Write, Teach, Laugh

Tag: art

Grammar of the Selfie

There is a problem with selfies and grammar. “Selfies”, for those of you over the age of 75, are self-portraits taken with a cell phone, usually with an arm extended or more recently with an attachment for extending one’s reach called a selfie-stick. When one takes a picture of one’s self, then, certainly, “selfie” would be…

Avoiding the Alligators

(Updated for 2016)
It’s resolution season, but resolutions are not enough. Why? Because most resolutions are “alligator” resolutions.

In the military there is a saying that “When you’re up to your behind in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your mission was to drain the swamp.” (Actually, the saying is slightly more colorful than that, but you get the idea.)

Our lives are full of “alligators” — that leak in the garage, the annoying number on the scale, the cigarettes in your pocket, the mess on the desk and more. But, as important or frustrating these may seem, they may not be the drivers we want for the next year. How do we find what is really important?

SXSW Interactive: Newsjacking, Uncertainty, and Accidents

(First published on blogcritics.org) Among the computers, flashing lights, video cameras, ubiquitous Wi-Fi, and people dressed as bloated software of SXSW, you wouldn’t expect to find authors reading their books. But, after all, books were the first interactive media, so they are represented at SXSW as well. David Meerman Scott talked about his new book Newsjacking: How to…