Welcome to the daily writings of Michael Schulder’s Wavemaker. These brief essays and impressions will only take a minute or two of your time.
I call it The Daily Breeze because my oceanographer friend, Nantucket’s Dr. Sarah Oktay, explained to me that a big wave, the kind I want to create, can begin with a light breeze. I hope you find these daily breezes entertaining, and even insightful.
When my first child entered elementary school, knowing I was a journalist, she began asking me: "What stories did you work on today, Dad?" At the time the Iraq war was in full swing. I was in charge of CNN's Weapons of Mass Destruction beat. I had very little to share with her. I wanted to figure out a way to combine my role as father and journalist -- to create a space where parents can find stories they want to share with their children or with each other. I call that space NewsDad.
Statistics? Standings? Scores? You can have 'em, I don't want 'em.
I'm reaching out to great coaches, athletes, sports psychologists, and the wisest men and women in youth sports, to spread the wisdom of how to compete, and perform, and enjoy.
Note: I write without the use of performance enhancing substances.
This is the space where I harness the wisdom of leaders in a variety of fields and engage them in the art of improvisation to help make our nation better than ever.
I search for people with unusually valuable insights on a wide range of urgent subjects. When I find them, I grab them and extract their insights for the benefit of me - and the audience. And have a blast doing it. So watch out! If you're a person with great insight and I bump into you - you're coming into the studio.
My demo-clock expired. I want to find out who determined that on the day I turned 50, I became a less-valued member of the advertising audience than I was the day before. I want names!
And when I get those names -- I will enlist them to destroy the myth of the 18-49 demo.
I am thrilled to host the new radio talk show CNN Profiles. The show has a mission.
Get to know people who have the experience and insight that can shape our understanding of the world.
Some guests are famous. Others are not but should be. All, we hope, will leave a lasting impression.