CONTEMPORARY EXPLORER

It was just a business hotel, a lobby, a small reception desk and the bar across from it. The walkway attaching the hotel to the commuter station the only distinguishing feature. The grit of Newark edged at it from every direction. The rooms were half the price of NewYork and the airfare cheap to fly into Newark. The place attracted the business traveler on a budget.
Joe the bartender looked in the mirror as he polished the wine glasses, the lines he saw on his black face a reminder of how long he had been there. He laughed to himself; Hell, Joe wasn’t really even his name, people just called him that. The old Sinatra song he guessed..
Usually, the bar filled with commuters wanting fortification before heading home. The east coast cold of this night seemed to have scared them off. Only a lone drinker at the bar. One Joe had not seen before.
“422, Don Guy,” the man said to Joe who marked it on the tab near the register. Guy looked well traveled, Joe took him for the journeyman middle age …

"Darkness to Dawn" - young

The great abstract painter Mark Rothko needs little introduction. The bold color panels he is known for are iconic and his signature in the art world. It is the colors that really make his paintings. Ones first found when he lived in Portland and painted abstract landscapes of the city from Forest Park. Those paintings a far distance from the eventual color panels that made him famous, but foundational in his view of the world.
In the recent “Masters” series on PBS that highlighted his life, it was said that “his paintings look so easy to do, but try to do one and you will see…”  You can try and paint like Rothko, but will never capture all the luminance, blending of colors, edges and techniques he used to create beauty. He never kept a notebook on how he created the colors or work, so the wonder of it will always be in part a mystery.
Still, as I am, you're drawn to trying to paint like him. I once had a music instructor who I ask to help me sing…

Around Every Corner there is the color of life, the richness of adventure and the grandness of even simple things…

There are always marks when buildings are torn down or pulled apart. A memory is left on the wall still standing, sometime sticks, sometimes stone. The separation is always marked. Such it is life. We can leave or are left, but marks on our soul are always left…
Photographs by David Young
Music “Dance of the Buildings”

There is a color to winter. One you have to search for, one that is deep in our souls. You try to take photos of it, but often leave the forest without capturing. There are giants that guard the forest deep. Giving it rest and time to plan the bursting of life and color coming in Spring. They only asks that we pause and enjoy the majesty of it all  as they guard the forest deep…

There is so much emphasis on the visual and the quick these days that one wonders if business is just a movie. There is action everywhere, but sometimes you’re just trying to find the script. The one with your part in it. The part that will lead to greater success.
Movies are based on screenplays. The techniques used can get you to where you want to go. Here are a few points to consider:
YOUR PART - movies always have a hero, a helper, a foe and a goal. Too often we try to make ourselves the hero of a business situation. A better approach is to make the customer or boss the hero. Your best part is as a valuable mentor helping the hero overcome the foe and get to the goal. It’s not what “I” can do, it’s getting to the “we” of what can be done.
ACTION - focus on action not description. The more we describe our talents and resources, the more we sound like the competition. Most quality competitors share the same abilities. Skip the description of the “cast of thousands” and instead help th…