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By Laurel Hart, 09/08/2010

Even though I have a day job, this summer felt a bit like a summer break of sorts because of my break between teaching in the spring and fall semesters. The class I teach at NYU begins again this evening, and I’m looking forward to meeting a whole new group of students.

MN State Fair Butter Sculptures

So in between my regular work, including client activities and work travel, what did I do this summer?

• I read a number of books for fun. In fact, more than I have in quite some time, thanks in large part to Karen Russell’s How Mysterious! project. I’ve always loved mysteries (my mom is a voracious reader, mostly of mysteries), but between work and teaching, and the large number of things I read online, I hadn’t been reading many fiction books. How Mysterious! served as both inspiration and recommendation source. I’m happy I did read so much this summer – it really helped clear my brain.
• I took a lot of weekend trips. Between friends’ weddings (quite a few!) and family gatherings, I managed trips to Santa Barbara, CA; Chattanooga, TN; Mykonos, Greece (ok, that was more than a weekend); Cape Cod; a rural lake in upstate Maine; and my hometown of St. Paul, MN. All wonderful, and hard to pick a favorite. Although the butter sculptures of Princess Kay of the Milky Way at the Minnesota State Fair this past Labor Day weekend were pretty amazing.
• And of course, all the usual summer things: friends, food, music, sun… It was a scorcher of a summer in NYC, but still summer.

Coming into work this morning, it definitely felt like fall was here. New York City public schools started today, and I passed a long line of families taking their kids to the first day of school at my local P.S. (primary school). Subways were packed like they haven’t been in months. Daylight’s getting shorter on both ends. Welcome back, fall.

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By Laurel Hart, 01/21/2010

Bobst Library at NYU

Last night was the first night of the new course I’m teaching at NYU this spring semester. The course is Social Media: Objectives, Strategies, Tactics, in the Master’s in Public Relations and Corporate Communications program. I first started working with the directors of the program on developing the course almost a year ago, and after it went through the NYU and New York State approval process, it’s exciting for me to see the class come to fruition.

I have about 30 students in the Wednesday night section I’m teaching, and the students are really a cross-section of our program as a whole. Some students are fairly soon out of school, some are professionals who have worked in PR or communications for many years; there is an interesting variety of international students; a few students changing careers; and a majority of women but some men too.

I’m teaching in exactly the same room where I started in the program almost five years ago as a student, in the fall of 2005. You really can’t escape your past, can you.