I have tackled the issue of “Like Mindedness” in this space before, but with the events of the last few weeks, we feel it’s important to bring it up again. We all want to feel like we belong. We all want to be seen and have our voices heard. The amazing author and scholar Brené Brown says in her book “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead”: “Connection is why we're here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our

Now that the upfront season has wrapped (where broadcasters trot out new programming and look to strike deals with advertisers), we're seeing stories that encompass everything from “There Has Never been a Better Time to Be In TV” to “Traditional TV is Dead.” So which one is right? Traditional television consumption IS changing. In our last post, we talked about how ALL media consumption is changing. But television is a different beast. There is a huge amount of money being sp

Many of us use social networks in our daily lives. But isn’t it starting to feel cluttered with junk? It seems like Facebook is the new “chain letter” and Twitter has become a hotbed of snark. While that content can be fun (no one loves snark more than me), how much value is it adding to our lives? It’s very simple to make a statement why your opposed to something - “that sucks” “you’re an idiot!” “you troll!”, etc. But how does that interaction really move the needle in ter

“It's great to go on your own and discover new things just for yourself, to meet new people and all that. If you're all on your own, then there is nobody there to guide you and you have to make all the decisions for yourself. It's quite liberating in a way.” – Dido (singer, songwriter) The process of discovery helps us learn. It has since we were infants. Turns out – babies are GREAT at discovery – better than adults even. Of course, baby’s brains are little sponges, soaking

We all want our work to be seen. We want our stories to be clicked on, our videos to be shared, our posts to be “liked.” We all need some component of “marketing” to make sure our work is shared or experienced (if that is indeed your goal). But coming up with clickbaity headlines and unique hashtags is taking up almost as much time as creating your piece of work! Let’s talk about writers specifically for a moment. What if - and I know this seems to be scary –a story could be

We need a new word for “Friends.” How many people on your social channels do you actually KNOW? I personally have more than 4,800 “friends” on Facebook, yet I probably I only know 10 percent of them. Are they my friends? Not really. But do we have a shared common interest or friend? Maybe. One definition of friend is “a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection.” Do you have “mutual affection” for every one of your Twitter followers? While there i

Social media makes it easy to be polarizing. Black or White, Yes or No, Republican or Democrat. Often, there is little room for nuance, context and thoughtful discourse. As the “virtual” iteration of who we are, social media often gives us a one-dimensional look at ourselves and our “friends.” Let’s look at an example. Sue may have expressed support for Hillary Clinton on her Facebook page. To many, that one “thing” about Sue can tell you many other things about her (she is p

Is there an actor shortage? It seems like there are an awful lot of real reporters who are making appearances in movies and TV shows. While it’s not new to see “real” reporters in the movies, in the age of fake news and “post truth” (the unfortunate choice for the “word of the year” from the folks over at Oxford Dictionaries), all of the sudden it feels icky to see our trusted sources of information shilling for the latest Batman movie (a la Charlie Rose). Sure, it’s fun to s

Part Two of Two Our brains don’t stop growing and developing the day we graduate from high school or college. Far from it! The human brain is continuing to develop throughout our lives and scientists and doctors agree that you need to feed it in order for it to flourish. Here are a few ways to “feed your brain”: Do a puzzle. Jigsaw, crossword, logic problems – it doesn’t seem to matter which kind. Your brain loves it! Tackle a jigsaw puzzle a few nights a week instead of watc

Part One or Two Maya Angelou said “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” We are always learning and searching for better ways to do things. Be it a better way to think, or finding more information to help us come to a decision about a particular issue, we as humans are naturally curious. When we make a mistake, we learn from it. When we have questions, we ask people who will know the answer. When that doesn't work – we turn to Google, Faceboo