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There’s an afterword by writer Howard Rodman to one of his own short stories where he speaks to the idea of the arc of the technological change we experience in a lifetime. It’s a topic I’ve given much thought to over the years, and I was a little surprised to see some of my own …[MORE] Sometimes I have a memory, a sensory etching, of a very particular flavor experience that I can not replicate. No matter how many German chocolate cakes I’ve sampled in my life, not one of them was exactly like my grandmother Velma’s. She used actual cake flour and real German chocolate. We hand-picked the pecans for …[MORE] When I was growing up, my mother woke me each morning the same way. She would step into the hallway outside my room and say my name clearly but quietly, just once, with a slight questioning tone. Some groan or stirring from me was her answer and I was up. I never owned an alarm clock until preparing …[MORE] Like many of my generation, I adored the writings of Kurt Vonnegut. My personal favorite was Cat’s Cradle, but a close runner-up would be Slapstick. The former taught me all I ever needed to know of religion; the latter, of politics. On my first reading of Slapstick, I came across a quote that took root in my memory. …[MORE] When you read a lot, you learn a lot of words. You learn a lot of words that are not used in everyday conversation and you see them in context. If you don’t read much, all you know of language is what you hear in everyday conversation. Nonreaders often reveal themselves when they write by using homophones—words …[MORE] While I have not been blogging over these past few years, I have not stopped writing entirely. There have been a number of short stories in the works, and I’ve continued playing with some writing exercises. From time to time, I plan to post some of that here. One of my favorite exercises is 100 Words. The …[MORE] I’ve just return from a two-day conference where much of the discussion revolved around leadership. It got me thinking about a curious human characteristic that I’ll call the Leadership Paradox. On the one hand, we all like to think of ourselves as special. We have unique talents to offer. We are all above average. Everyone wants to be treated better than …[MORE] I stumbled across this movie trailer. I’ve never heard of the film, but since it was a UK release and documents the way the world whistled through the early signs of global warming until it was too late to do anything about it, I’m guessing it had only a very limited US showing. I’m a big …[MORE] Q. How do you avoid unwanted marketing? Times are tough all around, and many companies have responded to difficult times by tripling their efforts to recruit new customers—by force, if necessary. I’ve been getting countless robo‑calls, despite being on the no‑call list. I immediately hang up on any recording, but by that time I’ve already …[MORE] |
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