Articles on PR for People

Killer Koan

How to Spot Fake News

My friend Diane has always struggled with her weight. She’s tried pills, fad diets, incredible body-shrinking garments, all to no avail. She fluctuates from being 20 to 40 pounds overweight. She told me she had found this amazing doctor who was going to reset her metabolism.  Here’s the catch: she could only eat the foods he prescribed. Nothing else.  Also, she could not...


Freedom Train

I’m looking for a ride to take me where I need to go. I’m looking for the freedom train. I know it’s there. I’ve seen it before. I’m going to find it again. I’m going to take that ride. I’m going to get where I need to go.

Deep down inside I know the truth about America and so do you. Democracy is fundamentally stewardship in action. Being a good steward means that we take care of things. Money, cars, houses, jobs, careers, land...


Trolls, Flamers, and Bullies

This is the third in a three-part series educating people about the media.


Neighborhood Activists Pressure the City of Seattle

From Seattle 

Neighborhood Activists Pressure the City of Seattle to Do the Right Thing

In a city choked by the heavy artillery of cranes and construction crews, two Seattle residents are taking a stand in their own Queen Anne neighborhood. Jack and Louise Locke are the voice of reason during the great Seattle construction boom. They want to stop the rezoning of a single family...


Booty Pop

Second in a series of articles educating the public about the media.

Today’s media outlets are under tremendous pressure to get eyeballs.  They are desperate to make money. Slashing the size of newsrooms and publishing canned content is only part of the story. The Media will do anything to get attention.  They will even shake their booty.

Briefly consider...


Feeding the Beast

First in a series of articles educating the public about the media. 

Imagine a world without newspapers. Every day another media outlet cuts their print counterpart to go strictly digital. And every media outlet reports a steady decline in revenue. Yet it’s hard to imagine a world without newspapers. There would be fewer materials to stuff broken windows and insulate walls....


Destiny –without an e​

I grew up as a working class kid in Yonkers, New York. My parents sent me to Catholic schools, where I learned equal doses of discipline and terror. I spent my third and fourth grade in public school where all of my friends were Jewish. My teacher, Mrs. Chachkes, came from a Jewish merchant family that lived in south Yonkers and sold furniture.  She wore her blonde hair parted on the side in a soft wave that had the tendency to fall forward...


The Five P’s of Publicity for Your Good Works

If you want get the word out about your good works, there are a number of tactics you can implement that are time-efficient and won’t break the bank. To run an effective PR campaign, you need to create a strategy that encompasses the five P’s: Positioning, Platform, People, Promotion and Perseverance.

Positioning. You need to precisely identify what’s unique about your good works....

George Lois Packs a Punch

When legendary ad man George Lois speaks, it is no small thing. His performance is a one-man-show offering us a guided tour through the golden age of popular culture. Hailed as the Golden Greek when he first came on the scene, over the years he’s been honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and the Society of Publication Designers (SPD),...


The "F" Word

University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 1978 - It had started to snow and that winter we had already experienced two of the worst storms in New England history. I trundled myself into a white Volkswagen beetle with three women whom I did not know. I had signed up to travel in a carpool. We debated whether we should drive to Connecticut. The beetle was old, dented, had a throaty muffler and a tail pipe...