"On Becoming a Father"
Friday, September 6, 2013
A lovely short essay by Alexis C. Madrigal.
Life News: I'm Joining Forest Park Forever
Sunday, September 1, 2013
This is an exciting week for me: I’m joining the staff of Forest Park Forever as the organization’s Strategic Communications Director. For those unfamiliar with St. Louis, Forest Park is my hometown’s larger-than-Central-Park gem that’s home to the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum, and several other terrific organizations; there’s also tennis, golf, running paths, paddle boats, fishing, you name it. FPF is the private nonprofit, created in 1986, whose mission is to “restore, maintain and sustain Forest Park as one of America’s great urban public parks, for the enjoyment of all now and forever.
Leo Visits Mama at Her Pulitzer Office
Friday, August 30, 2013
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Seamus Heaney: 1939 – 2013
Friday, August 30, 2013
Sad news: The great Irish poet Seamus Heaney has died at age 74. When I was a freshman in college in the early 1990s, I was fortunate enough to take an upper-level English class with Dr. Ed Duffy, who dedicated a few months of the semester just to Heaney’s work. It was a remarkable immersion, and I felt incredibly engaged and grown-up. We serially read Heaney’s Station Island, a quest for both the book’s narrator and the course’s students.
The Unauthorized Marissa Mayer Biography
Sunday, August 25, 2013
22,000 words. A very interesting read.
Ramón Lobo Interviews David Remnick
Monday, August 19, 2013
From the lengthy Q&A: Coming back to the first topic of our conversation, how can we convince people that Internet is not enough to be informed? I don’t agree with you. I think the Internet is just a tool, a means of distribution. And it’s a radically more efficient means of distribution than print. But some people may have the impression they can know everything what is happening only with a click.
My Father-in-Law, Profiled
Thursday, August 8, 2013
“Artist’s wire trees free the mind, shape the future,” written by Doug Moore and published in this past Sunday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With some nice photos to boot. To view (and buy?) his work, visit H-Omer.com.
Gass at 89
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
"> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:480px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:150%;" class=" image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio "> <img src="http://sschenkenberg.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/e93f3-image-asset.jpeg" alt="" /><img class="thumb-image" alt="" /> </div> </figure> </div> A very happy 89th birthday to the great William H. Gass, with whom I’m pictured here in 2007. I’m incredibly glad he’s still writing every day.
Q&A: GE Managing Editor Tomas Kellner
Monday, July 29, 2013
From this interesting interview at The Content Strategist: GE is one of the brands out there that’s done content really well. Do you think that’s because the topics are inherently interesting, or is it an internal attitude that allows the content to shine? What do you think? What GE does is interesting – that helps. But the culture inside the company is becoming hugely focused on storytelling. We have a CMO and CCO who have pushed us to focus on creating strong content and finding interesting ways to tell our story.
"The stage directions were lucid... and the color of the binder: Good choice."
Monday, July 29, 2013
"> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:560px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:106.0714263916%;" class=" image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio "> <img src="http://sschenkenberg.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/debbb-image-asset.png" alt="" /><img class="thumb-image" alt="" /> </div> </figure> </div> One of several clever ones at Vulture’s “Woody Allen’s Films As Infographics.”
With Leo, Two Months In
Monday, July 22, 2013
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"Content Over Keywords" (or, SSO over SEO)
Saturday, July 13, 2013
I wrote this post for the TOKY blog.
The TOKY Friday Review
Friday, June 21, 2013
Today I published the second in a new series on the TOKY Blog — notable highlights from what the firm’s been reading, watching, and talking about.
"The Social Media Editor is Dead"
Sunday, June 9, 2013
At BuzzFeed, Rob Fishman on the widening out of this once-distinct role.
Bezos and the Six-Page Meeting Narrative
Sunday, June 9, 2013
A Fortune profile on Jeff Bezos reveals how Amazon’s senior-executive team presents, consumes, and prepares to discuss plans and information: Meetings of his “S-team” of senior executives begin with participants quietly absorbing the written word. Specifically, before any discussion begins, members of the team — including Bezos — consume six-page printed memos in total silence for as long as 30 minutes. (Yes, the e-ink purveyor prefers paper. Ironic, no?) They scribble notes in the margins while the authors of the memos wait for Bezos and his minions to finish reading.
Leo
Saturday, May 25, 2013
"> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:550px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:99.454544067383%;" class=" image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio "> <img src="http://sschenkenberg.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/02ca4-image-asset.jpeg" alt="" /><img class="thumb-image" alt="" /> </div> </figure> </div> Meet Leo Huremovic Schenkenberg — born Saturday May 18, 2013. Tamara was amazing. And Leo’s a little gem. Onward, sleepily and smiling.
On Launching The TOKY Research Library
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
A new post I wrote on the TOKY Blog.
Robert Silvers: Toward a "New Form of Criticism"
Thursday, April 11, 2013
At New York Magazine, the great journalist Mark Danner talks at length with The New York Review of Books’ Robert Silvers. Here’s one bit about online publishing and social media, which strikes me not as fuddy-duddy, but very considered: To tweet or not to tweet. And not to tweet is to be left behind. And that raises a question: What is this? What are the kinds of prose, and the kinds of thinking, that result from the imposition of the tweet form and other such brief reactions to extremely complex realities?
CoDesign on Editorially
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Excited to try this new online writing and editing environment, built by a few all-stars.
Hemon: "The Book of My Lives"
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
I’ve written before of the penetrating, often funny essays of Aleksandar Hemon, the Bosnian writer who, fortunately for us, calls Chicago home. His new collection, The Book of My Lives, is terrific, whether the subject is gravely serious (war, illness) or much more fun (pick-up soccer with a crew of fellow refugees). Here’s one opening paragraph I quite liked from the essay “The Lives of Grandmasters,” which has just been published online as well: