Rebellion
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week’s Keepin It Real, Cam discussion rebellion in children and how it’s recently hit his home. ----- All children rebel against their family and their parents. I certainly did. I see photos of myself as a teen with hair touching my collar and remember my father telling me over and over again to get it cut. I didn’t and maybe I didn’t because it bothered him so much. I knew my kids would rebel, too. It was inevitable. And much of it’s been the same over time – hair styles, vocabulary, music, and clothing. These are the signs of rebellion. They have been for a long long...
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Thankful
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On today's keepin it real, Cam reminds each of us AND HIMSELF that being thankful is not a seasonal behavior but an attitude we should aspire to live year round. ----- Today the tone should be, well, thankful. Thankful for my friends and family. Thankful for my health and safety. Thankful for all the food I had yesterday. Thankful that its finally getting cool outside. Thankful that no one else in my family likes cranberries so I can eat as much as I want. There’s a lot to be thankful for but I propose that thanks for these very things needs attention year around. Not a pithy,...
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Go Find This Podcast
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this Week's Keepin It Real, Cam is tired of people not from Alabama degrading and belittling our state. But in this certain case, Cam says, we might deserve it. ----- Go find a podcast called The Alabama Murders. It’s a seven-episode series by author Malcolm Gladwell done under his Revisionist History podcast. I love Revisionist History – it’s been one of my favorite podcasts for a long time but, well, The Alabama Murders is yet another example of someone who is not from here looking at Alabama with shame and disgust. Our state has been the target of this for a long long time....
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Routines
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
Are traditions the same thing as routines, they're just done less frequently? And if the tradition is both loved and hated, what does that mean? On today's Keepin It Real, Cam shares that he both loves and hates them. ----- I have a routine that I practice nearly every day. I both look forward to it and hate it. I wake up shortly after 5am. I have clothes laid out on a chair next to the bed and I dress and go into the kitchen and start the coffee. I fold laundry while it brews. I then pour myself a cup and sit in my morning chair and write in my journal for about thirty minutes. I then...
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Work Week
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week's Keepin It Real, it's Friday and Cam's brain has had enough. He once wanted to keep going. Now, he's just hoping to make it to today. ----- I can remember complaining that there simply weren’t enough days in the week to get all the stuff I needed get done done. I wished that each day was longer and the work week had more days to it. I wanted a twelve-hour workday and a ten-day work week and a three-day break at the end. That would be preferred, I thought. That way I could get everything done and take a break when it was over. Wow, have times changed. Or maybe I’ve...
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Turn The Page
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week's Keepin It Real, another chapter closes in Cam's life. And he wonders what comes next. ------ John Cougar Mellencamp has a song called Ain’t Even Done with the Night. It’s one of my favorites. That song became a regular part of my days four or five years ago. I’d pick my daughter up from her volleyball practice and as we made the turn from the gym onto the larger road, I’d ask Siri to play it. My daughter would protest and moan. “Not again, Dad” she’d say. I’d sing it loudly. It became our song in a weird way. She didn’t like it, didn’t want to hear it...
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Side By Side
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston continues to be interested in the research he's doing on retirement trends. He's discovered something called a Men's Shed which is different from a Man Cave where men can go and stand next to each other. ----- My work continues to lead me into retirement research. Specifically, how to make retirement fruitful and productive. One of the leading causes of an unhappy retirements is too few friends or no friends at all. Referred to as social isolation, the US Surgeon General said that social isolation is as unhealthy as smoking fifteen cigarettes a...
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Retirement Ready
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston and his buddies are beginning to discuss retirement. Cam's learning, though, that maybe working so hard to get to retirement may not be worth all the effort. ----- The subject of retirement has come with my crowd lately. A few years ago, we maybe whispered about retirement, but now it’s a full-on conversation – when are you going to retire, we’re asking each other. How will you know it’s time? The answer from nearly everyone is “as soon as possible” and “I’m ready right now.” Last week I had breakfast with a lady in healthcare...
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Meeting and Convention Bingo Card
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week’s Keepin It Real, Cam’s on his way home from a conference. He began making notes a few days ago about what his years and years of attending conferences has taught him. A bingo card might be fun, he says. ----- I speak at few dozen conferences each year. My audiences are the same – thinning brown haired, slightly overweight, middle aged white guys dominate each room. These are my people. I’ve learned how they like my content delivered and I do it for them each time. If I do it well, it may get me invited back. After twenty plus years, I’ve seen hundreds of events,...
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It's Different This Time
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston
On this week’s Keepin’ It Real, Cam admits he feels helpless in today’s political climate but he’s found something he can do. It’s very small, but at least it’s something. ----- I have quite a few friends who, over the years, have tried to persuade me to get out of the stock market due to some crisis or another. “Pull all your money out,” they say, “this time it’s not some run of the mill crisis. This one’s real. It’s different this time.” It’s different this time. We are so often tempted to think that whatever the crisis, this one is different. Rarely, very...
info_outlineOn this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston seems to think writers are a good bit like Labrador retrievers - they can't not chase the stick. And writer can't not tell a story.
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I stepped into the Mobile Literary Festival back in April not knowing what to expect. What I found surprised me and, ultimately, inspired me. Here’s what happened.
But first - I used to own labrador retrievers. I learned they could never not chase the stick. Or the socks. Or the pinecone. Whenever I tossed something, they had to go after it. They couldn’t control themselves. It was who they were. It was in their bones.
What I found at the Mobile Literary Festival was kind of the same – these people could not NOT tell a story. They had to write the stories that they witnessed or that were forming in their heads. They had to write. Few of the people made any real money from their writing. Maybe enough for a meal once a month or a load of groceries. Most of them did it for the joy of the hobby and the joy of commiserating with their fellow writers about the challenges of writing and telling their stories. I loved these people. I got the same feeling sitting with these writers as I do when I stand at the finish line of a long road race and watch people who have no God-given running talent push themselves over the finish line. They do it out of desire, deep perseverance, and guts. They just want to do it. And I loved ‘em. They inspired me.
To celebrate these writers, I pitched an idea to Alabama Public Radio. “Let’s create a space,” I said, “where Alabama based writers can have their voices heard. And I want to feature the ones that aren’t famous. The ones who, like a labrador retriever, can’t not tell their stories.” They agreed to give it a try. So on Wednesday, July 9th at 7:30pm, we’re launching this thing. It will be a thirty-minute segment of one writer reading his or her work. Maybe it’s original for the broadcast, maybe it’s a chapter of a book they’ve written or are working on. Who knows. It’ll be writers reading their own stuff.
John Nielsen. Remember his name. He’ll be one of the first ones. His story is called Angels of Fire in the Kudzu Realm. It’s awesome. Jodie Cain Smith will read from her newest book. She uses her theater training to really really read her story well. Rob Herndon has been working on a book for years and will read Chapter Two. You’re going to love his characters. And Lynn Oldshue has been telling people’s stories for years. She met a bunch of folks who were roaming around the docks getting a peek at the US United States which is tied up here in Mobile. She tells their stories. And the writers inspired me so much that I give fiction a shot for the first time since my creative writing class back in college. I loved it but it was harder than I remember. But I loved it.
Put it on your calendar – July 9th at 7:30pm. We’re calling it the Alabama Writer’s Wednesday Night Showcase. It’s new. It’s different. And I don’t think there’s anything like it anywhere out there. This will be fun.
I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep it Real.