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I used to be frustrated that I didn’t have a lot of advice as a teenager about what to do with my education and career.
My parents didn’t really care whether I went to college (or if they had opinions, they didn’t express them). My guidance counselors were indifferent.
When I moved to Atlanta and started teaching music lesson, I encountered lots of kids whose parents were deeply involved in their choices.
Read More“Don’t post if you’re new on this platform,” she warned, and then told us what to do instead.
But...why? What is the context?
Social media — and the Internet — and the world — is full of people giving imperious commands and aggressive advice. “This is the number one mistake you’re making...”
Read MoreIn a mastermind the other day, one of my colleagues was attempting to figure out why I have so few followers on LinkedIn.
“How long have you been posting? Hmmm...well, maybe it’s because...” I could see him trying to figure out something encouraging to say, or some way to explain it.
Read More“You know,” she said, her ponytail whipping around as she turned to face me, “you don’t have to raise your hand to answer every question.”
Eleven-year-old me didn’t have anything much to say in response to that. I had been confused and disoriented by the worldview of this newly-arrived student who wore nothing but embroidered velour sweatsuits with false collars and seemed intent on competing with me. This was just more of the same.
Read MoreWhen I was in my early twenties (all my most pathetic stories begin with those words), I was desperate to create an album of music that made a Statement.
It wasn’t enough to just put a few of my best songs together and share it. Oh, no! Every song had to have a concept, and they had to weave together to say something bigger.
Read MoreBack when I first started teaching music lessons in Atlanta, I was a little self-conscious about my circumstances.
I lived in a small, run-down apartment with no central air conditioning and a bad parking situation. Piano lessons, I taught in the bedroom, and guitar lessons were in the living room.
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