Jamie’s Brain

It may sound odd to say my first entry back into the world of jamiesbrain.com came full circle while watching the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. In full swing of the quarter life crisis, this little TV show was the icing on the cake.

In 1993, I taped the MTV Movie Awards. Like on a VHS tape. I watched it probably 10 times in total, throughout the year, until the next one. I didn’t tape it because I was out- I couldn’t program the VCR, it was like rocket science, remember? I watched it live, and rewatched it, commercials and all, because it epitomized cool to me. The clothes, the jokes, the music…the people. It was all real (as real as it could be) and aspirational. It didn’t try hard. The actors and singers were new and fresh. And everyone talked about it the next day.

I just finished watching the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. It could have been Fraggle Rock with all of the puppet action going on there. They’ve given up. 1950’s sponsorship blabber invaded the show like aliens trying to brainwash us. The air of ‘we are going to show we are cool by pushing consumer-generated content’ was enough to stifle the crowd. And an award for a movie that’s not even out yet? That’s just pathetic. Now the actors are either too young to fawn over, or old enough to make me sad (Jack Nicholson could barely talk? The Fresh Prince’s kid won an award?). The only real moment of the night was bittersweet: Sarah Silverman’s Paris Hilton jokes with the constant panning to her sitting in the audience. It was like watching someone get picked on in high school with a bigger audience and more money.

So what does this have to do with me? It’s about representation. If the 13 year old me looked to MTV as the representation of cool, what does it represent now? It’s me trying to hold on to my youth. It’s the yearly ritual of watching this awards show, just like the music awards. If I stop, then I’m old. Like, officially. I had this weird vision of a ‘younger person’ seeing that I watched it, and saying, “why are you watching this, you’re too old”, or “why are you watching MTV, no one watches that”. Either way, I’m screwed.

Will I watch it again next year?

At 13 years old, I was, just as MTV, riding high on the wave of endless possibility. I was at the crux of the teenage experience; MTV was at their peak. At 27, like MTV, I can see the walls, the boxes we’ve created for ourselves. It’s constricting. It’s time for change.

Jamie’s Brain is going to be (and has already been) inactive for a while. I need to move to a new blog service as this one isn’t doing it for me. This takes time, mostly, my manfriend’s. Also, I am starting my new blog HardRockChick. So, in the meantime, go check that out.

I have recently been volunteering for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. I am assisting with brainstorming a media strategy for their campaign to recruit riders and sponsors. It is a great group of people, and it is truly rewarding, even though I have just started. It is a challenge to get people to donate some of their assets to the organization. Everyone involved is so passionate about the cause, and it is great to be around people like that at a time when everyone is so jaded.

Lisa was my mentor throughout the Texas Media Sequence.

Ability: To put it quite simply, as a student of advertising, Ms. Harvey gets it. She is a well-prepared student who knows how to fully utilize the resources provided to her by our department and the university. For example, Ms. Harvey was one of only a handful of students who utilized the note taking system I set up. On my recommendation, she would always visit our website prior to coming to class, print out the day’s PowerPoint notes, and come with these print outs in hand prepared simply to listen. Rather than writing profusely the entire class, Ms. Harvey would listen, interact, contribute and make note of the new information that surfaced as a result of class discussions. As a result, her comprehension and ownership of the material was far beyond my expectations. This performance illustrates to me that Ms. Harvey would thrive in the seminar environment provided by our graduate program.

Leadership: Ms. Harvey seemed to tackle all of the materials and different assignments presented to her without a snag. In fact, a number of times during open lab meetings I would find Ms. Harvey giving up her own time to assist other classmates on homework or projects. She is very capable of taking complex ideas and breaking them down into their most critical components. More importantly, she is able to take her knowledge to the next level, and help others down that same path.

Maturity: Ms. Harvey’s maturity was apparent from the beginning. In fact, because of her level-headed presentation of herself, I believed her to be a graduate student until I discovered differently nearly half way through the semester.

Professionalism/Attitude: Ms. Harvey is extremely professional and pleasant to work with. Her diplomacy skills far outreach her years. I believe her to be a wonderful representative of our program and our department.

In closing, I would like to say I have worked with many strong students during my teaching experience, and have had the opportunity to write a number of letters of recommendation. In addition to her performance in my class, I believe Ms. Harvey’s overall performance at UT speaks for itself. I can say with honesty that in comprehensively evaluating Ms. Harvey for this recommendation I would place her among the very top group of students I have had the pleasure to teach.

Lisa Dobias
Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin
Department of Advertising
dobias@mail.utexas.edu

Dr. Burns is my beloved mentor in account planning and a wonderful friend as well. He has advised me on my most favorite, difficult, and applicable projects from my student career.

To Those This May Concern;

I am writing in support of Jamie Harvey and her interest your company. Jamie has been an outstanding student — I have worked with her in small seminar classes, we have teamed on several student research projects and her contributions, energy and sense of presentation have been outstanding. Her recent work on the Big 12 branding project was professional and well delivered to the client.

Add to these qualities an excellent understanding of the societal influences that impact business and political models plus a good sense of humor and we may feel confident of her ability to interact well with others in the agency and always with both passion and enthusiasm. Her interest in the ways in which we behave towards each other as well towards products and services is what I like to see in students completing the account planning sequence in advertising. The learning she received working as a kid and then as a competent student in a successful family business further suggests that she will use her background, training and research in productive ways for the assignments she receives. I am pleased to bring her to your attention.

Sincerely yours,

Professor Neal M Burns
Director, The Center for Brand Research
Department of Advertising
University of Texas at Austin
nburns@mail.utexas.edu

Jodi and I have worked together on several projects, namely AGC related social events and trips, and also on account planning projects. She is pursuing her ph.d. in our program; thus, she is crazy and smart, or maybe just crazy smart.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Jamie Harvey on several different projects and events. Jamie is dedicated, detail-oriented, dependable, and creative. She is extremely easy to work with and has an exceptional ability to identify innovative ways to get a job done well. Jamie has managed to pursue her Masters degree while maintaining her professional job; a task few graduate students are able to manage. Her ability to multi-task is exceptional and no matter what she does, she always gives it 110%. I have great admiration for Jamie both as a personal friend and professional colleague. I know she will be a valuable asset to any company she works for; she truly is an amazing woman.”

Jodi Smith
BBA, MA, and current Doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin
jodilisa@aol.com

Cristin and I worked on a project together for a class called Sports ansd Special Event Marketing. We helped to get an alcohol sponsor for an art gallery opening in conjunction with a magazine called Urbanscape. It was a very difficult project, but we succeeded and learned a lot in the process.

“Jamie is someone who is not afraid to take initiative, not afraid to talk to people, and not afraid to make things happen. She is also very easy to get along with and I enjoyed working with her.”

Cristin Burton
Art Director
UT-Austin
Cristin44@aol.com

Professor Hemeyer was my professor for a class entitled Strategies in Public Relations. His experience leading the PR team for Pennzoil during their lawsuit with Texaco as well as his current work with the largest funeral services company were great to learn from.

“I would hire Jamie. She is one of the few “creatives” I know that is efficient and organized while still going to the creative edge. And, her “stuff” will sell.”

Terry Hemeyer
Senior Lecturer
UT-Austin
Managing Director
Marketing/advertising/public relations
Service Corporation International
TTGHEMEYER@aol.com

Tune has been my TA for both of my account planning classes.

“I’ve been in the Graduate Advertising program at UT for several years now and have witnessed the passage of many graduate students. Jamie is one who has caught my attention, and whom I will be looking for at the top. As a Teaching Assistant for two of her classes and being active in the same organization (AGC), I have been impressed by her professionalism, work ethic and talent. She has excellent leadership skills and works well in collaborative environments. If I were to hand-pick an A-team to work with out of this cohort, Jamie would definitely be on that list!”

Sounthaly Outhavong
Ph.D. Student
Department of Advertising

Matt and I worked together on Austin Found. He is a dear friend and gifted copywriter.

“Jamie doesn’t do just great work but absolutely, oh my God, awesome
work. When I was lucky enough to work with her she naturally took
over as group leader and not only did an excellent job herself but
brought everyone else on the team to her level. I learned more about
brand planning and insight from her than I did from the teacher.”

Matt Barber
copywriter
University of Texas at Austin
barber.mg@gmail.com