I launched my blog in 2009 when I was wrestling with a midlife crisis. Since then, the digital world has changed so much. I was new to both Facebook and Twitter when I started blogging, and I was still rocking the BlackBerry for email. Instagram hadn’t launched yet. Podcasting and short videos are what the cool kids do these days, blogging is considered old fashioned. But I still find it the best way to share my thoughts and to profile people who inspire me.
I hope you’ll find something here that inspires you, or at least sparks a conversation. Some of my favorite posts are pinned to the top, scroll down a bit more to find the most recent, or check out the categories in the sidebar.
Do you have a story to tell about change? It could be your own or someone you know or admire. Maybe it’s a business that’s reinvented itself. I would love your input on stories you would like to read here. If you would like to write a guest blog post, I’m open to that. If you want to share a…
For anyone waiting to hear the story of Ben Jaffe, director of Preservation Hall, apologies but you’ll need to wait a bit longer. Ben and I got started on a fantastic interview but technology was not cooperating. He was on his cell phone at a French Quarter theater, preparing to shoot video of a Terence Blanchard show the next night,…
I love serendipity and coincidence. When we visited Ann Arbor last weekend, I was talking to Matt and Rene Greff about how much I’d enjoyed Eat Pray Love — a book I thought would be a lightweight beach read but instead turned out to be a thoughful self-examination of a woman’s journey to rediscover herself after a divorce. She travels to…
I recently started reading The Geography of Bliss — our friends Matthew and Lisa bought it for John and he enjoyed it so I’m taking my turn. Here’s how the author’s Web site describes it: Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss signals the arrival of the next great category of literary nonfiction: the philosophical self-help humorous travel memoir. Weiner, a…
Hip Slope Mama, a Brooklyn-based blogazine led by a friend of ours, turned me on to the 3/50 project with this recent post from contributor Mark Caserta. Since last September, business along Park Slope’s commercial streets has fallen off significantly and my store, 3r Living, has struggled to stay afloat in these difficult, uncertain times. Of course, many of our customers are feeling…
Preservation Hall Jazz Band is making an East Coast swing this weekend — Kent, Conn. on Saturday and Lancaster, Pa. on Sunday. Just ahead of the band’s journey up here, I plan to interview Ben Jaffe, who took over the jazz institution his parents started in New Orleans and has balanced a reverence for tradition with an infusion of new ideas. Ben serves…
Matt and Rene Greff run two popular businesses – Arbor Brewing Co., a brewpub in Ann Arbor, which spawned Corner Brewery, a microbrewery in Ypsilanti where they bottle beer for retail distribution. Both places draw big crowds and reviewers praise their beer. It’s quite the successful little empire. Matt and Rene are two of our very favorite people back home, and…
Grumpy old man Carl Fredricksen is an unlikely cartoon hero — his wife has just died, developers want to tear down his house, and after he beats one of the developers with his cane, a court order is about to send him to a nursing home. “Up” is a cartoon that tackles some grown-up themes: love, loss, change, the evaluation of how you’ve…
A friend of ours who is active in the Brooklyn blogging community recently sent me an e-mail that gave me a real boost of excitement — hey! what I’m doing is reaching someone! Eleanor Traubman wrote: I am a big fan of your blog. I like the combo of personal/professional development. Thoughtful without being fruity/crystal-waving. (speaking of fruity, remember Jack…
Making the rounds on the Internet the last month or two, fueled by graduation season and a story in the New York Times, is a beautiful commencement address the author David Foster Wallace gave back in 2005. The insights on how to live life become that much more profound after Wallace’s suicide last year. Maybe he knew what he needed…
Editor’s note: Many visitors are arriving on this post after searching for “Manhattan map” or “New York map.” If that sounds like you, some resources you might want are a subway map or Manhattan bus map. The New York State Tourism site might also be helpful. After you check those out, I hope you’ll come back and spend some time…
I love getting confirmation that I’m not the only one interested in reinvention — like a recent e-mail from Mediabistro promoting a “Reinvent Yourself” seminar this Saturday. If you’re available Saturday afternoon and live in the New York area, instructor Latia Curry’s class is described like this: You’ve been dissatisfied for a while. Maybe you woke up this morning and realized…
Have you ever had the experience of hearing someone articulate what you need better than you could yourself? Keith Ferrazzi, author of the hit business book “Never Eat Alone,” spoke at the Mediabistro Circus conference I went to this week. He has a new book out called “Who’s Got Your Back?” and I expected a talk that would be part…
I’ve already seen numerous takes on the “laid off workers decide to pursue new path” story. I blogged about it a while back, linking to a few versions the Times had done, including focusing on white-collar professionals deciding to become disc jockeys. (Why that career and not massage therapists or sign-language translators? Who knows.) A story in the Washington Post…
Whether there’s a shared sense of the narrative of the recession, or perhaps some collective wishful thinking, certain stories seem to be popping up frequently: The recession is causing Americans to re-examine their consumerist spendaholic ways Layoffs are prompting Americans to pursue new, more fulfilling career paths I think the common thread in both these themes is a hope that…
After a few posts about how we’re all going to die, how about one about how to live longer? Sure, it’s a good idea to quit smoking, exercise regularly and eat healthier. But what if going out with your friends this weekend could add years to your life? Research shows that people who have more friends live longer. Here’s a…
New York magazine recently had a thought-provoking cover story with the teaser headline “New York Without Money.” Its headline asks us to consider: No money changes everything, from murder rates to museum attendance, from career choices to what you eat for dinner. And not all of it for the worse. Writer Jennifer Senior shares a number observations about the supposed…
New York magazine shows us P Diddy’s white party. Obviously after Memorial Day. It seems like at least once a year I read an article in Vogue or Glamour that says the “don’t wear white before Memorial Day” rule is dead. Wear lovely white wool pants in the winter, wear a beautiful white winter coat, they suggest, and forget that…
I don’t know if I’m a scientifically valid sample, but recently I had an a-ha moment recognizing my own behavior with my blog and the implications it might have in the media business. I’m a data geek and WordPress enables this compulsion by giving me access to who has clicked on which postings, where they came from, what search terms brought…
And now for the trifecta — a third post on enjoying your precious time on earth while you can. It’s the theme this week. It was the great prophet Frank Sinatra who implored us to live until we die. And though sadly I couldn’t find video of Frank singing, I can offer you this audio courtesy of YouTube. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQh0-CYTPj0] Related…
