C.B. Potts's Blog, page 26

It Is Okay To Change You Know

Sometimes there are things we insist upon because we have always insisted on those things. From time to time it is important to stop and see if the things you insist upon are really helping you. Sometimes I find I am more attached to the insisting than whatever it is I'm insistent about.

The more out of control or uncertain I feel, the more insistent I become in general. Articulating and imposing my will where I can serves as a counter - albeit not necessarily a good one - for the areas wh...

Sometimes It Is Monday

You know what poetry is, don't you? Poetry is medicine for our souls. Today is Definitely Monday, but I read this and it is too good not to share with you all. Please feel like you're being hugged tightly, with great affection, on this very damp morning:

Here’s an observant and thoughtful poem by Lisel Mueller about the way we’ve assigned human characteristics to the inanimate things about us. Mueller lives in Illinois and is one of our most distinguished poets.




Things

What...

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Wolves in sheep's clothing
Never fail to distress me
In fact, I think they upset me
Far far more than anything else

I want to run around screaming
Look look look at them
All clothed up with righteousness
Speaking the proper words
With cultured inflections
Disavowing everything they can not hide
About their essential selves
Because they are purer than that

If you watch them
If you listen
If you take up their actions in one hand
And their sentiments in another
You'll find the balance tipped

And oh these...

Your Work Must Reflect Your Moral Values

This one's for the ghost writers, actual or aspiring, out there. Take it from me: you don't ever want to take on a client who promotes a product/service/mindset that goes against your moral values. It is impossible to do a good job for people when you fundamentally disagree with who you're representing. When you're hungry for money, as goodness knows I can be, you might think that "Oh, it's no big deal" but believe me, this is a hurdle that can not be over come....

Tuesday Morning, Thus Far

How often it is that I can't really means I won't. Or I shouldn't have to; I'm too good for this.

There are layers here: some work is dirty, some demeaning, some things merely impolite. The skill set that will make you good at what you do - the watching, the asking of questions, the learning how to think, the shifting of perspective - will cut you right out of the herd.

People who don't know many things will not believe that you know many things. Or anything, actually. It is...

The Thing That Helps Me May Not Be The Thing That Helps You

This week has been challenging. At heart, I am an engineer. When I see a problem, I tend to leap immediately to 'what will fix this?'

There are a number of ways this can go wrong. Let's count them all off, just for fun:

One: Not everyone who has a problem is desirous of a solution to that problem. There are times where people need to be with their problems; to know them as thoroughly and intimately as one knows a lover, inch by inch by inch through the small hours of the night. Pres...

Onward, Upward, Forward

We keep moving because that is what we do. It is hot, and I am Very Busy In A Good Way and I am Very Sore In Not A Good Way. Clearly it is Monday.

Monday and Being Meat

This is one of the conversations that people either get, or they don't. If you're one of the Tribe that gets this, I'm thinking of you this morning, and sending you what strength and comfort I can through the wonders of the web.

Sometimes bad things happen in relationships. Really bad things. Breathtakingly bad things. And when these bad things happen, what we do is simple: we smile, we put a good face on it, we lie like a rug. We do whatever we have to do to keep the bad thing fro...

Our Country Is Out Of Control

This is long, and you need to read it, because our country is completely out of control. NSA collecting our phone records is the teeny-tiniest tip of the iceberg. I had no idea all of this was going on: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/general-keith-alexander-cyberwar/all/

How in the world are we going to have a future?

You Have To Know Things

This is a place holder to say I want to write about information addiction/internet addiction and my unfortunate crush on Charlie Rose someday.