by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Make Your Own Meaning
There’s a striking perspective near the end of the novel Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. The protagonist Cornelia shares, “I’d figured out that a real life didn’t mean attaining my heart’s desire, but knowing it; not the...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Grow Cinematic Fluency
As much as I appreciate the work of movie director Francis Ford Coppola, I’d never want to replicate the grueling journey he experienced when making the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Several years ago I watched the documentary Hearts of Darkness, about the making of...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Make Your Own Meaning
When I was a young child living in Ohio I spent a lot of time playing with my cousin Gina, who was a couple of years younger than me and the daughter of my dad’s brother John. Gina and her family lived on a farm in nearby Oberlin. I remember traveling to her...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Make Your Own Meaning
My life feels really meaningful when I’m encouraging others or being kind to people in some specific manner. And I have my Dad to thank for a lot of that. “Right at this moment, I’m not sure where to turn next,” I said near the end of the eulogy I delivered at...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Be a Student of Your Brain
Attention, like death but not taxes, is agnostic of caste, class, wealth, race, gender identity, ethnicity, religious affiliation, socio-economic status, and so forth. You can’t purchase more of it. You have to do the hard work of cultivating it, noting what amplifies...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Overestimate Ignorance
My kindergarten school photograph from Butternut Elementary in North Olmstead, Ohio, was the only one from my childhood in which I was not wearing my glasses. I sported a white turtleneck sweater and sat at my desk with my hands folded before me, my straight dark hair...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 15, 2023 | Tell Sticky Stories
A story features: A character, what happens to them, actions they take.Beginning, middle, and end.Moments with a time and place.Entertainment, insights, life lessons, etc.Shared emotional experiences that bond people together. A narrative is much bigger than a single...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 13, 2023 | Overestimate Ignorance
Most of us are still so consumed with trying to deal with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic–especially those with various forms of Long COVID–that we’re not thinking through how to prevent future, deadlier ones. Such prevention rests up on a...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 13, 2023 | Geek Out on Data
The 21st Century has not been known for its efforts to protect Americans’ privacy. The new millennium didn’t start out that way, but within its first few years two events changed the game: the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks (with their subsequent passing of the...
by John M. DeMarco | Sep 12, 2023 | Overestimate Ignorance
I dislike most cliches and examples of lazy thinking…especially, “ignorance is bliss.” Ignorance is not bliss for many compelling reasons, including these fifteen: 1. Missed Opportunities: Ignorance can lead to missed opportunities for personal...
