Lip Service and the Society of Professional Journalists South Florida Chapter Present: Off The Record: Journalists Out Loud on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. An evening of storytelling featuring top local writers at Design Within Reach in Miami Beach.

What we’re looking for:
• True, first-person stories about funny, sad, humiliating, scandalous or 
uplifting experiences.
• Submissions from journalists of every fashion — print, radio, television and online.
• Writers who want to share their work with a live audience in a fun, 
appreciative setting.
• Typewritten stories of 1,300 words or fewer.

What we’re not looking for:
• Stories you’ve written about other people. This is an opportunity for you to write and talk about yourself. And what journalist doesn’t like to do that?

Modeled after the popular storytelling series Lip 
Service, Off the Record aims to toss objectivity aside and celebrate the art of 
writing and storytelling without concern for column inches, page views or 
ratings. Simply put, we want your story.

Send your story to submissions@lipservicestories.com. PLEASE PUT “Off the Record” in the subject line. There is NO FEE to submit a story or attend the event. It’s all FREE.

Submissions deadline: Friday, Oct. 22

For more information on Lip Service and to watch videos from previous events, visit Lipservicestories.com.

Design Within Reach is located next door to Books and Books at 927 Lincoln Road, Suite 101, in Miami Beach. Call 305-604-0037 or visit Dwr.com.

Brought to you by:

Patty Doherty, whose husband is a culinary-institute trained chef, recently opened a restaurant in Jupiter’s Abacoa called Cooks. She promises free coffee and WiFi to SPJ / Journalists in Transition members on the first Wednesday of every month, from 9:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. We’re welcome to come and work on stories, set up interviews/meetings, or just talk, and squat in the place until the dinner prep starts. If we get hungry, they’ve promised to whip up something that unemployed writers could afford.

From Patty: “You never know, maybe they’d like to learn to cook? Or bartend? Or any number of different tasks a restaurant must perform…”

Cooks is at 1209 Main Street #101 in Abacoa Jupiter, Florida.
To find it: Take I-95 to Donald Ross Road, head east. At the first entrance into Abacoa, turn left and follow the signs for the town center. Cooks is on Main Street, facing Scripps and the FAU dorms, about half way down. Kitchen: 561.429.8020

The project is still in the initial development phase, and we invite everyone interested in making the project a reality to attend the first meeting. Here are the details:

DATE: Sunday, March 29th
TIME: 11 AM
LOCATION: Panera Bread, 2101 N Federal Hwy #114, Pompano Beach, FL 33062

Please note:

Jill Barton, formerly of the AP, is about to graduate from law school and has agreed to help manage the incorporation/legal needs for us. That will be the main topic of discussion, along with a brainstorming session on what role we can and should play to be most useful to journalists in transition.

If you can’t make it March 29, don’t worry. The next meeting will be Sunday, April 19, same time, same place.

Please think about what areas you would be most interested in working on:

I. Incorporation/Legal/Mission/Charter/Ethics/financial/taxes (Jill Barton)
II. Fundraising and other event planning (Progressive dinners, volleyball tournaments, auctions, pot-luck socials, journalist-band concerts? What about seminars? What you need to know about being self-employed, how to set up and run a web site, freelancing 101, managing your finances after a layoff, etc….)
III. Establishing a volunteer network for transportation/babysitting/computer help, etc. Web site set-up, communications.
IV. Corporate giving and collaborations (hitting up the news companies and foundations, partnering with other news-oriented non-profits)
V. Guidelines for financial assistance and targeted fundraising (How do we go about meeting needs while being fair, minimizing bureaucracy at the same time?)

Thanks for supporting this idea. None of us have to face this transition alone.

The Miami-Dade support group will meet Tuesday, March 24th at 7 PM a John Martin’s Restaurant at 253 Miracle Mile, Miami. For more info, call John Hopkins (305-803-7008).

The Broward support group will meet Wednesday, March 25th at 7 PM at the Starbucks at 3305 Sheridan Street, Hollywood. for more info, contact Julie Kay (jkay50@hotmail.com).

If there is interest, we will also create a group in Palm Beach County.

We at SPJ want to say how sorry we are to all of you who lost your jobs recently and in past months.

We are starting a support group for displaced (laid off-bought out) journalists, and possibly an email listserve. Somewhere we can all share information about job leads, freelancing, health insurance, financial tips, and yes, feelings. We may have guest experts stop by, such as financial planner Laura Walsh. That’s up to you.

We will start the first group at Starbuck’s at 3305 Sheridan St., Hollywood, on Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. (Please note: The date has changed to Wednesday.)

We’ve just added a second group in Miami-Dade. It will meet Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m. in the back room at John Martin’s Restaurant, 253 Miracle Mile, Miami.

If this is something you would be interested in, please respond to me at jkay50@hotmail.com.

Julie Kay
SPJ South Florida
Chapter President

Come join the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association-Florida and the South Florida Black Journalists Association this Halloween for a chance to network and have some spooky fun at Tobacco Road on Thursday, Oct. 30 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The event includes free appetizers, a cash bar and door prizes at Tobacco Road’s outside patio.

Tobacco Road is located at 626 S. Miami Ave in Miami. Valet parking is available in Tobacco Road’s lot and costs $2, but there also are parking meters along S.W. Eighth Street and S. Miami Ave.

So come on, bring a friend and network with other journalists this Halloween! Costumes optional.

For more information, contact Alana Roberts at aroberts27@gmail.com.

If you plan to (or hope to) attend the mixer, please RSVP to Alana Roberts (aroberts27@gmail.com) by October 29th (AM).