In praise of silence

I’d rather have the base-line of my working life be anchored in a kind of silence that encourages intelligent thinking and discussion, rather than have it be anchored in noise, over-stimulation, distractions and constant rush. I’d like to enter public spaces – stores, medical offices, health clubs, malls and elevators – without being bombarded with constant noise disguised as music. I know that’s asking a lot, and most people will never have that luxury. But I think we’re far the poorer for it.

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Our uninformed public dialogue

News moves at warp speed anymore, and in trying to keep up, much of which passes for news is just not credible stuff. How do we educate our young people to have discerning minds without turning them into complete cynics? How do we once again grow a country which is intellectually rigorous and willing to consider different information which may actually change our minds? These are questions we’ll be having to answer for a long time in the future.

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Career at a Crossroads: Managing your Career in a Recession

MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY
17600 PACIFIC HIGHWAY (HWY. 43) MARYLHURST, OREGON
Career at a Crossroads –
Managing Your Communications Career in a Recession
6:30-9:00 pm Wednesday, October 14th:  Flavia Hall Parlor,
Marylhurst University 
Free and open to the public; RSVP requested at www.marylhurst.edu/homecoming 
 
Released Oct.1, 2009
The Communication Department at Marylhurst University and the Portland Metro Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America [...]

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From the beach at Yachats

The sound of the ocean is a steady rhythm against life here; and the beach reflects the entire cycle of life and death and the tides that bring both. I think often of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Gifts from the Sea,” and know what she meant. Here – for someone who has spent a lifetime dealing with what it takes to establish those “mutually beneficial relationships” between a business or organization and its publics; who has studied and worked in public relations since 1980 – here my relationship with myself and the world around me settles into something peaceful and quiet. Here I understand a lot more about the ties that bind.

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Check your facts!

I’m on the same rant: I can’t stand it that our public discourse has turned rude, ugly and cynical.  I watched all of President Obama’s health care speech tonight, and was as stunned as a lot of people were when Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted out ‘You lie!” when the President said the proposed health [...]

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President Obama’s Education Speech Today – why all the fuss?

It wasn’t Camelot, we all know that now. But in those days, there was no shame in respecting the office of the President and the man who held the position; and there was no outcry over being asked to fulfill our better natures. He helped shape our dreams – most leaders do. Why are we, in this country, so determined not to dream, not to aspire, but only to throw spit balls and whine and complain?

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Woodstock? Not this Boomer.

Did I protest? Are you kidding? There was no way I would have him be that demoralized. I wasn’t happy about anything that was going on; I didn’t understand war then, don’t understand war now, and have no wish to every see another member of my family face such a hell. Father, husband and son – that’s enough. They all came back. Sort of.

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Back to the balance…

I’m glad it’s summer, and glad to have an occasional day to remember those other dreams - dreams outside of work, outside of family, outside of all the “shoulds” that run much of my life they way they do everyone’s.  I’ve had a “bucket list” for a long time of things I want to do before [...]

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Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend, I’m remembering – and hoping others will remember – those who never made it home.  War, to me, is one of the most horrendous things we human beings engage in… one of the most stupid, the most idiotic, the most tragic things.  War – as Eisenhower said once – has never [...]

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Can public relations help you get through a recession?

Let us count the ways:

Public relations has always been more cost-effective than advertising; you’ll spend less and get longer-term results.  Public relations doesn’t offer an expensive quick fix; it offers long-range solutions.
Public relations is more “holistic” than advertising; although it can support a sales function, it’s concerned with much wider concentric circles than just moving [...]

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