ColumnDear headline writers. This is not Spinal Tap.

Made you click! Quite a task, it seems, in today’s hyper-competitive online media marketplace. After all, this story is just one of dozens, maybe even hundreds, that will compete for your attention today. And the truth is that some of us will use any trick in the book to get at your precious eyeballs, including cry-wolf, volume-to-11 headlines.

We all get snagged this way from time to time. Evidently, some—let’s say quantifiable lots—more than others. In many ways, we seem to have come full circle back to the days of the penny press and its yellow journalism, with an omnipresent din of hawkers on every digital street corner: Extra! Extra! Every single word guaranteed to be over the top!

But really, is everything an extra? Is there nothing interesting that remains appropriately under the top? Apparently not much.

The noise starts early in the day, for some even before we get out of bed, our smartphones serving up morning copy that promises to be “truly unbelievable!” and photo stories that are nothing short of cap-S “stunning!” and cap B-“breathtaking!” Yes, the a.m. rush isn’t complete without being informed that today—every day, in fact—is the best of times and the worst of times, the end of something as we know it, and the magnificent start of something new. Do we dare miss out?

Here’s one from Upworthy, a good site with a lot of compelling material: “This Is Not A Joke. You May Laugh, But You Shouldn’t. It’s Quite Horrifying—It has to be seen to be believed. But you still won’t believe it.” Really? This is about a bizarre napkin designed to cover the mouths of Japanese women while they eat hamburgers. Insanely weird and sexist? Yes. Warranting a headline that would make a civil defense air-raid siren blush? Maybe not.

Moving on, how does (did?) this grab you: “Antibiotic resistance will mean the end of just about everything as we know it.” Right. That’s from Salon, a way-too-frequent flyer on click-me-now air, and purveyor of other gems such as “Psychopaths: Some are just like us!” (Are they?!) and “Embrace your small penis, men: Everyone else is lying anyway!” Mmhmm. Thanks.

Of course, nothing screams like good sex—or rather, porn. Lots of porn. “Food porn.” “Ruin porn.” “Nature porn.” And, for the more bookish, here is a related, sexualizing the unsexualizable trend that won’t seem to go away: I call it “A Million Shades of 50 Shades.” Politics: “Israel’s 50 shades of dismay over Iran nuke deal.” (GlobalPost). Science: “50 Shades of Grey (Matter): How Science is Defying BDSM Stereotypes.” (Huffington Post) Literature: “You Want Erotic? The Countless Shades of Anaïs Nin.” (Yeah, well, that last one was mine. At least I went for book on book.)

Of course, there are easy pickings on both our Left and Right. Obamacare: “Worse Than Slavery.” Debt ceiling: “How to prepare for the… apocalypse.” The cacophony in this category is truly beyond the pale. Even down-the-middle CNN (I know, if CNN represents the middle, we’re in real trouble) recently offered us this, just in case tornadic destruction wasn’t enough to grab our attention: “Grandma’s Last Words: ‘Get Me Out.’” Thank you, CNN.

Want more? Just Google something. Anything. You’ll find a headline to suit your most highly caffeinated, info-active mood about all things est—biggest, baddest, worst, best. The hunt for something incredible (in the strictest sense of the word) is like shooting fish in barrel. In fact, you don’t even have to search. It will come to you. (To avoid piling on, let’s pass for now on deliberately misleading headlines, a story unto itself: accuracy as collateral damage.)

Yet strangely, it doesn’t seem too long ago in Webville when superlatives more or less meant something, and an Onion headline was an Onion headline, and not mistaken (at second blush, at least) for real information.

Step Right Up

In a past lifetime, when I was a first-year Journalism grad student in Chicago, headline writing was part of a fearsome, nuts-and-bolts J-school boot camp. (One prof was a formidable ex-marine, in fact, boasting a handlebar mustache and a hair-trigger red pen.) The effort was like puzzle-solving—and not everyone was good at it. Limited space, limited words, a story to represent and (just as with the lead) a promise to be fulfilled if a reader should take the time to engage. And, yes, eyeballs to grab, too. All told, creating a headline is like wrestling with a mini Rubik’s cube.

The idea of selling your story often taps into a different side of the brain than actually covering it. Indeed, in most editorial worlds, headlines are not written by the writer of the piece itself, but by talented copy editors and, increasingly (online), by editors themselves. Writers who have been around will tell you of the countless times they opened their paper (or magazine, or laptop) and saw their copy under some weird words that made them think hmmm—or, more likely, “oh god, no.”

In any case, no matter who’s behind what’s on top of a story, there’s nothing wrong with selling copy with snappy headlines. They can be fun and creative and (hopefully) expository—an art form unto themselves. And no one, myself included, wants you to pass over his or her work for want of intrigue. (Kudos, by the way, to someone in these pages who recently walked the line and came out shining with “The Universe is So Weird! There’s Plastic on Saturn’s Moon?”)

Moreover, facts (and there so many of them) are facts: In the not-too-distant past, each day we were confronted with a limited number of “stories”—a newspaper or two, maybe a magazine or three, some TV to choose from. But today, we’re hit with thousands of them during our waking hours, most of which come to us online, as for-profit media outlets scratch away and beg so very hard for our mindpsace. Let’s be honest: no one should expect a publishing effort to be okay with simply fading into the background.

But as readers, many of us need to do a better job considering the cry-wolf factor as we scan our screens. (Face it, there’s not going to be an uprising anytime soon that says to HuffPo, Salon and all the others, “keep pulling that crap with the headlines and you’ll lose market share.” It sure would be nice though, huh?) Maybe it is just one breath of awareness before we offer up our prized click. That nanosecond when we can say: “Wait. Really? Am I really going to reach for that bright shiny thing?”

Finally, consider that subtlety isn’t dead—it’s just, well, subtle. Noise isn’t the key to good copy or truthful news. In fact, it might serve to tell you that what follows is not as advertised. Discernment is what it’s cracked up to be. The more game you bring, the better gems you are going to find.

I guess it’s like anything else in the days of the horrifying, unbelievable, incredible Information Age—it’s our job to consume wisely and be on lookout for what is real and true under the sea of hype. That said, headline writers, please stop screaming at me! On a scale of 1 to 10, even for the sensational, 10 is enough. This is not Spinal Tap.

(As I write, this just in: “Man who stripped naked and stuck a fire extinguisher hose up his bottom in a hotel corridor walks free.”—The Independent. Seriously?)

Scott Adelson is EcoSalon’s Senior Editor of HyperKulture, a monthly column that explores opening cultural doors to initiate personal change. He is also the author of InPRINT, which reviews and discusses books, new and old. You can reach him at scott at adelson dot org and follow him @scottadelson on Twitter.

Related Reading:

HyperKulture: Dear Oprah, Please Tell Us Who We Are — Atheists, Feminists And Other ‘Others’ Need To Know

HyperCulture: From The Sanbox to Syria – Tribe, Ego and Decision Making

HyperKulture: In Swoon’s Way – Time traveling and Staring Down Florence Syndrome

InPRINT: You Want Erotic? The Countless Shades of Anaïs Nin

InPRINT: Albert Camus and the Biggest Question of All

Images: Cory Doctorow (top) and The Library of Congress

The post Read this F*&%ing Story! — Spinal Tap Headlines and You: HyperKulture appeared first on EcoSalon.

A magazine that’s paying attention to what’s good in the world.

The current state of global affairs is overwhelming, and if traditional news and media had their way, we would be convinced that we live in a dismal and dangerous world. Fortunately there are some outlets that are pushing back against the norm. The Intelligent Optimist is one of them.

You might know The Intelligent Optimist under its former name: Ode magazine. Not just a magazine, it’s a community of people who believe that more is going right than wrong in the world.

As Jurriaan Kamp, Editor-in-Chief, puts it:

Intelligent optimism is a way of life. In fact, it is the way of life until we lose it. Many of us do. Somewhere, at some particular point in time, our disappointments and failures become too overwhelming, and we give up. Fear and insecurity arise, and we start surrendering to pessimism. Some will argue that it is wise to be realistic, and they see the optimist as unrealistic. I argue that optimism—intelligent, not mindless, optimism—is the only realistic strategy for life.

With the new name comes a launch party, and if you are in the San Francisco area, you will be sure to want to put it on your calendar.

WHAT: The Intelligent Optimist Launch Party

Headlining the event will be one of the most sought-after speakers in the world, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander, whose TED talk has attracted almost 3 million viewers. Zander has given the keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, and his latest recording, with London’s Philharmonic Orchestra, was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Zander is also the co-author of The Art of Possibility, hailed as a landmark work on the triumph of human creativity’s potential. “To be an intelligent optimist, you have to master the art of possibility,” he says. But what is the art of possibility? Zander’s answer will have audience members alternately rolling in the aisles and dabbing their eyes.

WHERE: Fort Mason Center

WHEN: Wednesday September 26, 2012, 7-8:30 pm (you can also catch the event live on webcast)

WHY: Because there’s a lot of good going on in the world, and it’s time we started paying attention to it.

You can score a free digital copy of the first digital issue of The Intelligent Optimist here.

The post Celebrate Possibility at The Intelligent Optimist Launch Party in San Francisco, September 26 appeared first on EcoSalon.

Feeling bored by the Internet? Want to see something fun & useful that will truly rock your socks off and might just make your day?

Let us begin.

Sustainable Energy – Without The Hot Air – David JC MacKay

Described by Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow as “the Freakonomics of conservation, climate and energy”, this is a book you shouldn’t miss, not least because it’s available entirely for free. You can buy the book on Amazon (note the thirty-nine 5-star reviews) – but you can also read the entire contents online or download them in PDF form, free of charge.

Author MacKay is an English Physics professor, so he really knows his stuff. What is remarkable is how elegantly and breezily he conveys it. (This is no ponderous high school textbook). Want to know what it would really take to balance the energy budget? Want to know the real numbers behind renewable energy? This is the book for you.

The Brain Pickings of Maria Popova

Since 2005, Wired and The Atlantic writer Maria Popova has been reading more books than most people get through in a lifetime. If that wasn’t enough, she only reads good books – the most fascinating, quirky, inspiring and thought-filled reading material lining our shelves today. And if that wasn’t enough, she blogs about them too. Her website, Brain Pickings, now gets more traffic than the New York Review of Books, and no wonder – it’s a treasure-trove of suggested reads that may very well make you a better human being.

(Check out an interview with Maria here).

Read The Best Journalism On The Internet

Love good writing? Love reading? Love knowing what’s really going on in the world? Check out our reading list or our recent post on 10 sources of quality journalism – but if you don’t want to have to trawl for the good stuff yourself, there are websites that curate and archive the most fearless, insightful and beautifully-written journalism out there.

Try Longform (above)…

…and Longreads, and Byliner.

For a one-stop bookmarking of the good stuff, check out Conor Friedersdorf’s list of nearly 100 pieces of superb journalism. And if you have a Kindle – why not use Klip.me to send these articles to it, and do your reading offline?

Browse the Open Culture Language List

Being bilingual gives your brain a good workout – we all know this, but there’s increasing amounts of scientific evidence to back it up. So why not take 10 minutes out of your day and start a new language? Problem: those courses can be pricey. Solution: this colossal archive of  free resources (ebooks, audio, video) for learning 40 languages from Arabic to Yiddish. (Thank you kindly, Open Culture).

Sloth Yourself Silly 

To keep your smile topped up, watch this trailer for Animal Planet’s Meet The Sloths every day. And if that doesn’t work, scroll through these 111 adorable pictures of them at Buzzfeed. Sloths – they bring the happy. (More cuteness at Slothville).

See The World Up Close

Earlier this year the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite orbited our planet six times and took a series of staggeringly detailed images that NASA stitched together and released on Flickr. The above image is one; this is the other. Incredibly beautiful, yes – but we’re not done yet. Under the “View All Sizes” buttons on each page you’ll find the original high-resolution image…and they will blow your mind: (Hi-Res Image 1)  (Hi-Res Image 2)

Know At A Glance When Your Edible Garden Is In Season

As you may have guessed by now, we love infographics – but we were particularly taken with this set from the good folk at Chasing Delicious. Work out when your fruit, vegetables and herbs are in season, and plan your meals accordingly.

Listen To Neil Gaiman Talk About Doing What You Love

A few months ago author Neil Gaiman was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and was asked to give the Keynote Address to the 2012 graduating class. The speech he gave has become an internet phenomenon, and is a must-watch for anyone doing anything creative (read: everyone).

For those on a tight schedule, the transcript is here.

Explore An Idea a Day With The Change This Manifestos

Running since 2004 and born of an idea by Seth Godin, the Change This manifestos are short, succinct and above all fun downloadable books built around ideas. Their authors are some of the internet’s smartest people (the aformentioned Seth Godin is a contributor). There are hundreds of titles to choose from, they’re all easy on the eyes and stretchy on the brain – and they’re all completely free. Get started here.

Let Jodi Ettenberg, Legal Nomad, Show You A World Of Food

Jodi Ettenberg is a globe-trotting food nut with a thing for spices and gluten-free cooking. An ex-lawyer, she’s been traveling the world since 2008 and garnering mentions in the New York Times and on Jason Kottke’s super-popular blog. Her site is a wealth of tips on traveling the world, but for sheer eye-candy you’d be wise to go to her food page and start clicking for some really incredible nom-shots.

Images: MSVG, orangeacid, NASA Goddard Photo & Video and David JC MacKay.

The post Bored? Here Are 10 Awesome Free Things On The Internet appeared first on EcoSalon.

10 news outlets you should read daily.

Depending on who you ask, the internet is either the best or worst thing that’s ever happened to the news. Back in the day, when space limitations of print publications and the discriminating eyes of editors remained barriers to entry, there were a lot of ideas and writing that readers simply didn’t get to see. Now, anyone can get in the game. While that does mean more content, it also spawns an endless cycle of regurgitation, blogs, and news that’s not really news.

It is the reader’s task of course, to separate the noise from the signal. And while platforms like citizen journalism and crowd-sourced content do have a place on the web, the content they produce is simply not held to the same rigor as stories that have been reported, edited, and fact-checked, making them a different product entirely. Fortunately there are a variety of publications out there, both print and online-only, that bridge the gap between old media and new.

Here are 10 sources we’re reading:

• Longform.org– If you’re short on time, don’t go to longform.org. However, if you are looking to browse one of the best collections of long-form feature writing, investigative journalism, and profiles of public figures, this website is a gold mine. The site allows you to search by author, publications, topic, and allows you to save articles to read later on a mobile device or e-reader.

• Mother Jones– MoJo’s tagline—”smart, fearless journalism”—isn’t just talk. Focusing on human rights, the environment, politics and culture, the magazine does lean to the left, but their priority remains getting the facts right.

• Al Jazeera English– For reporting and coverage that’s less focused on the U.S. and western world in general, try Al Jazeera English. The Arabic news outlet offers in-depth coverage of Middle East and African affairs from a different perspective, and was the only news outlet to cover the war in Afghanistan from its own offices in the country.

• ProPublica– A non-proft organization committed to producing investigative journalism in the public interest, ProPublica was the first web publication to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2010. Their staff reporters frequently partner with journalists from other major media organizations such as NPR, New York Times, and This American Life.

• The Nation– Founded in 1865, The Nation is the oldest continuously published news magazine in the U.S. Like most print publications, The Nation has seen its circulation drop, but its commitment to reverse the “violence, exaggeration, and misrepresentation” of mainstream political reporting remains intact. 

• Democracy Now– Investigative journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales run this nationally syndicated radio program and accompanying website, which is centered on progressive topics. The independent media company is run entirely from listener contributions and grants, and doesn’t accept any corporate underwriting or advertisements.

• The Economist– This British magazine doesn’t list authors’ names for any of its articles, owing to its belief that “what is written is more important than who writes it.” While the distinct tone of the magazine can verge on almost academic, if you want fact-heavy, tireless reporting on the state of the world, as well as helpful graphics and lengthy special reports, the Economist is a sure bet.

• The Browser– This website bills itself as a 21st century library, collecting “writing worth reading” from all around the web. Their frequent “Best of the Moment” post is a good go-to when you want a taste of quality from a diverse array of sources.

• Byliner- Often, finding a journalist whose work you trust and respect can be better than following a specific publication. Byliner allows you to follow specific writers across all the publications that their work appears in. The site also offers original content that you can pay for on an individual basis.

• Ode– Ode magazine and its accompanying website, OdeWire, bills itself as “news for intelligent optimists.” The website has a mix of curated content from elsewhere on the web and original content from the magazine.

Image: NS newsflash

The post 10 Sources for Real Journalism to Keep Bookmarked appeared first on EcoSalon.

#diversityatrisk
The War on Women in Courts
from Marge Baker at Ms.

#perfectionismisntjustforwomen
Men’s Magazines Aren’t Necessarily Doing Them Any Favors
from Hugo Schwyzer at Jezebel

#makingadifference
150 Women Who Shake The World
from The Daily Beast

#weallhavebenefits
Challenging the Self Made Myth
from Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation

#bodyimage
In an Airbrushed World, how do you define what’s truly Hot?
from Erin Anderssen at The Globe & Mail

Want more? Catch all our recommended reads in the We Heart This section, updated daily. Want to tip your editors? Send links to tips@ecosalon.com

The post Misguided Courts, Deceptive Magazines and World-Shaking Women appeared first on EcoSalon.

#startpacking
Top 20 Cities for New Ideas
from Piers Fawkes at PSFK

#8recipesbetterthanmeat
Just What Vegetarian Meals Should You Serve to Carnivores?
from Bethany Imondi at Small Kitchen College

#infographic
$3 Billion of Happy Meals Sold Every Year to Children
from Mind Body Green

#27stepstoproductivity
Get More Done. Now.
by Laura Schwecherl at Greatist

#greedymcgreederson
The Rich Are More Likely To Take Candy From Children
by Eryn Brown at the LA Times

Want more? Catch all our recommended reads in the We Heart This section, updated daily. Want to tip your editors? Send links to tips@ecosalon.com

The post Smart Cities, Adventurous Veggies & Candy Thieves appeared first on EcoSalon.

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

In a week in which the world said goodbye to the incredible Marie Colvin, we look at ten remarkable stories penned by female journalists.

An astounding amount of American money is being spent on foreign conflicts. What else could be done with it? These 11 world-changing causes would be a great start.

Original thinking is hard, so if you’re feeling in need of inspiration, check out these 40 best quotes on innovation.

Female-founded, women-run businesses are on the rise. Check out these 8 remarkable companies run by women.

Finally, when it comes to blazing a trail, who better than Jack Kerouac? Scott Adelson takes a personal look at the legacy of one of America’s most famous literary journeys.

The post The Friday 5: Trailblazing Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnAll the words in our language, and you have to keep using these?

Fresh. Fierce. Fabulous.

Smoldering.

Curated. Edited.

The New York Times, smarting from such journalistic inanities, has compiled a list of the most overused words and phrases in fashion writing. (The Times suggests “culled” as the curated of 2011. I vote for “distilled.”)

In addition to those words listed above, the Times takes umbrage at “DIY fashion,” though they must be all right with upcycling (alas, better luck next year, Etsy).

Also popular in a paragraph near you, everyone’s favorite suffix: [Insert noun of choice] -ista. At this point, we’re pretty much anythingistas. Retroista, travelista, foodista, fashionista. It’s surely a bittersweet irony for Scrabbleistas.

Meanwhile, the paper says prefix aggravation came to us in 2010 by way of eco-. Eco-kill me. Ecoista? Now you’re really smoldering, hot pants.

The gray lady is probably right: it’s all gotten a bit redonk.

What are we, Cosmopolitan? When not even Vogue can spell Lafite correctly, I fear for the future of fashion media. (In September Vogue‘s defense, the misspelling was just a hop skip and a bullet point down from a sentence that actually, swear-to-Tyra, contained the words “freshly fierce”, which is clearly to blame for the subsequent “Lafitte.” It’s hard to recover from stupid, even if it is for champagne. I can’t confirm without risking yet another debilitating episode of PTSD, but I am 99% sure there was a certain other f-bomb in that sentence, as well.)

To wit, most holy loathing goes to the most overused word in fashion: Fabulous.

Whenever I hear the f-word oozing from someone’s mouth, I cringe. Lately it’s escalated to full-blown wincing. I’m like Powder; I can pretty much psychically detect when it’s about to be uttered, and I shudder in spasms of editorial pain. You can imagine the situation following the release of Kimora Lee Simmons’ book, Fabulosity.

No really, that scarf is fabulous? An organic diaper is fabulous? Biodegradable picnic plates are fabulous now? Pumpkin. Let me tell you about fabulous, and how not fucking fabulous scarves are. Fabulous is a nine-carat cocktail ring. Fabulous is a trip to the Caribbean on a private jet with the Italian guy you’ve known for five minutes which you’ll never tell your father about. Fabulous is gloves that aren’t safe brown, shoes that aren’t bunion comfortable and dinners that begin at 10 o’clock. That’s a fabulous life. I’m not saying it’s a good life or a moral life or that I’m living it, I’m just saying a scarf by any other adjective is still a square of fabric you wrap around your throat when it’s kinda cold.

Fabulous is not a new tea strainer. It is not a pair of “stylish” comfort shoes that look marginally acceptable enough for public display on weekends with cousins from the weird side of the family. I’ll tell you what else fabulous isn’t: fresh. Used improperly, which it always is, fabulous more closely resembles flab, or flan, or fanny, and bloat and lousy and other words with too much saliva for my tastes. Unless it’s being used to describe something stunningly not normal in any way, you’re just making everyone think the word “bulbous”. Please let’s quit ruining fabulous.

Fantastic isn’t much better than fabulous, but at least it has the advantage of being accurate. You could genuinely find a scarf fantastic, if you’ve just spent the last seven hours freezing your tears out in New York because the airline lost your luggage and you foolishly forgot to stuff that scarf in your carry-on, for example. It’s pretty fantastic to be warm. It’s still not fabulous, though.

There are other words, and classes of words – whole families and clans, in fact – for which I suffer my craft. Portmanteaus reside in a very special tundra in the Arctic-most nethers of my icy heart. For the recent admission of “shopitude,” I apologize to humanity. Someone let the cockles out on that one, and we’ve put them back in the cage where they belong (the cockles!). Portmanteaus are especially insidious; they’re the puns of our time. Let’s stop aggregating syllables and calling it original content. “Refudiate” and “strategery” can be forgiven because they were invented by special people and are only baby portmanteaux anyway, but grellow? Not a value-add.

There are some very nice words out there, like spectacular and lovely and brilliant and modern (as long as it’s not thoroughly or bracingly modern). But so far, deletion hasn’t come to nearly enough worn words. In honor of a new year for new media, and also because this is my post, I’ll start.

Vacay. Die. Die a blunted backspace death right along with info, meds, mod and delish.

Douchebag. Douche. Douchey. Wait for it: Douchebaggery. Every time someone says this from now on, I’m going to respond with “Yeah, what a tampon.” “So tampony.” “Hey guys, I call tamponigans.” (Breaking the portmanteau rule there, but I believe it’s justified.) Think about it, people. Jon Stewart dropping the d-bag every other sentence is not only sort of disgusting, it’s misogynistic in a casual way that makes the “pussy” of 90s popularity seem downright affectionate. Women who can “hang with the boys” say it now, but so do moms. Wow, us.

It’s Official. It’s official: We need to say this next to true things about as much as we need to say “literally”. Which is never.

Superlatives. The Strangest 23 Spoons Found in a Drawer! The 10 Wackiest Drawings by My Cat…This Week! The Boss’s Craziest Text Ever! Let’s give the -est a rest.

Fun with latinates. It’s converse and orient, not conversate and orientate. It’s delicious, not deliciousness. When did we start piling on the extra endings like an order of supersized poutine? How I yearn for six-pack verbs.

Jeggings. Oops, sorry! How on earth and the laws of physics did those manage to squeeze into this tiny little post? God only knows.

Pop of color. It’s simply incredible how good colors look on things. Walls, rooms, outfits, floral arrangements, websites, salads, fingernails, porches, bathrooms, cheeks, children, mantles, macarons, irises. A pop of color as opposed to no color really shakes up the sad ubiquity of blank, empty, invisible and clear we keep seeing everywhere, just running amok. You might wonder how we ever discovered that a pop of color is a good thing? Fact: we still haven’t, which is why we should be grateful to style writers everywhere, teaching us about this fabulously fabulous trick. Life looking a little bland? Spice it up with a pop of color!

Shortcuts by Rachael Ray™. She had me at EVOO – had me middling my brow, and I haven’t the Botox to face the show again. But I wouldn’t be surprised if ready-chopped garlic cloves is now RCGC and one large can of stewed tomatoes is now OLCST and extra handfuls of salt and cheese is a given is EHSCIG. You have to admit, using letters instead of words is a real handy shortcut, sort of like throwing four or five processed foods together instead of cooking a recipe. Sadly, EVOO pops up all over, from mommyblogs to foodie sites to recipe databases. When I had to ask my mother on the fourth time hearing it this Christmas what “The BY” stood for, and learned it’s The Back Yard, I wept and then I drank and then I drank the Nyquil, all of it and then I slept the artificial sleep of morose spearmint misery. I fear this is a battle we’re losing. Well played, Rachael, well played.

This is the first in your editor’s new column for 2011, The Insider’s Guide to Life, exploring topics such as media, culture, sex, politics, carbs and fonts. If she’s got the strength for it, there will be more to come. Cheers and spellcheck!

Image: kennymatic

The post The Insider’s Guide to Life: Fear and Loathing in the Thesaurus appeared first on EcoSalon.

Welcome to cub web publishing 101, the course for literary teens who go one further than Facebook to flex their writing muscles via blogs devoted to pop culture, fashion and eco activism. Green teen blogging is the new black. But just like the sport of crew, it takes time away from homework. You have to want to get your strokes from more than a bunch of A’s on a card. Meet a few of the new breed.

While most high school freshman call it a day after trudging through the mixed cauldron of Macbeth, ancient Rome and conjugating Spanish verbs, It’s Getting Hot in Here contributor Shadia Fayne Wood blogs about climate justice. At fifteen, she joined the World Summit on Sustainable Development – joining efforts to create the Official Youth Energy Policy Statement. She now helps coordinate a global youth journalism network, Project Survival Media and while keeping a personalblog and pursuing a freelance photography sideline.

At Teens Turning Green, founded in Marin County, CA., concerned teens from around the globe blog to further the goal of  eliminating toxic chemicals from individual lives. Part of the joy is using the art of writing to effect change.

Its co-founder, Erin Schrode, got her start as a “sustainability prodigy” at the website and it led to awards, testimony before lawmakers and paid writing gigs by the time she was sixteen. Now, at nineteen, she is a guest blogger on Dr. Greene and other sites, and has a healthy TTG cosmetic line promoted by Whole Foods.

“They become experts and have something to share, and that is why they are blogging and articulating their perspectives,” says Judi Shill, Shrode’s mom and co-founder of the site. Shill finds blogging isn’t always an entree into journalism but is a sign of the times of how teens today communicate. Still, she admits some of the writing is “extraordinary” – and you can tell who is taking it further.

Taking it further might require the kind of chutzpah displayed by freelance teen reporter, Daniel Wetter, a member of the Scholastic Press Corps who often reports on eco issues. The upstart also has a passion for sports and covered the winter Olympics at fourteen, despite not having proper credentials. That’s the makings of a network sports writer – no shrinking violet in the locker room! “Every day has a new story to cover which is why I love journalism,” he says, and proves it by seeking out stories in his Sacramento community and working for his school paper, The Growler.

And then, in a league of her own, is fashion force Tavi Gevinson. The 14-year-old haute couture devotee, who also covers second hand shopping, has been writing the consumption blog, Style Rookie, since she was eleven. Next stop, a collaboration with Sassy creator Jane Pratt to produce a new teen publication for what Gevinson calls “wallflowery teenage girls.” A profile on the suburban Chicagoan in The New Yorker, points out bloggers have only recently become important in the world of fashion (our own Amy DuFault has the green niche covered), and that Tavi at fourteen is already an old pro who adeptly navigates her away around the backstage of shows, as well as on the web.

“In seventh grade, I’d come home from school and take an outfit picture, post it, write a little bit about it, and write a little bit about the day,” Tavi told the magazine. “Now, I want to write more article-y things.”

Gevinson is able to crossover from silly to serious because luminaries such as Karl Lagerfeld believe the idiosyncratic, four-foot-ten chronicler has something to say, her fresh eye not “ruined by zillions of bad collections.”

Fresh perspective is nurtured at enrichment workshops for kid writers, such as ones held at 826 Valencia, founded by author Dave Eggers and educator, Ninive Calegari. Stanford University’s EPGY (Education Program for Gifted Youth) urges creative wordsmiths to leap into fountains on the Stanford campus and leave anonymous poems on random  bikes.   Lekha School of Writing in San Jose, CA., circumvents the red tape of publishing houses with an adjunct service of publishing works completed by its best students. Some make it into bookstores before the kid has a driver’s license.

Meanwhile, savvy school teachers also play a vital role in prompting talented writers to journey beyond the classroom to reach a wider audience, even if it means a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

“If students write for an audience of one teacher, they often don’t feel motivated,” says Paul Totah, educator and Director of Communications at Saint Ignatius college Preparatory in San Francisco. “Real world publishing is the best way to inspire good writing.”

Totah, like many of the most insightful instructors, is a former writer who has been in the trenches.

“Whenever I applied for a job as a writer, no one cared what college I went to or what grades or SAT scores I received,” shares Totah. “They looked at my writing portfolio and hired me because of the quality of the writing. Students know they are judged by how well they write anything, from emails to memos to sticky notes, and that concise, powerful prose will serve them in whatever they pursue.”

Edgy and current prose also serves them when selling “article-y things”, catching the eyes of avid Tweeters. But beware of early burn out. It’s a tempting, yet tangled, word wide web we weave, a seemingly endless one at that. The advantage of publishing early comes with a requisite of restraint. Otherwise, prodigies like the Tavi Gevinsons of the world could slide dangerously into child star Lindsay Lohan territory, and risk being washed up before experience and wisdom takes their art to new heights.

Images: Extra Ketchup;  It’s Getting Hot in Here; The Style Rookie; Erin Schrode; Lekha Publishing

The post Published Before 15 appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s no secret that the media tends to focus on the negative instead of the positive, feature problems instead of solutions and evoke despondency instead of motivation. Looking to refresh your optimism?

Ode magazine, ” for intelligent optimists”, offers a healthy dose of inspiration. In each uplifting issue, you’ll find stories regarding active efforts towards a progressive environmental, social and economical revolution, not to mention insightful columns by renowned figures like Paolo Coelho, Amy Domini and David Servan-Shreiber.

Take it from Foreign Policy: “Read Ode, and you may just figure out how to fix this crazy, messed-up world.”

But, that’s not all you’ll gain. Your first issue is free, and, if you subscribe for an annual fee of $19.95, they send you a Thich Nhat Hanh meditation CD and plant a tree in Africa to represent your commitment against global warming.

Plus, recycled paper is used to print every copy and a digital version is available online. (P.S. You can get a good news fix right here, too.)

Image: willsfca

The post Ode to Inspiration appeared first on EcoSalon.