Notes From the Studio
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Notes From the Studio *
Writing on communication, design, culture, public-facing work, and the way organizations explain themselves.
This archive includes studio notes, public communication essays, design commentary, civic observations, and earlier editorial work from my time producing entertainment content for the Gaylord Herald Times’ Extra section.
Some pieces are practical. Some are critical. Some come from client work, municipal work, publishing, events, arts coverage, or the experience of making public-facing material on deadline.
The through-line is the same: how information is shaped, how people receive it, and what happens when the work has to be useful beyond the moment it is published.
Rise: Gratitude for adversity
Today we officially enter what has become widely known as Gratitude Season. We collectively reflect on the year and “live, laugh, love” our way into the warm and fuzzy feeling associated with being thankful for blessings.
This year has been very successful for me and many others, but I am sure we have all faced some painful hardships. I have suffered my fair share of public humiliations, as some of my readers may know.
However, this year, I find myself glowing. Not from anger, embarrassment or resentment lighting me up from within (well, maybe a little) but from the peace of hard lessons learned — finally. There is a satisfaction in knowing that one finally gets it. The pain that comes with bad choices isn’t happening again. The cycle has ended, and you can rise from the ashes a better, stronger person.
Kindness, Community, Mindfullness: Better living comes through gratitude
As November comes to a close and we enter deeper into the holiday season, gratitude is something we all explore. This past month, Yoga-45 invited the members of the Gaylord community to participate in a gratitude challenge. When researching the challenge, Yoga-45 found a Harvard University study that revealed a daily gratitude practice had physical, spiritual, and social benefits. Surprising, no?! These benefits include stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, better sleep, general alertness, positivity, and happiness, as well as, increasing compassion, generosity, and creating more forgiving natures.