All things, the Fearists say begin and end with fear. We are born into the world in a horrifying bloody mess and more often than not go out the same way. Before we even know the world we are pushed into it violently. The shock and panic of a newborn cry rings in all our ears. When I first heard of it I thought oh no this is like those little red bracelets Madonna and Brittany wear doing yoga. But, is there more to it than that?

Fearism is the philosophy that fear is the catalyst of the... read more

Roger Blackwell is an entertaining person who uses the metaphor of Rock and Roll to speak about brand. He talked about how to position your brand as a Rock Star and create fans and gave a marketing 101 overview. The two spaces that he predicted would grow were the Gen Y sector and what he called Muppies. The Yuppies have become Mature Urban Professionals. He predicted that those would be the growth markets to hit in the future.

Both groups require that the brand deliver an experience. ... read more

The next big thing wasn’t really anything. Again the consumer was discussed and the search engine. But no one really knows how to do it right. I ended up leaving and wandering the conference floor. There was one degenerate corner where the girls were wearing t-shirts that said” Do you want to be on top” and another booth was giving out “personal massagers” and there was beer and rock and roll on the juke box. This was where the kids hang out who smoke. The next big thing is the same thing all... read more

Not all ideas are created equal. The biggest idea at AD:TECH is freeing the brand. Consumers are already talking about you. They are manipulating your brand and if you are doing a good job they are making it their own. The world has gone beyond brand loyalty to use of a brand as an identifier in personal expression. This has an authenticity that cannot be imposed or created inorganically.

The number of blogs has doubled in the last nine months. Tony Conrad asked the question, “What are... read more

AD:TECH Keynote
John Costello EVP Merchandising Home Depot
Mary Meeker Morgan Stanley

The theme of the conference is the Age of Engagement. The tune of Age of Aquarius rings in my head. I am thinking is this just another term. What does this mean behind the hype? It proclaims mass media dead long live new media. Smart companies are actively pursuing interaction with customers.

Home Depot has used this strategy successfully. A brand will be judged by how it engages. Technology in ... read more

My hair nearly reached my waste in the first grade. My mother liked it long and straight. She brushed it every night. With strong strokes and complained that I let it be a rat’s nest. She watered down the snarls and I swore I would go bald. Each day before school she would braid it in two low braids behind my ears. On holidays I suffered pin curls and slept as she did with her head covered in X’s of bobby pins like a mace.

The reason for the low braid was because I was self conscious abou... read more

Any or all resemblance to anything useful is purely accidental and should be ignored. The person who cares in this diagram may in fact be Bono.

I have noticed that greetings have changed.

There is “YO” here and “OY” down under and I wonder if it is something like the water churning backwards in a whirlpool.

I often say “Hey” rather than “Hi” so I do not seem eager. I have worked hard to keep my edge. A nod of the head and a look of recognition can be enough.

The telephone is more complex. My father faithfully answers the phone “Jim McSherry”.
It has always been a pronouncement. Though in the past few years it seemed to m... read more

The story in the Weekly World News makes the affair sound sordod. It isn’t about the money. I am not even sure his people understand the concept of money. He was not as they imply indiscriminately anal probing everyone in the galaxy. There is a difference between one’s job and their personal life.

The paper implies that I was abducted. That isn’t true. That was a fetish thing we did one night. It was all me…'' like rape play. I wanted to be sucked up into the white light and to be held do... read more

Toes are such tender things. I have a high pain tolerance. And I hate doctors. I would rather ignore something than deal with it. But tonight I think I broke my freak’n toe.
So there was this skateboard in the hallway that led to a kitchen chair with a laundry basket on it. I was on the phone as usual and putting laundry away for the boys. I tripped onto the skateboard, slid into the chair and then my pinky toe was at a right angle to my foot.

There was some blood and tearing of the ey... read more

Why a Duck?

First let me tell you that I am addicted to quizzes. They are a compulsion. The ones in women magazines and on the internet—I love them. I want to know which Disney princess figure I am. I happen to be a “Belle” from “Beauty and the Beast”. I am a Water Tiger. I am a Libra. I am a 1. I am type A. Which Friend am I from the TV show? A Phoebe they say. Which Gilligan’s Island cast away? I am a Gilligan but I want to be Ginger. My ultimate personality type is Lethal Weapon. I am a... read more

What you can get for a Bullhorn in this Town.

Well you see I had this bullhorn. It was a prop. But it was a real police grade bullhorn.
Used once and still in the box. Until yesterday when the kids discovered it was there.
Then juvenile secrets were being announced to the neighborhood. Apparently, He loves her and she loves him and she loves somebody else and you just can’t win. The fact that Darius loves Kathy and Kathy like Anthony is big news with the Spin the Bottle Crowd.
The ant... read more

Chapter Three: The Hickey and the Dead Guy

(any resemblance to my life is purely coincidental)

It started with a phone call. From a guy named Tony. I knew him because he dated my friend Marcie. Anyway his brother was going to be in town for the Thanksgiving Holiday and he thought we could all go out. I was living in Allston at the time. Tony was a thick- bodied Italian guy from the North End. His brother Jude was a dancer who had moved to New York. He was in a production of Grease I thi... read more

Rather a short story from yesterday. I was late for a meeting. I hate being late.
I used to be late all the time and take great satisfaction in having mastered it.
Well, a phone call ran over and I had to be at the office for another phone call.
When I got to my exit I had eight minutes to get down the hill and find parking.
Now one side of the hill is rather sketchy.

There was an odd amount of backed up traffic for an industrial area. So I did some cool moves around sides streets ... read more

The desire to hoard is very basic in humans. I think it comes from a time when there was a long winter and we needed enough to make it through. We gathered things we could consume or trade. We are not that different now. Having a lot of something is good. If the something you have is valuable it is even better.

What is valued can be vastly different from one group to another, for example, the rush for Beanie Babies. For a certain group, mostly hefty women with a keen eye for a fake, a... read more

So the first thing on the profile says that I got my head caught in the cake mixer.
The general question is how? So I consider this a back story.

I often work at home. I am a single mom with two kids. At the time I was doing social network consulting for World Bank. I was working with small countries to help them use the Internet to enhance communications and their economy.
I was also assigned as room parent in Ms. Sanchez's kindergarten class. My younger son has a way about him. He wo... read more

I think I am genetically predisposed to losing my car keys. My mother lost her keys often. I remember the frantic retracing of steps and my small hands between the seat cushions of the Skylark. It has to do with the chaos of transitions. Sometimes when we would arrive at destinations my mother would just sit there in the car at peace. It was the calm before the storm dragging three under three into the market just to get staples. She always called them staples, milk, cheese, bread. This was... read more

Questions for God

In my mind it sounds kind of like speed dating. You have a bunch of
questions to ask to determine if you want a relationship. They say it
just happens in the first few seconds. I am sure God can be very
charismatic but I have written down a few pulse points for myself.

Category A: General

1 Why the Hair?
2 Sex is Cool how did you come up with it?
3 Do you get hungry?
4 If you were stranded on a desert Island and only could bring three
things what would they b... read more

So many people pointed out that Meg may have been around lately because there was a dead cat named BooBoo in a white garbage bag on the front porch. This is true but could not have been foreseen. Booboo belonged to Espi a nanny of mine who left the country and could not bring her. I am not a cat person. They are too small and I have problems with small animals. It is a mutual aversion they don't like me and I don't like them.

Aidan my son loves all animals. Bring him your tired your hu... read more

So, I have a vulture. It is not metaphorical it is an actual vulture nesting on my roof.
Her name is Meg. Meg may have eggs. I am not so sure but it seems to be the way of things. I have watched the discovery channel. I live on San Bruno Mountain. Above the
Cow Palace in those tiny boxes. I see all three bridges, downtown and Mt. Davidson from my living room. They stopped building house up here because of a snake and a butterfly. Both have sky blue on them. The snake is the San Francisc... read more