A New Hope
We now live in a world where the President of the United States disputes well-established facts.
The media shows you proof that a lesser crowd was drawn to his inauguration? Heck, he'll just construct his own improvised reality where there were a million and a half there on the spot, live on TV.
But there is hope.
I've spoken before about how I've withdrawn a little bit from Twitter in the past year. It had become just a noisy echo chamber, with bile and hate thrown about daily. But yesterday was different. Photos, stories and anecdotes from the many marches around the world flooded my timeline. It was inspiring in a way my social feed hasn't been in a long time. I think I retweeted a few things, but I was mostly taking it all in. It was beautiful. I hope it's a sign of things to come, that it's just the start.
Trump's feelings about the media are well known by now. But his hatred of the MSM may have had an unexpected effect. Subscriptions to places like the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones, the Guardian, etc. are on the rise in the wake of Trump's victory. Now, more than ever, it looks like people are willing to *pay* for someone else to lead them through the smoke and mirrors. It's up to these institutions to build on that trust, not to betray it and to maybe tilt the world's opinion back in their favour. More on that here.
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I have a cold that won't budge at the moment, so I'm stuck indoors when I should be running and exercising. This week was the first real week where my editing work *far* outweighed my writing work. I can safely say my 'project management' training wheels have been cast aside. It was the one aspect of my editing I was a little green in, but not anymore. Calendars are my constant friend and companion. I'm enjoying it and hope it's something I can get involved in as I take on more things editorially. My first love will always be the nuts and bolts of story, but there's something about ensuring all the pieces of the project move smoothly that gives me the warm and fuzzies.
I'm also going to try and plan these newsletters out a bit better. At the moment they're very spur of the moment and stream of consciousness.
Anyway, here are some links:
- I enjoyed this piece on Isaac Asimov and his prodigious output and how he never stopped learning.
- Armando Iannucci of the fantastic Veep and In the Thick of It wrote an excellent editorial on Donald Trump.
- Michael Mann has a new cut of Ali out. Here he is talking about the reasoning behind the new cut as well as the notion of Ali the icon.
- OJ: Made in America was one of the TV highlights of last year. Wired has just done an excellent oral history on its creation.
- 1999 and the awkward infancy of the all-encompassing social internet.
###
More next week!
Until then...
The media shows you proof that a lesser crowd was drawn to his inauguration? Heck, he'll just construct his own improvised reality where there were a million and a half there on the spot, live on TV.
But there is hope.
I've spoken before about how I've withdrawn a little bit from Twitter in the past year. It had become just a noisy echo chamber, with bile and hate thrown about daily. But yesterday was different. Photos, stories and anecdotes from the many marches around the world flooded my timeline. It was inspiring in a way my social feed hasn't been in a long time. I think I retweeted a few things, but I was mostly taking it all in. It was beautiful. I hope it's a sign of things to come, that it's just the start.
Trump's feelings about the media are well known by now. But his hatred of the MSM may have had an unexpected effect. Subscriptions to places like the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones, the Guardian, etc. are on the rise in the wake of Trump's victory. Now, more than ever, it looks like people are willing to *pay* for someone else to lead them through the smoke and mirrors. It's up to these institutions to build on that trust, not to betray it and to maybe tilt the world's opinion back in their favour. More on that here.
###
I have a cold that won't budge at the moment, so I'm stuck indoors when I should be running and exercising. This week was the first real week where my editing work *far* outweighed my writing work. I can safely say my 'project management' training wheels have been cast aside. It was the one aspect of my editing I was a little green in, but not anymore. Calendars are my constant friend and companion. I'm enjoying it and hope it's something I can get involved in as I take on more things editorially. My first love will always be the nuts and bolts of story, but there's something about ensuring all the pieces of the project move smoothly that gives me the warm and fuzzies.
I'm also going to try and plan these newsletters out a bit better. At the moment they're very spur of the moment and stream of consciousness.
Anyway, here are some links:
- I enjoyed this piece on Isaac Asimov and his prodigious output and how he never stopped learning.
- Armando Iannucci of the fantastic Veep and In the Thick of It wrote an excellent editorial on Donald Trump.
- Michael Mann has a new cut of Ali out. Here he is talking about the reasoning behind the new cut as well as the notion of Ali the icon.
- OJ: Made in America was one of the TV highlights of last year. Wired has just done an excellent oral history on its creation.
- 1999 and the awkward infancy of the all-encompassing social internet.
###
More next week!
Until then...
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