Daily Write: What Have You Got to Hide, Anyway?

As a kid, I never could understand how science fiction characters tolerated being spied by cameras and incessantly monitored by unseen minders. It seemed melodramatic that rebellious protagonists were always deemed suspect. Labeled trouble-makers, they were invariably shunned or jailed by a faceless state. Raised pre-internet and cell phone, I couldn’t help but filter these futuristic worlds through my actual childhood experience – hours on end spent off-line and unreachable as I rode my bike or played without ever crossing a mounted camera or, for that matter, an adult.

As I dress for work these days, I listen to news radio. In heavy rotation, advertisements for home monitoring systems promise peace of mind for working parents. “Imagine the relief,” a well-known cable-phone-internet media company coos, “knowing you can watch your children arrive safely home from school.” The kicker, the piece I didn’t foresee as a young reader, is the source of the surrender.

Happy Mother's Day

I was not a tree climber as a small child. Terribly fearful about anything that did not have stairs or a railing; I ended up, as timid kids sometimes do in spite of history and reputation, trying something. After several half-hearted attempts to scale our apple tree, I got “umph” enough to elevate myself into its basecamp – the lowest necessary spot to begin any ascent.

Not sure how I got situated the way I did, with my left thigh wedged tight where the trunk split into a V. I found that I could not leverage with my right foot to push out or up and I wasn’t able to pull free with my arms, either. Bare-legged, the pinch of the tree began to hurt. Firmly stuck, I started calling out for my mother. Looking at the kitchen window, I willed her to see me.

Daily Write: The Dilation

The dilation kicked in while I read. Earlier, the ophthalmologist’s nurse put drops in my eyes and explained that it would take 20 minutes, sending me back to the waiting room to wait. I brought a book along, not grasping that light and more light would flood in making it difficult to look at the page or anywhere, really. Feeling a slight discomfort, I set the book down and closed my eyes.

An older couple sat to the left and the man, the husband I’m sure, moaned. “Ugh-h-h-h-h. Ohm-m-m-mnnn. Ooouuuhhhh.” After the tenth or so set of moans, the wife cleared her throat and started to speak to him in a warm, low tone. “Dear,” she said, “give it a rest.” My eyes popped open. Their backs were to a large window and daylight blasted such that I couldn't make them out. Just then the nurse called my name and I got up and walked away. 

A Senate in the Gun Lobby's Grip: How to advocate in writing

Gabrielle Giffords wrote about yesterday's Senate vote on gun control. I think it is an excellent piece of persuasive/advocacy writing. She brings weight from being a gun violence victim and a politician-former-legislator. Her rendering of the attacked children and description of politics, while brief, really delivers impact. Importantly, she maintains energy and the call to action to fight on. Read it in the New York Times here.

Daily Write: Breakfast

My first job out of college, I had the exact same breakfast every day. Sick or healthy, hung over or rested, running late or early, it always played the same way. Exactly. I’m sure I didn’t realize that first morning how the routine was becoming established. Would it have mattered?

After getting off the train, I’d walk with the masses through the station to Dunkin Donuts and line up in front of the same register for a chocolate-covered cake donut. Depending on the wait to reach the counter, I’d cheat on my beloved by furtively gazing upon the jelly-filled, white powder-sugared, fried something braids, and Danish-y pastries. The store, built to fit in a rail station’s narrow stall, smelled like someone had painted the walls with a sugar-grime paste. Sometimes my teeth itched in anticipation.

School freezer may be next stop for local food movement

From Jennifer Vogel of Minnesota Public Radio, a report on a program to copy:

credit: MPR

Nearly half of Minnesota's school districts use at least some local food in their cafeterias, but the farm-to-school program at Sibley East, begun in 2010, is one of the state's largest and is considered a leader when it comes to preserving and freezing.
         
The effort shows one potential solution to the larger conundrum local food advocates have been grappling with for decades -- how to deal with a short growing season that doesn't match the extended period of demand. In a state where so much of the year is inhospitable to crops, it's been a challenge to figure out how to sell and serve local foods in the winter and early spring. Read or listen here.

Daily Write: The Report

It wasn’t so much that William had been stabbed to death, though that part of the autopsy report was certainly disturbing. The examination revealed how the first blow was a mortal one, severing an artery just outside the heart. The killer had no way of knowing this, however. Almost immediately after the fatal wound, William somehow landed face down across his unmade bed and absorbed ten more stabs in the back from a 6 inch blade. That was that.

Going to Bed Hungry | Q&A | BillMoyers.com

credit: BillMoyers.com

"The United States is the world’s wealthiest nation, yet we still have families and children who don’t have enough to eat. We caught up with Joel Berg of NYC’s Coalition Against Hunger to learn what it means to be food insecure and what we can do to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry.

In order for the nation to build the best public education system in the world, bring down health care costs, and rebuild our economy, we simply must end hunger."

Read interview: Going to Bed Hungry | Q&A | BillMoyers.com

Copywriting - Lose the Typos!

I intended to highlight two articles regarding copywriting tips. Both contain timely, useful information for writers. Both also have typos of the sort easily caught with careful proofreading.

Rather than link to pieces with typos, I decided to post this obvious bit of advice: Read what you write out loud, as if you're seeing it for the first time.

Another tip: Record yourself reading the article, story, or pitch and listen to it without reading along. Goofs, duplicate words, and weak spots tend to jump out when you do this.

Want to feel (somewhat) better about your typos? Here's a link to The Atlantic's "The Best (Worst?) Typos, Mistakes and Correrctions of 2012." Enjoy!

Unfit for Work

from NPR's Planet Money: Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America

This disturbing, must-read piece sheds light on the origins of a huge financial drain. And, from a design and layout perspective, excellent work.

"Somewhere around 30 years ago, the economy started changing in some fundamental ways. There are now millions of Americans who do not have the skills or education to make it in this country."

"But disability has also become a de facto welfare program for people without a lot of education or job skills. But it wasn't supposed to serve this purpose; it's not a retraining program designed to get people back onto their feet. Once people go onto disability, they almost never go back to work. Fewer than 1 percent of those who were on the federal program for disabled workers at the beginning of 2011 have returned to the workforce since then, one economist told me."

"A person on welfare costs a state money. That same resident on disability doesn't cost the state a cent, because the federal government covers the entire bill for people on disability. So states can save money by shifting people from welfare to disability."