Talking backpacking through Europe (and posing in my delicates) for UpTake’s travel podcast

Last week Addison Schonland interviewed me for UpTake’s travel podcast (I blog about travel lodging for UpTake). The conversation covered a three-month backpacking trip I took a few years ago, which began in Dublin and ended up in a treehouse hostel on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

The discussion–accompanied by a photo of me in my boxers, because sex sells–appears at UpTake: Backpacking through Europe.

And Mom, Dad, if you’re nervous about what posting that picture on the Internet means for my career? All it proves is that I’m overqualified to be a U.S. Senator from your state of Massachusetts (I am wearing pants after all).

The Obama campaign and new media and social networking

While I’m politically active, this blog isn’t—if you want to read about politics you probably can find a few other websites that delve into the subject.

But anyone interested in online communications and social networking has to be paying attention to Barack Obama’s campaign: Nov. 4 will be the biggest test of the real-life power of that emerging technology.

The Obama campaign isn’t just using, but is distributing quality content via

• A Facebook application
• Podcasts
• Twitter
• A social network on BarackObama.com
• YouTube
• A blog
• MySpace

And the campaign got 2.9 million people to opt-in to receive text messages from it in exchange for being the almost-first person to know whom Obama selected to be his running mate. Think it might use that data as part of its get-out-the-vote efforts?

Will it pay off on November 4? I suspect the Obama campaign has studied Howard Dean’s candidacy in 2004 and realized what it needs to do to translate virtual support into real votes.

Grammar Girl popular, copy editor angry, and clichés bad

Here’s a roundup of some grammar-related links.

• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing—Possibly the most amazing story I’ve encountered: An editor named Mignon Fogarty created a podcast about grammar and, as CNN describes in ‘Grammar Girl’ a quick and dirty success, it’s one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes. Who knew the masses wanted to learn about semicolons? (Obviously, I wish I had that foresight.) I’m curious as to how Fogarty promoted her podcast though; if she tires of editing, she probably could have a career in marketing. (Via Digg.)
• City Paper Copy Editor Angry, Angry, Angry—DCist details a disgruntled copy editor’s diatribe directed at his superiors’ demand that he use a serial comma (the comma before “and” in a list of three or more items). I disagree with Andrew Beaujon and the Associated Press about not using the serial comma. Punctuation’s purpose is to clarify. The serial comma does just that.
• Cliché Finder—I do agree with the Associated Press, however, about clichés; they stink worse than Limburger. To look for clichés in your writing, cut and paste your text into this website and it will highlight phrases that the Associated Press deems hackneyed. (Via Lifehacker.)

Me: In podcast form

Yvonne Perry of Write On! Creative Writing Services interviewed me last month for her weekly Writer’s in the Sky Podcast. Well, she just released the podcast this week: TGI Friday December 22, 2006–Zach Everson. Consider it a Christmas present for the Internet.

In Part One of our interview we discuss how Zach started his writing and editing career from the proceeds of a real estate investment.

Click here to listen to Part One…

In part two we discuss why he decided to become a Toastmaster and how his public speaking experience has been helpful to him as a writer.

Click here to listen to Part Two…

While it’s awkward to listen to myself, I’m happy with the result; hopefully you’ll enjoy listening to it. And feel free to share your thoughts about the podcast.

The Word Nerds—podcasting about language

I’m starting a podcast for a different venture and realized I’ve neglected to mention one of my favorite podcasts here: The Word Nerds, “a weekly podcast about words, language, and why we say the things we do.” (It’s also available on iTunes.)

Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang do a great job of keeping an hour-long podcast about language interesting (which might not be too surprising as all three are high school teachers and have to captivate an audience for the same amount of time, numerous times a week, by themselves).