to get reaction from officials and those involved in each story to produce a compelling news story. I have also been involved in the sports department writing, shooting and producing stories about local football games in the region. Check out my workplace at localnews8.com.

What you see here in my portfolio include many of the projects I have worked on in college at Brigham Young University-Idaho including writing samples and news stories I have put together which you can find on my youtube channel. Featured on my YouTube channel right now is a 10 minute demo reel I made demonstrating my abilities with delivering news from the anchor desk. I hope you find it informative and enjoyable. Also featured on my channel is a 12 minute cut-up of Local News 8 at 6AM. It highlights my video editing abilities with Harris Velocity editing. I am also competent in Avid and Final-Cut Express editing. I am also very familiar with ENPS. My resume is posted below as well as two of my writing samples. I hope you find your time here enjoyable and hopefully my ideas will stand out to you. Thanks for visiting!

- YouTube Channel

Satire

Breaking News: Pinocchio severs Ties with Jiminy Cricket

     
      Some startling news coming out of Storybrook today. Pinocchio has announced that he is severing ties with his fairy god mother and Jiminy Cricket. This after his father's business has come under fire for over a year's worth of late debt payments. After Pinocchio realized how dire the situation for his father Gepetto became, he decided it was high time for him to do something about it. Earlier this morning in a press conference at the Make-Believe Center; Pinocchio announced he has decided to get into the wood harvesting industry. He made this decision because his father's business became on the verge of bankruptcy and his home subsequently facing foreclosure. Pinocchio went on to address the press saying, "My nose grows about three inches for every lie I tell. If I tell enough lies, I can sell short round wooden sticks about one to three feet long at a dollar a foot. My production costs are free so i'm making 100% pure profits. After all, my conscience was my guide in this one!" Gepetto followed up his son in the press conference and after the Storybrook Times asked him a question about his son going back to his lying ways, Gepetto had this to say,"You know, I always taught him in his youth that lying was evil and leads down a rotten bitter path. But now that he's older and can make decisions for himself, I am very thankful for his contributions to my business and praise his fairy god mother for that nose of his which grows everytime he lies. This is truly a blessing in disguise. I hope he continues to tell lies for a very long time to come." Some ideas tossed around for uses of Pinocchio's wooden nose pieces include pencils, firewood, and even paper. In reality, there are dozens of uses for Pinocchio's nose and prior to this press conference he has produced over 1,000 foot long pieces and already has orders for over 80% of his inventory. Pinocchio says he will be launching a web-site soon where you can order pieces of his nose on-line.

3891 East Elm Lane Rigby, ID 83442

(909) 996-4650

westsidebizman@gmail.com

ryanlister.blogspot.com

Ryan Lister

Objective

To work with a company with a strong proven trajectory with great benefits and opportunities for growth.

Experience

2006-Current     KIFI Local News 8                               Idaho Falls, ID

News Editor – Full Time

·      My videos have aired on “Good Morning America” and “World News.”

·      Duties include: Video Editor, Live Truck Operator, Master Control    Operator, News Writer, Sports News Writer, Photographer and Audio Tech

·      Local News 8 is the #1 News Station in Eastern Idaho

Fall 2011          Rexburg Opinion Center                           Rexburg, ID

Market Research – Part Time

·      Interviewed consumers over the phone

·      Worked with several different survey programs

Education

2006-2012         Brigham Young University - Idaho            Rexburg, ID

·      B.A., Communications and Broadcasting

·      GPA: 3.319

Interests

Politics, Baseball, Basketball, Video Production

Achievements

2002 - Earned BSA Eagle Scout Award

2005 - Returned home honorably from LDS Mission

2009 - Built first home with my wife

2010 - American Sport Education Program Coaching Certification

Attributes

-     Strong ability to pivot

-     Get along well with others

-     Work well in teams

-     Strong writing, grammar and communication skills

-     Self-Driven

Community Service

-     Radio Reading Coordinator: Read newspaper clippings over privately held radio station primarily for the blind.

References available upon request

Conformity

Is it Really Conformity or are we seeking our own Truths

     Across the masses in this nation we see red states and blue states. Some states are highly conservative, others moderate and others liberal. While yet there are many individuals across this nation, many of these said individuals have grouped together into their own circles in an effort to find common grounds of friendship. Is this really conformity? Do people conform to the ideas of the people around them or are people seeking their own truths for themselves to live by? It is my contention that people will live by things they find true for themselves though at the same time will only conform to what is necessary to get by to establish a sense of normalcy in their lives.

     When I was growing up in my neighborhood in Southern California, there were no set standard of beliefs common to the people of my neighborhood. We were individualistic Americans with very individualistic beliefs. There were the Republican Spanish devout Catholics living on the corner and to the right of them were the more English than Spanish Democratic Catholics but yet drank, smoked and partied on the weekend. There were also republican and democratic agnostics living on my street and the so-called gang-bangers whom had no party affiliation but were friendly on my street. Then there was my family. My family was the only Mormon family in the neighborhood. The only corn-pone opinion in our neighborhood was America should always be a free nation. Twain suggested, “We get our notions and habits and opinions from outside influences; we do not have to study them out.” This may be true as a child, but no corn-pone opinion sticks around beyond childhood without being searched out and studied by those with active minds.

     You can’t tell me that people are conformists. If that were true I believe there would be fewer divorces in this nation. A difference of opinion is enough for many couples to get a divorce. If this nation were full of conformists I think we would see less volatility in congress and more working together. How many times have we seen in recent year’s congress waiting to the absolute last second to pass legislation to keep this nation running? We are not a nation of conformists. We are a nation desperately looking for the truths which will better and simplify our lives. “The driving force…has never been a body of scientific teaching…but always a devotion which has inspired them, and often a hysteria which has surged them into action.” (Huxley 165) In congress it takes hysteria to get anything accomplished.

     Mark Twain described the words of a black philosopher as saying: “A man is not independent. He cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter.” (Twain) People don’t want to be forced into a belief but if threatened, people may decide to conform to certain ideas under certain circumstances. People will do such a thing in order to live and survive. Such circumstances exist in North Korea today and during Hitler’s Dictatorship many people did conform on their beliefs in order to merely stay alive. On the BYU-Idaho campus every student conforms to the honor code whether a student may like the honor code or not. People only conform on the things they have to. It is not conformity to come to a knowledge of something which is true for you and likewise true for the masses. It is only a new truth you have taken unto yourself and decided you liked it so you kept it.

     In America, many people who hold the same ideas tend to congregate together and in many instances even move to a same location. I do not believe this comes about in the way of conformity but rather because people have developed a belief system which works for themselves and want to do what they can to strengthen that belief. “Groups are capable of being as moral and intelligent as the individuals who form them.” (Huxley 165) While the belief system of this group mass may be identical, it is not because of a series of conformities which this happens. If something is undoubtedly true, many people are likely to come to a rational conclusion that if it is true, then hey, it must be true for me!

      To contrast, a belief is something one can come to either believe for themselves or not. Coming to a belief is in no way conformity to those who hold that belief. To conform to a belief is conforming to something you do not agree with in order to maintain some positive advantage. This could be life over death or acceptance into a school or non-acceptance. While many of the opinions in this nation have attracted the masses, it is not by reason of conformity which the masses have come to these opinions. It is because the masses have reached these conclusions by taking the opinions and deciding to make the opinions true for themselves.

2012 World Series: History Repeats Itself

    

      This year we watched history in the making as the San Francisco Giants made an unprecendented run for Baseball glory. As we will discover; as uncanny as this victory was for the Giants, it was far from unpredictable. In the five instances where the league champion swept its foe-dating back to when the league championship series was expanded to a seven game series; in only one instance did that team go on to win the world series. It was done by the 1995 Atlanta Braves as they swept the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS and went on to defeat the Cleveland Indians in six games in the world series. This was not the case in the other instances. It seems to me a team is better off losing at least one game in the league championship series if they intend to win in the world series.
    
     CASE IN POINT: 2012 Detroit Tigers - Swept the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Lost the world series to the San Francisco Giants in four games. San Francisco won the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. They also beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the division series.

     CASE IN POINT: 2007 Colorado Rockies - The Rockies swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS and went on to be swept by the Boston Red Sox who won the ALCS in seven games.

     CASE IN POINT: 2006 Detroit Tigers - The Tigers swept the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS and went on to lose the world series in five games to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals beat their foe in the NLCS (New York Mets) in seven games.

     CASE IN POINT: 1990 Oakland Athletics - The Athletics swept the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS and went on to get swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the world series. The Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in six games in the NLCS.

     Only the 2006 Tigers managed to win one game in the world series after sweeping their opponent in the league championship series. It's also interesting to note that the winners of the world series in each of these years also took at least six games to win in the league championship series. This suggests to me that when a team which sweeps in the LCS and plays a team who goes at least six games in there LCS; the team which took longer to win has the upper hand going into the world series.
    
     Now lets check out how the numbers change when a team loses at least one game in the league championship series. In league championship series play since the expansion of the series to a best of seven playoff, (1985) fourteen teams have lost only one game while going on to win the American or National League Championships. Of those 14, nine have gone on to win the world series and only five became the runners up.
     Based on baseball's history since 1985, (the expansion of the LCS to a best of seven showdown) teams which sweep their opponents in the LCS have a twenty percent chance of winning. (These numbers are in no way scientific. Only based on recent baseball history.) Or only 20% of teams which have swept in the LCS have actually gone on to win the world series. My theory dictates this number goes up or down based on how many games it took for their opponents to reach the world series. The more games played in the LCS vs. a team who swept gives better odds to the team which took longer to win in order to make it to the world series.
     When a team loses only one game in the LCS, the odds of winning the world series increase dramatically. In this case teams have a 64.3% chance of winning the world series. That's a 44.3% increase just by losing a single game.
     Call it October voodoo or magic or plainly a team on fire at the right time but history does not lie and more often than not is doomed to repeat itself and I think 2012 is a perfect example of that.

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