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The arrival of a new year and a new decade has prompted many “where was I ten years ago?” posts from people far smarter and more talented than this humble scribe. For me, though, this retrospective meandering was nothing new. I find myself gazing back to the turn of the millennium every time I hear about another newspaper axing staff or closing up shop altogether.

Back in 2000 I was a cocky kid slogging my way through journalism school. I had all the arrogance that comes with someone meeting with success at one of the best j-skools in the country (or so it sells itself – that’s a debate for another post, however). Yet despite being pretty good at journalism – at the student level at least – I was also coming quickly to the realization that I wasn’t meant to be a journalist. Read more

One interesting by-product of the proliferation of social tools has been the boon in one-click activism. One need only look at the staggering number of Facebook groups dedicated to every thinkable cause to start to see how widely this has spread. Want to save the people of Darfur? How about ending breast cancer? If you can dream of doing it, there’s probably a Facebook Group.

This isn’t to say Facebook Groups can’t do good things. I’m sure there are examples up the wazoo of a Facebook Group or online petition leading to concrete action. But asking people to click on a “Join Group” button is a lot easier, and thus a lot more appealing, than asking people to get off of their couch and actually do something. Read more