Keep Looking, The Good Stuff is Out There to Read-Learn From

While I’m very willing to comment on a know-nothing or left-headed piece by bloggers or writers of any strain, when something really damn good shows up, there’s almost a moral obligation to give it the attaboys! it deserves.

In the last week I’ve come across three pieces in particular, on extremely different topics, and that seems like exactly the reward surfing the web should provide. I’m including the exact locations, but with enthusiasm of the moment, the subjects were:

* How some college courses, rather than stretching the thought processes of students, are *constrained* by the milque toast-namby pamby-political correctness of students who are, it seems, willing to object IN LEGAL ACTION to something that strikes their sensibilities as un-good. Wow! even regarding classics in literature, and the idea a professor needs to give ‘trigger warnings’ about material will just floor you. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

* The second was titled simply ‘What ISIS Really Wants’, and while its a LONG piece, I can almost guarantee you won’t find a better and more complete assessment of information to get you clued in. It gets to the religious bottom line about why the caliphate draws ‘true believers’ from everywhere; doesn’t *rationalize* the brutality, and puts genuine perspective out there about WHY there are so many Muslims in the world that won’t speak against the savagery ISIS so clearly displays. That its brand of belief doesn’t adjust for 21st century sensibilities vs. original Koran about beheadings and slavery is stuff that counts. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

* The last was about how to make the small changes in your daily schedule that allow for increasing your time/productivity as a writer, and I almost wept (okay, hyperbole) at its clarity. That I’d put 90% of Melissa Chu’s‘s ideas into effect about two years ago and DID gain the consistency and oomph! that made a difference meant it was Truth, and I promise, you will want to read http://www.thewritelife.com/find-an-hour-a-day-for-your-freelance-side-hustle/ . When she writes about stealing hours to invest in your freelance gig, I *know* setting the cell phone for 7:05, having coffee in hand by 7:15, and cranking on my editing/blogging with a personal deadline of 10:15 because I had to get a quick shower and something to eat before my shift– that’s the Real Deal.

It’s never been easier to get your thoughts out to the world than with this electronic wonder we work with, although Ben Franklin et al– who wrote and published their production– had a good lock on it. I can re-post this 4-5 different places and touch different audiences, and while I’m expecting there will be more frequent reasons to pooh-pooh less inspired efforts, I’m quite satisfied that The System is kind of working the way it needs to regarding at least a corner of what the world needs to know.

Glenn S.