fresca media

The World’s Most Typical Person

frescamedia — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:45:29 +0000

If you think it’s someone like yourself, chances are you’re wrong!

Answer, according to National Geographic: a 28-year-old, right-handed, cell-phone-owning Han Chinese man.

National Geographic’s special series on global population, “7 Billion,” was going to be fascinating no matter what. But the animated teaser-trailers they’ve produced for the series are almost the best thing about it. The latest one uses clever infographics and an unpredictable narrative to answer the question: Out of those 7 billion people on earth, who is the most typical?

No one knows how to act anymore

frescamedia — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:03:06 +0000

The Captain and the King, by Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2011

At a time of new beginnings in Washington, and as a new year starts, some thoughts on leadership that begin with two questions. First, why is it a good thing that the captain of the USS Enterprise was this week relieved of his duties? Second, why is the movie “The King’s Speech” so popular and admired? The questions are united by a theme. It is that no one knows how to act anymore, and people miss people who knew how to act.
Thank you, Peggy. Let’s hope they read this!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704415104576066180967679912.html

Effervescence in a can!

frescamedia — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:49:20 +0000

When I was in elementary school (to be specific, it was fifth grade, Mr. Dilly’s class ((if he heard you call him Mr. Dilly Bar you better run))). Ruth Dawson sat in the next row, and her parents owned Dawson’s Corner Market, a classic little joint that carried a shelf of bread, a shelf of condiments, a meat counter, and, I kid you not, two aisles of candy. As a fifth grader, it was my idea of Heaven.

Every day, I would give Ruth a quarter. The following day she would reward my quarter with a can of Fresca! If you’ve never had a Fresca, you’re missing out. It’s effervescence in a can.

Fast forward to 20 years later and I’m hard at work in the newsroom, keeping my head low, trying to avoid being drawn into the wise-cracking wisdom (b.s.) being volleyed about by the producers in the center of the room.

At some point, someone commented that I was like a Fresca. After all those years of devotion to this magic in a can (which the producers knew nothing about), someone had likened me to potion of pop. To this day, I consider it the greatest compliment I have ever received.

Anywhere But Here

frescamedia — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:04:10 +0000

I watched a colleague give a brief talk this afternoon about the nature of her work. Normally, she is the proverbial ‘cool cucumber’ but not today. You could see in every aspect of her body language that she wanted to be anywhere but here, and when she wrapped up her comments, the last syllable was barely leaving her mouth when she lurched away from the podium.

Later she sent me an email fretting about her performance. Why oh why would she fizzle like a cheap firecracker on the 4th in front of her peers/friends/co-workers? People she talks to every day?

It’s the difference between sitting in the front row versus the back. In the front, all eyes have the potential to be on you, even if they aren’t. If you sit in the back, giving you the hairy eyeball requires a little effort: plant, pivot, turn.

From the time we’re young, there is an expectation placed upon those in the front. An expectation that you will not only know the answer, but deliver with aplomb in a voice unwavering. If we’ve always been a back row, or even mid-row rider, getting up to the front can be very unnerving!