The (Literal) Joy Of Networking

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So over Thanksgiving I did some networking. I should note it’s no exactl intentional – I do it automatically as I like it

A lot of people don’t like Networking, and my theory on that is simple – we get taught to make a natural human activity (socailizing) into work. It’s not fun which is what it should be.

Over Thanksgiving:

  • I met Neale Bayly, who does motorcycle demonstrations for good causes, writes on his experiences, and in general seems to be someone who would normally be fictional character. Turns out he’s real, very cool, and we chatted after meeting during a delayed plane. It was fun, I got inspired, and of course I followed him.
  • * Meanwhile on twitter over the holiday I noticed Magencubed made comments on superheroes. That resonated with my recent analyses of Concrete Revoluio, and we traded some commentary. Just random twitter opened my mind – and I learned a lot.
  • Finally, on the flight back I had a chance to talk with a gentleman working in branding (as we discussed things privately, I won’t mention his name, but we’re connecting on LinkedIn) and we had a marvelous discussion about Hasbro and other companies in fascinating branding efforts.  But often Hasbro because damn.

Three connections, three different people, just because I was open to networking and it was fun. Really, it was natural.

And that’s when Networking is best. I could talk techniques, I could talk methods, but the thing is be open to Networking. Be open to connect when it’s there, be interested in people, socialize.

And when you’re not wanting to be social? That’s fine. Find what works for you.

Networking is an art, and an individual one at that.  Know when you need to express it.

– Steven Savage

Sailor Moon: In The Name Of The Moon I’ll Hug You

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Well it’s time to start posting regular updates on this whole effort, so here’s a regular update. About the whole effort.

If you’re not familiar with whats going on, I and my co-author Bonnie are doing a book on Sailor Moon. Specificly, we’re examining how it impacted women in North America by A) interviewing various women, and B) Seeing what impacts we see as common.

Simple, but effective – so I want to do updates reguarly.

So right now we’re writing chapters on the titular heroine of Sailor Moon, and the values in the show. It’s gotten very interesting.

Here’s what we’ve found:

First, when you look at it, Sailor Moon, a reincarnated Moon Princiess is about as far from a Disney princess as you can get. Clumsy, cute at best, overanxious, she had the world on her shoulders. Sure she had a handsome prince, but he was an problematic amnesiac who couldn’t remember his past life nor his previous magical abilities, making him a big, juicy target in a top hat. Add the fact that various supernatural beings tried to kill her all the time and let’s face it – Sailor Moon’s life sucks.

The inversion continues with the character – she was also subversively loveable. She had a big heart under the ditziness and manic behavior. She brought people together. She was very human in her feelings and her flaws and that really made people love her and relate to her. Sailor Moon was that wacky friend you new – or that flawed person you were – that somehow got everyone on the same page.

The same kind of subversiveness was part of the show’s values. The show had it’s moments of moralizing (often via Tuxedo Mask, who was used as a hunky Jimminy Cricket when not being kidnapped), it had “Sailor Says” shoehorned into it in North America, but t did have core principles. It was about love, friendship, and persistence, as well as a understanding, and forgiveness.

For an action show with a surprisingly high body count (especially if you were a Monster Of The Week), it emphasized a lot of values that were distinctly non-violent. Even when there was violent, it was often motivated by love, justice, and protection of others – and those motivations gave characters their powers.  The show often involved fighting monsters, but it was about non-violent values.

The show and stories often delighted in gender fluidity and playing with standard gender roles. There were obvious gay couples such as Sailor Uranus and Neptune, but also gender-shifting and gender-bending characters. The characters, even when evil, were not evil for their differences in sexuality – in many cases, such as Zoicite, it humanized them.

Sailor Moon was a story about a clumsy reincarnated princess who freaked out constantly and saved the day, was about love and forgiveness in the face of cosmic horror, and where gender and sexuality weren’t simple. Sailor Moon was filled with things that seemed contradoctory, but were reall a different way of seeing things.

Now, put yourself in the place of a girl or young woman seeing this for the first time and you can imagine it’s a revelation.

  • Steve

The Inevitable Trump Column

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OK, fine after hearing about Trump repeatedly, I figured I should weigh in because everyone else has and I’m bad and shutting up.

Besides, I have a few observations I figure are worth sharing.

THIS IS HIS NEXT THING: Trump has pretty much committed to politics; he’s defined his brand and burnt many bridges. I may not be sure how wise he is, but I can’t see these decisions being made without some idea of implications.

HE WANTS HIS OWN PARTY: Trump owns things, he puts his name on them, and it’s clear by his occasional flirting with independence he wants to own a political party. If somehow he is pushed out of canidacy you can bet he can take his ball and go elsewhere.

HES GOT ENOUGH SUPPORT TO BUILD ONE: Sure The Party Of Trump may not be big, but he’s got enough support that I think he could easily get a good 10+% vote in a general election. In local elections, a Party of Trump could take some smaller offices. This may not be presidential power, but Trump owning his own party would give him an ego trip for the rest of his life.

THIS IS THE RESULT OF PAST MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURE: The Republicans built their shows and their own network and the like – they built a system meant for epistemic closure. The thing is that anyone who can work the system can walk off with it – and Trump has.

THIS IS THE RESULT OF PAST CHOICES: Trump is exploiting just about every right-wing dog-whistle from the Southern Strategy to fear of Muslims. A lot of past political choices paved the way for this.  This is similar to the media infrastructure being exploited.

THIS IS IN THE OPEN: Now a lot of people are comfortable being openly racist and bigoted. Some politicians and such will continue to exploit this. It has, to some been made acceptable. We’ll probably be putting up with the fallout from this for one to two decades – in the form of crazy policies, open bigotry, and the fight against it.

THIS CAN LEAD TO A DEMOCRATIC SUCCESS: If The Republicans can’t shake Trump and others try to be trump-lite, the Democrats are going to exploit this. They are already, if subtly, but mostly they don’t have to interfere with the brand destruction. If Trump continues to be out there, you can bet he’ll be a successful campaign issue and many Republicans will be Trump Tarred.

THIS CAN LEAD TO REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITY: At the same time, if the Republican party wants to purge themselves of the rather bigoted baggage that was cultivated, this would be a chance. Tossing Trump away and letting his followers go with him, as painful as it is, would draw a distinction. Though it would take time to re-align and recovery, it would be better than a meltdown -and I’m betting some of the old-school politicians and lobbyists would see this as a way to reassert power by jettisoning extremists and having an issue to bring big-money donors to heel (“don’t be a Trump”).

(I doubt the above will happen, but I consider i theoretically possible)
THERE ARE TOO MANY VARIABLES: I give Trump’s chance to get the Republican nomination to be low, under 30% (requiring a kind of interparty meltdown and opportunism). That’s about the ONLY thing I feel comfortable guessing at however – there’s things I can think MAY happen, but the above is about all I can say with any confidence. Trump’s shaken things up.

A BROKERED CONVENTION WILL MEAN A TRUMP THIRD PARTY: If the Republican convention ends up Brokered and Trump doesn’t get the nod? You can bet he will storm out, the publicity that follows will let him easily form his own party, and he’ll go after Republicans first.

Any thoughts?

  • Steve