Live, From Chicago ...

I'm teaching a class this summer — Editing Your Work — at the Writer's Studio, part of the University of Chicago's Graham School. If you're in Chicago and curious about this or any of the Writer's Studio's other offerings, please come to this open house on Thursday, March 31. I'll be presenting a mini-lecture, and other faculty members and alumni will be lecturing and reading. You can also sign up to participate in an open mic, if you have an excerpt of prose, poetry, or a script/play you'd like to share.

As for my class: a brief description is below. If you're interested in registering, you can do so here.

Client News: Sex & Startups

"Startups, like the male anatomy, are designed for liquidity events." This smart, pointed conversation-starter of an essay just went live on Medium, and I'm honored to say I was asked to help bring it into the world. Highlights:

"Much is made about Silicon Valley’s culture of 'innovation.' But the model for startup venture financing, and the system of rewards driving this supposed innovation, isn’t creative — it’s masturbatory. It wastes potential. It’s uninspired. It leaves founders like us staring at the ceiling.

"Yes, we want to build businesses that succeed financially. But we also want so much more than that, and we aren’t alone. Most of the founders we know, many of whom happen to be women, are driven to build companies that generate money and meaning. And they’re in it for the long haul — not just to get their jollies, make their names, and exit." ...

"The author and commentator Rebecca Solnit, in an essay from her collection 'Men Explain Things to Me,' refers to something a friend of hers calls 'the tyranny of the quantifiable.' In such a system, Solnit writes, 'what can be measured almost always takes precedence over what cannot: private profit over public good; speed and efficiency over enjoyment and quality.' ... 'The tyranny of the quantifiable' describes the current ethos of venture financing."

Congratulations and thanks to Jenn Brandel and Mara Zepeda.

Update 2.18.16: Jenn and Mara's essay got picked up by Quartz!

In Which Something I Wrote Is Actually Read

A few years ago, I wrote a short piece on Joan Didion for Nieman Storyboard's "Why's This So Good?" series. I'm tickled to learn it made Storyboard's list of the five most-read WTSGs of all time. I'm also completely convinced this had very little to do with me, and almost everything to do with the fact that the words "Joan" and "Didion" were in the headline.