There are many times I question the “wisdom” of crafting blog posts for a blog that few* people read.
*4-6 folks, roughly, although that staggering number drops precipitously if you subtract relatives.
Any objective observer would consider it a waste of time and money. I should just buy a journal and write in that. Same readership, without the hassle and expense of maintaining a web presence. (Believe it or not, I actually have to PAY for the highly coveted, much-sought-after domain name of “dubbatrubba.com.”)
But then I get a note like this from my friend and co-worker:
Wow! So one of my trivial posts on my silly little blog actually played a very tiny role in helping kickstart something that will bring more gratefulness and joy into the world? I’m flabbergasted! (And flabby too… probably from too much time sitting on my butt blogging.)
Here’s more about the event:
Grateful Gatherings are monthly conversations with purpose, designed by Grateful Living and hosted by people like Harmony co-president Susan Jackson who have completed their training program. Each month we’ll be exploring the transformative practice of grateful living, using the resources provided by Grateful Living. Our monthly topics will include things like: Say Yes to Joy, Welcome Imperfection, Navigate Grief, Reimagine Rest, Awaken to Awe, and Act with Courage.
Suddenly all those countless hours spent blogging seem worthwhile. Especially if we’re grading success on the Emerson scale:
Susan’s first Grateful Gathering will take place on Sunday, April 28, at 10 a.m. at Moonflower Coffee Collective in Sharonville. Damn right I’ll be there! Because I’m forever grateful that Susan read some silly little blog post in the first place.
This is just the incentive I needed to continue with my blog posts! It’s so much better than the usual feedback I receive, which falls into one of two categories:
Tomorrow is Opening Day in Cincinnati. The official start of the Cincinnati Reds baseball season has been an unofficial civic holiday for decades. [Back in my day, the Reds, the oldest team in the majors (founded in 1869), used to open the season a day before any other team… ]
It’s a big deal, with a lot of pomp and ceremony, including an Opening Day Parade organized by the merchants at Findlay Market, a public market that’s been around longer than the Reds have.
This year’s Honorary Grand Marshal will be Jim Scott, a Cincinnati radio legend. It’s a fitting honor, as Jim has participated in the Opening Day parade for 56 years, usually walking the entire route and smiling, waving, and high-fiving folks along the way.
Jim walking the parade route with his wife Donna
For Cincinnati Baby Boomers, Jim has been part of the soundtrack of their lives, starting in 1968 at WSAI, an AM station that played pop music, brought the Beatles to Cincinnati, and garnered nearly 50% of the radio audience back then. He moved to WLW-AM in 1984, as the morning host, and stayed in that time slot until 2015. If you’re keeping score at home, the final tally is nearly 47 years in Cincinnatians’ ears.
I had the privilege of working with Jim, as his morning show producer, back in the mid-90s. At a station with a bunch of talk radio blowhards, Jim was the friendly voice who started your day with a smile. Among a subset of the staffers, he caught a lot of flak for being “too nice.” But I worked with Jim long enough to know that his radio personality wasn’t shtick, it was just a heightened version of Jim. WLW-AM was part of a radio conglomerate that owned 8 stations in the market (if you’re looking for Reason #1 of why I got out of radio, consolidation is the correct answer.) Jim did more charity work than the rest of the on-air personalities at all the stations, combined. Charity auctions. Golf outings. Fundraisers of all sorts. And if there was a speaker’s fee, Jim donated it back to the charity. Sure, all those public appearances helped his name recognition and his ratings. But that’s not why he did it. He did it because he truly was, and is, a nice guy.
In the March issue of Cincinnati Magazine, Steven Rosen wrote a nice feature about Jim’s decades-long involvement with the parade, and his positive attitude in the face of one of the cruelest fatal diseases. Check it out at the link above.
“Being in the parade to me will be a statement that I’m not going to quit. I’ll probably be in a wheelchair, but I probably won’t be the only person there in a wheelchair.”
Jim Scott, in the article linked above
This parade may be the last chance for us to show some love to Jim Scott. He deserves every smile, wave and cheer we’ve got. It shouldn’t be a somber send-off; it’s a victory lap.
Legendary baseball player and manager Leo Durocher famously said “nice guys finish last.” Leo got it wrong in this case, because Jim Scott is the people’s champ.
Illustration by Remi Geoffroi for Cincinnati Magazine
On Saturday evening, instead of watching March Madness, I met up with some old friends for a happy hour that stretched into the wee hours.
Yesterday afternoon, instead of watching March Madness, I provided a bit of constructive (I hope) criticism and writing tips to students who had entered their short films into a college film festival. Yes, me, the man who thinks this is the pinnacle of American cinema:
Last night, instead of watching March Madness, I went to a poetry reading. Yes, me, the guy who struggles to understand anything more complex than The Family Circus comic strip.
(The ghosts haunt me…)
My choices were based in part on the fact that Xavier didn’t make the Big Dance this year. But all three events were certainly more nourishing for the soul than watching a gazillion AT&T commercials. Oh, and let’s not forget the countless minutes of “official review” so the refs can add a tenth of a second to the game clock. Scintillating!
The Saturday happy hour was with some friends from my ad agency days. The traditional ad agency model is in a state of disarray. Too much consolidation, not enough creative freedom. But the folks I met and worked with during my agency days remain some of the most creative folks I’ve ever known. Writers, designers, artists, muralists, musicians. Big Idea generators, every one of them. They bring more beauty into the world. Yes, some of it is in service of commerce, but that doesn’t diminish the beauty… if anything, it makes it more admirable.
The student film festival gave me hope that the next generation of our “creative class” will be just as creative. The tools may change, but the ability to tell a compelling story will always matter.
The poets were folks who went to Xavier in the late 60s/early 70s and bonded over their love of the written word. To be able to portray beauty and convey emotions with an economy of words is a rare talent. And one well worth celebrating.
(excerpt above is from the book Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun)
The rise of technology — especially AI — has some folks thinking that our souls will be superseded by machines. But I know better. Flesh and blood, and human connection, are what will help us not just survive, but thrive.
On Wednesday night at the Cintas Center, Xavier University’s on-campus arena, Brad Colbert sank a three-point shot against DePaul. Xavier was already up by 31 points, and there were less than 90 seconds left in the game. DePaul’s historically bad this year, and Xavier is struggling to finish above .500. A garbage basket against a garbage team in garbage time. No big deal.
Except it was a very big deal. Brad Colbert is a senior walk-on. He’s been busting his hump in every practice for four seasons — walk-ons have to learn every opponents’ offense in addition to their own offense — and rarely sees the court. All of the hard work, with none of the glory. And he had never made a bucket in his entire career. He was 0-6 in very limited minutes.
Until last night, most Xavier fans were only familiar with Brad thanks to his perm-mullet hairstyle. (It’s pretty sweet!) But now, he’s a legend.
[photo credit: Sam Greene, Cincinnati Enquirer]
And not for nothing, Brad’s three-pointer was Xavier’s 10th of the game… meaning Xavier fans could cash in on the Chick-fil-A promotion that offers free nuggets the next business day whenever X hits that mark in a home game.
Brad Colbert’s basketball career is winding down. He won’t go on to play in the NBA. But years from now, he’ll be driving past a Chick-fil-A and he’ll tell his kids the same story he’s told them many times before. How, on a dreary night in February, he came off a screen, stepped back, and totally nailed a three-point bucket that made the whole crowd go wild. It’s his very own “one shining moment.” And it’s pretty damn cool.
(This article from the Xavier fan site Banners On The Parkway does a great job summing up the magic of the moment. Well worth the read.)
I don’t spend a ton of time on LinkedIn (or social media in general) but below are two posts from other folks that mean the world to me:
I honestly couldn’t tell you how Jaylin and I first connected… a mutual acquaintance sent him my way more than a year ago. We chatted a few times, I gave him a few editing suggestions for his resume, threw a few companies onto his radar, and made some introductions. He’s a smart, enthusiastic young man, and I’m glad he found a spot to start his career journey.
I’m always willing to carve out time to talk to new/recent grads about career paths. I’m certainly no titan of industry (as witnessed by my checkered career), but even a schlub like me has some advice worth sharing with youngsters who are just starting out.
Matt’s being way too generous by billing me as a mentor. (I think it just means I’m older than he is!) But when we do get a chance to catch up outside the office (usually on a bike ride or a kayaking adventure), it’s great to be able to get beyond small talk and chat about bigger picture stuff. He’s a great dude — those Cleveland boys are the salt of the earth — and always fun to be around.
In the words of former Cincinnati Reds radio broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, I’m “rounding third and heading for home” in my career journey. But it’s nice to know I’ve had some impact along the way.
Xavier eked out a one-point win over Georgetown in men’s hoops last night. The key play on the court was a last-minute dunk by freshman Dailyn Swain.
The key play off the court happened at halftime, when dozens of… ahem, “mature” Xavier alums gathered to toast our dear friend Ned, who passed away in October.
Ned’s wife Felicity and their daughter Grace (front row, 2nd from left and left in the photo above) joined us. Yesterday would’ve been Ned’s 60th birthday, so it was a difficult day for them emotionally.
But I know they felt the love and affection from all of us gathered there to pay tribute to a wonderful human being. “All of us” being: LJ and Patty, Maynard and Teresa, Art and Sheila, Phil and Suzanne, Tom, Lisa, Maria, Drew and Lyn, Phil and Jenny, Jack and Sherri, Joyce, Chrissy, Eddie, Jimmy, Joe and LeAnn, Amy, Jill, Jackie and Mike, Lynne, Mike, Doug, yours truly, and some others I’m surely forgetting due to my… ahem, “maturity.”
We met at a bar in the upper corner of Xavier’s arena. The actual bar was taken from a longtime student hangout near campus called The Norwood Café (or “The Woods” in our parlance).
We spent countless hours at that bar with Ned some forty-odd years ago, so it was a very fitting spot for our gathering.
Those who couldn’t make it in person joined us in spirit in our toast, from all over the country.
I made a photo collage poster and we hung it on the wall near the bar… so many great memories with a guy who always made us smile.
I just read a Chuck Klosterman essay where he wrote that it’s irrational to think that just watching a game will have any impact on the outcome. But still we, the fans, believe it to be so.
Last night, we all left the arena smiling. And those of us who are Ned fans truly believe that he had a hand in making that happen.
It was Ned’s birthday, but we’re the ones who got the presents. Sure, the Xavier win was great, but the better gifts were the chance to gather, the hugs, the laughs, the smiles. Ned’s not here, but he’s still helping us win in the game of life.
impossibly4332b32374 on Light. Laughter. Grace.: “That’s the reply you were talking about! And a reminder to get that book out. I do almost all of…” Apr 27, 15:36
impossibly4332b32374 on Light. Laughter. Grace.: “I’ve got The Wet Engine on my shelf, and think I read about half of it. Time for another look.” Apr 21, 09:15
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