Sree

At the beginning of my journalism career, I was the AAJA/New England National Board representative as well as the AAJA National Scholarship Chair at UNITY ’99 in Seattle. It was at this joint convention of several thousand journalists from AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ, and NAJA that I met Sree Sreenivasan in person at the Gala Scholarship and Awards Banquet. (I became acquainted with fellow Filipina, Michelle Malkin, at UNITY as well, but it was Sree who stood out for me.)

I don’t believe he remembers the introduction, but Sree was well known to me as a co-founder of SAJA since a number of my friends were South Asian journalists. Even then, Sree was notable for his sense of engagement and the posts he broadcasted on the somewhat limited forums of the time.

When, as a newbie, I opened my first social media account in June 2009, Sree was one of my first Facebook friends. Each day, I would look forward to the provocative posts and quality links he shared on Facebook and Twitter, and I found myself giving some thought to the comments solicited.

So, given the recent buzz surrounding StrangeTango.com in media circles (disclosure: AAJA convention co-chair, Sangita Chandra, is a longtime personal friend, former colleague, and adviser to StrangeTango.com), I felt it was only fitting that I devote a post to the hugely popular Professor and Dean of Student Affairs at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism known—like Oprah—by his first name. Here are some of Sree’s recent links on Facebook, followed by my comments.

Sree: What do you think of this list? - 25 things journalists can do to future-proof their careers: http://bit.ly/Oc1S4 (by Chris Lake)
Audrey Dolar (A. D.) Tejada: ...strangely, before I ever read Mr. Lake's article, we had already incorporated most of his suggestions into our collaborative project: StrangeTango.com. This from a trained broadcast journalist who cut her teeth at World News Tonight, CNN International, and WCVB, the flagship Hearst station in Boston. Prescient...I saw the writing on the wall when new media appeared 15 years ago and made the right transition to crafting our own unique brand: life as art... ~A.

Sree: READING: "How Facebook Can Ruin Your Friendships" by WSJ's Elizabeth's Bernstein: http://bit.ly/uCpzL ["...we're breaking a cardinal rule of companionship: Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Friends."]
Audrey Dolar (A. D.) Tejada: Thanks for the post, Sree...Before I joined Facebook a few months ago, I used email exclusively to connect. I’m tolerant…I never asked to be unsubscribed from friends’ boring emails and chain letters. Therefore, in the rare instances when people asked to be removed from my targeted listserv, I also removed them from my Christmas card list and, therefore, from my friendship circle. ~A.

Sree: READING: "Online, your private life is searchable" by LAT's David Sarno: http://bit.ly/N9iyP (didn't know about snitch.name)
Audrey Dolar (A. D.) Tejada: Thanks for this quality link, Sree...I had written an unpublished essay, "Speak, Memory," about how frighteningly easy it was to use the internet to fill in the gaps in the lives of friends from college to the present day. Gary Guzy, Paxus Calta (nee Sky Flansburg) and Joey Green...all became public figures. I decided to launch my personal website after a local newspaper article and photo of me and my dad on my first day in the first grade in Oklahoma surfaced on the internet...! ~A.

Sree: MUST-READ: The case for SLOW communication - an essay by Granta editor John Freeman in WSJ: http://bit.ly/3EkTUd (strange to post it here, of course)
Audrey Dolar (A. D.) Tejada: ...it's our manifesto, too, on our new website, Strange Tango: life as art... ~A., StrangeTango.com


Re-post from Facebook:
"Rahilla Zafar congrats on your shout out:
@sreenet: Sree Sreenivasan is an incredibly popular J-school professor at Columbia who tweets political and media
http://current.com/1k5tm4cTop 100 Twitterers in Academia // Current
Source: current.com
These 100 Twitter feeds come from admissions office, student affairs departments, professors, athletics departments, and more, bringing you information about…http://current.com/1k5tm4c"