A Place to Leave my Thoughts

Greetings and welcome to a small personal experiment...

It seems all the most recent career-building and brand-building advice centers around an understanding and mastering of social media. Whether it be the professional connections made by LinkedIn or the live micro-blogging of Twitter, journalists are being pushed to use these nontraditional methods of communication to tell our stories. The American mindset is changing - we want our news and information NOW, accurate and entertaining. THIS is the basis for this project.

On these pages, you will be able to read one of a variety of (hopefully) somewhat regular pieces.

The Road to Ravenswood
This summer, I began preliminary research on a documentary focusing on Ravenswood, WV - a town built by Henry J. Kaiser and the aluminum industry. In February, the Century (formerly kaiser) Aluminum plant shut down its final lines of production, laying off around 650 skilled workers. The town has managed to remain strong - through a mix of faith, friends and a rich history. I want to see how Henry Kaiser and his company changed the landscape of Ravenswood and the Ohio River Valley as well as how the city has cushioned itself from the sting of unemployment.

You can follow my thoughts and experiences throughout the whole process here - under posts titled "The Road to Ravenswood."

From the Rolodex
I've had the wonderful opportunity to meet countless unique and fascinating individuals over the course of my life. In this section, I will profile some of them in ways that might surprise you - why did they get involved in their current fields? what were their childhoods like? who and what are their biggest influences?

It's a chance to go deeper with some names and faces you may recognize and certainly will want to read about each week.

Commentary
Anyone who knows me, knows I have opinions - usually pretty strong ones. These columns allow me to spout off about anything that catches my interest or grinds my gears - they'll usually be something in the news or involving the news. Hopefully these will fuel some discussion and debate.

Keeping checking back every few days - the first legitimate post should be up in a day or so.

I hope this experiment works and I will always want comments and suggestions for new content or how to make what's already here better.

Thanks!

Evan