October 8, 2010

There were 3 posts published on October 8, 2010 (this is page 1 of 1).

Secret media cabal weighs information future

Ok, not really. I was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion today about the state of the Triangle media by Fiona Morgan of the New America Foundation. The roundtable was to three general questions about our community:

1. How healthy do we consider the Triangle’s “information community?”
2. What are the challenges as we move into a digital age?
3. What are the opportunities for the Triangle and its communities?

Joining me were a number of leading media experts, both traditional and so-called “new media.” John Drescher of the N&O, Steve Shewel of the Independent Weekly, Barry Moore of the Garner Citizen (whom I last saw wearing a badge when I lived in Garner and was working closely with Garner PD), Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising, Paul Jones of Ibiblio fame, Gail Roper of the City of Raleigh, and many, many others. I felt a bit out of place in the room, as my experience with journalism ended when my high school journalism class did. Fiona has been impressed with my East CAC efforts to connect my community, so I provided perhaps a nontraditional angle to the discussion.
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Coyote sighting

Late last night a man walking his dogs in the Cameron Park neighborhood spotted a coyote as it crossed the road about 20 feet in front of him. The coyote trotted on to the property of St. Mary’s College, apparently paying no mind to the man’s dogs.

I’ve had a friend report a coyote sighting in East Raleigh, too, but her sighting took place along the wooded Middle Crabtree Creek greenway east of Raleigh Boulevard. I think a coyote roaming around St. Mary’s is that much more unusual because of how urbanized that area is. It’s amazing how adaptable some wildlife is.

Street smarts

My buddy Ken Thomas wrote about intelligence and wisdom in a recent post, pondering which one is acquired versus which one is inherent. It’s a good question, as is the question of which is more valuable to have, intelligence or wisdom?

I’ll add more to what Ken wrote by asking about a third type of wisdom, known as “street smarts.” Street smarts is wisdom and intelligence combined: applying the wisdom of an environment with the intelligence to figure it out. Situational awareness, really.

Early in our relationship, Kelly and I took a vacation to the mountains of Asheville. Domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph was still loose somewhere in the woods and I joked to the tourist-booth lady about the odds that I might find him.

The old lady chuckled at the thought. “You wouldn’t last a minute out there,” she scoffed without looking up.
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