The Westerman Way

Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. - Wu Li

By Scott Westerman

Advertising and poly-sci profs will be dissecting this election for a generation, but these two articles from Advertising Age paint a good picture of some of the fundamental contributors.

How Obama Killed Election Day and Became President
What Marketers Can Learn from Obama’s Campaign

A couple of years ago, an up and coming advertising agency held a gathering in Las Vegas to ponder how websites, text messaging and email might change the advertising landscape. Thanks to the generosity of Ryan Schram, Shelby and I had a chance to be there. Many of the speakers were new names to me: Joseph Jaffe and Seth Godin among them. Their insights hit us like a two-by-four between the eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

Scott and Colleen (Albuquerque, NM): We voted early and by absentee ballot. Colleen took our paperwork into the clerk’s office the first day that early voting was allowed. Even then there were lines. But not for us absentee folks. The atmosphere was festive, people were patient, talking with one another and generally in a good mood.

W. Scott Westerman, Jr. (Ann Arbor, MI): In spite of the many polls predicting an Obama victory, I was very nervous about the outcome. When he was declared winner, I cried tears of joy, not only because I think he is an extraordinary man, but also because it revealed that the great majority of our country had grown beyond historic racial prejudices (some of which still remains, of course). I am so grateful for this outcome. I truly believe this ushers in a new era which will result in a better nation and world, inspite of the tremendous challenges which exist. YES WE CAN!!!!! Read the rest of this entry »

By Scott Westerman

Whatever your political persuasion, this election is a watershed in American history. I agree with David Broder who says, “I thought 1960 was the best campaign I’d ever cover. But 2008 has that election beat.” Read the rest of this entry »

October 31, 2004

Colleen and I went to the scariest house in Clinton, Iowa on Halloween night.

It was cloudy and cool but warm enough for a great turn-out. Tinker Bells, miniature firemen, ghouls and ghosts were in evidence on 11th Avenue South as we climbed the hill toward Cari and Brian’s house.

Cari is a numbers person by day, but for the last seven years on Halloween night, she turns her house into a place of horror. We could see it from a block away: tombstones throughout the yard, a coffin leaning up against the fence with a forlorn voice repeating, “help me”, fog billowing from beneath the porch and throughout the yard, a half dozen talk, dark, undead bodies in various states of decay. The effect was chilling and delightful.

The creatures stood stone still while the trick-or-treaters came up the long front walk and then silently began to follow them toward the Star Trek Captain who was handing out the candy. True Halloween Terror.

It was too much for some. There were a few who gave the house a wide berth and a couple who actually ran screaming from the porch.

Cari was having way too much fun. I should have guessed it. One of her prize office portraits is of three witches. She is one of them, leering at the camera with the same joy Margaret Hamilton brought to her role in the Wizard of Oz. I wanted to get into the fun and lie on the ground next to the walk, a recently dispatched corpse, grabbing at the feet of unsuspecting children. Perhaps next year!

(Cari Fenzel grew up to be Mediacom’s Region Vice President for Illinois / Iowa / Indiana. People tell me she can still be scary when she wants to.)

From a post on May 31, 2004. Apripos for this season of elections, economic uncertainty and change.

“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” - Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

And this..

Former Secretary of State James Baker notes, “Someone asked me what was the most important thing I had learned since being in Washington. I replied that it was the fact that temporal power is fleeting.” Baker remembers driving through the White House gates and noticing a man walking alone on Pennsylvania Avenue. The man was the Secretary of State in a previous administration. “There he was alone - no reporters, no security, no adoring public, no trappings of power. Just one solitary man alone with his thoughts. And that mental picture continually serves to remind me of the impermanence of power and the impermanence of place.”

By Scott Westerman - Curator - Keener13.com
My first 45: Limbo Rock by Chubby Checker. My first LP: Shut Down Vol II by the Beach Boys. LPs who’s grooves I wore out with repeated play: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Earth, Wind & Fire. The number of LPs and 45s in my library now: 672

Remember the sound of putting a needle to vinyl and waiting for the first track to vibrate out of the grooves, through the cartridge and the pre-amp, across the amplifier’s power transistors (after adding appropriate bass and pressing the ‘loudness’ button) and along the two pairs of copper wires towards those expensive speakers that were the heartbeat of that stereo system that cost almost as much as your first automobile? Read the rest of this entry »

Taking flight. It’s every child’s dream. And for me, it became a reality as I learned to spread my wings over the prairie Midwest. It also became the topic of my first book, too, called “Touch and Go”. It chronicles the ups and downs, the highs and lows of one man’s pursuit of a pilot’s license. You’ll meet the people, the planes and the places where life is defined in three dimensions and adventurers “slip the surly bonds of earth” to touch the sky.

The first edition of “Touch and Go” arrived today! Brandon was my editor and came up with the title so the project has been a family affair. If you’ve ever jumped in the left seat of a small aircraft, or have envied anyone who has, I hope you’ll get vicarious enjoyment out of my humble first attempt at published authorship.

Touch and Go
By Scott Westerman
ISBN 978-0-6156-24742-7
70 Pages - $6.95 + $1.00 Shipping

Order your copy of “Touch and Go” here!

When we were watching Gustav (and Hanna and Ike) we discovered a plethora of information on the the web.

Weather Underground has this page dedicated to Gustav info. Here is MSNBC’s interactive hurricane tracker and another cool rendering at StormPlus.com. The NHC has it’s usual robust collection of text and graphic data in both standard web presentation and a custom mobile edition. You can track the storm surge graphically here. MesoWest provides this interesting resource with detailed current condition reports from around LA. Read the rest of this entry »

By Scott Westerman

I admit it. I’ve never gotten over my love for radio. Even as the art of terrestrial broadcasting recedes into anachronism, I’m still attracted to a well executed Top-40 format. There are few who can do it the way I remember, with personality that doesn’t offend, contagious exuberance, and a presentation that seamlessly blends each element in a symphony that touches your very soul. Read the rest of this entry »