Gary Goldhammer –author and storyteller.

Content strategist, PR practitioner and marketer | digital and social media innovator | writer and author

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Category: Popular Culture

  • Let’s Say Goodbye to Social Media “Gurus”

    I’ve never liked the term Guru – it’s a throwaway word, much like Paradigm, Content, or Kanye. Plus, I wonder if calling a marketing person a “guru” is offensive to actual gurus, and whether by using the term I’ll get punished with some karmic payback, like being reincarnated as a Fox News anchor. But I…

  • The Web Won’t Give You Cancer

    Everyone has a story, a friend, a relative – everyone knows someone who has had or is fighting cancer. Three friends from high school had it, one of whom works in the office next to mine. Another colleague just learned her mom has it. My dad died from it and I dodged it though I…

  • The Last Newspaper

    Daniel headed for the darkest corner of his local Starbucks, the Last Newspaper clutched snug against his chest. He opened it slowly, carefully, as if he were cradling an ancient parchment. The crinkling sound it made drew a few stares, and then a few more as those around him realized that they were sitting just…

  • Into the Fire and Back Again

    "Nothing breaks the spirit of a Californian like a fire – it starts quietly and then grows, moves and acts as if with conscience, teasing you with a schoolyard bully’s joy." – Gary Goldhammer, Below the Fold, 2007   As regular readers of this far too occasional blog know (my day job is also often…

  • Rising Above L.A.’s Virtual World

    You are never more alone than when you are in Los Angeles. It’s no wonder the word “dude” was invented here, since it saves the user from having to call a person by name. The initials “L.A.” should stand for “Living Alone.” Even paparazzi-engulfed celebrities lack any real attention – when the cameras turn dark,…

  • Living the Absent Life

    Every week at least one or two people start following me on Twitter. This in itself is not a problem – my feed is public and I have nothing to hide from friend, foe or even Yankee fan. What I find interesting is that I haven’t posted anything on Twitter since I signed up for…

  • Tim Russert: Citizen Journalist

    “Feels like the country’s biggest game is about to be played without the referee.” – Elizabeth Wilner, posted on the “Missing Russert” Facebook group.   AS MODERN JOURNALISM LAY near death, with its entertainment-driven news, pomp and punditry, Tim Russert was its life support. Now, with Russert gone, we can only wonder how long journalism…

  • We Are the Firemen

    In May 1993 – the exact date and time escape me – my inner world, the one where thoughts are born, developed and processed, lost its ability to be silent. I since have lived with constant noise, the result of a tumor that, in an ironic nod to God’s comic grace, left me deaf in…