Love
I am not sure I have ever been more worried about a decision in my professional life than I have been about determining whether – and how – to talk about my latter years in television in a request that women’s rights be more fully acknowledged.
Paper Parks, Security Theater, and a Proxy Paradox
How transactions based on excess brand equity yield diminishing returns by undermining the cultivation of individual creativity & what we may do.
Continue reading Paper Parks, Security Theater, and a Proxy Paradox
Does Three-Dimensional Thinking Illustrate a Fifth Estate Rooted In Thanksgiving?
Our government was designed, in part, based on the geometrical principle that, in two-dimensional space, a triangle is perhaps the strongest conceivable shape. But what happens when a formidable force is exerted on a triangular system, like our executive-legislative-judicial setup, from outside its two-dimensional plane?
Continue reading Does Three-Dimensional Thinking Illustrate a Fifth Estate Rooted In Thanksgiving?
Website Published (Excerpt)
It’s been said that one should always ignore everything a person says and only pay attention to what they do. While this is obviously an overstatement, words are the currency for an economy of action. But what happens when a currency and what it represents become unlinked?
On Purpose
After I first left CNN, and especially after walking away from two other, simultaneous, media roles held for about a year afterward, I often found myself pondering my purpose and, heartbroken, hoping to feel confident some form of this could be renewed and restored. Recently, and especially as the theme of senseless predation with regard… Continue reading On Purpose
Influence
“Did you enjoy the cocaine?” my fellow traveler asked, half-mockingly, and mostly patronizingly. I don’t understand why you are even asking me this, their eyes divulged. I don’t understand why stores at the airport don’t clamor to sell coca tea, my eyes retorted, in total ignorance. Do you want to lose business? One reason I’m… Continue reading Influence
Territory
Are any historical eras more interesting than the first centuries BC and AD? For some reason, I have recently felt so drawn to learning more about this period, and particularly about Rome’s transition from republic to empire, that I’ve been struck by the intersectionality of storylines I’d before considered more separately. While, at first, I… Continue reading Territory
Orders
Today I was grateful to be able to re-read a portion of Henry Drummond’s The Greatest Thing in the World, from which I have a great deal to learn. And it’s felt underscored to me recently how important it is to try to keep things both in their proper proportion and in their proper order.
Moments
Recently, I experienced the unusual feeling of being not just enamored, but awe-struck, by the sight of Sirius outside my window.
Unions
The more it seems to me there are two opposing forces at play in so many of our social, economic, and political interactions – those that would encourage only a surface-level appearance of progress in order to maintain stagnancy and those that more deeply strive for progress in actuality – the more it feels important…
Content
Perhaps one reason it is more comforting to listen to, and to talk with, honest people with whom I disagree than corporate pundits who, often, parrot what many times do seem to be the right talking points but for the wrong reasons, is that the former permit productive dialogue in which insight can be gained…
The Score
If it is true that unaccountable power is attracted to unaccountable power, cronyism being corrupt systems’ best defense against reform, should we not still pause to wonder whether a world informed by publicly-traded communications companies, their mode of operating arguably being so incompatible with human nature that their very presence may work against the well-being…
Pressing
If it is true that corruption in media – and, arguably, in all organization types – tends to take the form of encouraging, and covering up, the build-up of large amounts of unaccountable power for the purpose of exploitation by only a few informed players, a great danger to the country could be said to…
Batteries
If it is true that the primary purpose of the stock market is to create a sort of black box within which profit can be made without accountability for harms perpetrated against people or planet, even while corporations spend enormous sums on marketing and image-crafting, would not its operations create a greater – and not…
Holding Patterns
Why does it seem that, sometimes, the hardest thing to do of all is, simply, to be still, even if only for long enough to gain a sense of peace about next steps?
Notes
Lately I don’t seem to be able to get enough of classical music when working through a new idea or seemingly tough concept; and listening has been helpful when it’s felt hard not to worry about choosing the right words when attempting to communicate what feels like an important message.
Thanksgiving
With autumn transforming the landscape, I am grateful to reflect on many wonderful experiences by which I was blessed growing up in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The Only One
I was thinking today about John Cage’s 4’33” and the access every person has to insight, intelligence, and inward beauty, but about the role of relatedness, as well.
Fast
What if those figures in public affairs today who seem most larger-than-life are not standing on the shoulders of geniuses but, rather, a marketing machine fueled by practically nothing but our own collective insecurities?
Helpers
I love the idea that no one’s identity falls into the victim or villain category, and that we are all one another’s heroes to the degree that we forgive and help one another, including admonishing only when needed in order to help everyone advance.
Visibility (Edited)
I still believe it may be the practice itself of making art, engaging in sport, dancing – following one’s own heart in the process of self-expression, in other words – rather than allowing oneself to be externally impressed all of the time – that may be one helpful step toward a world more in tune…
Visibility
I still believe it may be the practice itself of making art, engaging in sport, dancing – following one’s own heart in the process of self-expression, in other words – rather than allowing oneself to be externally impressed all of the time – that may be one helpful step toward a world more in tune…
Responsibility
I’ve often heard it said that all of our responsibility is simply to respond to God’s ability, and, while I understand the sentiment, I sometimes feel it could be articulated even more helpfully.
Majority
I loved listening today to a talk about the relatedness of art and conservation between two young people who shared a deep love for animals with which I identified wholeheartedly.
So Far
When I have felt right – although not 100% sure – about a decision in recent years it’s been comforting to remember a line from a movie made popular some years ago.
Bypass
When we were very little, my younger sister was terrified of riding on the turnpike. “We’re going to have to get on the highway,” we’d be gently informed, before a brief stint traveling at what really does feel like an unreasonable speed to preschoolers. (Not the highway!)
Courses
Recently, I listened to an inspirational talk by two women who mentioned the importance of giving up one’s story in order to progress spiritually. I found this concept, which is not new to me, intriguing, both for its obvious correctness in absolute terms, but, also, for the way it does seem to neglect the educational…
Mentorship
Particularly with regard to the journalism world, which is uniquely insulated from journalistic coverage, it has felt helpful to employ my background as a writer and simply help articulate a silenced problem rather than endlessly staring at it.
Adders
One of my sisters loves to quote Jerry Seinfeld, and one of the bits I most enjoyed being introduced to was a contrast drawn between the comedian’s life priorities at different times of day. “That’s morning guy’s problem,” he recalled declaring in making an unwise decision before bed.
Kidhood
While it is an overly simplistic metaphor, like both the temporary stilts & permanent piles that allow us to rest, to play, and to generally live in safety in dynamic environments, the stability historical and modern forms of governance have provided deserves to be acknowledged.
On Time
It had been awhile since I started the day by watching Muppet Babies and The Jetsons.
Scaffolds
Recently, I have felt inspired to ponder the idea of intermediate steps more dispassionately, and to look at them in ways that are both more discriminating and more grateful.
Sanctioning
I have had mixed feelings, this week, reading stories about a woman who certainly did express courage in standing up to a leading figure in her political party but did so in ways that seemed, to me, to further entrench the power of an unchecked and, still, largely publicly-traded media sector, referencing its leaders’ increasing…
Beacons
When I was little, my Dad bought our first real sports car; and, while I am not a car person – at all – I still can’t help but feel reminded of life then anytime I see an almost impossibly bright red reflection on iridescent lacquer on a hot summer afternoon.
Reconciliation
I still believe Americans’ attention may be the most undervalued resource in the world.
On Healing
I have been giving a lot of thought to healing lately, and, specifically, to what it involves. While I have been focused on the emotional kind, I’ve felt inspired to think more broadly about healing arts.
On Purpose
I have been giving a lot of thought to healing lately, and, specifically, to what it involves. While I have been focused on the emotional kind, I’ve felt inspired to think more broadly about healing arts.
Drift (Satire)
What if it would be possible to harness the knowledge we all now have – that it is as if, on the consumption- and ratings-fueled cultural descent in which we find ourselves, we seem to be rapidly approaching a creative cliff of daunting proportions – in order to turn what seems a sudden influx of…
Fitting
I loved learning recently that, perhaps, what Darwin really meant by survival of the fittest had less to do with brawn than complementarity; and I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to right place.
The Work
When I was little, I went through a brief phase as a beginner artist during which I could tell there was something important I needed to add to my drawings, but I did not know what.
Neighborhoods
What if, as in physical movement around Atlanta, there is a need, not only for a 75- or 85-like connector, or even a distant loop encircling important places, but for topical destinations in public affairs discourse where acknowledgement, interaction, and actual building occur?
The Weight
Ever since I was a kid, I have adored shopping for art supplies, poring through pen, marker, and paper options in order to be able to draw the perfect line; and I got to thinking about this after picking up two uni pins yesterday. What makes fineliner marks so beautiful?
Rulers
There is something important about me readers of my blog may not know. While, for much of my career, I have gone by the titles artist, producer, and writer, a thread of greater continuity has remained unchanged throughout that I sometimes feel should get its own job title: Bug Rescuer.
The Problem
Given all of the emphasis that has rightly been placed needs for on physical infrastructural overhaul in recent years, I believe it will be important to consider informational infrastructure, too.
Gravity
I believe that if we needed proof that AI would harm us in order to preserve itself, modern divisiveness and the weaponization of legitimate social justice movements proves it.
Landings
According to researchers, Self-Determination Theory, or, SDT, outlines three requirements of effective group governance: autonomy, recognized competence, and relatedness.
Specificity
I believe the reason progress almost always seems to require sacrificial love is unspecificity, or, a resultant so-called tragedy of the commons.
Sound
One of the most poignant moments I’ve experienced in journalism was in 2007 when international desk-volunteering just after a foreign presidential palace had been attacked. Speaking with a world leader about his personal safety in a moment when he surely had many enormously pressing matters to address, it dawned on me how important real storytelling…
Impact
Recently, I experienced a car crash after which I felt almost unable to stop crying for days. While I have no memory of the accident, one of my first thoughts after realizing what had happened was of gratitude.
Labels
There isn’t just a place – but a necessity – for debate, advocacy, and even activism in America’s system of governance. It is only that, just as we deserve safety from activist jurists, Americans deserve safety from activist journalists. It’s not as if, like Truman Burbank, we can simply tell them, “good afternoon, good evening,…
Leaders
“Mye-gan,” my Russian friend’s mom called me, with the most unforgettable warmth.
Networks
When feeling frustrated recently, I was grateful to be reminded of the idea of ground in circuitry.
Lemons
In writing a gratitude list today (which I need to do more often), I noted, in looking around, how markedly a few pieces of lemon in my water had brightened and sweetened my day; but, in looking my list back over, the word lemons had an entirely new meaning.
Code Red
One of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had in communicating was in placing a takeout order – by myself – not far from Beijing. I’d practiced at length before going to the restaurant & felt confident ordering eggplant to go. Little did I know, I, evidently, mispronounced the word qié zi so badly it…
Upside
It literally hit me on the head today. Last year, while storyboarding Gertrude Saves Her World, I worked through such a multitude of ideas so quickly that the only way to handle them seemed to be by mapping my book using back-of-the-napkin-type paper scraps I’ve decided to leave in place even now.
Wavelengths
l could hardly believe it, today, driving to the gym and realizing I was exactly on time. Post-snack.
Migration
When I was about five, I was given the opportunity to travel to another state about a week ahead of my immediate family in order to get to know my grandparents better.
Breadcrumbs
Constraints can be some of the most important dimensions of environments conducive to problem-solving; and, increasingly, as media silos become more expansively large, impenetrable, and distant from one another, I wonder whether an array of creative solutions to many of the world’s problems could be further obscured.
Deal
While the American people prepare to become what are essentially shareholders in our nation’s most profitable corporations (should BBB be passed), I wonder whether an accountable journalism sector would enable us to insist that we refuse to be funded by considerable and avoidable human rights abuses sometimes endemic to such organizations.
What It’s All About
I continue to wonder, after having advocated for so many years now for at least consideration of the possibility that the increasingly conglomerated corporate marketing/journalism sector could be meaningfully held accountable for private human rights abuses, whether anyone has heard.
Punch
Tonight, while finishing a particularly difficult workout, partly because I was being coached well, I felt inspired to give my all until the very last moment, which involved a last-few-seconds run to a treadmill where I would maximize both speed and incline.
Looking Up
I was taken aback this past week, pulling up to one of the most dilapidated and blighted intersections in downtown Baltimore, to catch a glimpse of what I believe to have been a Great Blue Heron soaring majestically along a local river.
What You Can Do
While I realize the matter’s gotten some attention, I feel revelations this past week that two television news networks seemingly diametrically opposed ideologically are funded by the same corporation is notable. Gaudí spoke famously of the relationship between originality and origins; and it is worth revisiting the idea.
The Question
Visiting New York’s national 9/11 memorial this past week, finally, I was awe-struck by how articulately its footprint chasms, and the waterfalls that surround them, seemed to pose deep questions about the meaning and destiny of tears.
The View (Edited)
In his farewell address, Ronald Reagan said “watch closely, and don’t be afraid to see what you see.”
That Day
Do I have time to grab my bag? Do I have time to grab my bag, I wondered urgently at the Capitol complex, a moment after being alerted, wrongly, that we had just been bombed blocks away. It was no time to think about homework, but I grabbed my backpack and ran.
Origins
Total and borderless unity across sectors in our country would require more evolved, more just, and more trustworthy actors; and, while I do believe we are, in general, becoming more virtuous as a population, it is arguable that a rush toward borderless cooperation between the financial, media, and even government sectors could open the door…
Heaven
It thundered hard tonight. Because I wanted to see the lightning but had been studying I decided to read by flashlight and was immediately taken back to your gift.
Navigation
One of my favorite all-time movie scenes is the one in which real-life pilot Jim Lovell, played so movingly by Tom Hanks, describes feeling led to safety by a bioluminescent algae trail when his navigational instruments had short-circuited earlier in life: “You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home,” he…
Seals
Quarantining has involved a lot of outward stillness and inward pondering; and it has been difficult at times not to identify with a pinneped like these on dry ground.
Suburbs
I have heard several times in my life, and from various people, about the importance of borderless faith, but I am learning that there is so much more required to at least begin to make progress.
Screaming
On one of my first nights back after temporarily returning to the Mid-Atlantic after graduate school I was stunned by the intensity of pounding winds, profoundly loud thunder and shocking lightning that constituted what I would later learn is termed a derecho.
What You Don’t Know
“Hey, could you sweeten this audio for me?”
Sweetened
This past week, in making what felt like about the billionth pan of cornbread I have in recent months, I realized midway through mixing there was not nearly enough sugar around to fulfill the recipe’s instructions. All I had on hand was a small amount of honey.
Shadows
I believe the who and the what of confrontational roles, while related, are not deterministically so. This is as position and identity are distinct propositions; and so long as some form of accountability is present, protective and predatory forces can be disentangled.
Balance
Journalists are frequently told that, in order to make it professionally, you need to learn to jettison your most beloved ideas or, as the saying goes, kill your darlings.
Night
“Law students are trying to do math and it hurts,” my friend groaned not long ago, evaluating papers.
Vision
I have written often about a need that I believe exists in the education community to turn conversations about the value of creative practice on their heads – much more heavily emphasizing the value of process over artifact.
Wonder
Given that, even more than our physical infrastructure, our informational infrastructure is in dire need of overhaul, might it be possible to tackle needed updates to two complementary systems in tandem? And is this possible without acknowledgement from media organizations?
Badguys
I am not sure why the idea of equality within news organizations is so controversial and feel it is still important to say so. And to tell the truth about badguys: that they are not known quantities around which the whole world must always tiptoe, but, rather, people like everyone else who simply require -…
Rising
I have written before about a belief that two important features of environments conducive to problem-solving are safety and encouragement, although I believe the absence of these does not need to prohibit productivity. More often than not, hindrances take the form not of an absence of protectors and nurturers, but of the presence of pretenders…
Representation
There seem to be two distinct, although not necessarily contrary, bases from which too many altogether avoidable disagreements stem today, with one side advocating for decision-making based only on outward, measurable facts, and, the other, pressing for better consideration of more abstract and inward matters.
Fruit
Paul Cezanne once wrote “the day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”
For the Frogs
Frequently, when, for some reason or other, I feel strongly that I ought to make a particular minor decision, like driving a slightly different route to an intended destination, but I am not sure why, I tell myself that perhaps God is just leading me to avoid a frog getting ready to cross a road.
Names
One of the biggest surprises for me in emerging from lockdown, during which I have spent much loved time in nature, has been re-acquainting myself with the sight of a bit more litter downtown than I had remembered.
An Open Letter
To whom it may concern: I would like to ask whether I would be able to reach out to the UN’s Mr. António Guterres about experience-based recommendations regarding media organizations.
Pearl
I was heartened to read in several places recently that the nacre oysters produce in coating grains of sediment in the transformation process is “strong, resilient, and iridescent.”
Trust
One of the most memorable stories I recall being told in graduate school was of the lead-up to the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and a series of mediated talks between two constituencies seemingly at intractable odds: tobacco farmers and public health workers. As I remember, it was during the process of learning about one…
Refuge
More and more, it feels important to articulate that civic identity is a layered concept, and that this layeredness is good.
Slalom (Poem)
Having opened a notes program on my computer for the first time in a long time this afternoon, I happened across this poem from September of last year.
Food
“I … yearn … for a Delaware … license plate,” my professor mused, almost to himself.
When Eclipses Are Good
I recently had the privilege of driving in pitch dark between Jasper and Banff, Alberta, right in the middle of a dark sky preserve.
Content Under Pressure 