The premise is that you have two minutes to become a pundit and seriously preach/defend/sell the randomized concept, or [blank], to your jaded friends.
I am not sure how I passed that investigative reporting class at San Francisco State… but he taught me about the integrity, the power and responsibility of journalism… and of those who practice it.
Raul was a mentor.
Raul was a friend.
The image above was from the back of the card handed out at his memorial held in Berkeley on January 12, 2014. It’s an excerpt form his journal, written in the early 1980s:
Yes. It is difficult, but not impossible if your heart and mind remain open to life, to people and to the possibility that Love can be. Not difficult, if you are willing to risk, to grow, and perhaps to hurt.
Raul was truly a great man… a mentor to so many… a role model, on many fronts.
At this stage, this is more a hypothesis… I want your reactions to this concept.
It’s based on my past successes and failures in projects/development. I, like all of us, have strengths and weaknesses in different categories, but for successful product developments, you need each… equally… at different times, perhaps, but constantly evolving and influencing the project.
Again, these requirements are in constant flux through different stages of the project, actively influencing each other.
Think: You have to have a creative, useful idea.
Listen: You have to truly listen/hear and adapt to wants/needs. From your community to stakeholders.
Build: You can talk. You can listen. But to have traction, you have to build something. A mockup, a demo or a working beta. Very much from the “show your work” model.
Sell: For journos, this is a new phase. But you have to promo your project… sell it to people. From your supervisor to actual investors.
I’ll try to write/explain more about this later… but I wanted to post this before I forget it… and I also want to collect reactions.
By the light of lamp I’ll sit to type
My notes on tab at my side
I don’t see the sun much these days
Fluorescent tan covers my hide
How much impact shall I have this time?
My goal today is to reach the deadline
I write between the lines, I deal with fantasy, I report the facts
Give them to me, please
Ham and egg salad on white bread gives me company on nights like this
Pack of mentholated cigarettes keeps my air nice and thick
When I write, words flow like coins from a candy box
Get out of my way, I’ve got something to say
The pulse is beating louder now, the pulse is beating louder now
The cramps in my hands grow more intense with each
Tik, tik, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap on the keys
My social life is at an end, so it seems to be
Why don’t I just trample on your lawn today?
I’ll take the skies of blue and turn ’em … skies of gray
I write between the lines, I deal with fantasy, I am the pressman
Acknowledge me
Mother always told, “Never stay too far from home”
The little lady said, “Boy, you’ll never have to be alone
‘Cause you build with fountain pen
You create the memory stain, you are the pressman
Stand up straight, boy”
“As we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent, than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things that we know we can do, than to start on big things that we’re not to sure about.” — John Cleese
If you haven’t noticed, this “blog” is more for me… and I want to remember this post. I want to find it easily… and get the inspiration from it when I need it.
