Leadership is a Lonely Place

Very early on, when I was first realizing that I was in some sort of leadership position, a wise mentor told me that "Leadership is a lonely place." I was confused. "But leaders are known by everybody," I remember saying back. But that is exactly why, I remember learning. Leadership directly implies that you are out in front of everyone - you are ahead. You are in a place that others are not and your effort is to guide them to a place you believe exists far beyond the group's current state. You are ahead, they are behind. While it may seem prideful, it is in fact the most humbling lonely and yet honoring place to be - to be hacking your way through the woods so that others might see the destination you see so clearly.

I wrote in last month's Conquered Words that I had finished Martin Luther King Jr.'s autobiography. I mentioned in the post that there needs to be no other book on leadership "how to's" because King's intellectual and experiential prowess surpasses much of what I have read on the subject. In that post, I forgot to mention one of my favorite quotes, which I ran across again as I prepare one of my seminar papers, which is on the rhetoric of prison letters and, specifically his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

In his account of the time leading up to his imprisonment, King remembers the distress he went through the night before. He knew was going to be arrested, but he didn't know how he was going to get out. The SCLC had run out of bail funds so it was unclear going in to prison if King would be allowed out in any legal way. He also realized that if he didn't go to jail, he would lose the attention that is required in non-violent protesting and forfeit the crucial stage of advance in Alabama. He writes of his decision process:

“I sat in the midst of the deepest quiet I have ever felt, with two dozen others in the room. There comes a time in the atmosphere of leadership when a man surrounded by loyal friends and allies realizes he has come face-to-face with himself and with ruthless reality. I was alone in that crowded room. I walked to another room in the back of the suite, and I stood in the center of the floor. I thought I was standing at the center of all that my life had brought me to be…my tortured mind leaped beyond the Gaston Motel…and I thought of the twenty million black people who dreamed that someday they might be able to cross the Red Sea of injustice and find their way into the promised land of integration and freedom. There was no room for doubt. I whispered to myself, 'I must go.' The doubt, the fear, the hesitation was gone.”

-Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiograpy of Martin Luther King Jr. pgs. 182-183

And Then There's This...

Don't Stop Believin' (Swing Version) by plamere

I Love Steve Duin

I want to make this a weekly post, because I probably could. But it would be me just linking to Duin articles and gushing over them (which I would love to do, but I also love you, dear reader). Steve Duin is a columnist at the Oregonian and he's one of the few reasons I flirt with actually buying a subscription and thus supporting that downward spiral that is the Oregonian. Duin is a freaking great writer, but more than that, he's one of those journalists with the solid Finley Peter Dunne philosophy - that the job of the journalist is to "comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable." Duin just finds the best stories and writes the heck out of them. To me, there are few like him. He's not a talking head with opinion after opinion, he keeps a steady hand on investigative journalism and yet still keeps his recognizable voice. Plainly, he's on my top five, right next to Dan Barry.

Two of his most recent columns were so extraordinary, I feel as though my blog readers (which is a diverse bunch, I've noticed...and I like it) would benefit from such writing.

This is a link to his story about the Palau Organization's effort to help homeless teens in the Beaverton School Disctrict. A choice quote from the article:

"Mentesana, who coordinates homeless and social support services for the district, assures me that the Palau ministry is offering students a hand, not demanding they take a knee:

"They're not preaching to our community."

Oh, yes, they are. They're preaching about the fundamental mission of the church, which is to love thy neighbors and ease their suffering.

Without saying a word."

CHOICE.

Here's a link to his two part story on the crazy journey of a well-meaning adoption family and a crazy place called Milo Adventist Academy.

Duin is of course a Christian, but he is so well positioned. His stories are not lambastings of people who don't believe what he believes or ridiculous rhetorical tricks that excite just his fan base. Rather, he writes the truth. Gasp. He does what a good journalist does, he reveals truth. And through reading Duin over the years, I've understood good journalism to be one of the most powerful forces in our society. Duin ran stories last year about Roosevelt high school, which have caused the school district to change tons of policies. The ability that the press has to reveal and broadcast the truth of a circumstance is a powerful thing, and I thank Steve Duin for using his abilities to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict me.

Also, the dude rocks the mustache like nobody's business.

Galluping Away From Religion

I knew there would be something for me to write about instead of my paper; I just had to look hard enough.

Today, it came in the form of this Gallup poll showing that US Citizens are becoming less and less identified by a religion.

"The number of Americans with no formal religious identity began to increase in the 1970s, reaching 11% by 1990. After some fluctuations over the last two decades, 16% of Americans now say they have no religious identity or have an otherwise undesignated response."

One of my growing interests is in the global concept of identity. What defines us? Certainly there are many things, but are there any commonalities that all humans everywhere use to define themselves as human? Identity is the search of the adolescent and this Gallup poll sheds light on to the change in United States citizens' take on what makes them who they are.
The other item of the study showed the relationship between whether religion is old/outdated or if it really can solve problems. There is a slow but steady climb is realizing that religion is out of date, but a very dramatic decline in believing that it can solve problems. Of course, the most dramatic dips in the latter comes through the Vietnam era and then again in 2001.

Check Out THIS Scene

Here's just a teaser of what I got at the Curious Comedy Club for the Saltzman, Cogen, Collymore party. Lots of happiness and cheers. But I have to say the greatest thing was hearing an old black woman shout "amen" after every Dan Saltzman sentence. If I learned only one thing tonight, it was how awkward that man is. I went to a number of other parties tonight and am now working on some articles...if I can stay alive.

A Lot of Free Food in a Small Amount of Time

Tonight, I'll be covering as many primary election parties as I possibly can between the hours of 6pm and 9pm (which means 10) and then hunkering down somewhere to write it all out and grab quotes. Whatever I come up with will, of course, be published in the June 1st Rearguard, but I also have some possibilities with other news outlets. Depends on if I duff it or not.

Regardless, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I'll have everything I need, and other than that I'll just be talking with everybody I can. My schedule is like this: Nick Fish's party at p:ear, Ted Wheeler's party at Daily Cafe, the Saltzman/Cogen party at Curious Comedy Theater, and ending my night at the Afrique Bistro for Loretta Smith's party....if I'm still alive. Ending the night at a southern comfort restaurant sounds just about right to me, even if nobody's there.


VOTE!

Andy Rooney is the Most Prototypical Old Man

AHAHAHAHAH LISTEN TO HOW THIS MAN SAYS, "Lady Gaga."

Watch CBS News Videos Online
I'm laughing AND crying. I'm laughing because Andy Rooney is still given close to 3 minutes to blab about whatever on one of the most popular television news magazines and I'm crying because Andy Rooney is still given close to 3 minutes to blab about whatever on one of the most popular television news magazines.

I mean, wow. Did he used to be smart and witty? Because that is certainly gone. He sounds like the overheard voice 0f a man talking to himself in a Denny's off one of the I-5 Kelso exits.

Headlines

Man, sometimes I just tweet and I'm all, "This is soooooo pointlesssss....what the heck am I even dooooiinnng..." but I just tweet anyways.

Until I hear about this FANTASTIC STORY OF HONORABLE CITIZENSHIP as reported by the AP:

"Portland Police have located Richard Lewis, 80, who had been missing since May 8.

Police this morning said one of the bureau's Twitter followers spotted Lewis and reported it to authorities. Lewis uses a walker and suffers from dementia."

That tweet either saved that man's life or ruined it by catching him trying to make his great escape to the beaches of California - that trip he'd been planning for years.

Either way, how 'bout that Twitter? I mean, when I heard that a Twitter user broke the story about the plane in the Hudson, that was cool, but finding an old man wandering through the streets, that's just plain honorable. This is, of course, one of the threads of new journalism.

I've commented before about how I see American professional print journalism changing to a more biased and commentary-driven industry/discipline, and I'll cite this as an example of the forwarding of this movement. With Twitter now out there, the "breaking" part of stories is becoming decreasingly important on the print side of things. If something major happens, it's more likely (especially at the local context) to be reported through social networking than the police or papers. What the papers do, which will always be important, is have the platform to broadcast such events to the widest possible audience. But this can be tricky. I hate seeing CNN read random no-name tweets during their "news hour." So far, the major papers have not stooped that low.

With the increase of citizen headline writing, the journalism industry has felt a sense of loss, often spiraling into a mid-life crisis, so to speak. This is why we see the Oregonian front-paging stories about clowns and the loss of random Hollywood Video stores.

The headlines are owned by the internet now. Therefore, I see the creative implementation of the reactions to those headlines both by the public and by the print journalist as a very valuable thing.

The journalist is not breaking the facts, but the reaction and involvement of citizens after the presentation of the facts. So, no longer is the story, "Thousands Gather for Tea Party Rally," but, "Tea Party Members Voice Vague, but Passionate Concerns." You've already seen headlines like the latter in your papers and online reading, but you would have never seen that in the early to mid 20th Century.
Everybody knows thousands of people were there, and they can find out what happened (someone spoke, bands played, banners were waved) perhaps throughout the article. But we need to know why it happened and what the implications are for the city.

With the abundance of information that is now available to us, the journalist must convince me why what you are writing about is important. Why is it important that 35 Hollywood Videos are closing (OTHER than the fact that I won't be able to rock that 3 DVDs for $20 deal)? Why should I know this clown's story?

That's why I see print being most successful at the weekly level. If the major papers turned their funding from printing thousands of copies every day to printing one or two quality products a week, maybe *gasp* people would read it. This way, the paper could support investigative journalism that takes more time - the story after the story. All of the weekly's would provide the most important stories of the week, setting the daily headlines straight and gauging the public reaction. Most importantly, I just think the product would be better quality. From design to layout to the quality of reporting and writing...it would just be better.

Thank You, Mr. President

This is why it is good to have an intellectual in the White House. While he's not signing a bill or stopping a war, this is certainly a moment of commendable leadership. Language matters, and the President's message to University of Michigan's class of 2010 is a word to the breakdown of appropriate political discourse in this country. One of my academic mentors has always said that the next generation must be taught two things that they are not being taught now: logic and rhetoric.

Thank you, Matt McG.

Street Roots: What Matters to the Vendors

Street Roots had this simple but touching photo slide show of their vendors holding a sign with the things that matter to them the most while on the streets. Go here to see all of the photos. It was cool to see the familiar faces, but also somewhat tragic.

The Latest in Unneeded Tasering

Yeah...wow. Here's a clip of the Phillies fan getting the taser from security guards at a game against the Cards. In watching this clip and the others that surround it, I find absolutely no reason for that guard to activate his taser. Is this how we're going to take care of these types of issues? He was running around on the field and you had like five guys running after him...and...you tase him. Hm.



Don't tase me bro!

Conquered Words: April

This is my monthly post where I tell you what I have read and (ever so briefly) what I thought about each work. If you haven't read these books, then read this blog and pretend that you did!

I'm starting to measure time on how often I write these. It seems like just yesterday I was writing March and all of a sudden I'm under April showers.

Well it didn't exactly rain books thanks to my solid block of schooling and the awesome work that is going on at church. However, the two books I did read were astounding. I'm starting to figure out that being in school generally keeps me away from the books I want to read. Sometimes, this is a good thing. Sometimes, I read ancient pieces of literature that I would never choose to read but are good for my general knowledge. But sometimes, sometimes I read astronomy text books and sometimes I read pretty ridiculous articles on globalization that repeat themselves over and over and over and over and over. And then sometimes I get really mad and I want to hit things. Until then, here's what I read:

1) The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (Grand Central Publishing, 416 pages). Do not give me another book on leadership, or how to lead, or what to do when this happens or that happens, or six ways for people to follow me, or ten ways to improving your leadership, blah blah blah....no no no, give me the testimony of a leader. Give me his stories when he was tried, give me his reflections on the decisions, the hurt of betrayal, or the pain of public failure. That, my friends, helps me. Martin Luther King Jr. was no saint, he has more sins than we speak of, but he led with ferocious certainty of success. Through the pages of this book, there is mostly the picture of a worried man. Worried that it wouldn't work, worried that his family was suffering, worried that people would hate him, worried that he would be history's joke. He wrestles with all of this and solves his worry by going alone in prayer. My favorite story he shares was when he was meeting with his core team in Birmingham, Alabama. They were all in a motel realizing they were out of money, and if Dr. King were to be arrested (as he planned to be the following day), they would not have bail for him and he would spend who knows how long in jail, unable to lead his movement. As he sat in this predicament, he had several voices of people he trusted saying different things. He was torn, worrying about the possible outcomes and seeing that he had sucked all his resources dry. Except for his God. He left the room and went into the adjacent bedroom telling his staff to give him 10 minutes alone. While in the room, he fell on his face and begged God for courage to do the right thing. After praying, he stood up, walked out, and told his people he would be arrested and trust that God would provide. He was arrested, and God did provide, but in more ways than MLK thought. After reading this book, it is clear to me that MLK's greatest leadership technique was his understanding of prayer, and his confidence in his vision.

2) Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Random House, 349 pages). What to say about this novel? It won the National Book Award for a reason. The creativity of this narrative is so unworldly majestic yet so perfectly real. When I finished this book, I wanted to start it again. McCann has the ability to transcend the human language and at the same time communicate and formulate the most universal human stories, thoughts, and characters. This book tells countless stories of many different characters colliding at many different places and times, and McCann uses them to form some of the most inglorious tales, which is what makes this novel so dang glorious. The characters are raw, the stories seem so true, and the amount of emotion that is in each sentence is almost exhausting. This guy knows how to write, but I think more importantly, knows what it means to be human. I fully agree with Frank McCourt's take on this novel: "No novelist writing of New York has climbed higher, dived deeper." Somehow, McCann is able to transcend and descend at the same time, a rare feat in fiction. This is a symphony. Tons of different stories working in harmony together. Beyond all of this, McCann gives one of the best pictures of New York I've ever read. He paints New York as the most human of cities, universalizing it to reach all audiences.

Yikes. I guess that'll do, pig. That's what I read. Also, just to prepare you, I will probably have nothing to report for next month. I really don't see me being able to actually finish one book this month. I know, shocking. But I just don't see it happening. I give you this prophecy in order to warn you of the possibility of next month's CW being VERY LAAAAMMMMEEE.

Keep reading, friends.