Paying It Forward

Reinvention is my brand. There is a wealth of writing and advice out there about establishing your personal brand. There are even some contrarian positions on the concept including a recent post by someone with a pretty amazing personal brand (please, Laurie, say it ain’t so). Continue reading

Beyond Barriers

Learning to swim like a fish.

Learning to swim like a fish.

In February, I decided to become a swimmer. My goal was a simple one, really—to swim well enough to complete the swim portion of a sprint triathlon in June.  While the goal was simple in the setting of it, the mechanics in reaching it were more complex.

If you’ve been following my quest, you know that I was successful. I completed the Pirate Tri on June 9, at Point Sebego. The swim portion was actually easier than I imagined that it would be. Continue reading

Ahead of the Curve?

A year ago, my life was filled with uncertainty. The nonprofit where I’d been for six years laid me off—not for performance issues or anything related to not doing my job—but because they no longer had the money to support someone who was really good at business development, partnership-building, and managing multiple projects. Continue reading

Yellow submarines, Moxie, and Lobster Rolls

Saturday I headed down the coast. My traveling companion and better half, Miss Mary, was prepping for her third Tri for a Cure on Sunday. I was on my own.

I enjoy driving down coastal U.S. Route 1 towards places like Thomaston, Rockland, and even Camden, my final destination. Given that it was mid-July, and tourist season, I thought the traffic would be heavier than it was. I wasn’t complaining. Continue reading

Country at War

The George Zimmerman verdict denotes a nation at a crossroads. Maybe we’ve already crossed some kind of line of demarcation. Post-racial America? Maybe if you’re a Beltway elite you think that. For those of us keeping score elsewhere, I contend we’re not at all.

While the Zimmerman trial garnered the lion’s share of coverage via the MSM, other news stories continued to trickle out.

Rolling Stone magazine, once the quintessential rock rag, featured Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev  on its recent cover. Predictably, the binary, black/white moralists were outraged, claiming that Rolling Stone “glamorized” Tsarnaev, giving him the “rock star” treatment. If you actually read the article, a nuanced, well-written piece by Janet Reitman, you might come away with the idea, like I did that circumstances and ideological persuasion can change people, turning docile, well-liked young men into cold-blooded killers. Continue reading

Happy 31!!

31 years is a long time. In terms of marriage, it’s a big deal.

We became a couple when we were both 17. A lot of water’s passed under that bridge since 1978. We’ve both changed, grown, matured and the great thing is that instead of pushing us apart, it’s brought us closer than ever.

You’re my best friend, Mary.

Happy 31!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary!!

 

Freedom

Freedom may be the most indeterminate word in the postmodern American vernacular. Freedom, freedom, freedom—everyone talking about freedom. It’s almost a fetish for some. What is freedom? Is it merely the absence of the unpleasant, and if we had the freedom we’re always pining for, would our lives suddenly take on a new luster and enhanced quality? Continue reading

Bringing the Moxie

The Moxie Boy and Moxie Boy-in-training.

The Moxie Boy and Moxie Boy-in-training.

Today’s the start of a three-day Moxie weekend. I know I’m supposed to be blogging about Moxie, but sometimes, I think I’ve written just about all I want to about Moxie. Maybe that’s why this year, I’ve toned down my usual Moxie blogging quota.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate Moxie’s history, and all that goes along with this distinctly different soft drink that’s been around since 1884 because I do. The two books, the signings, the interviews I was asked to do, and the Tee Vee appearances are “all good,” as they say. It’s just that my interests and things I want to write about are much broader than one product, even a product as unique as Moxie. Continue reading

Moxie Math

Moxie math and keeping the stories straight.

Moxie math and keeping the stories straight.

Moxie is a state of mind, or so I’ve been told numerous times. Apparently, it also has its own distinctly different system of computation. How else could this be the Moxie Festival’s 31st year, if 2008 was its 25th, or silver anniversary?

History is important to me and by extension, the history of Moxie is something I’ve paid particular attention to especially since 2008 when I wrote my first Moxie book, but really, since 2004, when I first signed on to provide PR and marketing support for the Moxie Committee that summer and the following year, too. Continue reading

This Week in Moxie

Moxie can

I drove through Lisbon Falls over the weekend. One week out from the town’s crowning celebration, the place looked like a ghost town. Save for a couple of banners strung up over Route 196, Lisbon Falls looked nothing like a place where 20,000+ people will flock to in order to celebrate a distinctly different New England soft drink called Moxie.

Moxie’s been on my mind the past few weeks as it often is during July, when Lisbon Falls again assumes its place as the epicenter of the Moxie universe for one weekend. Then, it will go back to being a community in obvious decline, much like it has for the past 30 years that Moxie’s been connected to the place. Continue reading