Communication Skills

Julian Assange: Autistic Hacker Or Just An A-hole?

by Bill Brenner April 9, 2013 Communication Skills

Last year I wrote a post about a report suggesting autism is an affliction of the brilliant. One man mentioned as an example was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has described himself as having the “hacker’s disease.” Yesterday, a reader’s comment inspired me to revisit the issue. Mood music: [spotify:track:74Tgft8pxSCO0nkf4uxiM4] The reader said in part: This compares a neurological disorder to genius people whose curiosity takes finite state machines to places that their creators never imagined. How’s…  [Read More]

Human Tourniquets And Freaks Who Love Them

by Bill Brenner March 29, 2013 Communication Skills

I originally wrote this three years ago. Looking at it again, it’s an important post describing a time when not even best friends were safe from my insanity. I’ve updated it for the present.  Mood music: [spotify:track:2YGwSRjcY4Hjz6fktW9619] You know the type. They hang  out with people who act more like abusive spouses than friends. They are human tourniquets. They absorb the pain of their tormentor daily and without complaint. This is the story of the…  [Read More]

‘This Post Is Escapism and Blame’

by Bill Brenner March 26, 2013 Communication Skills

A dear friend hated the post I wrote yesterday on how we’re all lousy parents. He found something in every paragraph to disagree with and found the opening particularly offensive. He told me: “Not all of us were raised by lousy parents. Not all of us ARE lousy parents. No matter how one was raised at a certain point your life becomes your own responsibility. Not your parents. Not your genes. Not your phobias. This post,…  [Read More]

Middle School Principal Was Wrong to Cancel Honors Night

by Bill Brenner March 22, 2013 Communication Skills

David Fabrizio, principal of Ipswich (Massachusetts) Middle School, canceled his school’s Honors Night because he believes it could be “devastating” to students who work hard but fall short. A lot of parents are understandably angry. Mood music: [spotify:track:6aimUjelUz8F2qdZbTqyS4] Fabrizio has been widely quoted in the press as saying: “The Honors Night, which can be a great sense of pride for the recipients’ families, can also be devastating to a child who has worked extremely hard in…  [Read More]

Hey, Tom Duggan: You’re Doing It Wrong

by Bill Brenner March 7, 2013 Communication Skills

I like Tom Duggan, editor of one of my local newspapers, The Valley Patriot. Against heavy odds, he started his paper nine years ago to compete with The Eagle-Tribune, the dominant daily of the Merrimack Valley region, and it’s been a big success. Mood music: [spotify:track:1qGiiSb3RgkDdkZOmAd8UZ] As a former Eagle-Tribune editor, I’ve enjoyed Duggan’s effort. I have bad memories from my days there, much of the grief self-inflicted, some of it the byproduct of spending…  [Read More]

Horse Platitudes

by Bill Brenner March 5, 2013 Communication Skills

PLATITUDE: A banal, trite, or stale remark —Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary CNN online has an article about “instant outrage,” something that has reached absurd levels in this age of social networking. In such moments of outrage, we’re dropping platitudes all over the place. A good example came after the Sandy Hook massacre, when the debate about gun control was re-ignited. Those against more gun control trotted out the old, tired, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Mood music:…  [Read More]

A Revere Kid Celebrates National Grammar Day. Punk-uation, Anyone?

by Bill Brenner March 3, 2013 Adventures in writing

Tomorrow is National Grammar Day. For writers and copyeditors (my wife is both), this is kind of like St. Patrick’s Day and Easter rolled into one. Erin plans to stay glued to her desk all day, weighing in on all the conversation that comes rolling off the Twitter tongue. Given her job, she has no choice, really. Mood music: Being a writer and editor myself, I should be just as excited. But I’m from Revere,…  [Read More]

If You Saw It on Facebook, It’s Probably a Lie

by Bill Brenner February 14, 2013 Communication Skills

People on Facebook love to get all self-righteous. That’s fine by me, as long as the emotion is based on truth. The problem these days is that people are increasingly gullible, accepting memes as gospel when they are in fact bullshit. Mood music: [spotify:track:1lnRSUq00nBW9fpNeICZQN] One example is a picture of a letter reported to be written by a U.S. service man claiming, essentially, that Starbucks hates soldiers and won’t let them have their coffee. The…  [Read More]

My Current State of Mind

by Bill Brenner February 1, 2013 Communication Skills

Please indulge me as I share my current state of mind with you. Oh, yes, I have all kinds of things floating around in this brain of mine this morning. Mood music: [spotify:track:0dzqA1tqLjh0jpakWZb505] I’ve often been asked if the anti-depressants I take have any unpleasant side effects. Not really, but I’ve discovered the hard way that if you don’t chase the pills down with enough liquid and they get stuck in your throat, the result…  [Read More]

Stop Whining and Learn From Your Pain

by Bill Brenner January 8, 2013 Communication Skills

In my early 20s, I adored the Pretty Hate Machine and Broken albums from Nine Inch Nails. I still listen to them on occasion, but for the most part I grew tired of them because all Trent Reznor’s screaming about pain, loneliness, depression and rage got old. He never told us how to go from hopelessness to wisdom and personal growth. Mood music: [spotify:track:5ttpMaPCxRceWlR1kziBDZ] That’s how Kerry Cohen, an author I’ve come to admire, feels about Elizabeth…  [Read More]

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →