Chris Higginbotham: Blog

Happy New Year! Now, what do we call it?

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:24:00 +0000

My most heavily discussed topic with friends so far this year is all about semantics (again).

2010. How do you say it? In keeping with what seems to be the most widely accepted practice so far this century, we could call it Two Thousand Ten, but I'm not feeling it. Many syllables, no real sense of flow to it. Charlie Gibson has been doing the Twenty Oh One, Twenty Oh Two thing since... well, since 2001 (not sure what he did with 2000). I think it's time we all pick up the trend. Twenty Ten - I've been advocating it all year.

So imagine my relief when the AP, the same organization that insists that a website/web site is actually a Web site and can't figure out if the grass behind my house is my backyard or my back yard, announced on Twitter that they are also advocating Twenty Ten. Get on board, folks. (EDIT: Maybe calling the Associated Press an organization would be incorrect. It refers to itself as a cooperative.)

Now we just need to figure out how to refer to the last decade...

Turner makes us remember

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:05:00 +0000

If you haven't seen Turner Classic Movies' tribute to the movie professionals who passed away in 2009, check it out. Now.

Seriously. Now.

I'm a young'n so I know hardly half of the people on the list, but the spot still makes my eyes water. The song, "To Live is to Fly," is such a beautiful song and the lyrics are a perfect fit for a memorial. Really, I can't think of any better marriage between video and an existing piece of music. The shallow depth of field in the clips, the decreased saturation in the color footage, soft camera movement, deep shadows... it's beautifully done.

If you work in television production, this really is the standard for a video memorial. I could - and do - watch it over and over.

NC Goes Social

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:10:00 +0000

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, who has 3,985 Facebook supporters, announced the state's first social media policy today.

"State government must stay current if we are to be fully transparent and accountable to the public," she said. "I encourage all state agencies to take advantage of social media to increase communication and interaction with the citizens of North Carolina."

The stated goals of the policy are to make sure social media are implemented appropriately, that security concerns are addressed and that records are maintained in accordance with state law.

Social media will give the government more control over its key messages. Instead of relying on traditional media to take messages from the government and deliver them to the people, the government will have more direct contact with those who follow state agencies through social media.

But..

How many people can we expect to follow, say, the North Carolina Department of Revenue on Twitter? The state's use of social media will give citizens a forum for discussion about state policies -- on Facebook pages, for example, but I wouldn't expect a rush by the people of North Carolina to start becoming fans of state agencies in droves.

The state made a tutorial for employees to learn about the policy, but it's so dull I only made it to slide 27 out of 46. Mostly, it covers aforementioned public record considerations (everything posted on those sites becomes public record) and privacy stuff. All agency pages and accounts have to be set to public and comments and contents can't be deleted except for obscenity concerns.

The policy does not regulate the personal use of social media by state employees. Personal use is addressed, but only to say that it is allowed, even during business hours, but that users should maintain the professional standards of the state.

It will be interesting to see how, if at all, this new policy affects the political system in the state and how long it takes for anything to change.

Mac, meet Meatloaf...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:42:00 +0000

So I'm home at my parents' house for the holidays. Of course that means I get to fix all the technological problems that have come up since my last visit and I get to integrate all the new technology my parents (read: my mother) have decided to expose themselves (read: herself) to. I guess it's my payment for occupying the guest room this week.

This visit, I'm helping my mother with the big switch: she bought an iMac. She's keeping her old Dell desktop too, so I set up a wireless network for her and I'm helping her move all of her files over to the new Mac. It's not a tough mission, but in the two-computer environment, the PC is downstairs at the desk and the iMac is on... the kitchen table.

This isn't even just a temporary spot. It's not that my mom walked in the door with the big Mac box and put it down on the table out of convenience while she took her shoes off. This is the new home of the Mac - right next to where we'll eat meatloaf tonight. I mean, I know the iMac is very sleek and the lack of all those wires makes it a more unconventional machine, but am I the only person who finds it weird to have a non-laptop on a kitchen table? Someone help me out here...

Using the Web for Issues Management

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Issues management is a crucial step in crisis prevention for public relations professionals. Responsible organizations have crisis communication plans in place to make sure they are prepared to communicate during a difficult, potentially hazardous situation. One way for an organization to prevent an emergency from becoming a crisis is to practice effective issues management. This requires an awareness of issues relevant to the organization's interests and the ability to react to those issues.

The Internet is a great tool to help organizations keep up with issues relevant to their interests. Here are three basic ways to use social media and simple web tools for issues management:

1) Tweetdeck - Tweetdeck is an API for social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Basically, it's software designed to help you organize your social media life. It also has a great feature for conducting a never-ending search for constant search terms. You can create a column on Tweetdeck that gives you real time updates when people post something that matches your pre-set search terms. For instance, I have a column set to search tweets for #socialmedia and #PR. This way, every time someone tweets something that has to do with public relations AND social media, I get an instant notification and an archive of every post with those hashtags.

Organizations can use Tweetdeck's search feature to monitor issues related to their interests. You can have any number of entries in your search criteria. So, an environmental NGO could have a search for copenhagen and #enviro and #sustainable to find relevant tweets. You want to be pretty specific or you'll wind up getting a whole lot of messages. A whole lot. End game in this example is that you get an insight on what environmentally concerned citizens are sharing on Twitter and you get it immediately.

2) Google Alerts - Anyone with a Google account can set up alerts to be notified when anything matching certain criteria shows up anywhere on the Internet (you can also set up restrictions to search only within a specific site). Now that Google is searching Twitter updates in real time, you could forego the Tweetdeck and just use Google Alerts, but I like that Tweetdeck's on-screen notifications pop up on my screen immediately.

You'll want to be extremely specific on your alerts so as to avoid receiving about six million notifications. You have the option of receiving alerts once a day or as they appear online. Bottom line, using Google Alerts gives you notice if anyone anywhere on the Internet is discussing an issue that matters to you or your organization.

3) Server analytics - With Awstats, I can see how people find my web site on the Internet. I can see what web site they were visiting before coming to mine. I can learn about who is linking to my site, what browser they use, where they live, etc. It's interesting info for me, indispensable info for an organization. Just last month, I learned that people were finding my blog by searching "Chris Higginbotham throwing a cat in Iran," (different Chris Higginbotham). I've never thrown a cat and I've never been to Iran, so I'm a little bummed by that. It's a bigger deal for a large organization. If an organization finds that people are getting to its page by searching terms that could launch a rumor, they can recognize the trend and act quickly to stem it by using analytics. That's effective issue and reputation management.

Google Analytics also produces some good stats. Awstats comes with my server space, so I've stuck with it. Google Analytics works by signing up for an account and inserting a section of code into your page's design.

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These are just three of the countless ways you can use the Internet as part of issues management. I like these methods because they require little action once you set them up.

What's with this social media thing?

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Bob Crambitt is a public relations professional based out of Cary. He writes a lot for a LinkedIn group I follow and he's made a few great points in the past. His blog post from yesterday was an especially good read for people caught up in the social media buzz.

I think it's essential for anyone attempting to work in communication to understand social media (assuming it's something that can be truly understood). I was wondering about the goals of using social media the other day when I signed up for Klout, which is a Twitter application that measures your Twitter influence. I'm a pretty recreational Twitter-er, so I just did this for fun. Klout told me I have little Twitter influence and that I'm likely new to social media. I found that a little offensive.

Is the only reason for using social media now to exploit it? Is it now more a marketing tool than a social tool? Has social media turned into noise?

The people and organizations who effectively use social media to create influence or advance business interests remember to keep the "social" in social media. It's two-way communication and it augments (rather than mimicking or replacing) other forms of communication. Researchers refer to horizontal communication, which allows users to communicate with each other, not just with an organization's Web site or customer relations department. This is the best way to use social media.

My study on Barack Obama's campaign communication focused on how the campaign used horizontal communication to create a community, something Bob mentioned in his blog post. Obama's Web site provided tools for supporters to meet, host gatherings and find out how to become more involved with the campaign. This gave everyone the opportunity to become a part of the team. By creating a community around an idea, a product or a common interest, you make people feel more a part of something than just a believer in it or consumer of it. When people feel they are a part of your organization, they become an advocate for it and your organization becomes that much more powerful.

Semantics...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:16:00 +0000

My last post got a little fun controversy going on the blog and among the graduate program here at UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It's a fun topic - inasmuch as grammar and pronunciation can be fun - but it brings up a good point about clarity in communication.

I mentioned earlier that I tore my Achilles tendon at the beginning of October. I'm fine now; my cast is off and I'm limping around in a funny shoe. Interesting fact about a torn Achilles: an MRI isn't necessary for diagnosis. X-rays are useless too. All that's needed is the Thompson Test. Lie on your stomach, reach around to the back of your leg and squeeze your calf muscle. If your Achilles is intact, your toe should point away from your body. If your toe doesn't point, it means you tested positive on the Thompson Test.

Or does it...

My doctor alerted me to what I am sure is the most heated debate in orthopedics. If you test positive on the Thompson Test, does it mean you have tested positive for an Achilles tear, or does it mean you have a positive result to the test - that your Achilles is intact? Conversely, is a negative result negative for a tear or negative in that you have a tear?

In a similar debate, what would you do if I asked you to turn up the air conditioning? In my mind, turning up the AC means turning the machine up, thereby turning the temperature down. Some disagree, saying that turning the AC up means turning the temperature up. Seems incorrect to me, but who am I?

Anyway, my point is that when you are communicating a message, you need to avoid ambiguity. Unless you're talking to a bunch of orthopedists, your audience probably doesn't care if you know what the Thompson Test is. There's no need to prove your intelligence to an audience; the need is for you to deliver your message simply and concisely. Avoid the big words, avoid the acronyms, avoid unclear statements and, above all, avoid the phrase "short-lived." There seems to be debate about its pronunciation...

Short-lived... or is it?

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:11:00 +0000

OK, folks. Question of pronunciation.

When I say something is short-lived, I say it as if it had a short life. So when I pronounce it, I say a long vowel sound in "lived." The 'i' sounds like "eye."

I just brought this topic up among a few of my colleagues at school and I'm encountering resistance, but I'm sticking to my guns here. If someone has long hair, he/she is long-haired. If a guy has big ears, he is big-eared. The connection is that these are all nouns. You are joining an adjective and a noun into a compound modifier (big-eared guy, long-haired girl). You would not, however, combine an adjective and a verb to create a compound modifier because you don't live something shortly.

Now, I am not a grammarian or an expert on the English language (I just figured out the difference between who and whom a year ago), so I'm not prepared to argue to the death here. Anyone else have an opinion?

Personal Blogs in a Professional World

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:50:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I asked about how personal a professional communicator should get in a blog. I started thinking about that when I got involved in a dispute with the Town of Carrboro not long ago. I used my blog to draw attention to the dispute and I used my personal Web site to mobilize people to lobby the town on my behalf.

While I was doing this, I did my best to remain professional, to not let out the emotions that came with being personally involved. But I wondered all the while if what I was doing was ethical. It raised a couple of questions for me: How should professionals use personal blogs – especially communicators? How could my blogging affect my job search? After beginning my career, could my past blogs affect stakeholders' perceptions of me and the organization I represent?

So I researched for a while and found out this has been an issue in an important communication field - journalism. Chez Pazienza was a producer for CNN who started a blog, Deus Ex Malcontent, in 2006. He got a lot of hits and was picked up by a few sites, including the Huffington Post. CNN found out about his blog in 2008 and fired him, citing a policy forbidding employees from writing for outlets other than CNN.

Other media organizations have more elaborate policies. The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune require that reporters have their blogs approved by editors to prevent conflicts of interest. New York Times reporters aren’t allowed to blog about anything they cover professionally. Spokane’s Statesman-Review requests that employees “not blog about anything that would surprise editors or colleagues.” (see Kevin Rector’s article, “Murky Boundaries” in the American Journalism Review”)

It’s notable that these organizations have policies in place, but I find it interesting how little they really say. It’s a hint that news organizations have yet to realize just how much of an effect a reporter’s online presence has on his or her credibility. The regulations are vague, allowing leaders to adapt interpretation as they learn more about a new medium.

I’ve asked a couple of PR firms about their blogging policies for employees and they’re similarly vague but a lot more hands-off. Raleigh-based French | West | Vaughan (FWV) has a pretty simple but open policy. Aside from a restriction against revealing confidential or proprietary information, there’s not much there. Employees have to “prominently disclaim” any connection between their views and those of the agency. They are also expected to be transparent if they blog on behalf of a client, revealing their ties with FWV and the client.

Capstrat, another Raleigh based PR firm, has an even less stringent policy. They expect their employees simply to “use good judgment.”

So, from this limited sample of PR firms, it looks like PR professionals have more leeway in posting opinions to the Internet. Why? Probably because people expect a level of objectivity and disconnectedness from reporters that they don’t expect from PR people.

So what should be avoided on a blog personal blog? Jim Hazen, Capstrat’s web analytics guru, says, “the goal of the personal blog is to develop credibility that extends into the professional realm.” Blogging about events and issues within your field will certainly help you get noticed and can establish your position as a thought leader. Or as an idiot...

But Hazen and others also point out that letting your personality show in a blog is important too. Just because you want your blog to be professional doesn’t mean you can’t write about a family trip to Oregon or, say, swimming in the river that borders China and North Korea.

Which ties it back to my question, and my blog. There were certainly things I wanted to say in my Carrboro dispute that I held back from the Internet. There are likely things I said that other people looking at (and for) careers in communication would not have posted. Fair enough. Using my blog and Web site didn’t bring me victory in my dispute, but it did generate a good amount of emails being sent to the town’s leadership. I think this is more a strength than a liability.

The thing to remember is that everything I've said here and everything that has been said elsewhere is subjective. It's all open to interpretation. If you're looking to write start a personal blog, write what you are comfortable writing and let it sit for a day. If you're still comfortable posting it a day later, post it. But be professional - however you define that word.

There’s a lot more that could be written on this and it’s a topic worth revisiting in the future. In the interest of brevity, I’m going to leave it here for now.

Veteran's Day

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:51:00 +0000

I know I owe a blog post about about personal blogs, but I want to digress a moment and talk about Veteran's Day.

In 2004, I went to France as part of the ceremony to honor the 60th anniversary of D-Day. It really was a humbling experience and one of the coolest things I got to do in the military. I met and interviewed a lot of the men who stormed those beaches 60 years before. Talking to them - I don't know how to say it - it really was something that kind of put everyday problems into perspective.

Anyway, on June 5, the day before the official ceremony, I met a British sailor who actually wound up having to storm the beach twice. He explained why but I don't remember the reason. I do remember him talking about all the friends he lost - many of whom died while he was watching. When our conversation was ending, I walked away awkwardly and - not knowing what to say - said, "I hope you enjoy tomorrow, sir."

He looked back quickly and said in a very flat voice, "I can assure you, son, that I will not."

I had no idea how to respond, and it made me feel terrible. What I said wasn't what I meant, but I guess I never really thought it through. It's like how we ask the guy at the cash register how he's doing all the time, when really we don't care. We're just offering a greeting.

Well, I think that happens a lot on the 11th day of the 11th month of every year. It often happens when people come into contact with veterans. There's a woman named Joan Gaudet who stays at the Bangor, Maine airport to greet returning troops and say farewell to deploying ones at all hours. She put it best: "I mean, what can you say, they are going to war. 'Stay safe' just doesn't cut it."

Veteran's Day (or Armistice Day or Remembrance Day) is a special day. It's not a holiday. It's celebrated in many of the countries involved in World War I because the major fighting stopped on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

It's not the kind of day to say "Happy" whatever, and I'm not saying that out of spite for all the people who have wished me a happy Veteran's Day today. I think a lot of veterans appreciate that people remember and find the intended meaning in improperly used words.

So what is right to say? Thank you? Give him/her a hug? I don't really know. One of my friends wished me a "Happy Thanks-for-having-the-balls-to-fight-for-America-because-I-don't Day," which made me smile. But sometimes words can't properly describe feelings.

If I could have that conversation in Normandy over again, I would just pat that sailor on the shoulder and wish him the best. In five years I still haven't figured out what kind of words could have expressed my respect for him.

And maybe I never will.

After Action Review

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Well, I signed a lease at a new apartment today. I moved most of my stuff in about two hours with the help of a friend. The new place is small but nice. It's still a little weird to have moved today.

In doing all of this I have tried my best to keep my wits about me. I certainly found myself in a tough spot with unknowingly renting an apartment that wasn't legally allowed to be rented. Then to have to try to work with town leadership was an added difficulty. Then tack on the stress of being hobbled by an injury, finishing grad school and looking for a job... it's been an interesting time.

My goal has been to convince the Town of Carrboro that it was in its interest to make an exception and allow me to stay in my apartment, since I found myself there unwittingly. Though I was personally involved, I've done my best to act professionally and to employ effective means of communication. I've wondered all along if bringing these issues to my blog and my Web site was a good idea.

So I bring the discussion here. In the Internet era, is it unwise to use your own Web site or blog in a personal issue? What are the ground rules for doing so? Is it better to just use your online presence for self-promotion? I am, in fact, applying for jobs right now, so my potential future employers can -- and most likely will -- see what I've done in my online campaign against Carrboro's actions.

I'll give my opinion soon, but I'd like to hear what others have to say first.

Last Night Home?

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:29:00 +0000

If you haven't seen the new version of my Web site, you should check it out. If nothing else, I can say that going through all of this has motivated me to make my site look more professional. I've learned more about Flash and Dreamweaver in the last two weeks than I did in the last two years.

The latest addition to the site is a automated email sender that contacts town leaders and the town attorneys. Check it out if you haven't already. I have a sample letter you can send to the mayor and the Board of Aldermen, but you can edit it as you see fit.

That said, time is running out and it looks like my campaign to pressure the town into allowing me to stay will not be successful. I actually found the campaign somewhat fulfilling though. I'm happy and grateful for all the support I received and I'm glad the issue was able to find its way into the public sphere. It was a reflection of the principles of the town's current leaders and I think it will have an effect on the upcoming election.

Anyway, I have a new home that I will be moving into on Friday. I received a lot of offers from people who had extra bedrooms, vacant basements and the like. I appreciate how hospitable so many people -- both friends and strangers -- have been.

My new apartment is tiny, but it's furnished, so I won't have to move all of my stuff. I'm not sure I ever mentioned this before, but I ruptured my Achilles tendon a couple of weeks ago and had to get surgery. Moving all of my furniture on one good leg wouldn't be much fun, so it's a relief that I won't have to do that. But I will have a lot longer walk to the bus, which is really going to be tough if it gets too cold. I imagine crutches don't get much traction on ice.

Thanks to all of you who have offered support thus far.

An Impasse

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:18:00 +0000

So tonight I went to the Town of Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting. I wanted to discuss this issue face to face with them since the email with the mayor did not work. I'm a believer in the fact that people are more inclined to work together in person than by email. This is especially true when you're asking someone for something; it's a lot harder to say no to a face than an email address.

Anyway, the town let me speak first and I thought I gave a very fair and pointed speech. I presented the same points that I did in my email traffic with Mayor Mark Chilton, but I added one point that I really wish I had remembered earlier. If you knew me in 2008, you know that the Army called me back to active duty in the spring for a deployment to Iraq. My original report date was March 16, but I sent the Army a letter informing them that I was in graduate school and they backed up my deployment to May 18 so I could finish the semester. It makes sense that if the Army can delay a soldier's deployment in the global war on terrorism in the interests of education, the Town of Carrboro should be able to do the same thing.

Mayor Mark Chilton interjected at one point during my speech, saying the order to vacate came from Orange County courts, not from Carrboro, and that a settlement setting Oct. 31 as the deadline for vacating the apartment was reached by the town and my landlord. He said the town had given my landlord enough extensions and that she had not dealt honestly with the town's leaders. I responded by saying I wasn't asking for an extension from her, but for me. He responded with a nod.

As I told him, I'm not defending my landlord. She shouldn't have rented me the apartment. She should have let me know what was going on before I signed the lease. All I'm saying is, the town has the ability to go after my landlord without turning the screws to me in the process. The fact that they don't agree with me is awfully perplexing.

Either way, I left unsuccessful in convincing the town to allow me to stay through the semester. Carrboro posts video of town hall meetings to the Internet, so I'll post a link to the video from tonight's meeting as soon as it goes up.

Eviction Without Representation

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:24:00 +0000

You might be surprised to know that there are people evicting me from my apartment at the end of the month. They’re elected officials and I can’t vote for them or against them.

Yeah, that’s right. I’m being evicted. My rent is paid. My place is clean. I don’t throw wild parties. My bills are up to date. But at the end of the month, I won’t have a place to live.

Town of Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton and the town's Board of Aldermen have decided that my landlord has broken zoning laws for what is considered a watershed farm. My landlord can’t vote for or against them either; her farm is in Chapel Hill, but neighboring Carrboro has extraterritorial jurisdiction over her land. I don’t really understand why. The legal matter is of little consequence to me, except when it comes to my living arrangement. (paragraph edited 12/8/2008) because of poor grammar and a broken link)

On December 13 of last year, I signed a one-year lease to live in a barn on this watershed farm. Two months ago, my landlord informed me of the ongoing litigation against her. She is obviously at fault for not mentioning it at the time of my signing the lease, or for the subsequent eight months. The town, which managed to learn about me, research my past, find and read my blog and gather my personal information from the University of North Carolina, is also at fault for not bothering to tell me. So all this has been going on since 2007, with my just being notified about it in the last two months.

Now, there are a lot of issues behind the picture I’m painting, but they really aren’t relevant to my argument. I’m leaving the area in December. I’m off to start my career and work on my thesis. But the town says I have to move at the end of October, meaning I get to search for an apartment in the middle of my last semester, move there, live there two months, then move again.

Mayor Mark Chilton is fully aware of the prospects for someone who’s looking for an apartment for two months in a college town. I appealed to his sense of decency by sending him a message asking him to allow me to stay for just two more months – two more months in a case that has been going on for than two years – to no avail. I reiterate the point I made in my email to him: everyone has been accused of wrongdoing in this case – everyone but me. What can the Town of Carrboro possibly accomplish at the end of October that it could not accomplish in January, aside from allowing the only person who hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing in this situation to finish his education without interruption?

I hate playing this card, but I’m a veteran. My service to my country forced me to leave grad school for a semester already. Mark Chilton expressed his sorrow to me, saying he is sorry I am in a situation I did not knowingly create. Well, Mark Chilton, I didn’t unknowingly create this situation either; it was knowingly created by those around me. No matter who’s right or wrong, every party involved dropped the ball on letting me know what’s been going on and I get to pay the price. I offered you the chance to assert local government to look out for the little guy and you decided to reject that offer.

First Amendment Day!

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:50:00 +0000

I'll tell you, I may sound like a nerd, but it was cool to celebrate First Amendment Day today.

For those of you who don't know, today was UNC's First Amendment Day. It started with the planting of a free speech tree in front of Carroll Hall. I actually got to help plant it - awesome. Then there was the reading of some books that have been banned across the country. Did you know that someone challenged Anne Frank's diary in Alabama? Seems like an awful stretch to try to get that one banned. There were lots of debates and discussions held on campus and I was very proud that so many students participated.

After ten weeks of breaking the law to use Facebook in China (oh, and happy birthday, PRC), it's pretty awesome to realize just how lucky we are to not only have freedom of expression, but also freedom to receive information from others. The best and worst part about the First Amendment is that it protects the kind of speech that makes your blood boil. There are lots of things said that I think are ridiculous or hateful or detrimental, but I appreciate the fact that they have a spot in our marketplace of ideas. We just have to make sure to shop wisely...

If you've never taken a second to appreciate freedom of speech, do it now. It's a wonderful freedom that's ever so easy to take for granted.

On the road again, but in the air...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:42:00 +0000

And now, it’s over. We made it back from Qingdao on Tuesday afternoon after another train ride with the Asian kids from hell. Then we went to dinner with a few of my colleagues at my favorite restaurant in Beijing – the Sichuan hotpot place near our apartment. Hotpot is kinda like fondue, but the kind I like has super-spicy broth. There also seems to be more of an emphasis on vegetables than in most of my fondue experiences. No cheese, no chocolate, just a broth for cooking meats and vegetables. Joh and I have been there about eight times during our stay and as spicy as it is, I’d love to go back for more.

After dinner, we went to my favorite place for a beer, which is an open-air Chinese barbecue place down the street. After a couple of beers and a few hours of talking, it was time to go home to the apartment for the last time.

Now, I’m sitting at gate E25 in Beijing Airport’s third terminal. It’s raining and there’s this annoying professor behind my talking the head off some poor woman about jazz chord progressions and jamming with Chinese musicians.

Excuse me while I put on my headphones...

I suppose now is when I should reflect on the experience and come up with some sort of lessons from China, but I don’t feel ready for that just yet. I remember first stepping into this airport 10 weeks ago and feeling nervous about being here - especially as a journalist. Now I’ve learned, yet again, that people are just people all over the world. Sure, Chinese people seem to spit more than people in other countries I’ve visited and it annoys me that I have to use illegal software to update my Facebook status here, but every Chinese person I’ve met has been an experience for me – from sweet Celine, my Chinese sister, to the extortionists we met near the shipyards in Qingdao.

Now the battery in my laptop is already dying so I will hide in the seclusion of my iPod. See you in North Carolina in about 19 hours.

A day at the beach(?)...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:41:00 +0000

Well, another day in Qingdao. This trip really isn’t what I was hoping for. Today we found the “Strassen im deutschen Stil,” which, despite the name, weren’t very German-looking. We walked and walked and walked. Then we had no idea where we were anymore, but we knew it wasn’t where we should have been. We were near the shipyards so there were lots of workers, truck drivers, etc. They were all staring at us. Then, we passed by this kind of random restaurant on the side of the street. The one customer sitting outside stood up and started yelling at us.

“Hello! Welcome!” he said. He started gesturing to the open seats at his little table.

Joh and I looked at each other and decided this would be an excellent idea. We started walking over and the guy starts laughing. The waiter immediately comes out with a couple of beers and some peanuts for us.

“Tsingtao beer. Ok,” our table buddy said. Then he pointed down at the peanuts. “Goshi goshi. Ha ha ha. Ma farendsa.”

It took us a minute to realize “ma farendsa” was “my friends.” We still have no idea what “goshi goshi” is.

We sat there for a while, smiling at the guy and sipping our beers. After I had finished about 10 percent of mine, the waiter brought me another one.

“Tomorrow... you... ok,” the guy said to Joh. “Tomorrow... you... shippa shippa. Looka looka. Ok. Ha ha ha ha ha.”

I said to her that I was pretty sure this guy had been drinking for a while before we showed up at around 5:00. He heard me and just said, “Ha ha ha. Yes. Ha ha ha. Tsingtao beer. Ok.”

Well, after about two hours of talking about Tsingtao beer being ok and looking at ships, I saw a cat go by and tried to pet it. Then, the restaurant owner pulled up behind me and offered us a ride to see the port. So, we went. We did a few laps, looked at the incredibly communist billboards – “Hard work is good for the state and good for the soul” or something like that... – and then they took us to the beach. They pointed out to the water, which we had seen the day before and kinda motioned that this was the end of the trip. All I heard as I left, in broken English, was “Two hundred kuai.”

Those jerks.

I looked at Joh to see if they were saying what I thought they were saying, and they were. They had only done this nice trip for us to try to extort money from us. By then we were out of the car and Joh told them we didn’t have any money. They started opening the doors back up, saying they would take us to an ATM, which just made me more angry, so we just walked away.

The sun was behind us so I told Joh to keep an eye on our shadows, because I expected them to chase us. They didn’t, maybe because it was a very crowded area. Maybe because they realized there was no way we were going to pay them.

It was sad how quickly one of my favorite experiences in China turned into one of my least favorite. But it got worse.

We went out for another beer and then, for the second time in two nights in Qingdao, I got the craving for McDonald’s French fries. Random, I know. Well, we went and got some and on the way out we ran into some Americans who are studying at Qingdao University. We talked a bit and decided to join them for another beer. While we’re talking, it comes out that I was in the Army, which opens up a tirade of interesting comments and questions. One guy, who appeared to have been drinking since mid-February, kept asking me why we invaded Iraq with so few troops. I informed him that in my role as a military photographer I was rarely asked for my opinion on military strategy. I then listened politely as he talked about his job interview with “The Agency,” assuming that anyone who actually discusses a job interview with an intelligence agency with random strangers in China probably never went through such an experience. Then, I breathed a sigh of relief when he started walking home while we weren’t looking.

Qingdao – what a town.

Ch-ch-ch- Qingdao

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:31:00 +0000

The title isn't clever unless you know that a q is pronounced as a ch in Chinese...

I don’t know what I’m laying down on, but it’s hard and it has springs in it. A boxspring maybe? I’m in the world’s smallest hotel room in a town called Qingdao on China’s East coast. We came into town on Saturday, the day after finishing our “last day” of work.

I put that in quotes because I’m actually working on a story right now. We had so much work to finish over our last week that I couldn’t squeeze it all in. These hamburger stories are very time consuming and all of them have at least one silly thing I screwed up that took forever to try to fix, without ever really fixing it. Story of my life...

So after work on Friday a few of us went to get some Chinese barbecue – one of my favorite things to eat here is mutton skewers – and a beer or two. Our train left early Saturday morning, so we didn’t want to get out of control. It was all going to plan until a young Chinese man who had just graduated from university approached us and asked us to join him and his friends because he had never met a foreigner. So we did, and they basically hazed me for a couple of hours while they kept telling me the one English phrase they all knew – “I like football!” Then I couldn’t respond with, “Me too,” because they didn’t understand that, so I had to say, “I like football!” right back to them. It was a pretty deep conversation. We had a couple of our colleagues there to translate all the more trivial exchanges.

We did wake up in time for the train, which was the bullet train to Qingdao. It was a five-hour ride in really comfortable seats, so we were able to catch up on some of the sleep we missed. Of course, we had to do it in five-minute spats because there was a five-year old Chinese psychopath on the train who couldn’t think of anything entertaining to do aside from just running up and down the aisle. I was getting kind of annoyed but Joh looked like she was about to eat the poor kid. If there’s one thing I’ve learned here, it’s that it is very dangerous to deprive Joh of sleep.

We arrived in Qingdao at about 2:30. This city is famous for having been a large German settlement. The German influence is apparent in a lot of the architecture, as well as the city’s most famous export – Tsingtao beer. I had images of a nice quiet city on the coast – kind of like a typical German town but with Chinese people.

No, sir.

There are six beaches in Qingdao, which might sound like a lot until you learn that each of them are about 60 yards long and so full of people they look like ocean-front anthills. The guys are walking around in Speedos, the women are wearing bathing suits and the kids aren’t wearing anything. It’s not exactly Hawaii...

Dandong abbreviated

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:56:00 +0000

I'm so busy at work that I really don't have much time to write. Let's just say Dandong is a cool place to visit. In fact, if I had to live in China, I think I could handle that town. Joh and I passed our days and nights just walking up and down the waterfront. We met musicians and stopped to listen to them play. We looked through binoculars at North Korea. We walked across a bridge that only extends halfway across the river that creates the border between China and North Korea. I ran along the waterfront in my Army jogging shorts and I swear I was followed by two people in a black Chevrolet. It was all quite an experience.

Monday morning, just before we checked out of the hotel, I decided to take a swim in the river, which is something a lot of the locals do. It's totally polluted, but I went all the way to Dandong and I figured it was necessary to get as close as possible to this secretive nation I read about in the New York Times every day.

The water was cold as can be and it was tough to get in. I started swimming toward North Korea and when I brought my head out of the water and looked around, I realized the current was pulling me downstream pretty rapidly. I kind of freaked out and high-tailed it back to the shore. In the midst of my panicked heavy breathing, I swallowed a little bit of the water. Ewww. Coincidentally, I feel really sick now.

Or it might have been the train ride home that did it. Those hard seats we bought - miserable. It was like riding 14 hours in a train car loaded with cattle. Every seat was full. Some people didn't have seats at all. It was impossible to sleep for those of us who did because we were sitting as upright as kids in an old-fashioned Catholic school. I had to get up to use the bathroom and the aisles were packed with people sleeping on the floor. People were sleeping on the floor outside the bathroom. People were playing boomboxes, there was trash all over the place. It was just nasty. Easily the worst 14 consecutive hours of my life.

But, we got home. I'm still having trouble loading pictures onto the blog from here, so here is a link to some pictures we posted on our Web site. Before you criticize, I have nothing to do with the terrible way the site sets up the navigation between photos on these kinds of stories. Antiquated design...

I have to get back to work. Friday is my last day of work and I have a ton to do...

Ding dong, Dandong

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Dandong is a city in Northeast China. It's hardly a tourist attraction, but it's known for one special thing - its view into the world's most elusive nation. Johanna and I took a long weekend to go and see China's gateway to North Korea.

Traveling by train here is terrible. Let me go ahead and get that out of the way. Tickets only go on sale four days ahead of time and travel agencies only have access to a limited number of tickets to sell. We were able to buy bunks on the sleeper train for our 14-hour trip to Dandong, but we started the trip without having tickets to get home. We were kind of worried that we would have to write a story called "Stranded in Dandong" as one of our features.

That didn't happen. The first thing we did when we got to Dandong was buy return tickets - which is apparently always easier to do in the city you're visiting. Problem: the only tickets available were for hard seats. Could be dicey.

So here we are in Dandong. The train ride up was nice. The hard sleeper cars have several little rooms with six bunks in each. There are blankets and pillows and you get a place to stow your luggage. The bathrooms are totally nasty though, I guess because the bumpy ride causes people to lose their ability to aim. They don't have Western toilets either, which makes for an interesting trip for girls, I imagine.

Either way, we made it. We hopped into a taxi and realized we didn't know how to say our hotel name in Chinese. Johanna reached into her bag and handed our driver the reservation confirmation sheet and pointed to the phone number. She asked him in Chinese to call them for directions. So he did.

"Blah blah blah blah blah..." he said. Johanna started laughing. I looked back at her.

"He just said, 'I have these two foreigners in my cab and they asked me to call this number. Who are you and where should I take them?'" she said. I about lost it.

So he got directions and struck up a conversation with Johanna while I groggily looked out the windows. Dandong looks like any other Chinese city until you get near the Yalu River, which is the border with North Korea. As we passed it, the driver tapped me on the shoulder and pointed over. He knew exactly why we came to Dandong.

Right now we're at the hotel cleaning up. I'll post as the vacation progresses.

There's two o's in Goose, boys...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:08:00 +0000

Well, Jerry Lee Lewis has done me good. I was informed Monday that I came in third place in Friday's Karaoke finale. I didn't really understand how that happened, since my score wasn't even in the top 10, but that's what I was told. Then they told me I had to attend an awards ceremony on Wednesday, and that I would once again have to perform "Great Balls of Fire." Not good news for me...

I went to the ceremony with a couple of other guys from the office who were also finalists. One of them sang Peking Opera in full garb: makeup, platform sandals, a brilliant blue robe/thingy and a really big hat. The other guy sang a Chinese pop song called "One Night in Beijing." I think he was a favorite with the ladies. They were both really cool guys.

We got there early and watched the stage get set up. The 715 hosts were sitting in the front of the auditorium talking when one of them saw me and called me over. He was the one who talked to me about American music backstage during the semifinals. We talked about the States and North Carolina, and about my new-found celebrity status within the company. He said he was really impressed that the company allowed such a fun event to happen.

"Ten years ago, this would have been impossible," he said. I know there was another karaoke competition 12 years ago, so I asked him what he meant.

"This is so relaxed. Everyone is having a good time and the songs are popular. People liked your American song. Ten years ago, every song would have been a patriotic song about China. It would have been very serious." That was an interesting thing to hear.

I had to open today's show once again, which was fine, except the audio guys started the song before I was even given a mic. It's a tough song to pick up like that, but I tried - "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain!" - then they started the song over. I looked over at them and gave them a stop gesture with my hand, then a little wave to tell them to start over. They did, but that brief four-note intro blended in with the part of the song that was going already, so I didn't catch it. Then they started it again, but by then I was all flustered so it got all jumbled up. I was really sad my last performance had to start like that. Also, the front row was filled with all of our corporate gurus who were most definitely the most serious-looking people on the planet. It was really intimidating. They weren't getting into the song, no one was clapping along. It was like performing in a morgue. A total reversal of what it was like the other times I performed.

It got better as the song went on. I sang it a lot better this time - not well, just better - since my throat wasn't feeling as bad. I fell to my knees to sing the last line again and threw my arms out on the last beat, which people liked. Then, since I knew the crowd hadn't really felt the performance, I yelled, "Zhong guo jia yo!" (Go China!), which made everyone cheer. I think it made up for the lackluster beginning. Gotta know how to play to your crowd...

After another performer, they called a group of us onto the stage, and it then made sense how I got third place. Actually, eight of us got third place - very communist. I finished 12th overall in the competition and the people who finished eighth through 15th were considered the third place group. The top three all got first place and fourth through seventh got second. I got a bouquet of flowers and a big red award folder that actually doesn't have anything in it. They said I would get my prize soon. I'm dying to know what it is.

At this point, I have to say that this KTV competition has been the best part of this trip. I'm sad it's over. So far in China, I've seen some sights and met some people. I've done most of the cliché tourist stuff. I ate the food, experienced this and that, but getting to be a part of this event was really an honor and definitely something unlike anything I have ever experienced. I could go home tomorrow and be satisfied with my experience here based on that alone.

Great Balls of Fire!

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Goodness gracious, the karaoke finals were stressful. I don't even know where to start, except to say that those clues should have given away the song I chose to sing...

I was told on Tuesday that the competition had been moved to Friday, which cut the time I had to prepare in half. Of course I woke up on Wednesday morning with a cold. My throat hurt, my head hurt, my nose was running. Work sucked, and of course everyone decided to go grab a couple of beers at the end of the day. I had to sit out, which made me sad. I also couldn't rehearse my routine because I just went to bed after work. I was worried about being underprepared, but I at least had to make sure I would be able to talk on Friday.

Well, I didn't wake up Thursday feeling any better. The morning was busy, then I had to go do a story on another hamburger restaurant in the evening. I didn't get home until it was too late to practice again, so on the eve of my big performance, I still hadn't done any rehearsing, except that which I had done in my head...

I still felt bad on Friday morning, but I bought some medicine to help. The competition was at 1:30, so I spent my morning in the conference room practicing my dancing with my iPod on. I didn’t really have the whole thing planned, but I did have a couple of parts choreographed. I couldn’t sing in there though because the walls aren’t quite thick enough to shield my voice from the poor souls trying to work.

Being heard would have been less embarrassing than what really happened though, as two of my Chinese colleagues walked into the room while I was doing the twist on a table (I was wearing socks and doing it on the carpet was hurting my feet). Man, I was getting into it too. My headphones were on, so I couldn’t hear anything. My back was to the door and it was the piano solo of the song so I was just going all out – my right leg was twisting like crazy, my butt was shaking right in their direction. I turned around to lip sync the next verse and... There they were, staring at me. There I stopped, looking down at them.

Awkward pause.

“KTV!”I shouted, which is what the Chinese call karaoke. I jumped off the table, grabbed my shoes and bolted back to my desk, which I then hid under.

Celine, one of my Chinese colleagues, drove me up to the Karaoke venue after lunch. It was raining like crazy outside so I was just wearing a t-shirt and some shorts. I brought a suit with me – one that I bought here for a pittance – to wear for the performance. So I went back to the dressing room to change. I was feeling sick to my stomach and my throat was really dry. Some of the other competitors were getting ready, and they all knew my name, which was awkward for me since I didn’t know any of theirs. Sometimes it sucks to stand out...

I had the distinct privilege (curse) of being the first performer. While the 13 hosts were doing their intro, I was pacing backstage, going over the lyrics again, trying to test just how well I could hit the high-pitched parts with a cold, which was not well at all. I walked out on stage, grabbed my microphone and said hello to everyone in Chinese again, but didn’t take a picture this time. Then, as I was standing there, I had the awful feeling come over me that my fly was down. Tough start…

The folks in my department made signs and they were going nuts and there were about 72 studio cameras in my face, including one on a crane. I think the performance went well, even though I don’t really remember most of it. I finished well, hit the high note one good time and swung my arms out on the closing beat. The crowd seemed to like it and I think old Jerry Lee Lewis would have been proud. I got some good applause and people on the aisle were giving me some jibber jabber that I interpreted as positive feedback as I walked to my seat. They gave out scores as the competition went and I got a 97.87, which gave me the lead for a good bit, but the guy who went 10th had four pretty girls in short skirts do a dance behind him, which was good enough to knock me into second.

That didn’t turn out to matter though. I’m pretty sure my overall score was something like 15th in the competition. Yeah, there were that many people in the “finals.” Actually, there were 36(!) performers. 36! It took forever. The auditorium was freezing and everyone sang a Chinese song except for me and a nice woman who sang (surprise!) the Carpenters, so it was tough for the American contingent to keep up with what was going on. I’m still not totally sure who got the highest score.

But, it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was something I’ll never forget, and it’ll probably go down as my favorite memory in China. Once I get copies of the photos and the videos, I’ll be sure to share.

My mom's gonna be so proud...

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:08:00 +0000

So I mentioned a while back about how karaoke brings people together. I wasn't lying.

Friday was the semifinal round of the China International Publishing Group's karaoke competition. I thought it was actually the final round, so I had planned to practice a lot, choreograph a little dance or whatever and just rock out. Those plans never really materialized. The first round a few weeks ago was really laid back, so I kinda thought this was gonna be the same kind of thing - just a few people in a dark room with a little karaoke machine and some food. I wound up not really practicing or anything and I just went to work in a UNC t-shirt and some jeans.

So Joh and I left the office after lunch and met with Li Shao, a really sweet girl we work with. She was our escort to the CIPG headquarters building, where the competition was going down. We had to take a cab across town to this kinda crappy looking building, which, of course, had four security guards in front of it. I swear half of China's employed citizens are security guards. We walk in and there are these banners in the lobby advertising the CIPG celebrity contest or whatever they were calling it. There was a list of something like 100 names on it - all the people who were competing. I kinda got the feeling that this was a bigger deal than I had thought.

We walk through the lobby and up a little staircase and Li Shao points off to the right and says, "This is the dressing room."

Yes, there was a dressing room.

In it, people are wearing these fancy dresses and stuff. There's a guy in there doing makeup for a few of the girls. A bunch of people are standing around in suits and gowns. There I am with some grubby jeans and a gray shirt. I was a little surprised. Then this strange woman just says "Hi, Chris." This really freaked me out at first but then I realized I was the only American in the competition, so it really wasn't all that weird. The 19 emcees come over and ask me if I want to rehearse.

I kinda realized this was a little bigger than I thought it was going to be. I didn't want to rehearse, but I did look at the stage and the auditorium. The stage had all these crazy lights and this enormous red backdrop advertising the third annual CIPG idol contest or something. There were about 400 seats or so in the auditorium and a couple of high-end video cameras set up in the aisles. I seriously thought this was going to be in an empty boardroom with a Casio boombox and 10 people hanging out. Not quite...

Anyway, the competition starts at 2:00 and the seats are pretty full. Most of the performers are wearing jeans and stuff, so I start to relax a little. There were actually some really good singers in the competition. But here's the thing - and this is great advice if you ever happen to be involved in a corporate karaoke competition with a bunch of Chinese people - they don't really perform. There's no motion or dynamism to their routines. So you have to exploit that if you want to win. Oh, and Chinese people seem to really love volume in their karaoke. The louder, the better.

Friday's competition - the semifinals were actually done over several days - featured about 40 singers. There was a 20-minute intermission in the middle. I was the ninth person to go after intermission. I was feeling pretty good, sure that the fact that I was gonna dance around a little would make up for my lack of singing ability. Being the only American in the competition was sure to help also.

My song was "Down on the Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I wanted something upbeat but not too hard to sing. While the eighth person on the lineup was walking on stage, I rolled backstage to get ready. One of the emcee's was back there and he actually spoke English.

"You nervous?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little."

"You will be fine."

"Thanks," I said.

Pause. I was kind of bouncing on my heels to work off nervous energy while I went over the lyrics in my mind. Rooster hits the washboard...Blinky thumps the gut bass...

"I love American music."

"Oh yeah?" I responded, still bouncing.

"Yeah. Michael Jackson. He's the best."

Pause.

"I like American rock and roll too," he continued.

"Yeah? You ever heard of the song I'm performing?"

"Sorry. No."

No love for CCR over here. Anyway, number eight wraps up and one of the other 18 emcees starts introducing me. I go out on stage and people immediately start clapping for the white guy. I say "Ni hao" (hello) to them and they all yell it back to me. The real winner though was that I pulled out my camera and took a picture of everyone in the crowd. They really ate that up.

"That's for my mom," I said. I'd bet about four percent of the people there understood that.

The song starts and I start clapping to the beat. Everyone starts clapping along. The guitars kick in and I start jumping and people are going nuts. I start singing and I can barely hear myself. So, I start singing louder. By the time I get to "courthouse," the 12th word in the song, my voice starts cracking like ice in hot water. I'm literally screaming into the mic, people are waving their hands, I'm jumping up and down, camera flashes are blinding me, I still can't hear myself singing... I don't remember much, except for thinking about how terrible it must have sounded.

I walk off the stage and a girl gives me flowers. Another colleague of mine is at the bottom of the stairs and she gives me a high five. I can't even talk anymore. I go to sit down and one of the emcees takes my flowers away(!). A couple of minutes later, after a few other people have sung, they reveal my score. 97.12, which puts me in the lead. This guy who works downstairs from me went a couple of spots after me and he came in second. He and I will go on to the finals next Tuesday.

I'll admit it - I was absolutely, undoubtedly, irrefutably the worst singer out there that day. I think taking the picture helped, as did the jumping/dancing. Being the only non-Asian person helped a lot too.

I want to make sure that my performance for the finals is so good that if I win, it won't be because I'm a foreigner, but because I smoked it. So I've spent a couple of hours today checking out songs on the Internet, trying to find the perfect song that I can boogie to while at least putting down a respectable vocal performance.

Suggestions?

Internet blockage

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:45:00 +0000

I'm working on editing my hamburger story today, and it's coming along slowly. Since my last post, I've taken a couple of breaks to walk around the office and I swear more people are using Facebook now than before China blocked it. The big talk on MSN Messenger, which everyone in the office uses to communicate with each other, is a debate over who has the best proxy server to get around the blocks. I'm very proud of my coworkers today...

Culture through response to unrest

chris@chrishigginbotham.com (Chris) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:55:00 +0000

So you may have heard about the protests going on in Northwest China right now. I'm not sure how much publicity it's getting in the States, but people are talking about it here and seeing it all unfold from here is interesting.

We woke up Monday morning and saw a couple of headlines on the news sites about unrest in Xinjiang, which is north of Tibet. It's an area with a majority population of Chinese Muslims, called Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs). You might remember Uighurs being in the news a couple of weeks ago when several were released from Guantanamo Bay and sent to Bermuda and Palau against China's wishes.

Well, the initial reports were that three or so people were killed in rioting on Sunday and the impression we had around lunchtime was that Chinese security forces had pretty much gotten things under control. Then someone turned on CNN International after lunch, and it was showing images of overturned police cars and fires in the street. The number of deaths rocketed from three to 140 or so, and these numbers were coming from Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

A group of us all joined around the TV to see what was happening - I get the feeling domestic civil unrest is very intriguing to people here - and one of the employees says, "Now they're going to lock down Xinjiang." He was right. They imposed a curfew and sent in extra security. The restaurants closed early and the government limited communication.

Communication control started Monday when I couldn't get on Twitter at work. It's common for sites like Twitter and YouTube to get blocked - they were blocked in the days surrounding the Tiananmen Square anniversary too - but we get "special" Internet access at the office, which allows us to access certain sites other Chinese Internet users can't. We get YouTube. We get Wikipedia. We can search for Falun Gong on Google. I can access my blog from my office computer. These are all things that are blocked on our Internet connection at home.

Interestingly, I can still post this blog from work today. I just went to YouTube and looked up the Xinjiang stuff and watched videos of it. I just googled Falun Gong - no problem. But still no Twitter, and in the latest development, no Facebook. They took that one down Tuesday night at about 7:00 China time. That's a pretty big step and it means they're getting serious. They really seem to be going out of their way to not only end the protests, but to prevent people from even talking about them.

One of our duties here, aside from doing stories about hamburgers, is to polish the English on stories done by Chinese reporters and translated by folks in our office. You should see the stuff coming across our desks today (Wednesday). I'll try to keep my opinion about the situation to myself here, but the stories I polished yesterday and today have been really anti-protest and far from objective. The shutting down of a lot of these social media sites, which have proven pretty effective in proliferating information about events in Iran, looks to be China's way of making sure that kind of information is the only kind of information available.