Grateful for every step after recovery
At first it was just a tickle in my throat. It was a minor annoyance, like clearing my throat wasn’t possible. That turned into a persistent cough that I couldn’t shake for a few days. Other than that, I felt fine.
I went out for a 12-mile run despite the cough. Wisconsin had unseasonably warm and record-breaking 70-degree days in early November, and I didn’t want to waste them by sitting indoors. I ran in the low 7-minute miles.
The next day, I ran 12 miles again. Ran 7-minute miles again. Felt great.
Meanwhile, my wife started to feel sick. She was in bed sleeping all afternoon one day. We thought that was just being a parent non-stop without a break during a pandemic. But the next day she developed a fever and started getting worse symptoms. …
A barrier-breaking journalist’s career illustrates that man-made rules can be re-written
Gail Collins has written extensively about women fighting for their rights over the years, including this year’s 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. I had the fortune to interview her when I was a sophomore journalism student, weeks after she became the New York Times’ first female editorial page editor. Her career shows that man-made rules — and they are often made by men — can be re-written.
“Learn and obey the rules very well, so you will know how to break them properly.”
— The Dalai Lama
Gail Collins was expecting college to be carefree. A college recruiter who visited her all-female Catholic high school in Cincinnati filled her with dreams of “no rules.” …
The jean shorts start-up began as a “chuckle.” Then the founder committed to “doing weird things with weird people.”
In 2021 I’m featuring people on a Creative Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is №4 in the series, featuring Joe Poeschl, founder of JOERTS.
What is your creative venture?
Alright, so my new venture is called JOERTS (as in my name + jean shorts). It’s this ridiculous concept to create the first-ever fashion brand with no actual clothing inventory. I hijack the old jeans sitting in your closet and “upcycle” them into a pair of limited edition JOERTS. It’s a bit thrift, a bit DIY, and a bit punk.
How it works: When you buy a pair of JOERTS, you start by sending me a pair of your own jeans (you know, that pair that fits great, but you just don’t wear that often anymore). I take them, hack off the legs, and sew on a limited edition JOERTS patch on the leg. I keep the process simple by sending you all of the prepaid shipping materials and providing a questionnaire that allows you to select your preferred length and whether you want the fray facing up or down. Your new JOERTS even come with a hand-signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. …
His love of audio turned side hustle into a full time job helping others launch and grow their own podcasts
In 2021 I’m featuring people on a Creative Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is №3 in the series, featuring Elzie D. Flenard, III, Mayor of Podcast Town.
What is your creative venture?
My creative venture is a podcast agency named Podcast Town, a full-service agency dedicated to helping our partners grow their podcast show, grow their audience and podcast easier.
I also host 3 shows: Enterprise NOW!, Life.Me and Podcast Town Throwdown. In 2021, I’ll also be writing some songs as well.
Why did you start when you did?
I was sick of corporate America, the restrictions on creativity and the resistance to trying new things. I’ve had a side-gig for most of my professional life and have wanted to go full-time the first chance I got. It got to the point where the pain of not doing what I was called to do became greater than the risk of the perceived “security.” …
A family health emergency prompted her to reevaluate her goals — and inspired her to take the leap
In 2021 I’m featuring people on a Creative Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is №3 in the series, featuring Amanda Garry Aliperta, Founder & Principal of Momentum Nonprofit Strategies.
What is your creative venture?
I launched Momentum Nonprofit Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping nonprofit organizations maximize impact by reaching their financial goals. I focus on assisting nonprofits and their stakeholders with development strategy, board development, grant writing, corporate and foundation relations, donor relations and event planning.
Why did you start when you did?
Launching a nonprofit consulting business had been a long term professional goal, and personal and professional circumstances aligned to make the summer of 2020 the right time to take the leap. I had been working in nonprofit development for nearly 15 years, most recently with a wonderful organization called Safe & Sound where I had honed my grant writing, corporate and foundation relations and development strategy skills. …
After losing her job in March, a former university professor is dedicating her career to craft beer education
In 2021 I’m featuring people on a Creative Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is №2 in the series, featuring Gloria Rakowsky, who is launching a company teaching about craft beer.
What is your creative venture?
I have created Crafted Minds LLC, an educational company dedicated to teaching others about craft beer.
Somehow this year I arrived at a crossroads — perhaps after losing my job and having nothing but time to contemplate life and revisit my career. …
“It doesn’t have to be perfect in order to still be great, and what matters is that you’re doing the thing”
In 2021 I’m featuring people on a Creative Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is №1 in the series, featuring Dan O'Keefe and Tom Hillmeyer, founders of Creativeland. The company produces a live trivia show and branched off into podcasting and creative ventures.
What is your creative venture?
Tom: Dan O’Keefe and I make a weekly trivia show called Fast Facts Live (FFL). We broadcast Wednesday nights on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch. Players are able to respond with answers via a chat bot we call Chartybot. First place wins a prize, usually an emailed gift card.
Dan: Creative Venture sounds so fancy. It started out as just Fast Facts Live, an online trivia show, but now it’s expanded to be Creativeland, a media production company that has Fast Facts Live, In Conclusion: A Movie Podcast!, and basically anything else creative that Tom and I do. …
My students are working on this assignment this week… feel free to use or adapt it yourself.
As a group, 18–24-year-olds lag significantly behind all other voters in election turnout. There are multiple reasons why this might be, including frequent moving that makes it hard to know where to vote.
In this exercise, you’ll meet in groups of five to come up with creative ways to increase college student voter turnout. Specifically, come up with ideas using your individual skills identified by Howard Gardner’s Theory of Intelligences: musical, visual, verbal, logical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, natural and moral. …
The social media manager for McDonald's posted this tweet at 11:31 am on Friday.
Immediately, other social media managers from brands like Target replied to the tweet, which resulted in thousands of engagements and interactions — one of McDonald’s most popular and relatable tweets.
This particular tweet wasn’t scheduled through a social media management system. For planned and scheduled tweets, McDonald’s uses the social media management system Sprinklr.
The hardest part of the workout is getting started
The energy your expend during your workout is nothing compared to the energy it can take to convince yourself to begin.
Here are some psychological tricks I’ve found work magic for me when I have no motivation to get going.
1. Put your workout clothes on
But don’t tell yourself you’re going to work out yet. Just walk around the house. See what happens.
2. Do a shorter-than-usual workout
Once you get started you might want to keep going. And if not, something is better than nothing. The goal isn’t to exhaust yourself — it’s to get muscles moving, blood flowing and endorphins going.
3. Do a slower-than-usual workout
Once you get started you might feel like you can kick it up a notch. …
