Work In Progress Newsletter
Edition Four | June 13, 2022

WRITE THIS WAY…
Welcome to the latest edition of my Work in Progress newsletter. I’m currently looking over the Columbia River on yet another soggy June Day in Southwest Washington. Apparently this is the wettest April to June stretch in at least 81 years in the Pacific Northwest – 12.3 inches of rain since April 1. With my second cup of coffee percolating in my system, let’s get this thing started! 

THREE DOTS… GOOD NEWS ONLY
Now this is a remarkable story of courage and resilience: David Teplitz and Hari Srinivasan became the first non speaking autistic students to ever graduate from UC Berkeley… From the top rope… Misha a non speaking Down syndrome teenager who fled from Ukraine with his mother at the start of the Russian invasion. In order to motivate her son, Liana told Misha they were going to look for WWE legend John Cena in Holland. Three months later Cena met Misha…  It turns out that smiling more enhances well-being…  In the words of broadcasting legend Ron Burgundy, “It’s science…” My niece, Josie, graduated from Hudson’s Bay High School on Sunday, the same school her grandma Patty matriculated from in the 1960s… Eat em’ up Eagles!… and finally… The NBA and Hennessy just gave the world something I had no idea it desperately needed until about five minutes ago: a floating basketball court moored in the Thames River outside the Houses of Parliament. Smooth.

WHAT I LINKEDIN LEARNED
Watched a strong LinkedIn Live course hosted by Jessica Chen of Soulcast Media, featuring Linkedin’s Almeera Jiwa Pratt. The topic was finding and embracing your authentic voice. Lively conversation about finding, claiming and embracing your voice.

WHAT I’M READING NOW
For Improvement: The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins

**One sentence review: For an approach so seemingly simple, the Five Second Rule is meticulously sourced and researched and takes much longer to absorb and put into practice.

For an Escape: Bad Luck and Trouble – Lee Child

**One sentence review: Our hero assembles the remnants of the 110th MP and reminds the bad guys “You do not mess with the Special Investigators”.

Embracing my inner history nerd: The Longest Winter – Alex Kershaw 

**One sentence review: Another convincing reminder of which generation stands alone as the undisputed greatest.

WHAT I WATCHED
I finally embraced my need for speed and watched Top Gun Maverick… twice in 24 hours. I thought it was exceptional. Tom Cruise doing Tom Cruise things. The flying sequences gave me goosebumps. Highly recommended. Only downside: No Tom Skerritt in this one… must have been busy with other projects. The original is still streaming on Amazon Prime.  

THIRTY YEARS OF MATH FUTILITY
One of my most memorable conversations in high school occurred thirty years ago. The last day of senior classes, my math teacher, Bob Sidwell, called me up to the front of the Algebra II classroom and turned his gradebook around and showed me my final grade of C+… He whispered in a way only an old football coach can and said “It’s a gift, McCrary…” 

I have paid this generous gift forward by never once applying the algebraic principles taught at Kalama High School in a real life scenario. Not once.

ESCAPE POD
One of my newest weekly listens is Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend hosted by Conan O’Brien. Just a madcap, stream of consciousness conversations with celebrities and random people on the street as Conan seeks new friends. One of my recent favorite episodes features star of stage and screen, Jeff Goldblum who is “drenched and purged” to be Conan’s friend.  

All episodes of Conan Needs a Friend are available on Apple Podcasts.

CLIP OF THE WEEK
The perfect mashup clip of Patrick Swayze and the Muppets could never possibly exist.. Well, I stand corrected!!

MY GIF TO YOU
You know… just two hall-of-famers talking basketball. Featuring denim on denim fashion pioneer Hulk Hogan. Also pictured: Shaq…

QUOTABLE
“The function of the artist is to make people like life better than before.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

A GRADUATION SPEECH VONNEGUT NEVER GAVE
Enjoy this “Everybody’s Free (Wear Sunscreen)” Speech”. The advice is timeless and remains relevant today. Give it a listen HERE. 

SHAMELESS
Last Thursday I posted an article on content creation and the internal wrestling match that occurs between good and great content sharing. Check it out HERE. 

THIS WAY OUT
Thanks for reading the latest edition of my Work In Progress newsletter. Look for a new article on my timeline later this week. My goal is to release these on Mondays – because who doesn’t need a shot of good news to start the work week?. Thanks to Kim Kaupe and Terry Rice for encouraging me to launch this into the universe. Feedback welcomed!