Stories and ideas
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On being Pro-Choice, in deed as well as name
I’ve been thinking a lot about the wave of recent laws criminalizing abortion. Despite memes from my liberal friends, the divide on this issue is not gender. 60% of women and 57% of men in america are pro-choice – the difference is within the margin of polling error. Meanwhile, many of the most dedicated pro-life…
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KPI’s for Life: Adding Beauty
My son was born almost 11 months ago and is just starting to walk on his own. Seeing him learn to stand on his own feet and the look of sheer glee on his face as explores his world is magical. Watching him and his big sister become more and more themselves is basically the…
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A sun drenched Wednesday
Sun drenched Wednesday afternoonParked in shade and watching my daughter sleepShe is exhausted, tired out from chasing wavesAnd watching the little crabs with their pinchy handsIn the tiny temporary stillness of tide pools And in all my years I have never loved as fiercelyAs I love this tiny utterly fearless personlike any father worth the nameI…
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Conquest culture
I’ve been thinking about gender and culture a lot lately. Part of that is my daughter transforming practically overnight from an infant to a walking talking little person with her own ideas and opinions, part of that is the immanent arrival of her little brother, and part of it is the ongoing string of revelations…
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My Daughter is not a princess
So this last weekend my wife and I hosted a Burn’s Night dinner for a few of our friends. It was great and we’re planning to make it an annual tradition. My favorite part of the night was after dinner sitting in a circle drinking whiskey and having everyone recite their favorite poem (sometimes with…
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A Close Look At Mobile Ad Fraud
I have a new article up on MediaPost looking at the various types of ad fraud in the mobile media space and how brands and their partners can combat them. Media quality remains a top challenge for digital marketers. With mobile ad spending accounting for 70.3% of total U.S. digital advertising spending, many of the techniques used…
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Tying digital media and actions to in-store behaviors
Many brands struggle to prove ROI for their digital media spend. These 3 simple strategies can to tie real-world conversions to digital advertising. Unlike TV and Radio advertising, digital media offers the possibility of tracking individual ad views to purchases. Many brands have made this leap for their online and in-app purchases, but a much…
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Thoughts on Trump’s election and California’s partisan divide
Like many Californians who grew up here, I have always considered myself a Californian more than an American. In my 20’s I spent years travelling back and forth across the United States as part of various environmental and social justice campaigns and that feeling only deepened. When outside the US I always tell people who…
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There be Dragons!
My daughter took her first steps this week and my heart almost exploded. Being a parent is something I was scared of for a long time but found myself wanting more and more. I find it’s changed the way I think in all sorts of unexpected ways. – for example I suddenly spend a lot…
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A Thanksgiving recipe
Start with one fresh-baked rant about the inherently imperialistic origins of the “thanksgiving” holiday. Add a bitter comment about what’s happening right now at Standing Rock under a Democratic president and what that says about how little progress America has made. Season with notes of despair and impotent rage at the recently concluded election (the…
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None of the Above
Bernie Sanders was the first presidential candidate I’ve ever donated to or knocked on doors for and I am proud to say that the CNP platform takes the best of his ideas and expands on them. Unfortunately, he’s out of the race. So am I Bernie or Bust? No. My refusal to vote for a…
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A bag of Avocados
I was working on an article on the US presidential elections for another website earlier today and made an offhand remark that if the Democrats nominated a bag of Avocados for the presidency that California would faithfully line up and vote for it. And then it hit me – a bag of Avocados would actually be…