Last night, gay marriage became legal in New York state. While it does not affect me in the immediate, it moved the needle a little more towards the "full" in my personal reservoir of hope. So many of us struggle with so much in relative silence, and knowing that an essential dignity which has been denied to a group of people for decades in my home country is now a reality makes today that much better of a day than it would have been. Gay marriage is legal all across Canada, and has been legal for almost six years now - so many things in this country are more progressive than in the States.
The Guardian story that I read was one of over twenty tabs I opened on my browser just yesterday - as always, I continue to be fascinated by countless avenues of world experience and happily have difficulty filtering out "what is most important". Better than being disengaged and discouraged, I suppose, which always seems to accompany the reading of any best-business-practices article that I feel I should bone up on to potentially reference in my studies and in the workplace. Such dull language!
The more I write, though, the more the confidence grows about being able to communicate using my own style and voice, rather than hammering myself into a format. That was just one of the reasons that I decided against pursuing a journalism career many years ago, what the with the Internet providing so much for free (for which on my limited budget I continue to be grateful) but also in which people could express themselves according to their own wishes, in which the cream has a chance to rise to the top. I'm glad that people like Bill Simmons have pursued it, though, with his new flagship for New Journalism sating not only my love of great sportswriting, but the recognition that those of us who value the underlying dynamics beneath the consumerism have other interests, with writers contributing great stories on the continued dearth of real comedic roles for women that reference other great recent stories that I missed.
I may not feel like I have an intrinsic fight in me like the supporters of gay marriage do - especially those in the community who are fighting for that right for themselves - but I have hard-won insights into conflict, communication, and maintaining the amateur's creative life, and it's these insights that I return to time and again as I continue to move forward.
Comprehending change and learning to live in the moment, newly settled in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Filling the holes created by the emptiness of so much modern language
I might make edits to this later, but wanted to get just one main thing down before I go and get subway tokens for the week, in advance of being in a chicken costume outdoors when it's expected to hit 27C today.
(Quick summation of the last two months: finished first year of MBA program, failed the finance class, started a year-long strategy project, had to beg relatives for money in one of the most uncomfortable and drastic situations I could imagine which I am still learning from, got kicked out of strategy project by school requirements to the disappointment of my team, searched for a paid internship with no success, came to terms with my employment for the summer, got approved for an on-campus apartment as a safety measure, sold the first bass I ever bought two days ago to a great guy named Brian for $1,000.00 which goes to the new-apartment fund.)
But none of that inspired me to write today. What did is my hatred of a now-common phrase, and how I actually thought up something to begin to counter it. The phrase? "Personal brand".
I was reading Chuck Klosterman's latest Grantland article and enjoying not only his take on an interesting subject, but also that I'm enjoying his writing again, really identifying with it, when I had written him off many years ago after reading Fargo Rock City. He brought up this phrase in describing a Hollywood producer and my hatred was rekindled, but this time with a realization: a personal brand is simply what others see based on how I choose to present myself, what parts of my history may fit onto a resume or into a social-media context (since nothing I do is the subject of any media coverage, the likes of which defines other people). And it is something that I have control over, which is heartening at a time when I feel like my choices to this point have made the "easy out" a thing of the past that may never have existed for me anyway.
It might go something like this, say, in a job interview:
Q: What is your personal brand?
A: I define myself as...
And stop right there, for now. No pretentious marketing language, no stupid B-school buzzwords or catch phrases. Simple, strong, concise language, which has always come to me more naturally in print than in speech. If there's any benefit to our now-atomized media and historical culture, it's the opportunity for each of us to define, explain, and defend ourselves in the ways which we deem most pure, most effective.
It's never too late to define yourself. Every time is the right time to start. Just don't ever fall let yourself be fooled into objectifying yourself into a brand. You're a person. No one should fall for being branded against their will.
(Quick summation of the last two months: finished first year of MBA program, failed the finance class, started a year-long strategy project, had to beg relatives for money in one of the most uncomfortable and drastic situations I could imagine which I am still learning from, got kicked out of strategy project by school requirements to the disappointment of my team, searched for a paid internship with no success, came to terms with my employment for the summer, got approved for an on-campus apartment as a safety measure, sold the first bass I ever bought two days ago to a great guy named Brian for $1,000.00 which goes to the new-apartment fund.)
But none of that inspired me to write today. What did is my hatred of a now-common phrase, and how I actually thought up something to begin to counter it. The phrase? "Personal brand".
I was reading Chuck Klosterman's latest Grantland article and enjoying not only his take on an interesting subject, but also that I'm enjoying his writing again, really identifying with it, when I had written him off many years ago after reading Fargo Rock City. He brought up this phrase in describing a Hollywood producer and my hatred was rekindled, but this time with a realization: a personal brand is simply what others see based on how I choose to present myself, what parts of my history may fit onto a resume or into a social-media context (since nothing I do is the subject of any media coverage, the likes of which defines other people). And it is something that I have control over, which is heartening at a time when I feel like my choices to this point have made the "easy out" a thing of the past that may never have existed for me anyway.
It might go something like this, say, in a job interview:
Q: What is your personal brand?
A: I define myself as...
And stop right there, for now. No pretentious marketing language, no stupid B-school buzzwords or catch phrases. Simple, strong, concise language, which has always come to me more naturally in print than in speech. If there's any benefit to our now-atomized media and historical culture, it's the opportunity for each of us to define, explain, and defend ourselves in the ways which we deem most pure, most effective.
It's never too late to define yourself. Every time is the right time to start. Just don't ever fall let yourself be fooled into objectifying yourself into a brand. You're a person. No one should fall for being branded against their will.
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