I was thrilled when Narrative.ly asked me to contribute an essay about biking in New York. I love biking! Some of the most blissful moments in my life have been biking through Brooklyn on warm summer nights. But I didn’t write about that.
I wrote an essay about Bike Thieves for Narrative.ly. It’s been a while since I wrote something personal like this. Hopefully I’ll churn out a few more like this over the summer.
RIDE YR BIKE!
I feel like finding a job is kinda like finding a girlfriend. You can get a gig, ya know, for a week or a month or so, the same way you can get laid or find a spring fling. But it’s not going to last. The relationships that last are the ones that come from friends or friends of friends. And I don’t mean it’s all got to be a set up. Just simply that referrals and endorsements work in personal relationships similarly to how they work in professional relationships, if not with more gravitas. Let’s be frank: I’ll sleep with you on the first date, but if I’m hiring for a full-time position, we’re gonna have to take it slow.
Some people say, “Oh, LinkedIn is Facebook for the professional work force.” And they’re wrong. If anything, LinkedIn is the OK Cupid of the job force. The only difference is that OK Cupid doesn’t list your previous relationships… but maybe it should? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know if you just got out of a 6-year relationship? Or that her last boyfriend was a Black bloc anarchist?
And so I’ve tried recently to update my LinkedIn profile with all of this in mind. It’s a work in progress. Part and parcel to this whole “I’m blogging again” initiative I kicked up last week. We’ll see how it goes!
Take a look at my LinkedIn profile and let me know what you think? Thanks!
The Yard: Space to Learn is a school to give entrepreneurs the skills they need to succeed.
The co-owners at The Yard have hired me to curate and organize this curriculum of continuing education classes. September’s classes include How to Kick Ass on Kickstarter, Get That YouTube Money, Hustle Harder: Get Paid for Your Creativity, as well as Photoshop 101 and business development courses.
The 27 educators I’ve hired are experienced and knowledgable entrepreneurs, business executives, and venture capitalists.
If you are interested in teaching a class, or would like to make suggestions or give feedback, please email
Andy [at] workattheyard.com
BetaBeat Exclusive
These days I’m working hard at The Yard to develop an innovative curriculum of continuing education classes including software programming, business development, financing and just about everything in between. We’ll be rolling out courses beginning in September. Stay tuned!
TODAY ONLY: Download and read my book Welcome to the Land of Cannibalistic Horses for FREE! After today it will be for sale, but you can download the PDF and print it for free today. Read interviews with Wesley Willis, David LaChapelle, Bernardine Dohrn, Dan Savage and more… essays on Brooklyn, Phish, Disney and Democracy circa 2004. Photos, comics, illustrations by Mike Force. Also includes a new forward. This year marks the 7th anniversary, help us celebrate by downloading the PDF.
I wrote the cover story, Ten Years of Music 2002-2012: A Williamsburg Oral History, for the July issue of The Williamsburg/Greenpoint News and Arts . Interviewing musicians, promoters, venue managers and influencers, I aimed to craft an overview of this period of time in North Brooklyn. It’s a continuing work in progress. This newspaper article is just the beginning, and I hope to meet with and interview countless more individuals. If you’re interested in participating in this project, please do write me.
The Williamsburg / Greenpoint News + Arts Newspaper
I wrote a couple of stories about bicycling in NYC, including a profile of Josh Zisson and his Bike Safe Nation initiative. Pick up a copy of the newspaper at local bars and restaurants. Or visit the site online.
Here’s the archive of all my WG stories.
