pop culture
Modern popular culture topics in the Journal workplace sphere, such as corporate history, workplace advice, healthy office habits, and more.
I'm a NaNoWriMo 2021 LOSER
All month I’ve been getting promotions from NaNoWriMo encouraging me to order my 2021 “NaNoWriMo Winner!” t-shirt. Their bright and chirpy email enthused: “You've spent the last few weeks focused on your novel, getting your ideas on the page, and writing with others around the globe. We want to be the first to congratulate you on your upcoming win. You've got this! Celebrate your novel, and order your 2021 winner shirt today!” While I had purchased a bunch of merch when I first signed up, this was a shirt that I wasn't going to buy. Not right now, not this year, for one simple reason: I won't be winning NaNoWriMo in 2021.
By Allison Rice4 years ago in Journal
Lets Do Something New
👋🏾 There, my fellow people of the God Sparing Internet, What’s Gucci?? . Here was are; at least at the moment of this posting, looking down the barrel of the second greatest holiday in American Culture. Thanksgiving.. Thats right my friends, Its three days in counting. Waiting patiently for the kin folks to begin stinking up our abodes with the smells of Turkey, Ham, stuffing, and other deliciousness, forcing us to retreat to Sewer deposit room. How about Black Friday? Anyone trying to checkout some of them deals in these streets? -or- does the pandemic still have ya broke? According to the site finder, “28% of American adults, or an estimated 72.4 million people, plan to shop end-of-year sales like Black Friday this year.” Mostly Women, 29% saying they plan to make a purchase compared to 27% of men. Could it be because the men are broke from their ladies? 🤷🏾♂️ People between ages 35 and 44; or 34% plan to be about that shopping life, Meanwhile, just 24% of those ages 25 to 34 and 65 are like bring me the leftovers, I can make meals for at least the next week.
By Erik DeSean Barrett4 years ago in Journal
The World is Experiencing a Bad Case of Post Pandemic Blues
It would be an understatement to say that the Covid 19 Pandemic disrupted our world in ways that would have been unimaginable even a couple of years ago. What started as a local outbreak in Wuhan, China, morphed into a highly virulent and hugely dislocating Pandemic, thanks to our interconnected world. In a way, Covid 19 was globalization’s curse on the entire world, just like The Great Recession of 2008, on the Global Financial System. Hence, it is unsurprising that nations worldwide closed their borders, banned international travel, and quarantined even the trickle of travelers who were either evacuated or permitted under emergency conditions. Moreover, given that our globalized world contributed to the spread of the virus and the many variants, countries were quick to turn inward, much like India that adopted an Atmanirbhar Policy or a Nation First economic approach.
By Rammohan Susarla4 years ago in Journal
Friday The 13th, Norse Mythology, and Triskaidekaphobia
Triskaidekaphobes beware! It’s Friday the 13th. In case you were wondering, triskaidekaphobia is the “fear of the number 13” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The word first appeared in print sometime in the late 1800s. No one is really sure if it was used prior to that, but someone came up with it. And some doctor diagnosed it.
By Beth Freely4 years ago in Journal
Twins Day Festival 2021 Held in Twinsburg, Ohio
Twins Day Festival 2021 was held in Twinsburg, Ohio, it started on Friday August 6th and will continue through Sunday August 8th. It will include lots of events. There will be a golf , volleyball , and cornhole tournaments. Lot's of food and fireworks. And the main event the Double Take Parade.
By Steve Lance4 years ago in Journal
Only the Story Matters
We now live in a world of political correctness, wokeness, ease of offense, virtue signaling and gaslighting... and this world is growing more and more poisonous to the one thing that relies solely on personal experience, perspective, and voice: the story. So, how does one stay true to one's voice without getting a target on one's back and hunted down by those who seek to destroy, divide, and ultimately silence our unique voices?
By Alan Mehanna4 years ago in Journal
SNAP
I run to my ornate, wooden front door looking for the perfect-sized box to arrive in the mail. I am excited to order new puzzles. When I see it, I tear the package open pouring the thousand or so pieces into the lid. Sometimes if the topic is exciting, I will put together a fifteen hundred or two-thousand- piece puzzle. My favorite puzzle is a one-thousand-piece Rainbow Brite puzzle from the Hallmark store. As an 80’s girl, Rainbow Brite was important to me as a child, and I still love her and collect her toys and things from my childhood. This puzzle resurrects the memories of her bringing color and light into my childhood.
By Jessica Mathews4 years ago in Journal
Please Don’t Call Your Jobs (Or Side Jobs) Hustles
If I may put on my grumpy old man hat for a moment we need to have a talk. I appreciate the ever evolving nature of our language as much as anyone. In fact I have written frequently about language including not one but two articles specifically on the topic of precision in language, and why it is so important. In those articles I go out of my way to note that language is not some static affair and that meanings of words do shift and change with time. I understand that the word hustle has somewhat recently come to be applied to just about anything someone does to make money. On the one hand I can appreciate the association of the word with work. It suggest an aggressive attitude, a let’s get it done quickly approach, etc. On the other hand it brings a lot of negative baggage along for the ride. First, it suggests a lack of seriousness about whatever endeavor it is being applied to describe. A hustle is more like a hobby that makes money then a job. Thus, like a hobby, one’s dedication to it might change in intensity over time. It is transient or temporary. As an example, just like collecting baseball cards used to be your passionate hobby, writing is your hobby now, but who knows what it might be next week? Why would I want to pay someone money if that is the attitude they take toward the job I am paying them to do? Even if writing really is a hobby for you, and you don’t really take it all that seriously, yet you have the temerity to expect people to pay you for it, why rub it in their face? A great question I surely would have no idea about.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Journal
The Beauty of Turkish Dramas
There is something so beautiful about the unexpected. I was going through one of the darkest moments in my life. I had fallen into a deep depression in my second year of university. My parents and I decided it would be best if I withdrew from school and took the following semester off. I returned home and felt like a failure. Even though a myriad of people told me it was completely normal for university students to take time off, I was still devastated.
By Gabrielle Goldson 5 years ago in Journal
