One of the reasons I'm here in New Orleans

My mission manager is Maria Or, who speaks fluent Cantonese. I don't, so we have a language barrier. ;o) Actually, I hired Maria about 5 years ago. She has fire in her belly - a passion for writing and media relations, which is what we do. She produced a revolutionary employee magazine design at Seattle District, she deployed to Iraq twice, Afghanistan once, and to Mississippi and New Orleans following hurricane disasters. She is one of the Corps media rising stars. She is 29 years old and because of her aggressive work ethic, she was selected as Chief, Public Affairs, in San Francisco. I say all that to show the deep humility I sensed when she assigned a story to a co-worker, acknowledging what I taught her:

From: Or, Maria SPN
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 3:37 PM
To: Perkins, Cheryl A LA-RFO
Cc: Harris, David G LA-RFO; Bostick, Jerone H LA-RFO
Subject: Story on Navy Medical Center

1LT Perkins,

Thanks for offering to write a story about the Navy Medical Center. It shows great initiative and I look forward to reading your story.

Just a few things to help get you started:

1. Remember to answer "Who, What, When, Where, and Why" in your story.
2. Your first sentence should be 30 words or less and should answer the 5 "Ws". This sentence is called the lead and should be a summary of the story. It should also be catchy to draw the reader into a story.
3. Remember the "inverted pyramid" – where you put all your most important information in the beginning in the story and continue on with more detail as the article progresses.
4. In your story, don't forget to emphasize relevance towards the LA-RFO and Corps of Engineers. Your audience will most likely internal to the Corps.
5. Include quotes from at least 2 sources to help bring credibility and personality to the story.
6. Your story should be at least 500 words.
7. Include at least 3 photos with captions that identify the people in the pictures, what is happening, and where.

Please have a rough draft completed by COB [close of business] tomorrow. If you need any help, remember Dave was a journalism instructor and is an awesome writer. Or you can always ask me too (but everything I learned I learned from him!).



Thanks again,



Maria Or

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Task Force Hope, LA-RFO

Public Affairs Mission Manager