Alison Garwood Jones

The power of pause

Originally published in May 2012 in Blog

Maria Shriver has a foothold in all the major social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, WordPress and, presumably, whatever promises to be the next best thing. Media and communications are her career. But how she uses them is worth noting. There are enough voices on the internet going for cheap attention. Expensive attention, as [...]

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#FreedomIsBlogging

Originally published in April 2012 in Blog

When it comes to blogging, my mental trajectory over the last couple of years has looked something like this: Looking back, I’d love to say I was an early adopter. The truth is, I arrived late to the social media party and hardly mingled when I got there, choosing, instead, to mope alone in a [...]

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Why some never disappear

Originally published in April 2012 in Blog

I am not a grammar geek. I didn’t like Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. Admitting that, I’m told, is a travesty — like not drinking 8 glasses of water a day. I do, however, love everything else E.B. White wrote and said. He feels like a trusted mentor. “A writer should concern himself with [...]

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Show me the money ~ Part 3

Originally published in March 2012 in Blog

I feel a change in the air. No, not spring. This may be even better than raindrops on tulips and girls in white dresses. The first sign of climate change for freelance writers is emerging for real, and, in a very unexpected twist, the future looks bright. Really bright. After four decades of earning a [...]

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Show me the money: Part deux

Originally published in January 2012 in Blog

For all you old-school print journalists still wondering how to make a buck from blogging, here’s how it works: Editor sees your McSweeney’s post reposted on Facebook (you’re not even friends … yet), and says, “Oh my God, I own a print of “Poster Making” (a.k.a. the FUCK OFF poster). She purchased it at the [...]

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Going graphic

Originally published in November 2011 in Blog

Dispatch from the annual Design Thinkers conference put on by the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario.   . “Getting graphic“ Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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RIP Homemakers

Originally published in October 2011 in Blog

One of my employers died last night. Homemakers Magazine was 45 years old, but her time had come. A combination of factors did her in: the economy, the rise of digital media, questions about her relevance in the face of competition (Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping). D.B. Scott’s obit is worth the read. Despite her [...]

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“Kids today don’t know shit” — George Lois

Originally published in October 2011 in Blog

Whenever anyone coos about the “Golden Age of Journalism” this is what they’re talking about:   And this:   And these:   Not this:   And and I worked for Elle, God love’em. But if you had to choose between This                             [...]

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Hot off the press

Originally published in July 2011 in Blog

If there’s one thing that revs my engine, it’s talking to talented people. I’ve said it before, but I chose to become a journalist so I could engage with the best and brightest on a weekly basis. Talented people are what put the spring in my step and ignite my imagination until my own ideas [...]

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The nearness of you

Originally published in May 2011 in Blog

One of the things I like best about journalism is how it shrinks the phenomenon of Six Degrees of Separation — the idea that we’re all six steps away from any other person on earth — right down to zero so that one day you find yourself standing face-to-face with Kevin Bacon and asking him [...]

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