Heads up, this content is 19 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.

The Fix-Me-Up You see them on MySpace, Livejournal, and other blog spaces with a young-ish crowd: long, text-heavy “About Me” surveys without any formatting. The writers spend hours answering detailed questions about themselves, from their shoe sizes to their most recent sexual encounters, and then they post them for their friends to read. The trouble is, their friends squint at these surveys, try to scan for the interesting parts, and eventually click away because it’s just a big blob of text. This is a sample of one I just grabbed off the web (the full version is 135 questions):

1. Is your bellybutton an innie or outie?: Innie2. What is your heritage?: English3. What does your hair look like right now?: like hair4. Could you ever be a vegetarian?: probably not5. When was your last heartbreak?: never?6. Describe your looks: long hair…7. If you had to completely dye your hair, what color would it be? a reddish, copper, bronze color8. Would you ever date someone younger than you? no

Wouldn’t you rather read this?

  1. Is your bellybutton an innie or outie?: Innie
  2. What is your heritage? English
  3. What does your hair look like right now? like hair
  4. Could you ever be a vegetarian? probably not
  5. When was your last heartbreak? never?
  6. Describe your looks: long hair…
  7. If you had to completely dye your hair, what color would it be? a reddish, copper, bronze color
  8. Would you ever date someone younger than you? no

Or this?

  1. Is your bellybutton an innie or outie?:
        Innie
  2. What is your heritage?
        English
  3. What does your hair look like right now?
        like hair
  4. Could you ever be a vegetarian?
        probably not
  5. When was your last heartbreak?
        never?
  6. Describe your looks:
        long hair…
  7. If you had to completely dye your hair, what color would it be?
        a reddish, copper, bronze color
  8. Would you ever date someone younger than you?
        no

…or any other variation on formatting that separates question from answer and guides your eye down the page? The trouble is, the writers aren’t quite so invested in these surveys that they want to spend another few hours figuring out how to make them look good with html tags. So they write. And only their most devoted friend bothers to read. And the web is cluttered with ugliness. Let’s fix this, shall we? Surveys aren’t going to go away, so let’s make them prettier and readable. The FixI have a solution to propose, and I’m throwing it out there for anyone who’d like to take it on (my plate is full and this need can’t wait). Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »

Heads up, this content is 19 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.

If your passion is to lead organizations that change the world in significant–and meaningful–ways, we want to hear from you. –Robert L. Joss, Professor and Dean, Stanford Graduate Business School

I am going to Stanford for my MBA.No, they haven’t accepted me yet. But that’s only because I haven’t applied. Rest assured, it will all happen. But I have some work to do first. Here’s the list:

  • Fill my head with business info from some key books (suggestions?).
  • Take a business math class.
  • Take an economics class.
  • Take the GMAT and do exceptionally well (Stanford doesn’t require the “exceptionally well” part, but I might as well do that anyway).
  • Get a summer 2006 internship with a Stanford Graduate Business School alum (my eye is on you, Seth Godin. When are you announcing your next big project?).
  • Get a recommendation letter from that alum.
  • Start volunteering at a local nonprofit that uses my technical & professional writing skills (suggestions?), and get a recommendation letter from my direct supervisor there.
  • Incorporate The Writ as a tax-exempt nonprofit.
  • Secure grant money for The Writ and start giving the staff stipends.
  • Get a peer recommendation letter from Julián Esteban Torres, my partner in literary organization crime.
  • Write a personal essay about my work on The Writ.
  • Pick something else remarkable that I’ve done and write another personal essay about it.
  • Learn Chinese (hey, it can’t hurt).
  • Get my bachelor’s degree (note to self: don’t forget this one).

Consider this my New Year’s Resolution. With the possible exception of incorporating The Writ (the govt. likes to drag its feet on such issues), I intend to do all of this in 2006.Wish me luck and send me tips (only encouraging ones). I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Heads up, this content is 19 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.

This is in response to the cribnotes post about our culture’s “war on Christianity” this holiday season…Dear Stephen,I’m glad you started this post with examples. You make a strong argument, and that’s a refreshing change of pace these days. Personally, I tend to side with the left on this one: Christianity has been forced on too many people for too long, and an education in diversity is crucial for pulling our culture to a higher ground. But just as I believe a feminist is wrong to place herself above men, I agree that it’s destructive to cut Christmas out of that education in diversity. In some situations, it’s appropriate to argue that Christianity gets plenty of attention in the rest of our culture, so we need to emphasize the other traditions whenever we get the chance. But yeah, cutting a secular christmas carol from a concert while leaving in “O Hanukkah” is absurd.It’s not a war on Christianity, at least not compared to the scale of war Christianity has waged on other cultures throughout history. It’s not a war on Christmas either. You had it right with the first point. It’s political correctness run amok. Pendulums of influence swing back and forth until they come to a common ground. And we HAVE made a hell of a lot of progress over the years toward what I believe to be the ideal goal: tolerance, acceptance, and peaceful coexistance across the board. As for “Chrismakkuh,” if you have one Jewish parent and one Christian parent, it’s just a term for what you’ve always celebrated. Don’t forget that Christmas as we celebrate it today is a blend of multiple traditions and holidays–including pagan–that came about when different cultures needed to coexist. It’s fair to keep Christmas on the front lines of the holiday season, as long as there’s space for the other equally significant holidays on the front lines as well. But–to use your analogy–both sides keep taking things too far, shooting off their mouths too much, and knocking out each others’ teeth. It’s time for a little more “live and let live” if you ask me.Peace,Sarah