With the economy in serious trouble, automakers and financial institutions are seeking a government bailout. And the banks and financial folks got one to the tune of $700 billion. Well, The New York Times recently reported that Six Apart, the maker of Moveable Type blogs called TypePad, has created a bailout program of their own: “The Journalist Bailout Program.” (Spoiler alert—they interviewed me!)

The new initiative is designed to help journalists who recently lost their jobs get back on their feet. Once accepted into the program, Six Apart will give 20 to 30 individuals a TypePad pro blog with full technical support (worth about $150 a year), inclusion in its advertising program (which is an opportunity to earn money) and his or her blog featured on Blogs.com, a blog aggregator site. Six Apart’s Moveable Type software and platform is used by some great sites like Barack Obama’s campaign site, The Washington Post, and NPR—just to name a few. This is a huge gesture and generous offering for struggling journalists who may need both financial and technical help to start blogging.

About a week or so ago, I saw a Tweet about the program. (I’m a bigger Twitter user and advocate.) So, I immediately clicked on the link and saw blogger and Six Apart vice president, Anil Dash’s, blog post about the opportunity.

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Today, I spent my entire day covering the Diamond Bar fire’s evacuation center. The bad air really did me in. My lungs are crying right now. Check out my story on Annenberg TV News. (And don’t laugh because I look tired. Grad school and bad air will do it to you every time.)

I’m going to try and start posting more of my own video stories.

Smooches!

The Caramel Bella

If you read my site regularly, you may have noticed that my posts have been pretty slow this week (read: hardly any). It is because yours truly is in New Orleans for a reporting project on race, religion and politics. I hope you have been following my twitters on the site because they should have kept you up-to-date on my Big Easy adventures. Although I’ve enjoyed my stay immensely in New Orleans, I must say it has been an emotional rollercoaster. For me, seeing the Hurricane Katrina devastation has been very sad and depressing but it’s been balanced by the beauty and warmth of the N.O. people. And the food and partying is beyond compare. Thank you New Orleans for giving a me a lifetime of wonderful memories and allowing me to experience your wonderful city. Stay tuned for more posts and tweets from N.O.L.A.

Smooches (especially to New Orleans),

The Caramel Bella

Yesterday while in the shower, I came to a very interesting conclusion. My addiction and constant checking of my Blackberry is causing me anxiety. (And yes, I have been clinically diagnosed as a “Crackberry” addict by my husband.) Although this revelation may be obvious to many, I began to isolate my recent onset of anxiety and nervousness to my incessant email checking. Now, I don’t believe that email alone is to blame for stress and anxiety. (My main stressful part of my life at the moment is graduate school and journalism commitments.) However, I am often checking email when I can’t be “actionable.” And glancing down at a Blackberry email doesn’t really equal reading and digesting it. In fact, I often forget that I’ve even looked at the email. Simply, there is no point of checking email on my blackberry when I can’t reply with a thoughtful response or follow-up in a manner appropriate to the email. Meaning, I can’t take action on the email. I can’t do anything. So, if I followed my own advice, I wouldn’t check my Blackberry during meals, while on the phone (yes I do this), during class, and even while driving (hey, I’m stopped at lights). Multitasking just might be the death of me.

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Danyel Smith Misses the BART

Danyel Smith

Age: 42 Neighborhood: Work: Murray Hill; home: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Occupation: Editor-in-chief, Vibe magazine; vice-president/editorial director, Vibe Media Group; author of the novels More Like Wrestling (Crown, 2003), and Bliss (Crown, 2005).

Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional? Lena Mary Calhoun Horne.

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York? Fancy? Babbo. Almost always? Salmon cakes and grits at the Usual on Vanderbilt, in Brooklyn.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job? Ask and answer questions.
Would you still live here on a $35,000 salary? I did.
What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway? If I hadn’t just seen Terrence Howard in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it would be Fantasia in The Color Purple. Before that, it was waaaaaay back when Stockard Channing was in The Little Foxes.
Do you give money to panhandlers? Yes, even more, when I’m sad.
What’s your drink? A Jameson and ginger ale. With a cherry if times are happy.
How often do you prepare your own meals? More often than not. I’m from California, so even after fifteen years here, “takeout” remains a phrase for quotation marks or italics.
What’s your favorite medication? Aleve and Turner Classic Movies cure most everything.
What’s hanging above your sofa? We can see Prospect Park. Kinda.
How much is too much to spend on a haircut? When you only get two a year, you can splurge.
When’s bedtime? When does the last episode of any version of Law & Order, on any channel, end? And does my DVR count?
Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square? I know old Times Square only from the movies. But I do like that Dave & Buster’s.
What do you think of Donald Trump? I wish he would call me with some real-estate advice. I’d be able to really see Prospect Park.
What do you hate most about living in New York? That the subway system is not exactly like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in Northern California.
Who is your mortal enemy? Time!
When’s the last time you drove a car? Everyone snaps on me because I’m from the West, and I should know how to, but I don’t know how to drive. That said, the last time I drove a car was seven years ago in Hollywood.
Who should be the next president? A genius pragmatist with a poet’s heart.
Times, Post, or Daily News? Nytimes.com.
Where do you go to be alone? Walking. From Barnes & Noble to City Bakery to McNally Robinson to Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery to … well, on and on like that.
What makes someone a New Yorker? Being cool with not having real space. And knowing, on the morning of September 11, 2001, in the sunny comfort of my parents’ den in California, that even if it’s about Amtrak, it’s time to get — immediately — home to Brooklyn.

As some of my bestest (yes, I know it’s not a word) friends know, I am the star apprentice at CNBC this summer – destined for greatness. Hey, if I don’t say it who will. (This is the subtle art of positive thinking and affirmation at work.) Anywoo, one of our anchors, Erin Burnett, has made to the limelight. The New York Times wrote an article about her on Sunday, July 20th entitled, “Needing a Star, CNBC Made One.” Check it out.

Ms. Burnett has achieved my goal – becoming a TV anchor and reporter success. And she is all that she appears to be – beautiful, smart, friendly and full of smiles for everyone she encounters. I wish her the best and I hope to follow in her fortune-laden footsteps.

Smooches,
The Caramel Bella