By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Aug 26, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
It’s one of those Monday mornings that feels like I am about to take a major test I waited until the last minute to study for…
Because I thought I could pull it off…
But realize now I was probably mistaken…
For a class I didn’t want to sign up for but did anyway because I thought it would be good for me…
And two weeks ago had the opportunity to drop but didn’t and now the deadline has passed…
And decide if I gorge myself on a sweet roll and loud Motown music while telling myself “In the scheme of things…..this is not a big deal” that I briefly feel better ….
Until after the second sweet roll I start feeling both guilty, anxious, and now nauseous at the exact same time I realize listening to Lady Marmalade for the third time is two times too many…
And I look over my notes one last time and hope the questions on the test turn out to be the few I know the answer to…
As I realize that this is just another Monday ….like every other Monday. And the way I always feel before a test. And, awww hell, it will be fine…
And even if it’s not fine and I do poorly, it will still be fine…
And turn back on Lady Marmalade and it sounds even better the third time than it did the first time…
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Aug 23, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I feel sometimes like I don’t post enough pictures of food I am about to eat.
Frankly, I don’t eat many meals that are that interesting or that others would probably want to know about.
But I want to fit in and had a friend of a friend send me a picture of a meal he found on Facebook recently of something someone somewhere was about to eat.
He wasn’t sure of the entire backstory — only that someone was hungry and took a picture—but was able to download it and send to me to share so I could hit my food pic quota this month on Facebook.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 22, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I am 50 years old now and yes, I will, on occassion, when my wardrode is limited and it is the weekend, throw on plaid shorts and a plaid short-sleeve button down shirt.
I am 50. And it just doesn’t matter that much.
OK. That’s not the truth. It is not my age and limited wardrobe thay is to blame.
I will admit it, a few years ago when I was in Hawaii I saw some young surfer dudes wearing plaid and plaid and it worked for them–even though I knew it wasn’t supposed to.
While in Hawaii I didn’t buy any of those plaid shirts or plaid shorts (I already had some at home), but did buy the surfer dude casual shoes that looked ragged and pre-worn but seemed to help make the plaid on plaid scheme work.
And that is the real reason I have recently tried wearing this plaid ensemble.
I thought with the shoes and the right youthful attitude I could oull it off. But I got a good look at myself in the mirror over the weekend and relaized that instead of looking like a slightly aging former surfer dude I instead looked like a 50 year old guy with bad plaid clothes who went to Hawaii a few years ago and bought some surfer dude shoes because he thought he could wear them with his plaid clothes back home and look like a slightly aging former surfer dude.
And was sorely mistaken and no one has had the heart to tell him.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Aug 21, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
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Since I was recently part of a book on dealing effectively with crisis, this piece caught my attention.
AOL CEO brashly and brazenly fired an employee on a conference call last week. An audio of the firing was released to the internet embarrassing the CEO. He today apologized to everyone on the call (1000 employees) via email.
That is a start. But struck me as more of a CYA response than a genuine and heartfelt apology.
He may have had good reason for firing this individual. I don’t know. But if he truly wanted to apologize he should do so on the same (or more personal) medium where the behavior occurred. In this case, a conference call.
An email is just slightly more personal than a text message.
Or classified ad making a declaration.
If Mr. Armstrong truly wanted to make a real apology that his employees could trust and use to reconsider their thoughts about last weeks’ inflammatory firing incident he could have dug a little deeper, been a little less public, and a little more personal than a blast email with a stock mea culpa.
Whenever Stephen Colbert debuts one of his “People Who Are Destroying America”segments, you know you’re about to meet someone wonderful. It’s the brilliance of “The Colbert Report” that anything labelled as horrible or destructive is actually something that restores your faith in humanity.
Wednesday’s subject of Colbert’s fake ire was no exception. In fact, the story of Mayor Johnny Cummings of Vicco, Ky. and the people of his town is so heartwarming you might want to plan a visit there. If you recall, Vicco made headlines in January for being one of the smallest towns in America to pass a non-discrimination law. Naturally, this development sent chills down the spine of “Stephen Colbert”… not to be confused with Stephen Colbert.
While the segment offers plenty of laughs, we challenge you to watch the last moment without tearing up a little bit.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I have been an avid coffee drinker for three decades and when traveling I like to try different coffee shops and coffee brands.
What is my standard for determining if a new kind of coffee I haven’t tried before truly measures up?
Easy. …One simple test.
After the first deep gulp (or second sip) do I start to hear this song play in my head?
If the answer is “Yes,” the coffee brand has made the cut and gets placed alongside Cafe Buestelo, Heine Bros, Cafe Du Monde (which I relied on while studying for the bar exam) and other great coffees I favor.
If “no,” it gets filed alongside Sanka, Nescafe, Maxwell House and a few dozen others coffee brands that have tried but come up short for me personally.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Aug 14, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
The flip side of addiction is an unraveling of many things: hurt, loss, fear, shame, loneliness, emptiness and aridness. Coupled with an intensity of feelings, passions, dreams, and idealism —all surrounded by an overwhelming craving for love and affirmation to fill in the gaping pieces missing from an un-whole life.
And then there is the undisciplined promise and lingering sense of pending defeat made endurable only from the well of undeveloped latent –and misguided– talent.
The addict is in many ways the ultimate tightrope walker. If his demons prevail and he falls to one side, he dies. But if he taps into some sort of divinity in the universe or in himself, he falls to the other side. And soars.
No public person I can think of embodies this beautifully treacherous balancing act more harrowingly (and inspiringly) than Robert Downey Jr.
He has ridden the roller coaster of addiction–and its flip side– publicly and dramatically into our hearts and minds–and souls.
Robert Downey Jr wrote and performed this piano ballad, Snakes (first video)
And more recently in a duet with Sting performed the aptly named Driven to Tears (second video).
In each video he shows us a glimpse of the depth of the brilliant and painful artistry tamped down so deeply inside this man-boy who can and has fallen far and hard. And soared so high and fantastically that only he can describe it. And he has touched us as we enjoy the honor and pleasure of witnessing his talent escape the bonds of his addictions and soar before us as we smile and applaud.
Here’s hoping he keeps falling to the beautiful side of his dichotomous daily walk— and soaring for yet another day.
And here’s hoping the very same glorious reprieve for all other addicts.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Aug 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Some things just aren’t meant to be.
Today, after 5 centuries of avoiding ever, ever spending more than about $7 on a pair of sunglasses from the drug store, I relented. My wife, son and daughter each donned sun glasses this morning and I felt left out.
Later this afternoon I snuck off to the Sunglasses Hut (or something like that) and after trying on about 25 different pairs of sunglasses (that cost over $7), I broke done and purchased the basic non-polorized (sp??) Ray Bans (the cheapest pair of Ray Bans they had). I had asked for something “basic” and “kinda classic” ….and something “that wouldn’t stand out on a person who doesn’t wear sun glasses and never has.”
As I walked out with the sun glasses on I could hear the customer behind me comment surprisingly to the sales clerk, “He bought those?” That was the first sign.
Before leaving the parking lot I texted my wife a picture of me and my new sunglasses before excitedly driving home to “join” the family with my new sunglasses status. My wife texted, “Hilarious!” And then my daughter texted, “LOL!” And my wife reported my son was laughing so hard that he was about to injure himself. Apparently, my sun glasses shot had gone viral within the family.
I explained that “‘Hilarious’ wasn’t what I was going for.” Adding that the “Sales clerk had told me they looked good on me.”
There’s more but before I was able to hang with the fam as the fourth sunglass-wearing member, it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. And that I had just paid a little over a $100 for a pair of sunglasses that may be worn on my head but never dropped to my eyes to be worn correctly. I even tried the Tom Cruise Risky Business low sunglasses looking out over them. That was a fail too.
I should instead have bought 6 pairs of new dark socks, a new belt, a new sweat suit and two new pairs of $7 sunglasses from CVS. One for my head and one for my eyes. The latter only to be worn in extreme circumstances when absolutely necessary to protect my eyes against imminent danger (or when recovering from the glaucoma eye test) and no one else is around to see me.
It’s one of those Monday mornings that feels like I am about to take a major test I waited until the last minute to study for…
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