I got incredibly frustrated at work today. I was sick, and I shouldn't have been out of bed to begin with, so when I was faced with telling the same people why they shouldn't post a PDF to their website for the 90th time I lost it a little and went home.
I decided to spend the time in bed taking a a Poynter scientific writing course I'd been putting off for... oh lord, a year?
But these things happen at exactly the right time. Or, I see the connections when I need to. Or something.
I've spent most of my time in newspapers and nonprofits, but recently moved into higher education. The work is the same, but the culture is very different. And I have never seen it more nailed:
"Many, if not most, scientists are trained to believe that the more complicated their sentences, the more important their work. And the more important their work, the more likely they are to get funding from major sources and gain the kind of respect from their peers that translates into a more successful career."
-- Poynter. News University, Whose Truth? Tools for Smart Science Journalism in the Digital Age
HOLY LIGHT BULB.
Especially since I'd just posted this linked text -- seriously, just five seconds before reading the above -- to Facebook, which is what I've been repeating to each and every one of them ad nauseam:
"You are writing to impress someone hanging from a strap in the tube between Parson's Green and Putney, who will stop reading in a fifth of a second, given a chance."
-- Tim Radford, The Guardian
Everything's connected. Never stop learning, seeing and listening.
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Long ago, a girl travelled to Scotland and found a beautiful St. Christopher medal at a flea market. At one point, the medal meant a lot to someone for Steve Loves Delma was engraved on the back in scripty letters. It certainly meant a lot to the girl. Twenty years later, she lost it in a snowstorm. But she never gives up hope of getting it back.
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