Hey guess what? I was featured today in News-O-Matic news app for kids! NOM is a daily interactive news source for younger readers, bringing current events and world news to their level in a fun and interactive way to encourage staying informed and reading. Each week NOM features "real jobs", unique jobs from around the country. This week, I was featured! How cool is that? Check it out!
“One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.” Dr. Seuss may have been thinking of 42-year-old Jen Pickett when he wrote this! Pickett works as a commercial fisherwoman in Cordova, Alaska. That means she catches the fish that end up in grocery stores! News-O-Matic (NOM) talked to Pickett (JP) about her job.
Like I was saying, each week NOM features someone with a "real job" that entails a description about what they do for a living. This week they featured me as a fisherman! I mean, I'm not sure fishing is really a "real job" but whatever, that is beside the point. Still, how cool is that that 8-10 year-olds all over America today are learning about commercial fishing in Alaska? And, not only that, but that women fish in Alaska, too! I think that is my favorite part.
NOM: Can girls be as good at fishing as guys? JP: Yes! I think women make great fishermen. There is a saying that you have to work smarter, not harder. And that is true for women. We don’t always have the physical strength to do some of the tasks needed to be done. So we have to figure out a way to still do them by using our brains and not our muscles.
To see the full article you have to download the free app onto your iPad or antroid (sorry, a laptop or computer won't work) which you can do here (http://press4kids.com/). But I know you are all busy or might not own a tablet so I'll try to share with you the main points. Except my blog doesn't have the same cool feature as their app "read to me" and the whole interview is read out load like a bed time story.
NOM: Do you need special training to fish?
JP: No. I just learned it by working on other boats for a lot of years.
NOM: When do you go fishing in Alaska?
JP: Salmon season in Cordova, where I mainly fish, is from May until September.
NOM: Do you ever get grossed out working with fish?
JP: Not so much anymore. Since Alaskan waters are so cold, we have to wear rubber gloves and raingear to stay dry. So if I get fish blood or slime on myself, it’s just on my raingear. And I just wash it off.
My second favorite part of the feature is when they talk about thinking about where dinner comes from. They really helps connect the dots for people that fishermen provide a delicious, nutritious, sustainable food source!
NOM tries to make each article as interactive as possible. There are a few buttons to push that lead to different facts, "acts", a short video of me setting my net, a map and photos. Here are a few more photos in the feature, and school kids all over America today will see Cordova Alaksa on a map!
All in all a pretty cool interview and hopefully a good boost for Alaska's fisheries! I think NOM did a whiz bang job of summing up fishing, but I need to make one teeny, tiny correction. That lovely blue bowpicker that they claim is me on my boat is not my boat. I wish!! Despite sending them a picture of me and my boat, they posted a picture I took of another boat. I guess I can't blame them, Jame's boat is much nicer than mine ever was. But I just didn't want anyone thinking I was misleading NOM by claiming to own a nicer boat than I did. Ok, I think you are pickin' up what I am puttin' down. I'm out.
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| Today's News-O-Matic, Oct 16, 2104 |
“One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.” Dr. Seuss may have been thinking of 42-year-old Jen Pickett when he wrote this! Pickett works as a commercial fisherwoman in Cordova, Alaska. That means she catches the fish that end up in grocery stores! News-O-Matic (NOM) talked to Pickett (JP) about her job.
Like I was saying, each week NOM features someone with a "real job" that entails a description about what they do for a living. This week they featured me as a fisherman! I mean, I'm not sure fishing is really a "real job" but whatever, that is beside the point. Still, how cool is that that 8-10 year-olds all over America today are learning about commercial fishing in Alaska? And, not only that, but that women fish in Alaska, too! I think that is my favorite part.
NOM: Can girls be as good at fishing as guys? JP: Yes! I think women make great fishermen. There is a saying that you have to work smarter, not harder. And that is true for women. We don’t always have the physical strength to do some of the tasks needed to be done. So we have to figure out a way to still do them by using our brains and not our muscles.
To see the full article you have to download the free app onto your iPad or antroid (sorry, a laptop or computer won't work) which you can do here (http://press4kids.com/). But I know you are all busy or might not own a tablet so I'll try to share with you the main points. Except my blog doesn't have the same cool feature as their app "read to me" and the whole interview is read out load like a bed time story.
NOM: Do you need special training to fish?
JP: No. I just learned it by working on other boats for a lot of years.
NOM: When do you go fishing in Alaska?
JP: Salmon season in Cordova, where I mainly fish, is from May until September.
NOM: Do you ever get grossed out working with fish?
JP: Not so much anymore. Since Alaskan waters are so cold, we have to wear rubber gloves and raingear to stay dry. So if I get fish blood or slime on myself, it’s just on my raingear. And I just wash it off.
My second favorite part of the feature is when they talk about thinking about where dinner comes from. They really helps connect the dots for people that fishermen provide a delicious, nutritious, sustainable food source!
NOM tries to make each article as interactive as possible. There are a few buttons to push that lead to different facts, "acts", a short video of me setting my net, a map and photos. Here are a few more photos in the feature, and school kids all over America today will see Cordova Alaksa on a map!
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| My on my old boat circa 2000 |
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| gillnetting the Copper River Flats, Cordova Alaska |
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| slacking while seining on the Coral out of Petersburg, AK circa 1995 |
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| interactive map that tells you how far you are from Cordova, Alaska! |
All in all a pretty cool interview and hopefully a good boost for Alaska's fisheries! I think NOM did a whiz bang job of summing up fishing, but I need to make one teeny, tiny correction. That lovely blue bowpicker that they claim is me on my boat is not my boat. I wish!! Despite sending them a picture of me and my boat, they posted a picture I took of another boat. I guess I can't blame them, Jame's boat is much nicer than mine ever was. But I just didn't want anyone thinking I was misleading NOM by claiming to own a nicer boat than I did. Ok, I think you are pickin' up what I am puttin' down. I'm out.
2 comments:
Hey! Russ here from News-O-Matic. We JUST discovered this blog post. Am glad you liked our feature. So sorry about the mistaken label in the picture. Oops! Thanks tor the amazing interview!
Russ, thanks for the interview! And thanks for portraying us women in the fisheries! Jen
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