A hero of mine died today. As a writer and adviser to President Kennedy, Theodore C. Sorensen gave hope in troubling times and helped inspire a generation of Americans.
He also gets very high marks (at least from me) for resourcefulness. Here’s what caught my eye in today’s New York Times obit: (more…)
Mr. Kett was one of my grad school professors. Nineteenth-century American intellectual history.
I get the sense however, that he didn’t single out my bunch for special punishment. I bet every one of his classes went on Mr. Kett’s Scavenger Hunt. (more…)
While W. Edwards Deming first introduced kaizen to post-WW2 Japanese industry, it's a management concept that's applicable far more broadly. That includes just about any service sector...such as freelance business writing.
The journalist Grady Clay used to be a neighbor many, many years ago. I once asked him about becoming a writer. What I remember Grady saying was, “Find something you like and write about it.”
I did. And then, I found another thing and another and so on.
I discovered something in that process. I discovered that there are some subjects about which I write that offer more value to my readers (and clients) than others. (more…)
Aristotle and other classical Greeks got it. They understood how making what we write more real made it more believable.
Every writer wants to be read…and remembered. So, when you’re about to go down the same old boring, forgettable rabbit hole, think about Aristotle.
It was Aristotle, Plato and other ancient Greeks who began to understand that readers need to sense the reality of a thing in order to better believe it. Medieval poets and dramatists picked up on this literary device and eventually named it — verisimilitude…or, literally from the Latin, likeness to truth.
Example? (more…)
Diego Della Valle appreciates the value of consistency. The story of how he and his company — Tod’s — have leveraged Made in Italy quality is proof that patience is rewarded.
Come dolce.
I don’t normally flame reporters…or ex-reporters. For Mark Hebert, I’ll make an exception.
Mark’s the flak for the University of Louisville and a former local TV news reporter. Here’s what today’s Courier-Journal reported about Dana R. Kelly, 48, of Louisville, who showed up where Mark works yesterday. Kelly had come to the office of a faculty member, pulled a pistol and said, “This is good-bye.”
The paper got the following comment from Mark in response:
U of L spokesman Mark Hebert said no one was hurt in the incident, and Kelly did not appear to have been a threat to students, faculty or staff. (more…)
