How a Bachelor's degree in History education, the study of propaganda, blogging about homeschooling, running a business, and writing a book, made me a mercenary with a keyboard.
How does a writer hook a client in a short personal bio section? What combination of words can encapsulate the value of a persons skills? The right words can alter opinion, mood, and shift world views. Ordered correctly, backed by authority, and tested with social proof words have the ability to change behavior. Words can bring dreams into reality and blend reality into dreams. It is rumored that a carefully crafted sentence can thrust a reader back in time. In 1917 a 17 year boy named Jonny opened the local newspaper. On the front cover was a picture of a German soldier depicted as a guerrilla murdering a child. For the last few weeks Jonny has read all about the Hun's moral depravity. Filled with rage, like a scene from the movie Inception, the mental process of dehumanizing a foreign people is well underway in Jonny's young mind. In just one month he will volunteer to cross an ocean to Europe and fight in The Great War. Jonny exists as a caricature. A glimpse into the manufactured reality of a young boy at the turn of the 20th century.
Having majored in History Education at Cortland University provides me unique experience with forensic historical research. Propaganda is an area of historical study I find to be of extraordinary interest. From WWI war propaganda, to Edward Bernay's book "Propaganda," the manor in which public relation firms infiltrate, manipulate, and subvert the public mind is fascinating. My experience with historical research, writing, 7 years working in the field of education, homeschooling, blogging about education, and running a small homeschool consulting business has assisted in the development of the following skills:
-Research. -Critical thinking. -Writing. -Pursasian tactics. -Rhetoric. -Understanding of how propaganda targets human psychology. -Sales letters. -Copywriting.