The Rundown: AP Reading Poll, Scoble on Facebook and Wag the Dog

I have been having a hard time deciding what to blog about lately, just too many ideas and not enough discipline, so instead I’ve decided to post a smattering of topics and links that I think you might find interesting. At some point I’d like to elaborate on several of these topics, but with Hawaii, San Diego and a cross-country road trip coming up, time is a bit of a rarity.

The New Republic Baghdad Diarist

I’m more than surprised that this story hasn’t really made its way past the blogosphere and political pubs. Some of the major dailies have covered it, but for the most part, TNR is doing a great job and keeping the roar down to a whisper.

Check out these links for a bit of background. (The Slate link in particular has some astonishing blog quotes regarding the situation)

Slate Blog Rundown
Most recent Slate article
Huffington Post Response

AP Poll: One in four adults say they read no books last year

In a recent AP Poll, researchers unearthed that just shy of 27% of adults did not read one single book last year. Out of the people that did read, most where women and seniors, and even then they were mostly gobbling up religious works and best selling fiction. In a time when baby boomers and Gen-Xers are complaining about the lack of literacy Gen-Yers bring to the table, they may want to take a long look in the mirror.

Check out this blog for an interesting take.

Menial Summer Jobs and Affluence

I’m late to the party on this one, but it still caught my eye. A few weeks ago, the WSJ published an interesting opinion piece about menial jobs and the growing income gap in America. According to the piece, low-income kids are stuck working menial jobs, while privileged kids are building expansive resumes with worldly experience. The writer makes a strong argument why this is damaging to the economy. Ben Cashnocha, a 19-year-old serial entrepreneur, writes a wonderful critique of the post here.

Why Wag the Dog was so right on

I just watched Wag the Dog again after a few year hiatus and was instantly reminded why that movie never made it past the critics desks—It was too right on. Of course there are obvious plot falls and the story would never work with today’s Internet, but what did stick out was Robert DeNiro always yelling “This is nothing!” Powerful words when the shit is hitting the fan. If only a majority of our bosses were this optimistic.

A list blogger Robert Scoble continues to cum over Facebook

Facebook was cool two years ago when I first found it. There were only college students on the site, and groups were stuff like, “I live in Northern California and don’t shave my arm pits.” Now the mainstream media has gotten a hold of Facebook and done what every large ‘no it all’ group does—ruin it.

Don’t believe me? Read Scoble’s posts. He talks about some way cool stuff that really no one cares about. That is unless you make your living in tech and are addicted to a screen.

NBC11 integrates on-air chat room exchanges. Proof once again that the mainstream media just does not get it.

The San Francisco Chronicle published an interesting article today about San Jose’s local NBC affiliate, NBC 11, integrating an on-air chat room into their local nightly newscast.

According to the article, “Viewers might not get a personal note back from anchor Jessica Aguirre, but they could get an on-air shout-out during the 5 p.m. newscast or a response from her in the newscast’s online chat room.

The San Jose station started anchor-driven online chats this month in an effort to better interact with its audience. The experiment is an example of how mainstream media outlets are belatedly trying to embrace a fundamental value of the Web: Listen to your audience.”

I’m sorry, but listening to your audience does not mean speaking with them in real time during the news broadcast. On the surface it’s a clever idea, but in reality it’s a jumbled mess.

Say for instance the show decides to run a short snippet on anything President Bush related. The posts are bound to roll in.

“We should call for an impeachment!” one viewer might say.

“This is why the media is so stupid. You got the story all wrong!” Another participant will add.

“If you guys hadn’t let Bush steal the election for the second time we might not be in this awful war!”

The rants will keep coming. The anchor will lose her focus, and suddenly her attention will be diverted to a few select extremists determined to make their point. Don’t believe me? Take a few minutes and look at the comments on Nytimes.com, CNN.com and WSJ.com. The majority are fair, high-level and educational, but there are also a large portion of slanderous directed attacks at public individuals and the writers.

Just last year the Washington Post temporarily shut down comments due to the high amount of slanderous, hateful, ignorant posts. After a firestorm of angry bloggers sounded off, the paper reopened the comments, but with a strict code of ethics that requires no profanity, off-the-wall remarks, or slanderous attacks.

The blogger reaction saw the policy as censorship, in violation of the first amendment and the mainstream media running away from engaging in a conversation.

The SF Chron article continues to say, “News is shifting from being a prepared lecture from a journalist to being a conversation with the audience,” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a media think tank. “And local TV has been very late in coming to the online party. About all the forms of media have already been there.”

Have they really? Or is this just an attempt to grab a few nights of strong ratings going into the fall season…

I Am Not A Lemon – Part Four: Building your Personal Brand and Portfolio

Editors Note: The following is the fourth installment in a five part series about what to do, what not to do, and how to make the most of your college experience. There are a lot of lists out there telling students how to succeed, but not too many of these lists have been written by recent graduates still living in the college mindset. Please read this series not as a “do as I say bible”, but rather one humble ex-student’s suggestions.

I made several mistakes in college, but the largest mistake, besides getting drunk and finding myself in the back of a cop car, was not understanding how to build a strong personal portfolio that bridged the gap between academic projects and the real world. I didn’t save all my work, I wrote papers tailored for professors and most importantly did my final projects to get an A and not a job. Big mistake.

Personal branding is hot right now. There are several blogs about the subject, and even a quarterly PDF magazine written by a recent college graduate. Technorati, flickr, Facebook, LinkedIn are just the tip of the social branding iceberg. This blog itself is a personal branding tool. I’m hoping to show potential employers that I have an unique voice in a very cluttered space. Essentially the blog is an evolving portfolio built on conversation, links, community and my ability to tie it all together.

If you’re in college right now, and I don’t care at what stage, sit back and think for a moment what you have produced that will interest a future employer. And this doesn’t mean the twenty-page research paper on media semiotics. Instead, what do you have that is tangible? What have you done that shows your ability to tie your education into your interests? If you can’t think of anything, then make this your semester goal. Grades are important, but a portfolio is what gets you the job.

Tips for personal branding and building your portfolio

• Be smart and think about what your end goal is. - If you’re on the medical tract of course grades are important, but if you’re in a skill-based major it might be more important to have a solid portfolio showing your work. An architecture firm is not going to hire a new employee that has nothing to show. The same goes for a newspaper, TV station, or engineering firm. So think about where you want to go and determine what you need to get there. It might be overwhelming at first, but if you do this Freshman year then you have a minimum of four years to do it, which is more than enough time.
• When doing a project think about what potential employers want to see. – This is hard mainly because professors are not employers and what they may want to see can be different than your future boss. When you start working on a project look for discrepancies and discuss them with your professor. Smart professors will see your enthusiasm and understand that you are working not only for an A, but a job. They will then hopefully accommodate your requests. The sad reality though is that many professors live in academia and forget what it is like to build a real-world portfolio. If you run up against them, it might be worth getting the B.
• Talk to future employers about what they want to see. – One of the greatest things about being in college is that you can always ask questions. It is much easier to get a CEO to speak with you about his/her experiences when you’re eating Mac & Cheese and drinking Natural Ice. Don’t be shy to ask what they want to see when they hire new employees. Now the most important part…Take their advice and follow it! Talking with people does no good unless you act on it.
• Keep a personal journal about what works and what doesn’t. – This doesn’t have to be a novel, it could just be a few notes about what you thought you were good at, and what you weren’t. If you start early it’s easier to know what works and what doesn’t. It is also a vital took for writing cover letters and describing your strengths.
• Never stop moving forward – If you fail determine what you learned and move on. It’s hard to explain, but college is meant to test you, and sometimes this means failing at a project or experiment. If you do fail, look at it as a learning experience and not a failure. Those who can move on and maintain momentum are the successful ones.

Finally, and this may be the most important part of building your personal brand, expand your comfort zone. Never stop putting yourself in uneasy situations which require quick thinking and a high-level of skill. By forcing yourself to work under pressure, and in an unfamiliar environment, you will become comfortable with your skills and ability, thus branding yourself as a leader and not a follower.

Of course there are hundreds of other tidbits of advice that I could write down, but they are mostly things that will come to you during college. As always don’t EVER be afraid to ask questions or talk with people. College is the time to learn who you are, what you like and how you work. It’s not an end-all to life discovery, but a vital step in the path to success.

Good luck and please share you own experiences with me so I can continue to learn and build my personal brand.

I Am Not A Lemon - Part Three: Why college is less about books and more about learning how to build Social Capital

Editors Note: The following is the third part in a five part series about what to do, what not to do, and how to make the most of your college experience. There are a lot of lists out there telling students how to succeed, but not too many of these lists have been written by recent graduates still living in the college mindset. Please read this series not as a “do as I say bible”, but rather one humble ex students suggestions.

Social Capital or Plato? Both can be a benefit of college, yet only one can make you a CEO, award-winning musician, or Dane Cook for that matter. And believe me, it’s not Plato.

From day one college is, and should, be about building relationships. Social Capital, one of the largest differentiators between the lower middle class and upper echelon of the American workforce, is not something that can be taught by a book. But in college, those precious four years spent chasing tail, discovering drinking games and memorizing Plato, building social capital is easy and obtainable. The sad thing is most students do not capitalize on the opportunity.

There has been a rash of posts over the last few months about ways technology is breaking apart face-to-face interaction, and causing some super-connected Gen-Yers to become lonely. It’s a sad reality of always being in control of your relationship with someone. You decide if you want to view their pictures, read their blogs and respond to their texts. As great as this may sound, it’s not going to help build your social capital.

Think I’m crazy? Think again. Take for instance the overly used game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Everyone somewhere has a connection. Sometimes they brag about their connections, while other times they are quiet and shy about the fact that their best friend is a big time movie star. I’ve even gotten to know someone for years before they told me they were roommates with Dick Cheney. Holy cow! Two degrees and I’m at any top tier leader in the world. Very cool.

Some basic ways to build social capital:

- Be nice to EVERYONE even if they aren’t that nice to you. It’s a small, small world, and if they’re in your major, it’s even smaller. You never know when they are going to pop up again.
- Keep an address book. This does not mean a MySpace page, or Facebook account. Rather, get the details about your friends and start to build a rolodex. Take the time to make some notes about them and why they are important to you. In ten years when you need to refinance your house, there is a good chance you were friends with a broker in college.
- Put yourself out there even if you’re scared to death. College kids tend to run in packs. I remember the first time I was left alone at a party and didn’t know anyone. My first reaction was to get wasted, but then I decided that probably wasn’t the best idea since I didn’t know where I was. By the end of the night, I’d made several new friends, one of them who now even works for NBC. Would I have met them otherwise? There is a possibility, but I can’t be sure. As the Budweiser commercial so eloquently says, “Don’t hold back.”
- Take the time to get to know someone. Relationships today have been reduced to 160 characters or less. We are forced to communicate through short hand and broken English. It’s OK when you know the person, but not OK when you don’t. When you meet someone new, make sure to listen. They have a story to tell too, and it might just be better than your own. So don’t just rush into what you want to do. You might miss something really important.

These are just a few of my suggestions on how to build social capital and relationships during your college years, but of course they are not all appropriate for every individual person. Take the time to find out what works for you, and when you do, write it down. If you learn how to build relationships early on I guarentee you will find yourself in situations not once thought possible.

Utah vs. Iraq – My blood is boiling

The facts speak for themselves.

Utah:

• 9 casualties in a tragic mine accident : 2,500 Google News Alerts
• Every national publication leads with story above the fold. News Broadcasts flash sexy graphics recreating the accident.
• Hundreds of hours are spent discussing the tragedy on the 24-hour networks.

Iraq:

• 400 and climbing brutally massacred villagers where four truck bombs targeted mothers, children and innocent bystanders: 1,473 Google News Alerts
• Only the Washington Post decides to run a front-page story. The New York Times buries it on A6.
• News broadcasts skim over the attack
• 24-hour networks cry behind closed doors that it didn’t happen closer to home so they could dispatch their “crisis teams.”

I wish I could write more but my blood is boiling. For a high-level and concise analysis please read this post in the Columbia Journalism Reivew.

Lord Have Mercy

I Am Not A Lemon - Part Two: Understanding the System of a College Semester

Editors Note: The following is the second in a five part series about what to do, what not to do, and how to make the most of your college experience. There are a lot of lists out there telling students how to succeed, but not too many of these lists have been written by recent graduates still living in the college mindset. Please read this series not as a “do as I say bible”, but rather one humble ex students suggestions.

College is a system. The smart kids will learn to work within the system and ultimately make the system work for them. It took me two years to understand my college’s system, but when I did classes got easier and my workload more distributed. Though it’s important to note that each college is different, and each major has a different quirkiness to it, the basic system of college remains the same. I’ve broken up a typical semester into several different parts that may help you understand what is expected of you and when it’s appropriate to slack. I understand many colleges are on either a semester or quarter system. For the sake of this article I’ve decided to use the word semester. This, however, does not mean it will not work for the quarter system.

Part 1: Welcome to my class, here is my syllabus; it is the most important class of the year.

Unless you are a science major, the first week of class can seem a bit redundant. Teachers hand out the syllabus, brief the class on what to expect and then usually throw in a reading assignment or two. Sometimes they threaten a quiz that will be 10 percent of your grade. But DO NOT stress, this is mostly a scare tactic. Take this week to prepare yourself for the onslaught of work ahead of you and study the semester.

Many times I would get out a calendar and mark all my tests and large assignments for the semesters. Then I would look where I could slack, where one class would take precedence and where I would need to stop having a social life. Some classes made it hard by having weekly quizzes, but the majority of teachers are too lazy so they revert back to midterms, finals and a surprise quiz that really doesn’t matter.

It’s during this first week of a semester where you are able to get a high-level overview without the clutter of looming assignments and tests that need emergency cramming. An hour of your time can be a huge benefit.

Part 2: Read now, don’t fall behind and you can drink more later.

Most college students start out the semester with optimism. They want to do well. They want to learn and they want to impress their professors. Then the second week hits and there isn’t an assignment due for two more weeks. Suddenly the reader that was front-and-center in your mind, shifts to give way for beer pong, intramural sports and a new fling.

DO NOT let this happen. Most successful students know that hitting the books hard for the first few weeks can be the difference between coasting mid semester and freaking out. Think of it like building a house. First the foundation needs to be built, and then the exciting stuff takes place. The problem is that the foundation takes forever and the framing only a few days. It’s like that in a college system. Two weeks seems like an eternity, but slack at the beginning and the mid semester midterm comes up blindingly fast.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to over work, just work enough not to fall behind. Take it from me, I’ve gone both routes and my life is probably ten years shorter because I would stress mid semester when my roommate, who is a hell of a lot smarter than me, would watch 24 and say “I told you so.”

Part 3: Midterms are here, life is over I need a drink.

This is the time for no social life. Everyone goes to the library and takes college seriously. OK, not really, most take it seriously for a few hours and then shuffle their way back to Starbucks or the pickup game of soccer their friends are playing, but if you can do well here the final exam will be easier.

Most students don’t think ahead. At the end of the semester you want to be hanging out with friends, talking about the good times and living it up. Not be stuck on the third floor of the library wishing you had worked harder over the semester. If you’ve taken the time to keep up with the reading then midterms shouldn’t be that hard. Just a test that forces you to pay attention to what you’ve read. Of course if you’re a science major, then it’s going to be REALLY hard. For that I’m sorry.

Part 4: Slack

The smart kids slack here. Midterms are over and your next reading assignment, even though big, isn’t that important right now. Seriously, GO OUT and enjoy yourself. This is where the smart kids make the system work for them. They understand that a semester is built on a reward system. Take a test and the teacher and assistants most likely don’t want to grade another one for at least a few weeks. They, just like you, dread the large exams and need room to breathe. Make sure to keep up, but also make sure to have fun. This will be your saving grace.

Part 5: This sucks, the weather is nice, I get to go home soon, my teacher is killing my vacation and I really, really don’t want to do this right now.

My chemistry teacher in high school had a great word for this. He called it TQS or “Third Quarter Sluff-Off.” He would warn us of falling behind due to nice weather, vacations or laziness. In college the allure of going home, or a wild spring break trip to Mexico magnifies this. The trick here is to work HARD right before the break so you don’t have to work over it, or after it. I can’t tell you how many times I would come back form a vacation and have a pile of work left to do. I would kid myself saying that “Oh, I’ll do that on my trip.” Yea right. If I was sober any amount of time I’m sure it was to find my way back to the hotel, not open up my anthropology book and read.

No, this is your vacation. You deserve it. Work hard and take it. Its good preparation for the real world when only get two weeks a year if you’re lucky.

Part Six: Finals are here, I need to move out, I want to go to the bar, I should have read more and my parents are going to kill me.

There is a tip that will get you through finals. I learned it from a senior my freshman year, who told me he learned it his freshman year. I’m sure it wasn’t that romantic, but it goes like this. During finals week, DO NOT worry about money, within reason of course. If you want a smoothie—go buy it. If you want pizza—go get it. You need to take care of your body. Don’t stress out your mind. Finals suck so make it easy.

Remember that finals are where teachers decide just how much you have learned during the semester. They tend to forget that you have four other classes and a social life. They tend to also forget that they are not God. But don’t let this get to you. Go into finals with the understanding that you’ve learned their system. Hopefully you have learned how they talk, how they grade and what buzzwords they like. I’ve found that several of my past teachers scanned responses and if they saw particular words they would immediately give full credit. This is working within the system.

When finals are over, GO OUT and celebrate. You’ve made it through another semster and it’s time to rejoice. Let yourself forget your classes for a while and bask in the fact that you’ve successfully made it.

Part Seven: Write down what worked and what didn’t.

Give yourself a roadmap form nest semester. It doesn’t have to be an essay, but a few key notes can be huge in helping you continue on how to use the system.

Of course there are hundreds of ther tips and suggestions, but the majority of them are things that you will find out on your own. Hope this helps.

Part Three will be about how to build relationships in college and why they matter more than grades.

I Am Not A Lemon - Part One: Myths and Truths of Freshman Year

Editors Note: The following is the first in a five part series about what to do, what not to do, and how to make the most of your college experience. There are a lot of lists out there telling students how to succeed, but not too many of these lists have been written by recent graduates still living in the college mindset. Please read this series not as a “do as I say bible”, but rather one humble ex students suggestions.

Part One: Myths and Truths of Freshman Year

There is nothing I can say that will make you the perfect student.

For Instance:

• You should not drink – Yea right, that’s realistic. The appropriate thing should be that if you do decide to drink, and unfortunately many prioritize drinking a bit too much, remember that your reputation can be built on how you party. Building relationships at college is key, and partying is a great avenue to meet new people, but taking a body shot off your roommate’s girlfriend’s breasts, might not be the best idea.
• Join as many clubs as possible – Sounds like a good idea. Most college how-to manuals talk about clubs and the networking opportunities they provide. But what they don’t tell you is that by packing your schedule so tight with officer meetings and fundraisers, you lose the ability to be spontaneous—one of the best things about college. I can’t tell you how many times I would walk into my house only to find myself quickly driving to an open soccer field where a pickup game had just materialized.
• Go to EVERY class – I love it when I see this advice. It’s usually from a Ph. D. who thinks their subject is the only one that matters. College, especially the first year, is about understanding balance and tradeoffs. I once had a professor tell me that if we missed a class we would lose our chance at getting an A. Later that semester I had to cover the Presidential election for the school paper and as the news editor, missing deadline was not an option. My teacher told me it was my decision but he would not excuse the absence. I got a B in the class. Was it worth it? Sure, not only did I get free pizza, but also the article I wrote now sits in my portfolio and landed me my first Internship.

Instead, it’s important to remember that as a Freshman you have room to screw up. Most of these lists tell us that what we do as a Freshman will dictate the next four or five years, and even though there is a thread of truth there, do not get caught up thinking that your life is over from day one.

Myths and Truths about Freshman year:

• Freshman Orientation is a waste of time – ½ Myth ½ Truth – Freshman orientation can seem like a waste of time if a majority of the class is dedicated to talking about how you are feeling, and what it’s like to live on your own. As a Fresman in today’s world, you’ve already proven yourself capable of making important decisions. You’ve gained entrance into a four-year university, balanced several activities and possibly even held a job. What is important in orientation is when the class takes time to talk about the resources available to you on campus. Successful Seniors are those who have learned how the campus works and where to go when they need help. It might not be the “cool” thing to do, but take a tour of the campus if given the chance. Everyone struggles; it’s just much easier to struggle when you have help.
• If I don’t make friends right away there is no hope for me – Myth – Three of my best friends I met at the end of my Freshman year. I didn’t even live with them before my Junior year. College is about exploration, and just how you explore your passions, you explore your friends. Be open, spontaneous and willing to push your comfort zone. Finding friends is hard when you really want to, but easy when you are open.
• GE Classes are stupid – ¾ Myth ¼ Truth – GE classes are the pain in every Freshmans side. You’ve worked hard to study what interests you, but getting into your major’s classes can by hard. Load up on the GE’s your Freshman year and get them over with. Since you are taking classes with every major, take the time to meet students you otherwise would not have had interaction with inside your major. It’s a great way to meet people, learn the basic fundamentals of college and hone your skills for your major requirements. The truth is that many GE professors think they are the most important class you will ever take. Trust me, the majority is not. Learn to work with the professor and not against them. You never know when they will show up again.
• I can’t get any classes I want and will never get out of here – Myth – I remember my Freshman year getting only one class I really wanted. Since I didn’t have priority registration, a disability, or other excuse to register early, I was forced to take classes that didn’t interest me as much. I took an Anthropology class that ended up making me pursue a minor in Anthropology two years later. As I mentioned above, college is about tradeoffs and the ability to work within the system. Take a high-level overview of your options and be open to chance.

Part Two will be on how to understand the system and make college work for you.

Are American kids iPods Brazilian kids Soccer Balls?

“You live in a world of personal computers and search engines, e-mail and network, capacity and storage, research and retrieval, entertainment and commerce, but it’s also important to remember that it will do us little good to wire the world if we short-circuit our souls.” – Tom Brokaw Stanford Commencement Speech 2006

Last night after playing four hours of painfully slow golf, I had drinks with an incredibly beautiful and intelligent woman. A friend of a friend, had told me I should “really call her up,” and after three months of trying, I was finally able to track her down. Boy was it worth it.

Our discussion bounced back between graduate school, MIT, life, money, triathlons and personal goals. But sandwiched between the wheat beers and amber ales, she said something so profound I haven’t been able to shake it.

“I loved Brazil,” she said, her face lighting up with the excitement only true sincerity can emulate. “Every kid has a soccer ball, it is their prized possession.”

And then it hit me. The frustrating problem I have with technology.

What if American kids traded their iPods for a soccer ball? Are American kids iPods Brazilian kids soccer balls? And if so, what does this mean?

It’s not that I don’t like technology, in fact I love it. Or that I can’t afford it–I usually buy things I can’t afford. Rather, it’s that kids prioritize their lives around technology, so much so, that our interaction becomes linked to a screen and not the physical world around us.

In the quote above, past NBC Nightly News Anchor and iconic American figurehead, Tom Brokaw, warns Stanford graduates of the danger of not being able to unplug in our hyper-connected world.

“You cannot take your place in the long line of those who came before you simply by sitting in front of a screen or at a keyboard,” Brokaw said. “Life away from the keyboard, the PDA and the cell phone is a life in which you connect to the websites of your personal convictions, and that is an obligation you must carry with you the rest of your days.”

Personally I struggle with technology and the social implications it brings. I am a part of Facebook, MySpace, Smugmug, Flickr, AIM and a smattering of other Internet based applications. I’ve started this blog, set up an RSS Reader, and constantly comment on other writers blogs in hopes of starting a conversation.

But then there is the other side of me. The side that desires to be with people. I am not necessarily a social butterfly, but someone who enjoys common discourse. I love the human touch, emotion and body langue. As much as I try, I have not been able to replace that with technology—not even through video chat.

This brings me back to the soccer ball.

When I was little, my soccer ball was a bike. My friends and I would ride for hours, crisscrossing town, jumping curbs, skidding-out and riding away from park rangers. Our life was limited not to our parents boundaries, but how far we could push them with our own two legs.

I didn’t have an iPod back then either, just an old Walkman with two ear buds that four of us would try to listen to at once. Sure I would have liked one, and even own two different ones now, but looking back on it, if I had been exposed to the technology available today, I’m sure I wouldn’t have spent as much time on my bike.

Over the next few months this will undoubtedly be a reoccurring topic on this blog. As I travel around America, I will be experiencing both the joy of email and interconnectedness while sleeping out under the stars and driving away from wifi as fast as I can.

Until then though, I’ll continue to blog, and learn how to balance my iPod with my newly bought soccer ball. (Otherwise known as a kick ass road bike!)

Sierra Crossing — SF Chronicle 8 Part Series is Amazing

There is no permalink for this series, but I’m sure if you visit the Chronicle’s Outdoor homepage for the next few months, Tom Stienstra’s eight part series on a once-in-a-lifetime trek across the cradle of the Sierra will be there.

An avid backpacker myself who’s spent countless nights slogging over passes and sleeping on warm granite, Tom’s beautiful writing is just about as close as you can get to the deep Sierra without setting foot into the backcountry.

Other great sierra reads for the summer:

Nature Noir – Ranger Jordan Fisher Smith’s memoirs of patrolling the American River canyons.

The Last Season – Eric Blehms gut-wrenching narrative of a popular and successful park ranger who mysteriously went missing. (Think Into the Wild, but even more disturbing)

A Leaky Tent is a Piece of Paradise – Travel writing by Gen-Yers, edited by Bonnie Tsui

Pursue the Passion gets it right

“Half the American work force is not satisfied with their job, and only a fifth apply a passion towards their career. As this trend trickles to students entering the working world, people continue to pursue a path that leads them further from their true dreams.” ~ Pursue the Passion Homepage

A few months back I was entertaining the idea of quitting my job as a PR professional and follow my dream of becoming an adventure travel writer and photographer. One day while perusing the web I came across Pursue the Passion—a multimedia smattering of interviews, tips, stories and personal narratives. Think of it as Roadtrip Nation on steroids.

At first I was jealous. How could this kid do this I thought? No way could I build a website, buy an RV and take off for a few months. Did his parents help him? Was he a trust fund baby? And then I started reading.

I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Brett Farmiloe, the twenty-something behind the tour, had held a corporate job in accounting before deciding it was not what he wanted to do. After eating free Hot Pockets and PB & J’s for months, Brett was able to get his idea off the ground and find a corporate sponsor. I’m not going to go into too much detail since it’s better to read Brett’s version here.

What makes Brett so special though, is that he is everything a majority Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, think Gen-Yers are not. Smart, capable, motivated, witty, understanding and patient. The ability to get corporate sponsors, a website built, a fully functional RV and enough interviews to make the trip possible did not just appear overnight.

As a patient individual myself, I understand the pain and turmoil Brett most likely went through when finding a sponsor. He says over twenty different corporations rejected him. That means twenty detailed proposals were written, formatted and sent out. I’m sure it wasn’t just an email like:

Hi Coke,

Yo! You pay for ringtones so how about sponsoring my buddies and me on a cross-country road trip! You know, we’ll drink Coke at every stop and make sure to hand out free twenty ounce bottles! It will be sweet!

Loyal Coke Drinker,
Brett

PS: We might need dental insurance after drinking all that Coke, but I’m sure that will be no problem.

If you’ve got some time, or have a story to tell Brett and his crew, please take a second and visit their website. They may have stolen my idea–ok, actually they just came up with it first–but they did it justice and I’m sure more than a few baby boomers may have wish they had done the same thing.

Well done guys.