m.avenue

Somebody had to say it. YES. kfan: OK by now you’ve seen this...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:29:02 -0400

Somebody had to say it. YES.

OK by now you’ve seen this article in The Onion and been like UGH TOO REAL. Yes! It is too real. It is painful and we recognize ourselves and the choices we have made in this article.

But I think the reason this article is painful is because culturally we define success in such a weird and outdated way. There’s this idea that if you’re not doing what you’re most passionate about all the time, you’re a failure. If you aren’t make a living at it, you’re a failure. If you’re not Stephen King or Christina Aguilera, you’re a failure. And I think we grew up in this kind of 50-year pop culture bubble where we saw many people becoming huge megastars, actors and singers and writers and whatever else. And part of the disconnect we have now about what we should pay for music and books and movies, and how these things should be funded, are tied up with these questions about what we owe to ourselves, and what we feel society & culture owe to us, and the media value we assign to certain “professions”.

I was having dinner with Mary-Kim the other night and we talked a lot about how much more successful as writers we would feel if we didn’t give a shit about our families and lives. I might have gotten farther faster as a writer if that’s all I ever did or thought about, but like, so what? Is that a good model for how a person should live their life? It’s not that I love my day job all the time, but it’s a thing that someone needs to be doing, same as a lot of people’s jobs. And it’s not like me and my job and my writing are completely separate and siloed aspects of my self. My creativity is a thing that comes out in my writing on the internet, in my parenting, and in the rejection letters I send as part of my day job. That’s kind of a success, right? Albeit not one that sells magazines or drives clicks.

Maybe it’s not useful to define one person as the garbage collector and one person as the singer. Maybe everyone is a lot of things. Maybe the self-obsessed celebrity artist culture isn’t that helpful or useful. Maybe eventually we get to a place where we see that books and music and art are created by us, people who have school and day jobs and other shit we care about. And we’re not rich celebrities, and we are all always being pulled in different directions, but we’re present and engaged with the people in our lives? And we value what we contribute as much as what we create? And we create things because want to, and not because we have expectations for what it will get us, or how it will cause society to value us? And we don’t berate and hate ourselves for the very human failure of having a lot of complicated shit to juggle in our lives? That might be kind of cool?

Scatter Style: Outfit du Jour: Patches

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:41:56 -0400

Scatter Style: Outfit du Jour: Patches : VAMOS. scatterstyle: Elbow patches, that is. Elbow patches...

muddypolitics: (via If Biden And Ryan Switched Haircuts)

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:43:45 -0400

muddypolitics:

(via If Biden And Ryan Switched Haircuts)

futurejournalismproject: From Editor to Curator: How to...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:05:14 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

From Editor to Curator: How to Generate Engaging Content

Jenny Rooney, editor of Forbes CMO Network, discusses her evolving role as an editor-curator in the digital age. She has previously covered interactive advertising for Advertising Age, marketing for Business 2.0, and been editor at Chief Executive magazine and Sales & Marketing Magazine.

Great content, like a great product, is still the essential ingredient for audience-building. But how can we broaden the conversations around it when we have less control over who produces content? Here, Rooney explains her work at Forbes, which largely centers on finding and bringing novel, innovative, expert voices into the conversation and providing them with the publishing tools to engage an audience.

Bonus: She offers tips for recent grads interested in journalism.

third time’s a charm.

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:15:54 -0400

third time’s a charm.

Abraham Lincoln Filed a Patent for Facebook in 1845

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:02:54 -0400

Abraham Lincoln Filed a Patent for Facebook in 1845: futurejournalismproject: dbreunig: Nate St....

#4. #9. Yes.

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:01:06 -0400

#4. #9. Yes.

"On immersion journalism: Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger feature writer Robin Gaby Fisher, a two-time..."

Tue, 01 May 2012 01:02:54 -0400

“On immersion journalism: Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger feature writer Robin Gaby Fisher, a...

Thought for the day

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:26:28 -0400

Thank you. gradnessmadness: “It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you bring that...

Journalism Ranks 8th on Newsweek's List of 13 Most Useless Majors

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:33:55 -0400

Journalism Ranks 8th on Newsweek's List of 13 Most Useless Majors: “Mama said there’d be...

Never Have I Ever is a new project my biz partner and I started...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:37:00 -0500

Never Have I Ever is a new project my biz partner and I started for TheNewsHouse, which is Newhouse’s biggest online presence. We have adventures and do stuff we’ve never done before.

(Like that game, but without the pennies.)

B-WayWorld writings

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:06 -0500

Check it out, I’m published in BroadwayWorld.com! This was like my dream in undergrad....

Lessons learned

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:06 -0500

99 percent of current problems won’t matter in six months (you’ll have new ones) Pick...

Didja know I have another blog? It’s about mac ‘n’ cheese.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:28:00 -0500

Didja know I have another blog? It’s about mac ‘n’ cheese.

So much awesome. futurejournalismproject: For all you AV nerds...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:36:29 -0500

So much awesome.

futurejournalismproject:

For all you AV nerds out there; A once in a lifetime trip around the conveyor system at B&H Photo in New York City.

For digital diehards, B&H is a mecca of SLR cameras, lenses, computers, editing tools, and everything you could possibly want to produce media. I’ve visited B&H many times, and spent a lot of dough. In the used equipment section is a zoom lens for $250,000.

There are few places like B&H in the world, and even the Apple Store looks anemic in comparison.

B&H is also on Tumblr

True dat

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:38:38 -0500

phishtaco: When all else fails, there is mac n cheese and Billie Holiday. No need to worry, eh?

Hi friends, check out my #365 project if you haven’t...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:56:49 -0500

Hi friends, check out my #365 project if you haven’t yet!

Then, go start your own. (This isn’t a gallery - it’s a playground!)

HA! Word.

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:00:06 -0500

HA! Word.

Picnik will be closing on April 19 of this year to "focus on awesomer things"

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:02:41 -0500

Nooooooo. What!? :( jschoolbuzz: … With a suggestion of Google, once again, being involved. Refunds...

photojojo: Put a message in a bottle, and toss it out to...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:00:45 -0500

photojojo:

Put a message in a bottle, and toss it out to sea.

USB in a Bottle

via szymon