Happy February 2020, visitors!
Beautiful #VT99 snow/go/mojo conditions here in Vermont's Green Mountains, as attested to by these photos from atop Sugarbush Ski Resort's Mount Ellen yesterday morning.
Come ski and ride with us!
To business.
January proved a wonderfully rich and full month for project development.
In addition to launching a variety of new courses for what promise to be an exciting spring 2020 semester at various colleges and universities, and getting outside to play on snow, I was fortunate to be able to devote some time to long-term projects.
To wit:
1) The MEDIA MOJO: COMM-ON POWER TOOLS + SIMPLE STORYTELLING STRATEGIES FOR OUR DIGITAL AGE book draft is finished and now with the designer for final edits and publication. We hope to have the new book, an affordable and readable distillation of my close to three decades of teaching critical media literacy education, mobile "backpack journalism" production, and strategic social media storytelling, out by March 1, 2020.
2) YAK U: With assistance from the esteemed Tony Italiano at our MRV-TV digital TV production studio, we produced and published a new 13 part video series to accompany my new book THE POST (TRUTH) WORLD: FIGHTING #FAKENEWS WITH A 21ST CENTURY "PROPAGANDA MODEL" FOR OUR DIGITAL AGE. Our YAK U beta test site will soon have two complete courses with books and accompanying videos for all interested users, focused on 1) Fake News and Real Journalism, and 2) Storytelling Strategies for our Digital Age.
3) THE WAY YAK: Book research is coming along after a month off for the holidays. After attending the 2020 National Western Stock Show in Denver Colorado this past month, I have published a draft of chapter 4 here recounting the YAKSPO 2018 event in Loveland, Colorado, and am currently at work on a separate chapter exploring the IYAK / US YAKS discussion about what makes a yak a "yak"? Once this chapter is finished, I will go to work this winter and spring on the "Chill Out: Suisse Yak Hoffing In The Alps," "Know Place: Sketching Planet Yak's Myth'ing Links," and "Grow Grassy: Digesting The Meat Of The Matter" chapters. Currently scoping an August 2020 yak research trip to Canada for the "Warm Up: Yakking In The Great White North" chapter. And daughter Anneka is doing some yak digging in Bhutan this semester while studying abroad. Gross National Happiness, indeed!
4) OUR GEOENGINEERING AGE: After five years of research on geoengineering with our national research team, Vermont Independent news journal has launched a stand-alone web site called "Our Geoengineering Age" (OGA) to provide an evidence-based exploration of "the planet's most pressing if underreported global environmental phenomenon of our time." More on OGA in future updates.
5) BEMER: Finally, as the WIM HOF Instructor's Academy in Los Angeles approaches this March, I am currently investigating techniques and technologies for health and wellness to complement the Wim Hof Method (WHM), and am working with the BEMER group to deepen my understanding of this remarkable technology.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for visiting, be in touch, and remember...
2020 = HINDSIGHT + PERFECT VISION.
Be wel!
Rob