Previous Entries

Previous Entries

December - January 2010

Christmas 2009 has come and gone (except for Orthodox Christians) but the story continues. Karen Armstrong explains it's "for celebrators and skeptics alike".

I have been reflecting on the relationship between peoples’ beliefs and how they live their day-to-day lives. Here are some relevant links:

Economic Prosperity: A Step of Faith, by Joseph Laconte in The American

Religion and Morality: Separated at Birth?, an essay by Marc D. Hauser in the Edge

We claim to celebrate individual differences and diversity in our society. But we dismiss or suppress nonconformity and separate the successful from the supposedly unsuccessful outcasts and outliers, (to borrow a phrase from Malcom Gladwell). Our obsession with celebrity has only increased this tendency. For anyone who’s felt like the odd-person out (and that includes most of us), here’s a reminder that qualities that are liabilities in some contexts can prove useful traits in others.

How We're Wired: 'The Science of Success' by David Dobbs in the Atlantic Monthly[1]

The story of nonconformists and weirdos seeking enlightenment and truth to share with the rest of us is a pretty universal one, especially relevant this time of year.[2] Think Joan of Arc and Rachel Carson. Think Thoreau, John the Baptist and Jesus. Maybe we should treat folks like these better when they’re among us. For a lighter look at this, see The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers by Cathleen Falsani reviewed on NPR. And keep those white Russians coming.

Have you ‘friended’ someone on Facebook or been friended through this or other social networking sites over the holidays? What has been your experience with the quality of those virtual relationships? Can you count on people out in the ether when the cat dies and you’ve lost your job and you break up with your significant other? See:

Faux Friendship by William Deresiewicz in the Chronicle of Higher Education

In the past month the husband of a colleague died and someone in my family has experienced a recurrence of cancer. Many people I know are struggling with the loss of jobs and work-related problems. Are we just not thinking the right thoughts? I’m reading Brightsided, by Barbara Ehrenreich. She tries to inject some sanity into the positive psychology/positive belief movement based on her experience and observations.

Best wishes for hope and happiness.

[1] For a related perspective, see Born Losers: a History of Failure in America by Scott Sandage at Carnegie Mellon University. And Peter Kramer covered the neurochemical 'kindling' of traits over fifteen years ago in Listening to Prozac.

[2] Please see The Twilight Zone’s wonderful 1960 Night of the Meek episode with Art Carney. Also see the excellent 1985 remake with Richard Mulligan.

November 2009

The Sprout Fund has invited me to participate in their Making Sparks event at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh on October 28th. The event is designed to "explore how technology and innovation can transform the lives of young children" in Southwestern Pennsylvania. To inject a breath of sanity, I think it's appropriate for anyone involved to re-visit Neil Postman's Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change. Here's a summary:

· Culture always pays a price for technology

· There are always winners and losers in technological change

· Every technology has a philosophy which is given expression in how the technology makes people use their minds, in what it makes us do with our bodies, in how it codifies the world, in which of our senses it amplifies, in which of our emotional and intellectual tendencies it disregards.

· Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. [And I would add the law of unintended consequences as a corollary)

· Media tend to become mythic, [in the sense that we have] a common tendency to think of our technological creations as if they were God-given, as if they were a part of the natural order of things

Please also see the following:

Sometimes the Government Works: My recent entry on The Civilian Conversation Corps at Working Pittsburgh

Now You Tell Us: Interviews with Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy in the Washington Post

September - October 2009

Please see my latest blog entry on the G20 at Working Pittsburgh:

What the G20 Should Talk About in Pittsburgh

Here's an interesting reflection on the idea of the Commons by Barry Schwartz. I recommend it to world leaders as they consider issues of global warming and equity in economic development amidst Pittsburgh's bridges and picturesque three rivers this month.

http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=21664

And here we have the answer to the purpose of the G20 summit from an interview by NPR with mayor Luke Ravenstahl. It's food; specifically Primanti's sandwiches (a 'burgh staple).

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111917234

Finally, here's an attempt by Dennis Roddy in the Post Gazette to provide a coherent account of what the protesters might be protesting.

G-20 Objectors Promoting Varied Agendas

As Sergeant Esterhaus used to say on the Pittsburgh-inspired Hill Street Blues, "Let's be careful out there."

June - August 2009

I'm in the home stretch preparing for a week-long residency and July 31st and August 1 spoken-word performance titled To Be of Use: Stories of Labor and Identity in SouthWestern Pennysylvania at Future Tenant in Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Corinne and Kate at FT and all the others who have provided support and encouragement over the past six months, as well as those who have allowed me to interview them about how their work relates to their identity in the 'burgh and our region.

I'll also do a version of this reading to benefit the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank on August 9th. The reading will be in cooperation with Rivers of Steel Heritage Center at the Pumphouse in Homestead in honor of the late Pittsburgh storyteller Joe Healy .

Please see the shared project workspace and latest blog entry at:

http://workingpittsburgh.spaces.live.com/

April - June 2009

I"m grateful to my colleagues at STC Pittsburgh. At the April chapter meeting the organization awarded me the Distinguished Chapter Service Award for my work as board president of STC WorkQuest. Established by Janis Ramey in 2002 as an employment networking group, WorkQuest provides a valuable resource for the unemployed and underemployed in Southwestern Pennsylvania

On a related note, please see my new Working Pittsburgh shared project workspace at:

http://workingpittsburgh.spaces.live.com/

There you will find:

A Working Pittsburgh blog, where I will add accounts of my research and notes
Sample videos
A project calendar
Links to related project documents

March 2009

Do things seem crazier than normal (and I don't mean just the present financial picture)? Maybe it's not just you. Please click the following link to read my article in the February 2009 STC (Society for Technical Communication) Pittsburgh Blue Pencil newsletter:

Coping with a Co-Dependent Workplace: How to Maintain Your Sanity When All Those Around You Seem to Have Lost Theirs (Acrobat PDF)

Thinking about an MBA? You might want to think again, given the recent ROI. See the article in the UK Times online:

Harvard's Masters of the Apocalypse

February 2009

Last year Pittsburgh celebrated its 250th anniversary. This month the city happily celebrates the Steeler's sixth Superbowl win.

I have embarked on research for an oral history project to celebrate the stories of workers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The project is titled Working Pittsburgh. It will weave together fictional and non-fiction historical accounts with first-hand contemporary narratives of working people about their jobs in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania -- from football players and waitresses, to bicycle messengers and CEOs.

The project is inspired by Mike Rose's The Mind at Work and my involvement as board president with STC WorkQuest. More details will follow. If you are interested in participating or have questions, please click Contact on the menu to send an inquiry to me through this site.

Please click to see a outline for the discussion I led January 13th at the STC Pittsburgh Career Roundtable event. (Requires the free Acrobat Reader.)

Personal and Online Networking for Your Job Search

Thanks.

Chuck Lanigan

January 2009

Happy 2009. On January 13th I led a discussion for the STC Pittsburgh career roundtable on traditional forms of face-to-face networking and new virtual networking (AKA Web 2.0) resources. Topics addressed included:

Traditional Face-to-Face Job Search Networking
Online (Virtual) Job Search Networking
Using Web 2.0 Tools
Comparison of Skills and Techniques
Putting it All Together

I will be adding a PDF or other file outlining the presentation available from the STC Pittsburgh web page .

Archived Pages from My Old Site

Please click to see What's New? entries archived from my previous web site.

www.sanepractices.com

Turning Ideas and Information into Answers