Commentary

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Are You Great?

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Are You Great?

A few weeks ago I moved into new office space and in the lunchroom the walls were made out of a dry eraser board material. When I was headed to get my lunch one day, I saw the following written on the wall: "Greatness comes from ______." Weeks went by and no one had written anything on the wall, but the line had stuck in my head and I kept thinking on how I would answer the question. Why? Well, that's how my mind works. I think those sorts of things in which there really is no right answer but the question gets you thinking.

Trying Something New: Play the Ukulele

Trying Something New: Play the Ukulele

Back in February I started taking a ukulele class because it's been a goal of mine to learn how to play for about a year now. I purchased my uke when I came back from last year's Social Media Marketing World conference. During one of the keynotes, Larry Benet asked us to turn to the person beside us and ask: "What are you passionate about?" I don't remember my answer, but the woman next to me told me that she and her husband were passionate about playing the ukulele. I had always wanted to learn how to play the guitar so I thought why not pick up a ukulele and learn?

Obsessive Love

Obsessive Love

"She gazed at him and became lost in memories now long gone. The stubble on his chin, the freckles under his eyes and the few flecks of gray in his hair, but his crooked smile had captured her attention the most. She could not look away. She remembered the touch of his two day old beard, the roughness of it, and the way he had said her name. But that was all in the past now ... He walked past her without any recognition and the young woman on his arm smiled and the hurt began, small at first, deep in her chest but then it grew and enveloped her with a pain that engulfed her heart and drowned her in longing. Cinderella turned away and the music from the ball faded behind her."

Have you ever felt this way? A love that had kept you up at night and sustained you in the darkest of times now had become your worst pain?

Five Things I'm Thankful My Grandmother and Mother Taught Me

Five Things I'm Thankful My Grandmother and Mother Taught Me

I grew up in a crazy Italian/Irish Catholic household. One in which the women took on the brunt of the housework while the men watched TV or puttered around the house. The division of labor was pretty clear cut. After my mom divorced and moved back into her parents, my mom worked full-time while my grandfather and grandmother watched my brother and I.

Everything Is NOT Awesome and That Is Okay

Everything Is NOT Awesome and That Is Okay

My kids and I saw the Lego Movie a few weeks ago and we loved it. In the beginning, Emmet, our hero, wakes up and goes about his business getting ready for work and we hear Tegan and Sara's song Everything Is Awesome. Some of the lyrics are great and get you thinking about life and whether it's really awesome to lose.

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Do You Love Me? How to Find Emotional Connections and Companionship with Others

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Do You Love Me? How to Find Emotional Connections and Companionship with Others

There's a scene toward the end of the 2013 Best Picture Oscar nominated movie Her in which Theodore, played wonderfully by Joaquin Phoenix, sits on the stairs leading down to a subway. He's distraught and his eye is drawn to people coming up the stairs toward him. There are men and women, but they are all talking to the computers in their ears. These people are oblivious to those around them and are in their own little worlds. Separate and craving for love and companionship, the citizens who populate Spike Jonze's Her are unable to truly connect to people. Instead they gravitate toward artificial intelligence and begin to fall in love and form strong bonds with these bodiless virtual beings.