Articles on PR for People

I was at a private fund-raising dinner, where I sat at next to the CEO of an early-stage technology company. The topic of of Seattle’s new light rail expansion came up. The new light rail line would provide rapid transportation between downtown Seattle and the wealthy neighborhood where the CEO lives. “The light rail will bring them close to my home,” he said.

The them he referred to are the people who he would never hire or sit next to at a dinner party because they are NEET.  There is more to this story than I can share at the moment, but I can comment on the NEETs who are them—the other—those who have been cast aside by the great economic divide that only favors people who come from privileged circumstances. 

The self-proclaimed French public intellectual Bernard-Henry Lévy, who was born into great wealth, once reportedly said, “I knew when I was 20 that I’d never have to suck up to anyone.”

He often associates himself with other notable men, such as Charles Baudelaire, Andre Malraux and T.E. Lawrence. Anointing himself the successor to Alexis de Tocqueville, Bernard-Henry Lévy toured America as if it were a freak show. The result...

Last Spring, we covered a story about the Queen Anne Helpline, a Seattle-based non-profit organization serving people-in-need in the neighborhoods that are experiencing unprecedented job growth from the growing influx of Millennial technology workers. The demands for housing exceed the supply and the prices of apartments and residential homes in many Seattle neighborhoods continue to be hyper inflated.  According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, Real Estate Developers are expected to add 11,000 more units in 2016 and even more in 2017.  The operative spin is with so many more units coming onto the market, then eventually the demand for housing will be met and the prices will become more affordable for working and middle class renters. However, in the interim, the Seattle boom continues unabated and unfazed by the displacement of the elderly, families and individuals, who are being shoved out and thrust into a crisis situation.

While almost anyone can puff up his chest and call himself a writer, developing writing mastery takes as many hours of practice as it takes to become a ballerina. In ballet, it takes many years of training to be able to extend one’s leg in a perfect line that appears to stretch to infinity.  It’s called making a leg. Developing correct muscle formation in the feet and legs takes years of practice. No one ever thinks it will happen...