Steven's Look at Life

I’ve been a very busy boy, as you can probably tell by the absence of a blog entry in 2014 before now. I started a new job working for a marketing agency in Chattanooga called Riverworks. We provide social media marketing, web design, graphic design, and branding. We serve clients in a variety of categories. […] via WordPress http://ift.tt/1gOT81a

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I attended the 2013 Will This Float? competition in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Nov. 19th, meeting some entrepreneurs who pitched their dynamic new startups while seeking a prize that included legal/financial consultancy and a cash reward. The event was won by Granola Products, a Chattanooga company dedicated to manufacturing high quality, environmentally sound backpacks for the student set. The competition is several years in from Co.Lab, a business startup incubator that helps entrepreneurs. I was the guest of Chanté Newcomb, my friend who is a rising star in digital media in Chattanooga. I can’t say enough great things about her. She’s as sharp as a tack and has a genuine love of conversation, which makes her a natural in marketing. She’s a blast to spend time with. I really feel drawn to Chattanooga, even more than Atlanta. To quote an article that was on CNBC.com yesterday: “It has the fastest Internet speeds in the Western Hemisphere. It boasts the world’s only automotive factory w...

On Saturday, my Auburn Tigers played the University of Georgia Bulldogs for the 117th time in Jordan Hare Stadium. The game ended on a fourth-and-18 Hail Mary pass that was deflected off the hands of two Georgia players who went for the interception instead of swatting it away, the ball landing in the hands of Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis and taken to the end zone to put Auburn ahead just moments after Georgia’s QB had pulled his team ahead on a TD call that had gone their way. It was one of the most thrilling moments of watching Auburn football, having that sense of devastation that an amazing season was going to be snatched out of our hands literally snatched out of the air and taken to the end zone. I didn’t allow myself to fully celebrate until Georgia’s quarterback was on his back, sacked on the final play of the next series. Writer Chris Fuhrmeister of SB Nation, who was in the stands, described it this way: In that instant I could hear every and feel every molecule of air sucke...

Football Season… Hell Yeah! The time I look forward to all year is finally here as we enter the first college football weekend of the regular season. As you well know, I’m an Auburn fan. Last season was nothing less than a catastrophe. We (and I say “we” because every fan feels like they are part of something even though I would get my tail obliterated on the field in about two seconds if I tried to actually play) finished the 2012 campaign with a 3-9 record and zero conference wins. Our worst season in 60 years. So bad that the head coach got fired two years removed from a national championship! Ouch. Turn the page… Our “new” coach is Gus Malzahn, the offensive genius behind that championship, installing a no-huddle offensive philosophy that already has opposing coaches teaching their players how to fake injuries to stop the clock on third down. Auburn is getting zero respect in the sports media and pre-season polls. We haven’t earned it yet. I hope that as the season progresses, Aubu...

“If the story you’re telling, is the story you’re telling, you’re in deep shit.” - Robert McKee Subtext is that element of a story which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. It is also a frequently used method of subtly inserting social or political commentary into fiction. The clear subtext of Matt Damon’s new film “Elysium” is the debate over the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare” as critics call it, as well as the larger issue of the growing gap between the rich and poor. Director Neill Blomkamp previously used sci-fi to examine social justice in his “District 9″ where aliens were a stand-in for illegal immigrants. The plot of “Elysium” revolves around the segregation of classes in the year 2154. The wealthy live on a space station called Elysium (the ultimate gated community) while everyone else struggles on an overpopulated, ruined planet Earth. On the station, the technology is so advanc...

I did it! I was awarded my master’s degree from Troy University on July 26, 2013. I drove down with my sister and my daughter. I don’t know what to do with myself now that I have a weekend free of assignments to get done. I’ve been hired as an adjunct professor of communications and will likely teach my first class at the start of 2014. Meanwhile, I will be on the lookout for other teaching jobs and continue consulting and doing creative work such as photography, copywriting, and graphic design. I’ll be spending the next few weeks/months learning my coursework and mastering the software used to offer online instruction. It feels really good to have all of that work behind me and so much new information I can put to work. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the annual salary average for a high school dropout is $18,000-ish, $28,000 for high school grads, $51,000 for those with a bachelor’s degree, and $74,000 for those with a master’s degree. Of course, that fluctuates greatly. An engi...